The Tone-Deaf Healer Kills with a Song - Chapter 36

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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 036
The moment our hands clasped, he lowered his head, his lips brushing against my ear as he spoke.
Jung Hwan-jae pulled me backward reflexively, leaving my posture awkwardly contorted, but he continued speaking as though such details were beneath notice. His voice dropped to barely a whisper.
“Once we’re inside, don’t drink the white wine.”
“White wine?”
Hwa-jon gave a light nod, as if to say he could offer no further explanation.
Yet his expression alone revealed nothing. I glanced sideways at Jung Hwan-jae, searching for clues.
He gazed down at me with an unreadable expression—whether he was masking his true feelings in front of Hwa-jon, I couldn’t tell.
Hwa-jon’s gaze suddenly shifted to my hand.
“What a magnificent ring. If I were you, I don’t think I’d ever consider removing it.”
“Pardon?”
“I’ll head in first. Many are waiting to greet Yeom, so please remain vigilant.”
Not a hurried invitation, but a warning to stay alert. Danger lurked beneath his words.
With impeccable grace, he cupped his fist in salute before me—a gesture I’d often seen in martial arts novels.
I awkwardly mirrored the gesture, and Hwa-jon offered a faint smile before disappearing inside.
An unsettling unease settled in my chest. It felt like he’d offered me counsel, yet I couldn’t grasp its true meaning.
Jung Hwan-jae, who had been staring ahead, suddenly spoke.
“Yea, listen carefully to what I’m about to say. Hunters are fundamentally prohibited from harming outsiders.”
“Yes.”
“However, minor tampering with beverages is quietly overlooked. For instance, slipping in truth serums, or poisons in non-lethal doses—such things.”
Perhaps because hunters were inherently far more resilient than ordinary people and possessed resistance to various attacks, such absurd practices apparently occurred in the shadows.
Even at my expression of shock, he only briefly showed embarrassment.
‘This is no joke.’
It wasn’t in his nature, but I had to consider the possibility.
If this were truly something practiced only among the ‘rankers,’ Liri would have messaged me that it wasn’t a common occurrence.
Yet even Liri remained silent, offering no additional commentary on the current situation.
“First, please put this on.”
“What is this?”
“An in-ear microphone that automatically translates speech between languages, allowing for seamless conversation.”
“Oh….”
I’d been worried about having to use my phone’s translation app or resort to body language, but this place had clearly prepared for everything.
With Jung Hwan-jae’s assistance, I put on the in-ear microphone.
It felt different from the sacred object Liri had given me.
“There’s no liability if this gets wet or damaged, so you needn’t worry about it.”
“Is there a chance it could break?”
“Quite often, actually. Everyone here is a hunter, after all. We do pay special attention to durability, but the sturdier something is, the more people seem compelled to destroy it.”
“Are you that type too, senior?”
“No, I dislike unnecessary displays of strength.”
Rankers who enjoyed unnecessary displays of strength.
My imagination spiraled out of control, conjuring visions of this entire place crumbling under the weight of hunters’ conflicts.
I had carelessly assumed this place was merely where Star Hunters gathered to share drinks and information, but only then did the true danger of this location become starkly apparent.
“Please don’t worry too much. Not everyone here is hostile toward one another.”
“But if one Kim Kyung-hoon is mixed among ninety-nine Jung Hwan-jaes, I have no choice but to remain vigilant….”
“Would you trust a hundred Jung Hwan-jaes?”
“Of course.”
I responded casually and moved forward.
I noticed his footsteps following mine were a beat or two slower in timing, but I deliberately refrained from checking his expression.
My face burned because I realized I had just been far too obviously pretending to be close to him.
As we walked a short distance down the corridor and entered deeper, a spacious living room came into view. The Hunters who had been watching us through the window were gathered there.
‘There are far more than I expected.’
Hwa-jon, who had been by the window, gave me a subtle nod of acknowledgment.
The people who had been chatting quietly paused to glance at us, then resumed their own conversations.
