The Owner of the Healing Therapy Shop Is Ranked 0th in the World - Chapter 5

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Team. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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The Owner of the Healing Therapy Shop is World Rank 0

Chapter 5

Crunch, crunch.

“Is it delicious, Mimi?”

Crunch, crunch.

“Sorry dinner’s late. You might not believe it, but I really almost died today.”

Mimi, who had been eating with her face buried in the food bowl, slowly lifted her head and looked at me.

Somehow her eyes seemed disbelieving.

“It’s true though. Look at my knee, it’s bleeding all over.”

Crunch, crunch.

“…Right, eat up.”

I took out my phone from my pocket, using the sound of Mimi’s eating as background music.

Tap, tap.

Even though I knew that regular electronic devices stop working when you fall into a gate, I tried tapping it anyway.

As expected, it was as I thought.

I threw my phone far away and picked up my laptop.

I immediately accessed Hunter YouTube and the Hunter Community.

As expected, everywhere people were talking about the sudden gates that had occurred a few hours ago.

After reading a few posts, my mouth fell wide open.

“That crazy gate appeared 11 times in Seoul alone…? And they appeared in capital cities worldwide? I guess the world is finally ending.”

While browsing through posts, I found one with particularly high views and comments. Looking at the username, it was posted by an anonymous member.

[HOT! Looking for the Mapo-gu Gate Hero.]

The Mapo-gu gate was the one I had fallen into.

With a sinking feeling, I clicked on that post.

You know only one person got sucked into the Mapo-gu gate, right??

I checked other gates and thousands of people got sucked into each one.

Mapo-gu only had one casualty thanks to this woman.

(Photo)

She suddenly drifted into the intersection and told everyone to run because a gate was going to appear.

So I was like “what the hell are you talking about?” lol and was just gonna walk past but literally right when that woman told me to run, a gate appeared there;; does that make sense?

And that woman saved the grandmother who was trying to cross the crosswalk and fell into the gate instead ㅇㅇ…

As soon as the woman fell into the gate, gate alarms started blaring everywhere and it was fucking… just gave me chills

With trembling fingers, I kept enlarging the attached photo.

“Ahaha… That’s me…”

Wearing exactly the same clothes I’m wearing right now…

That’s me… It’s me…

I quietly covered my mouth.

What I had feared had happened.

Of course, even if I could turn back time, I would have done the same thing…

But I was terrified of being the center of attention. Because I realized I had ruined my perfectly ordinary daily life with my own hands.

Moreover, this post I was reading had views and comments that were skyrocketing in real time.

└ Hahaha you predicted the gate? Hahaha

└Gate prediction technology hasn’t been developed yet lol

└Hunter Association employee passing by. If that woman really predicted the gate, we absolutely need to find and recruit her;

└I saw it too, that woman really acted like she knew exactly when the gate would appear

└Seriously, she should at least get a citizen’s award

└Talking nonsense about gate prediction lol even Ed hyung can’t do that

└Doesn’t it smell like birch wood burning?

“Aaaaah…!”

I enlarged the photo in the post to maximum size. The fortunate thing was that my face wasn’t exposed thanks to wearing a mask and hat.

But I couldn’t let my guard down. Too many people had seen me at the scene.

What if Hunter Association employees really find me?

Would they threaten me asking how I predicted the gate and conduct terrible experiments to commercialize prediction technology…?

“Please, anything but that…”

When I clicked on my photo again, a window appeared saying the post had been deleted.

“Phew, thank goodness.”

Thinking the author had deleted the post, I sighed in relief, closed the community window, and checked the news.

“Huh?”

This time, a headline decorating the news tab homepage caught my attention.

It was news that Hunter Gangjinseong had closed all the maze gates including the one in Mapo-gu.

“What happened?”

I knew that senior Jinseong had entered the same gate as me. His mana flow was so intense that I could notice it immediately even from far away.

It had been like that since our training academy days. His mana was so hot and massive that just him entering the training academy building would make my skin tingle.

But the message about giving clear rewards definitely appeared to me… Wait.

“No, right? I don’t know what misunderstanding there is, but isn’t this actually good for me?”

Sight, hearing, smell… Rather than being cursed at by people worldwide for lying about awakening to non-existent stats, it was better for me if it was reported that senior cleared it.

The post was deleted too, so I hoped my existence would just be buried like this. Please…!

“But senior Jinseong is really amazing. Did he close all 10 Seoul gates by himself in such a short time?”

“This gate has a structure where clearing just one clears them all. It’s the same for other countries.”

“What? I’ve never heard of such a gate…”

Wait a minute.

Who am I talking to…?

Inside the dark store, eerie blue light seeping from the laptop.

…And a black cat that had been sitting next to me.

“Ah, aaaaah!”

I instinctively grabbed a vase within reach and aimed it at Mimi, no, at something in the shape of a cat.

