Was Happy Being a Despised F-Rank Healer, You Know? - Chapter 158

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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. Chasing Shadows (20)

The dungeon crumbles.
The Lion fixed his black eyes sharply forward, staring into empty space.
Damn those humans.
[Oblivious fools!]
The Lion wasn’t entirely pleased with how Hali had handled things this time either. Yet because all his joy came from seeing everything unfold according to the Protagonist’s desires, he refrained from voicing his discontent openly.
He had hoped she would spare her own body if possible.
But this was something else entirely.
[She went ahead and blew it up anyway!]
[Enough talk—just do your job!]
[But they’re putting strain on the Protagonist’s body right now! Idiots!]
[I know that too, but isn’t that actually working to our advantage right now?]
Erich countered glumly.
His tone remained as sharp as ever, but there was an unusual flatness to it, a dampening of his usual edge. Sensing this, the Lion pressed his lips together with an air of displeasure.
Right. This wasn’t the time for anger.
“Hali! Hali!”
The moment Hali lost consciousness, the humans came running.
As though they’d known of the danger beforehand, they were fully prepared.
The Lion concealed himself, shrank small, and slipped into Hali’s inner pocket, letting a faint trickle of magic flow through her mana core.
He would keep her alive—barely, so as not to raise suspicion—and look for an opportunity to attempt recovery.
‘Only so far as the Protagonist’s plan doesn’t fall apart!’
The humans trapped in Baridegi Dungeon seemed to think otherwise.
In any case, looking at it comprehensively, summoning people at this particular moment had indeed been a sound judgment.
‘…I felt Magpie moving away, but I never expected Yuhan Seong to decide to reveal that he has a summoned creature.’
The fierce irritation drained from the Lion’s expression, leaving only stillness.
‘He was careful not to let other humans know he had a summoned creature.’
It must have been necessary for him.
He was already standing out too much among the other humans. Yet he had completely reversed course on that in an instant.
The Lion found this somewhat unexpected.
Yuhan Seong seemed close to the Protagonist, true… but he also appeared to be someone with firm principles of his own.
‘Humans with those kinds of eyes have one thing in common. No matter their temperament, they don’t bend their principles for personal reasons.’
Incorruptible judges, inspectors, or dignified heads of noble families.
It was absurd to see that sort of bearing in someone not even of age yet.
But in any case, that very Yuhan Seong had done something strange.
‘For the Protagonist’s sake.’
Should this be taken lightly?
Or did this action not contradict his principles?
If it was the latter, wasn’t that more troubling?
If the Protagonist’s life and death had become the foundation of that absolute principle he bound himself to, then that was precisely…
[As bothersome a thing as romantic attachment.]
The adult humans gathered the corpses of the dead assassins in one place and began their investigation, while carefully moving the Protagonist onto a stretcher and evacuating the area.
According to what the Protagonist had said, due to the influence of the Yoo Clan they wouldn’t be able to perform an autopsy, only confirm life status and identity before naturally handing her over to Yu Hee of the same clan.
Even if anything unexpected happened, Baridegi’s presence had been affixed in fragments, so there would be no danger to life.
[Tch, agreed.]
Erich responded from somewhere, his attention elsewhere.
He was looking at the human who had torn through empty space and dropped beside the unconscious Hali.
“Hali.”
Gong Seo-yun approached slowly, his mouth curved upward in what was not quite a smile, and called out to Jin Hali.
“Don’t block the way up front.”
“Ah, of course. I’m planning to go with you.”
Even though it would have been natural to ask why a person had suddenly emerged from empty space, the Teacher simply adjusted his glasses and motioned with a nod for him to move aside.
Gong Seo-yun joined in as though it were the most natural thing, bracing his arms beneath the stretcher where Hali lay, and winked at the Teacher and the others who were looking at him with confusion.
“Please understand. I’m worried things might take a turn for the worse.”
“What do you—?”
And then, with a bound—
He lifted the stretcher and vanished.
Tearing through empty space just as he’d come.
The Teacher stood for a moment wearing an expression of genuine anger—rare for him—before letting out a hollow laugh and composing himself.
