NOVEL NEXT S-Class Except Me
Chapter 52
“My daughter!”
Lee Yoonkyung urgently called Haeun, who finally escaped outside using a secret route in the airport. After that, there was a black car with tinted windows waiting for Haeun. Haeun ran after her and got into the car. Jung Jinho got into the car, and Jung Eunwoo, who was behind the wheel, stepped on the accelerator without delay. Whoo-hoo! The car started with a rough exhaust and left the airport in a flash. Lee Yoonkyung, who was sitting in the passenger seat, turned around and asked Haeun. “My daughter! Are you okay? Are you not sick anywhere?” Lee Yoonkyung’s face was full of worry. “Originally, after Awakening, the body doesn’t adapt right away, so you will get sick. Are you really okay? You can’t tell through a video call. Shall we take a test first?” “It’s all right, Mom. I’m not sick anywhere.” Her body is just tired from taking a long flight. Jung Eunwoo turned his steering wheel and opened his mouth. “Hey, Jung Haeun, you… No matter how you Awaken, it’s EX…” “Ahaha.” “How is this country going to work to give Jung Haeun so much power—” “Oppa, do you want to die?” Haeun, who intentionally replied as if joking around, let out a sigh of relief. Fortunately, her family seemed to believe Haeun had awakened from this incident. Since it was an incident linked to the Awakening Broker, the grounds were sufficient. The reason Haeun pretended to be a newbie was simple. Until now, she has been pretending to be a civilian, pretending she didn’t know anything about awakening or abilities, but she can’t get caught! What is known to the world as EX-class is already spilled water, so it can’t be helped. But at least she had to be a newbie. However, there was someone who interfered with Ha-eun’s plan. “Noona didn’t Awaken this time. She awakened a long time ago.” “What?!” The screams of the family made the inside of the car shake. Haeun looked back at Jung Sehyun in surprise. Jung Sehyun tilted his head and continued. “Is it not? I thought so.” “You… you…” “Jung Haeun! What are you talking about?” “She was an Awakener from the beginning?!” “Since when!” Haeun covered her ears. As if he hadn’t expected a strong reaction from his family, Jung Sehyun scratched his cheek. “Was it a secret? sorry.” “Did you know that I was awakened?” “Mmhm.” “How?” “Because my ability doesn’t work on Noona.” Haeun received a second shock. My brother tried to use his powers on me. I was a civilian! Of course, that wasn’t the case at all. For reference, Jung Sehyun’s ability was mental control of delirium and brainwashing. “Jung Sehyun! How could you think of using your abilities against your sister!” Jung Sehyun, whom she thought was a cute and obedient good younger brother, was the darkest. Feeling betrayed, Haeun screamed out loud, and Jung Sehyun rolled his eyes and smiled. “Because Noona won’t give me the LP version I wanted.” “So, are you thinking of brainwashing your Noona?” “I couldn’t do it in the end. And it wasn’t brainwashing. I just slightly changed Noona’s mind and encouraged Noona to have a kind heart to give me an LP record.” “That’s the same!” “But it didn’t work. It’s strange. Noona isn’t a dead person, and there’s no way my ability won’t work. Then there is only one thing left. Ah, Noona is stronger than me.” There is no one to trust in the world. [The Constellation ‘Mutant of the Abyss’ winks at Haeun, saying that he’s the only one who thinks of Haeun] No, neither are you… Not you too… “Haeun-ah.” “Yes!” “I think we will have a lot to talk about when we go back. Right?” Lee Yoonkyung’s friendly smile was sweet and fierce. Jung Jinho was surprised and now seems to be speechless—. Jung Eunwoo stepped on the accelerator as if he wanted to go home as quickly as possible. Gulps. “B, but where are we going now? This is not the way home.” Haeun looked at her family and asked cautiously. She thought she was going straight home from the airport, but the car was going the wrong way. Lee Yoonkyung sighed at Ha-eun’s question. “Daughter, we can’t go home.” “Yes? Why??” “Noona, there are reporters all over the house right now.” What? “By the way, all of our relatives’ houses are the same.” “My cell phone is on fire right now, so it’s dead.” “Not only the reporters, but everyone is very excited right now, so you will have to hide for a while, Noona.” Haeun and Jung Eunwoo met their eyes in the rearview mirror. A rotten smile appeared on Jung Eunwoo’s face. “Hey, thanks to you, we became homeless.” * * * Family meeting. It is a special tradition only for the Jung family, which occurs once a month. Awakeners are different from ordinary people. They are selected beings who can manifest their own special abilities, such as moving through space or striking huge lightning bolts. Of course, the physical capacity was also excellent enough to be incomparable to ordinary people, except for a few special cases. How will people react if they live as ordinary humans, like ants who are kicked and suddenly awakened to a special ability that no one else has? They will be delighted in the first place and amazed in the second. And in the end, they feel superior to their chosen existence. ‘I’m different from normal humans like you.’ It’s kind of a sense of the people. Maybe that’s why, after Awakening, the reins were released, and there were frequent cases of being arrested after causing social problems by running wild. Or they made some easy money doing dirty work in the underworld. Rick, the awakening broker, can be said to be of a similar kind. And in this case, everyone in Jung’s family except for Haeun was an S-Class awakened person. Even if there is only one awakening person, it is a great honor for the family. However, Haeun’s family members have as many as four S-Class awakeners. This means that a brief carelessness will make it easier to cross the line set by society. In fact, the line itself feels ambiguous to the awakeners. What was created to prevent this was the Jung family meeting. In fact, even if it was a meeting, it was close to gathering once a month and fooling around, but it was encouraging that there was a self-purification effect. And on the very day Haeun returned to Korea, the topic of this meeting was decided. “Why did you hide your awakening?” After leaving the airport, the family headed to a pension in the countryside of Gyeonggi-do. In the past, it was quite famous as a pension village, but it was an area that collapsed after the gate was created in the nearby mountain. Thanks to this, there was no one visiting, so it was good to hide secretly. However, there is no one to rescue Haeun, who is being questioned by her family. She felt like a six-year-old child sitting in a thinking chair. Lee Yoonkyung asked again. “How long have you been hiding it? When did you wake up?” [The Constellation ‘Mutant of the Abyss’ pops the popcorn in an exciting development.] “That’s…” Haeun rolled her eyes. Her 22 years of life experience told her that she would be in big trouble if she told them the truth. No matter how much Haeun is in the EX class, she is scared of her angry mother. Yeah. It’s her survival instinct. Haeun, who was looking around, told a very small lie. “After entering university….” “Jung Sehyun, when was the last time you knew that your sister had awakened?” “I think it was when I was in middle school.” Lee Yoonkyung’s eyes trembled at Sehyun’s answer. Haeun glared at Jung Sehyun. Jung Sehyun met her gaze and shrugged his shoulders as if he couldn’t help it. That kid is no help from before. Only for a moment, her cute and adorable younger brother became a mortal enemy. In the end, Haeun confessed with an ant-crawling voice. “In fact, when I was in middle school….” “Crazy.” Jung Eunwoo gave a refreshing impression. As soon as her back bone was pulled, Lee Yoonkyung grabbed the back of her head. If it’s been that way since middle school, she’s been lying to them for at least six years. Was I not that interested in my daughter? It’s not. Questions followed. “Why did you hide it?” Haeun pursed her lips without answering. Lee Yoonkyung muttered as she pondered. “When Sehyun and Haeun were both in middle school, Haeun was only in her third year of middle school.” At that moment, there was an incident that came to mind like lightning in Lee Yoonkyung’s head. “Haeun, by any chance… do you Awakened that day?” Haeun immediately knew what day Lee Yoonkyung was talking about. She was referring to the very day when the youth sports competition was held. Only Haeun survives in the dungeon, where the grade rises in real-time. It was also the day Haeun decided to hide her awakening forever. “Oh my.” Lee Yoonkyung touched her forehead. It is definitely something to celebrate that Haeun has awakened to EX-Class for the first time in Korea and abroad. As a major event in Korea, she can tell that the outside is in a festive mood just by turning on the TV right now. Moreover, as it became known that Baek Soyeon, whom Haeun saved, is the granddaughter of world-successful businessman Baek Doohan and the daughter of Brian Nelson, an influential figure in American politics, she was already treated as a hero both in Korea and the United States. “Brian Nelson has a special relationship with Frederick Haniel, president of Haniel Industries. They are very close partners both business and political.” “That’s right. Also, isn’t Frederic Haniel in-laws with the American Hunter Association?” Experts on South Korea-U.S. relations said the alliance should be strengthened in Haeun’s Awakening. But what if it turns out that the trigger for Haeun’s awakening is not this American dungeon but the terrible gate incident that instilled trauma in everyone? And what if the media highlighted the fact that Haeun was the only survivor that day? The favorable public opinion now formed towards Haeun could change the reaction as quickly as flipping a palm. “Haeun-ah, you have to be honest. This is a very important matter.” Lee Yoonkyung held Haeun’s arms tightly and whispered desperately.
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