The Tone-Deaf Healer Kills with a Song - Chapter 21

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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 021
Perhaps it was because I’d screamed so hard my throat burned raw, but my voice grew hoarse in an instant.
It wasn’t until moments later that I realized the voices of those who had been singing in harmony with Siren’s song had vanished as well.
Had I blown away everything below me too?
But this wasn’t solid ground—the moment Siren released me, I began plummeting helplessly into the Deep Sea. Thrashing my body proved useless.
“Grrk, guh….”
An incomprehensible sound filled my ears again. I’d barely dealt with Siren, and now this?
Something that looked like a cross between a Giant Anglerfish Monster and an octopus was extending its tentacles toward me. My throat was already half-ruined.
Without thinking, I squeezed my eyes shut when a crimson light like a flash burst forth from behind my back.
‘Ah.’
I knew the owner of that light.
It was a threatening light, as if about to devour someone, yet I felt my tension dissolve instead.
As naturally as if it were the most obvious thing, it passed through me and plunged into the Deep Sea. The monster vanished, split cleanly in two before my eyes, as if someone had sliced it apart.
The force of the strike was so tremendous that not only the monster but the seabed beneath it was cleaved in half, revealing just how desperate the caster had been.
At the same moment, a sturdy forearm wrapped around my waist.
“Yeom Ye-ah!”
“Y-yes, Guild Master.”
As I was carried toward the water’s surface, draped across his forearm like carelessly hung laundry, a sudden wave of sorrow crashed over me.
Relief flooded through me that I’d escaped this situation safely, but it was immediately followed by resentment toward the Guild Master who had boasted that nothing would go wrong, only to throw me into this crisis.
He was leaping upward with such force in his arms, as if terrified I might slip away.
“Guild Master….”
It wasn’t really a problem, but no matter how many times I called out, he remained focused solely on reaching the surface without answering.
In the hand not holding me, he gripped a scythe far larger than himself. Shadows seemed to ripple across its blade, but I figured I must be seeing things.
A few monsters that had caught wind of human presence approached, but Jung Hwan-jae didn’t even glance at them—he simply swung his scythe.
The crimson light radiating from the blade instantly reduced the monsters to ash.
“Let’s go now.”
Those were the only words he spoke, after all that time. After putting me through such anguish, he said only five words.
The injustice I felt stemmed from my own spineless heart—the way those five words immediately put my mind at ease.
As I nodded with a tearful expression, the surroundings began to crumble slowly. The outside became faintly visible, and only then could I take a deep breath.
“Ugh!”
But the problem came next. I’d clearly been tucked against Jung Hwan-jae’s side, yet when I came to my senses, I was sprawled on the ground instead.
I hadn’t felt him throw me at all—it was as if the Dungeon had expelled me. He landed beside me only a few seconds later.
This meant I’d exited the Dungeon faster than Jung Hwan-jae, but typically, the order of exit depends on one’s contribution to clearing it.
‘…Does this mean I contributed more to clearing this Dungeon than he did?’
This man was the number one ranked Hunter—there’s no way that could be logically possible. Yet I was indeed thrown out like this.
Confusion dominated my thoughts. Hadn’t something impossible just happened in reality?
Needing an explanation, I cautiously lifted my head. Jung Hwan-jae stood there, staring intently at where the Gate had been, then turned his gaze toward me.
“About that….”
Before I could even finish speaking, he lifted me up and gripped my shoulders.
He looked as though he might embrace me at any moment, yet his expression suggested he couldn’t quite bring himself to do it.
As if he were being overly cautious about doing such a thing now, or as though he had no right to do so.
The heavy atmosphere made it impossible for me to do anything but cautiously observe his expression.
He soon bowed his head deeply. He was easily twenty centimeters taller than me, but as he hunched his shoulders and lowered his head, he appeared remarkably small.
“…Um, hey, Jung Hwan-jae?”
There weren’t many people around, but I remembered we’d decided to change how we addressed each other in public, so I hastily corrected myself.
But no matter how I looked at it, he seemed to have no capacity to respond.
What had happened… ? Had some new hardship befallen him during the brief time we were apart?
I’d been ready to confront him about leaving me alone, but seeing him like this, my resolve crumbled.
