The S-Classes That I Raised-Chapter 778: The Criminal (2)

“Moon Hyunah looked down at the sea of Gangneung. The sea breeze lightly brushed her red hair, which was beginning to blend back to its original black. On the sunbed beside her lay Sigma, wrapped snugly in a blanket.

“Sea in front, lake behind. Have you not decided completely yet?” Hwangrim said. The terrain favored Park Yerim but disadvantaged Han Yuhyun. Coming all the way here meant Hyunah hadn’t fully confirmed handing Sigma over to the Gardener.

“Decisions aren’t mine alone to make.” Moon Hyunah tilted her head and met Hwangrim’s gaze. “I don’t believe everything you say.”

“You’ve got it all, honestly~” Hwangrim protested with narrowed eyes, feigning injustice. “Xiaojin and the Puppeteer told you the same. It’s true the Gardener has little interest in other worlds. Unlike the Crescent Moon, he won’t meddle at the source.”

“So if Sigma goes to the Gardener’s hands and the contract drags Seong Hyunjae away, then the Crescent Moon ends up chasing its own tail and our world becomes safe, right?”

“It’s the most straightforward solution right now.” Hwangrim winked. His words rang true: let the Gardener take Sigma and Seong Hyunjae, and the crisis resolves itself most safely.

A low sigh slipped from Moon Hyunah’s lips. The endless sound of waves sounded distant yet insistent, echoing her thoughts. “Once others learn of this, most will say it’s right.”

“They will. After all, Sigma and Seong Hyunjae aren’t truly of our world.” Sigma, certainly, and Seong Hyunjae as a planted being. Who would agree to endanger their world to protect outsiders? A few might hesitate on ethical grounds, but most would choose the majority’s safety.

“But I don’t believe it’s the right thing. Right and wrong are social constructs that change. There was a time when caste and slavery were normal, when children were property. It will keep changing.”

Even now, with dungeons erupting and Awakened appearing, rapid shifts are underway.

“So I just do what I feel must be done. So does Han Yujin. We do what we must, what we can.”

It was hard to judge who was right or wrong. What seemed right now might shift with time. Hwangrim swung his feet lightly from the glass railing so the sea shone beneath it.

“Our Jini is really dedicated~.”

“That’s why I like you, sister.” A broad smile lit Moon Hyunah’s usually impassive face.

“It’s fascinating to watch. At first, I thought you just an F–Rank with a special Skill. I was wary over Yerim’s issue. How many use a child Awakened for their purposes?”

She’d pulled out a monster-taming Skill unhesitatingly before S–Ranks, acting like a veteran Hunter fresh from awakening. Highly suspicious.

“Then I thought she’d burn her life short, but she fought desperately beneath the calm.”

“Even in China, she was the same. Like someone on the edge of a cliff, as if she’d fall if she stepped back.”

Hwangrim nodded. It had seemed strange to him, too. Outwardly, Han Yujin had many places to fall back to—support if he failed.

“Now I think he must have lost someone. As long as he holds his sibling, he’ll never let go.”

Brushing back his disheveled hair, Moon Hyunah said, “I want my brother to succeed, too.”

Even if she’d kidnapped Sigma to here, even if he walked against Yujin’s wishes, Moon Hyunah grinned.

“There’s a charm in someone who never gives up.”

“You’re formidable yourself~. Popular?”

“Hey, you bat. You really younger than me? It feels off.”

“Male egos are sensitive. It’s a secret♡” Moon Hyunah waved her hand.

“Still, persistence doesn’t guarantee good outcomes. That’s the world.”

They needed realism, too—so Moon Hyunah decided to hang back from Han Yujin. She hoped he’d return, but couldn’t abandon those she protected.

Moon Hyunah approached the sunbed where Sigma lay.

“To find Sigma, I’ll have to kill Seong Hyunjae. Then he’ll awaken. Sorry, Hyunjae. But take good care of Soyeong in my stead.”

“Not the Sesung Guildmaster?” Hwangrim asked.

“If he returns safely, I’ll throw a feast. But—” Moon Hyunah shrugged. “I have a feeling we won’t meet again soon—safe or not.”

“You seem concerned.”

“Well, he’s more than an acquaintance—colleague, even. He’s better than expected.”

“Because he treated everyone below him. That wasn’t bad for me. Stiff senior Hunters disliked that, but at least he didn’t drift in his thoughts.”

Of course his domineering attitude rankled Moon Hyunah at times, but he was straightforward.

“He and Director Song were opposites, yet similar. If things go awry, I might miss him.”

“Oh, that much?”

“Even a tin can grows dear after drawing a face on it.”

And Seong Hyunjae felt bigger than a tin can. Entangled with Han Yujin, he’d grown into someone better.

Then a long breath came. The lips that in stasis barely exhaled opened. Moon Hyunah froze, bowing her head. His tightly closed eyelids slowly lifted. In looks alone, Seong Hyunjae was handsome, but his golden eyes were especially beautiful.

“Hello.” Moon Hyunah smiled. They still glittered. Sigma blinked.

“You were kidnapped by me. Before you sleep again, wake up, Princess!” Moon Hyunah shoved the blanket aside and sat Sigma up. He looked around in bewilderment.

“Lambda? Where am I?”

“Gangneung. I’m Moon Hyunah. You recognize me, though you’ve changed a bit.”

“You’re smaller than before.” Sigma tried to fold his arms but the blanket tripped him. He stared at it as if debating a rip.

