Was Happy Being a Despised F-Rank Healer, You Know? - Chapter 146

—————
This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
—————

17. Treading Shadows (8)

“I’m asking just to be sure—you’re not going to get punished for Heavenly Secret Disclosure or something like that for telling me this?”
“Pardon? Aha, haha.”
Han I laughed louder than before.
“No, not at all. This much is fine. As I mentioned earlier, fate can be changed. What matters is your decision, Hali.”
“So your version of my decision is to contract with you?”
“I would refuse that, so it wouldn’t come to pass.”
“Honestly.”
“…Though if you wished to contract with the princess, it could happen right now.”
The lion hadn’t said anything like that.
As if reading my thoughts, Han I continued.
“King Yama wouldn’t know about what I’ve just told you. The princess only found out moments ago…”
“…You mean that princess is Baridegi, right?”
“Yes, Hali.”
“I see.”
“The princess didn’t know the details herself. …Um. So she’s gnashing her teeth right now. Hali, I think I must take my leave.”
If you wished to contract with Baridegi next time, Han I said, you could simply think of her and call, for which he would be grateful.
‘For someone saying that, isn’t he lowering me down in front of the entrance awfully fast?’
The entrance came into view before my eyes.
It was the handle of the Cloud Umbrella I’d seen on the way in.
I descended from his hand, rode the clouds toward it, and grasped the handle.
‘It feels like he’s shoving me out the door so I won’t think about contracting. Or am I imagining things?’
When I glanced sideways, Han I wore an awkward expression.
“You really did get Baridegi’s permission before coming out, didn’t you?”
“Of course. I haven’t lied at all!”
“Then what you’re saying about Baridegi being angry right now is also true. That’s okay, right?”
“…Well… As long as you don’t mind, Hali…”
“Honestly, I don’t care.”
I understood he’d come to warn me of the danger he’d hastily realized.
Startled by my words, Han I soon seemed more composed as he spoke.
“Thank goodness.”
Then, after a brief hesitation, he continued.
“Actually…”
“Yeah.”
“There was more I wanted to tell you.”
“What?”
“…I wanted to propose a loophole. It felt like something wasn’t quite right…”
“A loophole?”
“…Since you’re already the master of this dungeon, you should be able to use its power freely. There would be a price to pay, but it would be temporary, though—cough.”
“…! You’re bleeding!”
Bleeding.
The dungeon boss certainly had blood like anyone else, but he was coughing it up violently, like a character from a martial arts novel whose energy center had been damaged.
Yes, exactly as if struck by Heavenly Punishment.
He’d said there was no need to worry about that!
Wasn’t that loophole he’d just mentioned equivalent to Heavenly Secret Disclosure?
If this was because of Heavenly Punishment!
“Are… are you okay?”
Hovering on the cloud, unable to do much of anything, I fumbled in my pocket and threw one of the Emergency Potions I always carried—an experimental potion I’d made only once in the early days.
‘I’d tried it once after reading some texts on spirits. Maybe it’ll work!’
Heavenly Secret Disclosure.
Really, that was the only word that came to mind.
So that boss might die.
I’d instinctively thrown the most likely potion.
The small vial flew and struck Han I’s forehead with a soft tap, then shattered.
In the moment I reflexively flinched, having thrown a stone unintentionally.
I witnessed the hemorrhaging rapidly slow.
“Wh… what…?”
I was shocked to throw it, but it actually worked on the monster.
The potion I’d just thrown was made experimentally after reading old texts on spirits, using only materials sourced from the Native Dungeon. If I had to explain its effects, it was a potion that anchored the soul to the body.
Since I was a possessed being, I recalled putting considerable effort into crafting it, even if only once.
I haven’t done such experiments since then.
‘Well, I had no subject to experiment on.’
I couldn’t exactly test it on myself—I couldn’t die even once for an experiment.
But why did it work on him?
And on a dungeon boss, no less.
If this leaked outside, there’s no telling how people’s perception of me would change. It was a major incident.
Han I seemed shocked too, his eyes wide as he stared at me even as his condition rapidly improved.
In those eyes, I glimpsed something like madness, and I felt genuinely that I’d made a terrible mistake.
“…You okay?”
“Yes…”
After a moment, when I asked if he was fully recovered, he answered with a very odd expression.
Then he sent something gleaming across the sky covered like an ocean, and fell into serious thought.
Han I seemed entranced by something.
While I waited in silence, he murmured something indistinctly.
