The S-Classes That I Raised - Chapter 574: A Dream Within a Dream (2)

“What… is it?”

The touch was gentle, but my worry came first. Was there another problem?

“And you said it’s hard to take on an adult form?”

“This is a dream.”

“Huh? But before…”

“Yes, it’s your dream, but it’s mine too. It’ll fade when you wake, but it’s safest.”

…So Young Chaos must be asleep, too. It seems different from when the newcomer enters my dream. In any case, hearing it would fade somehow loosened my heart a bit.

“So why—ah!”

Chaos hoisted me up. Perhaps because it was truly a dream, the surroundings were hazy, as if shrouded in mist, unlike when the newcomer arrived. I heard the faint sound of flowing water and smelled grass. As my vision cleared, I saw a lawn. In the middle stood a lone sofa and table.

“That… looks like our sofa and table. Why are they outside?”

They were the same oversized set that even Yuhyun could lie on comfortably, its cushions recently clawed by Peace and tiger talons—definitely our home’s sofa. The previous one, Milky Blanc had eaten.

“Our dreams got mixed together.”

“…Do you perhaps enjoy sleeping outdoors?”

“There is no house itself.”

“Ah…”

“Don’t pity me.”

“No, that’s not it! How could I…”

Chaos plopped me onto the sofa, still holding me. Now I felt a bit embarrassed by the position.

“Um, I can sit on my own.”

“I don’t have much experience soothing kids.”

It laid me back. I wriggled, but it was useless. In dreams, shouldn’t I be stronger? Although it was slightly better than before, a lap pillow was still awkward. I had done it for my brother, but he was family—and I’d often done it since childhood. But with an elder, it felt like I’d become a child again.

“Then sleep.”

“You really lack experience.”

Beginners tend to be that way—uncertain whether to lull them or feed them. If they cry, you panic; playing together feels awkward.

“I was a complete beginner, too. I was a kid myself—well, most adults are beginners at first. If you’re a parent, you’re new at that, too.”

Both adults and children are novices without experience.

“But Yuhyun is, well, different from most kids.”

Different doesn’t mean bad, but the words stuck in my throat. That was the world I’d lived in.

“He didn’t give me much trouble. He really was an easy kid.”

No tantrums, listened well. Chaos looked like it wanted to smack my forehead—but instead brushed it.

“There’s nothing to talk about but your brother.”

“That’s true, but…”

Though I liked my brother—

“…there really isn’t anything else. When I think about it, my only goal was one thing: Yuhyun getting into a good college! And then landing a good job and living well.”

“And you?”

“I—well, it wasn’t just me. There were many like that. They spoke of their children, not my brother, but still.”

I tended to work with older people.

“About eight out of ten talked about their kids or their home. So we connected well: kids’ grades, schools now, sending them to academies or not—though Yuhyun didn’t go—making side dishes or breakfast… We talked about chores too. Oh, one of the best things after I returned was the dryer. Drying laundry by hand is unexpectedly hard. The house isn’t large, sunlight isn’t great; if you hang clothes on racks, the air gets damp. In the rainy season, you’d have to hit the laundromat.”

I remembered sitting side by side with my brother at a coin laundry, drinking vending-machine drinks while our clothes spun. We’d bring as much as we could so we’d go together. How much per load again?

“A dryer is the best.”

Of course other appliances too. My eyes fluttered at the stroking hand. Even though it was already a dream, drowsiness crept in.

“If you get married, you’d want… all-in-one appliances and…”

“Do you actually enjoy housework?”

“Ai… usually you do it because you must. I’m neat… but when I lived alone, I’d procrastinate on the dishes…”

“What was it like living alone?”

“…It was lonely. Being left completely alone…”

So…

“…I didn’t even know what to eat.”

Which side dishes to make. I got stuck there. I didn’t even feel like buying or making them.

“I didn’t even want to cook rice… I don’t think I could live alone after all.”

“I see.”

“I… really…”

I don’t recall what I said. I think I muttered something incoherent. Hopefully nothing too weird.

