Was Happy Being a Despised F-Rank Healer, You Know? - Chapter 128
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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. An Odd Omen (5)
‘I knew she’d catch on anyway.’
She didn’t seem inclined to end the conversation despite noticing what I meant, which was actually more surprising than I’d expected.
Yu Hee’s senses were improving several times faster than I’d anticipated, and truthfully, I found that satisfying.
‘She’ll be S-rank before long.’
A brief flash of satisfaction crossed Yuhan Seong’s face.
Yu Hee’s personal matters? He already knew them. Hearing some details from her own mouth might yield a few new pieces of information, but nothing particularly surprising.
‘The Yoo Clan was always going to need dealing with.’
Before the regression, he remembered Yu Hee rampage at a critical moment. He’d known the Clan had a hand in that rampage.
Others wouldn’t know, so it would be good to hear her story now. That was why he was listening, but his attention was really drawn elsewhere.
He was curious about Hali’s personal history—the part Yu Hee had discovered.
Because he didn’t know it himself.
He’d deliberately avoided investigating, since he couldn’t kill anyone yet.
Once he became a proper Hunter, S-rank Hunters gained certain rights that would allow him to punish those involved in illegal activities. He was waiting for that moment.
“Fine. But honestly, it’s not a big deal.”
Yu Hee turned her gaze from them to Hali and spoke.
“Do you know our family is an Assassin Clan?”
Most people wouldn’t be that blunt about it.
Gong Seo-yun tilted his head and muttered under his breath.
Lee Hae-sol’s expression grew slightly troubled. As a direct bloodline of a prestigious family, he understood what Yu Hee was currently involved in.
“Yeah.”
“To survive as a direct heir of an Assassin Clan, you have to constantly face assassination threats and prove your survival instincts. That’s the first checkpoint. Many direct heirs drop out there.”
This was grounds for discipline.
If it came down to it, merely speaking of such things could result in losing her position as heir.
And while other families might not take that to the point of death, the Yoo Clan was different.
If she hadn’t been designated heir from birth, it might be different. But in that family, they wouldn’t stop at stripping her of succession—they would assassinate her.
‘They’d likely even assign her assassination as a trial task for the next heir candidates.’
Hali wouldn’t know that.
So that pale, sickly expression on her face was genuinely born from sympathy for the hardships Yu Hee had endured in childhood.
Lee Hae-sol found it difficult to look away from her.
Perhaps, to him as well…….
“From how old?”
“Since I was five.”
Gong Seo-yun drew a sharp breath, and Hyun I-seo clicked his tongue.
***
“Five years old……?”
What kind of treatment is that for children.
I’m not opposed to early education.
The position that prestigious families held in the Hunter world and the responsibilities that came with it were shown even in the original work.
Powerful families were highly likely to stand at the front lines in any dungeon conquest, and their methods of raising children were accordingly rigid.
There was an overwhelming probability they’d be Awakened Ones from birth, and when an Awakened child was born or awakened young, they immediately received an education that no ordinary person could access.
‘But even so, there has to be some kind of line!’
Training could be excessive for a child’s standards.
However, training that would take a life was forbidden.
No matter if it was internal family business, exposure would deal damage severe enough to jeopardize the family’s continued existence!
About a hundred years ago, children from powerful families had nearly all died or suffered irreversible injuries in a similar timeframe. There were several laws set on a national level at that time, and this was one of them.
Training that would harm life or create equivalent danger was prohibited.
‘Which means it’s illegal!’
But then again…….
It’s a hundred-year-old law.
They were doing everything they could circumvent it, surely. In the original work, one of the social issues Yuhan Seong resolved before entering the Final Dungeon was eliminating the corruption of powerful families.
In other words, it also meant that until an overwhelmingly powerful Hunter like Yuhan Seong emerged, the families’ malpractices would remain intact.
I decided to restrain criticism as much as possible to avoid an overhasty reaction. But I couldn’t hide my agitation.
“How, what does that even, huff…….”
