S-Classes That I Raised to Devour - Chapter 16

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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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Episode 16. Livelihood Support (2)
Even if he made time to walk around, it was realistically impossible to examine every single applicant.
But no matter how you looked at it, he couldn’t understand how he’d missed such talent.
Collection Target: Lee Min-ji
Grace Points: 1,000
[Collection List]
Trait:
‣Big and Beautiful Weapon (A)―100,000 [Collection Impossible]
Skill:
‣Ultra Strike (C)―10,000 [Collection Impossible]
Item:
‣Disgustingly Heavy and Sturdy Hammer―10,000 [Collection Impossible]
「Trait―Big and Beautiful Weapon (A)」
Activation Condition: Equipping an oversized weapon
•The user can wield an oversized weapon as if it weighs 1kg. For every 1kg the equipped weapon exceeds the user’s body weight, physical attack power increases by 10.
•The durability of oversized weapons increases by 500%.
(This value increases by 1% per level)
「Skill―Ultra Strike (C)」
Activation Condition: Blunt weapon
•When the skill activates, strength doubles.
(Increases by 0.015% per level)
•The weight of the equipped weapon doubles.
(Increases by 0.015% per level)
Whether there was some faint connection from a past life, he could see the skill she possessed, and he already knew what it was.
Even if she couldn’t use it properly, she’d be a burst damage dealer; if she wielded it correctly, she could put a Boss Monster to sleep with a single blow―a monstrous skill.
Especially Ultra Strike synergized so well with her trait that it was practically A-grade in its own right.
Aside from the skill itself, what fascinated Chae Mu-jin most was Lee Min-ji’s very existence.
‘Female dealers aren’t common. Occupation isn’t random―it follows the Awakener’s nature.’
Generally, women fell into support classes.
Either supporters or healers. Even among dealers, the ratio of ranged dealers was overwhelming.
‘And this girl didn’t even take the Official Hunter exam out of curiosity.’
Scars covered her entire body. Many wounds were evidence of weakness, but simultaneously evidence of survival.
Some of them were recent enough that the scabs hadn’t fully healed.
“Ah~ Sir, even if I am pretty, isn’t that a bit much? You’re making me blush.”
Ignoring Lee Min-ji’s words, he turned to the referee and spoke.
“This applicant is an adult, correct?”
“Ah, yes. She’s twenty years old, so she is an adult.”
“Then why is she wearing a school uniform?”
He asked the referee, but Lee Min-ji answered.
“A school uniform makes you look pitiful.”
“Now that’s insane reasoning.”
“It works well.”
Chae Mu-jin wanted to continue the conversation, but the match was about to begin.
Still, this wasn’t bad either.
Lies slip easily into words, but the body speaks no falsehoods.
―[00:00]
The moment the clock hit zero, Lee Min-ji came rushing forward. Her running speed itself wasn’t particularly fast.
Moreover, she brazenly held the hammer raised above her head as she ran. No guard position.
The obvious stance of trading flesh for bone. That a frail-looking high school girl would use such a tactic was eerie.
‘This is fun.’
He started running too. In the opposite direction from Lee Min-ji.
For a while she seemed to follow, but soon she stopped pursuit and smiled with apparent effort.
“Are you just going to run away? A man?”
“Man or woman―wouldn’t anyone die if that hammer hit them?”
“You’re famous, aren’t you? What will people say if you keep running like this?”
“Don’t care. Whatever they say.”
Lee Min-ji crept closer as they talked, and for each step forward she took, Chae Mu-jin retreated two. Like this, as they continued their silent battle of wills, Lee Min-ji’s face grew increasingly bitter.
Her weakness had been struck squarely, so irritation was inevitable.
Lee Min-ji was a textbook conditional burst dealer. Her occupation was probably specialized in tanking. That explained both her scars and her tactics.
Slow but high attack power, with decent tanking ability―her greatest weakness was simply not fighting back.
“Right? So you really are just going to run the whole time, huh? Fine, I won’t either.”
Lee Min-ji crouched down. Chae Mu-jin stopped at ten paces’ distance.
“Yeah. This distance right here is perfect. Let’s just talk.”
“Talk about what?”
“If we’re going to talk, I should introduce myself first. My name is Chae Mu-jin, and I’m twenty-six years old. And my occupation is…….”
Slash!
In the middle of his introduction, Lee Min-ji charged at him abruptly.
But Chae Mu-jin had already read her intent in her eyes, so he drove forward into her guard and struck her solar plexus with his elbow.
“Ugh!”
She lost her weapon from the blow to a vital point, curling her body like a shrimp, and Chae Mu-jin spoke.
