The Tone-Deaf Healer Kills with a Song - Chapter 180

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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 180
“Stop gawking and keep attacking the box lid with us. Don’t forget to watch for anything else!”
“Yes!”
“Hold on and don’t die!”
I had to stand firm until the very end—no collapse, no retreat.
A massive gun materialized in the empty air.
A enormous bullet flew toward the rattling hinge on the open box lid.
I would endure until Rosalind Brown emerged.
The bullet struck the hinge dead-on, shattering it in an instant.
“Don’t let it close!”
Every hunter simultaneously began attacking the box lid.
Until Nike’s healer—stronger than anyone—came out from inside.
We wouldn’t let it close.

* * *
“Sorrow approaches again!”
“How many times is this now?”
“The world these days certainly has plenty to grieve about.”
Someone’s violet mana shattered the wavering letters to pieces.
At first, there were naturally some trial-and-error moments.
No matter how quickly we found the path and moved, someone following behind would inevitably touch the letters.
Some vomited, others panicked. A few even tried to harm themselves.
“But it seems now we’re only seeing a fixed pattern.”
“Yes.”
Despair, loneliness, anguish, sorrow, betrayal, pain.
These were the emotions that had appeared so far.
“I think we should rest for a moment before continuing.”
Moving for hours on end would drain our stamina, so we needed to rest periodically.
With Jung Hwan-jae’s order, the fourth break arrived.
“This time, Lucy, if you would.”
“Of course.”
Lucy stomped his foot once, and crimson light spread like a dense net, forming a dome.
The other Awakeners were having Assigned Staff Members take turns creating shields under the pretext of conserving mana.
“The boss still hasn’t appeared.”
I’d tried destroying all the letters that appeared, wondering if there was another clear condition, and we’d researched our own ways of resolving them.
But no matter what we did, no hidden boss ever emerged.
Jung Hwan-jae’s hand gently brushed my hair back.
“Your hair is falling down.”
“Short hair doesn’t stay tied up. If I let it grow a bit longer, I think it might work.”
“I prefer whatever hairstyle is comfortable for Ye-ah.”
“Do you have any particular preferences?”
“No, this is my first time liking someone, so I didn’t have an ideal type either. I like everyone.”
Jung Hwan-jae responded in an unbothered tone and poured water into a bottle for me.
How fortunate that the overall darkness and mist shrouding this place would conceal my flushed face.
I cleared my throat and nodded. I glanced around unnecessarily.
Within a space where neither beginning nor end was clearly visible, people’s expressions were surprisingly serene.
Those afflicted by debuffs or curses had been treated with first aid so quickly that their complexions weren’t as dire as expected.
I wished it could continue like this, but this wasn’t a place that would conclude so easily.
“Conserve your strength as much as possible. Clearing just this section won’t be the end.”
Lucy spoke matter-of-factly, but I understood his true intention.
After resolving all of this, there would still be the final boss chamber.
Those who would normally have played petty tricks wore serious expressions as well.
After a brief rest, we resumed moving inward.
More characters were appearing than before.
Enough that we had to invoke the resolve to commit terrible deeds twice more before clearing them.
“Wait, Ye-ah.”
“Oh, did my voice slip out…?”
“No.”
Jung Hwan-jae extended his arm in front of me to stop my steps and pointed ahead.
Not far away, I saw a figure sitting collapsed, gazing blankly at the sky.
Liri murmured quietly.
“Pandora.”
“That’s…?”
“It’s best to think of the real Pandora as dead. That isn’t Pandora.”
Liri spoke firmly, as if warning us not to be deceived.
Think of her as dead?
The figure gazing at the sky bore such a distinctly human form.
Except for the ends of her long hair melting like oil, dripping down in drops.
And the endless stream of characters flowing from between her slightly parted lips.
“I made it clear that death is not a concept that applies to Staff Members. They were simply recovered as data.”
“Strictly speaking, that’s not Pandora—it’s merely a monster manifested from Pandora’s divine power.”
The Assigned Staff Members’ assessments, offered one by one, were cold.
As if there was no need to waver at such an appearance or show mercy.
Even if they were data, these beings surely had emotions once.
“Yes.”
