I'm a C-Class, but All the S-Classes Are Obsessed with Me - Chapter 75

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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Chapter 75
‘There’s no way he wouldn’t know.’
And yet something felt off.
The meaning beneath those words seemed different from how it had felt back then.
Seo Do-hyeok tightened his grip on the water bottle, his gaze sweeping across the empty Training Grounds once more. In that silence—unbroken, untouched—he was pulled backward, into a past that felt impossibly distant.
* * *
Six years ago, on an unusually clear and biting February afternoon.
Over an hour had passed since the A-Rank Gate appeared in Hapjeong-dong.
Do-hyeok gnawed at his nails nervously, his eyes fixed on the area beyond the warning line.
He was still technically a civilian. Seven days had passed since his Awakening to S-Class, yet he hadn’t even reported it to the Hunter Association. But right now, none of that mattered.
That fool of an older brother, charging in like some crusader for justice.
As the firstborn of the Dae-yeon Family, Seo Do-young would naturally inherit their father’s position—yet he’d thrown himself into that awful place anyway.
‘He said he’d never been to an actual site before……’
Maybe that’s why he’d rushed here the moment graduation ended.
As Do-hyeok watched the Gate in the distance—a dark red void pulsing like a black hole—a frown creased his brow.
‘Something’s wrong.’
[ The Pioneer of Destiny tilts his head, saying that while the Gate’s exterior seems intact, something unusual is mixed in with its inner resonance. ]
He picked his way carefully through the crowd toward the tents.
The moment he slipped behind the onlookers and ducked into the rear, low voices drifted through the thin fabric.
“Most of them aren’t responding. We should―!”
—Don’t make a fuss.
The reply came oddly muffled, indistinct.
Do-hyeok pressed himself against a tent pole and held his breath, straining to hear.
“But what if something goes wrong? There could be variables―.”
—The monitoring station classified it as A-Rank just now. Our equipment could be faulty, so stop talking and just follow the manual.
“……At least send in a Reinforcement Squad on standby.”
—How many times do I have to say we’re wasting manpower? If we make a mess of this, who takes the fall?
Listening to their radio chatter, Do-hyeok’s hands clenched into fists without his realizing it.
‘These crazy bastards……’
They knew who was in there, and they still said that?
So they were already suspecting that this A-Rank Gate might not be what it seemed.
In that moment, tasting copper in his mouth, Do-hyeok bolted.
“Uh, hey! Wait―!”
“Grab him! Stop him, now!”
He wrenched free from the hands reaching to hold him back and pushed into the Gate itself, where a surging wave of mana seized his body and yanked him through.
What met him inside was a narrow, dark cave filled with humid air.
It was so hollowed out that you’d have doubted monsters could dwell here at all—yet the acrid stench of blood and rotting water hung thick throughout.
Do-hyeok barely choked back a gag and shouted.
“Do-young! Where are you? Answer me!”
But no matter how hard he yelled, all that came back was the sound of his own footsteps.
How far he ran, he couldn’t say.
The deeper he pushed along the passage, the more shapes came into view.
“……What is this.”line>
It was corpses tangled together with bodies still writhing, all collapsed in a heap.

Do-hyeok forced down his rising nausea and pressed his fingers to a throat, but felt no pulse.
A sharp, inexplicable dread stabbed through his chest—and that was when it happened.
Bang!
A deafening crash rang out. Without hesitation, Do-hyeok sprinted toward it. And in an instant, he understood.
That massive creature was the master of this space, and it was about to break free and burst out of the Gate.
“Ugh―!”
And it was his brother, Seo Do-young, who was barely holding it back.
‘What’s wrong with his arm.’
Just seeing it sent a wave of pain across his skin, raising every hair on his body. Do-young’s left arm had been stripped nearly to the bone—flesh torn clean away.
Instinct made Do-hyeok lunge forward—
But then the creature’s swollen muscles tensed, its wings drawing in tight, and its movements became anything but ordinary.
