The Tone-Deaf Healer Kills with a Song - Chapter 89
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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 089
“I don’t understand why you’re so opposed to just bringing in one healer. We’re already short on healers as it is.”
“I agree with you. Ji-wook, what exactly are you so worried about?”
With the Vice Guild Master on his left and Sung Mi-ju on his right, Sung Ji-wook was being thoroughly pressured.
He had awakened after turning fifty, participated in the Ragnarok subjugation, and then stepped back from active duty to take on the role of Vice Guild Master at Hanttae—a figure of considerable influence who even had connections with Nike’s former Guild Master.
Since he never revealed his real name, everyone called him either Vice Guild Master or Teacher. Even Jung Hwan-jae claimed not to know his true identity.
“I just don’t like it.”
“‘Just don’t like it’ isn’t an explanation. Speak plainly.”
His voice, tinged with a regional dialect, carried a disarming warmth that somehow melted one’s resistance. Listening to him speak had a way of softening even the hardest resolve.
Jung Hwan-jae had spent roughly a year casting about before finally securing this man—someone with an extraordinary talent for handling people—for the Vice Guild Master position.
Unable to contain herself any longer, Sung Mi-ju smacked the back of Sung Ji-wook’s head with an audible crack.
“Ow!”
“What difference would your opposition even make? What could you possibly change by objecting?”
She had a point.
If the Guild Master had already approved something, his objections wouldn’t change a thing.
After all, the decision to recruit someone or not rested solely with the Guild Master.
“But this healer person—they say her singing can knock out even A-rank hunters. What if she puts everyone to sleep?”
“Does the Guild Master look like an A-rank to you?”
“No, but you won’t be running dungeons alone with the Guild Master forever. There are plenty of A-rank and above hunters. Even if we bring in A-ranks and above, if she puts the other guild members to sleep, are you going to say, ‘That’s because you’re not A-rank’? Is that what you’re planning?”
Jung Hwan-jae generally respected Sung Ji-wook’s opinions.
Sung Ji-wook had awakened alongside his sister Sung Mi-ju on the day a dungeon erupted during her high school entrance ceremony.
He vividly remembered that day when, in an endless dungeon, only Sung Mi-ju had vanished from among all the first-year students in Class 2.
When everyone had given up, convinced that Sung Mi-ju was dead, Sung Ji-wook had awakened. And he had made a demand of his handler.
“Give me a skill that can find my sister. I’ll do whatever it takes.”
In reality, Sung Mi-ju had been slaughtering monsters as Venus Flytrap at the end of the dungeon, but regardless, that day had left a deep trauma in Sung Ji-wook.
His preference for the safest places, for spaces within the sight of the strong, was likely heavily influenced by the memory of that day.
His fundamental nature was also more defensive than necessary.
“That’s something the Guild Master will handle. Why—did you happen to cross paths with this woman before?”
“I don’t know her.”
“Then why are you opposed to it!”
Sung Mi-ju, her temper flaring again, smacked the back of Sung Ji-wook’s head with another audible crack.
Though Sung Ji-wook’s ranking was higher than hers, the difference in physical strength between an offensive hunter and a healer was considerable.
Convinced that something in his head had actually split open, Sung Ji-wook cradled his head.
“Stop it, my head’s going to burst.”
“It’ll heal itself anyway. I don’t understand why you get so stubborn like this sometimes.”
“He must have his reasons. Ji-wook’s got a lot on his mind because of you, Mi-ju.”
“Teacher!”
The Vice Guild Master laughed.
Sung Ji-wook glared at Sung Mi-ju while cradling his head. When she widened her eyes as if to say, “Are you looking at me?”, he quickly averted his gaze.
Honestly, even if he objected, Jung Hwan-jae would push this through anyway.
The moment he heard that Yeom Ye-ah was the worst healer who knocked people unconscious with her singing, he volunteered to conduct her interview himself.
For Sung Ji-wook, it was utterly exasperating.
‘She failed the interview, and now he suddenly wants to go see her?’
This was Hanttae.
A place in an entirely different league from some third-rate guild. No matter how carefully they tried to hide it, if Yeom Ye-ah were hired like this, rumors would spread in no time.
And it was obvious she would have zero practical experience.
But even when he voiced such concerns, Jung Hwan-jae persuaded him by insisting he would even call in Kim Hwa-hyun, who was currently earning pocket money in dungeons.
