S-Class Except Me

Her voice was now slightly trembling.

“When exactly did you awaken?  Did you awaken the day you fell in the dungeon? And you’ve been hiding it all this time?”

“N, no.” 

Haeun shook her head and denied it. 

“I awakened before that….” 

“When?” 

“A week before the competition….” 

Haeun’s voice became low, like the sound of an ant crawling.

Neither on the day nor after, but before. Lee Yoonkyung seemed a little angry now.

“Then why didn’t you tell me?”

At that time, the gym gate incident remained a hellish experience that Lee Yoonkyung didn’t even want to think about. 

Her daughter, a non-awakened person with no special abilities, was caught up in a dungeon break and buried in a dungeon. Even in the dungeon where the grade was rising in real time! 

Maybe something bad will happen to her daughter. Won’t she face her cold daughter’s body because she can’t find Haeun in time?

How much trouble she had suffered from the ominous thoughts that came to her at any time.

But it turns out that the daughter was always an awakener, even when she was in dungeons.

“Haeun, what the hell are you…!” 

Lee Yoonkyung, who was about to get angry, hesitated.

It was a situation where the E-Class dungeon had soared to the S-Class. If it weren’t for Haeun’s awakening, Haeun wouldn’t have been able to survive there either.

She thought so, and ironically, she was relieved on the other side of her heart.

“Hmm.” 

Jung Jinho, who was watching, was lost in deep thought. He guessed in his mind why Haeun didn’t say anything.

‘Did Haeun get hurt a lot when she was young?’

When Eunwoo was the last member of her family to awaken as an S-Class, Haeun was only in the lower elementary school grades. 

However, the media, which was excited about the birth of a large S-Class family, didn’t consider young Haeun.

At first, they showed interest in Haeun, wondering if she would also awaken. However, people changed their attitudes when they saw Haeun, who still couldn’t awaken even after the years had passed. 

Before he knew it, the word referring to Haeun had become the ugly duckling of the swan family, a piece of jade that couldn’t be hidden. 

“I don’t know if they would have been a perfect family without her.”

“It’s too bad.”

No matter how much he hired a lawyer to crack down on people and issue warnings, could he have stopped all the sarcastic remarks? Could Haeun, who goes to school and meets people, didn’t know anything?

Sometimes children feel hostility that adults don’t. 

Thinking like that, Jung Jinho couldn’t blame Haeun unconditionally just because Haeun had been hiding the truth. It was because Haeun’s failure to reveal the truth even after awakening seemed to be his own fault for not healing Haeun’s wounds.

But there was something to be sure about.

“Haeun-ah, what you just said should be kept between your family members.”

It was a firm voice that said there should be no exceptions. Haeun raised her head.

“Never tell anyone. No matter what anyone says, Haeun, your first awakening is in America.”

“Dad.” 

“I don’t know why you hid it, but it has already happened. You don’t have to scrape it to make a boil. When people find out, there will definitely be a commotion. This is for you, Haeun.”

If that happens, people will bite Haeun like a wild dog and ask why, as an EX-Class awakener, she just watched the tragedy.

They don’t care about Haeun’s situation in the Dungeon at that time. They only care about Haeun’s rank.

Taking a more vicious approach, they could have argued that Haeun deliberately turned a blind eye to people’s deaths. Or they could spread rumors that she intended to kill people because she wanted to awaken.

“I agree, Noona. Besides, the dungeon break wasn’t Noona’s fault either.”

“Yeah, Sehyun is right.” 

“And Hunter doesn’t save everyone. I don’t like people cursing Noona for nothing even though they don’t know.”

“First of all, let’s say this triggered your awakening….”

“Haa.” 

The atmosphere suddenly became chilly at the sudden burst of laughter. Jung Eunwoo, who had a strangely crooked posture from the time he was driving, was the main character.

“Hey, Jung Haeun. I don’t understand, so let me ask one question.” 

“What…”

“If you didn’t get caught this time, did you plan on hiding it for the rest of your life?”

Haeun shut her mouth. Jung Eunwoo crossed his arms.

“You know that a lot of people still die because of dungeons. If you’re capable enough, you can easily solve it. Did you intend to pretend that you didn’t know about that for the rest of your life and pretend it wasn’t your business?”

“Hyung, don’t say that to Noona.”

“Yeah, Eunwoo. The words seem a bit harsh. Haeun also has a thought….” 

“So let’s hear it. What were you thinking?”

Jung Eunwoo twisted his lips crookedly.

“If you awaken, it’s only natural that you will have that kind of responsibility. Jung Haeun had the ability to help, but she just stared at it, played, and ate.”

“I didn’t do that on purpose either.”

The tearful Haeun muttered lowly. Jung Eunwoo raised his eyebrows.

“Then why did you do that?”

“That…” 

The most fundamental reason why Haeun hid the awakening was because of the synchronization rate.

When Haeun used her powers, the number increased, and the environment around her was affected accordingly.

Wasn’t it Haeun who tried to approach Baek Soyeon to find out about that system window just a few days ago?

Even Haeun doesn’t know how she got out of the penalty, but even if she told her family, would they believe her?

When other people can’t even see that system window?

They may all be dismissed as Haeun’s delusions.

“I had a situation, too.”

The only thing that came out of Haeun’s mouth, who couldn’t answer, was the evasive answer.

Jung Eunwoo sighed as Haeun hesitated and wiggled her fingers.

