The S-Classes That I Raised - Chapter 484: Meeting Host (3)

I nearly called Seong Hyunjae out of habit, then stopped. Not now. Calling from my number would go straight to his secretary anyway.

“May I borrow your phone? His guild number is saved, right?”

“Yes, of course. Or you can connect to Secretary Dodam’s team.”

Seok Kyun smiled and urged me to use it as much as I liked. Aside from basic tasks, I hadn’t given him much to do—I’d left most things to Haeyeon’s side.

“Aren’t you short-staffed to take on my tasks too?”

“I have enough time to answer calls. Until we fill positions, Haeyeon will dispatch people here. But we should be able to operate independently soon.”

He said confidently it wouldn’t take long. I’d worried Seok Siyoung might overwork him, but Kyun seemed to fit perfectly. His bright face lifted my spirits.

Using Kyun’s phone, I called the Seong Guild master’s secretariat. The attendant, realizing it was me, was quite flustered. He wondered why I hadn’t called Seong Hyunjae directly, but calmly connected the call.

[It seems our relationship has suddenly grown distant—I’m disappointed.]

“Please don’t pretend you don’t know.”

He’d guess just from my calling the secretariat. As expected, Seong Hyunjae got straight to the point.

[You need materials for Dodam’s hosted gathering, right?]

“Exactly.”

[I understand you want a transaction, not a favor.]

“That’s right. That’s why I secured the venue myself.”

If I’d left it to him, it’d be easier—but then the Seong Guild would be the true host, not me.

“I’d like to purchase everything you have—not only for the birthday party but any overseas information as well.”

I’d often joined S-rank hunters en masse, but they all liked me. These coming hunters were different—they’d surely cause chaos, collide brutally. Hotels half-ruined and sunken cruises would be mild. Actually, Seong Hyunjae’s destruction of the cruise was basically my doing, and until then things had been calm.

So I needed as much intel as possible.

[I wonder if your Director Han’s pocket money will cover it.]

Seong Hyunjae mixed a little laughter into his tone. …I’d need to spend a lot preparing.

“If you prefer something other than cash, I don’t mind. If you just want money, that’s fine by me.”

I have no money, I have no money—though I do. But borrowing publicly would upset Yuhyun. I didn’t want to ask my brother, and shouldn’t.

[Then what? Detailed status-window logs of Director Han?]

“I refuse.”

Was I crazy to reveal everything? But without a fuss I continued.

“You already know most of it, anyway. I’ll pass on freebies.”

[It was sincere…]

“Don’t joke.”

I gave Kyun a subtle nod; he stepped back to give me space.

“If you want info for info, ask about Gi Seung-soo’s data. Or I can recommend overseas dungeons. I remember plenty.”

Dungeons yet to appear. Rare-material dungeons—like stamina potion sources—were still far off, but I could persuade a recruit to hasten their appearance. Even if not, the intel would be valuable. Far foreign dungeons—America, Europe—were still hard for Haeyeon to manage and nearly impossible to claim; handing them to Seong made sense. Seong had once opened a U.S. branch.

“Honestly, by the amount and quality of information I’ve provided so far, I think the compensation is sufficient. I’ve already delivered everything on transcendent beings.”

[So you won’t ask for credit?]

“I won’t let it appear that the Seong Guild Master is doing me a favor.”

I had no intention of relying on my sister or Haeyeon’s help this time. Sishio and I handled the keyword implementation and took on the Japan incident. As breeding-center director, my private negotiations with Amateras Guild would look good.

[Director Han Yujin.]

Seong Hyunjae’s voice dropped heavily.

[Please draft a proposal according to our format and send it to the Seong Guild secretariat.]

Then the call abruptly ended. I glared at my phone, dumbfounded.

“…That’s technically correct.”

Even if I’d called Seong directly, he wouldn’t have spoken so much—he’d just direct me to the secretariat and hang up. Still, it annoyed me.

“He’s so lucky.”

Even top foreign guild masters struggle to contact Seong Hyunjae directly, but still—lucky guy. And he’s not even ranked number one yet.

I handed Kyun back the phone and asked for a proposal template. He replied it wasn’t my job.

“If you organize the details, we’ll forward them to Seong Guild. Since he asked you to send it to the secretariat, it’s not ultra-confidential.”

“That’s true.”

I’d just hide anything that’d reveal my pre-rebirth content. Commanding people felt odd, but I nodded. Yes, I too had a secretariat.

Cloie stayed quiet—perhaps because I still held three hostages. She remained at Seong Guild without contact.

Song Taewon grew more anxious by the day. Song decided to stay at the breeding center until after the CSAT.

“He’s most irritable this time of year.”

Checking our party’s liquor list, Moon Hyunah said,

“Even Seong Hyunjae behaves himself now.”

“Really?”

“I don’t know the details, but they say he once fought hard. While abroad, he told them he’d return at dawn on CSAT day, unilaterally. Seong Guild had done nothing, yet Song personally went to fetch him—his first time. He hadn’t even refused.”

“Surprising… not, I suppose.”

Considering Director Song’s values, it made sense. Bright young people taking a world-defining exam—it’d sting to think monsters or hunters could interfere.

Until the CSAT he must stay perfectly calm.

“All right, that’s everything. They gave us a discount for promotion.”

“Thank you~”

Liquor is a double-edged sword, but even drunk senior hunters wouldn’t lose control among so many S-ranks. They’d self-regulate. A few troublemakers wouldn’t hurt.

