The Tone-Deaf Healer Kills with a Song - Chapter 14

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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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Tone-Deaf Healer Kills with Song – Episode 014
As I stared at him with a blank expression, Jung Hwan-jae calmly said, “It seems you’re not satisfied,” and tore out the page, tossing it aside.
I had made only one request.
Could I possibly move into the dormitory provided by Hanttae?
“I just need a small space in the dormitory where I can fit my body. I don’t have the money to pay rent anyway.”
Yet the moment Jung Hwan-jae received my message, he came prepared as if he’d been waiting, bringing plans for all sorts of internal facilities and various equipment.
Aside from the fact that the state of it was such a mess that I couldn’t even guess where the ideas came from, the sincerity behind it deserved some praise.
I wondered if he’d thought of it himself, but watching him seem to glare at empty space whenever I looked flustered suggested otherwise.
“We don’t charge a separate fee for dormitory residence.”
“Really? Why?”
“Pardon?”
“No, I mean, looking at the dormitory interior facilities in this pamphlet, the maintenance costs can’t be trivial, and if you’re operating all of this for free, it would normally be quite a burden… Never mind.”
Watching him blink like someone hearing the word “burden” for the first time, I gave up trying to say anything more. Better to let it go than suffer.
If I brought up another point here, he’d probably mention company welfare. I was still too much of an ordinary citizen to be accustomed to this terrifying scale.
“I think I’ve been talking too much about the interior design. The dormitory, as shown in the pamphlet, is provided as individual houses, one per person. You move via a dedicated teleport.”
Most Hunters earn enough money to secure their own homes within a year, so most of the dormitory rooms remain vacant.
Since Hanttae hadn’t taken in new recruits in a long time, the maintenance costs like cleaning exceeded the various utility bills for those spaces, making me acutely aware of this place’s exclusivity.
And I had just entered such a place.
“When should I start moving my things?”
“You can install the teleport device and move right now if you’d like. Your room number is already assigned, and it’s being maintained daily.”
“Then I’ll move within this week. Guild Master.”
At my form of address, he suddenly closed his lips and looked at me.
Wondering if I’d done something wrong, I retraced the conversation, but nothing particularly bothered me. It seemed like I’d just spoken the same way as before.
“Externally, I don’t reveal that I’m the Guild Master of Hanttae. If that becomes widely known, it becomes rather troublesome. My face on the rankings has been altered somewhat anyway.”
“Now that you mention it, the face on the rankings does look worse than the real thing. I thought you just didn’t photograph well, but that’s what it was.”
“Is that a compliment?”
“Yes.”
When I raised both thumbs, he looked at me with an ambiguous expression.
His face seemed to say, ‘If that’s what you think, then so be it, but I’m not sure if that’s really a compliment.’ My attempt at flattery, learned through my own social experience, wasn’t working.
I’d need to find another approach.
“…In any case, it’s better not to call me Guild Master outside. So I’d like to establish a different form of address.”
“Ah.”
So he was saying I shouldn’t use a title that could expose his identity. I suddenly felt regret about all those times I’d freely called him Guild Master and saved it that way in my phone.
He’d been thorough about hiding himself when he came to meet me. Had he really endured listening to me say “Guild Master, Guild Master” for days on end and waited patiently?
The thought of ‘why didn’t he point it out sooner’ and ‘oh no’ clashed chaotically in my mind.
“What form of address would be comfortable for you?”
“Hmm, is Jung Hwan also an identity that needs to be hidden?”
“Yes, since Jung Hwan is a name known publicly, it’s best not to use either Guild Master or Jung Hwan.”
After all, the whole world knows that Ranker Jung Hwan is the Guild Master of Hanttae. If I carelessly called him Jung Hwan, it would be far more disastrous.
I racked my brain. I should be more perceptive. Perhaps he had a preferred form of address, and I simply hadn’t managed to hit upon it.
As expected, his lips moved.
“How would you feel about calling me Jung Hwan-jae?”
“Pardon?”
“You can just say ‘hey, Hwan-jae’ if you prefer.”
His expression was quite serious. From what I knew, Jung Hwan-jae was three years older than me. Yet he was casually suggesting I drop the formal speech with someone my senior.
Raised harshly within Korean Confucianism since birth, I could never accept such a thing. So I shook my head earnestly, and he looked slightly puzzled.
His suggestion to use his real name was fine. It’s like the old saying—to hide a tree, you go to the forest.
“How about Jung Hwan-jae or just Hwan-jae? I’m still a bit uncomfortable suddenly dropping the formal speech.”
“That works for me.”
“On the surface, you’ll just look like a Hunter from Hanttae, so how about using a more familiar term like ‘senior’?”
Calling him ‘oppa’ didn’t seem right. That felt like crossing a line. The moment I mentioned the term ‘senior,’ I saw Jung Hwan-jae’s eyes twitch slightly.
Had he never heard such a title in his life? He didn’t seem to dislike it, though.
“I’ll call you ‘senior’ then. Inside, I’ll still call you Jung Hwan-jae.”
“…Yes, that works.”
“Then the way you call me should probably be different on the outside too.”
“Ah, right. I would….”
Why did he look like something inevitable was approaching? Every interaction with him felt like navigating through a checkpoint.
Watching him sink into unnecessarily serious contemplation, I casually threw out a suggestion.
“The Guild Master can just call me Yeom Ye-ah or Ye-ah. That’s how seniors usually do it.”
“….”
He froze mid-thought, then slowly lifted his eyes to meet mine with a creaking sound. I recognized this expression.
It was the same face he made when I desperately began singing those dreadful songs.
“I’m sorry, did I overstep?”
“No, it’s fine. But is it really okay for me to suddenly address you that way?”
“Inside, it’ll be the same—Yeom Ye-ah and Guild Master anyway. It’s only on the outside, so feel free to speak casually.”
My reasoning seemed to convince him, and he nodded shortly after. Without thinking, I pulled my lips into a smile.
“Senior Hwan-jae.”
“…Ye-ah?”
The creaking voice produced the syllables—ye, ah, ya—in that same strained manner.
This title would definitely need more practice. I’d probably get used to it by the time we talked outside.
He cleared his throat several times before flipping through the files again. It seemed we’d covered the basics about the Dormitory, so I was wondering if we should head to vocal practice when he spoke up.
“Ye-ah, where do you think things will stand a month from now?”
“…Well, I probably won’t be coming to Hanttae even a month from now.”
It seemed I’d need to correct his speech patterns too, not just the titles.
Teaching both at once looked difficult, so I’d do it step by step. He didn’t even seem to fully understand what he was saying right now.
Only then did he realize the communication error, letting out a short sigh.
“There’s a ranking tournament a month from now. I was hoping to get Yeom Ye-ah ranked by then.”
“Someone like me?”
Despite my self-deprecating question, he nodded seriously. He didn’t seem to notice that I’d just put myself down.
Why would someone who knows my pathetic stat window better than anyone say such things? Did he genuinely believe I could do it?
“Fundamentally, if you can utilize classes and skills related to healing, you’ll rank at the very top among those with equivalent stat values.”
“But my base stats are desperately lacking right now.”
“That’s precisely why I’m sticking by your side—to help you overcome that limitation.”
He lifted his shoulders in a shrug.
“Ye-ah, I have just one question for you. Don’t you want to become a ranker?”
I let out a hollow laugh.
“Of course I do.”

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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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