“The Guild Master has been far too lenient with you. It’s not like we’re firing you and hiring her instead.”
“Yeah, I know. I get it. At this point, there’s no point in objecting anyway.”
He could already picture Jung Hwan-jae’s dispirited expression the moment he voiced his opposition.
The instant he saw that face, he knew, ‘Ah, so Yeom Ye-ah is definitely getting hired.’ Yet he had stubbornly resisted anyway.
The Guild Master had readily accepted two people who barely knew anything. Even when Hanttae had been a struggling guild back then, that much about him had never changed.
Sung Ji-wook wouldn’t have objected either if the Guild Master’s instinct—which prioritized safety—hadn’t sensed danger.
“Our Ji-wook, have you developed precognition too?”
“Ah, please don’t tease me…”
The Vice Guild Master, sensing the conversation had reached a natural conclusion, sent the two of them out with expensive chocolates in hand.
As they walked side by side down the corridor, Sung Mi-ju suddenly spoke up.
“But seriously, what did you actually sense to object? Just tell me.”
“No, it’s just… a bad feeling.”
“What kind of feeling?”
Sung Ji-wook glanced at the paper he’d brought with him as he left the office.
It was Yeom Ye-ah’s resume. Of course, it didn’t contain the detailed information the Guild Master possessed, but it did record things that fellow healers could roughly understand.
He lowered his voice and muttered deliberately.
“If this person comes here, something massive is going to happen, I swear…”
A sharp smacking sound echoed through the corridor again.
This time, Sung Ji-wook genuinely believed his head had actually split open.
* * *
“Something catastrophic did happen, but I’ll admit it was necessary. The Guild Master was right. Yes, if we accept Hwa-jon as a hunter this time, things will improve. I concede.”
“Your concerns were valid too.”
Sung Ji-wook leaned against the wall, gazing toward the Vice Guild Master’s office.
He was probably soothing Hwa-jon with that gentle touch of his, getting him to stamp the contract.
The Vice Guild Master’s silver tongue would likely spare them the formality of clearing a dungeon together.
After a moment’s reflection, Sung Ji-wook turned to Jung Hwan-jae.
“But hyung, I’m still curious—why did you want to bring in Yeom Ye-ah back then? I understand she’s exceptional, and I get that your eye for talent is sharp, but…”
“Why, you ask?”
“Honestly, a singer-healer who knocks people unconscious with her voice? I don’t see the recruitment logic, yet you were completely captivated by it.”
Jung Hwan-jae let out a soft “ah” and fell silent.
I knew he was hiding some weakness from the other guild members.
It seemed he was now searching for a way to change the subject, as if this conversation touched on that very matter.
Sung Ji-wook and the other guild members had no intention of prying into whatever issue he was struggling with.
We simply thought: if he wants to tell us, he will. It was an unspoken rule among hunters to respect such silence.
“Singing and influencing those around you through song—that’s essentially releasing mana unconsciously.”
“Right, more precisely, she can’t control it. The mana just scatters in all directions because she has no control.”
“And she said that while she was always tone-deaf, the symptoms have only worsened over time. Since her awakening.”
Sung Ji-wook nodded knowingly. That was part of what he’d been worried about.
The fact that she knocked out an A-rank hunter meant her power was strong enough to shatter their mental defenses entirely.
In other words, mana potent enough to penetrate the opponent’s body—wielded by someone who couldn’t control it herself.
Someone who wasn’t even aware the mana was flowing at all. The danger was immense.
“That’s why.”
“Sorry, that still doesn’t explain anything.”
“A person who can inject mana into others without realizing it, and who happens to be a healer. I thought she’d never appear before me again.”
Though his voice remained gentle, every word Jung Hwan-jae spoke only deepened Sung Ji-wook’s confusion.
But he couldn’t ask further. Blinking, he simply nodded in silence.
“So you made sure she’d never appear before you again—in a different sense?”
“What?”
Sung Ji-wook’s tone carried a slight edge as he posed the question.
For the first time, Jung Hwan-jae looked flustered, blinking as if confused. Turning his back on that bewildered gaze, Sung Ji-wook began to walk away.
“Never mind. The romance-free zone of Hanttae is completely ruined.”
“Ji-wook, what are you talking about?”
“I said never mind.”
“Ji-wook? Where are you going? Ji-wook?”
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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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