Was Happy Being a Despised F-Rank Healer, You Know? - Chapter 127

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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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16. Strange Omens (4)

At Hyun I-seo’s bewildered reaction, the other three—Yuhan Seong included—whipped their heads around to stare at him, their faces contorting slightly.
And they spoke.
“You know exactly where you’re going.”
“And what you’re doing.”
Hyun I-seo sat in silence, turning over his daily patterns.
When there was no dungeon to raid, he spent his time outside of basic sleep and meals with the others. And when he was alone…
……
He just played games.
The only difference was the location—classroom, dormitory, training ground—cycling between the three.
“But what’s different about them?”
What were they doing when they had time alone?
Hyun I-seo had been about to ask, but he caught the look of exhaustion on all three faces and wisely held his tongue.
And he joined in.
Nothing had actually happened to him from Yu Hee, but it seemed like it would be fun.
Then Yu Hee’s voice reached them.
“Because it’s no fun if only I know about your past. It has to be fair.”

***

Yu Hee was as exemplary a student at the Academy as Lee Hae-sol.
Though she belonged to Class 8—the problem class—she hadn’t been placed there because of a curse or rampage risk like Lee Hae-sol had been.
She was the heir to the Yoo Clan, a family renowned worldwide.
There was likely no one in the entire Academy with better bloodline or background than Yu Hee.
That she belonged to Class 8 despite being such an elite could be seen as the Yoo Clan extending consideration to others.
Of course, such a placement would never have been made without Yu Hee’s own consent.
“It’s a family of assassins, after all.”
There could be no people she could blend in with comfortably.
Though admittedly, after enrollment it seemed the placement might have been unnecessary—Yu Hee’s image was so good and her popularity so high.
Still, once a class was assigned, it couldn’t be changed, so Yu Hee remained in Class 8 and got caught up in those peculiar incidents alongside them.
“But for all that, the Yoo Clan didn’t take any special measures to protect Yu Hee, did they?”
Everyone found that puzzling, but no one dared ask directly.
You could end up touching something you shouldn’t.
Jin Hali might not know, but Yu Hee was both popular and, to some, an object of fear. If someone crossed the line by her standards, she turned cold. That fear alone was enough to keep people from prying into Yu Hee’s personal affairs. And yet, those in Class 8 knew her better than most. Within that circle, there was an unspoken rule: don’t ask about anyone’s past. So Jin Hali, too, had remained shrouded in mystery.
But whether by ignorance or design,
Jin Hali refused to tell, even when urged, while Yu Hee insisted on speaking, even when refused.
“……Of course, I can’t go into too much detail because it could put you in danger.”
“You don’t have to if you don’t want to!”
“Anyway. Just listen and understand—this is all information, all strength. You especially need to be more street-smart, Hali.”
……That almost sounds like Yu Hee is begging to be heard.
“Come to think of it,”
Yu Hee had mentioned first that she knew about Hali’s past.
Hyun I-seo found the situation understandable while simultaneously becoming fixated on something entirely different.
“Jin Hali’s past?”
No one knew about Jin Hali’s personal history any more than they knew about Yu Hee’s.
And Hali was nothing like someone to be feared.
The reason was somewhat amusing.
Hali would have found it ridiculous if she’d heard, but it all came down to one thing: she was F-rank.
At first, there was no need to look into an F-rank’s circumstances. But once Hali began to stand out, everyone was curious—yet they held back from digging.
“She’d become a kind of…… natural monument.”
It was crude to compare a person to an inanimate object, but that was the reality.
If Hali had shown prowess in combat, it might have been different, but she fulfilled her role as a healer faithfully.
She’d distributed potions not just to Class 8 but to the entire first year and even some upper-classmen, so there were quite a few who’d tasted her potions’ effects, who’d been helped by her.
When people hadn’t yet fully understood the value of Hali’s potions—when they’d simply thought she was sharing what she’d made—they felt gratitude. Of course they didn’t want to harm her.
