Was Happy Being a Despised F-Rank Healer, You Know? - Chapter 147

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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 Shadows (9)

I asked carefully, keeping my composure.
“What do you mean by substitute for target?”
“If the target is about to be harmed, you take the injury in their stead.”
Han I didn’t seem to realize what the problem was yet.
“So if I want to save someone I’m attacking, I can make them want to die?”
“In that process, you must take damage—or shed blood—since it serves as the medium. The blood of the one who sacrifices becomes the catalyst.”
“I have plenty to say, but let me hear it all first. Then what about making them want to live?”
“That would require Hali’s tears as the medium…….”
I let out a laugh.
“I have to cry?”
As long as tears fall, that’s enough! Once the tears come, you must cast the healing while you’re in that weeping state!”
If it was about making people want to live, it would almost certainly be in front of my classmates or other students at school, which meant I’d have to cry publicly. Right?
If this had been a chat, I would have filled it with keyboard smashing by now.
I was speechless.
“Making them want to live doesn’t require you to take damage or anything in their stead. It’s simple, yes?”
“…….”
“The power to make them want to die—once you cast the healing, no matter how severe the injury, they won’t die. Their blood will recover quickly too. Um…… it shouldn’t be difficult.”
“……Didn’t you say earlier that they’d get harmed or die? What if you die while doing this?”
Without any hesitation, Han I answered with a slightly proud expression—what was that about?—as if she’d been waiting for that question.
“Hali, you are the master of those who hold true authority in our Underworld. If you die, your spirit will come here immediately.”
That was actually tempting to hear.
“Does that happen no matter when I die?”
“Yes!”
So even without using this power, if I die I’m guaranteed to come here?
I was starting to see some actual use in it.
“But I’m still dead in the meantime.”
“Only temporarily. The moment you cast the healing, you’ll be resurrected immediately. In such cases, your body’s mana vessel might even expand, raising your rank.”
“I see…….”
I studied Han I’s beautiful face with a narrowed gaze, my mind churning hard beneath the surface.
‘I need to stop thinking of this as an offensive skill.’
Depending on how it was used, it could become an attack, but considering my social reputation after being revived or injured, wouldn’t this be a skill tailor-made for becoming known as a madwoman?
‘I’d thought of using it on the villains who opposed Yuhan Seong in the original story.’
But if I did that, I’d probably end up dragged off to the Research Lab after resurrection.
Even assuming I used it against appropriately villainous targets, depending on who that target was, I risked becoming a very strange person.
If anything, people would call me not kind but mentally ill, wouldn’t they?
‘……Or not?’
No, if I were to judge myself, I’d say it was excessive and strange. I might genuinely recommend counseling for this “good girl syndrome”…….
So what about making people want to live?
That was relatively easier to use.
Essentially, all I had to do was choose the target and cast healing while crying.
“Wait, if I cast healing while crying, then it just makes them want to live and doesn’t activate the healing effect, right?”
“Of course the healing activates properly! Since it’s a Dual Skill, it requires a bit more mana, but it works.”
The way she avoided my eyes suggested it wasn’t “a bit” more but considerably more, though that didn’t matter since I had Erich.
I thought of my lifespan bar, which even after paying such a heavy cost, only had a tiny corner worn away.
‘My original lifespan before possession must have been incredibly long.’
……Or Erich was taking less than I thought…….
‘No, that can’t be.’
He wasn’t the type to do such a thing just because we’d grown somewhat emotionally close. Remembering the Erich from the original story when his seal was broken, I shook my head inwardly.
In any case, I had no mana worries.
The healing worked properly too, so it was fine.
“What if I’m bleeding and crying at the same time? Can I cast both with one healing?”
“Ooh…….”
Han I nodded with the expression of a teacher encountering a brilliant student.
“As long as your target is clear. You can think of those targets and cast it.”
“I see.”
This was more useful than I’d thought.
