Was Happy Being a Despised F-Rank Healer, You Know? - Chapter 161

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

17. Treading in Shadows (23)

Yu Hee informed us that her direct subordinates had regained consciousness, and everyone had agreed to remain in this space for the time being according to our plan.
“I’ll let them out during the festival.”
“We could just keep them here.”
Yu Hee shook her head.
“That would be too generous for those bastards.”
“True. Way too generous.”
Seo Jeong-u interjected.
“Come on, eat.”
I accepted the nutritional porridge, white rice, kimchi, and braised vegetables he’d brought with an awkward expression.
I wanted to ask why he always gave me both porridge and rice, but I knew better now.
Asking would only waste breath.
“Thanks. I’ll enjoy it.”
“No need for thanks. Lee Hae-sol and I made this today.”
Seo Jeong-u boasted playfully.
“When did you even have time for this?”
That day had been special; normally, all the Class 8 kids didn’t gather in this space together very often.
Yet they prepared three full meals like this without being asked—and they’d made it themselves, which surprised me more than I could say.
Yuhan Seong mainly handled the rice, while the others took turns making side dishes and porridge.
‘Do I really have to keep accepting this?’
The problem was that I’d been caving to the kids’ coercion and consuming their nutritional supplement.
‘Do you have any idea how precious this is?’
It was made from rare ingredients with low extraction yields from medicinal herbs—a precious potion that had only been given to our team one bottle each on a trial basis, and we were slowly stockpiling the rest in the warehouse.
I was carefully preparing it to give regularly to Class 8 and the Teacher!
Yet one bottle was disappearing every single day.
Perhaps because wild ginseng cultivated in Baridegi’s Domain was the main ingredient, its effects were truly remarkable.
Sleep came flooding in like a tidal wave, and when I woke, fatigue I didn’t even know I had vanished completely.
My appetite exploded, and as I ate, the nutrition from every dish seemed to be absorbed perfectly, strength surging through me.
I wasn’t gaining weight either… my skin even seemed to be improving…
It was wasteful in every sense.
As I expressed gratitude with a complicated expression, Seo Jeong-u laughed as if he’d read my mind and said:
“Yeah, keep feeling burdened by it. That way you won’t ever make plans like that again.”
In this way, I was constantly reminded every day of how much of a shock it was to these kids that I’d shed my own blood.
“You guys really…”
The sigh I swallowed held the thought that they were true Hunters.
Virtuous, overflowing with responsibility—the kind who in the original story staked their lives on the Annihilation Dungeon without even needing to.
As it turned out, not just the protagonists but most Hunters and prospective Hunters at Narin Academy seemed to have this tendency.
‘No wonder they’re from a novel.’
I clucked my tongue privately and dove into the rice.
“Is the integrated training done?”
While I focused on eating, wishing all of them would become chefs after retirement, Yu Hee asked Seo Jeong-u.
Now that I thought about it, regardless of the festival, Yu Hee’s direct subordinates—now called her subordinates—were being utilized so they wouldn’t get in the way and would actually help.
Assisting an S-rank, as they called it.
“Yeah. Lee Hae-sol didn’t supervise those guys at all. I actually learned by watching, so it was fine for me.”
“Hmm. As expected…”
For the record, Yuhan Seong had refused, saying his assistant should be his own team—us.
The fact that no one objected was somewhat amusing.
“What about Hyun I-seo?”
“He was the opposite problem—supervised too much.”
“I’ll have to have a word with him.”
By the time we finished eating, we’d exchanged opinions down to the smallest details about festival preparations.
The play—dialogue, costumes, and stage—was all prepared, and since Isang Hee, who played the lead, had been incredibly busy lately, we’d been coming and going from this space without any issues.
Even though the play was meant to showcase skills rather than content—and most of Class 8 didn’t even care about that part—I did wonder if we were practicing too little compared to other classes, but the lead wasn’t the type to listen even if we nagged him.
And after we finished eating, the conversation turned back to the whereabouts of the twelve direct subordinates.
“Hali, you have no idea how much we’ve been gaining here, do you?”