“I don’t understand you.”

“Oppa.” 

“You mean you had the power to save everyone but decided to stay still. I’m leaving the meeting. Take care of yourself.”

“Eunwoo-ya, Eunwoo-ya!”

Jung Eunwoo left his seat. The family meeting broke up in a flash. There was a bleak atmosphere among the remaining families.

Haeun gloomily lowered her head.

‘I didn’t do that on purpose.’

In a situation where she can’t lead, Haeun just follows what she thinks is best.

Lee Yoonkyung hurriedly comforted Haeun in the rapidly darkening atmosphere.

“Haeun-ah, don’t get hurt too much. You know your brother’s personality well.”

“….” 

“Mom thinks it’s more fortunate that Haeun didn’t talk about it. Even though their lives are different, most Awakened work in the field. There is bound to be a risk. It may be a selfish idea to be a hunter who saves people, but Mom thinks that Haeun was lucky that you grew up in a safe environment.” 

“Dad feels the same way. And it’s not good to live the Hunter life at such an early age, either. All opportunities to build memories from school days are gone.”

“I’ve been a hunter since I was young.”

“Sehyun, you… Yeah, Dad is sorry.” 

“No. I preferred working as a Hunter. School is boring.”

Jung Jinho and Jeong Sehyun made jokes to comfort Haeun.

But Haeun’s face, which had already sunk into a sad mood, didn’t know how to straighten up. When Lee Yoonkyung winked at Jung Jinho, Jung Jinho coughed in vain.

“Haeun-ah, you’re tired, right? Do you want to go to your room and rest? Isn’t it hard to take a plane all day and then a car right after?”

“Yeah, Haeun-ah. Go to your room and rest a little. I’ll call you later at dinner. It’s been ten days since I saw my daughter, and mom has also bought something delicious for you.” 

“Yes, yes, that would be nice.”

“Okay.”

Haeun, who had been silent, answered reluctantly. Jung Sehyun asked in a worried voice.

“Noona, do you want me to take you?”

“No, it’s okay.”

Leaving her family’s worries behind, Haeun went into the room helplessly. Haeun shut the door, sat in front of it, covered her face with her hands, and muttered.

“Did I do something wrong?”

Would it have been better to be honest about everything from the beginning?

But if she tells them, can they solve it?

Ever since she awakened, suspicious system windows followed Haeun. 

Even the Constellation that gave Haeun her special abilities didn’t tell her as much about that system window.

Besides, how should she tell them?

The fact that synchronization rate changed because she worked hard inside the dungeon, which changed the dungeon, and at the same time, the damage from the dungeon also increased.

Haeun didn’t kill people. But she couldn’t deny that she influenced in creating the environment where their deaths were likely to increase.

Ha-eun’s family were hunters who saved people.

If her family looked at Haeun with contempt because of that, Haeun wouldn’t be able to endure it.

“If the system restrictions had been lifted much earlier, I wouldn’t have been hiding it.”

No, if such a window hadn’t existed in the first place, if the surrounding environment hadn’t changed, Haeun would have already become a hunter.

While doing everything that Jung Eunwoo is talking about, the responsibility of the Awakened!

[The Constellation ‘Mutant of the Abyss’ saying that Haeun did her best enough and save someone who was about to be crushed by a window.]

“That’s right!” 

Rather, Haeun has been doing her best even in the presence of penalties.

There is no reason for Jung Eunwoo to criticize her like trash.

Suddenly, resentment rose. Jung Eunwoo unilaterally criticized Haeun without even asking what her situation was like at the time.

Of course, she thought it would be nice to play a little more while watching her family on the verge of death from overwork, but she didn’t completely ignore it and turn away.

Haeun jumped up from her seat.

Bang—! The closed door opened violently.

The rest of the family, who were talking with serious faces in the living room, looked back at Haeun in surprised. 

“Haeun-ah?” 

Haeun strode across the room. Haeun went out of the house without answering her family’s call. 

“Hey! Jung Eunwoo!”

Jeong Eunwoo, who was sitting on a bench outside, raised his head at the high-pitched voice.

Why is he looking more depressed than me?

Haeun shouted. 

“I don’t know how much Oppa usually lives with a sense of justice, but I did as much as I could?!”

“That’s really…”

“And as I said before, I didn’t do it on purpose!”

That day was a kind of trauma for Haeun, and it became the shackles that limited her actions. 

While some people are doing well after Awaken, she was afraid that a greater disaster could happen.

Reasons such as not wanting to wear the Hunter school uniform and wanting to live comfortably are all secondary.

No, on the contrary, he seemed to be able to understand her situation only if she attached such a reason. 

It was because she hated the fact that she still had to be a civilian, alone among a well-to-do family!

“It wasn’t that I was doing it to live well alone, and it wasn’t that I didn’t care whether people died or not.”

Rather, even if she wanted to use her strength, she suppressed it and lived her life pretending that it wasn’t her strength. 

“If Oppa was in my situation, do you think you would have made a better choice than me? Don’t talk like that when you don’t know anything!” 

Haeun, who had been fussing about it, slightly shook her shoulders. Jung Eunwoo, who was still listening to Haeun with his legs crossed, bent down. Something flew to Haeun. Haeun took it in reflex.

It is a tree branch that has been rolling on the floor. It was quite long and hard.

Jung Eunwoo chinned at the puzzled Haeun.

“Let’s fight.” 

“What?”