S-Classes That I Raised to Devour - Chapter 31

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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 31. The Tortoise and the Hare (1)
“We will now begin the opening ceremony for the 76th Official Hunter Residential Training Camp.”
The parade ground, the podium, even the dormitory itself—all of it was indistinguishable from a military base.
“There are fewer people here than I expected?”
At Lee Min-ji’s observation, Kim Yeo-ul glanced around. By her rough count, there were just over a hundred.
“Is there?”
“There definitely are fewer. The Official Hunter exam isn’t just held in Seoul, you know.”
“…Now that you mention it, I don’t recognize anyone here. Not even Cheon Yi-hwa.”
While she was looking around, a man sitting next to Lee Min-ji struck up a conversation.
“It’s called a residential training camp, but honestly, it’s more like a place where they brainwash you.”
Lee Min-ji turned her head. The man had striking blonde hair and clean-cut features.
“I’m Bae Ji-ta.”
“Lee Min-ji. But what do you mean by brainwash?”
“It’s a rather inflammatory word, true, but it’s just a rumor—gossip circulating among hunters.”
Bae Ji-ta leaned in closer to whisper something to Lee Min-ji, but she pushed him away with her hand.
“Say it from there.”
“Haha, well, the government already has a track record, you see. Fifty years ago, they tried to turn hunters into tools instead of people and failed. Ever since then, the government became permanently untrustworthy, that’s the thing.”
Lee Min-ji and Kim Yeo-ul, who had never received history lessons, were surprised that such a thing had happened.
“There are quite a few hunters who want to enjoy the benefits of being an Official Hunter, but don’t want to go to isolated places like residential training camps. That’s why there are so few people here.”
“So everyone here came not knowing about it, like me?”
“Almost no one. Most people came knowing.”
Bae Ji-ta winked playfully, but Lee Min-ji showed no reaction and continued her questioning.
“Then what brought you here?”
“That’s a secret.”
“Ah, I see.”
Bae Ji-ta had been trying to pique her curiosity, but Lee Min-ji simply turned away and spoke to Kim Yeo-ul.
“Do you think that manager knew all about this too? If he knew and still sent us, then it must be just a rumor, right?”
“Yeah. I trust the manager.”
“Talking to you about him seems pretty pointless.”
While they were chatting, the opening ceremony ended, and five instructors—both men and women—came up on the platform.
“These are the instructors who will spend the next seven days and eight nights with you all. Let me briefly introduce each of them…….”
The first instructor was a Grade B hunter at Level 227. At thirty-seven years old, he introduced himself as an expert in leveling up like no other.
The hunters, who had been indifferent during the ceremony itself, now paid attention and studied the faces of the instructors.
The second instructor had lower level but abundant PvP Combat experience, while the third was a veteran who had survived seven Boss Raids.
Once the introductions of the fourth and fifth instructors were finished, they all came down from the platform.
The announcer raised the volume of the microphone and spoke.
“Trainees, please now choose an instructor you would like to spend the next seven days and eight nights with.”
Not every instructor taught all the trainees in rotation. Instead, trainees joined under one instructor and learned from them.
The trainees deliberated carefully. Each instructor had distinct strengths and weaknesses.
But in the end, they all stood before the instructors who possessed the advantages they were looking for.
Though no time limit was announced, true to form, the group made their selections in ten minutes—except for two people.
“The two of you in the back row—are you still making up your minds?”
The announcer singled out Kim Yeo-ul and Lee Min-ji.
Everyone turned around to look at the two. Kim Yeo-ul shrank under the attention and gazes, while Lee Min-ji spoke confidently.
“The instructor we’re looking for isn’t here. We’ve been searching for them.”
“If you can’t see them, you’re welcome to come forward for a closer look. Haha!”
The announcer’s quip was clever enough, but Lee Min-ji remained serious.
“Besides these five people, is there no one else?”
“……?”