“How did this even—”
“It’s fine. I think I know roughly what’s happening.”
“Should we not inform Isang Hee?”
“Isang Hee won’t be in any state of mind right now, so leave him be.”
Choi Ji-hyeong, who had happened to overhear Isang Hee conversing with the upperclass Student Council the day before, cut the matter short cleanly.
‘Did he just bring up Isang Hee right now?’
Looking at who had spoken, it was a member of the school staff.
Someone who assisted with clerical work at the Faculty Office, hired on a temporary basis, but nonetheless a verified Hunter of confirmed standing.
Most importantly, he had no contact with the students.
So there must have been a particular reason for bringing up Isang Hee so directly.
‘What’s he doing going around doing things like that?’
Since the festival preparations, he hadn’t had a separate counseling session with Isang Hee.
If it was malice that crossed the line rather than mere rivalry, that would be a problem.
In the meantime, several others burst through empty space, making the eyes of the two teachers beside Choi Ji-hyeong and the staff member go wide.
“He brought her without a word. We were training in a School Training Dungeon we discovered, so we’ll treat her there. Lots of the kids have Hali Potions, so we’ll handle it there.”
Yu Hee spoke with an angelic smile, and the teachers and staff member nodded in understanding.
“Ah, well then.”
“A training dungeon, how fortunate.”
“From what I could see, there doesn’t appear to be an issue with her mana core, but I was rather concerned about poison. Do you have the relevant potions, student?”
“We do.”
Lee Hae-sol answered.
And Yuhan Seong continued.
“We’ll stop by the scene briefly. There might be something lost. Would that be all right, Teacher?”
Choi Ji-hyeong’s gaze met those of the two others.
Yu Hee, too, who was casually conversing with the others to put their worries at ease. Her reason for going along was probably the matter of the corpses strewn about at the scene.
She intended to receive them herself rather than handing them over elsewhere.
That he could understand, but what stood out more was something else.
‘These kids are angry.’
So much so that even with Hali injured that badly, the three of them moved with such military precision and without idle chatter. Genuinely.
He hadn’t known them long, but even with them smiling, there was no missing the anger.
And that was when Choi Ji-hyeong realized something.
‘These bastards… what are they up to without my knowing?’
It seemed they had taken advantage of the slight drop in attention toward themselves on campus since the festival to make a move on something.
He recalled Magpie, who had come to him with hastily—but incredibly quickly—scrawled letters warning him of Hali’s danger.
Every teacher in the Faculty Office had noticed that Magpie was a summoned creature, so they would soon figure out who owned it. They’d have no choice but to reveal it themselves.
They had acted while accepting that risk.
Beyond the concern, there was something else he could feel in that urgency.
The kids were panicked.
Choi Ji-hyeong hummed thoughtfully, scanning the pair before him while postponing his answer.
There was an insolent gleam in their eyes. So he decided not to ease their minds by speaking his thoughts.
‘They don’t know Hali.’
He was the one who had given her a Subspace Bag as a gift instead of preventing her from entering the dungeon early on.
It meant he already understood her nature.
‘From what they worried about in counseling sessions, they seem to be under different misunderstandings, and those aren’t entirely wrong, but…’
Hali certainly had a disposition to neglect her own body due to her circumstances, but that wasn’t the fundamental problem.
‘There are Hunters like that. Hunters who have a strong preference for working alone.’
Yuhan Seong should have known.
Yet he was angry anyway?
Well, truthfully, Choi Ji-hyeong had been planning to tell Hali this time just how short-lived a Hunter was if she didn’t care for her own body, so perhaps this working out was actually for the best.
‘Get treated and take a scolding.’
That he didn’t have to do it himself—even better.
The Teacher was busy now.
He let out a short chuckle and nodded.
“Go on. Tell them I gave my approval.”
A temporary Mana Mark flew through empty space and settled lightly on the back of each of the three people’s hands.
A moment later, the three headed toward the scene.

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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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