But I couldn’t let myself be shaken by such an appearance either.
Because my precious people could be harmed in the process.
Wasn’t it natural that those beside and behind me mattered more than a stranger I’d just met?
Radiant light of five colors flooded from all directions.
They formed an impenetrable wall between the Awakened and Pandora.
“I think I’ll need some time to discuss this.”
Liri smiled gently.
There was no demand to reach a conclusion quickly.
“How much time could you possibly spare?”
“As much as Ye-ah needs.”
“Won’t that be difficult for you?”
“Even if I’ve become a Dungeon, don’t ignore the gap in rank between Pandora and us. My pride won’t allow it.”
Lucy, who had pushed Jung Hwan-jae’s shoulder and pressed him against my side, replied casually.
As much as I need.
Could there be words more reassuring than that?
“Then I’ll leave it to you.”
“Got it.”
Jung Hwan-jae didn’t doubt Lucy’s words in the slightest.
An Assigned Staff Member whose skills he could trust with his back.
My Liri is the same.
I turned my body toward the hunters who were steadily waiting for the next operational orders.
Jung Hwan-jae opened his mouth with a clear tone.
“Judging by the way characters keep spilling from its mouth, it appears to be the host of this curse and debuff. Does anyone have an opinion on how to resolve this?”
“Make it shut its mouth?”
“Why does such a one-dimensional solution even exist?”
Immediately following someone’s statement, a mocking voice was heard.
I had been thinking of that method too, but the atmosphere made it clear I absolutely shouldn’t mention it.
After that, numerous opinions were presented.
Confine Pandora’s characters so they can’t escape outward.
We create characters ourselves through some method and overwhelm it with force.
Eliminate Pandora’s main body entirely, which is presumed to be the host of these characters.
“What are your thoughts, Ye-ah?”
Jung Hwan-jae asked me, who had been maintaining deliberate silence after the suggestion to make it shut its mouth.
Think of a different method. Not one that’s already been rejected.
“Couldn’t the Assigned Staff Members figure it out?”
“That apparently violates some kind of regulation.”
Jung Hwan-jae sighed, saying they would have already done it if they could.
I agree. These are people who would help by any means necessary if they could.
“Comfort…?”
What came out of my mouth was an impulsive word.
“Comfort?”
“Yes, I mean…. I’m not sure if this will work, but if it heard a comforting song, maybe its despair could be soothed a little.”
“Ah, do you mean purification?”
Someone who had been eavesdropping on our conversation suddenly thrust their head forward.
“Yes? Purification?”
“I’ve heard that when objects—not people—are cursed, they can be purified through various skills. It requires considerable magical power, so people rarely attempt it.”
His eyes brightened as he suggested that someone of Yeom Ye-ah’s caliber might not find it entirely impossible.
“But what if it fails?”
“Then we try something else. None of you are so weak that a single failure would result in total annihilation.”
His voice carried an assurance—as if to say that even if I made a mistake, he would handle it.
Jung Hwan-jae’s voice, offering certainty as though it were nothing, gave me strength. My resolve solidified.
“Then I’ll give it a try. If I do nothing, nothing will change anyway.”
I’ve learned by now that even failure is better than lowering our chances by standing idle.
He nodded in understanding, and I stepped forward past him.
I selected a song through detailed search and drew in a breath.
I heard the sound of your four shattered souls
I saw the tears of your broken heart
What you always protected
Even in that moment of shattering, you always
Musical notes drifted through the mana as a grand orchestral accompaniment swelled beneath.
The chorus that layered in with consolation suppressed a sorrow so profound it threatened to spill into tears at any moment.
The Aria of Hope, the origin point of despair, transmits its data.
Beginning performance.
The characters pouring from Pandora’s body respond.
Hold me
See me, a part of you
Wrap us in the world’s melancholy
Us who layer hope upon hope
Us
Save us
I closed my eyes.
The healing soprano is prepared to inherit the data.
“I’ll help.”
Responding to the data.
Creative Technique (???) amplifies the power of consolation!
Green mana began to turn white, swallowing the characters.

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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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