My worry that our sudden arrival might create an awkward situation proved entirely unfounded.
After all, the appearance of a new Hunter probably wasn’t such a significant matter to these people.
Then, cutting through the murmur of voices, a remark clearly aimed at us—or more precisely, at Jung Hwan-jae—flew through the air.
“I thought you wouldn’t come this time since you’re ranked first.”
“That’s not the case.”
A foreign woman speaking fluent Korean approached us.
Looking more closely, I noticed she wore specialized translation equipment in her mouth.
Given how diverse the nationalities of those gathered here were, it was only natural. That’s why the meeting place itself had been constructed in the middle of the Pacific Ocean, suspended in the air to prevent any discord.
Above the Bermuda Triangle.
“Is this the healer Yeom?”
“Hello.”
“Hello, Yeom. I’m Rosalind Brown.”
The woman who introduced herself as Rosalind suddenly extended her hand toward me.
The highest-ranked healer among all currently active Hunters.
Because of the various warnings I had just heard, I felt unnecessarily nervous, and cold sweat pooled in my palms.
I hastily composed myself and grasped her hand, and Rosalind shook my arm vigorously as if it might fall off, then broke into a bright smile.
She didn’t seem to mind at all that my arm was tingling. Naturally.
“You figured out who I am just from my name? Jung Hwan, did you talk about me?”
“Never. Besides, even if you weren’t a healer, you could still know who Rosalind Brown is. It’s not like you’ve only appeared on TV a day or two.”
Rosalind, whose light brown hair was tied up carelessly, shrugged her shoulders.
A healer who had left an indelible wound on Sung Ji-wook, and who displayed a somewhat violent tendency by healing only her own allies after attacking.
Thanks to having already experienced Kim Kyung-hoon, I didn’t find it strange even to call her a violent healer.
If she harbored hostility toward me, she seemed like the type who would attack openly, which was somehow reassuring.
‘Though I shouldn’t be reassured by something like this.’
“Roza, don’t play unnecessary pranks.”
“I haven’t done anything yet.”
At that moment, something peeked out from between Rosalind’s tied-up hair.
…Was that a bird figurine?
Judging by the stitching marks scattered across it, that’s definitely a brand-new doll.
But the tiny bird doll, no more than three finger joints in size, emerged from between Rosalind Brown’s hair strands and toddled across her scalp before settling atop her head.
My mind instinctively recognized that this was Rosalind Brown’s handler, but my heart refused to accept the reality.
“I shouldn’t have put the truth potion in the white wine earlier.”
“Ah, come on!”
‘So that’s what the white wine was.’
I’d heard of the truth potion before—created by Kim Myung-joo, it’s the cornerstone elixir that elevated the Yamyeong Workshop to its current prominence.
Supposedly, if you consume enough of it, you’re compelled to speak only the truth.
I’d heard it was too expensive for ordinary hunters to purchase, reserved only for criminal investigations, yet here it was being squandered just to trick me.
Rather than anger, I felt something closer to awe. Besides, I don’t harbor any secrets damaging enough to warrant concern.
“Rosalind Brown.”
“I’m sorry, I’m sorry. I was just curious because Hanttae never accepted anyone no matter how hard they tried, and then suddenly a healer appeared. I really am sorry. But I didn’t expect Pene to actually buy it and stop me.”
“So Pene is your handler.”
Rosalind Brown nodded, her expression as dejected as children caught red-handed planning mischief.
I glanced away. Now that I looked, there was only a single glass of white wine among the numerous bottles.
The hunters had fallen silent, and only Hwa-jon, who’d been leaning against the window, offered me a faint smile.
‘They all knew what was in the white wine.’
Jung Hwan-jae was sighing as well.
Being someone who understood the importance of not displaying emotions carelessly in such situations, he didn’t openly show displeasure, but the tightening grip of the hand holding mine spoke volumes about his mood.
“So you all knew but stayed quiet out of curiosity?”

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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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