S-Classes That I Raised to Devour - Chapter 62
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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 62. Automatic Deterrent (2)
A first-prize lottery ticket fallen to the ground.
That was exactly what assassins thought Chae Mujin to be.
If they killed Chae Mujin, their fame and infamy would skyrocket; if they kidnapped him, they could extract a ransom that would let them live comfortably for the rest of their lives.
“There are plenty of competitors, I see. I’ll back out, so you lot can have your little squabble.”
Offis withdrew coolly from the scene.
Of course, it was a lie. She only pretended to leave, stopping instead in the sewer connected to the Arc Management Building.
‘They’ve really built it so no human could get through.’
But she didn’t have the notorious reputation of a Grade-1 assassin for nothing.
Shrank down.
Her body rapidly contracted, until she became no larger than an ant.
「Skill—Shrink (B)」
•You can reduce your body to a minimum of 1.5mm.
•As your body shrinks, your strength and stamina decrease accordingly.
With her frame reduced by the skill, she could squeeze through even the tiniest of openings.
Just as she was about to dash into the sewer—
Boom!
A shot fired from several hundred meters away struck her.
It was remarkable enough that someone could spot her at that size with the naked eye, but the precision of the shot was particularly extraordinary.
Yet she was no easy target either.
She dodged the bullet as if someone had yanked her backward.
Rumble!
The attacks weren’t finished. The ground trembled, and a dagger thrust upward.
A wavy purple blade. Offis knew all too well that even grazing it would mean death.
Clang!
She drew her own dagger and parried the blow.
The Shrink skill had a hidden option—it also shrank her weapons and equipment while maintaining their effects.
Offis deactivated Shrink and shouted at the man beneath the earth and the sniper.
“You want a go at me?”
The reply came from the earth where the blade had emerged.
“That’s what we should be asking. Who gave you the right to deal with Chae Mujin? That man is mine.”
“If you want to deal with Chae Mujin, you should go kill him, not come after me with all this nonsense!”
“We don’t know where he is, so we’re waiting here. Eventually he’ll return to the company. Before that happens, I won’t tolerate you acting alone.”
“I’ll go into the building and check if Chae Mujin is there.”
“Heh heh heh, trust an assassin? I’d sooner trust the devil himself.”
Offis stamped on the hole where the blade had emerged, but that did nothing to silence his mouth.
“Offis. Like us, wait here quietly for Chae Mujin to show himself. Or would you care to fight us?”
“You’re all idiots. You’re actually helping Chae Mujin.”
“Helping him? Don’t be naive. I’m simply preventing you from killing the Chae Mujin I’m meant to kill.”
There was no reasoning with them. Then again, if assassins could be reasoned with, they wouldn’t be assassins.
She bit her lower lip. If she fought each of the assassins gathered here one-on-one, she was confident she could win.
But if two or more came at her together, even she couldn’t guarantee victory.
“Ugh, this is driving me insane!”
With that cry, she obediently withdrew from the sewer. When she returned, Jenny was there to greet her, and the two of them bickered for a week waiting for Chae Mujin to arrive—
but ultimately, Chae Mujin never showed, and the two eventually gave up and returned to their hideout.
* * *
Right after the opening ceremony ended, Chae Mujin loaded Kim Yeoul and Lee Minji into the car and pressed down on the accelerator.
They drove so fast there was no time for conversation, but once they left the city, Chae Mujin eased off the speed and finally spoke.
“Why did you come so early? I figured you wouldn’t arrive until this evening at the earliest.”
Those who perform well in rifts receive lavish treatment. Chae Mujin knew this well, which is why he asked.
“You’re going to be shocked when you hear this.”
Lee Minji spilled everything that had happened at the hotel, from first detail to last.
How the Rift Response Division had tried to recruit them, when Cheon Ihwa suddenly appeared and proposed they join the Amhaeng-eosa instead.
“The treatment was really amazing. If we left, you’d be so sad. We felt sorry for you, so we stayed.”
“That’s a foolish decision. Do you know how much power you’d wield as part of the Amhaeng-eosa? They would’ve given you elixirs for free, legendary-tier equipment too.”
“Wait, how did you know that? Did I mention it?”
