< Horned Flame Lion[1] (1) >

After exchanging cell phone numbers with future SS-Rank skill owner Yoo Myeongwoo, we parted ways. Getting him accepted as a member of Haeyeon Guild was a problem, so should I insist to Yoohyun that I could feel something great from Yoo Myeonwoo.

When I returned to Haeyeon Guild, a rumor or something must have spread because people were sending gazes filled with curiosity my way.

“That person is Guild Leader’s hyung?”

“This is my first time seeing him! But they don’t really look similar.”

“Excuse me, Guild Leader’s hyung! Are you really F-Rank?”

They sure had a lot to say. Looking around, more than half had come out to look at me, but it was the weekend so why don’t you all go home and rest.

“Yes, I’m F-Rank, please get out of my way.”

Go away, you people. Besides people on duty, all of you go home.

But, maybe because I didn’t make much trouble in this point in time, there weren’t any gazes filled with killing or cursing intent.

When I started being called trash in earnest was half a year later, after Awakening Centers appeared and I Awakened.

As soon as it was announced that Awakening Centers had opened, several people had come looking for me. They had greatly anticipated me, who had an S-Rank Awakened dongsaeng, and coaxed me, and carrying their support, I had boldly gone to the first day of the Awakening Centers’ opening and Awakened.

And then, well, the result was F-Rank, obviously.

At that time, there had been a lot of journalists there, and there had been tabloids like ‘S-Rank’s brother is also S-Rank?!’…… After that… I had been severely criticized, attacked to death, the guys who supported me had defied the contracts and I had amassed a lot of debt……

Setting aside debt, thinking about the criticism even now made me feel wronged. Did I ask for the articles to be written, they’re the ones who had made a fuss on their own, so why criticize me. Don’t attack me, attack the trash journalists, shit.

Thinking of the past events or future events made me feel like crying so I walked faster. I felt dejected, fuck. Even if I didn’t do anything else, I was going to take revenge on those trash journalists. If it weren’t for those events, my life would have been about half as less ruined.

Especially, Kim Seungjoon, Bak Haeshin. Two bastards I would never be able to forget. They took my interviews and distorted my words, just wait you aggro-pulling bastards.

Grinding my teeth, I went up the elevator. You had to get checked at the 10th floor and go to the portal room and once again get your identity checked, before you could go through the portal into Yoohyun’s house. It was annoying to I’ll move to the employee lodgings.

‘So just where is my room.’

Yesterday, I was moved by the huge TV, and fell asleep watching soccer[2] on the sofa that was comfier than a bed. The soccer was so fun.

Maybe because athletes had good physical conditions, there were a lot who Awakened as E-Rank or higher. In the end, they retired one by one, and now just so-so athletes remained, whether it was soccer or basketball or baseball. Stats E-Rank and higher weren’t regular people, so they couldn’t play in matches.

But, C-Rank and lower Awakened People League was going to be formed soon. C-Ranks and lower didn’t make as much as pro athletes so there were complaints.

‘Just how many rooms are in Yoohyun’s house?’

Since it took up half a floor, it must be seriously large. I opened one of the closest doors. It was completely empty inside.

“Since he’s living alone, most of the rooms should be empty. What a waste of space.”

Grumbling, I walked along the hallway. It was my first time going this way… oh.

There was a garden in a room surrounded by glass walls. Or, rather than a garden, was it closer to a greenhouse? It was densely packed with trees, and flowers were growing all over the place-.

-Kyaang!

“Ack[3], what was that!”

I was following along the glass walls when something like a cat burst out from between the bushes. A cat with red fur and a tail like a fox’s and a single horn on its head barked[4] threateningly at me. This glass wall was strong, right?

“This tiny thing is fierce.”

Was this a pen instead of a greenhouse. It didn’t look like a regular animal, so I wondered what it was.

Thinking ‘just maybe’, I used Seed-Leaf on the cat.

[2nd Rank Unicorn[5] subspecies – Horned Flame Lion(Corporeal)

Current stat rank C

Growth possible stat rank A~S

Optimized Initial Skills

Flame Breath[6](S) Achieve after growth

Blaze Run(A) Achieve after growth

Giant Fire[7](A) Achieve after growth

Flame Resistance(A) Acquired

※No growth without an adult[8]’s help]

“…You’re saying this cat is a Horned Flame Lion?”

