The S-Classes That I Raised – Chapter 784

Twenty–Six Years Old (1)

Posted by NovelStr, ? Views, Released on May 24, 2026

Chapter 784: Twenty–Six Years Old (1)

The attack had aimed with perfect precision for the gap that would keep me from covering Seong Hyunjae. Seong Hyunjae did not fight the force shoving him away. He let it carry him, lowering himself as if he were sliding back, and sent Seeker’s Chain lashing out.

The golden chain was just about to reach me when—

Clang!

Another sword came flying in and cut across its path.

A butterfly settled through the sharp ring of metal. Folding its veil–black wings long and narrow, it wrapped its slender legs around a magic stone half–glimpsed among the churned earth. And it was not alone. All across the vast pit, hundreds of butterflies drifted and fluttered like flowers made of ash, searching out the magic stones of the subjects. As though they meant to guide the dead along the road to the afterlife.

Instead of looking back, I pulled out my gun and ran forward—toward Seong Hyunjae. I half–stepped in front of him and spun around. At the edge of the enormous crater, Yuhyun stood on a butterfly.

He hadn’t shot an arrow from that distance. He had thrown a sword. And it had still been so fast that even Battle Precognition could barely—

The thought had barely crossed my mind before a bow appeared in Yuhyun’s hand.

Creeeak.

The bowstring drew back. It was a monstrous bow, strong enough that I could hear the limbs groan all the way from here. Instinctively, every muscle in my body tensed, but for some reason Battle Precognition did not trigger.

Twang—

Not even when the string was released.

An invisible arrow split the air. And then—

Boom!

An explosion thundered behind us. I turned my head on reflex. At the far edge of the pit, a burning figure came into view.

What the—

“It appears to be a surviving subject,” Seong Hyunjae said.

What? Yuhyun had attacked a subject?

Before my bewilderment could settle, Yuhyun moved. With one light, soundless kick off the ground, the distance between us shrank in an instant. I pulled the trigger in a hurry. The charged magic was comparable to S–rank, but Yuhyun did not so much as dodge. He knocked it aside with his sword.

Clatter, clatter. The chain swayed in front of me, moving as if it meant to coil itself around us.

My little brother stopped about a dozen meters away.

“…How is your condition?”

“Just good enough to hide behind Han Yujin–gun.”

In other words, no better than an F–rank wrapped in items. Well, considering he had overloaded his body with his own magic, the fact that he was even moving was impressive. At least he could still handle mana, so he was controlling the chain, but that seemed to be all.

“For you to show up this quickly, isn’t the Haeyeon Guild Leader being far too careless? Even you wouldn’t have gotten out of that unharmed if you’d been caught in it.”

That was why I had thought we might have a little breathing room. But Yuhyun had appeared immediately, as if he had been waiting.

…As if he had been waiting.

No way.

‘Did he want us to get rid of the subjects?’

Yuhyun had been watching from above. There was no way he hadn’t noticed that Seong Hyunjae and I were moving with some kind of plan. And yet he had not stopped the subjects.

All at once, the butterflies collecting the magic stones felt suspicious. Where had the power of water holding Yerim come from? Subjects and transcendents. Could it be—

My thoughts did not get the chance to continue.

Yuhyun held out his hand.

Two red fruits lay on his palm.

“Sorry, but your hyung had a hearty breakfast. I’ll pass on dessert.”

Last time, because of Chief Song and Liette, I had accepted it and eaten it with my own hand. But right now, all we had was Seong Hyunjae, who could not die.

I quickly sent messages to the other three, asking them to take care of the remaining subjects and telling them not to come this way.

The fruits in Yuhyun’s hand disappeared. He must have put them back into his inventory. There was no way he had given up. He intended to grab me and force them down my throat.

But for some reason, Yuhyun did not move right away.

“It seems he believes I might kill Han Yujin–gun,” Seong Hyunjae said.

“What?”