I signed the contract and stood.

“How’s the reaction?”

“Good. But since we hold the advantage, they can’t act rashly.”

Hyunah theatrically opened the door.

“They have nothing to offer me. They won’t pay, won’t grant me a seat. They can’t bring SS-rank weapons.”

Our product targets wealthy mid-to-high hunters. Though based on regular liquor now, future research will yield mana-intoxicating spirits—harmless to health—appealing even to abundant non-awakened consumers.

Could a businessman resist? But my counterpart was S-rank hunter and guild master Moon Hyunah.

“I’d hand it over if they’d leave Breaker Guild alone—but they won’t.”

“First-mover advantage matters, though others may develop it eventually.”

Someone will reverse-engineer the liquor. Without the original, it’ll take time. Hyunah, thanks to Lambda’s memories, already knew how to brew. But long-term, securing the S-rank guild’s backing was best.

In the end, I’d lost out by being greedy.

“The bait’s set. From now on it’s a fight without weapons—stocks, shares, mergers, acquisitions, legal this-and-that. It’s complicated. Not for me.”

“Same for me. I’m not good at managing subordinates.”

She’d intended to run it like our pre-rebirth raid team, but for the sake of new recruits, she needed hierarchy. According to Seok Siyoung, clear separation of work and personal life benefits employees. After all, it’s not a hobby club where everyone links arms and laughs.

“If only we could live ◈ Nоvеlіgһт ◈ (Continue reading) doing only what we love. But to do that, we must endure unpleasant, clumsy tasks first.”

“Right. It’d be great to be healthy without exercise.”

“That’s different. You still working out? Got any muscle?”

“Don’t touch! Oh, I don’t—I don’t!”

With effort I could regain my pre-rebirth form. Hyunah had business with research, and I needed to ask Myeong-woo about Ppiyak’s gear, so we headed to the building. In the hunters’ lounge lobby, a large TV showed Song Taewon—still stiff and awkward.

[Please be sure to register during the voluntary declaration period.]

They announced that unregistered awakened examinees must visit or contact the Hunter Association, as they could cheat via inventory or skills and required supervised testing.

“Tough job, isn’t it? When do they draw lots?”

“Last year Song personally handed out numbers to guild masters, but this year each exam hall draws and distributes internally. Choi Seok-won, who got Jeju, complained about visitation order.”

Jeju isn’t bad. Before heading to the forge, I stopped by research. Though midday, there were more people than I’d expected. And then—

“Noah?”

“Hello.”

Noah sat at a desk wearing glasses, engrossed in unknown documents.

“Do you have vision problems?”

“No. S-rank hunters already have good eyesight, but after obtaining the Draconic skill it improved further. But for reading small text up close, it’s a bit uncomfortable. So White Teacher crafted custom glasses for me.”

He said it worsened after gaining the Radiant Dragon skill. He could adjust it but found it tiring to focus long.

“But you’re working part-time here?”

“Studying. I thought learning mana and skill theory would help.”

Since the research team was in the same building, he studied various topics. Noah was diligent. Sekhayan from research watched him with pride. I remembered White suggesting I study under him. The other researchers’ proud—but slightly creepy—glances followed. Noah’s a tempting asset, being S-rank with unique skills. Worried, I whispered to him,

“If it gets weird, leave. Or contact me.”

“Don’t worry. I’m S-rank, after all.”

True enough, though he struck me as gentle.

Leaving Moon Hyunah behind, I went with Noah to Myeong-woo. Consulting about Ppiyak, Myeong-woo looked troubled.

“I can’t block teleportation as I am now. I’ll make a protective item, but for spontaneous teleport it’ll be hard. Constant damage nullification at C-rank might at best reach B-rank.”

It helped that Ppiyak was small and required periodic mana replenishment.

“Thanks, I appreciate it. Also, I want to improve my drawer-space mastery—possible?”

Myeong-woo studied me silently.

“Given your conditions, yes.”

“My conditions?”

“Your stat is F-rank, but you have high mana thanks to Grace and an engraving. For a crafter, starting with low physical stats is advantageous.”

“Really? Not S-rank?”

“Yes. The greater the gap between physical stats and mana sensitivity, the better. Higher ranks raise both, but the difference between 99 and 100 is smaller than between 1 and 10. Noah is the latter; you’re the former.”

In short, there was hope. Just maintaining a drawer would suffice!

“How do I do it?”

“Grinding.”

“…Huh?”

“Simple repetition.”

I envisioned Myeong-woo sharpening swords. Ah.

“…Should I sharpen swords too?”

“To understand mana-based materials, start by dismantling them, then reassemble. Repeat until you feel it.”

How many repetitions? I braced for hard work.

“When you have time, come by and I’ll teach you disassembly and reassembly. Keep one in your drawer as a mana object.”

“Okay. Thanks.”

In the basement, there were tools like for item crafting. I’d need to maintain the drawer.

Noah escorted me back to the breeding center director’s office and closed the door. I checked my outfit in the bathroom mirror, then sat on the sofa. I’d sent the proposal to Seong Guild, Sishio cooperated, and other preparations were fine.

“Chatterbox.”

No sooner had I spoken than the party host appeared. A tall transcendent in a sleek black tailcoat, wearing a white mask with a black veil. The lips etched on the mask curved into a smile.

“Han Yujin.”

“Should I say, ‘Pleasure to meet you?’”

I returned his smile.

Source: Webnovel.com, updated by readnovel.co