Chapter 695: London, 24 Hours (3)
Goblin Roads had opened all over the surface. Thanks to Yun Yun and the goblins, the evacuation was going smoothly. I’d been worried since the preparations took time, but everyone was doing far better than I’d expected.
‘The monsters are still only up to S-class.’
Most of them were upper A-class, with an S-class popping out here and there. The problem was that this was only the beginning.
“Noah, have Nest stand by and handle overall support, please. If I don’t give you instructions, move according to your own judgment.”
“Yes.”
Noah nodded, beat his wings, and soared even higher. When it came to grasping the battle situation and using support skills to match, Noah Luhir was the best. No one could match the career of the world’s only S-class support–type Hunter. Now that he’d gained dragonkin skills and even boosted his mobility, it was all the more efficient for him to move on his own. It was literally like he’d grown wings.
“Yerim, cover along the river.”
“’Kay~!”
“Try not to destroy the buildings as much as possible. There might still be people who haven’t evacuated.”
“Don’t worry!”
It wasn’t the ocean, but the Thames was big enough. That whole river could become Yerim’s ammunition. Yerim used teleportation and, in an instant, closed in on the riverside. A huge monster suddenly popped out from the bank and lunged at her, but–
Whoooosh–
Water rose up in a whirling column, wrapped around the monster, and slammed it into the riverbed. Then two, three, four more. Streams of water appeared, circling Yerim like several dragons standing guard. I wouldn’t have to worry about that side for a while.
Lastly, I looked at Yuhyun.
“There’s only one SSS-class.”
“Yeah.”
There was no need for a long explanation. If the rank difference wasn’t just one, but two tiers or more, you could hardly cover it with numbers alone. At minimum, your equipment and items had to be of the same rank, but there were still only a few SS-class ones.
So if an SSS-class monster appeared, our actual fighting power came down to just one person.
If we threw everything into it – My Kid Is The Best, Veteran F–Rank, King of Predation, Melted Last Gate, Nest, and so on. Even then, only the attack skills and weapons would barely reach SSS-class, while the stats still felt lacking.
‘The settlement.’
Yuhyun still hadn’t received his achievement settlement. He hadn’t chosen between the achievements from before the regression and the ones from now. For facing higher–rank monsters, the pre–regression settlement would be more advantageous.
The twenty–five–year–old Han Yuhyun had attacked more dungeons and hunted more monsters than anyone else in the world. As if he were driving himself to death, he had stepped into dungeons again and again without rest.
“I should take it.”
Yuhyun spoke before I could bring it up. His gaze, which had been on the Thames where the number of monsters was steadily increasing, turned to me.
“Hyung, I…”
“Yuhyun.”
If I thought about it rationally, the pre–regression choice was obvious. But if I’d been acting rationally all along, we wouldn’t have made it this far in the first place.
“You’re allowed to fail too.”
It was okay.
“Just like you told me – you’ll be okay too. No matter what mistake you make, no matter what wrong choice you make, even if the whole world blames you, I’ll be on your side. Even if you end up resenting yourself, I’ll stand by you until the very, very end.”
Just as Yuhyun accepted me no matter what I was, I would be the last person left holding onto Han Yuhyun.
“I love you, my little brother. No matter what happens, forever.”
So do what you want.
“And the achievement settlement is mostly about rewards you didn’t get in the first place, right? There might not even be that many you missed out on before the regression.”
There had been quite a few dungeon breaks right before the regression, sure, but Korea had been relatively spared. At my deliberately light tone, Yuhyun smiled.
“I like the me that you accepted and raised when I was twenty, twenty–one.”
“A lot of things happened, but it was good.”
I smiled too.
“Then I’ll start the settlement.”
“Yeah.”
As the current Han Yuhyun. Yuhyun turned, having chosen his present self.
“Just loosen up a little! And be careful not to start a fire!”
“Don’t worry.”
Kicking off a willow leaf, Yuhyun sprinted through the air in an instant, then his body dropped straight down. At some point, the blade in his hand cleaved a monster’s head in a single stroke.
