The S-Classes That I Raised Chapter 7

< Hunter Association (1) >

Before going to find Bak Yerim, I went to the Hunter Association to register and buy a contract item. 

Korean Hunter Association.

In the beginning it was an Awakened Person registry set up by the government, but as the top 3 big guilds here became stronger, it became the Association. Foreign Hunter Associations were made in a similar way. Currently, the government held 51% shares, the top 3 guilds 30%, and the rest of the guilds 19%, making it a government institution, but in 5 years, guilds would take over most of the shares as their power grew.

Specifically, the Haeyeon Guild took them up.

“The more I think about it, even before I regressed, Yoohyun wasn’t in his right mind.”

That such an impressive guild’s master would risk his life to save his one useless hyung. I really didn’t understand.

Still, it was thanks to him that I survived and regressed and got two L-Grade titles, so even if Yoohyun acted a little crazy, I should put up with it, what could I do.

Maybe because it was the weekend but there were quite a lot of people in the Hunter Association’s Awakened Person registration waiting room. Most Awakened People were F-Rank in stats and skills, aka double F, and it was impossible for them to work as Hunters, but all of them came to register anyways. It was because of the subsidies from the government trying to vitalize Awakened People registration. For just the Awakened Person registration, the subsidy was a million won[1], so people came to the Association so that the money won’t rot[2].

I took a waiting number ticket and sat down on a chair. Looking at the number, it looked like it would take some time.

“Hey, isn’t that person Rank Hunter Kim Sunghan?”

“Huh? It seems so?”

The people sitting in the waiting room recognized Kim Sunghan, who had followed me here, and started whispering. The price of fame for Ranks was less compared to that of S-Ranks, but Kim Sunghan was a Hunter whose face and name were well known. Half was Yoohyun’s influence and the other half was thanks to his performance during the Dongdaegu Station dungeon break.

Dungeon break, which occurred when the number of monsters from the dungeon increased excessively. It was an extremely dangerous situation where monsters swarmed out of dungeons, but things were managed well so it barely happened now. A known dungeon breaking didn’t happen, and sometimes a new dungeon was found too late.

“But why is he here?”

“I think he came with that person.”

This time, people’s gazes turned to me, who was sitting next to Kim Sunghan.

“He alone is sitting while making an Rank stand.”

“Is he someone important? It looks like he’s[3] standing guard, did he come as an escort?”

“Since he’s holding a waiting number ticket, it seems like he hasn’t registered as an Awakened Person yet, but if an Rank is following him, he must be important. Maybe an S-Rank rookie[4] will appear in Haeyeon Guild today.”

No, it’s scheduled to be F-Rank.[5] Looking up at Kim Sunghan, I spoke softly.

“Why don’t you sit.”

“I’m fine.”

“Can’t you please sit for me.”

“It’s easier to respond to a situation if I stand.”

This was inside the Hunter Association, not some other place, so what would even happen. And there were only beginners who were here to register as Awakened People.

‘Should I look around to see if there are any good rookies.’

Using ‘Auspicious Seed-Leaf’, I checked a man who was making a lot of noise since a while ago.

[Awakened Person – Shin Minho

Current stat rank F

Possible Awakening stat rank F~E

Optimized Initial Skills

Fast Feet(E) Acquisition failure

Jumping(E) Acquired

Throwing(F) Acquired]

The Awakened stats had fallen by one level, and not all of the optimized initial skills were gained. Still, since he had an E-Rank skill, he’d probably qualify to be a Hunter.

‘Euk.’

After checking two more FF-Ranks, a small ache stung my head and disappeared. It was a sign that I had used up half of my mana.

‘The limit for ‘Auspicious Seed-Leaf’ status check must be 6 times.’

That was probably obvious, seeing how my Mana was at 2.

Vitality and mana didn’t show up in the Status Window. It would be really convenient if they showed up as red and blue bars like in games, but it wasn’t like that so you had to guess with your body’s condition.

