S-Classes That I Raised to Devour - Chapter 57

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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 57. Trusting Chae Mujin, Trusting Cheon I-hwa (1)
Kim Yeoul and Lee Minji’s combat styles shared a critical weakness: the more allies nearby, the weaker they became.
Lee Minji suffered because of her large, unwieldy weapon; Kim Yeoul because her magic was explosive in nature.
“This is frustrating.”
The moment combat began, Lee Minji dove into the mist. Worried about her, Kim Yeoul followed—crossing into the mist’s depths, the Demon Realm itself.
Shriek!
A Demon Goblin materialized before her eyes the instant she entered. This was what made the Demon Realm so dangerous.
Monsters spawned without warning, without preamble.
Mages, especially, were vulnerable at close range. No matter how quickly you cast, if a monster appears in your face, it’s nearly impossible to react.
Just as the Demon Goblin’s claws raked toward Kim Yeoul’s face—
Boom! Whoosh!
Light Flame erupted in empty air, incinerating the Demon Goblin.
Screech?
Other Demon Goblins, drawn by the flames, rushed at Kim Yeoul in unison. The result was identical.
They were shot down by the explosive flames in midair.
Before entering the Demon Realm, Kim Yeoul had laid Flame Mines around herself, orbiting her position like satellites.
“This place is treacherous.”
Having felt the Demon Realm’s character firsthand, Kim Yeoul immediately abandoned any thought of searching for Lee Minji.
Visibility barely reached ten meters. Her sense of direction had dissolved, and the dense concentration of mana made her dizzy.
She felt no urge to escape. How could she retreat when she didn’t even know where the exit lay?
Even if she did escape, there was a real risk of friendly fire from the other Hunters outside.
“I’ll fight here.”
The moment she resolved this, twelve Light Flame Orbs materialized. She converted half into mines to shield herself, and fired the rest.
The Demon Goblins, though Level 100 monsters, couldn’t withstand even a single Light Flame Orb and crumbled to ash.
Their weakness to the Light attribute played a part, but more than anything, it was the buff Chae Mujin had granted her—now twice as potent as before—that made the difference.
A deep, echoing roar.
Then, a silhouette incomparably vast compared to the Demon Goblins made its presence known. The Elite Monster the Rift Response Division had predicted and feared had arrived.
A Demon Chimera.
A grotesquely stitched amalgamation of countless monsters—a Level 300 abomination.
Kim Yeoul recognized the threat immediately and reset her stance, crying out—
“Run!”
She bolted without looking back. The Demon Chimera, enraged, gave chase. But—
Crash!
A Flame Mine she’d left in her wake detonated.
The Elite Monster ignored the flames and continued pursuit, yet the distance between them barely narrowed.
Five days of focused training—increased stamina, raw strength, and a movement speed buff—all bore fruit now.
Yet Kim Yeoul knew her limits well. Even with buffs, she lacked a finishing move.
She was confident against multiple weak monsters, but a single powerful foe? That was another matter.
So there was no reason to fight. Running alone sufficed.
A monstrous roar.
Wrapped in Light Flame, the Demon Chimera accumulated damage steadily, trampling and crushing its own Demon Goblins as it charged forward.
The Elite Monster fell first. Kim Yeoul had the good sense not to approach the corpse to confirm the kill.
‘The easiest way to avoid a trap is never to step into one in the first place.’
A survival rule Chae Mujin had beaten into her ears until she could recite it in her sleep.
Meanwhile, Lee Minji, who had entered the Demon Realm first, was having the time of her life.
“My level is skyrocketing!”
Demon Goblins fell in one hit. Even the Demon Chimera couldn’t survive more than three heavy strikes from her Large Hammer.
Part of this was because warriors, being more active than static mages, benefited more from buffs. But there was another reason.
The Great Force Unification—an incantation she’d learned while enslaved by the Witch.
It was far more than a mere enhancement of body and spirit. There were hidden properties even Chae Mujin didn’t know about.
It dealt double damage to evil entities, while halving damage taken in return.
Whether such properties arose because the technique’s creator was evil or righteous, Lee Minji could feel it clearly now in this battle.
“You’re all my prey! Ahahaha!”
As Lee Minji laughed and swung her hammer, even the monsters—creatures driven by nothing but instinct for slaughter and destruction—felt fear and hesitated.
* * *
The Sky Dome Rift ended in what could only be called a miracle.
Zero casualties.
The Rift Response Division knew better than anyone that this was not because the Rift was weak.
