An F-Rank Veterinarian Physically Heals an S-Rank Magical Beast - Chapter 37

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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Chapter 37
[Floor 5: Mirror Lake]
[Current Humidity: 99%]
[Anomaly: High-Concentration Hallucinogenic Mist]
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The moment the elevator doors slid open, a briny stench washed over me. My feet splashed through shallow water, while overhead, mist obscured the boundary between sky and earth.
A desolate silence, as though abandoned at the world’s end—a stark contrast to the frenzy and cacophony of Floor 4’s Colosseum.
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“Ugh, my whole body aches. Getting old and standing by water makes my knees throb.”
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Baek Mu-young, the newly arrived security team leader, tapped his knees in complaint. Gone was any trace of the ferocious beast who had clashed with me moments ago—he looked every bit the grandfather from a neighborhood senior center.
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“Team Leader, that won’t qualify as a work injury. Stretch regularly. And be careful with that knee—I adjusted it earlier, so don’t aggravate it.”
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I grumbled while carefully observing Baek Mu-young’s gait.
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‘His pelvic balance is perfect. The specialized physical therapy really worked.’
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An occupational hazard of being a doctor. But my senses as a Tamer were attuned elsewhere.
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“Jin-hyuk… something feels wrong. I keep hearing whispers near my ears.”
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Luna clutched my shirt hem, trembling violently. Her eyes had lost focus, wavering.
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“Mom? Mom, is that you? I finished my homework… please don’t hit me….”
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Luna muttered into empty air.
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“Snap out of it, Luna. We’re on Floor 5.”
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I gave Luna’s forehead a light flick.
Tap!
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“Ow!”
“It’s a hallucination. This mist is composed of fine mana particles. They stimulate the hippocampus and dredge up trauma.”
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I waved my hand through the mist as I explained. A tactic favored by mentally-oriented magical beasts—a cowardly yet effective method of destabilizing prey until they self-destruct.
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“Hmph. Such crude illusion work holds no sway over one who has mastered the Heart Sword.”
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Baek Mu-young let out a scoff. But Jin-hyuk saw it—the wooden sword gripped in Baek Mu-young’s hand trembled ever so slightly. He was likely witnessing his own phantoms too: regrets from the past, or the specters of those he’d failed to protect.
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‘This is tedious. The best course is to push through quickly.’
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It was the moment Jin-hyuk quickened his pace.
Shhhhiiing…
The dense fog before Jin-hyuk parted, and someone emerged. Walking upon water without so much as a ripple—each step impossibly light. A white sundress swayed in the windless air.
Long, straight hair framed a pristine face. Eyes like a doe’s, glistening as though tears might spill at any moment.
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“…!!”
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Jin-hyuk’s feet froze. His heart plummeted. A spine-chilling terror he hadn’t felt even when facing the fallen Sword Saint on Floor 4.
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“Jin-hyuk…”
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She opened her mouth. That voice—etched in memory, achingly poignant.
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“Ah… this is truly the worst. Did the system hack my brain?”
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Jin-hyuk stumbled backward. She was Serina—a healer he’d met briefly five years ago, in his early days as a Hunter. The woman who had become the singular blemish on his entire existence.
Her appearance? Flawless. Her abilities? Worthy of an A-rank healer. The problem was her personality—a crystallization of dependent personality disorder and obsession. When he’d tried to break up with her, she’d pitched a tent in front of his hospital and staged a hunger strike. His life’s one and only stain. His darkest chapter.
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“It’s been so long. You’re still as magnificent as ever, my savior.”
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Serina’s phantom drifted closer.
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“Listen, Serina. Didn’t we break up by mutual agreement? I even gave you generous alimony, and sent flowers when you opened your practice.”
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Jin-hyuk broke into a cold sweat, activating his defensive mechanism—his tongue.
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“Mutual? I never agreed to anything. I can’t breathe without you. Let’s start over. Yes?”
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Serina reached out with a cold hand toward Jin-hyuk’s cheek. Her fingertips emanated a viscous mana. This was no mere phantom. The moment it touched him, it would be a curse binding his very mind.
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“Oh? Jin-hyuk, do you know her? The atmosphere feels rather strange…”
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Luna’s eyes sparkled with curiosity, fear momentarily forgotten. Someone else’s romantic history was always a more potent dopamine hit than terror.
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“You don’t need to know. It’s just noise my brain generated. A system error! Get away!”
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Jin-hyuk flailed his hand, but Serina’s phantom pressed in with relentless persistence.
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“This is cruel. Treating me like a glitch… I am your shadow, your eternal love. Come here. Let us be together forever in this cold water.”
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The lake’s waters surged like tentacles, attempting to coil around Jin-hyuk’s ankles.
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‘Damn it, physical attacks won’t work!’