“A manager.”
* * *
The spectators who’d come to watch Chae Mu-jin’s match opened their mouths in bewilderment.
At first they were disappointed. Running away from a woman? But then they realized it had all been strategy.
Lee Min-ji had attempted to catch him with a surprise attack, but Chae Mu-jin countered as if he’d anticipated it.
Driving into an opponent’s guard isn’t as simple as it sounds. One mistake and you lose your life.
Lee Min-ji fell. She lost her weapon. From this point, Chae Mu-jin’s victory was assured, and yet he didn’t finish her―instead he started talking.
The spectators were dying of curiosity. Why wasn’t he ending the match? Why was he talking instead? And what was he saying?
Most bewildering of all was Lee Min-ji herself.
“A manager… for entertainers?”
“No. A manager for Hunters. I’m the president and manager of Hunter Management.”
“I’ve never heard of such a job before.”
“Of course not. I’m the first. But anyway, how long are you going to stay face-down while we talk?”
“Can I get up?”
“Yeah. You’re no match for me anyway.”
“Wow. You’re really unpleasant.”
Lee Min-ji got to her feet and then sat down on the bare ground next to Chae Mu-jin.
Though she’d taken an elbow strike to the solar plexus from him, she showed no sign of discomfort.
That wasn’t an act―it was genuine indifference.
The impact had temporarily cut off her breath, nothing more; the actual damage was minimal.
Though her mood was somewhat soured.
“When monsters bite or cut me, I only feel pain. But getting hit in the solar plexus is strange―it puts me in a bad mood. I’m a woman too, you know.”
“Hunters have no gender. I beat and kill equally.”
His tone was matter-of-fact, but sincerity rang through, and Lee Min-ji tensed slightly.
“Have you… killed before?”
“I ask the questions. Why do you want to become an Official Hunter?”
“Why else? The treatment’s good. Good support, people like you, that sort of thing.”
“You know the biggest mistake kids make? They think they’re good liars.”
“I’m not a kid, and I didn’t lie.”
“You told the truth about the benefits of being an Official Hunter. But you hid why you actually want to be one. You have another purpose.”
“…Have you been reading too many detective novels?”
“Probably. If I hadn’t become an Awakener, I’d have made a living as a detective. Maybe that’s why even small things nag at me and keep me awake.”
Chae Mu-jin leaned in uncomfortably close and met Lee Min-ji’s gaze directly.
“Right now, I’m really bothered. Why someone who looks like they have a story wants to become an Official Hunter.”
Lee Min-ji didn’t avert his clear, deep eyes. Instead, she matched his gaze equally.
“If you’re going to be that serious about it, you don’t have to scare me. It’s not that grand a secret. But why are you curious? Pity? Boredom?”
“If it were pity or boredom, I wouldn’t have revealed my occupation.”
“Wait~ You’re scouting me right now, aren’t you? No way. But isn’t the manager supposed to be the one in a weaker position? Why does it feel like I’m the one in an interview?”
After just a few exchanges, Chae Mu-jin was certain. At least in terms of personality, she was exactly the type he’d been looking for.
She was crazy.
The sincerity in her tone, the madness shining through her eyes―she was twisted somehow.
Of course, that alone wasn’t enough to pass yet.
“You are in an interview, but if I like you and you say no, I won’t force you. So speak freely. Why do you want to become an Official Hunter?”
“Revenge. My parents’ revenge.”
“Revenge. I like it. Who do you need to kill?”
“Aha. At least you talk sense. Everyone else just frowns when I mention revenge.”
“I’m a revenge advocate. So, who’s the target?”
“Bahamut.”
What came from her lips wasn’t a human name.
But there was no way not to know who Bahamut was.
Not because he was Chae Mu-jin, but because any Hunter in South Korea couldn’t not know.
“The Bahamut you’re talking about… don’t tell me it’s the Warlord Bahamut?”
“That’s right. The one who swallowed Jeju Island ten years ago.”
Chae Mu-jin felt a headache coming on. He’d thought it was at worst an A-grade villain or a Named-tier Boss, but a Warlord?
Boss Monsters are divided into three broad tiers.
First, the “Named”―those who earned their names because initial subjugation attempts failed.
The “Warlord”―three or more failed subjugation attempts, or even attempts at subjugation are difficult.
Finally, the “Apocalypse”―ones the entire nation united couldn’t guarantee victory against.
Bahamut survived four subjugation attempts and ultimately Jeju Island was lost to it.
Fortunately, since it was a Territory-Type Boss, it stayed confined to Jeju Island, so there was no problem as long as you didn’t provoke it first.