Everyone stared at Lee Min-ji with an expression of ‘What on earth is she talking about?’
Asking if there was anyone besides the five instructors introduced—it was nothing short of an insult.
A kind of silent protest: that none of these five instructors appealed to her enough to choose.
The faces of the five instructors, who had been patiently waiting, began to darken.
“Ah, there. That person.”
Just as Lee Min-ji drew everyone’s attention, Kim Yeo-ul found him—the ‘person’ Chae Mu-jin had told them to find. All eyes followed the direction of Kim Yeo-ul’s finger.
On the roof of the Parade Ground. Sitting in a camping chair and sipping whiskey was a shaggy-haired man.
* * *
Chae Mu-jin had told them not to choose any of the five instructors.
Instead, he said to find someone else—a person drinking alcohol in broad daylight.
“You’re telling us to receive instruction from someone who’s intoxicated in the middle of the day?”
“Trust without suspicion.”
Lee Min-ji recalled her conversation with Chae Mu-jin. But no matter how she looked at it, she couldn’t understand.
‘Is that person really so much better than the other instructors?’
He looked less like an instructor and more like an unemployed vagrant, a wastrel, or frankly, a beggar.
The beggar descended lightly from the roof. The other instructors suddenly gasped in alarm.
“M-Maazon, sir! What brings you to this place?”
“I have the rank of instructor too.”
“That’s not quite the issue—it’s just that we’re troubled to have someone of your stature visit such a humble venue…….”
The highest-leveled instructor among them stammered and bowed respectfully before the man called Maazon.
Other hunters watching this saw their eyes light up.
Just how exceptional was this man that the instructors couldn’t even meet his eyes properly?
“You two. What are your names?”
The beggar pointed at Kim Yeo-ul and Lee Min-ji with hazy, drunken eyes.
“People’s Livelihood Support Fund, shortened to Min-ji, please.”
“I-I’m Kim Yeo-ul.”
Thump.
“Good. Min-ji and Kim Yeo-ul. I have a question for you two.”
Maazon had somehow moved, positioning himself between Kim Yeo-ul and Lee Min-ji. His arms wrapped around both their necks, tucking them under his armpits.
No one could track his speed. Despite eyes wide open, their vision could only follow after the movement had already concluded.
“C-can’t breathe—”
“Ghhk—”
They resisted with all their might against Maazon, who suddenly began strangling them, but it was futile.
Like being trapped in stone. The other people didn’t dare intervene either, overwhelmed by the sheer momentum and unable to approach.
“Why did you choose me? If you don’t answer in five seconds, I’ll break your necks.”
Both girls felt genuinely cold dread. They instinctively understood that this man would really do it.
But what was truly eerie was that Chae Mu-jin had foreseen even this situation.
‘He’ll probably threaten to kill you outright, but don’t panic. That guy can’t kill people.’
Moreover, Chae Mu-jin had already decided who should answer—Kim Yeo-ul.
“A monster that goes against instinct is more human than a human living by instinct.”
“……!”
The moment Maazon heard those words, he tightened his arms. Both girls could no longer speak at all.
“Who taught you that? If you lie, you both die.”
Chae Mu-jin had instructed her to say that Association President Cheon Mu-jong had told her.
Kim Yeo-ul was about to reveal Cheon Mu-jong’s name as instructed—
But Lee Min-ji judged this to be an unexpected situation.
“Chae Mu-jin. That’s who instructed me to say it.”
Kim Yeo-ul shot Lee Min-ji a look even as her airway was being crushed.
“Chae Mu-jin…. I’ve never heard that name before.”
“That man knows you, though.”
“That’s quite an interesting story. I don’t know him, yet he knows me? I’ve killed everyone like that.”
Whoosh!
Released from the stranglehold, Kim Yeo-ul and Lee Min-ji’s legs buckled and they collapsed to the ground.
“Apparently that guy named Chae Mu-jin didn’t tell you my real name, but it’s Jin Tae-jin.”
