The Third Class (1)
It wasn’t a bad time for it.
Things had finally started to feel as though they were settling into place, and from Kim Hyunsung’s point of view, it seemed like the right moment to start moving in earnest.
There were practically no external disruptions left worth mentioning.
The matters of Red Mercenary and Black Swan were in their final stages, and Lee Jihye’s situation had fallen neatly into place.
“You have won. This is your victory. Lindel will remain peaceful as usual, and even safer than before. Let’s all do our best from our own positions.”
Even with the publicity spin about receiving Jeong Yura’s apology, a few words like that alone were never going to be enough to calm the public completely.
And yet, not everything had remained the same.
After the media’s relentless agitation, the masses celebrated their own victory and convinced themselves they were satisfied.
They rejoiced in the fact that one individual had stood up to a great guild’s pressure and come out on top.
It was a highly satisfying result from my side as well.
A few days after my announcement, Black Swan publicized its reorganization of command and its donations to novice adventurers.
There was some debate, of course, but no one saw it in a particularly bad light.
Most likely, the decisive factor was that every executive in Black Swan had come out and bowed their heads in apology to me.
Until now, no great guild had ever had its executives make an apology like that, so from the public’s perspective it must have felt refreshingly new.
If there was still one unresolved issue, it was Jeong Hayan’s reaction after Lee Jihye left that day.
She hadn’t shown any explosive response at the time, but now and then she displayed signs of unease.
She had become even clingier than before, and now seemed to be trying to forget her anxiety by staying close to me.
In simple terms, she had become a little more proactive.
Or rather, she had become more self-driven, if I had to put it that way.
Not good.
Of course, I didn’t exactly welcome this change in Jeong Hayan.
Though, for now—
“Where are you going, Oppa?”
—or questions like that.
“When will you come back?”
That was the extent of it, but it still wasn’t something I could ignore.
I knew this kind of fixation tended to work against me.
She had clearly decided there was some kind of connection between Lee Jihye and me. She must have sensed that odd atmosphere between us.
Of course, Lee Jihye had gone ahead and worn a steel plate over her face, pretending not to know anything, but I thought it was possible Jeong Hayan had picked up on the strange tension we maintained.
She was the soul mate the System itself had officially recognized, so it wasn’t strange at all for her to sense something.
If anything, she seemed to be paying more attention to Lee Jihye than to the Mercenary Queen, Cha Heera, who was still maintaining that fake lover concept.
I had to keep her under control.
I kept telling myself that over and over. At this rate, she might drag me around for the rest of my life.
In any case, whether internally or externally, this was the best possible time for growth.
With the exception of the old lunatics within Blue, there were no outside forces pressuring us.
The three-way alliance was progressing smoothly, dungeon culture and hunting culture had both improved, and support was pouring in from all directions through the media orbiting around us.
It looked, more or less, as if we’d finally finished preparing to take off.
That was the background surrounding Kim Hyunsung’s current party.
“I’m sure most of you already understand this, but there are two prerequisites for class advancement. First, you need to gain experience through hunting. Second, you need to repeat the specific actions associated with your unique class. The same goes for raising your attributes. You already know that when you use mana, your mana rises, and when you use strength, your physical power increases.”
“Of course.”
“We’ve taken a short break for various reasons after our last dungeon expedition, but we now need to grow faster than we have been. Ideally, everyone here should at least reach the level of Sun Heeyoung’s current growth. At minimum, I’d say you should possess the specs of the others who joined us on the last dungeon raid. It’s time to shed the novice title.”
“I see.”
“A third or fourth class advancement, and major attributes in the sixties. That’s all I’m asking of you.”
It was both difficult and easy.
What Kim Hyunsung had just said was probably aimed at Park Deokgu and the little one, Kim Yeri.
More specifically, it sounded like he was targeting the kid and me.
Of course, he couldn’t directly check our attributes, but he must have had some sense of them.
As for Jeong Hayan, her mana was already approaching the high forties, and Kim Hyunsung himself had long since broken past the fifties in his attributes.
Sun Heeyoung, who had joined later than the rest of us, was an obvious case, and even Park Deokgu—slow as he was—had been growing steadily enough to notice.
From Kim Hyunsung’s perspective, Kim Yeri and I were probably the only real headaches in the party.
Hmm.
Kim Yeri was actually in a better position.
She possessed potential greater than Legendary, so her growth was only a matter of time.
The real problem in Kim Hyunsung’s party was me.
It wasn’t that my growth path had been chosen wrong, exactly.
My class, Alchemist, was one that could cover for low mana, and in some ways it suited me.
Still, it was hard to classify it as a combat profession.
Of course, I hadn’t yet seen what a fully developed version of it looked like, so my choices were limited, but sometimes I’d wondered whether choosing a black magician might not have been so bad after all.
There would have been limits to my growth either way, but I would have been stronger than I am now.
Of course.
Assuming this wasn’t the Holy Empire.
“Ugh….”
“Within a month. My hope is that all of you can achieve your third class advancement and attribute goals within a month.”
“It’s easy to say, but it won’t be as simple as you think. I don’t know how we might get classes, but as for attributes, even training has started to make less of a difference… Hunting will change things, sure, but….”
“I think it’s possible.”