A warm, pleasant heat rose around my heart. It wasn’t exactly a situation you could call good, but still.
“I find myself jealous of the young master.”
“…What are you even talking about all of a sudden?”
I flinched and looked at Seong Hyunjae, who was sitting amidst Peace’s mane. I’d forgotten he was there. Seong Hyunjae let out a sigh with a rather lonely expression.
“You’ve grasped in your hands an affection that will not change. Someone who purely loves your very existence.”
“Cut the pointless acting. Yuhyun likes me, so I like him back, that’s all. And you, Seong Hyunjae, don’t exactly have much to be jealous about in the first place, do you?”
“When someone fails to meet their expectations, people arbitrarily grow disappointed or simply leave. So they struggle not to end up alone, suffer, rejoice, grieve, and are swept up in all sorts of emotions. People cannot be alone, and they don’t easily bestow affection on someone who is nothing.”
I adjusted my hold on Gyeol in my arms and furrowed my brows. People really were like that in the end. We felt happiness through others, but we were also hurt because of them.
“But you don’t really care about that sort of thing, do you, Seong Hyunjae.”
“I am closer to the embodiment of a perfect fantasy. No matter what I do, nothing changes. Even if they’re briefly disappointed, they make excuses on their own to match their expectations and stitch the fantasy back together.”
Seong Hyunjae crossed his legs where he sat and smiled. A perfect fantasy. Maybe it was a trait related to Crescent Moon.
“Though there are a few exceptions – Chief Song Taewon, who tries to see me as a monster, Han Yujin, who sees me as human, and the young master, who has no interest in me.”
“So…”
“Love me too.”
Seong Hyunjae flashed a brazenly pretty smile. I barely stopped myself from grabbing him and chucking him.
“…Gyeol is a little jealous of Uncle too.”
Gyeol, who had been quietly nestled in my arms, spoke in a small, hesitant voice. He couldn’t properly look at me and let his gaze fall downward.
“Gyeol.”
“Just… just a little.”
It was only natural for a child to be jealous of someone who drew a guardian’s attention. Seeing him try to hide it made my heart ache. If Seong Hyunjae hadn’t said something like that, he probably would have kept quiet and held it in to the end. It would be fine if he got as shameless as Seong Hyunjae. …No, maybe about half as much. That guy takes it way too far.
“It’s okay to do what you want, Gyeol. It’s okay no matter what kind of child you are. Trust Dad. Dad raised Uncle while thinking he was really, really adorable too. You know Uncle is a bit different from normal people, right? When he was little, he barely reacted even to Dad?”
His round golden eyes blinked slowly as he looked up at me.
“Even so, he was cute and pretty, and as those feelings piled up day after day, I absolutely couldn’t let go of him, and by now they’ve built up really thick. No one, no matter who they are, can make that time equal in an instant if they’re not you, Gyeol.”
I laid my honest feelings bare. He wasn’t the kind of kid who would fall for an unconditional “You’re my favorite.” If I plastered over things with lies, he’d just worry about it more.
“But with you too, it’s piled up so much that I can’t let go. At first you were just a cute kid, but now I love you so much I couldn’t hand you over to anyone.”
“…Gyeol loves Dad a lot too.”
As he clung to me and hugged me, I hugged him tightly in return. It couldn’t be helped that Gyeol couldn’t feel completely at ease. That was how things had started. So I had to keep telling him, over and over whenever he was anxious or doubtful. Until one day he grumbled that he was sick of hearing it.
“And you really did great.”
“Yeah. Gyeol raided the storage and contacted the goblins too.”
“That’s amazing too, but what Dad thinks is the coolest is your beautiful heart that tried to help Dad and everyone else. You’re the best, Gyeol.”
Regardless of the outcome. It was impressive that a child had accomplished all this, but even if he hadn’t, the intention alone was amazing. And if I only praised the results, with Gyeol’s personality he might start overdoing it. So I quietly, thoroughly praised him for doing well.
