S-Classes That I Raised to Devour - Chapter 55

—————
This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
—————

Episode 55. Knowing Alone Is Not Enough (6)
Lee Minji’s mind was in turmoil.
Hunters surrounded her, thanking her endlessly and asking for her name.
Among them were faces she recognized. Most of the Hunters gathered here were Solo Hunters, and she too had started as one.
‘There’s even someone who kicked me out of their Party.’
A clever and sharp mage they’d expelled from the Party for attacking too slowly and recklessly.
‘And someone who disrespected me for being a woman.’
A warrior who’d rejected her request to join, saying seriously that women had no business being Melee Dealers.
‘And that bastard who demanded disgusting things in exchange for letting me join.’
All three were far superior Hunters compared to the Lee Minji of a year ago. Clever, strong, blessed with good traits and skills.
And so she’d laughed off their contempt, insults, and sexual harassment.
‘I’m annoyed at the ones who pretend not to know, but the ones who’ve actually forgotten me annoy me even more.’
She hadn’t forgotten. Not their faces, not their names, not the pain of that time. Yet they’d forgotten her.
They stood before her now in nearly the same positions, only bent at the knees—nearly kneeling.
Then a man’s voice pulled her thoughts back into focus.
“Hunter. Are you having trouble choosing your Raid Reward? May I be of assistance?”
It was Deadshot. The Hunter she’d admired above all, her role model—and the benefactor who’d once saved her life in a Dungeon.
Someone she’d longed to meet, yet someone impossibly far above her reach.
He explained the Raid Rewards with meticulous courtesy.
“Of the six rewards, the three most valuable are Yorick’s Staff, Beginner Dark Magic Tome Volume 1, and the Cloak of Darkness.”
Only then did Lee Minji examine all six Boss Raid Rewards.
「Equipment — Yorick’s Staff」
「Equipment — Cloak of Darkness」
「Item — Beginner Dark Magic Tome Volume 1」
「Relic — Skull King’s Tomb Key Fragment (Superior)」
「Item — Dark Crystal(1)」
「Item — Skeleton Knight’s Skull」
With this in front of her, there was no point agonizing over whether Deadshot’s advice was genuine or false.
Even if the remaining three items held real value, Chae Mujin would certainly choose them anyway.
Lee Minji selected the three items, and Chae Mujin and Kim Yeoul immediately chose theirs—clearly they’d already decided.
Chae Mujin took the Skull King’s Tomb Key Fragment, and Kim Yeoul claimed the Skeleton Knight’s Skull.
Deadshot took the remaining Dark Crystal with an expression of genuine regret.
Rumble-rumble-rumble!
As the Raid Reward distribution concluded, the Dungeon began showing signs of collapse.
“Come on, everyone. Let’s not linger here. Time to escape.”
Under Deadshot’s direction, the Hunters flowed out like a receding tide.
Then Deadshot suddenly took Lee Minji’s hand and spoke.
“Hunter, why don’t you use a different exit? You seem tired.”
Certainly, being surrounded by two hundred men was not a pleasant experience. And some of them were genuinely annoying.
Lee Minji looked around. Still no sign of Chae Mujin and Kim Yeoul.
‘How considerate of him.’
Before entering the Dungeon, she’d told Deadshot she admired him.
It seemed Chae Mujin remembered and had stepped back to give them time alone.
“Sure.”
Accepting Deadshot’s offer, Lee Minji left through a different exit with him, just the two of them.
* * *
The moment they returned to reality, Deadshot bowed deeply in gratitude.
“Thanks to you, Hunter, we successfully completed the Raid. I’m truly grateful.”
“Oh, no. I didn’t do it alone.”
“My name is Kim Gwang-chul. And yours, Hunter? Or perhaps a Hunter Name?”
Hunters could choose to hide their true names and use a Hunter Name instead, the way Kim Gwang-chul went by Deadshot.
“Mine-saeng Ji-won-geum.”
“Pardon?”
“You don’t remember?”
“Mine-saeng Ji-won-geum? Do you mean whether I received the stimulus payment? I wasn’t eligible.”
“I see.”
“Ah, please wait just a moment?”
Deadshot Kim Gwang-chul vanished with quick strides, then returned at a leisurely pace in a car—a luxury vehicle that even someone ignorant of automobiles like Lee Minji could tell was worth tens of billions of won.
“Talking on this dusty ground would be disrespectful to your beauty, Hunter. How about we continue our conversation at a Membership-Exclusive Restaurant?”
He opened the passenger door himself, offering courteously.
Kim Gwang-chul, in his late twenties, couldn’t be called handsome exactly, but from head to toe he bore a neat impression—hardly the appearance of a bad person. Lee Minji wordlessly moved toward the passenger seat.
Kim Gwang-chul was already in the driver’s seat, waiting for her to sit.
Click.
Lee Minji closed the passenger door and leaned against the window to speak.
“Deadshot. It was nice meeting you today.”
“What?”
“You probably won’t remember. But I told you my name. It’s Lee Minji.”
“Ah…….”
“Maybe next time we meet. I’m curious whether you’ll remember my name then.”