“Wh-what are you!”

“Cat, Mimi.”

“Don’t bullshit me! What did you do to Mimi!”

Slurp, lick.

The monster occupying Mimi’s body licked its black paw and fixed its vertically slit yellow pupils on me.

“You gave me this name because I go ‘meow,’ didn’t you?”

Crazy! Why is a mimic (a monster that uses disguise techniques) here!?

“Wh-what was the method to get rid of mimics again.”

Even though it had been a long time since I graduated from Hunter Training School, I always remembered things as clearly as if I had studied them yesterday, but now I was so flustered that I couldn’t remember anything.

“Don’t compare me to something like a mimic.”

“Then what are you!”

“I’m the benefactor who chose you.”

The mimic shifted position and started licking its side.

“Who do you think got you out of the maze and made you awaken. Tsk, it was me.”

“Are you saying you’re like a status window or something?”

“You could see it that way.”

I frowned deeply.

I wondered what kind of conversation I was having with a mimic right now.

I was about to stop the nonsense and shout again for it to get out of Mimi’s body when I suddenly remembered.

…The two cat ears attached to the top of the status window.

And that thing claiming to be the status window had the exact same ears.

“…No way.”

Contrary to thinking such a thing was impossible, my mouth was moving on its own.

“Can you prove it…?”

Ding-!

^[Title Acquired: Avatar of Distrust]^

^[Title Acquired: One Who Knows No Gratitude!]^

Seeing the flashing status window before my eyes, I had no choice but to slowly put down the vase in my hand.

“Then what really happened to Mimi…?”

Through repeated conversations afterward, I learned that the main body of Mimi, whom I had been feeding and cherishing all this time, was also that thing.

“…I feel like my entire world is being denied. You know?”

“How would I know.”

“Hah… So what do you want from me?”

I sat there blankly with a dejected face, unable to do anything.

The bitterness wouldn’t fade knowing that the cat I had given affection to for years was actually some unknown being.

“Tsk.”

“Don’t belittle the heart of a human who lost the only being they gave affection to overnight.”

“Fair enough.”

Only then did Mimi withdraw the cold gaze from me.

“To summarize, you’ve been searching for someone suitable to give your power to, and I was perfect?”

“Consistent volunteer work, decent job, high understanding of hunters, and a self-sacrificing mindset, among other things.”

“…”

“Especially, that tearful performance you showed at the intersection moved my heart.”

“A performance? My noble sacrifice…”

“Anyway, now you just need to use my power to help others.”

“What if I refuse?”

“As if you would. You like helping others, don’t you? Besides, weren’t you sad about not awakening?”

“I was sad because I couldn’t make money. But I originally hate things like gates and hunters.”

“Hmm?”

“If things like gates and whatnot didn’t exist, I wouldn’t have become an orphan, wouldn’t have gotten a disease like hypersensitivity disorder, and wouldn’t suffer from all the smells and noises in this world…”

I, who had been pouring out words like a machine gun, suddenly stopped speaking.

“Huh…?”

Because the entire world felt quiet.

The nerve-grating sounds of cars running on the road in front of the store, the unpleasant smell from the garbage dump across the street, the dazzling light of the streetlamps. None of these stimuli felt excessive.

Even when I took handfuls of prescribed medicine, I had never been this peaceful.

I froze in place. This silence surrounding me was so unfamiliar.

“It’s thanks to awakening. You should know that hunters can control those sensitive senses at will.”

That strange smile of the cat seemed to say you won’t be able to refuse me.

“If you give up my power, you’ll have to live in that noisy hell again, for life.”

“Hell…”

The expression ‘hell’ wasn’t an exaggeration at all.

I had been suffering from such terrible sensations that I felt I couldn’t last even a day without medication.

“The medicine is expensive and getting harder to afford, isn’t it? Your hypersensitivity is getting worse, so you can’t even keep the store open for long.”

“…”

“You want to quickly pay back the debt to that person called Nara Unni, but after paying for medicine and rent, there’s no money left – you even talk about it in your sleep.”

Nothing the cat said was wrong. So I couldn’t argue back.

Perhaps thinking I was still hesitating since I couldn’t continue speaking, Mimi’s not-quite-threats continued.

“Ah, I forgot something important.”

^[Quest Generated!]^

^[Sell oil made with Absolute Senses skill (0/1)]^

^[Completion Rewards:

– 1 Stat Point

– Senses Stat Skill Tree Open

– 100 Coins Awarded]^

Swoosh! The cat raised its front paw and extended one claw to explain.

“100 coins per bottle of oil, 1000 coins per massage. This is the income you can earn with your class and skills.”

“…?”

“For reference, 100 coins is one million won in Korean money.”

The cat was saying with its expression.

‘You can’t refuse this, can you? lol’

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