The Tone-Deaf Healer Kills with a Song - Chapter 70

—————
This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
—————

Tone-Deaf Healer Kills with Song – Episode 070
There had been far too much happening.
After soaking in warm water up to my chest and drying my hair, my body grew heavy with drowsiness.
‘Romantic interest? I’ve never heard stories about him being particularly oblivious in everyday situations or making verbal blunders.’
‘No, romantic interest is different. People who’ve spent their whole lives reading the room tend to be duller about those things. But what I came to teach you today isn’t about romance—it’s about skills.’
‘Pardon?’
‘Shall we call it a day? If we schedule another session, I’ll pass the message through the Guild Master.’
Kim Hwa-hyun decided not to say more, feeling it would be overstepping to continue.
But no matter what, my heart stirred after she spoke those words.
Romantic interest? Romantic interest?
The two words “romance” filled my head, making coherent thought impossible. Did that mean Jung Hwan-jae was considering me as a romantic prospect? No matter how I looked at it, I’d never sensed any such current.
Even if I was oblivious about such things, I truly hadn’t felt anything.
I could have asked myself silently, but instead I deliberately called out to Liri.
“…Does Liri feel that way too?”
[Liri: No.]
Liri must have been waiting for my question—her response came in less than a second.
Or perhaps she had been composing a lengthy message to convince me it wasn’t romantic interest at all. The answer came so decisively that I felt embarrassed, as if I’d just been rejected after a confession.
“So it’s not, after all?”
[Liri: Honestly, I don’t like how he casually throws around words about liking Ye-ah. If someone who says such things so carelessly really wanted to date, they would have asked to date.]
[Liri: Of course, even if I say this, I won’t stop you if you like him. I’d even help you with your romance endeavors if anything…]
[Liri: But Ye-ah, you can’t have unrequited love! Don’t like that man romantically until it becomes obvious from his entire being that he genuinely has romantic feelings for you!]
[Liri: Romantically!]
I imagined the snowman passionately making her case and nodded obediently.
Jung Hwan-jae didn’t seem like the type to toy with people’s hearts, picking them up and putting them down on a whim, and while I didn’t immediately have romantic feelings for him either.
Still, if my handler was worried like that, I should be cautious.
“Don’t worry. I won’t start liking the Guild Master as a man until he confesses to me first!”
Honestly, the probability that I’m beating the drum and playing the gong all by myself when the person in question isn’t even thinking about giving me rice cakes is quite high.
The night had grown late. I needed to sleep soon rather than sink deeper into thought. Besides, it was true that I didn’t have the luxury of time.
‘How can I think about romance when the staff members are dying…’
[Liri: Sleep well, Ye-ah.]
The safety of that presence watching over me was worth several times more to me.
I slowly closed my eyes. Sleep soon enveloped me.
Hanttae Guild Building, the Guild Master’s office.
Hunter Dante, “Do not schedule any official itinerary for arrival in Korea and head to Hanttae immediately. There is something we need to discuss.”
I lifted my head from gazing at the article decorating the portal site’s main page.
For days, the internet had been split evenly between talk of Dante entering Korea and talk of me.
Questions about who Yeom Ye-ah was, why she’d only appeared now, rumors that all the supernatural phenomena that had occurred so far were caused by my singing—all sorts of gossip had spread.
Come to think of it, I’d heard wild rumors about Jung Hwan when I worked at the Convenience Store. That Jung Hwan was actually the incarnation of the King of Hell who suddenly manifested on this land to collect the souls of dead Hunters…
This must be something every Ranker has to endure.
“Ye-ah, may I speak?”
“Ah, yes.”
For the past few days, I’d been honing my skills with Kim Hwa-hyun and had barely crossed paths with Jung Hwan-jae.
Ever since hearing that comment about romantic chemistry, I’d unconsciously felt embarrassed and responded late to his messages.
He waited patiently, and before a week had even passed, he reached out to me first.
It was an unavoidable reason: ‘I need to discuss the matter of the Staff Member’s death before Dante arrives.’
