S-Classes That I Raised to Devour - Chapter 91

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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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Chapter 91. Chae Mujin, Dead? (1)
Retrieving the Saint’s Corpse Flower from the Great Water Mirror presented two treacherous passages.
Upon entering Konkunta Island, and upon escaping it.
Yet thanks to Kraken—that colossal catastrophe that had crawled ashore—the waters of departure had, paradoxically, become eerily smooth.
On the deck, as the island receded into the distance, the faces of the 1st Generation hunters betrayed mounting anxiety.
They knew it in their heads: Chae Mujin possessed the Teleportation skill, the Buff Link.
‘He’ll shake off the Kraken and come here.’
‘Let’s trust and wait. He’s not just anyone—he’s our manager.’
‘I know that Mujin isn’t a reckless person like me, but a wise one.’
Yet even as the ship cleared the island’s waters entirely, Chae Mujin never appeared.
Unable to bear it any longer, Lee Minji bolted for the helm, trying to kill the engines, but Brian seized her wrist.
“What are you doing?! Stop the ship right now!”
But Brian shook his head with an icy expression.
“If we stop the ship here, we’ll be attacked by monsters. Our vessel is already half-destroyed. One more hit and you’ll all die.”
The Lightning Gloves that Druhlf had fashioned had long since exhausted their magical power, becoming nothing but scrap metal.
The ship, having grown too heavy, had been stripped of them entirely. A single stray shell from the pirate goblins would send it straight to the bottom.
“So you’re saying we abandon the manager and sail on?”
Kim Yeoul joined in. Choi Gang-im pressed him with his eyes.
Facing three against one in this tense standoff, Brian didn’t so much as twitch an eyebrow.
“Our goal is the Corpse Flower in my hands. Mujin decided that the Corpse Flower and your lives matter more than his own, and he convinced me. I agreed.”
Gripping the helm, Brian instead pushed the engines to their limit.
“I’ll trust Mujin and deliver this Corpse Flower and all of you back to the real world alive. If you don’t like my way, try to stop me by force.”
“Go ahead and try!”
Lee Minji swung her fist. Buffed by Chae Mujin’s enhancement, her blow was fast and vicious, but Brian deflected it effortlessly with his palm, muttering coldly.
“Unarmed against me. How gracious.”
Brian himself bore a Buff, however.
Thump-thump!
Choi Gang-im charged with heavy strides and wrapped his arms around Brian’s torso, then exploded with force, trying to snap him backward and slam him onto the deck.
……!
Yet Brian’s legs remained rooted to the deck as if anchored by iron stakes—not a flinch.
For an instant, Choi Gang-im felt as though he were embracing a towering mountain.
‘Then a Strength Contest….’
The Strength Contest skill—the very one that had let him match the formidable Kraken in raw power.
The moment he began drawing up magical power to activate it—
A soft press.
Brian’s finger found and pressed the acupoint at the back of Gang-im’s neck with casual precision.
With that single touch, the massive Choi Gang-im crumpled like a puppet with its strings cut.
“Gang-im!”
Kim Yeoul rushed over and shook him.
“He’s just unconscious. Don’t panic.”
In that very moment, from Brian’s blind spot, Lee Minji swung a massive Hammer in a full-power arc.
This time, a lethal strike without mercy.
Crack!
Brian’s upper body was torn away by the impact.
“……?!”
For an instant, Lee Minji and Kim Yeoul’s breath caught in their throats. Dread washed over them—the horrifying realization that they’d just killed a man in their rage.
“You sleep too.”
A soft press.
In a blink, Brian materialized behind Lee Minji and pressed her neck.
The upper body that had been torn away was no real body at all—merely a Shadow Clone. Even the severed half was squirming, regenerating perfectly whole.
Left alone, Kim Yeoul frantically tried to gather her magical power—
“You’re scared, so I’ll seal you.”
Swoosh!
The Dark Shadow Chain that had once bound Kraken wrapped around Kim Yeoul’s entire body.
Caught in the Dark Shadow Chain, Kim Yeoul understood at last: why Kraken could never break free from it.
‘My body won’t obey me.’
The Dark Shadow Chain was not a shackle that bound the flesh. It was a shackle that bound the soul itself.
Having subdued the 1st Generation hunters empowered by Chae Mujin’s Buff in just ten seconds, Brian exhaled.
“As if I don’t worry about Mujin…. Tch.”
Yet he had one conviction.
