< My Dongsaeng is… (1) >

“Of course, there’s no need for hyung to meet them. You can refuse.”

Yoohyun said firmly. Wasn’t it that he didn’t want to let us meet, rather than there was no reason for us to meet?

Then again, I didn’t know what it was like at other times, but in front of me at least, this guy’s qualification to be a guild leader disappeared. Since the guy who should wheedle me into it even if I didn’t want to, was the first to say that I didn’t need to and put his foot down.

“If I say that I don’t want to, then those guys wouldn’t come.”

“They definitely wouldn’t.”

“Hey, how do you think it would look for the 3 big guild leaders to deign to directly show up at Haeyeon? It would definitely be ‘Haeyeon must be seizing the initiative’. So what’s with ‘there is no need to meet’? You should be like ‘won’t you show your face just once, hyung’.”

Of course, I didn’t want to meet them. It was annoying. Still, listening to that guy who was supposed to be a guild leader say nonsense, I couldn’t just overlook it.

…It couldn’t be that he was aiming for this and purposely said ‘you can refuse’, right? There was no way my brother1 was that much of a snake.

“Bu-.”

“From now on, don’t say ‘but’ in front of me.”

Yoohyun closed his mouth, and then opened it again.

“However-.”

“You can’t say ‘however’ and ‘even so’ and ‘still’ either. Don’t put a negative conjunctive adverb in front of your words.”

That guy turned sullen. How did that young guy treat me coldly for several years? Since the amazing person from 5 years later was still vivid in my mind, the twenty-year-old child was sometimes unfamiliar.

And my memory was for 30 years, so you could say there was a ten-year difference between me and this young guy. Even a five-year difference was a lot – to think it was ten years. It meant that when I was an adult, Yoohyun was still a tiny elementary schooler.

He was really young.

“How big of a deal is showing my face once that you would worry? At any rate, it’s a face that’ll be sold to the entire country soon anyways.”

“…You don’t feel burdened? They’re difficult opponents.”

“I don’t feel burdened, though it’s annoying. Still, they’re the clients so you should present the goods with the mind of a salesman who received a jackpot order.”

I also understood wanting to directly check with their own eyes since the investment was formidable. Even for me, I would be uneasy making it official with just looking at the visual materials. And highest rank familiars would be completely unlacking partners for the amazing S-Rank-nims, so it was enough to be anxious.

“If hyung is okay with it I won’t stop it. But, they’ll probably bring an Awakened People appraiser too.”

“Awakened People appraiser? What’s the rank of the appraisal skill?”

“A-Rank.”

It was only possible for appraisal skills, which examined others’ skills or stats, to check people with ranks one level lower. If it was an A-Rank skill, I wouldn’t need to worry… or not, **. I had lied saying I had a C-Rank skill.

“Hey, Yoohyun? I think it’ll be a little awkward for my C-Rank skill to be discovered.”

“It’s okay. Since the people coming over know that Awakening Centers will form soon. They probably won’t really pay attention to a skill that Awakens Unawakened People. And you said you can only check ranks once a month. I said so before, but if it’s at that level, it won’t draw much attention.”

No, the problem was that I didn’t have that skill.

“Still, it’s icky. Do you have any items that hide skills? If it’s one C-Rank, it could be easily hidden.”

“You can’t. If you’re caught, it’ll be awkward. Since they’re bringing the appraiser because it’s possible to make guesses after seeing the other skills even though they can’t appraise the magic beast rearing skill. Hyung has two E-Rank skills and one C-Rank skill as initial skills, with getting the magic beast rearing as the 10-level skill. If you happen to have other skills apart from those, or don’t, you could receive suspicion.”

“You talked about the C-Rank skill too?”

“I haven’t said anything about it yet, but if you use an item, the appraiser can notice… hyung.”

Yoohyun looked straight into my eyes as he said.

“Did you happen to hide something from me?”

“That’s……”

Shit, I couldn’t do anything about this now. If I was caught I was going to excuse it by saying that I raised the rank by growing the skill, but to think that I would meet with an A-Rank appraiser so soon.

And it would make no sense for a C-Rank skill to have already become A-Rank.

“Actually, that skill is A-Rank.”

I just confessed it. Even up to 5 years later, Awakened People appraisal skills were at most A-Rank, so I probably wouldn’t get caught.

“Hyung!”

Yoohyun suddenly yelled. Ah, what, why. Everyone else also lived hiding their skills.

“An A-Rank, that’s completely different from what you said before!”

“Well, the effect is pretty much the same.”

“Pretty much?”

“…I can tell accurately what the expected Awakened rank is. Even the initial skills. And there’s no limit on the amount of times I can check.”