For vitality, you could tell more or less if you were fine, or half-dead, or completely dead, but the problem was mana. Even 5 years later, there wasn’t a way to check remaining mana. If you consumed half of all your mana, you’d feel a short headache, and if you had 10% or less remaining, then you’d lose consciousness.

Thankfully, passive skills like Poison Resistance usually didn’t used up mana.

‘Things like optimized Awakening or ‘My Brat’ probably would take up more mana than status checks.’

‘My Brat is the Best’ was L-Rank, so it would probably suck up a lot of mana. My title’s first granting effect on Yoohyun was used passively so it was okay, if I used it now, I’d probably fail the skill and faint.

‘Looks like I really do have to raise my level.’

To do that, I would have to go into a dungeon, and if Yoohyun heard that, he’d probably come running over to stop me. Maybe I should go secretly.

“Number 56 to 65, please come in.”

The people who arrived before all stood up and followed the Association employee. After another group of people went, it was my turn.

Right inside, there was a long table with partitions. The employee gave everyone a piece of paper each. The paper, the application form for Awakened Person registration, had a line to write down stats and skills in addition to personal information. After filling it out and then having it checked for any lies, a rank was chosen.

I picked up a pen on the table and started to fill out the blank sheet. I wrote only my stats and basic skills, not my titles. Stats were immediately measured but there weren’t any measuring instruments for skills and titles so if I hid them, it was impossible to confirm.

‘In the first place, there are people who exaggerate but barely any who write less.’

Besides my unique case, would there be a need to deliberately lower your rank? Even one level in rank would change your reception. And if you were C-Rank or higher, then you’d get many various benefits.

“Is that person an S-Rank rookie?”

“Haeyeon Guild’s new S-Rank that Rank Kim Sunghan brought in?”

No. It’s not, you people. How much time has passed that a simple assumption became fact. You there, who are you calling so hurriedly. Huk[6], that Association person coming over looked like he was in a high position. He couldn’t be coming over because of me.

“Hello. I’m the Hunter Association Awakened Person Registration Department Head Suk Gimyeong.”

He bowed his head to me. Frick, it’s not what you’re thinking.[7] Don’t greet me.

“If it is not too much trouble, may I check your completely application form, please?”

“……Here.”

I was already embarrassed but I just held out my application form. Department Head Suk Gimyeong, who saw my single-digit stats and E-Rank skills, slightly furrowed his brows. Hey, I have like 5 L-Rank skills, okay?

“…Mn. Then, good luck[8].”

Right after checking my application form, he let it go. The courteous attitude disappeared as if washed away. Nasty, really. It was something I had experienced a lot before regressing but it was still nasty.

“What, he wasn’t an S-Rank?”

“Looking at that person’s attitude, seems not.”

“Then why did he act like an S-Rank.”

I didn’t do that, you bastards! You’re the ones who guessed wrong, and ‘act’ what do you mean by ‘act’!

‘It reminds me of trash journalists[9] who would scribble down novels about me and Yoohyun.’

Ugh… Thinking of that made my insides sting. Trash journalist bastards contributed to about 30% of my inferiority complex exploding. Since being compared to his incompetent hyung was something that never was left out and always appeared in articles praising Yoohyun.

I submitted my application form under harsh gazes, and went to a low rank ability measuring room.

“Are there any items you are wearing or carrying?”

The measurement employee asked in a businesslike voice.

“No.”

“Please stand on the measuring instrument.”

I stood on top of the round discus-shaped measuring instrument, following instructions. The measuring instrument, made from items from dungeons, shone weakly and soon the results came up.

“Stamina 6, Strength 4, Agility 5, Mental 4, Mana 2 was measured.”

It was accurate.

“The skills you have are E-Rank ‘Mental Up’ and E-Rank ‘Agility Up’, correct?”

“Yes.”

“Please use your skills on the assistant.”

The assistant for checking buff skills stepped forward. I was worried I wouldn’t have enough mana, but thankfully an accident like fainting in the middle of using my skills didn’t happen. I’d have to buy some mana potions.