I couldn’t hide my surprise and looked at the barking cat.

2nd Rank Unicorn subspecies Horned Flame Lion. As a 2nd Rank, the rank was high, and even though it wasn’t as good as a dragon-type, it was a high-ranking magic-beast[9]-type. With high stats and a fast pace, it was a beast whose skills were strong in destructive power, so if you didn’t prepare specifically for it, even if you were an S-Rank, it was hard to deal with alone.

For Yoohyun, since he had fire-attribute immunity, it would probably be easy, though.

‘Did he catch it to tame it? Did Awakened People with tamer skills already appear?’

If taming was possible, it would probably be a familiar[10] exactly suited for Yoohyun. Growth had to be possible, too. It was a loss since it was impossible for growth without an adult’s help.

……Would the ‘My Brat’ skill possibly work on monsters too? It didn’t say that it was only for people.

Should I try once…

[Target’s keyword influence is incomplete.]

The same message as when I tried it on Kim Sunghan appeared. There was nothing about the skill application being impossible. So monsters can be targets too!

[My Brat is the Best(L) skill applied to 2nd Rank Unicorn subspecies – time required for the Horned Flame Lion to become an adult[11]: 15 days]

Continuing, a Message Window came up. That meant it was possible to apply once per month for 3 days[12], so that in 5 months it could become an adult.

‘Even after 5 years, Yoohyun definitely didn’t have a familiar.’

The higher ranking the dungeon, the larger the inside became, so it would be convenient with a familiar. But Yoohyun couldn’t get a familiar without A-Rank or higher flame resistance because of the skill characteristic. If he got attacked while travelling, a situation like the innocent familiar being captured might happen while he’s using his attack skills.

‘So it seems like he caught a baby Horned Lion but failed in growing it.’

Tamer skills could only tame monsters that were lower level than the skill rank. Horned Flame Lions were at the level of S-Ranks, so if it wasn’t a baby it wouldn’t be able to be tamed. But since the baby was C-Rank, even a B-Rank tamer could tame it.

Though, it probably wouldn’t grow.

‘You probably can’t use something this size for a familiar. It’d be perfect if I grow it.’

Familiars were so precious, even regular magic creatures[13] were treated as a S-Rank items, so it was a waste to just leave this extremely suitable magic beast. As a unicorn subspecies, its pace was faster than a magic-beast-type, and it also had attack power. It really was the highest grade.

But the keyword was a problem. Would this guy even understand human speech?

“Hey, kiddo. Can you understand human speech?”

-Keuang! Kyang!

“So it doesn’t.”

-Keureureu

Still, giving up was too much of a waste. Was there a way to train it? In things like an animal farm, there were many that understood human speech.

‘I don’t really know if they have to understand the keyword, or simply hear it and feel emotional.’

The keyword itself could be fluid. In the case of my past keyword, besides ‘do your best’, using ‘please do your best’, ‘let’s do our best’, etc. also worked. So, I thought that it worked as long as the meaning was conveyed; if understanding was needed, like my assumption, then it would be difficult.

How would I even teach a Horned Flame Lion what love is.

‘Either way, I’ll try experimenting with this guy.’

Like Pavlov’s dog, if I told it I love it every time I gave it something to eat, there’d be a response. If I taught it ‘I love you’ = ‘food’ and then starved it for a few days, then when I tell it I love it then-.

Bam[14]!

Just then, I heard the door being opened as if it was breaking. A different person wouldn’t be acting like that in the Guild Leader’s house, so maybe it was Yoohyun?

Good timing. I should tell him I was going to try raising the baby Horned Flame Lion.

“Yoo…hyun?”

I was going to call my dongsaeng over to the hallway when I saw his grave expression. Both the set of his eyes and mouth were stiff, as if he was angry. I wonder what happened?

“What’s wrong? Did something-.”

“Hand it over.”

My dongsaeng growled as he strode over. Wh-what? Maybe he meant the gift card? Well, the amount of money was too much anyways. …I used up most of it, what should I do. Would a refund work?

