< Magic Beast Trainer (1) >

“Peace~.”

After receiving the pain relief patch that the Dokkaebi bought, I banished them and went towards the living room. Inside the pen, Peace was leaping from side to side as he greeted me. A guy who got cuter each time I saw him.

As always, I held Peace in my arms and petted the back of his neck. It was nice to hear the purring.

Now the days when I could go around holding him wouldn’t last much longer. When the growth started, he would probably quickly get bigger than me. I was a little regretful.

“You can’t pretend not to know Dad just because you’re all grown.”

Did monsters also have something like puberty? If he was like ‘Dad I hate you’ and swung his front paws, at the least it would be hospitalization. Our Peace was good, so something like that probably wouldn’t happen.

I lowered Peace to the floor and used the My Brat skill. Soon, a Message Window popped up in front of my eyes.

[My Brat is the Best(L) Growth effect is applied to target Peace for 3 days!

2^nd Rank Unicorn subspecies – Horned Flame Lion Peace’s time required for adult transformation(365:00) Effect duration time(72:00)

Dun, Caregiver can grow target without waiting

Long

By shortening the total time required

For adult transformation by training the target.]

…If it was as usual, it would be done with ‘effect duration time(72:00)’, but there was an explanation added. And there were typos. No, it didn’t seem like normal typos.

‘They purposefully put in typos.’

You could see at one glance that it was a vertical wordplay[1]. Normally, it should be ‘but’[2] and then continue, but they pretended to make a typo with ‘dun’. If you read vertically,

Coming to dungeon.

Now they were even sending down instructions with the explanation window. Wow, impressive. I was truly curious about what kind of person they were.

‘Why were they telling me to come to a dungeon?’

Seeing how they were going this far, it seemed like they could only send the chatting window and talk inside a dungeon, like in the D-Rank dungeon. It seemed like there probably was some kind of restriction outside of a dungeon. So that was probably why they wrote the vertical wordplay in the explanation window like this.

I didn’t know who it was, but as expected, they weren’t omnipotent.

‘Seeing how they couldn’t find me before I went into a dungeon, it seemed like there wasn’t much they could do outside of dungeons, in this world. Was that why they were telling me to come to a dungeon?’

But why would I trust them and go? What would I do if I went and another mistake occurred and this time an S-Rank boss monster came out?

I’m sorry, but person, or maybe people, who made the system, it had been a long time already since my trust and such in you hit rock bottom. If it wasn’t Yoohyun and I had gone in with a normal A-Rank training instructor, I might have already crossed to the other side[3].

So let’s pretend I didn’t see it. Something wouldn’t happen because I ignored the message, right?

‘……It’s a problem because it feels like something would happen.’

Fuck, what would be the possibility of them being an existence, possibly a godly existence, who sent a verbal wordplay for no reason? Why me of all people and leave alone the all the scattered around S-Ranks? Was it because I regressed? Should I have begged ‘please get rid of the damned dungeons and Awakened People’ while holding the Wish Stone, instead?

-Kkiang?

Since I was standing blankly lost in my thoughts, Pease cried softly as if asking what was going on.

“It’s nothing. Just…”

It seemed like this dad was caught by a bastard who’s probably weird and crazy. I held Peace again and swallowed a sigh.

Why couldn’t a person be left to live comfortably? I only wanted to live lazing around. It wasn’t that greedy.

“Whew, even if I thought long about it, what use would that be?”

At any rate, the choices were only two. Ignoring it, or obediently going into a dungeon. It wasn’t like there was someone I could consult, going ‘so the system sent this message to me’. Even after 5 years, people couldn’t figure out the letter s of the system[4], so it would be even worse now.

That an F-Rank who graduated with the GED knew the most in the world about Awakened People and the dungeon system, so what. It was really ‘so what’.

‘For now, let’s grow Peace first.’

Since growth would be faster with training, that at least was good news. Let’s think about going into a dungeon after Peace becomes an adult. If it was urgent, I would probably receive contact somehow.