“If Cheon Ihwa was talking big about it, there would be those kinds of benefits.”
Chae Mujin felt genuine regret. He had been secretly certain that Kim Yeoul and Lee Minji would definitely join the Amhaeng-eosa.
Just then, Kim Yeoul picked up on a detail Lee Minji had glossed over.
“I wanted to join the Amhaeng-eosa while staying with the Management Company. But Cheon Ihwa said it wasn’t possible……”
“Cheon Ihwa said it wasn’t possible? Hmm……”
The Cheon Ihwa that Chae Mujin knew wasn’t the type to be inflexible like that.
Moreover, the Hunter Management Company doesn’t force anything on its hunters. It’s more of a contractual relationship than one of obligation.
‘Cheon Ihwa is smart enough that she should know that.’
Chae Mujin shook his head. When he thought about it, he couldn’t claim to know everything about Cheon Ihwa.
‘Cheon Ihwa must have her reasons.’
Moreover, this incident had revealed a new path forward.
‘Maybe it’s easier to just keep them as hunters under the company.’
If the two of them had joined the Amhaeng-eosa, they’d enjoy its benefits, but in return they’d bear the obligations of membership.
Of course, being part of the Amhaeng-eosa wouldn’t normally cause problems, but what if they were in the middle of a Boss Raid and the Amhaeng-eosa needed them for another Boss Raid at the same time?
‘Their position would become awkward.’
Unaffiliated Public Hunters can leave fairly freely, but the Amhaeng-eosa is different.
It’s not a bathroom you can enter when you need it and leave when you don’t.
‘I think I was mistaken about this.’
The benefits had briefly dazzled him. There had been no time to think deeply about this issue.
Instead, this incident had completely changed his thinking. There was no need to share his exclusive hunters with others.
“You did really well, Yeoul. Minji, I’m grateful too.”
“Are you finally realizing how precious we are?”
“Yeah. I think I should introduce a Generation system now. You two will be the first generation.”
“First generation? That sounds like we’re idols.”
“Something like that. But that doesn’t mean you have to cater to everyone like idols do, so don’t worry. It’s just a way to organize things so it’s easier for me to give out Buffs later.”
“When you say later, how many generations are you planning to create?”
“The more, the better.”
“So the first generation is just the two of us, right?”
“A standard party is four people. I need to fill in the other two.”
The concept of finding two more people to complete the first generation was foreign to Kim Yeoul, and honestly, she understood nothing.
But when Chae Mujin used a party analogy, it immediately clicked.
“I’m the ranged dealer and Minji is the melee dealer, so the other two are a tank and healer, right?”
“Maybe, or maybe not.”
He wasn’t intentionally being vague. The truth was, nothing was settled yet.
‘I have a few candidates in mind, but I can’t guarantee I’ll be able to recruit them.’
Though he preserved his past-life memories perfectly in the Akashic Record, those memories themselves weren’t flawless.
There could be misinformation, and there could be details that changed because of his own actions.
‘So I can’t make a definite promise.’
But one thing was certain.
The danger was still there.
He could feel the final confrontation with Magic Girl drawing near.
For now, he’d pinned her to Seoul, blocking the Hunter Association and Association from turning a blind eye, but he had no intention of leaving the entire raid to them.
‘I, and we, must do this.’
Kim Yeoul and Lee Minji had performed admirably in this rift. With his Buff, it was fair to say they had the power of Grade-B Hunters.
But it still wasn’t nearly enough. Not to face Magic Girl. At minimum, they needed to have Awakening Abilities to even attempt it.
‘Three months at most. Can Yeoul and Minji reach Level 300 in that time?’
The calculation was unnecessary—it was impossible.
‘Level 200 might be possible… but simply raising their Level won’t let them stand against Magic Girl.’
He needed three Masterpiece items to make up for their low Levels and missing Awakening Abilities.
A powerful Buff.
Godly equipment.
Trustworthy companions.
Fortunately, he had one of the three, so he just needed to secure the other two.
‘Within three months.’
That said, there was no avoiding the need for Kim Yeoul and Lee Minji to grow, which is why they were traveling now. The destination was, naturally, a Dungeon.
The two of them already knew where they were going, so they didn’t bother asking.