There was no need to debate whose contribution was greater. After the mist cleared, everyone witnessed the countless Demon Goblins and Chimeras scattered across the ground.
Lee Minji, drenched in blood, and Kim Yeoul, who even after the mist lifted refused to lower her guard.
At the sight of these two, the Hunters present fell utterly silent.
“Ah, it’s over then?”
Lee Minji brushed dust from herself and approached Kim Yeoul.
“Did you follow me? That’s dangerous.”
“Going alone would be even worse. Besides, that blood—”
“Some of it’s mine, but I’m fine. Look.”
To prove she still had fight left in her, Lee Minji spun the Large Hammer with practiced flourish.
Kim Yeoul relaxed at last, then felt the weight of the surrounding stares.
“Um… everyone’s looking at us.”
“Of course. We carried the whole raid.”
In a Dungeon, after a Boss Raid ends, settlement calculations determine each Hunter’s contribution. In reality, there’s no such formality.
But there was a reward: corpses of monsters scattered everywhere.
Normally, defeated Dungeon monsters turn to ash and vanish. But those that breach into the real world leave bodies behind.
Their bones, flesh, and the Mana Stones within fetch astronomical prices.
“Are you Kim Yeoul and Lee Minji, the Hunters?”
Lim Do-joon from the Rift Response Division approached them.
“Yes.”
“That’s right.”
“How many fingers am I holding up?”
The sudden quiz left Kim Yeoul and Lee Minji bewildered, but they answered four, which was what they saw.
“Your minds are sharp. One last thing—could you show me your Official Hunter Licenses?”
The two retrieved their Official Hunter Licenses from their inventories and displayed them.
Lim Do-joon examined them carefully, then nodded.
“Thank you for complying with procedure. I’m sure you’re wondering why I’m doing all this. Let me explain everything.”
Lim Do-joon gestured naturally for them to follow. Kim Yeoul and Lee Minji exchanged glances.
“Should we follow this person?”
Lee Minji voiced her doubts carelessly, even as Lim Do-joon heard them.
The answer came not from Kim Yeoul, but from Lim Do-joon himself.
“My apologies. I’m not used to these situations. I’m Lim Do-joon of the Rift Response Division.”
Lim Do-joon introduced himself by showing an identical Official Hunter License, then elaborated.
“The Rift Response Division is a subdivision of the Hunter Association. As the name suggests, we handle response and cleanup of Rifts. I’ve asked you here to explain the compensation for this Rift Raid.”
The word compensation shifted Kim Yeoul and Lee Minji’s expressions from caution to intrigue.
“He’s from the same Hunter Association, and he doesn’t seem to be lying. Let’s trust him once, Yeoul.”
“Shouldn’t we head back to our manager though?”
“He told us to rest. This must be what he meant, right?”
“Oh!”
Convinced, Kim Yeoul and Lee Minji rode in a car with Lim Do-joon and soon arrived at a luxury hotel.
Both were filthy with blood and dust, yet neither Lim Do-joon nor any hotel staff paid it the slightest mind.
“We’ll show you to a private bath.”
Lee Minji imagined a small bathroom at the mention of a private bath, but what she saw with her own eyes was in a entirely different league.
“This isn’t a bathroom—it’s a bathhouse!”
She had an entire public bath to herself, more than fifty pyeong in size. And that wasn’t all.
“Why are there nine different types of baths?”
Green tea baths, orange baths, wine baths—Lee Minji was thrilled by varieties of soaking pools she’d never seen before.
“What does this button do?”
She pressed the button labeled “Call,” and a staff member knocked on the door immediately.
“Hunter Lee Minji. Is there anything you need?”
“Oh, no. I was just curious what this button was, so I pressed it.”
“At Yongung Hotel, we pride ourselves on offering all services at the highest quality. Since this is your first time, may I recommend our body scrub service?”
“What’s a body scrub?”
“A service where we gently remove dead skin from your entire body. You’ll feel refreshed and revitalized, I assure you.”
“Sure, go ahead.”
“I’ll begin.”
After receiving the body scrub service, Lee Minji experienced something close to paradise.
She felt a little embarrassed when the dead skin came off, but that shame was washed away by the relief and invigoration that followed.
After a full-body massage as well, Lee Minji’s wonder was far from over.
“How many services are there?!”
Curious by nature, Lee Minji sampled every service available.
All manner of stylists came to attend to her with the utmost care.
