The Tone-Deaf Healer Kills with a Song - Chapter 78

—————
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 078
“Are you sure you don’t need more healing? Since it was an attack I’m unfamiliar with, there’s a possibility it wasn’t treated properly…”
“No. You did wonderfully—my stats have actually risen slightly above my baseline.”
Dan Myeong-ah, unwilling to witness my stammering any further, answered firmly that everything was fine.
With her being so resolute, I couldn’t afford to be any more forceful.
“What about that man?”
“Whenever he regains consciousness, I knock him back out.”
One of the remnants of the staff killer—the man—had begun to stir after about twenty minutes, but the moment he did, Jung Hwan-jae’s touch sent him spiraling back into oblivion.
After repeating this cycle several times, the man’s body had become nothing but rags, despite never actually engaging in combat.
Yet I felt no sympathy for him, no urge to go easy on him.
He was a murderer who had killed countless hunters and staff members. Even if he paid for his crimes, the dead would not return.
“I can feel Leng-leng’s power within me. He was such a kind and strong person—willing to surrender all his divinity just to save me.”
“…If only I’d arrived a little sooner, I might have been able to save him. I’m sorry.”
“No, because you came, I survived, and Leng-leng didn’t disappear. So please don’t carry that guilt.”
Upon learning that she would never see Leng-leng again during her lifetime, Dan Myeong-ah did not despair.
She spoke instead with hope—that if she was lucky, she might live over a hundred years, and that data could change at any moment in ways no one could predict.
Dan Myeong-ah’s eyes were red from crying so much, yet she didn’t seem despairing in the slightest.
And if the person involved wasn’t despairing, it would be absurd for me to grieve on her behalf.
It was sadness she could endure, not sadness that would break her.
No matter how low the probability, if it wasn’t zero, it was worth waiting for—and the way she spoke with such resilience shone brighter than anyone I’d ever met.
“Were there only two of you who entered? I saw you briefly when you came to the Hunter Association, but for a rescue operation, that seems…”
“Oh, Dante, Mi-ju, and Joke also entered with us, but those three went to check if there might be any remaining members of the organization inside.”
“Who came in?”
Until that moment, his voice had been calm as he composed his emotions, but it suddenly rose in pitch.
It was certainly unusual for the 1st, 2nd, 3rd, 14th, and 29th-ranked hunters to enter a B-rank Dungeon simultaneously.
It was such a waste of manpower that “unusual” barely described it.
But I couldn’t mention that someone who once ranked in the top 100 had attempted to assassinate the current 1st-ranked hunter, or that we were tracking them.
Each guild and the Hunter Association cooperated based on their own interests, but they weren’t friends who shared all secrets.
And with Nike involved in this matter, I couldn’t afford to be careless with my words.
“When do you think they’ll return?”
“Probably not too late. No matter how vast this place is, Dante is with them.”
“Ah, yes.”
Dan Myeong-ah nodded gravely, as if she understood immediately.
Fresh from a battle that had danced between life and death, she was now completely focused on our conversation, analyzing the events that had unfolded.
Her insight and concentration were remarkable.
I found myself gazing at her, mesmerized, when she continued speaking rapidly.
“It’s true that many Hunter Association staff members were killed. We wondered about the reason ourselves, but it seems to be connected to a law the Association has been actively pushing recently.”
“A law?”
I was curious about this too.
Guilds and ordinary hunters fighting amongst themselves, spreading slander, even killing—that was typical. But this was different.
Among the professions that hunters pursued, if you asked which group had the lowest mortality rate, it would be Hunter Association staff members.
They had a lower death probability than those in crafting-related positions, and the likelihood of being murdered by others was virtually nonexistent.
“In truth, we’d need to harbor some genuine grudge before the guild would demand our mandatory attendance or cause us to clash with someone like a Guild Master.”
I had to do my best to ensure that part’s gaze didn’t fixate on Jung Hwan-jae.
He was nodding with a composed expression.
[Liri: As for the Hunter Association that exists in each country, Baldur does provide a certain level of cooperation.]
‘Cooperation?’
[Liri: They provide information, and if it’s verified that they’re truly acting with Awakeners in mind, Baldur offers divine protection.]
With this arrangement, it seemed Hunter Association staff members had virtually no reason to be killed unless they pursued their own selfish interests.
“When we speak of staff members, we’re usually referring to extremely valuable beings who support Awakeners. There’s no known information about the limits of their divinity.”
“That’s right.”
“Here’s the information we’ve gathered about staff members.”
Dan Myeong-ah snapped her fingers once, and several books flying through the air tore themselves apart, forming a massive page.
Then characters began inscribing themselves there like on a whiteboard.
She appeared exceptionally skilled at teaching or guiding others.
[Staff Members: Ancient Awakeners
Because they became data, we can receive and use information like their skills.
The skills of those who don’t wish to remain as complete data like staff members also exist in the Valkyrie Network, allowing us to use their abilities.
Those who remain as staff members can lend their divinity to those they’ve contracted with to provide support.
However, since this divinity isn’t infinite, staff members too will cease to exist once they’ve exhausted all this power.
But this divinity can be ‘corrupted’ in addition to being ‘consumed’.]
“The crucial part is this corruption.”
“Can divinity actually become corrupted? It’s data.”
“Nothing becomes corrupted as easily as data. Just look at how a seemingly omnipotent computer becomes a useless hunk of metal the moment a virus invades it.”
His explanation went like this.
When a contractor uses a staff member’s divinity excessively, or when the divinity is used in directions contrary to Baldur’s primary purpose—such as attacking fellow Awakeners or accelerating dungeons—the divinity becomes corrupted.
A certain degree of corruption can be purified on its own, but when corruption becomes uncontrollable, the staff member loses their own function and becomes merely a ‘tool’ for the contractor.
“This man before us likely reached that point where the staff member could no longer stop the situation.”
For the first time, contempt flashed across Dan Myeong-ah’s previously composed face.
That contempt was an expression of disdain toward someone who had used a precious staff member so carelessly, and a manifestation of the suffering she herself had endured.
“What happens then…? Do they cease to exist…?”
“In that situation, if they exhaust all their divinity and get lucky, there are cases where they cease to exist, but usually that’s not what happens. They fuse completely with the contractor instead.”
Just as I was about to request further explanation at the word ‘fusion’, an elegant black car appeared before us.
The car door opened, and Sung Mi-ju descended, grumbling.
Whatever fierce battle she’d fought, her entire body was a mess, and her cheek even bore small scratches.
“I swept through the entire area and caught all those guys who were kidnapping people. They cowardly attacked all at once.”
“So we rushed them all at once and took care of them.”
Due to Dante’s car’s unique property of being able to freely expand its interior, both the kidnappers and the kidnapped were said to be riding inside.
Sung Ji-wook paused for a moment, then looked at Dan Myeong-ah.
“Those people didn’t think to leave mana like you did, so most of them lost their staff members.”
And he added a subtle remark.
“There are those who have lost their own lives.”

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