Seong Hyunjae placed a hand on my shoulder and continued.

“If something happens to Han Yujin–gun, I will have no reason to help the Gardener anymore, will I?”

…He was right. For Seong Hyunjae, that would be the cleanest method. If I died, both Yuhyuns would disappear. Of course, knowing Seong Hyunjae, it would not sit well with him, but as an absolute last resort, he might use it. Yuhyun must have been wary of that.

“Get away from him, hyung.”

“Even knowing that, Han Yujin–gun will still protect me.”

Seong Hyunjae said it shamelessly, as if it were the most obvious thing in the world. If we had not been in this situation, I would have kicked him on the spot.

Even at the provocation, Yuhyun kept looking only at me, his face blank. Seong Hyunjae seemed to find that boring and glanced back at me.

“No reaction at all. In the past, he used to bare his teeth to keep me away.”

“How long ago are you talking about? Even the twenty–one–year–old Yuhyun stopped caring about you ages ago.”

Now, maybe if I suddenly picked up something strange off the ground, ate it, and started spouting insane crap like, Yuhyun, actually, the Sesung Guild Leader is my long–lost biological little brother, so could you give up half your spot for him?—that would be another story.

Even the current Yuhyun was like that. So a Yuhyun who had given up even his own place in order to protect me…

There was no way he would react.

“He must have heard about Grace.”

I unwound Grace from my wrist. Yuhyun’s eyes shifted faintly, following the dangling bracelet chain.

“That’s why you released the subjects. You were confident I wouldn’t die.”

Yuhyun must have told him. About damage nullification, and about curse and poison resistance. Of course, things like death by suffocation could not be avoided, but that did not happen instantly. He could just watch and intervene when necessary. The chance of Grace being stolen was low too. The subjects did not know about it.

But Seong Hyunjae did.

That was why Yuhyun was wary of him.

I shoved Seong Hyunjae away. At the same time, I threw Grace to him.

“Hyung!”

“If you’re going to erase my memories by force, then come at me.”

Even after I said that, Yuhyun could not move.

I was too weak to handle recklessly. Of course, Yuhyun could subdue me without injuring me. But at the same time, even if I had to cut off my own arm, I would escape. He probably would not be able to use Black Blood Flame properly either.

“I’ll show you exactly how far your hyung can struggle.”

“That’s dangerous! If you do that—”

“Ah, you don’t have to worry about Seong Hyunjae–ssi. Right now, he’s weaker than me.”

If he died and revived, he would recover, though.

Holding Grace in his hand, Seong Hyunjae took a few steps back and spread both arms.

“As Han Yujin–gun says. And at the moment, I do not feel much like recovering through death either.”

“…What?”

No, why all of a sudden?

“This is not something one gets to watch twice. It would be regrettable if I happened to remain in a deathlike state too long and missed it.”

…So what, life had gotten interesting again?

Normally, I would have told him that was a good change, but why now, of all times? With this, the option of Seong Hyunjae recovering and helping me disappeared too.

Fine. It was fine.

This was something Yuhyun and I had to resolve between the two of us anyway. Even if Seong Hyunjae had been perfectly fine, he might have stepped back here and refused to interfere.

“All right, my twenty–six–year–old little brother.”

“I’m twenty–five.”

Yuhyun answered stiffly.

“I died at twenty–five.”

“But you came!”

I kicked off the ground. It was a fight with an obvious outcome. I had barely any means available. But it had always been like that.

“On Christmas!”

I pulled out one of the few bombs I had left and hurled it with all my might. Without Grace, I threw it as far as I could.

Boom!

Smoke scattered with the blast. The ground buckled and warped, rocks and debris thrusting upward. I leapt on top of them.

“On your birthday!”

He had said he came that day. He came to me, extended the little lifespan I had left, and vanished.

Clatter. A golden chain flew in. I stepped onto it. I jumped hard, up toward the place where Yuhyun stood.

My little brother looked up at me.