A nail technician groomed her fingernails and toenails; a makeup artist applied natural makeup; a hair stylist restored shine and vitality to her roughened locks.
“So this is what caviar tastes like?”
She even tried caviar for the first time through the food service—in a private cinema, no less.
Time dissolved as she indulged in service after service, until—
“Hunter Lee Minji. Settlement is complete. Shall we head to the Briefing Room?”
Kim Yeoul was already seated in the Briefing Room, but she wasn’t alone.
Three middle-aged men in business suits sat formally, and as Lee Minji entered, they rose and introduced themselves.
“I’m a Mana Stone appraiser, handling the extraction and quality grading of Mana Stones.”
“I’m a special materials assessor, handling the appraisal of monster bones, flesh, and organs.”
“I’m the settlement officer, handling the shares and settlement of Rift Raids.”
“Ah, yes.”
What followed was an unfamiliar and tedious briefing for Kim Yeoul and Lee Minji.
Drowning in technical jargon, they couldn’t fathom which items had been recovered or why they were priced as they were.
Just as their attention was wavering and their eyes beginning to close, the moment they’d been waiting for finally came.
“…and thus, Hunter Kim Yeoul will receive 844.5 million won, and Hunter Lee Minji will receive 920 million won.”
At a sum three times what they’d earned from Boss raids, both women’s eyes widened.
But the settlement officer wasn’t finished.
“After a 40 percent tax deduction, Hunter Kim Yeoul receives 507 million won, and Hunter Lee Minji receives 552 million won.”
“40 percent in taxes? Not 20 percent? Are you trying to cheat us?”
Lee Minji knew that all Hunter activities incurred a 20 percent tax.
To hear them take 40 percent made her scowl sharply.
“Ahaha, understandable if you’re surprised for your first time. Let me explain in detail—”
“Just give it to me in one line. Why are you taking half the tax?”
As Lee Minji’s eyes widened, Lim Do-joon smoothly interjected.
“Think of it as an invoice for government equipment and military personnel used to seal the Rift, plus post-cleanup costs. It’s unfair, I know, but that’s the law.”
Lim Do-joon smacked his lips and, looking at the two women, smiled knowingly.
“However, if both of you were to join our Rift Response Division, things would be different. Zero taxes. You’d take the full 920 million won in profit.”
When the two made confused faces, Lim Do-joon continued his explanation as if he’d rehearsed it.
“Hunters assigned to the Rift Response Division are exempt from taxation on Rift compensation. It’s an exclusive privilege of our division. But the tax benefit isn’t all—the Rift Response Division, though part of the same Hunter Association, is an elite unit. We guarantee top-tier equipment and industry-leading treatment. Just like the services you enjoyed at Yongung Hotel today.”
Every amenity Lee Minji had received had been a perk of the Rift Response Division.
He made sure to emphasize this.
From the moment Lim Do-joon saw the two, he’d orchestrated everything to enlist them into his division.
‘These monstrous rookies are unaffiliated public Hunters? This is a gift from heaven itself.’
Lim Do-joon wet his lips. The instant he brought these two onto his team, his path to promotion would accelerate like a highway.
“Without the two of you, we can only imagine how many would have died in this Rift. So I ask—won’t you lend your talents to the Rift Response Division? I’ll offer you the best terms the Hunter Association has to offer.”
He acknowledged their strength and promised rewards. The final flourish was denying them time to think.
Swoosh.
He produced two pre-prepared forms. Application papers for joining the Rift Response Division.
“No complicated procedures necessary. Just sign your name at the bottom and you’re done.”
Kim Yeoul and Lee Minji stared at the papers. To Lim Do-joon’s eye, they appeared to be deliberating.
‘A little more and they’ll sign. Perfect.’
That was when someone tried to open the door from outside.
Rattle. Rattle.
‘Who is it? Good thing I locked the door.’
Concealing his irritation, Lim Do-joon called out in a measured tone.
“Whoever you are, please come back later. Important people are meeting inside.”
The rattling stopped. Instead, an angry woman’s voice carried through.
“I know. Because those important people are my kids, and I came to pick them up myself.”
Boom!
The steel lock wasn’t merely broken—the entire thick soundproof door was blown clean off its hinges, crashing onto the Briefing Room floor as if hit by an explosion.
Through the swirling dust, Cheon I-hwa stepped in with a smile, moving with casual grace.
“Hello?”
At the beautiful woman’s casual greeting, delivered with such overwhelming violence, everyone in the room held their breath and swallowed hard.

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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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