“But do I have to directly give the training?”

It seemed so since it told the caregiver to give it. How was I supposed to do it? Fetching a ball? Throwing a frisbee? First, I should borrow a training room.

Since I was already planning on revealing that I was going to raise[5] magic beasts, I should tell Yoohyun first. It would probably be natural if I said that I had just gotten 10 levels, and then got a rearing skill while playing with Peace.

I would get help from Haeyeon, and I could dump the matter with negotiating with the giant guilds on Suk Simyeong. Since he worked me hard for free, I should also try working him hard.

[Are you free for dinner?]

I sent a text to Yoohyun. Maybe he was busy settling things at the Association, because the reply was a little slow.

[ye][6]

[I have something to say. I’ll see you at home.]

I wrote ‘your house’, and then fixed it. Since this guy thought of his house as our house.

The second reply was slower.

I stuck on the pain relief patch but Peace made a fuss so I took it off again, and I told Yoo Myeongwoo about sharpening the ten thousand knives when he returned home from returning the equipment; after that, the text came while I was throwing balls for Peace to try out the training effect.

[I believe hyung.]

Oh ho, he sure was saying something cute. It seemed like he was concerned about telling me that I had gotten weird when we were in the dungeon. Did he think I had asked to meet so I could justify my suspicious actions?

[I’ll buy alcohol.]

Your fridge looked too healthy. And now that I had thought of it, I hadn’t ever drunken alcohol with my dongsaeng yet. We had already had a bad relationship when Yoohyun had peeled off his ‘minor’ label. Though there were instances where only I was drunk when I crawled back home.

He wouldn’t still be inexperienced, right? Even if it was his first time drinking, with his S-Rank stats, he probably wouldn’t get drunk easily. And I couldn’t get drunk either. Why was it like this.

A day would probably come when I would relax and turn off my skill.

I went toward my dongsaeng’s house with Peace in one hand and a bag full of alcohol bottles and snacks in the other. I didn’t buy the alcohol; when I inquired maintenance, they had prepared it for me. With high class ones that I didn’t really know the names of.

I had just wanted some beer that was just a little expensive.

The employee in charge of liquor called over by maintenance was like, with a brightly smiling face, ‘these wouldn’t get even a stat B-Rank drunk’, and spread out alcohol with proofs that were through the roof. Wine for cleaning your palate was mixed in. There was something about Grand Cru whatever, I didn’t know, and it was obvious that you would feeling guilty walking around with a bag of that dangling from your hands.

Though it didn’t matter since it was charged to Yoohyun.

Inside the house was quiet like the first time I was there. It really was too big of a place to live alone. It was too early to marry, but at least date.

“You’re here?”

When I laid out the alcohol bottles and snacks on the table and sat down on the sofa, Yoohyun appeared shortly after. He must have just come out after washing, because his hair was wet. The bird bastard’s blood did splatter a lot.

“They must have kept you for quite a while at the Association.”

“Since it was rare situation. And I took care of other things while I was at it.”

Yoohyun sat down on a separate armchair[7], bringing over a glass. When that guy saw the alcohol bottles on the table, he wrinkled his forehead slightly.

“Aren’t they too strong?”

So he could tell. So it wasn’t his first time. I was pointlessly regretful.

“Just a few days ago, you were carried back.”

“Don’t worry. I’m going to drink reasonably today. And anyways, it’s at home.”

What issue was there if I became a dog[8] at home? Though there was no need to get drunk.

“Speaking of, it would be hard for even the Dokkaebi to come in here, right?”

Portal travel was only possible for one at a time, so even if they hid, they would get caught. And the location was hidden so teleportation would be hard too.

“It wouldn’t be impossible.”

Yoohyun said, opening an alcohol bottle.

“Since there are windows. If they searched one by one with teleportation, they would eventually find it.”

