The Tone-Deaf Healer Kills with a Song - Chapter 88

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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 088
“It was really wonderful, though….”
“Why do you keep acting like someone who just got back from a weekend trip?”
Kim Hwa-hyun swiveled her chair to face me, and I let out a sigh as our eyes met.
Honestly, there wasn’t much difference. I’d just spent a truly fantastic weekend before returning to this hollow reality. I held back the urge to scream and bury my face in my hands.
“It’s nothing. Dreams always fade eventually, after all.”
“The Guild Master’s been strange today too, along with everyone else.”
“What about you, senior?”
“I went out wondering if I should consider other options besides capturing Hwa-jon alive if I couldn’t bring him back.”
[Liri: If you’re not capturing him alive, what are you planning to do…?]
My thoughts exactly.
I’d assumed Jung Hwan-jae was as lost in a vacation disguised as a date as I was, but I agreed that he was mentally checked out in a different way.
People seemed to view us as great heroes who’d cleared a dungeon and returned despite that chaotic situation.
The truth was we’d simply gone in to enjoy a vacation. Only Sung Mi-ju and Sung Ji-wook, who knew what was really inside, looked at us with expressions that said, ‘We know the truth.’
“Ah, Yeom Ye-ah. You’ve talked with Dante before, right? He was looking for you.”
“….”
“Are you two not on good terms?”
As my expression darkened instantly, Kim Hwa-hyun looked a bit flustered.
As for whether we were on bad terms—there wasn’t much reason for that, except he’d suddenly exposed my name to the world, I’d told him no but he kept pushing me to join Nike, and he’d gone out of his way to visit despite already having so much on his plate….
We seemed to be on bad terms.
I nodded silently, and Kim Hwa-hyun’s eyes showed understanding.
“I saw Rosalind fighting in the ranking matches. Come to think of it, the siblings both have something a bit odd about them.”
“Rosalind is fine.”
“Oh, really?”
The moment I flatly defended Rosalind, Kim Hwa-hyun’s expression turned puzzled again.
Sensing that digging deeper wouldn’t be wise, she didn’t ask further about the relationship.
If Dante was looking for me, it was probably just to complain to the two rank-one hunters who’d abandoned him and suddenly entered the dungeon.
If he’d really been desperate, he would’ve been waiting in front of the dungeon.
Some dungeons like the Library of the Tomb allow continuous entry even after someone’s already gone in to clear it, while others like the Semi Utopia that Jung Hwan-jae and I entered become inaccessible once the pre-booked party enters.
The Library of the Tomb is a truly rare case; the latter is the norm.
“Is there any other news? From the Hunter Association, perhaps?”
“The Hunter Association? Ah! I wouldn’t know.”
“Yes!”
She didn’t know.
Well, Kim Hwa-hyun had been stuck in the dungeon for me today and had only just stepped out.
She couldn’t help but be unfamiliar with information within the Guild, so perhaps I’d asked too much.
Not seeming particularly interested in Dante himself, she stood from her chair shortly after.
“I thought you wanted to know more about Hunter Dante.”
“Me? No. Honestly, after seeing Dante bicker with the Guild Master so many times while I was at Hanttae, I find it annoying instead.”
Ah, so this is Hanttae.
Since everything was new to me, I assumed everyone, including myself, found Dante fascinating.
But to the people here, Dante seemed to be nothing more than a high-ranker who frequently bickered with the Guild Master.
“Shall we return to the main topic now? You’re troubled because your Vocal Prowess won’t increase?”
“Yes, I’ve reached S in some special stats, but no matter how hard I try, Vocal Prowess won’t go above B+.”
Even if I had originally been a hunter of such a terrible level, worse than an ordinary person, my other stats had improved this much, yet only the Vocal Prowess stat remained stubbornly immobile, which troubled me.
Looking at my status window, it didn’t seem like there was any additional debuff applied to me, which only deepened my worry.
What if there was a debuff that didn’t show on the status window and I had been afflicted with it?
If I were cursed with something even more severe than a labyrinth with no solution, leaving me completely helpless—
“I think it’s because you were originally just terrible at singing, Yeom Ye-ah.”
“I see.”
“Yes, since your baseline was so low, the speed at which you can raise it through awakening or debuff removal is inevitably slow.”
If my status window displayed F-, the system had probably assigned the lowest possible rating, and I fell into the lower tier even among those.
So my growth after awakening and debuff removal, combined with the potions and herbs I’d consumed indiscriminately, had managed to raise it to B+ through sheer effort.
I had simply been terrible at singing, yet I was looking for reasons elsewhere.
I felt both embarrassed and oddly relieved.
“You’re making a face like you just swallowed an antacid.”
“I was worried I might have been cursed with another debuff! It’s actually a relief that it’s just a complete lack of talent!”
“That’s admirable positivity!”
Kim Hwa-hyun raised her thumb in a gesture of understanding without comprehension.
Honestly, my insides were rotting, but showing my true feelings in front of her would have been foolish.
Even with B+, it wasn’t impossible for me to engage in combat or clear dungeons.
“Still, the path is difficult but not impossible. You’d just need to put in about thirty-seven times the effort others do.”
“That’s oddly specific.”
“I can see the numbers.”
The thirty-seven times wasn’t just a random figure—it meant that if I truly exerted that much effort, my stat could rise to A.
While others practiced for one hour, I would need to work for thirty-seven hours, but it wasn’t impossible, and that brought me comfort.
I jumped up from my seat.
“Tell me to do anything!”
Ambition (S—) grants a buff to stat improvement.
The growth speed of the stat ‘Vocal Prowess’ increases by 150%. (Duration: 37:00:00)
I saw a number that seemed subtly and specifically tailored to my circumstances.
I looked up at the sky suspiciously, but the one who would have rushed out first before anyone else to cheer me on remained steadfastly silent.
I was definitely caught.
I didn’t know where or how he had pulled strings, but I quietly murmured to myself.
‘Thank you, Liri. I’ll do my best.’
Only then did a message window appear, as if in response.
[Liri: I am always with you.]
[Liri: Until the very end.]