“Black Poison Fog Circle.”

“…Huh?”

“Hand it over right now.”

It wasn’t the gift card? But how did he know I bought Black Poison Fog Circles? The Hunter shopping mall should be confidential. Did gift cards also send payment texts?

“That, why-.”

“Give it.”

The demanding voice became harsher. A dark red light was enveloping his two eyes. It was thanks to the Fear Resistance that I wasn’t afraid, but why was this guy acting like this.

“Seriously what-.”

“Hyung.”

Just let me talk. He kept on cutting me off.

It seemed like he would grab me by the collar if I held out, so I reluctantly took out one Black Poison Fog Circle from my inventory. I was going to solo an F-Rank dungeon with this. Did I have to give him all of them?

“The other ones too.”

Only after I handed over the remaining two did Yoohyun’s expression relax. That guy threw the Black Poison Fog Circles in his inventory, and then gave a long sigh.

“Just why did you think that.”

“……Huh?”

What was he talking about.

“Am I so untrustworthy?”

It seemed like my dongsaeng was talking nonsense. Was he already sick[15]? This guy with a strong Flame Resistance.

“I don’t know what you mean, but if we’re talking about being untrustworthy, then isn’t that more me? You’re a trustable sort.”

So reliable that if he made a guarantee, you could take out 100 billion won. Of course, even if we were brothers we shouldn’t make guarantees.[16]

At my words, Yoohyun’s face became very twisted. I said you were trustworthy so why were you like that again? It would be great if I had a skill to read my dongsaeng’s mind.

“Don’t say stuff like that. Hyung, you… have even resolved to give your life for me.”

……Excuse me? Not the other way around? You died and it was thanks to that that I lived and regressed, though.

“Um… I don’t really know what you’re talking about but I just-.”

“If you ever get held hostage, don’t even think about doing something like taking poison. Whatever happens, I’ll save you, so don’t ever think about dying.”

“Uh, uh?”

Poison? That’s what you meant!

Well, this guy didn’t know I had Poison Resistance.

Black Poison Fog Circle was a widespread poison fog. Without Poison Resistance, it was a ‘I’m taking you down with me’ sort of situation… The misunderstanding made sense.

I smiled ashamedly.

“Hey, I don’t have that kind of thought. Why would I die?”

“Hyung……”

He abruptly pulled me into his arms. No, don’t. It was a misunderstanding!

“Thanks.”

“No, that’s…”

“But it’s the thought that counts; don’t worry about me, worry about yourself.”

…I never worried about you though.

Yoohyun acting like this made it embarrassing to tell the truth so I just vaguely nodded my head. And it was hard to explain why I had a high Poison Resistance skill that could withstand Black Poison Fog Circles. L-Rank Poison Resistance suddenly appeared like ta-da~! That’s definitely suspicious.

“But, Yoohyun. Over there, there’s a red cat-like thing.”

I asked, pulling out of my dongsaeng’s embrace. At my words, Yoohyun looked towards the greenhouse.

“It’s a baby Horned Flame Lion.”

“Horned Flame Lion?”

“Yeah. It’s your first time hearing about it, right? It first came out of an S-Rank dungeon we[17] attacked 2 months ago. There was a baby so I brought it out to use it as a familiar but… even after 2 months, it hasn’t grown at all.”

Of course it wouldn’t grow. It was a magic beast that couldn’t grow without an adult’s help.

“The tamer said that they think it can only grow under special conditions. There’s no way to know what the conditions are, and like this it’s useless, so I’m planning on getting rid of it.”

“Get rid of it? Are you going to put it up for auction?”

“No. I have to kill it. In the rare chance that someone else can grow it, I can’t let that happen. It’ll be tough if the 3 big guilds in particular get their hands on it.”

They were cold-hearted words. Even if it was a monster, if you raised it for 2 months, wouldn’t you feel some affection for it? It looked pretty cute too.

“It’s a waste so can’t I raise it instead? Even if it’s a baby, isn’t it still stronger than me? I could probably use it in an emergency.”

“It’ll be too hard for you to raise. The price of its feed is expensive.”

“How much is it?”

“One meal is one C-Rank magic stone.”