“I’m sorry.”
And the moment he offered that apology in a strained voice, every retort I’d prepared vanished.
His voice didn’t just tremble—it was wet. Even if I were a fool, I’d know what that meant.
I hastily cupped his face in both hands and tilted his chin up to meet my gaze.
“Are you crying?”
“I’m sorry. I….”
“No….”
I was uncertain. I’d thought I was sure, but I couldn’t believe he would break down like this—yet his eyes were genuinely brimming with tears.
If anyone should be crying, it should be me, not him. The tears and sorrow that had been threatening to spill evaporated into bewilderment.
Why was he crying? What on earth had happened to reduce this iron-willed man to tears?
I quickly wiped away his tears with my fingers.
“Why are you crying? Why? What happened? Look at me. Quickly!”
“No, nothing happened to me….”
How could someone who claimed nothing happened be crying with such sorrow? Was there something he couldn’t tell me?
I diligently wiped his tear-stained cheeks. Though his eyes blinked as if my touch felt strange, he didn’t resist, which suggested he didn’t dislike my hands on him.
A sudden thought flickered through my mind.
Could it be… that he was upset because of guilt or worry over me being separated from him?
Since this thought had never crossed my mind before, my reasoning halted the moment it passed through.
“Are you crying because you feel sorry toward me?”
“…Yes.”
Seeing him respond with a dejected expression, as if he no longer had the strength to hide it, left me speechless.
Of course, he’d made a mistake. He’d promised to take responsibility for me, only to drop me straight to the bottom at the very start—that deserved an apology.
But was it a mistake grave enough to warrant such sorrowful tears? I began to weigh the severity of his transgression.
I’d been startled at the time, certainly, but Jung Hwan-jae would have rushed to save me no matter what.
It only felt like an eternity because I was in a panic; in reality, only a few minutes could have passed.
“No, but look at me. I really wasn’t hurt at all.”
Besides, because he’d equipped me with more gear than necessary, not even a scratch remained on my body when Siren’s claws had raked across me.
My stats played a part, certainly, but the fact that I came through unscathed was also because he’d so carefully prepared my equipment.
He’d made a mistake, yes, but there was no reason for him to punish himself so severely.
“I understand, but I promised so confidently that nothing would happen, and yet I couldn’t do anything….”
“Stop. No more self-reproach. Stop.”
I pressed firmly against his cheek and lifted his face to meet my eyes. The distance between us had narrowed considerably.
When I was young, if I made eye contact with someone at such close range while trying to comfort them, they would often stop crying, even if they were momentarily flustered.
And it proved no different with a grown man.
He blinked, startled by the sudden proximity, then swallowed hard with a soft gulp.
“Yes… stop.”
“You didn’t expect this situation, did you?”
“No, but…”
“If you had known, you wouldn’t have done it, right?”
“I wouldn’t have, but…”
“I’m fine, aren’t I?”
“You’re fine, but…”
I cut him off with rapid-fire affirmations before he could launch into another “but wait” routine, then narrowed my eyes.
Jung Hwan-jae slowly closed and opened his eyes at a distance where our breath nearly touched, and his tears finally ceased completely.
I hadn’t expected someone in such a situation to break down crying, so I was taken aback. And, if I was being honest with myself, I found it rather endearing.
That was an observation I would never voice aloud.
“You don’t know why this situation happened, do you?”
“I normally enter Dungeons alone, and besides, those creatures have never attacked me before, so I was careless and didn’t realize…”
“It’s fine. You can reflect on it later. Thanks to this, I think I’ve learned a bit more about how to use my skills anyway.”
Only now did what happened in the Deep Sea feel suddenly real. I had done it.
And even activated some stat that hadn’t been measured before.
I could tell that I had brought about a remarkable change within the Dungeon.
With Jung Hwan-jae calming down in my arms without any thought of resistance, I quietly opened my stat window.
Vocal Performance F+
That hadn’t changed. Well, since I’d been using my voice as a weapon rather than actually singing, it was impossible for my Vocal Performance stat to improve.
But the change was below that.
Creative Technique D+
My mouth fell open involuntarily at the sudden leap from F to this level.
And the stat below that.
??? Currently being measured. Estimated stat: B-

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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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