Chae Mujin had spent quite a long time at Level 99. Part of it was because the experience requirement to go from Level 99 to 100 was absurdly large, but mainly it was because he’d had to focus on external activities rather than hunting.
Kim Yeoul was at Level 96, and Lee Minji at Level 97—neither had reached Level 100 yet.
‘I should activate Auto Hunt soon.’
Asking them to hunt on their own at their current level carried some risk.
So he planned to boost their Levels significantly all at once and then move forward.
—Entering Grade-2 Contaminated Area: Cheonan City. Special caution is advised.
The navigation system issued its warning, but Chae Mujin, Kim Yeoul, and Lee Minji in the back seat regarded it with composure, simply observing.
The composure to not flinch in almost any situation. Chae Mujin was pleased.
“We’ve arrived.”
They had arrived, as expected, at the entrance to a Dungeon.
* * *
“What kind of Dungeon is it this time?”
“The lava swamp was hard enough, so what will it be now…?”
Like a puppy eager for a walk, Lee Minji gestured impatiently for Chae Mujin to hurry, but he signaled her to wait.
Whoosh.
“Huh? What?!”
“Is that a bag… coming out of the shadow?”
From Magic Girl’s pocket dimension, Chae Mujin had retrieved a Shadow Bag, and thanks to it, such feats were now possible.
Large items emerged smoothly from the handbag-sized Shadow Bag—general goods that wouldn’t fit in an inventory.
“Does anyone know how to set up a tent?”
At Chae Mujin’s question, both Lee Minji and Kim Yeoul shook their heads.
“Then just warm up a bit.”
Thinking it wouldn’t take long, both of them began light stretching.
Bang, bang.
Creak, crackle.
The task that should have taken five minutes at most was still going on.
It even sounded like construction work.
Chae Mujin had set up not one tent, but four. Three small ones and one large one.
“Sir, you’re throwing a surprise party for us like this… When do we get the barbecue?”
“This isn’t a camping trip. The small tents are bedrooms, as you can see. The big one is the kitchen. Washing up—you’ll have to make do with the bottled water stacked over there.”
Two-liter bottles of water were piled like mountains. Besides that, there were stockpiles of instant noodles, rice, and snacks.
“Um, Manager? The quantity…”
“Not enough? It should be enough for a month’s provisions.”
“Why would we need a month’s worth of food?”
“Because we’ll be hunting for a month.”
“…?”
“Twelve hours of hunting, one hour eating, four hours sleeping—on infinite repeat. Until when? Until you both hit Level 150.”
“…You’re joking, right?”
“No matter what, how are we supposed to reach Level 150 in just one month?”
“It’s possible. I’ve done it myself.”
With no further discussion needed, Chae Mujin Buffed the two of them and shoved them toward the Dungeon.
The Dungeon Chae Mujin had selected was an endless meadow. Cattle were grazing peacefully when they spotted Chae Mujin’s party and lifted their heads.
“Oh my, how cute. Surely we don’t have to hunt those, right?”
“Cute, you say. Will you say that again?”
The cattle stood up. On two legs. They ambled forward carrying enormous scythes from nowhere, but the real shock was their sound.
Moo. Moo. Moo.
It wasn’t a cow’s cry. It was like a phlegmy 40-year-old man forcing out “moo” with his own voice—a sound so grotesquely repellent it gave chills.
Lee Minji rubbed her goosebumped arms at that voice.
“Let’s just kill them right away?”
“Humancow, Level 170. They don’t drop items, but they give plenty of experience points and spawn in great numbers. If pure Leveling is the goal, there’s no better Dungeon than this.”
Click.
Chae Mujin chambered the Sword of Light Efilui and a custom-made handgun.
“Let’s bet. Whoever kills the most. The loser does the dishes.”
Bang!
With the gunshot, Chae Mujin charged forward, and Lee Minji, not to be outdone, drew her hammer.
“Wait, if you burn the field we’ll be in trouble!”
Flustered about the meadow becoming a sea of flames, Kim Yeoul heard Chae Mujin shout back over his shoulder.
“Don’t worry about it. The grass here is fire-immune.”
Only then did Kim Yeoul’s eyes light up as she sent a dozen fireballs skyward and began her bombardment.
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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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