“How…?”
“We’ll start by going hunting. At the very least, I don’t plan to return to the city until we’ve completed the goals we’ve set.”
“Hmm.”
“There will be five people going on the expedition. Everyone except Kiyoung.”
“What do you mean? Hyung is….”
Honestly, this was enough to make my heart drop.
It sounded exactly like someone telling me to get off the Kim Hyunsung bus, and anyone would react that way.
Before I could even think about it, my body reacted first.
“T-that won’t do.”
For a brief moment, every possible thought slammed into my head.
Was he trying to reassign me to a non-combat role now?
Or was he trying to push me out of the main party?
That sort of useless nonsense.
Park Deokgu and Jeong Hayan both looked even more startled than I did. Even Sun Heeyoung didn’t seem particularly pleased.
I wondered if he meant to reduce my growing influence within the party, but his expression remained perfectly calm.
In the first place, Kim Hyunsung’s personality was not the kind that would make him decide to cast me aside over something like this.
I was still a precious party member within his fence. My heart was pounding, but I kept my face steady and spoke without much outward agitation.
His voice came to me as he nodded in response to my question.
“You’ve come to rely on him too much.”
“Ah.”
“Deokgu and Hayan have both grown up in very comfortable environments. The same goes for Heeyoung, who isn’t used to hunting. I’m not talking about physical comfort or an easy hunting environment. And of course, I’m not dismissing your efforts. But because of Kiyoung’s presence, you’ve all become far too comfortable settling into the psychological stability he provides.”
“Psychological stability?”
I understood what he was getting at. No, I understood it only on the surface.
“To put it a little more bluntly, Kiyoung’s presence is holding back your growth. It’s embarrassing to say this about myself, but I believe my own existence is also having a negative effect. I’ll be going on the expedition with you as well, but I don’t intend to intervene much. I’ve judged that it would be best if the four of you—excluding both myself and Kiyoung—worked your way through the situation on your own.”
What absurd overestimation.
The conclusion that I was the problem was, at least, perfectly correct.
But the meaning and interpretation behind that were completely different from what I had in mind.
It wasn’t that I was failing to grow; it was that I was supposedly interfering with everyone else’s growth.
I did think Kim Hyunsung might be overestimating me, but it was true that Jeong Hayan and Park Deokgu depended on me heavily.
Still, I didn’t think my existence had such a powerful influence that it was actually preventing growth.
To be blunt, I was even starting to wonder if Kim Hyunsung was misunderstanding something.
“Kiyoung looks like he doesn’t quite agree.”
“If I’m being honest, that’s true. Hayan and Deokgu are….”
“Kiyoung has contributed more to this party than you think. I don’t know how it looks to others, but at least it’s obvious to me. If I were to exaggerate, I’d say this next expedition will almost certainly end in complete failure without Kiyoung.”
“Th-that’s not true. No, even if that were the case, how can you just leave Oppa out for a whole month…?”
“We’re not children, kid. Sure, I admit Kiyoung-hyung is amazing, but….”
“I’m speaking as the one leading this party. The decision stands. Kiyoung will not be joining this expedition. Likewise, the four of you, excluding me, will be conducting the hunting and the raid.”
Everyone looked as if they couldn’t accept it.
Still, I nodded for now.
Not bad.
I found it a little strange too, but if Kim Hyunsung had judged it that way and decided on a growth path, then that had to be the right answer.
Especially with Jeong Hayan—if not Park Deokgu—I thought it was only natural that she needed to get used to situations where I wasn’t there.
It was good that she followed me, but keeping a proper distance would probably be healthier than letting it go too far.
The reality of being separated for a month seemed hard for her to believe, and she kept looking at me, but I had no intention of opposing Kim Hyunsung’s decision.
“Hoo….”
“Well, I agree with Hyunsung too. If that helps with everyone’s growth, I think it’s worth trying.”
The problem wasn’t them.
It was me.
Once I got off the Kim Hyunsung bus, I might be just a step away from becoming a lost child.
It was good for the party members to grow stronger.
But if they became so strong that I could no longer keep up, it might cause problems for us moving forward.
That can’t happen.
Since he had gone out of his way to separate me, I thought maybe the regressor had left some kind of arrangement behind.
There would be a gift waiting for someone like me, who seemed to have low potential.
Attribute growth and class advancement.
The sound of it alone was sweet beyond words. I didn’t know what exactly he had prepared, but for all I knew there might be some very tempting honey jar waiting for me.
“Then, in the meantime, I….”
But that was apparently nothing more than my own mistaken assumption.
Kim Hyunsung’s face, as he smiled faintly at me, was filled with an unreadable trust.
“Kiyoung, the same applies to you. Focus on increasing your attributes and advancing your class over the next month.”
“Ah… yes.”
“We’ll leave as quickly as possible. And of course, I’d like you not to help us during this process either. It seems there’s meaning in preparing from the very start. Don’t worry about us, and concentrate entirely on your own growth.”
“Yes….”
I didn’t know where he was getting this confidence from, but this bastard was looking at me with unlimited faith.
Something about him had changed, but I’d never imagined this sort of situation would come.
“I’ll be counting on you while I’m away. I trust you, Kiyoung.”
Don’t trust me, you bastard.