I hid the optimized Awakening. That guy gave an earth-shattering sigh. Then he stared at me with eyes filled with resentment.

“Did you not trust me, or-.”

“I trusted the truth that you were uselessly and excessively worrying. If I was like ‘actually an A-Rank skill came out~’ back then, the mood was so that you would have been like ‘ok, shut yourself in a room for three years and wait for me’.”

“……It wasn’t that you couldn’t trust me?”

“If I couldn’t trust you, I would have already bolted.”

If that guy Yoohyun had been calm and composed like normal, I wouldn’t have hidden it and would have revealed it all. I couldn’t because the kid was a little off.

“I trust you. I believe that my younger brother is a guy who would risk even his life for me.”

I saw with my own two eyes and underwent it so how could I not believe it?

At my words, Yoohyun put on a bashful expression.

“…I didn’t think you would trust in me that much.”

I also didn’t even dream of that much until you went and did that stupid thing.

Thinking so, I became a little sorry. It was because this jerk foolishly hid things without a word, but I should treat him well to match the price of his life.

“For now, they’re an A-Rank so you wouldn’t be caught. It is impressive that you can accurately, limitlessly know expected Awakening ranks, but seeing how hyung hasn’t brought over anyone other than Bak Yerim, it seems like high ranking Awakened People really are rare.”

Yoohyun, who had calmed his agitation, said.

“That’s right. I’ve used it occasionally, but far from stat S-Rank, I couldn’t see any A-Ranks either. Though there were several up to B-Ranks.”

“It seems like the initial skills of the B-Ranks weren’t that great?”

“Just ordinary attack skills and defense skills. I can tell you if you want? There is a limit of 30 days for causing Awakening so I can’t do that for you though.”

“No. It’d be different with a healer or a rare special skill but B-Ranks aren’t strictly necessary.”

Right okay, you’re amazing.

“I’ll tell you if I see a good A-Rank.”

“Yeah. And don’t make it noticeable. Since being able to check for people expected to be A-Rank and higher, as well as their skills, is a really useful ability for snatching up high rank Hunters ahead of others. If it was once a month like you said at first, it wouldn’t have much use in terms of probability, but it would be different if it’s limitless.”

“Even if I find them, it’s not 100% likely they’ll contract with you.”

“Of course it’s like that, but the value is big even with just getting the chance, and if they’re not satisfactory, you can get rid of them before they Awaken. I’m not saying I would, but there should be people who’d want to do that?”

It was brutal, but also the truth.

“I won’t make it noticeable and only quietly tell you.”

“Good. There’s nothing you’re hiding other than that, right?”

“There isn’t.”

Actually there was a lot; I had two titles and eight skills following that.

One of those, with the lowest rank, was S-Rank. Unless an SS-Rank appraisal skill owner appeared, I wouldn’t be found out. There weren’t even S-Ranks, so would an SS-Rank suddenly pop up?

“There really isn’t, right?”

“I said there isn’t. Rationally, there’s no reason there would be anything else here. Even for S-Ranks it’s at most about four initial skills, so what else would I be hiding?”

Though it’d be different if you regressed. At my words, Yoohyun nodded his head.

“Alright. I won’t ask about your method for collecting enough data to predict dungeon appearances.”

…You said you wouldn’t ask so why were you looking at me with those eyes?

I didn’t speak at all so that guy became grouchy and left. Oho?

A custom car with a heavy color turned into the Haeyeon Guild’s parking lot. It wasn’t just that one car.

I turned my head from the window and looked at Suk Simyeong. Peace, who was lying at my feet, perked up his ears.

“Besides Hanshin Guild being added, there are no changes.”

He said. Hanshin was in a similar position as Haeyeon. The guild leader was also S-Rank. But Haeyeon had Yerim and now me, so soon the difference would swiftly increase.

And so, was it that all the country’s S-Rank guild leaders, except for the one overseas, were coming? It sure was extravagant.

“There shouldn’t be anything in particular.”

Suk Simyeong continued with an expression telling me to relax.

“And answer the questions with the shortest possible responses. You might get swept away and reveal pointless information if you answer in length.”

“I won’t speak nonsense so don’t worry.”

I also knew that my life was precious.

“They are people who are burdensome to meet, but please don’t be too anxious. Or would you like a sedative2?”

“I’m fine.”

I didn’t have any anxiety or uneasiness at all. Rather, I had so little anxiety that it was worrying.

Still, turning Fear Resistance off because of that was stupid, so I should force myself to be on alert. The guys I would be meeting were all dangerous and crazy guys, except for my brother. Truthfully, if you also asked if my brother was alright, he probably wasn’t.

In the first place, would there be more than a few Hunters in their right minds among those who went in and out of dungeons? It was basic knowledge that PTSD came with some work experience.