She smiled—a bright, unclouded smile that seemed to release something pent up. At that smile, Kim Gwang-chul’s heart stuttered.
“Wait……!”
He reached out, but Lee Minji walked away without looking back.
“Lee Minji……?”
She seemed to know him. Yet he didn’t know her—it was strange.
“How could I not remember a Hunter woman this strong and beautiful? Damn!”
Bang!
Deadshot’s fist struck the steering wheel, trembling with frustration.
This was a trick of memory. The clumsy, reckless Lee Minji of the past—fragile and uncertain—had left no impression, no matter how beautiful she was.
“I won’t forget again.”
Kim Gwang-chul didn’t think this would be his last chance. He was certain there would be opportunities ahead.
He canceled the restaurant reservation he’d made when getting the car. A substantial cancellation fee appeared, but he didn’t care.
Instead, he rushed to a Tattoo Shop and asked them to tattoo the three characters of her name onto his wrist.
The Tattoo Shop owner smiled and asked.
“Your wife?”
Kim Gwang-chul answered with utmost seriousness.
“I’m going to make it so.”
“For this kind of tattoo, we usually do the right wrist… oh?”
There was already a name tattooed on his right wrist.
—Shin Ae-kyung
“What’s this, then?”
“I’m going to have it removed. Do this new one on my left wrist instead.”
“Ah, yes.”
The Tattoo Shop owner, who’d taken Kim Gwang-chul for a romantic, muttered inwardly.
‘What a piece of garbage.’
But professionally smiling, he applied the new tattoo.
* * *
“Why did you come back so soon?”
Chae Mujin, eating a Chinese Restaurant set meal, naturally slid his chopsticks toward her.
“He had no sense. A man without sense, no matter how handsome or rich, won’t be popular. You know that, right?”
“Even if it’s Cha Jun-woo?”
“Cha Jun-woo is the exception. Nom nom.”
Lee Minji immediately attacked the sweet and sour pork. Gyeoul spoke carefully.
“Should I bring you a separate plate?”
Chae Mujin had only ordered three servings, expecting Lee Minji to arrive late—his own, and one each for the siblings.
Gyeoul had suggested sharing her portion of jjajangmyeon willingly.
“A separate plate? So I can share?”
“Yeah. I’ll give you half of mine.”
“Will half even fill me up? Order another set.”
“Uh, another whole set?”
“Hurry. I’m in a rush.”
“I’ll order it.”
Gyeoul ordered another set meal for her instead.
Dinner was essentially a battlefield.
Because Lee Minji attacked the sweet and sour pork first, an impromptu war over the dish erupted.
“Minji. You got four dumplings. You can’t take two.”
“I only took one?”
“I can see the ones hidden in the jjajangmyeon.”
“Ah, sorry.”
The additionally delivered jjamppong and nurungji soup disappeared into Lee Minji’s appetite just as quickly.
“Whew~ Now I’m finally full.”
Tap-tap.
Patting her belly, Lee Minji casually placed items on the table.
Yorick’s Staff, Beginner Dark Magic Tome Volume 1, Cloak of Darkness. The Rewards from the Raid.
“If we sell all this, how much do we get?”
“After taxes, fees, and a 70-30 split, probably between four hundred million and four hundred fifty million won.”
“You’re saying four hundred fifty million goes into my account?”
“The settlement is paid two months out.”
“Two months out? What does that mean?”
“The month after next. So it’s November now, which means January.”
“Yes! I won, Kim Yeoul!”
“Uh, yeah, congrats.”
“Dessert’s on me! Gyeoul, order everything from the Dessert Café menu!”
“Everything? Really?”
“Even if it comes to ten million won, I don’t care!”
Full and uncomfortable, Kim Yeoul’s expression darkened.
“Mi, Minji. I’m too full. I don’t think I can eat.”
“Then don’t eat.”
“Ah, okay.”
After finishing dessert, Lee Minji’s face gleamed, and Gyeoul marveled.
“Unnie, where did all that food go?”
“There’s a separate stomach for dessert.”
“Right. Before your blood sugar spikes, let’s walk.”
Chae Mujin took Lee Minji out, walking in silence. Feeling frustrated, Lee Minji pressed him.
“You called me out. Why aren’t you saying anything?”
“I didn’t call you out to say something.”
Normally she would have shot back, but today she faltered uncertainly.
She thought for a moment, then spoke.
“…I’m grateful for today.”
“For what?”
“For the Boss Monster. You gave me an enormous amount of Buffs, didn’t you?”
“Of course I gave you Buffs. But not an enormous amount. Remember when I told you to adapt to Buffs? That’s exactly how much I used.”
“That’s… a lie.”
Chae Mujin, who’d walked ahead, stopped and blocked her path.
“Why would I lie?”
“To make me feel better.”
“Don’t get it twisted. Whether you cry or not is none of my concern. I’m standing here because I resent wasting the time I invested in you.”
At those cruelly indifferent words, Lee Minji’s expression suddenly hardened, and her eyes stung.
But Chae Mujin continued without hesitation.
