Was Happy Being a Despised F-Rank Healer, You Know? - Chapter 140

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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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17. Treading on Shadows (2)

The gold coin thief was ants.
“The gold coin I got from the Baridegi Dungeon—I lost one of them while working in the field here. That’s when I figured it out.”
I didn’t know when they’d entered, but those ants had evolved into Spirit Beasts.
The Spirit Beast ants in my field looked similar in size and appearance to ordinary ants, but they possessed a special skill.
“Replication?”
“Only inanimate objects, and even then it seems there’s a cooldown—they can only do it once a month.”
Yuhan Seong stared intently at the ant.
Right, he could glimpse the skill aptitudes of his targets, couldn’t he?
When I looked at him with slightly hopeful eyes, he nodded slowly and spoke.
“It might be worth experimenting with capacity differences.”
“That’s a good idea.”
So there was a limit to the capacity of what could be replicated.
In any case, replicating something the size of a gold coin was possible.
Thanks to that, my gold coins had barely been used so far and were being preserved, while one more was added each month.
“I got nine gold coins from the Baridegi Dungeon, but now I’m up to twelve with this batch.”
“Were they replicated exactly as they are?”
I understood what Han Seong was asking.
He was asking about the gold coin’s skill.
“Yeah. These gold coins are actually Magical Tools with skills—single-use, though. Anyway, with these new ones, I’ve got exactly six now. Here.”
I watched my friends’ mouths fall open slightly, then distributed the six Teleportation gold coins (single-use) among them.
“It seems like they work inside dungeons too. So use them only in real emergencies—as an escape route. Got it?”
The kids just stared at the gold coins in their hands.
I was curious what they were all thinking, and I felt a little anxious too.
Giving is difficult.
Giving things for free is even harder.
Because I didn’t want the other person to feel burdened.
I watched my friends’ distant eyes and opened my mouth carefully.
“I didn’t expect to become your friend. But now I can’t imagine life without you all.”
In high school, a younger neighbor had said that to me.
That their best friend now was even dearer to them than their family.
Even though our family wasn’t particularly warm-hearted, I couldn’t fully understand that statement.
I think I wondered if it was really necessary to say something like that.
But now I’m beginning to understand.
With what heart that child said those words.
Learning to think of Jin Hali, I’ve come to understand so many things. About people.
Of course, I’ve also come to understand value far better.
‘Now I can truly measure what value these gold coins hold.’
Perhaps they’re worth more than gold itself?
As my territory expanded and grew richer, the gold coin’s skill level rose noticeably.
And after making a contract with the Lion, I finally reached the skill level I’d been aiming for.
Teleportation, A-rank.
Now it was a skill that let me escape from the dungeon no matter where I was inside it.
“For now, I’ll only replicate this Teleportation skill, so I should be able to make about twelve a year. The skill seems to improve the more I do it. And if the rank gets higher, it might not be single-use anymore, right? Exciting?”
“…There might be a limit to the numbers, so I’d recommend being careful with them.”
“Oh! Are you talking about how many times the ants can use their Replication skill? Or how many times a single object can be replicated?”
Yuhan Seong didn’t answer right away.
A brief flash of realization crossed his face.
Ah, that’s it, it seemed.
He answered.
“How many times a single object can be replicated.”
So there was a limit to the number of times.
“I see. That could be the case. Alright, I’ll test it as much as possible, and after that, once it stops replicating, I’ll save the Teleportation coins.”
“Okay.”
Then Han Seong spoke.
“Thank you, Hali. Truly.”
“Hm.”
That’s when Hyun I-seo let out a short sound.
Looking at his face, it seemed like he was holding back tears.
Looking at the others, they seemed moved rather than burdened.
My goodness.
It was the purest reaction you could see when giving someone a gift.
They really liked it. Looking at their clenched hands, there wasn’t a trace of discomfort.
‘Success.’
With potions, honestly, my friends and even the Teacher wouldn’t accept them if I just tried to give them freely.
I understood it was because these people were righteous and kind, and they treasured me, but sometimes I wished they’d just accept things as I gave them.
The deeper my affection for them grew, the more I felt that way.
‘The world is too harsh to preserve what’s precious.’
But how fortunate that they accepted this willingly. At the same time, I began to sense what kind of gifts they would simply accept.
When I said that silently to Erich, he let out a heavy sigh that only I could hear.
Or perhaps it was more of a lament. In any case, it was a great sigh accompanied by unintelligible muttering, so let’s leave it at that.
The tension began to ease.
I smiled broadly and spoke playfully to the kids.
“Now, quickly put them away. Don’t let anyone see!”
“Thank you, Hali.”
Yu Hee spoke.
Without her usual smile, her face carried more of a stern atmosphere than the gentle aura of an angel.
That somehow made her look even more like Yu Hee. Like a goddess.
After her, Lee Hae-sol and Seo-yun also spoke with serious faces.
“Thank you.”
“Thank you, Hali.”
“Um, me too, thank you.”
Even Hyun I-seo, stumbling over his words.
After hearing them all and putting the gold coins into their pockets, I clapped my hands a few times and changed the subject.
“So, shall we get back to the reason we gathered today?”
End of the week.
It was time to check whether Erich and the Lion had gained any trust from my friends.