* * *
“The Guild Master is truly a peculiar fellow.”
“Are you gossiping?”
“No, I’m saying it right in front of him, so it’s more like direct criticism. I don’t say things behind people’s backs that I wouldn’t say to their face.”
Sung Ji-wook regarded Jung Hwan-jae with an expressionless gaze. While he adopted a more formal tone in front of Yeom Ye-ah to maintain the atmosphere, the truth was they were close companions.
Not long ago, Jung Hwan-jae had asked about the conquest method for Semi Utopia in unnecessarily specific detail, which made me wonder why—only to learn he’d gone there alone with Yeom Ye-ah.
Contrary to asking such questions, it seemed he’d simply been swayed by whatever Yeom Ye-ah wanted and returned, but.
‘Since he seems satisfied with it, I suppose that’s fine.’
It was clear something had transpired between the two of them—Yeom Ye-ah had left abruptly saying she’d improve her singing, and Jung Hwan-jae had gone back to the mountain where Hwa-jon dwelled to cast him, only recently returning.
Whatever conversation had taken place during that time, Hwa-jon had returned with an expression of considerable distress and was currently in discussion with the Vice Guild Master.
“Honestly, I understand what Hwa-jon is—borrowing your sister’s words, someone with ‘hidden strength’—but I’m wondering if we really needed to bring him in.”
The more veiled something is, the greater the expectations become.
But for Sung Ji-wook, great expectations meant great risk as well.
Being a healer himself, I could sense it more acutely. He was far from weak.
Yet the absence of real combat experience cuts deeper than expected. His surrender in the ranking tournament and his last dungeon clear, as far as I know, were quite some time ago.
To Sung Ji-wook, Hanttae and Sung Mi-ju were everything.
He would prevent any harm or dishonor coming to them, no matter what.
He had little desire to bear the risk that someone like Hwa-jon represented.
“Do you think he’s weak?”
“He’s not weak. There’s even talk that his handler is the greatest in the land.”
“Then why?”
“I’m just wondering if that person truly has the ability to teach Yeom Ye-ah. He might actually be the one who needs teaching instead.”
Sung Ji-wook prioritized safety.
He was the only one to cast a dissenting vote when Yeom Ye-ah’s recruitment was first proposed.

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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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