<My Younger Brother is Strange (1)>
I was sitting on a bed and not on a dragon’s body. The scent of blood was also gone. The clothes I had been wearing were different too.
‘……Have I really gone back in time?’
First of all, I could not open the status window. I didn’t have my inventory either. Five years ago, I still had yet to be Awakened.
‘Yuhyun, that kid, was already a popular guild leader.’
Haeyeon Guild (垓埏). It was the guild that would become the best in both Korea and the world after five years of rapid development with a small number of elite members.
Of course, I was unable to get in. …There were many guild members that did not like me.
‘I’ve heard a hundred times that I should stop hanging around the guild and get out.’
Ugh, lousy things. Yeah, this time around I’ll keep my head down and live well.
I rummaged through my pocket and took out my cellphone. The date… Oh, I really was 5 years in the past. The most recent message was—
‘Wait, wasn’t this an Awakening Broker?’
Just that morning I had contacted the Awakening Broker. Seeing that, I began to recall the past.
‘I have gone back to that time.’
It had been 3 years since Dungeons started appearing in the world, causing the Awakening of many enthusiastic Hunters. Now was a time where the rapidly changing world was gradually stabilizing.
It was a time when I was struggling with an inferiority complex, only able to look at the back of my brother, who was a well-known “S-level Awakening”. Therefore I contacted the Awakening Broker in the vain hope that if I Awakened, I would be like him.
Awakening Brokers. To put it simply, swindlers.
Awakening Brokers were brokers who illegally allowed people to enter Dungeons in exchange for a large amount of money, telling them that they would Awaken if they clear the Dungeon. Most of them, however, were vicious people who would disappear after taking the money. Even if they did take you to the Dungeon, they would not protect you.
‘It’s not like I Awakened through clearing a Dungeon in the first place.’
There was a high possibility of Awakening due to the dangerous environment of a Dungeon, but it has nothing to do with clearing the Dungeon. Those facts were revealed to the public half a year later and the Korean Hunter’s Association would later create a safe Awakening facility, and brokers completely disappeared.
Anyway, I had packed some money to meet with the broker.
‘I had gotten caught by my younger brother’s men and brought here.’
Yeah, I remember this for sure. This was one of the rooms in the Haeyeon Guild building.
Right now he was probably going to come in and yell at me with disapproval. Just as I had that thought, the door burst open. Han Yuhyun stepped into the room.
He wasn’t a gentleman either.
“Hyung.”
My living younger brother called out to me. The face looking at me was very young. He was young even after five years but right now, he was even younger.
He was twenty years old, now.
He was just now showing signs of being an adult; if the world was peaceful, he would still be a student. Either that or he would have just been enlisted into the army. Of course, the army still existed.
‘S Class Awakeners were exempt from the army, though.’
I had gone there. There were many young man in the army who Awakened in the army and get discharged early. If I had been honorably discharged, it would be due to the fact that I was an F Class. Exemption from military service started with Class Es.
Anyway Yuhyun was so good that he didn’t need to go to the military… Oh, my inferiority complex was about to explode again.
Let’s give up greed. Let’s throw away anguish. Namo Amitahba. (t/n: Buddhist mantra)
With a dirty look on his face, Yuhyun walked towards me. Now that he was closer, I could see that the five-year period was more difficult for him than I had thought.
I hadn’t really thought about it before my regression, but now it seemed that he must have had a hard time. It wasn’t easy to make and develop your own guild even if you were an S Class.
Meanwhile, his older brother got into an accident.
……I was wrong.
“Dungeon Brokers are—”
“I’m sorry.”
I apologized first. My younger brother, who was about to lecture me, shut up.
He looked at me as if he had never seen me before.
“I won’t do it again.”
For this and everything that would have happened later. I would live up to my word. Yuhyun had a confused look on his face and carefully opened his mouth.
“By any chance, if you’ve had any major accident……”
“It’s not like that.”
He didn’t trust me. He didn’t believe me.
I slapped him on the arm with a smile.
“Well, I sat down and thought about it, and I realized that I seem to have been immature.”
