The Tone-Deaf Healer Kills with a Song - Chapter 157

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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 157
In reality, it probably hadn’t been nearly as long as it felt.
Yet every time I saw him, I felt as though we hadn’t met in ages.
Perhaps it was because I’d grown so accustomed to having him always by my side.
“Brother.”
“Guild Master, we were actually trying to prepare a really amazing cake for you.”
The siblings, who were always so confident in front of the Guild Master, quickly lost their nerve.
Jung Hwan-jae looked at the pathetically crumbled mountain of strawberry sponge cake and laughed helplessly.
“I was thinking of nagging you if only the inside was messy, but since your bodies are in worse shape than that cake, I don’t even know what to say.”
I couldn’t agree more.
Right now, these siblings looked like they’d fought the cake with their entire bodies and lost—without a single lie added to that description.
If they’d given it their all and still couldn’t manage it, giving up was probably the right call.
“I heard you two were making a cake, but I brought one just in case. Glad I did.”
Jung Hwan-jae shook a small cake box he held in one hand.
It wasn’t that he didn’t trust Sung Mi-ju and Sung Ji-wook, but he said a backup plan was necessary.
“I think we deserve to be distrusted when it comes to cooking.”
“I agree.”
The two of them hurried off, saying they’d clean up the inside before lighting the candles.
“You didn’t push yourself too hard coming here, did you?”
“Not at all. I did rush to finish my work, but thanks to that, I’ll be able to rest comfortably tonight. Besides, I came because I wanted to see you, Ye-ah.”
By now, I wasn’t particularly embarrassed to say I wanted to see someone.
Then again, at this point, it would be strange to feel shy about such words when we’d said them so often.
“So this cake is a birthday gift you bought for me?”
“This is just a basic prop, so to speak. I have a separate gift for you.”
“Really?”
The cake box bore the logo of a famous patisserie—one so expensive I’d only heard its name.
I’d heard that you couldn’t buy from them without waiting in line, and sometimes reservations were required.
However he’d managed to get it, the process couldn’t have been smooth.
“At first, it seemed like you didn’t want birthday celebrations, so I mostly stayed quiet about it.”
“Oh, I was just forgetting the fact that it was my birthday altogether.”
“You could have found out just by going online. The entire nation has been celebrating your birthday, Ye-ah.”
“What?”
When I made a disbelieving expression, Jung Hwan-jae showed me the internet on his phone.
Massive photos of me with birthday congratulations advertisements plastered in front of Exit 9 at Hongdae Entrance Station and on the walls of Samsung Station.
Video streaming site ads, and countless posts flooding in from the Fan Cafe that I hadn’t visited in who knows how long.
“You really haven’t been looking at any of this?”
“Well, actually, I’ve been intentionally doing an internet detox lately because it’s annoying to see my name trending online.”
Since I’d gotten caught by someone like Shunt, I’d figured articles from people like Rekka would pour in.
Still, I probably should have checked at least once given how big this is.
“These advertisements will come down tomorrow, right?”
“There will be one tomorrow. Were you thinking of going in person?”
“If it’s possible.”
I also wanted to express my gratitude to the Fan Cafe.
As I held Jung Hwan-jae’s phone and looked around, he continued with his characteristic composure.
“By the way, I heard that Hunter Hwa-jon didn’t dislike receiving birthday wishes—he simply forgot about his birthday.”
“Yes, that’s right.”
“So everyone who was hesitant about whether it was okay to congratulate you reached out all at once.”
Now everything made sense.
The flood of birthday messages that came pouring in the moment I left the Break Room.
At the time, I wondered if they were all in on it and keeping it secret from me, but it seemed they had been waiting cautiously, worried that I might dislike birthdays or not want to be celebrated.
[Liri: If Ye-ah truly disliked birthdays, what would they have done with all the gifts they’d already purchased?]
‘Wouldn’t they have found another occasion to give them?’
Thinking of all those people who had chosen gifts while thinking of me, who had worried and hesitated about whether it was okay to contact me, I found myself smiling without realizing it.