They didn’t seem to have a personality that would do something troublesome like that. To avoid the Dokkaebi, did you need to have a darkroom in a shrewdly[9] hidden location, on top of portal travel?

“You don’t have to worry about the Dokkaebi. Even just for their own safety, they’ll definitely keep your secrets. If you just forget their unpleasant points, then they really are useful.”

“Like when you contact them secretly?”

“There’s that too, but when you make an appointment with someone you don’t trust and who doesn’t trust you back, if you go through the Dokkaebi, they also check the safety for you. Thanks to that, it’s to the extent that they’re necessary for Unawakaened high-ranking officials.”

So they did that kind of service too. Whether it was for the Dokkaebi or for me, as expected, it would be better to keep our contract a secret. Even if you said there was a clause in the contract that we wouldn’t tell others’ secrets, people high up would definitely feel uneasy.

“But speaking of the Dokkaebi, don’t they seem young when you see them?”

“Hm? Well they do have an unusual personality. Still, they handle their work accurately and meticulously. Rather than young, wouldn’t it be more of a concept? There are a few Hunters who make a character based on their abilities and act it out.”

Was it like that? Then again, even when we were filling out the contract, rather than being like a young kid, they were really thorough in figuring out various conditions.

They were probably deep into the character of the Dokkaebi instead of being young, like Yoohyun said. The way they acted was exactly like a dokkaebi from a traditional fairy tale. Liking pranks, trying to scare people, and being versatile while also having a simple side.

If I lent them money, would they keep paying me back everyday?

I soothingly petted Peace, who wanted to try playing with the sparkling glass bottles, and raised the glass of alcohol that my dongsaeng had poured out for me. Hm… Was it about 20 mL? Look here, dongsaeng-nim. The alcohol was only wetting the bottom of the glass.

“This is a little too harsh. It wouldn’t even be one sip.”

“I said it was strong. Just drink one sip at a time.”

And then he filled his glass halfway.

“I’m not that weak to alcohol, okay?”

I had been drinking five years, no ten years, longer than you. Complaining, I emptied the glass and grabbed the alcohol bottle. What, punk, so what if you scowl at me. Are you going to snatch it away?

“It only says its strong, I can’t even feel it at all.”

I really couldn’t feel it. Just the smell was nice and pungent; I could only tell that it was pretty good to drink. Maybe it was like that because it was expensive, but even without the drunk feeling, it was fine.

“Don’t look so sullen, and you take a glass too. It’s the first.”

After hesitating for a bit, Yoohyun emptied his glass in one go and held it out. Seeing that, I felt a little strange.

Before the regression, I didn’t even think of doing something like exchanging drinks. No, until the world changed, I thought there would be a day when I would drink with my dongsaeng.

I had once thought that it would be obvious I would teach my dongsaeng how to drink, pouring him a glass like this, though of course a cheap one, after he finished the CSAT.

“You were a good dongsaeng.”

There were so many things I was lacking in, but he didn’t even complain, unlike a young kid.

“Of course, you’re still a good dongsaeng.”

I smiled, completely filling up the empty glass for him. He acted a little annoying but that was because of the skill. Even if it wasn’t the skill, it was because he was worrying about me.

“…You’re saying I was a good dongsaeng.”

Yoohyun muttered, bitterly. It was true you were good. And you were a model student. That guy’s expression was so sour that I was about to ask if there maybe was a time when he made trouble without me knowing, when Yoohyun spoke first.

“What was it you wanted to say?”

“Oh yeah, that.”

I continued speaking while petting Peace, who was purring on my lap.

“It’s because of the skill at 10 levels.”

“Skill? Then again, you were nearby when I was exterminating the boss monster, so you must have gotten some experience. Since it was at the level of about an A-Rank dungeon, there was probably more than just the level up. What kind of skill was it?”

“Magic beast trainer.”

Since, rather than monsters, it seemed like there were more magic beasts.

“…Magic beast, trainer?”