The dragon’s back was cool, so it had been the perfect placed for me to rest my head.
My little brother was taken aback by my awkward remarks.
“No, it’s not that you’re immature… no.”
“Not really. Hey, can I give you a hug?”
“H, huh?”
“It’s been a long time.”
It’s been a long time for him, but not me. The cold sensation of his body was still clear under the palm of my hand.
“……as you please.”
Yuhyun hesitantly nodded. Your big brother is just going to hug you once, little brother. What are you so embarrassed about?
Well, I’m a little embarrassed too.
I stretched out my arms and hugged my brother. The hug covered his entire body. It was smaller than before I had regressed.
“My younger brother, Han Yuhyun.”
His body was warm in my arms. I could hear the slightly accelerated beating of his heat and breath.
In my deep relief, something came out of my mouth. It was something that I usually never would have said.
“I love you.”
His body flinched and trembled. Hey, I’m embarrassed too, so don’t say anything. Just—
[The Awakening of ‘Han Yujin’ has been registered.]
…huh?
[Legendary Title ‘Perfect Caregiver’ granted!]
What?
[Title ‘Perfect Caregiver’ is in effect.
Perfect Caregiver Additional Skills – My Little One’s The Best
The growth rate of the Awakened ‘Han Yuhyun’ is doubled.
Duration – 3 days]
Whaaat?!?
The hell, what was this scam skill?
Caregiver titles were common. It was easy to receive this title if you were a parent or an older sibling who took care of and raised an Awakened person. It was even possible without blood relations.
If the dependent’s Awakening Class was over C and the relationship was good, it was likely for this title to appear. If the dependent’s Awakening was C Class to B Class, the title would be ‘Clumsy Caregiver’. A Class was ‘Ordinary Caregiver’. Finally, S Class was just ‘Caregiver’.
I had thought that the title of ‘Caregiver’ was considered to be the highest as there were no Awakeners that were beyond S Class.
‘The Perfect Caregiver? What the hell is this?’
In addition, the rate of the growth buffs was doubled.
My former title, ‘Caregiver’, gave an additional growth buff of up to 10 percent. It only lasted for a single day. But this was double that. Didn’t this mean that you could raise a level in half a year?
‘No, the benefits are more towards skills than levels. Higher grade skills grow at a frustratingly slower pace!’
Wow, this was totally a scam. If I gave someone a buff before they went into a Dungeon, they would grow at light speed.
“…hyung?”
“Uh, yeah. No.”
I was so surprised that I had kept hugging him.
As I relaxed my arms and stepped back, Yuhyun’s face turned a little red and he coughed.
“……Lately I’ve been putting a lot of pressure on you. Thanks for saying this, hyung.”
“Th, thank you.”
“……”
“……”
An awkward silence fell. Well. Hmm, hmm.
When I felt that I could no longer bear the awkwardness and wanted to break and jump out of a window, Yuhyun spoke.
“……Do you want to have dinner with me later? It has been a long time.”
“Oh, I’d love to.”
“Yes. Well, I’ve got work to do.”
“Mm, keep up the good work.”
My brother went out and the door closed. I tore my hair out.
‘Wow, that was awkward.’
Was this what it was going to be like during dinner? I thought I said that I didn’t want to eat. Cancel it now—
Suddenly
“I forgot.”
Yuhyun, who I thought had left, opened the door again. It was surprising.
“Remove the Awakening Broker from your contacts.”
He said, looking at the cell phone on the bed.
“I wouldn’t have let you answer the phone anyway.”
“……what?”
I must have made a mistake and sounded like I was going to seek out the broker.
Yuhyun has been staring at me without leaving even though he had finished speaking. …Did he want me to delete it right now? When I picked up his cell phone and showed him that I had deleted the broker’s contact information, he walked out with a satisfied expression.
My younger brother’s attitude was a little tense, moreso than usual.
‘My status window!’
I quickly opened the status window to take a look.
[Awakened Han Yujin
Titles – Dragon Slayer (L), Perfect Caregiver (L)]
Now, wait a minute. Dragon Slayer?
‘Why are you here?’
<My Younger Brother is Strange (1)> End