I tilted my head at Seo Jeong-u, who was backing up Yu Hee.
“Not exactly. Training here seemed like it would help, but… strictly speaking, I’ve left the training mostly to the Lion. I just asked him to provide training that would benefit you all without overdoing it.”
“I see. I figured.”
Seo Jeong-u exchanged glances with Yu Hee, his face showing understanding.
And he spoke.
“At first, I thought you were having us do dungeons—the kind of training you can only get in dungeons. But after everything that happened, I get it now. That’s not all there is to it.”
“In what way?”
“We’ve become able to move at least 1.5 times more efficiently inside dungeons, just like your potion. Turns out everyone felt that in common.”
“Right. And look at my new skill alone—it was a skill that could solve problems of communication that are difficult in dungeons, wasn’t it?”
That was accurate.
The requirements I’d made were certainly more than what I’d told these two.
‘I asked them to train in preparation for the Annihilation Dungeon.’
With this natural growth, they might be able to withstand Annihilation without problems.
But now, I’ve come to hope that none of them die.
Not just Yuhan Seong’s party, but all of Class 8 who would face Annihilation together.
To be honest, even Isang Hee, who’d tried to kill me, I didn’t wish death upon him. And not only because he was useful.
Even if it was lower priority.
But Skill Awakening was a separate matter from this intention.
I asked with bewilderment.
“Wouldn’t your new skill reflect your characteristics more strongly?”
Even accounting for the dungeon’s influence, the training period here hadn’t been that long.
If it awakened now, it would be the product of what Yu Hee had accumulated, not primarily from this dungeon’s training.
Yu Hee nodded several times, then said:
“That’s the thing. It’s not to an enormous degree, but the influence is definitely significant enough not to ignore. I wonder if, because I’ve been using your potion, the influence from your dungeon is compounded.”
“Compounded…?”
“I haven’t had a Skill Awakening myself, but my mana has definitely changed. I’ve definitely advanced one rank.”
Seo Jeong-u added seriously.
“If it’s like that…”
Without thinking, I lifted my head and took in at a glance the kids training in this dungeon now.
Lee Si-hyeon and Baek Ha-yeon.
Come to think of it, those two also carried a subtly different presence even in their idle moments.
“Those two are about to hit A-rank soon, aren’t they?”
“You can tell?”
“I’ve started seeing it recently.”
Seo Jeong-u would be ranking up soon too.
There seemed to be a realm that an F-rank body couldn’t share.
I couldn’t help but smile without meaning to.
Because I felt that this dungeon had respected and cared for them with its full effort, just as much as I wanted.
A synergy with my potion, yes, but without the dungeon actively supporting them, they couldn’t have grown this fast in such a short time.
‘Thank you, Lion. I understand how hard you listened to my request.’
Whether he’d heard my inner words or not, the Lion, who’d been visibly gloomy for days as he rebuilt, suddenly turned from in front of his palace and beamed at me.
In his current large form, it overlapped with how he looked when small, which was actually kind of cute.
Seeing that, Erich cursed a few times, then said in a boastful tone:
[If you’d entrusted them to me, I could have achieved faster growth!]
‘Wow, so would you be okay if I asked you later?’
[…If I regain my body, then yes.]
…Erich’s body?
Even if Erich was moving away from being a Demon Sword, the fact that he was an Ego Sword borrowing his owner’s body hadn’t changed.
But now it sounded like that wasn’t quite the case anymore.
However, just as I was about to ask further.
“So anyway, Hali, the secret to this growth speed is probably better kept between as few people as possible.”
Seo Jeong-u shrugged and gestured with his chin at Lee Hae-sol, who was walking this way, then said:
“An S-rank training with this kind of focus isn’t that common a sight, right? If this gets out, you could become someone the state needs to apprehend…”
I immediately understood what he meant.
If a dungeon boss wanted to expand the dungeon, they could ignore the laws of physics and expand as much as they wanted.
Then they might be pressured to train large numbers here.
“My father left some things behind for me in secret. So don’t worry about where those kids stay.”
“Got it. Let’s do that.”
I nodded.
Thus, the interference event from the Yoo Clan came to a safe conclusion.

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