‘Chae Mujin. You’re a man with greater ambition than anyone I’ve ever met. A man like that would never throw away his life to save someone.’
He must have volunteered as bait because he had some way to survive.
Brian forced himself to believe it. Without that belief, he couldn’t possibly accept Chae Mujin’s selfish choice.
‘A fool who willingly throws away his own life for others—there’s no way such a thing still exists in this world.’
That was what Brian firmly believed: the age of such romance had long since passed.
* * *
In the end, Brian led the 1st Generation hunters out of the Great Water Mirror.
The moment they reached safety, he woke Lee Minji and Choi Gang-im, and released the Dark Shadow Chain binding Kim Yeoul.
“My contract with Chae Mujin ends here.”
He’d secured the Saint’s Corpse Flower and brought the 1st Generation hunters back alive.
He didn’t need to involve himself further, but Brian decided to act as he saw fit.
“But if I leave, you lot will go back into the dungeon to ‘rescue’ Mujin, won’t you? I can’t stand that kind of recklessness.”
A Shadow Clone positioned itself at the dungeon’s entrance, blocking it.
“I’ll deliver the Corpse Flower to Dok Ryeong Ma-ui myself. You return to the guild—no, the company—and wait. I’ll explain the full situation afterward.”
Brian, playing the adult in Chae Mujin’s stead.
The 1st Generation hunters itched to rush in and rescue him, despite his words. Lee Minji and Kim Yeoul bore defiant expressions.
Seeing their faces, Brian clicked his tongue.
‘I’ll have to use force.’
Just as he was about to knock them unconscious again and carry them like luggage, Choi Gang-im stepped forward.
With a composed gaze, he looked between Kim Yeoul and Lee Minji, then slowly shook his head. He said nothing, but that grave expression conveyed the message clearly.
They should follow Brian’s words. This was the wisest course now.
“But…….”
“The manager might need our help.”
Faced with their stubborn refusal to budge, Brian pressed his palms to his temples as if surrendering entirely.
“Fine, fine! After I hand over the Corpse Flower, I’ll rescue Mujin myself. Is that good enough?!”
“No. I’ll deliver the Corpse Flower. Please go in right now, Brian.”
Lee Minji reached stubbornly toward the Corpse Flower.
Smack!
Brian swatted her hand away coldly.
“Do you know how to use a Magical Barrier? And if you do, can you maintain it continuously? What Mujin and I do easily isn’t something anyone can do.”
“Ah…….”
“I’m going.”
With that, Brian vanished before their eyes.
The 1st Generation hunters stood for a moment in stunned silence, then, realizing time was of the essence, returned to the company.
Upon arriving at the office, Kim Yeoul explained the entire situation. Those who heard the account didn’t react negatively.
“It’s Chae Mujin, after all. We trust he’ll come back alive.”
“The Master always has a plan. Let’s trust and wait.”
Then, the next day, Brian visited the company. He reported that he had, as promised, entered the Great Water Mirror, gone to Konkunta Island, and searched for Chae Mujin.
At this, Lee Minji furrowed her brow and objected.
“Is that even possible in one day? Kraken was guarding it.”
“Kraken wasn’t there.”
“What?”
“It probably didn’t die—if it had, the dungeon itself would’ve vanished. Either way, Konkunta Island was accessible.”
“Then why did you come back alone? If there’s no Kraken, getting out should be easy too.”
“…I couldn’t find Chae Mujin.”
In that instant, all their hearts lurched and plummeted.
Yet Lee Minji, her face gone pale, shook her head firmly.
“You didn’t search properly. We know that.”
“I sent a hundred Shadow Clones to comb the island. I checked everything, prepared to find a corpse.”
A thud.
The sound was Kim Yeoul collapsing to the floor. The others were equally shaken.
Brian continued speaking regardless.
“Don’t rush to conclusions. Chae Mujin isn’t dead. Probably.”
“Probably? How can you say something so irresponsible?”
“I couldn’t find a body, but I did find footprints. However… haaa…….”
Brian exhaled long and slow, squeezing his eyes shut.
“That bastard Chae Mujin appears to have entered the Deep Dive.”
The moment those words left his mouth, reactions split into two camps.
Some faces bore utter bewilderment—what was that?—while others—
went deathly pale, as if they’d just heard their execution announced.
* * *
The 1st Generation hunters had no information about the Deep Dive. Thus their confusion, though they could infer from people’s expressions that it was no pleasant place.