“I’m worried about Peace rather than me.”

As soon as the still young Horned Flame Lion met my eyes, he wagged his tail. I really didn’t want to take him along.

“They wouldn’t harm Peace or something like that in order to keep Haeyeon in check, right?”

He was the very first highest rank familiar that would be grown. It couldn’t be anything but unpleasant from the other guild leaders’ positions.

“They aren’t people stupid enough to do something stupid like that.”

That was so. If those bastard guilds happened to pull something, I would trample them no matter what actions they took. If I was willing to put all my cards on the table, there wasn’t anything I couldn’t do.

“Peace, come here.”

To get ready to go out, I held Peace. It seemed like he had somehow gotten heavier than a few days ago. Did he gain weight because he couldn’t run around and play properly in the house that was cramped compared to his body?

The guild leaders visiting Haeyeon today were of the 3 big guilds plus one more, for a total of four. And the head of the Hunter Association was also brought over. Excluding the Association Head, they were all S-Rank Hunters.

‘This is my first time seeing them for real.’

They were all people that I had only seen on TV. To think that those amazing people would all crowd in to meet me, I felt odd.

How should I say it, I actually wanted to lord my power. Over those people who would live as powerful figures, no as super powerful figures, for their whole life. If you wish to gain high ranking familiars, you must appeal well to me, super powerful people3.

Of course, I probably couldn’t do that. Before I became a landlord, I had to act like a well-behaved cat.

Before humbly meeting the super powerful people, I went through a security check. They even thoroughly checked that I was just a stat F who would have trouble opposing a C-Rank even with equipment. Of course, my inventory was sealed also. Though it didn’t actually get sealed.

“You have to go alone from here on.”

So they were even blocking other people from entering. Who did they think would dare to touch those people gathered inside there?

“Peace, you have to be well-behaved. You can’t growl and such.”

-Kkiang

I didn’t know what he understood that he would reply.

When I walked along a long hallway, a large door appeared. Instead of hesitating, I immediately opened it and went inside.

At the same time, gazes poured out. What, it seemed like they had realized that I had arrived even before I opened the door.

Then why didn’t you open the door for me or something. Did you think holding a kid with one hand and pushing open a heavy door was easy? My kid was almost 10kg. You inconsiderate guys.

“Hello.”

Still, I smiled first. Smile.

It was a conference room with a serious design, but looking at the faces turned my way, it felt like I was visiting some entertainment agency.

Leaving out the Hunter Association Head with his hair streaked with gray, they all had sculpture-like faces and were young.

The Seseong Guild Leader in his late thirties was the oldest and the remaining were all older or younger than thirty. The youngest was of course the youthful twenty-year-old Yoohyun. Between those people, he sure was young.

‘To think there are four S-Ranks.’

Though it would be near impossible to put them in the standby positions.

“To our loving4 clients, it is an honor to be able to meet you like this.”

While I was meeting them anyways, I laid down the bait. Just in case they would unexpectedly get reeled in if I piled on a completely insincere business-like love ballad about ten thousand times. It might not work if it wasn’t directed at a specific person, but it wasn’t like my tongue would wear out by saying love, love, so what.

“If you have any questions, please ask comfortably, as many times as you like.”

I will lovingly and sincerely answer you. Of course, I would only put in sincerity and just lightly season with truth.

At my words, Yoohyun slightly wrinkled his eyebrows and the Breaker5 Guild Leader waved over a man standing off to one side.

“First, let’s start with trying the the skill appraisal.”

Yes, yes, let’s try it as many times necessary.

1 I was keeping it in bc I was keeping stuff like hyung as is, but I got tired of writing dongsaeng all the time so I’ll be using ‘(younger) brother

/sibling’ now for the most part lol. anyways stuff like hyung

/labels for older ppl is used often colloquially to call ppl whereas u don’t really for labels for younger ppl so it makes sense not to transliterate it

2 it’s lit. stabilizer

/tranquilizer but it probably means ‘sedative’ too

3 lit. ‘super A-nims’, see ch 25 footnote 13 for details about ‘A’ but basically it means a person w power. I normally leave in the -nim whenever it comes up (except for when it comes after guild leader bc it gets kinda clunky), but I couldn’t fit it here without it sounding weird so I left it out. Also the ‘lord power’ part is a verb using that ‘A’, lit. meaning ‘acting like A’, and means sth like ‘going on a power trip’

/‘overusing one’s power’.

4 you can tl it as ‘clients whom I love’ as well, which is why it fits the keyword, but in context, in eng, it sounds better to use ‘loving’. I realize that that implies the clients are the ones who are doing the loving but please just ignore that bc ‘lovable’ sounds weirder

5 the eng word transliterated into krn