“So you’re twenty–six.”

We had been together that day. Both of my little brothers, with the cake I had bought, at the place where we celebrated his birthday.

I aimed my gun, even though it would not so much as graze him.

It did not matter if it failed to reach.

I just had to keep going until it did.

Bang!

With the gunshot, my body was pushed back in midair. I saw Yuhyun’s jaw clench tight. I hurriedly used Teacher skill on him.

The magic bullet skimmed past his black coat, and the foot that kicked off a butterfly came down on me in an instant. Instead of swinging a weapon, I felt a hand reaching for me. I tried to dodge, but even with prediction, my body could not keep up with Yuhyun’s movements.

Thud.

He caught my wrist.

I twisted and pulled with all my strength.

My wrist wrenched with a series of cracks. Yuhyun flinched and let up on his grip. At the same time, I kicked him in the shoulder. My falling body spun with the help of the lynx set, touched once against the chain that supported me, and landed.

“That hurts a bit.”

“Hyung!”

“What? You didn’t think I’d come in prepared for at least that much?”

I answered while pouring a potion over my wrist.

“You should feed me that pomegranate–looking fruit even if you have to cut off all four of my limbs.”

I pulled out wire and wrapped it around my forearm. In my head, I sorted through everything I had.

“Memories or arms and legs. You know they’re the same in the end, don’t you? They’re both wounds inflicted on me.”

I did not want to say things like this to Yuhyun. But if we both shut our mouths, hesitating because we did not want to hurt each other, then nothing would change in the end.

We would only go back to enduring things unilaterally.

“Don’t hold back.”

You or me.

Yuhyun inhaled shortly. My little brother’s figure vanished. Battle Precognition barely managed to inform me of Yuhyun’s movement, and I lowered myself, sliding along the ground.

But the moment I kicked off the earth, my leg was seized.

He threw me down hard.

“Ugh.”

The uneven ground slammed into my entire body. I had no time to even come to my senses. I hurriedly clamped my mouth shut. But Yuhyun’s knee pressed down on my chest with crushing force.

“Kgh!”

My mouth opened on its own, a harsh breath forced out of me. I tried to close it again immediately, but his fingers prying their way in were faster. The fruit was shoved into my throat.

I thrashed to keep from swallowing. Even if I could not breathe, I would rather choke to death than—

Through my flickering consciousness, I pulled out an S–rank poison pill.

The fruit was on the verge of being swallowed.

Black smoke surged up, and a small flame ignited around Yuhyun’s head. Fire that burned away poison.

I reached out toward that fire.

My fingertips were swallowed by flame in an instant. At the same time that my fading mind snapped wide awake, Yuhyun hastily retreated.

“Cough, khah!”

I rolled across the ground and somehow managed to use a potion. Fortunately, it had not been Black Blood Flame made with blood, so the pain soon receded.

Barely pushing myself upright, I looked at Yuhyun.

“…Damn it.”

There was no fruit in Yuhyun’s hand. Had I swallowed it reflexively during that brief moment when my consciousness had blurred? At least it seemed they could not be used at the same time. There had only been one.

Soon, I felt a mana reaction inside my body.

When the message asking me to select the memory to erase appeared, I brought to mind the booklet of precautions for unawakened employees of the Sesung Guild that I had deliberately read last night.

But this time, it did not end with only that memory being erased.

Staggering away from Yuhyun, I pushed back against the item’s power. Something flickered past my eyes. Somehow, I forced my eyes wide open and stared at my little brother.

Over him, the same face overlapped.

‘It’s okay, hyung.’

It was Yuhyun’s voice.

Over pitch–black clothing, I saw a pale face. On the table was a cake. It had been for Christmas, but we had stuck birthday candles into it. After midnight, we blew out the candles and cut the cake together.

Yuhyun spoke in a low voice, almost a whisper.

‘I’m fake.’

And then it cut off.

I blinked.