Yoohyun’s gaze went down toward Peace. Feeling the gaze, Peace slightly bared his teeth as if he didn’t like it. He was someone who would become your partner from now on, so don’t be like that.

“Yeah. It seems like taking care of Peace affected even the skill. The skill rank is S-Rank and-.”

“S-Rank?!”

My dongsaeng’s expression became severe.

“You’re stat F, but the skill is… and a special skill at that, is S……”

“Hey, don’t think something weird.”

I would leave the house if he talked about locking me up or whatever again.

“But hyung-.”

“But what[10], don’t say something useless and just listen. The skill effect is, like the name, raising magic beasts, monsters. Specifically, it’s causing them to grow. They said Peace, the baby Horned Flame Lion, wouldn’t grow, right? Baby Horned Flame Lions originally can’t grow without an adult’s help. But if I use my skill, the growth is possible. With the taming in place.”

A tamed Horned Flame Lion adult.

More than anyone else, Han Yoohyun, that guy, would know the value of that.

A silence fell. Peace wagged his tail.

After a long time, Yoohyun opened his mouth, with a complicated expression.

“But, then hyung would.”

“You’re saying ‘but’ again. Just think. How many S-Ranks are there who need high ranking familiars right now?”

“…All of them. Since you can’t use mid- to low-rank familiars in S-Rank dungeons. It would be burdensome even for the giant guilds to use them as single-use, so they’re at the level to taking along occasionally on a first attack. The probability of a mid- to low-rank familiar surviving an S-Rank dungeon is extremely small.”

A slightly blank voice continued explaining.

“So, not from only S-Ranks, there is a demand from all team members. Even if it wasn’t a highest rank, like a Horned Flame Lion, and was only at the level of being able to endure an S-Rank dungeon, not only from the country, but people from all over the world would come gather around.”

After finishing what he was saying, Yoohyun covered his face with his hand and gave a long sigh. Looking at that, I smiled.

“If the demand is at that level, it wouldn’t be hard to mediate, right?”

“…For that, of course, really…… The advice during the day also was like that…”

Yoohyun lowered the hand covering his face. The expression like his soul had slightly left was funny. It was a little cute too. I thought of when he was young.

“Hyung really is the best.”

Don’t mention it.

[1] where you read the first letter (syllable, in the case of krn, bc that’s how krn is written) of each sentence/line vertically to get a new different sentence/phrase

[2] ‘dan’, also used in these cases to mean ‘exception:’

[3] lit. ‘cross the jordan river’ again. I thought this was a more similar phrase maybe than ‘go to heaven’. If it comes up again, I’ll just do either of the two.

[4] common metaphorical way to say that they couldn’t find anything, similar to ‘couldn’t find a single hair’, etc.

[5] so the word I’ve been using for ‘trainer’ in this ch. contains the word for ‘to rear, raise [animals]’ bc it’s 사육사 (사육 = to rear, -사 = someone w an expertise) but the word itself means ‘animal trainer, zookeeper, sb who raises and trains animals at a zoo’. It would be better if I used the same root word for both, but I felt like it was truer to the text to keep it as ‘rear’ instead of ‘train’ but I wasn’t about to use ‘rearer’ or even worse ‘breeder’

[6] yh sent ‘ㅇㅇ’ which is text-speak shorthand for 응, or ‘yeah’ but I thought if I just used ‘y’ then it would seem like ‘why’

[7] it was lit. ‘1-person-use sofa’ so I’m assuming it was sth like an armchair

[8] ‘dog’ isn’t really quite to the point of being a swear but it’s loosely used as a bad thing. It can work that way in eng too but I wasn’t sure if it made sense or not, hence the footnote.

[9] the word used is 교모하게 which might be a misspelling of 교묘하게? It’s not in the dict, neither the krn-eng one or the krn one. I tl’ed it as 교묘하게 bc idk what 교모하게 means so this part might be wrong, sorry.

[10] he actually uses reduplication (ex: fancy schmancy) with the word ‘but’ but there’s no similar phrase in eng