“You’re strong. I brought you there to make you realize it. You think you beat it because I gave you lots of Buffs? If Boss Raids could be done with just Buffs, why would I bother bringing only you and Yeoul? I could’ve taken any one of those two hundred Hunters there and given them Buffs instead.”
“…I don’t understand.”
“Then you need to learn. Just as you worked hard to grow stronger, you must learn this too. Growing stronger isn’t just about training the body. You have to train your mind as well. A body alone, without a mind? That’s no different from a monster.”
“But I couldn’t beat Magic Girl. I was no match at all.”
“Failure isn’t a mistake. It’s just groundwork for success.”
“……!”
“Those geniuses on TV, heroes who slay Bosses in one strike—that’s all packaging. They’ve had their bones shattered and crawled through dirt hundreds of times too. The only difference is, the failures in this world either died and disappeared, or they kept their mouths shut.”
Chae Mujin approached Lee Minji from behind and gently pushed her shoulders toward the window.
Below, the glittering cityscape stretched out in brilliant light.
But Chae Mujin’s gaze was fixed on the deep shadows hidden beneath that light.
Lee Minji listened, closed her eyes, and after a long moment, spoke.
“…Have you ever failed?”
“I’ve made failures I couldn’t undo.”
“Then how did you endure?”
“Because it was everything to me.”
“…….”
“It was my reason for living. And I thought you were the same kind of person as me.”
“The same kind……?”
“Where did that Minji go? The one who said she’d fight Bahamut to avenge her parents?”
Her parents’ revenge. Bahamut.
Hearing that name, Lee Minji bristled.
“I still want revenge. I haven’t given up―”
“You haven’t given up? You, who surrendered to Magic Girl? Or are you saying you can’t beat Magic Girl but you can beat Bahamut?”
Lee Minji’s heart raced wildly.
But it wasn’t from fear. It was exhilaration. The sensation of grasping something she hadn’t known existed. The liberation of a transparent membrane that had bound her shattering away.
Everything changed. Chae Mujin, who’d seemed angry, now looked calm. The murky world suddenly became clear and defined.
She wondered how she’d been living before this.
“…Thank you, sir.”
“For what?”
Lee Minji, seized by a sense of déjà vu, laughed quietly.
“I’ve realized it. How much weight those words carry—that I’ll kill Bahamut.”
The old Lee Minji had simply wanted revenge for her parents. It didn’t matter if the target was Bahamut or some nameless villain. If given the chance to drive a blade home, how strong the enemy was didn’t even factor into her thinking.
But after meeting Chae Mujin, she’d finally understood with a shudder the horrifying gap between imagination and reality.
Combat with Magic Girl, a Named-Rank Boss. Not just her mind but her entire body had shattered, teaching her viscerally the absolute disparity in power. Lee Minji had been utterly broken.
Yet afterward, hunting other Boss Monsters, she’d come to understand at last.
It wasn’t that she was weak. Magic Girl was simply, absurdly, impossibly strong.
Defeat before an overwhelmingly superior enemy was an entirely natural result.
“Now I think how ignorant I was. Losing is inevitable. Without your help, I wouldn’t even have dared to face a Named-Rank Monster.”
Chae Mujin, who’d had his hand in his pocket, withdrew it.
“And?”
“And I’ve realized that ordinary effort won’t be enough to take down Bahamut.”
“Right. You’ll need to work far harder than you can currently imagine. To be honest, training hasn’t even started yet. You’ve just barely completed the Tutorial.”
Chae Mujin reached out and took Lee Minji’s hand.
“You have five fingers.”
“Uh, yes.”
“If one of these fingers were cut off, how do you think it would feel?”
“It would hurt. Be inconvenient?”
“What about your wrist?”
“……?”
Chae Mujin’s hand moved gradually upward, all the way to her shoulder.
“Your arm, and your legs too. Among Hunters who’ve surpassed Level 300, few have never experienced amputation. Even Deadshot, the one you admired—his left arm is entirely a Prosthetic Limb.”
“Really? I had no idea.”
“Most Hunters enter combat prepared to die. But they’re not prepared to suffer unto death. Lee Minji, are you?”
Lee Minji put her hands on her hips and spoke with conviction.
“I’m the opposite. I’ve already suffered unto death before I resolved to die. So don’t worry. I’ll never give up.”
“Seems like you were about to give up.”
“That wasn’t giving up—that was despair!”
Lee Minji let out a sharp cry. Chae Mujin finally smiled.
“There. Now you sound like Lee Minji again.”
That night.
Lee Minji hated sleep. Each time, she dreamed of her parents’ deaths.
Of seeing herself unable to do anything, only crying.
But tonight, Lee Minji didn’t cry in her dream. Instead, she cried out to her parents, swearing she would take revenge, asking them to wait.
The next morning, Lee Minji experienced her first refreshing dawn since that day.
At the same moment.
Chae Mujin awoke with equal brightness. Today was the day he’d been waiting for.
‘Both Yeoul and Minji are ready.’
With their foundations established—both physically and mentally—it was time to begin true training.

—————
This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
—————