“But, Gyeol.”
“Yeah, I know. It’s dangerous.”
Gyeol unfolded his wings and floated up slightly.
“I won’t be stubborn. Gyeol already helped Dad a lot.”
“When this is over, let’s go home.”
“Home?”
“It’ll only be for a few hours, but we can go. So wait for Dad in Korea.”
Gyeol smiled and nodded. Then he looked down at Seong Hyunjae.
“Come here.”
Huh? Wait.
“Do I have to go with you, Gyeol?”
“It’s thanks to young Han Gyeol’s ability that I can maintain a form this small at all. However–”
Seong Hyunjae looked at the bead necklace hanging around Gyeol’s neck.
“In the meantime, a lot of Han Gyeol’s mana has built up, so a day or so will be fine. And even as an independent entity, I’m still connected to Han Yujin, so he can substitute for a portion of it.”
“Here, Dad.”
Gyeol handed me the bead necklace, then exhaled loudly with a “huff” as if a weight had been lifted.
“You have to be careful.”
“Don’t worry about me.”
“Not you! Dad, I’ll be waiting!”
With a vigorous shout, Gyeol flew into a Goblin Gate without a hint of hesitation. As his tiny back disappeared, I looked down at an even smaller person.
“Alright, Mr. Seong Hyunjae.”
I picked Seong Hyunjae up in my hand. He let out an “Ah,” pretending to be startled even though he clearly wasn’t.
“Handle me gently.”
“You can’t really use your skills right now, can you?”
“Perhaps a light electric shock at best.”
“But your battle foresight is more a trait of your very existence than a skill.”
“Exactly.”
As expected. That alone was enough. Kyaaa, a vicious cry from an S-class monster rang out. In response, Peace let out a low growl, and I patted the back of his neck.
“It’s okay, wait.”
– Grrrr.
Peace was an S-class monster mount that could match most S-class Hunters, but right now it was better for him to support me. Unlike Yuhyun, he might end up spreading fire if I let him loose. I put the necklace around my neck and set Seong Hyunjae on my shoulder.
“Alright then.”
Clatter– system windows popped up around me in a half circle. The blue patterns wrapped around my wrists and forearms then lost their color.
The temporary system administrator under Sloth. It was a measure meant to protect me, but right now it was in the way. Instead–
[Initial System Creator – □□□]
[Unverifiable creator has been confirmed.]
With Wildflower’s help. I had touched the system at the very moment it was created. It was unreal and yet, at the same time, real. Traces of the initial system creation remained in me, and the system recognized me as a related party.
‘Even though my authority is extremely limited.’
Maybe because it couldn’t properly verify me, or maybe because my abilities were lacking, there wasn’t much I could do even with creator privileges. However–
“This is…”
Seong Hyunjae sounded a bit surprised. Information surfaced over the system window.
[Class–2 Rock Wolf Species ? Kaldisai (S)]
I could tell the monster’s type with Promising Talent alone. But the information window that popped up now was far more detailed.
[Stone Hide (A) – Temporarily makes the surface of the body extremely hard. Duration: 30 minutes.]
In addition to a detailed skill description–
[Weak to changes in temperature. Focuses on the first target it aims for. The gap in the mane under the neck has soft skin. Though a wolf species, it primarily relies on eyesight.]
Its weaknesses and traits, along with detailed explanations, were all written out.
“Information on Awakened is so tightly secured that even system administrators have a hard time accessing it. But monsters and dungeons aren’t like that. They’re things that have to be directly managed.”
In other words, it’s a monster strategy guide.
“Naturally, this is top secret. I’ve already blocked it so that even the Transcendents can’t check it.”
They’d said from the start that they’d help hide any skills I didn’t want revealed, so blocking this was easy. I took out the mana imprint control orb from my inventory and drew in a small breath as I looked down.
Even if the rank of my Diligent Educator skill had gone up, London was far too big. If I wanted to share battle foresight in detail across this whole place through that skill, I needed to raise my mana control ability.