“The Puppeteer took good care of you. Just tear it off.”

“It wasn’t an easy few months. I haven’t changed. So untie me.”

“All right.” Moon Hyunah unwrapped the blanket. Sigma’s gaze flicked to Hwangrim.

“You’re here too.”

“Hello, darling. Good to see you again. I’m Han Yujin’s personal caretaker.”

“Where’s the C–Rank?” Sigma asked.

“Somewhere farther off. But run away.” Hwangrim covered Sigma’s shoulder with one hand. “What do you want to do?”

“What do you mean?”

“The Puppeteer wants to hand you to me and send you to our world.”

Sigma’s brow twitched. “He’s so arbitrary. He told me only that he’d sever my link to Seong Hyunjae. Explain in detail.”

“If you stay awake, I could. But right now he lies as if dead to wake me, so I hold the lead.”

Sigma yawned.

“If I try to stay awake, I can. For now, he must wake me, so I have control.”

“Really? I don’t know everything either.” Moon Hyunah explained recent events and the present situation. Sigma stared at Hwangrim with a pout.

“Then whose side is he on?”

“Neither. He has his own complicated reasons!” Hwangrim sighed sadly. “Before Xiaojin’s regression, I was an African poison-arrow frog with the Gardener’s Essence. Time rewound and I became the youngest in a Chinese merchant family. If I defy the Gardener, I revert to a red, pretty, small frog. But the Gardener, having acquired a near-source, won’t leave me be, so I network to survive~.”

“...A frog?”

“Yes, Princess. If I turn back into a frog, kiss me—ugh.” Moon Hyunah’s parasol flicked Hwangrim’s head.

“Stop talking nonsense.”

“It’s unfair—why call it nonsense?”

“It’s likely Hwangrim didn’t exist before regression. Marisa and the Prophet she reached for had no memory of him. Surely he didn’t live quietly. So he helps the Puppeteer but can’t refuse the Gardener’s requests.”

“So he must laze about~. That’s why Jini’s sister avoids him so hard.”

“He’s just a bat.” Frog or bat, Sigma shifted his gaze back to Moon Hyunah and answered, “I don’t know.”

“...Huh?”

“Unlike Seong Hyunjae, I’ve been moved only a few times—three or four at most. But he’s had his memory erased countless times as he built new worlds, so he gained a sort of immunity. That’s why he looks older even if he hasn’t lived long in any one world.”

“That’s true. He feels older than you.”

“But I’m almost completely wiped, the Puppeteer said. So the time in my original world matches my experience, though not exactly, about ten years—”

“Te-ten years old?!” Moon Hyunah recoiled. “An actual child...” Even for the world’s sake, the sacrifice of a child versus an adult felt wholly different. Sigma crossed his arms indifferently.

“I was over twenty then, wasn’t I?”

“They presumed you to be. Still, much time has passed since.”

“I’m fixed in time and didn’t change.”

“...Then you’re effectively ten years old!” Moon Hyunah clutched her head. Sigma clicked his tongue coldly.

“I’m not saying I’m a child. I mean my experience is too little to draw quick conclusions.”

“That’s the same thing! This is maddening.” Moon Hyunah had planned to tell him everything and share her choice to prioritize the world, whether he resisted or agreed, to exchange opinions.

“When I regain my time, Lambda, I’ll be much older than you, so don’t worry. How old are you here?”

“When we met, twenty-seven.”

“I’ll be a hundred times more. Or at least I’m a transplanted being. My memory was just erased.” Sigma stressed that only his experience was lacking. He’d lived long enough. Yet Moon Hyunah still rubbed her temples.

“The Puppeteer kept calling ‘my child... my child’....”

“He exaggerates.”

“What will you do, sister?” Hwangrim asked. Sigma whirled on him.

“Was I Hyunah’s sibling?”

“Not by blood, but bonded as such.”

“My family’s wild boar brat is better than that bat. I’ve never raised one of those.” Sigma rose from the sunbed; the half-draped blanket slid to the ground. He met Moon Hyunah’s gaze, lower than he had remembered.

“Moon Hyunah, what do you want?”

“I...” Moon Hyunah exhaled. “We must protect our world.”

“You’re still Lambda.” Sigma said. She smiled faintly.

“The heart remains the same.”

“I am as I was.” Sigma’s gaze drifted to the distant sky, toward Seoul. He sensed someone approaching. Though fixed in time, memories of long years remained just beyond, not merging with others. Yet one thing differed: his Dollmancer.

Perhaps because he’d gained an independent self in his memories, his relationship with the Puppeteer had grown and changed, albeit slowly. So not entirely the same.

“I am Sigma, Guardian of Solemnis.” SS–Rank guard. He had been a protector of the world. “But I will not go meekly to the Gardener. You won’t simply send me off and call it done, Moon Hyunah.”

“Of course not. But I might have to abandon you, if needed.”

“I aimed for a fight without sacrifice while guarding Solemnis. But I was always prepared.”

“Yes, indeed. So am I.” Moon Hyunah turned to where Sigma looked. She began to feel it, too.

“But first, we must persuade the Protector.”

“I am the Protector.”

“All right, all right. Hey, Hwangrim. Where are you off to?”

“No parent-teacher conferences on my schedule.” Soon a gust of wind swept in. The Puppeteer alighted on the railing, glanced at the three, then turned.

“Let’s deal with those idiots first.” From beyond the sky, thralls appeared, riding the wind.