‘―Or so everyone thought, until they got hit hard.’
While not quite a cataclysm-grade threat, Bahamut was still something that eventually had to be captured.
Three years later, it broke free from Jeju Island and landed in Busan.
The loss of life was limited, but Busan fell under its control, and the port and power plant were lost.
Numerous Hunters were dispatched to oppose it. Hunters from overseas came too, but ultimately they couldn’t stop it.
‘It wasn’t sitting idle in Jeju Island. It was stockpiling power there.’
Did Lee Min-ji join the subjugation corps back then?
He doesn’t know. What’s certain is that after that, Bahamut couldn’t be captured and was left alone.
Which meant Lee Min-ji was one of two things.
Either she died before even challenging Bahamut―
Or she challenged it and died.
Chae Mu-jin looked at Lee Min-ji again.
“You think that if you become an Official Hunter and try your best, you can catch Bahamut?”
“No.”
“You know it well.”
“I don’t even know if a Bahamut subjugation corps will ever be formed. But trying and not trying are different, aren’t they?”
Lee Min-ji smiled. Not the contrived smile she’d shown at first, but a pure smile.
Yet it wasn’t beautiful. It was pathetic, the smile of someone who’d let go of everything.
“Revenge is all I have to live for.”
* * *
Clap, clap, clap.
Chae Mu-jin applauded. Slowly and forcefully.
Lee Min-ji picked up the massive hammer she’d dropped and spoke.
“Are you mocking me right now?”
“Not at all. The first clap was admiration, the second was empathy. The third was joy.”
“Joy for what?”
“Because the talent I was looking for finally appeared.”
“Are you after Bahamut too?”
“That’s not it.”
“Tch!”
Lee Min-ji hoisted the hammer, looking ready to bring it down any second, but Chae Mu-jin simply walked under it.
“Join our Hunter Management, Min-ji.”
“Will you help me catch Bahamut? If you will, there’s nothing I couldn’t do.”
“I’ll help, but probably not in the way you’re thinking.”
“God, enough with the roundabout answers! Tell me straight―what’s the benefit of joining that damn Hunter Management?”
“Put simply….”
Chae Mu-jin pointed at Lee Min-ji with his finger.
“You.”
“Me?”
“Will catch.”
“Catch what?”
“Bahamut yourself.”
Lee Min-ji stood frozen, hammer still raised. Then her face went rigid too.
“You’re joking? You took my words about revenge seriously?”
“Not at all.”
“Then how can you say that? An all-A-grade subjugation corps couldn’t catch Bahamut. And you’re saying you’ll let me catch it alone? That’s insane.”
“I understand your skepticism. I don’t have much of a reputation, so it’s natural you don’t believe me. So let’s do this.”
He held up one finger. Lee Min-ji’s eyes focused on its tip.
“Get consulting from me for just one month. If it still sounds like lies by then, you can leave, and I won’t stop you.”
“One month of my precious time wasted? Then you’d owe me about 100 million won.”
“Ha ha, because you’re the type I like, you’ve got quite the nerve.”
Chae Mu-jin was confident enough to stake not just 100 million, but 100 billion won, but he was irritated by how Lee Min-ji was making such a demand.
“You said it yourself―the chance of a Bahamut subjugation corps even forming is almost zero, but you’d bet on that slim possibility. At that point, you’re saying you’d give years of your life serving as the state’s weapon, yet you can’t spare one month under someone who says he can make you catch Bahamut?”
Chae Mu-jin turned his back and walked toward the exit.
“Fine, forget it. Anyway, they say if you save a black-haired beast, it’ll demand its payment back and the whole basket on top of it.”
He walked quickly, his hand already on the door handle.
But Lee Min-ji scoffed. Despite her age, she’d been through enough.
‘He’s playing hard to get? Does he think I’ll fall for it?’
The referee, unaware of this psychological warfare, shouted.
“Applicant Chae Mu-jin! If you open that door and leave, it’s automatic forfeiture!”
“Yes, I understand. I forfeit.”
“Wait, just a moment!”
Creak.
Before Lee Min-ji could even say anything to stop him, Chae Mu-jin really did walk out.
His back showed not a single shred of hesitation.
Lee Min-ji rushed out afterward and looked around, but Chae Mu-jin had already blended into the crowd, vanishing from sight.
She hesitated. But not for long.
With countless eyes watching, she didn’t care one bit and shouted at the top of her lungs.
“Ah, ah, for real! I’m sorry! Sir, no―Chae Mu-jin! Let’s talk!”

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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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