“I thought you’d be shocked.”
Yu Hee smiled beautifully, the way one looks at something adorable.
And she said:
“The better the talent, the higher the Evasion stat in our family.”
“Evasion?”
“You could call it a lower-tier ability of luck.”
“Ah.”
I pretended it was my first time hearing this, but I already knew.
I also knew Yu Hee’s Evasion stat was at an unprecedented level.
“My Evasion stat was at a level that’s hard to find precedent for. It was even something I was born with naturally. Though my rank didn’t live up to expectations.”
When she first enrolled, Yu Hee’s rank was C-class.
Considering her age, it could be called promising, but it fell short of expectations.
“If I’d been B-class from the start, I wouldn’t have been able to come to Narin, right?”
“Why?”
“They would’ve continued educating me in-house. They’d have sent someone else to Narin instead.”
I paused, choosing my words carefully, before asking.
“You mean your position as heir still hasn’t been confirmed because of your rank?”
“Exactly.”
“Why would contracting with me one-on-one help solidify that position?”
What I really wanted to ask was about the part where she’d been under assassination threats since age five, but Yu Hee simply confirmed my reaction and smoothly moved past that topic.
As if it were a given.
That bothered me a little.
Because in the original work, Yu Hee had wanted to die, saying she was fed up.
She wasn’t fine with it.
Yu Hee tilted her head thoughtfully at my words before answering.
“I can plant the expectation that you can make up for the weaknesses I have.”
“……Weaknesses? Me?”
“Yeah.”
Yu Hee smiled and said:
“I’m not good at handling poison. I don’t really use Poison Darts much either.”
“But you use Short Daggers fairly often, don’t you?”
“The feeling when I grip a Short Dagger is good.”
The feeling is…… good?
It seemed to be an attachment point unique to Yu Hee that ordinary people wouldn’t understand.
“When I throw it, there’s a strong sensation of stimulating my brain. Either way, it’s better than Poison Darts.”
“I, I see.”
“Right. And this pleasure is quite important, you know? You can only call yourself a true assassin if you can develop a taste for poison or darts.”
“A true assassin…… pfft.”
“I don’t have an addiction to my main weapon, but my skills are decent enough that I’m maintaining my heir status for now. But if someone better comes along, I’ll be replaced immediately.”
“……Just because you don’t like your weapon?”
“My problem isn’t just that one thing.”
Yu Hee spoke in a hushed tone.
“I don’t like killing people.”
“Is that really such a problem?”
“It is. Our family is an Assassin Clan, after all. I prefer killing monsters to people. People are a hassle to clean up after, but monsters are useful even as corpses. Plus, people have soft flesh, but monsters are usually pretty hard.”
“Oh, I see. ……Wait?”
“Sorry, I got sidetracked. Anyway, there are other problems like this too. So my position as heir is naturally unstable.”
“What happens if you’re no longer the heir?”
“Then I won’t graduate, and I’ll die. I won’t be able to keep my promise to become a regular at Hali’s shop.”
……Please don’t say things like that with such a gentle and cheerful tone.
I looked at her in confusion for a moment, then suddenly pulled her into a tight embrace.
And I buried my face against the side of her neck, saying:
“Don’t say things like you’re going to die so casually. Please.”
“……Hali?”
“You’re not okay with it.”
It wasn’t just a blind guess on my part.
She genuinely wasn’t okay with it, and in the original work, she’d done reckless things because of it.
I knew her—the version that only found freedom after her family was destroyed.
Yu Hee was shocked and went rigid for a moment, then let out a short laugh.
And she made an exaggerated cough as if to announce it to the world, then stroked the back of my head and patted my back gently.
“Fine. If that’s what Hali wants.”
“You bet I do!”
After releasing the embrace, I looked at Yu Hee almost menacingly and spoke.
“If by any chance, any chance at all, you face a threat like that again, I’ll protect you.”
“You? How?”
Yu Hee asked with a half-joking tone, as if indulging a child. I clenched my fists and answered seriously.
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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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