life tiltin' to the left [S-Classes That I Raised]

going high

This chapter sat around for months at 3,5k words and then I spat out 2,5k words in two days. 5% plot, 55% nothing, 27% self-indulgence, 13% screaming about YMW. No beta, we die like HYH. Ure welcome.

33.

Han Yoojin, of course, was unaware that the Hunter Association investigated after his ass and that he only managed to dodge their pursuit because of Sung Hyunjae's intervention.

He did, however, burn all of his clothes and shoes with Peace's help. The rented gloves would have left a trace behind, or rather Han Yohan's trace, but that issue was shortly solved too when Yoo Myeongwoo handed him a new pair of Strength stat gloves and threw the other ones into the raging fire.

"These ones are better," he had said, a weirdly knowing look on his face.

In the end, the company he rented the gloves from got a better pair of gloves as compensation for 'accidentally' destroying the other gloves, and thus, the matter of mudding up his traces was closed.

Except, Han Yoojin should have asked Yoo Myeongwoo to slow down after forging an S-Class Ice Spear for Bak Yerim and the A-Class gloves, because a couple of days later, the sound of Yoo Myeongwoo's appearance into the apartment caught his attention while lazily scrolling through the TV channels. He didn't even have enough time to greet the other when Peace jumped down from their place on his shoulder to paw at Yoo Myeongwoo's ankles.

"Kiang, kiang, kiang.." they repeated with each gentle swipe at the other man's ankle, somehow managing to make that noise sound like pleading.

For the record, Yoo Myeongwoo had started to cook treats for Peace. Not that the treats did anything to their growth except spoil them, so the last few days Peace asked for snacks every time Yoo Myeongwoo appeared again from his pocket forge. Normally, the man would concede to the Magic Beast's pleas and whip something up, but not this time.

Because this time, Yoo Myeongwoo side-stepped Peace and instead dumped something into his lap without so much as a by-your-leave.

"Um," he said and decidedly didn't pick up the thing that was dropped into his lap.

Yoo Myeongwoo's inventions nowadays had the tendency to be malfunctioning disasters, which basically meant that any person other than the creator came back injured. Yoo Myeongwoo, the cheat, was already immune because of his forge's fire. Except for the spear and the gloves, everything else had been scrap.

Maybe seeing his wariness, Yoo Myeongwoo plopped down next to him and laughed sheepishly. "This time, the item I created is not broken."

'That's what you always say,' Han Yoojin thought, bitter, being the person who ended up with most of the man's experiments.

"I swear it works," Yoo Myeongwoo assured, a pleading look he probably stole from Peace appearing on his tan face.

When he met the man, he was pale as if the sun had never touched his face before and even though his shoulders were broad, there were no excessive muscles to see. The Yoo Myeongwoo now could be labeled as a completely different person; tan everywhere and arms showing obvious muscles because of non-stop working in his forge.

And since the Dokkaebi's announcement, that 'non-stop' evolved into '24/7' forging.

Sighing, he reminded the other, "Myeongwoo, you know you don't have to rush because of the live broadcast–"

"I told you, I was working on it since the beginning because I have to pay you back–"

Han Yoojin shook his head, also halting the familiar words he heard a couple of times. Intended or not, Yoo Myeongwoo didn't need any connection to him anymore. The spear and the gloves were enough. Any more and even his guilty conscience would speak up. "And I told you that you already paid me back."