The Tone-Deaf Healer Kills with a Song - Chapter 22

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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 022
It took Jung Hwan-jae quite some time to calm down. If his usual reaction speed was measured in seconds, this time it took ten minutes—a clear sign that he’d lost his composure considerably.
Beyond the embarrassment of letting me see his tears, it took days for him to suppress the shame of realizing I’d been clinging to him as if he were some kind of life support system.
Since being around him would only remind me of it, I’d brought along a cup of coffee.
“Where have you been? I thought you’d been kidnapped again.”
“This is outside the Dungeon. Who exactly would kidnap me out here?”
“Let’s go somewhere safe first.”
He looked so anxious that I tried to take him to my Dormitory room nearby, but Jung Hwan-jae immediately opened a spatial portal and brought me to his own room instead.
Using mana so freely outside the Dungeon would be impossible unless you were someone like Kim Myung-joo from the production department.
I knew that lecturing him would be pointless when his eyes were so focused on protecting Yeom Ye-ah, so I quietly allowed myself to be transported.
The coffee sloshed in the carrier I was holding.
“Have you calmed down now? If you have, would you mind telling me what happened? And is Americano alright with you?”
“Ah, yes. That….”
“Yes, that’s fine.”
It was fine that he’d let me go. He must have been just as flustered.
If he’d suddenly thrown me into a life-or-death situation and said, “Now, survive like a true Hanttae Hunter,” there would’ve been no problem. But that wasn’t what happened. The moment trouble arose, he came rushing desperately to save me.
Perhaps even more desperately than I would have for myself.
He burned his lips on the hot Americano once before seeming to regain his senses and finally spoke.
“That place is a Dungeon where more dangerous monsters appear the deeper you go into the Deep Sea. So while you were practicing your skills outside the safe Water Surface, I was trying to deal with the remaining creatures in the water.”
“And then I got dragged down below.”
“Yes, it’s unusual for Siren to come up to that Water Surface level, but it seems… she was drawn by something of the same nature.”
It’s a theory famous in academic circles.
Just as fire-attribute monsters tend to be drawn to Hunters who primarily use flames, there’s a strong tendency for those using the same methods to clash with one another.
‘But Siren used song while I used my screaming technique, yet she considered us the same type.’
I wasn’t thrilled about being chosen by a monster, but I was somewhat grateful that she’d acknowledged me through song. My feelings were complicated.
Though I’d screamed loud enough to nearly lose my voice, I’d managed to deal with the creatures rushing at me with that single strike.
I needed to stop belittling myself. At this level, I had a powerful attack that surpassed most C-rank Hunters.
“So my skill’s wave was powerful enough to be felt even from that depth below?”
“Yes, actually when I went to rescue Yeom Ye-ah, most of the situation was already resolved, so I only needed to fulfill the clear condition.”
“The clear condition?”
“Killing the thing sleeping at the very bottom of the Deep Sea—more precisely, buried underground. That’s all it takes.”
The image of the ground splitting open from a single scythe strike flashed through my mind. I’d thought he’d miscalculated his strength, but that wasn’t it.
Because he didn’t want to spend even a moment longer in this Dungeon, because he needed to get me out quickly, he’d struck once and killed whatever lay beneath before it even had a chance to emerge.
Unleashing that much power would normally require more than just brute strength, yet he’d struck with such precision, avoiding me even though I stood directly in front of him blocking his view—it was extraordinary.
“Guild Master, you’re really strong.”
“Pardon?”
“How do you manage to control your abilities with such finesse?”
I’d sung with the desperation of someone screaming “I’m going to die!”
I didn’t know exactly how much damage I’d actually inflicted, but if Jung Hwan-jae had arrived at that moment while I was using that skill, he might have been caught in the attack too.
With that level of power, it would’ve been impossible to expect that not a single hair on Jung Hwan-jae would be harmed, and naturally, I would’ve been the one gripping his shoulder and crying from the guilt.
“It’s cooperation, cooperation.”
Jung Hwan-jae’s shadow spoke to me.
My description just now wasn’t a joke or exaggeration. A shadow stretched long across the ground had genuinely spoken to me.
And it wasn’t even in his voice.
Without thinking, I opened my mouth wide and let out a sharp shriek. Even the usually composed Jung Hwan-jae widened his eyes in surprise for a moment.
“I-I’m so sorry. You startled me.”
“Good lungs on you. Well, it’s surprising enough.”
Jung Hwan-jae’s shadow slowly rose to its feet. I’ve experienced all sorts of absurd things categorized by type, but never anything like this.
Standing there in a daze, I watched the shadow before me perform a respectful bow.
It chuckled as it exaggeratedly removed a hat that didn’t exist.
“Pleased to meet you, Yeom Ye-ah. I’m the true Guild Master of Hanttae Guild.”
“Lucy.”
“…I’m Lucy, Jung Hwan-jae’s assigned handler.”
When the joking stopped, the one called Lucy let out a sigh.
Then everything made sense.
Lucy was his assigned handler manifesting in shadow form, and the source of that immensity I felt passing through the black void was likely this entity.
When I bowed respectfully at the waist, Lucy showed a moment of admiration.
“A hunter with manners. It’s difficult to converse like this, so let me take on a more comfortable form.”
Lucy kicked off the ground, spun once in midair, and gradually shrank in size.
Since this was my first time witnessing a handler’s direct manifestation with my own eyes, I found myself mesmerized by the sight.
Lucy, now small enough to fit in the palm of a hand and dressed in the garb of a reaper, smiled brightly. The appearance was identical to Jung Hwan-jae’s.
“The shadow form makes mana manipulation convenient, but since the other person can’t read my expressions, I find that troublesome.”
“Um, Lucy? Then how long have you been watching over him?”
“How long, you ask… Handlers typically watch over their charges twenty-four hours a day, seven days a week, three hundred sixty-five days a year.”
Lucy flew through the air and stopped before my eyes. When he was at a distance or in shadow form, I hadn’t noticed, but red circles were floating around him.
It wasn’t difficult to deduce that this color was identical to the hue Jung Hwan-jae’s power took on.
“Part of the mana Jung Hwan-jae uses is under my control. Some handlers can do this and some can’t, so don’t ask ‘Oh, so you can do that!’ without thinking.”
“So you’re saying you mix Lucy’s mana with the Guild Master’s mana to use it?”
When I shifted my gaze slightly as if asking if my understanding was correct, Jung Hwan-jae nodded. Lucy, who had suddenly appeared, seemed somewhat awkward but resigned to it.
“What shows on the stats is the total amount of mana—in other words, the vessel that can hold mana. And this Guild Master’s vessel is truly… absurdly vast.”
“Absurdly?”
“Like a bottomless jar?”
Lucy found that comparison so amusing that he burst into uncontrollable laughter.
Having an endlessly vast mana vessel wasn’t something extraordinary, was it?
But Jung Hwan-jae, standing behind Lucy, was watching me with an expression as if a nerve had been struck.
There seemed to be something hidden, but honestly, I didn’t want to know. Digging into what others were trying to conceal wasn’t my style.
“Then if my handler is incapable of cooperating with me, would I be unable to possess this level of control ability?”
“In Hwan-jae’s case, many conditions aligned favorably, making it possible. Even with a handler providing support like this and achieving synchronization, this level is difficult.”
Fair enough.
I wasn’t aiming for this level anyway. Handlers are assigned based on a hunter’s fundamental capabilities, after all.
This cute staff member speaking so kindly to me right now must be equally terrifying, given that they’re assigned to handle the Rank 1 hunter.

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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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