A hollow sensation washed over me. I could not tell what memory had disappeared. Perhaps as a side effect of my fierce resistance, there were also memories that had been covered up and were now revealed instead.

So he really had come.

“How long has it been since I spent your birthday with you?”

I roughly rubbed my aching throat and smiled. Yuhyun stood with a rigid expression on his face.

“My birthday is right around the corner too. You should celebrate your hyung’s birthday with me.”

So that meant we had even more reason to go together.

Yuhyun took out the last fruit.

“I’m twenty–five.”

“Is this because I only bought one cake? I’m sorry. But I never forgot you. Even if time was turned back, my time kept flowing just the same.”

Every Yuhyun had spent all that time with me.

“So you became one year older, and we spent your birthday together, and you’ll spend my birthday with me too. Even if you can’t hold on until then, I’ll keep remembering.”

“…If something happens to you, hyung, none of it means anything!”

“Yeah. But, Yuhyun. This is the kind of person your hyung is. Just as you’re someone who can throw away everything to protect me, I’m someone who doesn’t know how to give up on the people I love.”

I stepped forward.

I walked toward Yuhyun.

“We’re different like this. From the very beginning, and probably all the way to the end, we’ll be different. Just as you can’t understand the me I am now, I’ll never be able to fully understand you either.”

I stood in front of my little brother.

“But you’re the one who made me into this.”

“…What is that supposed to mean?”

“My little brother was cute and lovable. So young Han Yujin had to make a hard choice, just like I do now. For a child to push away his parents… you could say he was putting his life on the line.”

Without a parent’s protection, a child could not survive. In the wild, it would have led directly to death. Even with society’s protection, he would be thrown into a life far more precarious than before.

“If I’d given up on you back then, the Han Yujin standing here now wouldn’t exist. Maybe I would have become someone who gave up more easily. Someone who exchanged affection more lightly.”

That would not necessarily have been wrong. Taking care of oneself first was, in some ways, a desirable thing.

“You were influenced by me, but I was influenced by you too. So, Yuhyun, it’s impossible to separate Han Yuhyun from the existence called Han Yujin. Maybe not to the point that you see me as your entire world, but the greatest part of my world is Han Yuhyun.”

If Han Yuhyun was standing here because of me, then Han Yujin was the same.

This Han Yujin, the one who threw himself in without regard for his own body, who stubbornly held on until the very end, was the child who had chosen his little brother over his own comfort.

“Hyung is…”

“So, Yuhyun!”

The trap item.

I had taken it out while using a potion, back when I was getting up, and stuck it beside my foot. Now I tapped it and activated it.

Even an SS–rank could not dodge an item that burst right in front of his nose when his guard was down. A net snapped open and clung to Yuhyun’s arms and legs.

At the same time, I pulled out a spear.

A weapon neither of the two Yuhyuns knew. The God–Slaying Spear, whose rank had not even been determined, shot forward. Even if almost all of its power had been exhausted, its hardness should remain the same.

Rrrip—

Yuhyun pulled his arm, and the net tore apart. Just a little faster than that, the spear reached him. The white spearhead grazed his shoulder as he twisted away in haste. A D–rank thrust received double effectiveness, ripping through black cloth and leaving a shallow mark beyond it.

With only a few drops of blood shed, Yuhyun completely evaded. Unable to overcome my own momentum, I stumbled forward and nearly fell flat on my face. I barely managed to stay upright by driving the spear into the ground and leaning on it.

I looked at my retreating little brother and smiled.

“Should we try that again? Don’t let your guard down. I couldn’t even touch you before, and now I scratched you. Next time, I might really stab you.”

“…Hyung.”

Yuhyun’s expression visibly wavered.

Had he started to think, even just a little, that this would not end with simply forcing me down and tying me up?

Then I would have to clash with him even harder.

I adjusted my grip on the spear.

And Yuhyun—

“Yuhyun?”

He staggered.

The butterflies around him scattered.

Then a voice came.