“Get back―.”
Before he could finish, the monster moved faster.
Its massive body pivoted halfway and whipped a long tail like a lash.
Crash—!
And in the same instant, a figure slammed into the wall and into Do-hyeok’s line of sight.
Soon after, Seo Do-young’s body, which had been wedged in the sunken wall, crumpled and slid downward.
“Seo Do-young!”
Do-hyeok rushed toward him in a single breath, dropped to his knees, and carefully lifted his brother into his arms. Then he brushed away the withered cheek of his brother, whose eyes were closed without a trace of color.
“Come on, stay with me. You hear me?”
It had been so long since Do-hyeok had seen Do-young’s face, and it was now half what it had been.
What had he done all this time to become so gaunt? Pushing back the dark thoughts that threatened to overwhelm him, Do-hyeok placed his trembling hand on Do-young’s chest. Right now, only he could save his brother here.
‘Why…?’
But the flow of Healing was not being absorbed.
No matter how many times he tried, it only drifted along the surface around his heart before scattering again and again.
“Why, why isn’t it working?”
He questioned Constellation, asked again and again. Or rather, it would be more accurate to say he blamed.
Blamed them that their power amounted to so little.
The answer that returned before his eyes was too cruel.
Seo Do-young’s body was already in severe critical condition, and from that last blow, the vessel itself seemed to have shattered. And Constellation added that this was a sight Do-hyeok would have to witness and endure countless times more.
“What does that even…?”
At that moment, a voice leaked from the in-ear communication device that had slipped from Do-young’s ear. Do-hyeok quickly snatched it and brought it to his own ear, screaming as though in agony.
“Everyone’s dying here! Send reinforcements―!”
—Ah, yes. Do you copy? The Reinforcement Squad will be departing shortly, so the Hunters inside should just wait a bit longer……
Wait a bit longer, and they’d all be dead.
“You bastards……”
He couldn’t finish the words. Because of one cold hand that was wrapping around his cheek.
Do-hyeok clasped that hand tightly, his gaze meeting the dark eyes of Do-young, which barely managed to focus on him.
‘Calm down. Please.’
Seo Do-young would be more anxious than anyone.
Yet still, Do-hyeok’s trembling voice leaked from his lips.
“They’re coming, hyung. Just a little longer……”
“Do-hyeok.”
Had his own name ever struck him with such pain?
“Don’t say anything. I’ll do something, anything I can……”
His throat kept aching, making it difficult to speak any words at all.
Do-hyeok simply clenched his lower lip and fixed his gaze steadily on his foolish brother’s face. Then Do-young’s cracked and desiccated lips trembled, and with great effort, he spoke his younger brother’s name once more.
“……Do-hyeok.”
“Please, don’t say anything. Please―.”
“Don’t cry.”
With those words left behind, Do-young coughed blood and moved his lips no more.
Soon after, even the faint breath that had lingered in Do-young’s body scattered away, and the cold hand that had been wrapped around his cheek fell helplessly downward.
Do-hyeok seized that hand again and bowed his head deeply.
In the end, he had to close his brother’s eyes with his own hands—the brother who had died before him.
“Ha……”
Then a cry mixed with self-mockery burst from between Do-hyeok’s lips.
Where had things gone wrong?
Should he have grabbed hold of Do-young’s pant leg that day and begged him not to go?
Or was it his fault for hearing that Do-young had secretly joined the Hunter Association, yet thinking complacently that he would take it easy and come back, so he’d left him alone?
Or perhaps, if he’d just let go of his pride and cried like he did when they were children, Do-young might have changed his mind.
After all, his brother had always been defenseless when it came to him.
How much time had passed like that?
When he opened his eyes, the first thing he saw was the pristine white ceiling of the Hospital Room.
His entire body throbbed as though it would shatter, and his mind was numb, but there was one memory that came back with perfect clarity.
‘Where is Do-young hyung?’