‘An Adult?’
What was that fantasy-like word?
But then I watched him shake his head firmly, and somehow I felt relieved. I’d probably find it cringe if such a word applied to me, and more than that, it would feel like a burden I’d want to hide. He also murmured something like “Uh…” or other fragments.
How much time had passed like this?
He spoke to me with an apologetic expression.
“Hali, what happened just now must absolutely be kept secret. …Especially outside of here, in other dungeons. Other places have more eyes.”
“More eyes in dungeons? Do you mean broadcasts? But even if they broadcast, not that many people would be watching. And why do you think it needs to be hidden?”
Did the bosses also keep people’s reactions in mind like I did?
But what Han I said far exceeded that expectation.
“Non-human entities would also take notice of you, Hali. If that happens, a situation several times more severe could arise.”
“Several times more severe?”
“Such as the Apocalypse being accelerated.”
“What?”
“Ah, so you did know.”
It could be interpreted as shock at the word “Apocalypse” itself.
But Han I was certain.
That I knew about the scheduled Apocalypse.
I decided not to deny it outright. I didn’t affirm it either.
If he hadn’t mentioned Heavenly Secret Disclosure or any of that, I wouldn’t have done otherwise. It felt like this was the right answer.
He looked up at the sky with a slightly melancholy expression, then spoke.
“In the worst case, those struck by Heavenly Punishment could abduct you.”
His face twisted as if the words themselves tasted foul.
I raised a timid objection.
“…Um, is being abducted by those unknown beings struck by Heavenly Punishment really worse than the Apocalypse?”
“It is. Very much so.”
“I… I suppose it could be.”
Either he cared for me too much, or if I fell into the hands of those struck by Heavenly Punishment, something worse than the Apocalypse would truly unfold.
I thought the latter was more likely, but it sounded like the former too, so I simply held my tongue.
And I tried to focus on what was important.
‘Honestly, what shocks me most is that the Apocalypse can be accelerated.’
If it could be accelerated, that meant Yuhan Seong’s plan would be useless.
‘That absolutely cannot happen.’
I was determined to survive with the people I’d come to cherish, and live a long life as a rich potion shop owner even after the Apocalypse.
“Since you haven’t said anything until now, it seems the other potions don’t have this effect.”
Han I nodded.
“That’s correct. And… it’s only a feeling, but this potion had an unusually large amount of your mana in it, Hali.”
“You can tell that?”
“Of course. We sense what happens outside through you. We’ve also been sensing the potions you made.”
“I see.”
“In the end, it was the power of your soul that affected me. That itself is the problem. Because any being capable of such a thing is… quite rare.”
To humans and to us alike.
The sound of Han I’s voice as he added that seemed strangely distant.
After a moment, with a determined expression, Han I spoke.
“Still, I really must propose that loophole. Rather, I strongly recommend you consider it. To prepare for unforeseen circumstances.”
“What’s this loophole, anyway?”
I asked, curious to hear it.
He spoke.
“It’s not difficult. You need only keep the entrance to the dungeon open at all times, just as you continuously maintain Baridegi’s Domain. Then you’ll gain more abilities without needing to contract. Even if you can’t use our boss skills, you’d be able to draw on the power we have in the Boss Room.”
“What kind of power that you’re recommending it?”
“At the level of just the Boss Room, for offense you’d have the Despair-Inducing Aura, I’d say. And conversely, there’s also the Hope-Inducing Aura.”
“…That sounds way too broken.”
And deeply unsettling, actually.
An uneasy power, isn’t it?
But yes, for me, whose physical attack power doesn’t hold a candle to other Awakened ones, it might be exactly the right offensive skill.
Since I wouldn’t be directly killing them, I’d have almost no need to worry about retaliation.
“I expected you might not like it. Still, those who feel despair don’t actually die—they simply stop attacking and fall into depression. It can be adjusted to that degree. So please…”
“First, first tell me what the price was that you mentioned earlier. If it’s a power like that, the cost must be significant.”
At my calm question, Han I sighed before speaking.
“Yes. The price is quite steep.”
He clearly didn’t want to say it.
But he soon spoke with resolve.
“The power to induce despair activates when you use healing on the target using your blood as a medium after they’ve been injured or just after death.”
“…?”

—————
This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
—————