“You can afford to lose one country.”
Seong Hyunjae spoke up.
“Even if we added two or three more, it would still be a net profit.”
“Are you worrying about me right now?”
“It’s a simple calculation that includes the possibility of winning them back.”
I let out a small laugh. Had my stock price gone up too much or what.
“But this is something that needs to be done. For several reasons.”
Like Seong Hyunjae said, it might be better to withdraw here. Even if not just London but all of Britain fell, it might be wiser to bide our time and stockpile strength for the future. But we had to take one more step forward.
“…!”
I released the mana imprint control. Goosebumps shot up all over my body. My hyper–sharpened senses came at me as stabbing pain.
– Nngh.
Maybe I’d let out a groan without realizing it, because Peace turned his head to look back at me worriedly.
“I–I’m f… fine… hu.”
Maybe because I had the system open on top of it all, the shock was no joke. At some point, the back of my neck had grown damp.
“…Mr. Seong Hyunjae, if it looks like I’m going to lose consciousness halfway through, wake me up. I’ll tell Grace not to block your attacks.”
“How cold of you.”
“I’m only asking because it’s you, Mr. Seong Hyunjae.”
Because I trusted him. It was a slightly different kind of trust than with Yuhyun, Yerim, Noah, Hyunah, or Chief Song. A reliance I could have precisely because it was Seong Hyunjae. He just gave a small shrug on my shoulder. He didn’t answer, but that was enough.
I took some painkillers out of my inventory, swallowed them, and chewed on a cigarette. After steadying my mind, I activated my teacher skill.
Yuhyun, Yerim, Noah, and the members of the Han Yujin team. I plugged Seong Hyunjae into the remaining slots of the swelling web of connections.
Dozens of situations crashed over me like waves. At the same time, information on this dungeon and its monsters floated up over the system windows.
I closed my eyes tightly, then opened them. Soon monsters above S-class, SS-class ones, would appear. The evacuation was almost complete.
Yun Yun, having thoroughly looted the museum, floated up into the sky. I called Yun Yun over to me.
“Send back all the goblins except the ones who can still escape even from SS-class monsters.”
“Okay!”
“Have the remaining goblins watch the map that’s about to show up and move according to the directions I give. You can relay that, right?”
“Even if communications cut off, simple orders are fine~.”
“Good. Everyone, briefing starts now.”
In the center of the system windows, a map of London appeared. Dots glittered all over it, and a new one popped up bright yellow around Chelsea.
“SS-class monster, Will–o’–the–wisp.”
“Blue!”
“It’s blue–colored! High resistance to all attributes, high resistance to close–range attacks. Put defense–types focused on ranged in front. It’s heavy and slow, so move Hunter Noah and Hunter Shishio there!”
Through the system, voice messages began transmitting directly to the Hunters. The Hunters belonging to London hesitated even as they heard them. But the Han Yujin team, the ones who had fought with me, moved quickly without a moment’s doubt.
“Drop it right there, Hunter Noah! Declare the Lion’s Domain!”
“Ranged attack–types, get on the rooftops!”
– Gwooooaaaaar.
An SS-class giant monster appeared with a warping of space. My teammates stood before it. At just the right timing, mud spread under its feet, and its legs sank deep.
The ranged Hunters, under the protection of the defense–types, fired in unison. Arrows and skills fell like they were being drawn in toward the weaknesses I pointed out.
Rumble, the huge monster staggered. Even if they were only S– and A-class attacks, once you added the power of the Chatterbox gear, the concentrated fire, as if from a single person, was hard for it to endure.
“Again!”
Slash! The air tore here and there, all converging on a single point.
A thunderous boom erupted. The hard shell shattered completely, even more than before, and blood sprayed.
And again, a third time!
Thud! The massive body collapsed.
The first SS-class monster didn’t even last five minutes before it fell. While the London Hunters stared in shock, my team looked at the sight as if it were only natural.
–TL Notes–
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