After finishing checking abilities, I went inside the photographic machinery and had my photo taken. The size of the verification photo was obvious, and the photo information that checked the front and back of my whole body was saved directly to the Association’s database. Then, after waiting for a while, I was called over and went to the certification desk[10].

“Han Yoojin-nim is an F-Rank Awakened Person and fits the conditions for Hunter qualification. The issuance of a Hunter license and admission into a dungeon are possible after completing the basics program for new Hunters. Will you request a program?”

“I will request for a Haeyeon Guild guarantee completion.”

New Hunters who had already entered a guild or were scheduled to enter could pass over the basics program with the guild’s guarantee. It was because the rookie training from guilds were much higher quality.

I pushed over the Haeyeon Guild guarantee to the employee. The employee checked the warranty and busily moved their fingers over the keyboard.

“Please tell me your bank account number to receive the subsidy. Only your own is allowed.”

“Baek-il Bank 995-04-109982.”

I suddenly got extra cash of about a million won. Association hooray.

I immediately got the Hunter license because I got the guild’s guarantee. The Hunter license was the size of an ID card and had the verification photo, queue number, rank, and name written on it. After receiving the license, I asked the employee.

“Is there a way directly from here to the Hunter shopping mall?”

If I went out, the watchman would stick to me so it was annoying. He didn’t need to follow me inside the Association.

“You can use the elevator at the end of the hallway on the right.”

“Thank you.”

Following the employee’s directions, as soon as I went up on the elevator, there was a side door leading to the shopping mall. Next to the door was an ATM.

‘Should I check how much Yoohyun gave me.’

I went over the ATM, taking out a card from my wallet. Hunter shopping mall exclusive gift card. It was something he gave me when I told him I needed money to buy contract items, saying that he put in enough. It was embarrassing using allowance from my dongsaeng but items for Hunter use were all expensive so my poor wallet couldn’t afford them.

‘Since Rank-use contracts are 4, 5[11] I wonder if he put in ten million won.’

I’d rather buy S-Rank-use but I didn’t know how much that was. At the very least, it’d probably be twice as expensive as Rank-use. Since I also had to get mana potions, should I just get Rank-use.

After putting the card in the machine, as soon as I checked the balance, a number appeared on the screen.

[Balance: 1,000,000,000 won]

……Exactly how many 0’s was this.

‘Yoohyun, this crazy guy?’

[1] about 1000 usd. Rule of thumb, divide the number of won by 1000 to get usd. I probably won’t add footnotes converting to usd anymore after this.

[2] from the idea that if you have too much of something that you can’t use it quick enough, then it rots. It’s just an expression that means it’s a lot of money but idk how put it in Eng so I just put in the lit. tl.

[3] the context makes it clear that the 1st sentence is about MC & the 2nd is about Sunghan, though idk if I made that come across fluidly in Eng

[4] in prev ch, the author used ‘rookie’ transliterated into krn from eng but this time it’s the actually krn word ‘rookie/new person’. Idk if it matters or not so I’m leaving a footnote but if something like that happens again I probably won’t, unless it’s really significant

[5] some of the humor in this sentence is lost in eng bc he says this in polite speech lol which gives an implication kinda like ‘I’m sorry to dash your hopes/expectations’

[6] a sound of surprise, disbelief, dumbfoundedness, etc.

[7] in krn he just said ‘it’s not’/‘no’/‘I said no’ and it sounds natural, but it doesn’t in eng so I added the “what you’re thinking” to make it sound more sensible

[8] this is the phrase that MC said to Sunghan back in ch. 5, ‘you worked hard’. Again, it’s a general polite phrase used in work settings.

[9] 기레기 = 기자(journalist) + 쓰레기(trash)

[10] 자격증 발급처 = certificate/license(자격증) issuing(발급) place(-처)

[11] he says ‘4, 5 hundred… thousand ten-thousand’ because you don’t separate numbers by 3 0’s in krn, you can go up to ten thousand (만)

Chapter end