Just as he was about to say something more to me, Sung Mi-ju and Sung Ji-wook called us over, saying they’d finished cleaning up.
And so, a short while later.
Me, Jung Hwan-jae, Hwa-jon, Sung Mi-ju, Sung Ji-wook. And through video call, Kim A-jin, Dan Myeong-ah, Dante and Rosalind Brown.
And finally, Liri, who had returned to her incarnate form and stood beside me for my sake.
I held in my arms the small doll that Kim Hwa-hyun had left behind as her trace.
“I’ve never been celebrated for my birthday in such a grand way before.”
“From now on, there will be nothing but even more splendid birthdays ahead.”
“So it might get tedious.”
The hunters from Hanttae, who had lived the lives of rankers for so long, shook their heads.
Even so, I knew that these people were kind-hearted individuals who always sent lengthy messages of gratitude to the fans who celebrated their birthdays.
―Right, Dante Brown apparently runs into dungeons every birthday now. I’ve told him several times to hold fan meetings.
―Rosa, I tell you every year—we’re not celebrities or anything. We’re just hunters who clear dungeons as a matter of course….
―Enough already, Ye-ah! Blow out the candles!
I wanted to repay their feelings, at least in some small way.
“Let’s blow out the candles first.”
Everyone urged me on as if they’d made a pact.
They sang the birthday song to me, each slightly out of sync with the others.
“Happy birthday, dear Ye-ah.”
I sang the final line along with them.
I merely hummed that line, yet the space around me filled with soft green musical notes.
Liri moved her hand slowly through the air as if conducting, just as she had when we walked together before.
The notes fluttered in the air as if dancing with her, and the moment I blew out the candles burning beautifully before my eyes, they scattered in all directions.
The cheerful sound of applause from everyone soon faded, and all fell quiet as if waiting for me.
“You should make a wish.”
Jung Hwan-jae’s quiet voice cut through the silence.
I closed my eyes and prayed silently.
‘No matter what impossible thing happens, let it be resolved like a lie, like a miracle.’
Whether Liri heard my prayer, or whether it reached somewhere, I couldn’t say.
But the verdant musical note I had planted with my heart and soul blazed brilliantly as if it understood everything, then vanished.
“I’ve heard that wishes don’t come true if you speak them aloud.”
“Yes, I won’t ask.”
Only then did people begin to play boisterously, as if their reins had been loosened.
Dante and Rosalind Brown had apparently made time to celebrate my birthday in secret, and the call ended with a single shout.
Kim A-jin and Dan Myeong-ah’s call also ended with words that they would come find us soon.
“Harp also asked me to convey birthday wishes.”
“Yes, I’ll thank them directly.”
Sung Mi-ju, Sung Ji-wook, and Hwa-jon ate cake together and then retired to their respective rooms to rest.
I returned to my room with Liri and Jung Hwan-jae on either side, when Liri exhaled a sigh.
“I should step back now.”
Before I could even ask what he meant, he vanished in an instant.
Midnight had passed, and my birthday was over.
Jung Hwan-jae gazed at me quietly, then carefully withdrew something from his pocket and offered it to me.
“A gift.”
What he held out to me was a hand microphone.
The moment I grasped it, I felt Jung Hwan-jae’s mana emanating from the object, which was so light it seemed weightless.
Sensing his mana was quite a rare occurrence.
“It merely takes the form of a microphone, but in actual combat it will function as support without form.”
“I can feel your mana here.”
He nodded slowly.
“I’ve infused it with my mana. It’s not much, but I wanted to return what I’ve received.”
Even beneath the moonlit night, his face appeared slightly flushed.
“Return?”
“I wanted my mana to be mixed within Ye-ah as well.”
The moment those words reached my ears, my heart seemed to race—or was it merely an illusion?
My face was surely flushed as well.
I wrapped both hands around the microphone and soon laughed.
“Yes, I’ll make sure it happens.”
A birthday I will never forget.
“I have a good feeling about this, senior.”
“What sort of feeling?”
“A feeling that miraculous things will come to the people I care about.”

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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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