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A phantom born of ‘memory’—one that could not be severed by a Tamer’s overwhelming pressure or a doctor’s scalpel. Just as I felt myself suffocating, that moment arrived.
Thud. Thud.
Not the sound of footsteps upon water, but the heavy, deliberate stomp of military boots crushing dry earth. From beyond the mist, a crimson and intense aura blazed forth.
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“…?”
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Baek Mu-young turned his head. Even he, a Sword Saint, instinctively shrank before such killing intent.
Emerging through the mist was a single woman. Arms crossed, head tilted at an angle, her gaze fixed upon Jin-hyuk with lethal focus.
Sharp eyes. Hair neatly bound in a ponytail. And in her hand, an S-rank magical staff crackling with electricity.
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[Arcana Hospital Vice-Director: Yoo Yi-soo]
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“Wow… Yi-soo this time?”
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Jin-hyuk let out a hollow laugh.
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“Floor 5’s system performance is impressive. It captured exactly the ‘most beloved yet most terrifying’ existence in my subconscious.”
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To Jin-hyuk, Yoo Yi-soo was such a being. The only person who could control him. And when angered, more frightening than any god—his wife.
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“Yi-soo, if you’re going to be a phantom, at least be kind about it. Stop making that nagging expression all the time. I’m already dying from a headache because of my ex.”
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Jin-hyuk waved casually at Yoo Yi-soo’s phantom(?). But her expression remained unmoved. If anything, the furrow between her brows deepened, and veins bulged at her temples.
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“Who’s a phantom?”
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Her voice dropped low. Yoo Yi-soo strode forward with purpose. In both her hands gleamed a pair of [Twin Blades] radiating a cool light.
Serina’s phantom interjected without reading the room.
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“Who are you? We’re in the middle of a touching reunion with our Jin-hyuk… don’t interfere.”
“Our Jin-hyuk?”
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Yoo Yi-soo’s eyebrows twitched. The blade of the Gladius in her grip trembled faintly, slicing through the air with a sharp whisper.
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“Move aside, you gaudy phantom.”
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Whoooosh—!
Yoo Yi-soo swung her right Gladius. It wasn’t a cutting motion. An overwhelming [Blade Pressure]—striking the very fabric of space itself with the flat of the blade.
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[Skill: Void Slash]
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“Kyaaaah!”
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Serina’s phantom shattered like glass before the blade even made contact, swept away by the torrential gust of the sword wind. The force was so tremendous that the lake’s waters parted down the middle, exposing the bottom.
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“…?!”
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Jin-hyuk, Luna, and Baek Mu-young froze simultaneously. She tore apart the phantom with nothing but a sword wind? That’s not magic. That’s the pinnacle of pure physical force.
And Yoo Yi-soo’s gaze slowly, very slowly, locked onto Jin-hyuk.
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“Come here.”
“Huh? What?!”
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Yoo Yi-soo closed the distance in an instant, seizing Jin-hyuk by the collar. Even Jin-hyuk couldn’t react to the agility unique to an S-rank Attacker.
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“Because the gods were targeting you! Worried you might get hurt! I slaughtered every monster up to the 4th Floor and climbed here!”
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Blue flames flickered in Yoo Yi-soo’s eyes.
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“And what’s this pathetic sight I see the moment I arrive? ‘Forever together with my ex’? Are we filming a romance movie, Director Kang? Is this Hollywood?”
“W-wait! Yi-soo! Calm down! That’s just an illusion the Tower is showing! I didn’t want this! She’s just a fragment of data!”
“Shut it! She looked awfully happy to me, didn’t she? Feeling nostalgic about the old days?”
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Yoo Yi-soo released Jin-hyuk, then spun in a full circle, using the centrifugal force to chamber her palm strike.
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[Skill: Back Smash – True Form]
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Crack!!!
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“Gaaaah!”
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Jin-hyuk’s scream echoed across Mirror Lake. The pain. That crisp, bone-deep impact reverberating through him. His spine shrieked, his back muscles tearing as agony consumed him.
Even when Jin-hyuk had fought Baek Mu-young and steel beams on Floor 4, he hadn’t let out a single scream. But this was a different dimension entirely. Unblockable damage from the ‘wife’s wrath’ attribute.
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“Ow, ow! That really hurts! You hit my ribs!”
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Jin-hyuk rolled across the ground, clutching his back.
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“Stop your whining! I hit you because you deserve it! Get your head on straight, you fool!”
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Yoo Yi-soo huffed indignantly and brushed off her palms. Tears welled up in Jin-hyuk’s eyes, but a smile of relief spread across his lips. It hurts. And that’s a relief. This isn’t a phantom. My real wife—my true companion—has come.
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“Wow… the madam’s presence is no joke. Even I couldn’t dodge that.”
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Baek Mu-young clicked his tongue in admiration. Even to a Sword Master like him, Yoo Yi-soo’s striking form was flawless.