I glanced at the Ranked Hunter Chat Room, which I’d been desperately avoiding. It was overflowing with things more pressing than articles.
Since over 300 messages accumulated even after just a day of not checking, I couldn’t review them one by one and simply scrolled through.
But even I couldn’t ignore certain conversations.
Dante(3)
I’ll be heading to Korea next week
Joke(14)
Hanttae is busy
Sung Mi-ju(29)
Yeah that’s right
Like he just suddenly shows up and we’re supposed to be all “Welcome! ** We’ve been waiting! Oh ** Really ** We’ll treat you properly! **” like that’s not what this place is about, seriously ****
Joke(14)
Watch your language
Profanity filter is enabled. To disable it, please adjust the settings in detailed options.
Dante(3)
I’ve already made separate arrangements 🙂
Jung Hwan(1)
I’ve heard
about it.
I’ll prepare.
Staff Member assassination.
The omnipotent divinity wielded by Staff Members—they were renowned for pouring suspiciously tender and unwavering affection upon their contractors.
Not a single one was an exception.
Their styles of expressing affection and individual personalities naturally differed, but all Hunters spoke in unison about one thing.
Staff Members treated themselves as nothing more than a means to aid their contractors. Their love was described as so selfless it was beyond measure.
“Staff Members are somewhat different from life forms with tangible existence. If I had to compare them, they’re closer to spirits?”
“The word ‘spirit’ is a bit clichéd. How about something like the elementals from fantasy?”
Lucy interjected.
He was sprawled on the sofa with his legs up, in a thoroughly comfortable posture.
Lucy wasn’t in shadow form but appeared as a man in a crisp black suit.
His lustrous black hair and doll-like crimson eyes gleamed under the light, with fangs protruding slightly between his lips that sparkled in the illumination.
A coat draped over his shoulders in the style of a traditional robe.
“Elementals….”
“We’re made of divinity. We don’t have tangible form originally. We’re just data.”
“But you can touch us?”
Unable to hold back, I spoke up, and Lucy chuckled, shrugging his shoulders.
“This is because you all like this form, so we created the doll to match our true appearance as closely as possible. Some prefer what we call an avatar form, but.”
“Is your current form similar to Lucy’s true appearance?”
“Well, more or less. Though it falls far short.”
He spoke to me casually, dropping the formal speech, but I didn’t mind it at all. As I nodded with a smile, Lucy extended a hand toward Jung Hwan-jae.
The man, whose expression had seemed displeased about something, eventually handed the tablet PC over to Lucy.
The screen displayed four characters: “Staff Member Slaying.”
Lucy circled the word “Staff” and continued speaking.
“We were once Awakeners with physical forms too, quite powerful ones. Of course, not the real deal. When we died, we bequeathed all our skills and power to the Valkyrie Network. We call this sanctification. We are fragments of the network reconstructed based on that data.”
“Ah… so that’s what you mean by having no concept of death? Because you’re already dead.”
“Exactly. At most, it’s just data loss, and honestly, the network doesn’t take much damage from one staff member disappearing. It’s the contractors who take the hit.”
His words implied two things.
First, the staff members themselves and Baldur don’t attach much significance to the loss of any individual staff member.
Second, staff member slaying is aimed at the contractors.
“Then that place that systematically slays staff members…”
As if he’d been waiting for an opening to interject, Jung Hwan-jae suddenly leaned forward.
“It’s not something exposed on the surface. It’s an Anonymous Guild that information brokers and underground circles know about. It’s a place that takes money and handles such work.”
“Yes, yes.”
Setting aside how he knew this, I was pondering what we should do when Lucy pressed the tablet against my face.
“At first, I opposed it. I said it was fine if a staff member disappeared, to just not harm the contractors.”
Until then, the silent window before my eyes opened.
[Liri: But we cannot allow them to touch a living Awakener, a contractor we wish to protect.]
A window materialized before my eyes.
The Valkyrie Network has recognized the loss of an Awakener.
An emergency mission has been generated.
A mission? Before I could even question it, the next window appeared.
Subjugate the staff member slayer.

—————
This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
—————