……10 million won? That’s crazy?

[1] lit. ‘flame horn-lion’ but if I write it as ‘Flame Horned Lion’, it might seem like the horn has flames, rather than describing the entire lion, so I switched the ordering. I guess I could have left it at the original tl, but I think this version sounds better.

[2] or football, whatever floats ur boat, but I’m from the u.s. so…

[3] actually ‘huk’, noise of disbelief/surprise

[4] lit. “went kyak kyak”. Krn uses a lot of onomatopoeias (also for non-animal sounds). I know cats meow, but this is clearly not a meow, and anyways foxes (re: the tail) bark…

[5] this is the eng word transliterated into krn

[6] I think it’s ‘breath’. It’s a transliterated word (pronounced beu-reh-seu, there is no th sound in krn).

[7] 거대화: depending on what 화 means, it could also mean “to make bigger” (then I guess the skill would be something like ’Gigantisize’), but all of these were fire skills so I thought 화=fire made more sense

[8] 성체: this is usually used for adult animals, but technically, it can mean ‘grown/adult lifeform’ because 성=adult, 체=body

[9] 마수: not entirely sure what this is supposed to be. It usually means evil trick (it isn’t the word for magic, which is 마술 or 마법) bc the hanja (chn characters) for that is 마(魔) = evil, demon, monster & 수(手) = hand (and extrapolating from that, ‘influence’). However, given the context of this entire chapter, it might be that the 2nd character is 수(獸) = beast. 마(魔) is a character present in most magic-related words, so I’m assuming it can also mean ‘magic’ in made-up words. In which case, 마수 = magic beast. It’s either that, or it’s ‘demon beast’ since 마(魔) means demon. But I thought magic beast sounded better/more suitable? Idk though.

[10] 기승수: idk what this is bc it’s also another made-up/nonstandard word. From the context, I’ve assumed that it means something like ‘familiar’ as in ‘witch’s familiar’. Then I reverse-engineered the hanja to see if any (there are several hanja that are pronounced like each syllable) would fit and lo and behold, 기(氣) = spirit (a.k.a. ki/qi), 수(獸) = beast. 승 is probably either win (勝, it’s most common meaning in krn; 기승 actually means ‘unyielding spirit’) or connect (承, which makes more sense, if 기승수 really does mean familiar). A spirit connecting beast, a familiar – makes sense, no? Anyways, the reason I keep on mentioning hanja is bc for names/fantasy words, usually hanja is used, the way eng speakers use latin/greek to make new fancy words.

[11] 화염 뿔사자의 성체 탈태 소요시간: 화염 뿔사자 = HFL, 의 = ‘s (indicating possession), 성체 = adult, 탈태 = change of state, 소요시간 = time required, so lit. ‘time required for HFL’s adult change of state’. This confused me a little bc I couldn’t figure out what 탈태 meant and it seems to be a really uncommon word, but it’s possibly made from 탈출(escape) and 변태(metamorphosis).

[12] remember, this skill can only be used for 3 days, and has a waiting period of 30 days

[13] 마수마: see [8] for 마수(魔手). The last 마 might be the same 마(魔) = evil/demon/monster, thus, it probably means something like ‘a monster that uses 마수/magic/demonic influence’. I used ‘creature’ instead of ‘monster’ because the author also uses the eng word ‘monster’ transliterated into krn, and that’s the word I’ve been using as ‘monster’; I’ve also been using ‘beast’ for other words that also mean ‘monster’. I think the difference between 마수마 & 마수/magic beast is that 마수마 is not necessarily animal-like.

[14] lit. ‘kwang’

[15] lit. “eat heat” = become weak/sick, which is why YJ mentions YH’s flame resistance in the next sentence.

[16] ‘making a (financial) guarantee’ = (idk if this is just in korea bc idk anything abt banks) when you go to the bank to borrow money, someone has to vouch for you (give a guarantee) so that if you can’t pay the bank back, the guarantee-er has to pay for you. This causes a lot of (social) problems so there’s a saying in korea that you should never make a guarantee.

[17] actually there was no pronoun so idk who did the attacking, but saying ‘dungeon that was attacked’ didn’t seem like it conveyed the same meaning.