‘Accidentally’ saving an enemy by healing an ally while crying—that was all I’d need, wasn’t it?
The “accidentally” was the key point.
The point that let me avoid suspicion about Jin Hali’s mental state.
Regardless.
“……It’s not bad. Since proficiency goes up just from keeping the entrance open anyway.”
At my slow response, Han I’s expression brightened considerably.
“You’re satisfied?”
“Yeah. Do I just need to carry this Umbrella of Sorrow around?”
“That would be even better, but it’s not necessary. You can just leave it at your quarters. You’re already the owner!”
“I see…….”
“Plus, as your proficiency rises, our dungeon’s influence will spread to your skill, bringing wonderful changes……!”
[That’s enough.]
Suddenly, purple mist appeared and lightly struck Han I’s mouth shut.
Han I looked up at the sky-ocean with a mortified expression.
The silver dust Han I had sent earlier had vanished.
[A narrow margin indeed, my lord.]
That voice was…….
“Baridegi?”
[Do you remember my voice?]
“Of course. And call me Hali.”
Though back then you didn’t use honorifics and had an imposing presence.
But even when I faced Baridegi as a boss to be cleared, she’d never tried to attack me.
And now there’s even a clearer quality to her presence than before.
[As you wish. Hali. If you remain here any longer, I fear it may have an adverse effect on you. This place is part of the Underworld, after all. Should you fall asleep here, you may have difficulty waking. We belong to you, so we cannot presume to wake you forcibly.]
“The Underworld, huh. It’s quite different from the hell I imagined…….”
[Other places are much as you imagined them to be. This place……you might say it’s where one receives a guest.]
A guest room, in other words.
“I see. I wanted to look around more. That’s a shame.”
[Once you keep the Umbrella of Sorrow near you and go about your life, you’ll likely soon be able to visit without any adverse effects.]
“Are you saying I should wait for that change to my healing skill that Han I was about to mention?”
I kept quiet and asked while watching Han I, who was gauging both my mood and the mist’s.
The mist of Baridegi spoke in an awkward tone.
[In truth, that remark was premature. Since we cannot predict how your skill will change, I intervened—she was presenting her own wishes as fact.]
“Because the possibility seemed high…… I apologize, Hali.”
“Hmm. Don’t do that again. Stick to the facts, and if something’s a guess, say it’s a guess. Understood?”
“Yes.”
There was still much I wanted to ask, but sleepiness was creeping in just as they said, so for now I just nodded.
“Good. That’ll do then. I really should go now.”
[May peace dwell at your side, my lord.]
“We truly hope to meet again soon!”
I waved and grasped the handle of the Umbrella of Sorrow, pulling myself out of that place.
Since I’d told Yu Hee beforehand, she wouldn’t be startled, but still—out of worry—I could hear her tapping against the wall between the rooms.
“I’m back!”
At my voice, laughter echoed back.
***
The night had fallen completely dark.
After talking across the wall, Yu Hee silently punctured a hole through it, and Jin Hali gasped before breaking into laughter.
And the conversation that followed, flowing softly, was filled with the trivial everyday matters of ordinary students.
In the darkness that had settled, a small red sparrow, hidden in the leaves of a pitch-black shadowed tree, tilted its head slightly.
A red sparrow tilting its head might have been quite cute, but seen up close, no one could call it cute at all.
The sparrow, as if shaped merely in sparrow form, had lumpy, grotesque muscles rippling sluggishly across its body, repulsive to the point of revulsion.
Where its eyes should be, a dark crimson gleam flashed.
Presently, the sparrow took flight in complete silence, suppressing all sound and presence.
It had entered just briefly, during the festival preparation, when the outer defensive Mana Field was lowered for inspection. It couldn’t pass through the re-established field and dissolved instead.
But at the moment it melted into ash against the Mana Field, what the sparrow had seen was transmitted directly to its master.
“……Yes, that first target should be ideal.”
Its master murmured.
The moment a white hand with crimson nail polish traced a light pattern through the empty air.
The successors to the Yoo Clan and all their subordinates departed from the family seat at once.
Without a single sound.

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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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