In that moment, Do-hyeok roughly tore out the IV Drip that had been inserted into his arm and set his feet on the floor. Yet he remained there, crouched, unable to move for a long time.
The sharp pain crushing one side of his chest wouldn’t even allow him to cry.
At that time, he didn’t even know what he was thinking.
After meaninglessly closing and opening his eyes again and again, he found himself standing in the position of chief mourner in a place filled only with the scent of incense.
And then, someone quietly approached and stood before Do-hyeok. As he slowly lifted his gaze to confirm the other’s face, his fist clenched tightly without anyone knowing.
It was Ju In-ho, the head of the Korean Awakeners Association—someone who had emerged from that incident without suffering a single blow.
“He was a talented individual…… I hope you find the strength to compose yourself.”
Why did that low, dignified voice offering condolences sound so familiar?
Perhaps that’s why he’d impulsively followed him.
“Why did you refuse? How could you――!”
At Do-hyeok’s question, charged with barely contained fury, Ju In-ho stopped in his tracks and turned around slowly. Then he answered in a dry voice.
“I’m sure you’re preoccupied. I explained it wasn’t a refusal but rather unavoidable circumstances, and yet……. Ah, I’m not certain whether you’re aware of this.”
Before Do-hyeok could ask back, Ju In-ho stepped closer to his shoulder and added softly.
“The Gate your brother was deployed to—it closed before the Reinforcement Squad could arrive.”
Having left behind a remark that probed like a feeler, Ju In-ho moved forward first. Do-hyeok watched his receding figure with a hollow stare, his fists clenching tight.
This wasn’t why he’d followed him…….
So he could never forgive himself.
That day’s sorrow—no member of the Dae-yeon Family could ever forget it. Because Do-young’s death had been exchanged for something.
Sometime after that. It must have been the day he went to sort through his brother’s things.
“…….”
She should have been a woman he’d never seen before, yet something felt familiar. He’d turned his gaze away, telling himself they merely resembled each other, but without knowing why, he found himself staring only at that small face, which bore such an indifferent expression.
That day, which he’d buried away in a corner of his memory as the years passed—had finally clawed its way back into Do-hyeok’s mind.
And in that moment, life slowly returned to his eyes as they pulled free from the past. Through his clearer vision, the first thing that came into focus was the empty Training Grounds of the Academy as darkness descended.
Do-hyeok slowly turned his head, taking in the profile of the woman sitting beside him.
The more they crossed paths by seeming chance, the more he understood why Ju In-ho sheltered his daughter so fiercely.
Perhaps that was why. Childishly enough, at first he could only hate her, had no choice but to hate her, and had to hate her without limit.
Yet knowing that, why…….
‘It’s guilt, isn’t it.’
Because he couldn’t ease someone’s pain—he’d done the opposite instead.
Yes, that alone was why Ha-ryeong weighed on his mind for no good reason.
Recklessly throwing herself forward, not even noticing she was hurt, only discovering it later when she was alone.
And perhaps she wasn’t even properly treating it.
Could that be why the old scar that hadn’t faded even under his own Healing remained scarred like that?
It was while he still gazed at her, his eyes churning with complex emotions.
Ha-ryeong turned her head toward him, parting her lips with a faint smile.
“Wow, I was just about to wake up.”
In an instant, Do-hyeok’s gaze, which had fallen to her lips, shifted to the two pitch-black eyes that were identical to his own.
“Before that—would you ask again? Something like that?”
“…….”
To the question that came like a murmur, Do-hyeok’s lips parted slowly.
‘I thought it was a misunderstanding.’
Perhaps, tedious explanations wouldn’t be necessary. Unlike then, now he didn’t want to avoid it.
Feeling such a sentiment, Do-hyeok answered softly without taking his eyes from her.
“I know. I couldn’t not know.”
Truth is, I’m not sure anymore.
As time goes on, I’m not who I was that day.
C-Class, yet all the S-Class Hunters are obsessed with me.
75화
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| 서유연
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| 2026년 3월 6일
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This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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