The Tone-Deaf Healer Kills with a Song - Chapter 42

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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 042
I considered slipping out quietly without waking him, but feared he might stir and search for me, so I settled onto the adjacent sofa instead. I was so careful not to disturb him at even the slightest rustling sound.
Someone who could fall asleep to my singing seemed unlikely to wake from mere rustling, yet I couldn’t help myself. His face always bore the exhaustion of someone perpetually drained.
There was no one who would contact me by phone, nor anyone I particularly needed to find, so spending time here posed no real problem.
I did need to prepare for the ranking tournament, but that wasn’t something I could win through sheer willpower alone. Entering a Dungeon solo had effectively been forbidden.
After Kim Kyung-hoon’s incident, the Guild had restricted my independent actions.
“Of course, we’re not attempting to infringe on your privacy. However, along with enhanced security measures, please ensure you report any Dungeon access to us before proceeding.”
“…So reporting Dungeon access means permission will be granted, correct?”
“Only if you have a companion.”
The Guild members readily volunteered to accompany me, but thus far, Jung Hwan-jae was the only one who could endure my complete song without faltering.
Though things were improving—most could manage the first verse now. Some even spoke positively, saying that compared to the healing output, fainting was a bargain.
Yet everyone present knew how catastrophic it was when someone suddenly collapsed from hearing my song in a Dungeon.
[Liri: Ye-ah, don’t worry so much. You’re definitely improving right now.]
“Liri, you do know how to resolve my debuff, don’t you?”
[Liri: Of course I know, but teaching you in your current state is difficult. The power required to transmit that information is far too great.]
It meant I still had a long way to go. If Liri had been someone like me, she could have already found a better contractor.
I’m not sure what benefit our progress brings to my handler.
But regardless of whether it benefits them, I understand well enough that I’m not helping them right now.
I’m rather simple-minded—when I make progress, I become excessively delighted, and when I hit a wall, I become excessively discouraged.
Wasn’t I just thrilled that Jung Hwan-jae fell asleep to my song?
“What if I enter the ranking tournament in this state and lose miserably? Honestly, I wouldn’t be able to face the Guild members.”
[Liri: They chose you as their healer, so tell them to endure it stubbornly and persevere.]
“…”
Liri seemed to have become somewhat violent. Or was that just my imagination?
I nodded ambiguously.
Right, they hired me as their staff member, so I’ll tell them to tough it out. My ranking wasn’t part of the employment contract anyway.
But my gaze inevitably drifted toward the person sleeping peacefully beside me.
His cardigan had slipped halfway down despite him barely moving at all.
I sat up and adjusted it properly over him, then stood beside him. Only then did I notice a form writhing and struggling to escape from the nape of his neck.
Wedged between the chair and Jung Hwan-jae’s body, the face of the struggling creature looked quite familiar. I lowered my voice and whispered without thinking.
“Lucy?”
“Ah, Ye-ah. Hello. I’m stuck here.”
“…Yes, it appears so.”
A grim reaper doll trapped between its contractor and a chair, completely immobilized.
Though it might be terribly rude to say so, it was quite a rare sight.
After struggling for a while, he reached his arm toward me for help. I carefully grasped his hand and extracted Lucy.
Throughout that covert operation, I was anxious about whether Jung Hwan-jae might wake.
“He’s not waking up…”
“He’s replenishing his mana right now, so he won’t wake until he reaches a certain threshold.”
“Replenishing mana?”
Is replenishing mana something people normally do while sleeping?
Even when I remain still, my mana fills up in an instant.
Before I registered as a Hunter, the only compliment Liri ever gave me was “Your mana efficiency is incredible!” so I know I hold a decent position compared to others.
Some skills consume considerable mana, and some people have smaller total reserves. But would someone of Jung Hwan-jae’s caliber not have secured that level of efficiency?
With Hanttae’s wealth, they could brute-force solutions with money if needed.
Unable to hide my bewilderment, Lucy shook his small head gently.
“Everyone has debuffs they cannot speak of. Oh, I just said debuff.”
“…That seems intentional.”
“Anyway.”
Lucy circled around the sleeping Jung Hwan-jae once before hovering back into my line of sight, fidgeting.
His expression carried that mischievous smile—as if asking, ‘You’re curious, aren’t you? You want to know, don’t you?’
But honestly, it’s not my business what debuff he carries. He accepted someone flawed like me without any conditions, after all.
It simply resolved a small mystery.
Ah, this person hired me because my debuff was actually helpful to him.
What I was actually curious about was something else.
“Then why are you manifesting here specifically? To watch over your contractor while he sleeps?”
“Pardon?”
“Actually, someone of Jung Hwan-jae’s level wouldn’t have a high chance of taking fatal damage even if attacked while sleeping, and something like me wouldn’t pose a threat either.”
“You called him Jung Hwan-jae? He’d be even happier if you actually called him that.”
[Liri: “Something like me”? That’s a self-deprecating term.]
I let Liri’s protest piercing through my vision pass without acknowledgment.
Lucy’s expression, which had been gazing at me with that languid look until now, grew slightly more serious. He stared at me with an enigmatic face before beginning to spin in circles through the air.
“Beings like me or your handler don’t attach to just anyone. We typically descend to those who either have the ability to handle our power, or those who require beings of our caliber to be properly cared for.”
‘I’m probably the latter.’
“Then in Jung Hwan-jae’s case, is it because he has the ability to handle that kind of power?”
“No, Jung Hwan-jae is precisely the type who requires someone of our caliber to be properly cared for. You’re the case where you have that ability.”
The unexpected evaluation made my mind halt for a moment. Wasn’t this the complete opposite of what I’d assumed?
I simply blinked silently, as if asking him to continue.
He seemed to understand the meaning in my gaze and continued matter-of-factly.
“Without me, Jung Hwan-jae struggles to maintain himself. That’s why I tend to his side whenever he sleeps, but things have gotten a bit easier since Yeom Ye-ah sang for him.”
“Well, I’m not sure what it is, but I helped somehow?”
“Yes, now I clearly understand why Jung Hwan-jae needs you. Seeing how much easier things have become for me, I think I might need you too.”
The important part of the conversation seemed to have ended, as Lucy’s tone began to turn playful again.
Looking closely, a shimmering red aura flowed continuously from his body, seeping into Jung Hwan-jae. How much inner strength must one possess to maintain oneself while expending power like that?
I blinked and smiled faintly. In any case, this handler doesn’t seem to be hostile toward me either.
“Lucy, I have a question.”
“Ask away. Oh, by the way, I have no romantic feelings for you.”
“No, that’s not it. Not at all. Absolutely not.”
“Yes, don’t suddenly get serious like that.”
Lucy began to pout and grumble to himself about how he was being treated this way and so on.
I brushed off his words lightly and opened my mouth. Turning my gaze, I looked down at his sleeping face. I had no desire to disturb his peaceful slumber.
I adjusted the cardigan draped over him and patted it gently several times. Lucy gazed at me with an enigmatic expression.
“Once I finish this ranking tournament, will I be able to become more helpful to him?”
Lucy took flight and perched upon Jung Hwan-jae’s shoulder. His small hand pressed firmly against the man’s cheek.
“Once you escape the Dungeon.”
Less than a week remained until the ranking tournament.
It was an obvious truth, yet precisely because of that, the words felt all the heavier. I nodded in acknowledgment.

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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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