***

How could one possibly express everything that those gathered felt in that moment?
No matter how it’s expressed, Jin Hali would not understand.
‘No one does this for us. No one but you.’
The weight of it.
Lee Hae-sol recalled the day he became completely free from his Curse.
His mental state had always been treated like a tower built of sand.
Though he hadn’t been at fault for receiving the Curse, he’d had to endure being treated as if he were.
People had never waited for him.
Naturally so. No one in this world would show consideration to a time bomb. If they did, they’d be called mad.
Consider a dungeon fated to cause a Breakage. No one knows when it will explode, but since it’s currently a useful resource to humanity, they can’t simply dispose of it. So they watch the dungeon.
Should signs of rupture appear, they blow it up without casualties.
Lee Hae-sol was like such a dungeon.
But he’d met someone who didn’t merely watch that dungeon—who cared for it.
“It seems like they work inside dungeons too. So use them only in real emergencies—as an escape route. Got it?”
The mind, unlike the body, has no set training to make it resilient, so Lee Hae-sol could only maintain composure. There was nothing else he could do.
But how could anyone ever do that constantly?
Lee Hae-sol had to endure to stay alive while simultaneously preparing himself mentally for his eventual subjugation.
Only then could he live without losing his sanity.
In the midst of all that, he met Hali at Narin, where he’d enrolled without ever expecting to graduate.
Looking back now, he felt certain that Jin Hali must have known about his Curse from the beginning.
About giving him the Mental Barrier Potion at exactly the moment he needed it—she’d said it was merely coincidence, that they happened to be classmates when the timing came around. That Yuhan Seong and Lee Hae-sol were there.
But Lee Hae-sol was certain it wasn’t coincidence.
Even when he hadn’t told Hali about his Curse himself, the light in her eyes had been no different than it was now.
Through her, he learned that a person’s eyes could hold such distinct warmth, and how profoundly that warmth could set a person free.
He learned that there was no need to maintain constant tension, that even without that, someone could worry about him, could seek to protect him.
He learned how one person could save another.
That the world doesn’t exist within people—but rather that people contain worlds within themselves.
Hali became his world after that.
“I didn’t expect to become your friend. But now I can’t imagine life without you all.”
Lee Hae-sol was acutely aware of everyone present in this moment.
Though Hali didn’t know what they were feeling, they understood each other.
He whispered again to himself.
Hali, no one does this for us.
The world may turn that way generally, but it’s especially true for those of us here.
Perhaps it’s simply more striking because Class 8 is where such people gather.
‘No one, no one else tries this hard for us to live.’
“Now, quickly put them away. Don’t let anyone see!”
“Thank you, Hali.”
You take your heart for granted, regard it as trifling.
“Thank you.”
“Thank you, Hali.”
“Um, me too, thank you.”
But it’s truly heavy.

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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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