And then I opened my eyes.

“…You.”

There I was, perched on a single sofa—my body bigger than mine. Not by much, just a bit taller, wearing an expensive coat.

…What a lousy dream.

“You seem more frail than before.”

“…What?”

I jumped up. The other me looked at me with an annoying glare. His face looked well-fed and pampered.

“Then, ramen back then.”

“Hello.”

He raised a hand in greeting. Wait, no way.

“…How!”

“Because it’s a dream. A very deep dream. When you wake, we’ll both barely remember.”

“Even so, in that other world, you said it was completely separated!”

My twenty-nine-year-old dungeon-self in China nodded.

“That’s what they say. But you and I are strongly connected… ugh. Anyway, even if separated, in a deep dream we can briefly meet. And you were worried.”

“…Worried? You?”

“No. Someone else.”

“Who?”

“There is.”

He stood. I instinctively took a step back.

“What’s with that look?”

“I robbed a department store. No one else would use it, so it felt wasteful. I just stripped the mannequins—didn’t know better.”

“That’s ridiculous.”

“Yuhyun said it looked good.”

“He’d say you looked great in anything.”

“Then that’s fine.”

He laughed, bright to the point of annoyance.

“And there’s no one else.”

“…Are you here to rub it in? Get lost.”

With a thud, he stepped right in front of me. Maybe he’d grown taller with rank—his eye level was slightly higher than in the dungeon.

“Han Yujin, you’ve never once let your brother down. Not even now.”

…My insides flipped. My body moved before my mind. As I reached to grab his collar, my hand was snatched away. His grip on my wrist, and then my leg shot up. He targeted my injured leg with a kick, but…

“Ugh!”

He didn’t budge. Instead, he twisted my arm and pushed me face-first into the ground.

“You bastard! You’ve never lost him, huh!”

“That’s not it.”

“And what’s this, why isn’t your leg hurt!”

“They had Korean Elixirs. They stored them deep underground, not in an inventory, in case someone stole them or disappeared when they died. They were like assets for chaebol and top politicians. Yuhyun knew the hiding place, so he found them.”

He clicked his tongue at the absurdity.

“They should’ve given them to Korea’s top Hunter, but they foolishly let them rot. They thought they’d be safe if Yuhyun was fine.”

“…True.”

If they’d given them to Yuhyun…

“You could cut off the leg and pour top-grade potion. Yuhyun refused, said he didn’t want you hurt. The Elixirs are great—realign bones perfectly without surgery. Rumor said they increased lifespan, but who knows. Do I look younger?”

“I don’t know!”

“Calm down.”

“Would you do that?”

“No. But it’s true. You did nothing wrong.”

“…You told me to die.”

Strength drained from me. He let go and plopped onto the floor. I lay face-down, too weak to rise.

“So now you’re living well, you’re fine?”

“No way. Only I’ve changed from you, and somehow I’ve come to know more.”

“Know what?!”

I struggled to sit up.

“That it’s okay to forgive me. So I no longer hate you.”

I glared. I wanted to ask more, but he wouldn’t answer. Even if he did, I’d lose it from memory upon waking. And above all—

“I’m not.”

“Right. I figured.”

Silence fell. I suddenly felt that that Han Yujin and I were truly different people now. Same yet changed by a different world.

“…Is Yuhyun doing well?”

“Of course. We talked a lot. We had a long time apart.”

My reflection smiled softly, surprisingly gentle, and began chatting animatedly.

“You know what? There was a scandal about Yuhyun and Kang Soyeong Hunter. But they never actually dated!”

“…I know.”

“Really? I thought they’d match well. And now there’s no one left—so Yuhyun never even tried dating! There was no one beyond Soyeong.”

“…I guess not.”

“So handsome and smart, yet no first kiss or anything. He’s never even had the slightest romance! The most he’s touched someone is a handshake! Oh, he did lift Director Song’s arm once. It was cut off.”

It was just as before. And I was irritated.