“And there were quite a few who hoped she’d drop out early and become safe.”
Even Hyun I-seo, who was slow to pick up on gossip and atmosphere, knew that. His friends probably remembered it in far more detail.
“But once they realized Hali’s potion-crafting wasn’t ordinary…”
She truly became treated as a natural monument.
What good would digging into her past do?
If it came out, if rumors spread, and Hali was shocked into stopping her goodwill—selling potions at cut rates to so many students?
Not that anyone needed her to keep doing that now. They’d buy at full price if needed. But what if she lost even the will to sell?
“I definitely heard people whispering that we shouldn’t wound the tender F-rank’s heart.”
And not even from Class 8, but from other classes.
Of course, there were still those who looked down on and mistreated Hali for being F-rank, but the school managed them to keep them from crossing the line, and if that wasn’t enough, Hali’s friends—people like Yuhan Seong—could handle it.
As for the others in Class 8, who were closer to her, an unspoken rule had taken root: never ask about anyone’s past. So in the end, Hali too remained a mysterious figure.
But those closest to her couldn’t always maintain that comfortable distance like the others in Class 8 did.
Her devotion was almost excessive.
She noticed others’ strengths and efforts with uncanny precision, yet was brutally indifferent to her own affairs.
As a civilian, she couldn’t possibly have had dungeon-clearing experience, yet she moved through dungeons with eerie competence.
“……Whatever anyone says, she’s definitely lived through something harsh.”
An F-rank healer is no different from a civilian. A woman from among civilians, with less physical strength even than average. And she was practically a child before enrollment, wasn’t she?
He knew how brutal the treatment of shunned Awakened could become.
But even accounting for that, Hali’s demeanor was too strange.
It would have made more sense if she’d been crafting potions purely for her own use, but she…
“And that look in her eyes.”
When she looked at them and other students, that tender expression was so unguarded, so full of genuine warmth, that it often left him startled.
“She shows the hallmarks of a victim with a harsh past, and yet…… she doesn’t seem to be protecting herself at all.”
Not like she wanted to die.
The more they knew her, the more curious they became.
Worried, even.
The reason they hadn’t investigated her background was that they believed doing so would destroy their relationship with her, and that Hali herself—as others warned—might break and crumble from the wound.
There might have been ways to know without showing it, but they themselves weren’t confident they could pull it off.
Once they heard about a past that was almost certainly appalling—they were already convinced it would be—once they heard it, would they still be able to treat Hali naturally, the way they did now? They might find themselves wanting to kill whoever had tormented her.
“I don’t know about myself, but these guys definitely would.”
Hyun I-seo glanced at the three beside him and frowned.
The three were no different from him in not speaking about themselves. But somewhere along the way, they’d begun showing a similar attitude when it came to Hali.
Cheesy as it sounded, they were like the knights-errant protecting a princess in old folktales.
“Though maybe it’s a bit different?”
Hyun I-seo stopped himself from thinking too deeply about it.
Because he was more curious about what Hali’s personal secret was—the one Yu Hee had supposedly uncovered.
“From their expressions alone, it doesn’t look like they’ve heard the whole story.”
Even if Hali had told them directly, they wouldn’t know everything.
She was obviously keeping the serious parts hidden, sharing only what seemed less severe.
She’d know they understood that too.
“……Understood.”
Hali accepted it with a nod.
And in that instant, their eyes—Yu Hee’s and theirs—met and brushed past each other.
“Ah, I knew it. I knew she’d catch on. That girl’s instincts are incredible lately.”
Hyun I-seo flinched and averted his gaze, but Yuhan Seong, Lee Hae-sol, and Gong Seo-yun did not.
Yuhan Seong stood unmoving, tilted his head slightly, his expression unreadable.
But because he’d deliberately dampened his presence, his characteristically prominent features created an enigmatic aura.

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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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