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“Hello, Vice-Director! I’m Luna, the porter! I’ve missed you so much!”
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Luna swiftly activated her professional mode and bowed at a ninety-degree angle. She instinctively understood that survival meant knowing how to navigate social hierarchies.
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“Oh my, Luna. You’ve had it rough. Your face is half-bruised. This fool didn’t make you do anything strange, did he? Did he at least feed you?”
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Yoo Yi-soo’s expression softened instantly.
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“Come on, let’s eat. You must be hungry?”
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Yoo Yi-soo hardened the lake’s surface with ice magic, spread out a mat, and pulled out a three-tiered lunch box. Kimbap, octopus sausages, rolled eggs, and miso soup in a thermos—a surreal yet peaceful picnic unfolding in the middle of the treacherous Floor 5: Mirror Lake.
The four of them gathered in a circle.
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“But Yi-soo, how exactly did you make it up here? Floor 4 must have been hell difficulty.”
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Jin-hyuk picked up a rolled egg, enduring the pain radiating from his back.
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“Oh, those guys?”
Yoo Yi-soo sipped her miso soup casually as she spoke.
“Haren on Floor 1 took one look at my face and said, ‘You have the bearing of a general, the face of one who’ll catch a husband,’ then opened the door. The doppelgänger on Floor 2 transformed into you, so I found it annoying and gave it a punch to the solar plexus. It immediately said, ‘I’m sorry, please don’t make me work overtime,’ and showed me the way. Mephistopheles on Floor 3 said he owed you a lot, whining about losing his casino unfairly. When I threatened to audit his books, he just gave me a free pass.”
“….”
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Jin-hyuk was left speechless. She really is my wife. She might be an even greater ‘tamer’ than I am. The monsters had basically crawled before her. Or perhaps they understood—touch this woman and there wouldn’t even be bones left to bury.
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“And Floor 4… there was some mutt lying unconscious, so I just stepped over it and kept going.”
“Cough!”
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Baek Mu-young choked on his kimbap. That ‘mutt’ he’d just called out—it was himself.
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“Welcome. We’ve been short on supporters from Floor 5 onward, actually.”
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Jin-hyuk quietly took Yoo Yi-soo’s hand.
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“Now the party’s complete. Tank, supporter, main dealer, and….”
“A con artist?”
“No, captain and healer.”
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Jin-hyuk felt reassured. Baek Mu-young’s raw power, Luna’s support, and Yoo Yi-soo’s magic combined with her leadership—this composition seemed more than capable of reaching the tower’s summit.
Then it happened. The sky darkened to pitch black, and a deafening thunder shook the lake.
Boom—!!!
The lake’s waters reversed their flow, and the mist dissipated in an instant.
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[System Warning!]
[Zeus, the chief god of Olympus, is extremely enraged.]
[Message: “You dare enjoy a picnic in my tower?”]
[Floor 6: Thunder God’s Maze is forcibly opened.]
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Flash!
A colossal bolt of lightning struck the ice platform where the four sat, right beside them. Sizzle! The ice evaporated instantly and water boiled upward. This was no mere natural phenomenon—it was divine power incarnate in lightning.
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“Choking on rice while eating? How annoying.”
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Yoo Yi-soo frowned and set down her chopsticks. As she grasped her staff, crackling blue electricity erupted from its tip. She too was a master of lightning magic.
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“How dare you splash muddy water on my kimbap?”
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Jin-hyuk grinned and popped the last kimbap into his mouth.
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“Don’t worry, dear. That’s all excellent ‘resources’ too.”
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Jin-hyuk rose from his seat and adjusted his necktie. His eyes gleamed once more with the light of a ‘tamer’.
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“Zeus? A creature called a god just because he throws around some lightning?”
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Jin-hyuk gazed upward at the sky. Between the dark clouds, a single enormous eye stared down at him.
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“To me, it’s just an electric eel—nothing more. A very large, very energetic electric eel.”
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The sky roared again in response to Jin-hyuk’s provocation.
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“Chief Baek Mu-young, prepare yourself. The next floor is ‘electric fishing.'”
“Heh, my luck in my twilight years is fierce. Fishing with a god, no less.”
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Baek Mu-young drew his sword.
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“Luna, grab the insulated gloves. And Yoo Yi-soo, Vice Director.”
“Got it.”
“Drain some of that beast’s energy. I need it weakened enough to tame.”
“Leave it to me. I’ll roast it until it’s crispy.”
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A doctor who commands beasts, a wife more terrifying than any beast, a legendary swordmaster, and a porter. A perfect four-person party descended to the 6th floor—not to humble the gods, but to save the hospital’s electricity bill.
Until the elevator doors closed, Jin-hyuk was smiling.
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“Wait for me, Zeus. You’ll become my patient too.”

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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