Kim Min-woo, well-versed in Hunter Society intelligence, seemed too heavy-hearted even to speak the forbidden word, hanging his head in gloom.
“If the Master has entered that place… the probability of his return alive approaches zero…….”
“What exactly is the Deep Dive?! Why are you all acting like he’s dead and giving up already?!”
Since Lee Minji’s question was what many wondered, Kim Min-woo stepped forward and explained the Deep Dive.
“The Deep Dive is a place from which it is scarcely an exaggeration to say none return alive. Even the Greatest Swordsman of Korea and the Hunter Association Chairman are no exception…….”
A place where even Korea’s two strongest hunters die. Into such a place, Chae Mujin had fallen.
Only then did the 1st Generation hunters fully grasp the true weight of the Deep Dive. Despair spread across their faces. Some clenched their fists and trembled; others bit their lips until blood came.
Lee Minji, who had seemed to lose her mind, suddenly cried out.
“Are we really just going to stand here and do nothing? We have to go into the Deep Dive and rescue him!”
“I understand your despair deeply. Yet it is impossible. The Deep Dive is a strange space where the physical laws of conventional dungeons do not apply. Even if we throw ourselves into the same Crater Abyss, there is no guarantee we would land in the same hellscape where the Master fell…….”
“No… that doesn’t… make sense…….”
Even sacrificing their lives to follow him offered no certainty of meeting Chae Mujin.
A brutal truth: a rescue operation itself was impossible.
Yet Kim Yeoul did not relent.
“No guarantee means the opposite—we could miraculously fall into the same space.”
“There is nothing certain. Precisely why the Deep Dive is treated as a forbidden zone to be left untouched.”
“…I think I understand one thing.”
Kim Yeoul looked at Lee Minji and Choi Gang-im in turn, her eyes full of sorrow.
“That we alone cannot rescue the manager.”
Lee Minji and Choi Gang-im likewise clenched their fists until blood ran, nodding in agreement. A reality so painful and cruel they wished to deny it.
“I know someone who can help.”
Lee Minji hastily pulled out her smartphone and, without hesitation, dialed a number.
Ring… ring…….
The dial tone stretched on relentlessly. With quivering lips, Lee Minji muttered a silent prayer for them to answer.
Click.
The call connected. Lee Minji cried out in relief.
“Is this Cheon Ihwa’s number?!”
Disciple of the Greatest Swordsman of Korea and beloved daughter of the Association Chairman.
Cheon Ihwa, leader of the secret organization the Am Haeng Eosa—the Empress—answered with detachment.
―What’s the matter?
Cheon Ihwa had already sensed it. The fact that Lee Minji, who had always been so wary and hostile toward her, was calling first meant something desperate had occurred—a calamity grave enough to shatter all pride.
That’s why, despite her crushing schedule, she’d taken the call. And Lee Minji, in turn, had no time for roundabout explanations.
“Chae Mujin… he fell into the Deep Dive.”
Silence stretched across the line. For a long time. Lee Minji, in turn, exercised superhuman patience waiting for a response.
―What’s that got to do with me?
When the answer finally came, it was glacially cold.
Yet Lee Minji could sense, instinctively, that she was straining to suppress her trembling voice and feigning indifference.
“We’re too weak to help him. Only you can. Please. Save him.”
―If I save him?
“What?”
―What’s in it for me if I save him?
“I’ll do anything.”
Listening in on the call beside her, Kim Yeoul also spoke.
“I will too. Anything at all. Please help us, Cheon Ihwa.”
―…I’ll call you back.
Click. The line went dead.
In the oppressive silence, the Arc Management staff exhaled collectively.
Then Brian cleared his throat awkwardly, ventilating the heavy atmosphere.
“Ahem! That earlier comment stung a bit, you know. Saying Cheon Ihwa’s the only one who can help. You’re really underestimating the strong alliance between Arc Management and the Bastard Guild.”
The Bastard Guild’s reputation wasn’t widely known. It was because they themselves didn’t trumpet their own name.
Yet the Bastard was a small, elite guild specializing in Boss Raids. They were a force that could stand shoulder-to-shoulder with any major guild.
“I’ll ask my Guild Master too. He’s far more learned than I am. He probably knows something about the Deep Dive.”
“We didn’t mean to slight you. And… we’re really grateful.”
“Thank you so much, Brian…….”
Thus the 1st Generation hunters did all they could to rescue Chae Mujin—
Yet they had to confront the cold reality: some things, no matter how hard you try, cannot be overcome.

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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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