When he revealed his name, several hunters gasped or covered their mouths with their hands. They might not have known Maazon, but they knew the name Jin Tae-jin.
“You rookies. Can you see the peak of that mountain over there?”
Jin Tae-jin pointed to the summit of a mountain far from the training camp. It was so distant and high that it was barely visible.
“That’s where I live. From now on, you two will bring me lunch and dinner every day.”
Jin Tae-jin said this and vanished from sight, as if he had never been there in the first place.
“…….”
“…….”
Hundreds had gathered, yet silence reigned. Then Bae Ji-ta rushed up to Lee Min-ji.
“What did you just do? Do you know who that is?!”
“Who is he?”
She had been wondering anyway. Chae Mu-jin had only said she must receive instruction from that man, but had never actually told her who he was.
“You don’t know the most dangerous hunter? Maazon Jin Tae-jin. The monster who openly declared ten years ago that he would kill the President, and was barely stopped by the combined efforts of the Association President and Dae Han Je-il Geom?”
Though Lee Min-ji didn’t know the name Jin Tae-jin, she did remember the “Presidential Assassination Warning Incident.”
“Wasn’t he dead?!”
“It was announced that he was dead. But he’s not actually dead—he just promised not to operate as Maazon anymore. Now he’s living life as an Official Hunter. But Min-ji, how on earth did you know to choose him?”
“That manager had his reasons for not telling us.”
Chae Mu-jin clearly knew. Otherwise, he wouldn’t have told them to study under some drunkard.
‘He’s certainly impressive, but isn’t he basically just insane?’
Ranked first on the Unofficial Hunter Ranking, Maazon. He was called a villain, though not a complete madman. His only problem was that he loved fighting—pitting his life against other hunters repeatedly.
Ultimately, the Hunter Association President and Dae Han Je-il Geom joined forces, subdued him, and he was hired by the Hunter Bureau on the condition that his life be spared.
But Jin Tae-jin didn’t spend his life as an Official Hunter contributing to the state.
He simply drank every day and lived like a reckless wastrel.
And suddenly appearing in his life were Kim Yeo-ul and Lee Min-ji.
“Min-ji. We should probably get going soon.”
Then Kim Yeo-ul urged Lee Min-ji forward.
“Right. Let’s call that manager right now and give him an earful. Why didn’t he tell us beforehand? We almost died!”
“It’s not that—there are only two hours until lunch. If we don’t start running now, we won’t make it in time, will we?”
Lee Min-ji wanted nothing more than to confront Chae Mu-jin, but Kim Yeo-ul was entirely different.
She pointed toward the mountain peak Jin Tae-jin had mentioned, her eyes burning with fervent enthusiasm.
“You don’t have to worry about the government brainwashing you. You’re already brainwashed by that manager.”
“Why didn’t you trust the manager in the first place? You should have said the Association President was Cheon Mu-jong, not the manager’s name!”
“You’re too rigid about these things. Maazon really was going to kill us, and he can see through lies. If we’d said Association President Cheon Mu-jong, we’d both be high-fiving in the afterlife by now.”
“The manager must have anticipated that Maazon wouldn’t actually do it.”
“Anticipation and reality are different things.”
“…Fine. Either way, we need to seize the opportunity the manager gave us.”
Even though Jin Tae-jin had been a villain, he wasn’t evil, and now he was reformed, living as an Official Hunter.
Getting to train under him for just a week was like winning the lottery.
Lee Min-ji’s judgment had wavered briefly in the face of near-death, but she quickly agreed with Kim Yeo-ul’s words.
“Yeah, you’re right. We can confront him after we meet him. I’ll grab him by the collar and shake him.”
Fire ignited in Lee Min-ji’s eyes too. The fundamental goal of bringing down Bahamut, the killer of her parents.
And now a secondary goal had been added—to grab Chae Mu-jin by the collar and shake him as well.

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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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