“Let me slap you once.”

“No. I let others’ arms alone, but if the Aide-de-Camp’s arm vanished, that’d be a problem. Luckily it didn’t burn.”

“Anyway, in that world’s timeline…”

“They say he died. But rumors said Guildmaster Seong ★ 𝐍𝐨𝐯𝐞𝐥𝐢𝐠𝐡𝐭 ★ secretly held onto it. Yuhyun heard that: no corpse, Seong led the funeral.”

With no one else around, his voice dropped.

“Among high-rank Hunters, they whispered they ran off holding hands. Guildmaster Seong loved him too much to kill him. You can change your appearance, so he went abroad to set up elsewhere.”

A bitter laugh escaped. Of course Seong Hyunjae didn’t harm Director Song. He couldn’t have. If the rumor were true… better that way.

“You’ve said the oddest things.”

“Yuhyun doesn’t know the truth either. No news from Guildmaster Seong since. As Haeyeon’s leader, even if you weren’t interested, you’d hear everything.”

My reflection chattered happily. I really wanted to slap him once.

“You messed it up so badly. We tried to fix it, but neither of us knew how. We went to the library together—there were so many books!”

“Did you come to brag about yourself?”

“I’m comforting you, aren’t I?”

“How?”

“You love hearing that Yuhyun is well.”

He propped his chin on his hand with a smile.

“…You said we’d barely remember.”

“But the feeling remains: ‘That was a good dream.’ You’ll be relieved, envious but glad it worked out.”

“……”

“Oh, wait!”

He shot to his feet, and a huge bed appeared with a thoom.

“Why’s this bed so big?”

“The best suite bed in Seoul’s top hotel! It’s the thrill of the apocalypse.”

“I’m in a New York hotel—America.”

“Oh, you went to the U.S. I want to check how things are outside Korea, but Yuhyun can pilot a helicopter, not a plane. Anyway, lie down.”

“What?”

“If you fall asleep again, you might dream even better. Or not.”

He pulled me onto the bed. I couldn’t resist, so I landed on it.

“It’s pretty soft.”

“Sleep well.”

“…Tell me more about Yuhyun.”

“Then you won’t sleep. We went to our old home too—the one we lived in together.”

Though I didn’t want to, my eyes drifted shut. And… I dreamed.

Tears wet Han Yujin’s cheek. Young Chaos peered at his sleeping face.

“He’d be flustered.”

He probably cried in reality. But Yuhyun would also be at a loss to wake him. Chaos sighed softly.

Such a tiny child—more fragile than down. There were countless such things to Chaos, so he didn’t regard each one. He protected them, but the bond didn’t hold—fleeting.

But this time he offered the sword: the first sword. The very first sword forged when he was still unskilled. The sword’s earliest childhood.

That made it all the harder to pass by. Did the White Bird seek that first sword for this reason?

“How much longer can you endure?”

This child was flawed inside and out. One more thing:

“The same goes for you.”

Locking eyes with Young Chaos, Seong Hyunjae curled his lip. One of his arms was gone. When Chaos looked at the missing arm, Seong Hyunjae spoke in hesitation.

“Maintaining an arm is harder than I thought. I wonder if losing it was my fate.”

“You’re the kind who doesn’t believe in fate. This contract wasn’t given for that.”

The contract with Young Chaos—using it before ratified, Seong Hyunjae asked Chaos to watch over Han Yujin.

“It was given by a Transcendent I knew. If something went wrong, I couldn’t recreate it.”

A contract to send one with Transcendent-level presence to another world. Naturally its power was immense, allowing a single contact with an outside-world party.

“How many times can it still be used?”

“Don’t use it. Better to come into the dungeon, you stubborn fool.”

He wouldn’t listen even so. Young Chaos furrowed his brow.

“In that case, I’ll pass on a message. Crescent Moon has contacted you.”

Seong Hyunjae shrugged his should-er—one without an arm.

Source: Webnovel.com, updated by readnovel.co