Was Happy Being a Despised F-Rank Healer, You Know? - Chapter 180

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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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18. Who Opens Their Eyes (19)

“Yeon-bong?”
Isang Hee mimicked Simcheong’s line and tilted his body, but internally he was grinding his teeth.
‘Why is there no signal?’
The scene where Yeon-bong—Jin Hali—and Simcheong could naturally come together would end soon.
Once she rode the lotus flower and ascended to the surface, it would be over.
The next scene would be mostly the King and Simcheong’s stage, which Yuhan Seong played, so he wanted to dispose of Jin Hali quickly and enjoy himself.
The time he could dominate minds through the Magic Tool he’d been given wasn’t long, and he could do it once he received the signal, but……
‘I was going to inject the poison along with it!’
The Lethal Skill he’d kept hidden from everyone had only recently manifested.
He’d been considering just selling Jin Hali off as planned, but since she was alive, he thought he’d pretend it was an accident and kill her with his skill instead, so she’d keep nagging at him.
Her body was weak, F-rank, so while other kids were different, his poison would definitely work on someone like Jin Hali.
By the time enough had passed since her kidnapping, she’d already be dead……
But no matter how long he waited, there was no word from the kidnappers.
“It is my first time meeting you, my lady. I am called Yeon-bong.”
At Jin Hali’s late entrance, the audience in the seating area began to stir.
“So that’s……”
“……flew around in……”
“F-rank, they said? Looking at her appearance……”
Unlike Class 8, Isang Hee was in contact with outsiders and knew the situation beyond the Academy better.
Videos shared online.
The comments flying beneath them, the gazes of the public…… their popularity.
Even Isang Hee, who hadn’t gotten caught up in the Annihilation Dungeon like Class 8 and was thus relatively unknown, had considerable recognition because he had the rare Light attribute and was a high-rank Mage in the same Class 8.
He could have endured it if the others were just getting attention.
But Jin Hali……
‘An ominous foreboding that she’ll be right in front of my eyes for the rest of my life.’
In fact, that baseless, weak anxiety was fueling Isang Hee’s actions.
“For the past ten years, since my sudden arrival here, I have dwelt in the Dragon Palace. At the Dragon King’s command, I shall attend to you, my lady.”
Just look at the audience’s eyes.
Even though Isang Hee had done everything he could to draw eyes to himself before removing Jin Hali, the moment Jin Hali appeared, their eyes brightened—he could see it.
‘I can’t stand even that face!’
It was unbearable.
“……Is that so? I understand. I’ll count on you, Yeon-bong.”
Isang Hee finished his line without even attempting to smile.
By the original script, there should have been a line where the Dragon King appealed his filial piety as he sent her off on the lotus flower, but Isang Hee simply omitted that line at will, only wanting Yeon-bong to approach him quickly.
Watching that, Seo-yun glanced toward the back of the stage.
Yuhan Seong’s face bore a worn expression for a moment.
Honestly, the Class 8 students often noticed a killing intent radiating from him whenever he saw Isang Hee, and they’d recoil in fright.
‘Seems like he really hates it, having to act with Isang Hee on stage soon.’
Maybe he was reaching his limit?
Seo-yun laughed inwardly, then mischievously raised the corner of his mouth and opened his mouth.
The play was already falling apart because the Protagonist kept changing the script, so adding one more nail to the coffin wouldn’t hurt.
“Yeon-bong.”
“Yes, Dragon King.”
Yeon-bong—or rather, Hali—who had been agonizing over whether to just approach without the filial piety appeal line, quickly drew near Gong Seo-yun’s side and bowed her head.
Hali’s ear drew close.
At that casual closeness, he was momentarily at a loss for words, but suddenly came to his senses.
‘Why am I flustered over this?’
Hadn’t he been familiar with this distance below the stage?
But honestly, seeing Hali on the stage in a neat hanbok, her hair braided down, her features sharpened by makeup, he felt as though he were facing an unfamiliar situation without knowing why.
Seo-yun quickly shook off the strange sensation and spoke in a loud voice, mimicking a whisper.
“I notice she hasn’t uttered a single word of concern for her father, which makes me suspicious that she harbors other intentions. See that you take her home and return immediately.”
In the original work, the Jade Emperor orders the Dragon King of the Four Seas to rescue the filial daughter Simcheong, but in this adaptation, they’d removed the Jade Emperor and entrusted all his roles to the Dragon King.
At the words that pointed out his omitted line, Isang Hee flinched and opened his mouth.
He seemed about to deliver his line again, but the timing had already passed.
‘How is he going to continue?’
Seo-yun received Hali’s gaze with a spinning smile and spoke leisurely.
“You should answer.”
“……Yes……”
Whispers could be faintly heard from the audience seating.
That the Dragon King’s gaze at Yeon-bong was ominous, that then Simcheong wouldn’t ride the lotus and go to the King but just return home……
Enjoying those sounds, Gong Seo-yun looked at Hali as she moved away, his eyes mixed with concern.
‘If it were up to me, I’d tell her to go straight backstage.’
But he couldn’t, not if he was to catch Isang Hee red-handed.
‘Try not to get too close.’
‘Got it.’
An answer came back immediately to the words he’d sent to Hali.
She answers well, at least.
Since the objective was kidnapping, not murder, he’d accepted this plan. Then they’d have evidence, and he’d be able to rescue Hali safely before the kidnapping happened.
But why.
His senses, sharpened lately thanks to training, kept screaming at him to stop Hali.
Seo-yun watched Hali drawing near Isang Hee irritably, then glanced beyond her toward Yuhan Seong in the Waiting Area.
He reassured himself that if it were truly dangerous, Yuhan Seong would have sensed it.
And the moment he saw his expression, he knew something was wrong.
‘What? Why like that?’
Yuhan Seong answered him immediately.
‘That light……. Could it be.’
‘Light?’
As Hali drew closer, the light dimmed.
Isang Hee’s face also showed a strange mixture of alarm and stubbornness; he didn’t seem to be in the right mind to act.
But that alone wasn’t enough to tell.
Half-risen from the throne, Seo-yun pressed Han Seong.
‘What is it!’
‘Jin Hali. Hali, stop for now.’
Instead of answering, he went straight to restraining Hali, which made Seo-yun tense.
And contrary to expectation, Hali, as if she hadn’t heard Yuhan Seong’s words, touched Isang Hee’s radiance.
In that instant, goosebumps erupted down his spine.
Though he couldn’t explain the reasoning, he instinctively understood that something had gone wrong.
Gong Seo-yun immediately drove off from his seat and descended.
***
He was running.
The sensation of his lungs contracting and expanding—he felt it for the first time in a long while. Cold sweat trickling down the back of his neck and seeping into his back too.
His Mana had been completely spent using skills while fleeing, so it couldn’t be helped.
Was it a mistake?
Even though he’d already gotten far away, the noise from within the Festival still seemed to reach him.
The true festival had never even begun.
‘Whether you call it Narin or not.’
Yes, he’d kept some possibility of failure in mind for the other things, so there was nothing shameful about calling them failures—just a pity.
‘But I achieved my top priority.’
The moment his foot touched the ground of the Alley, a sensation washed over him that the thought might not be his own.
It was a familiar sensation.
He opened a ventilation shaft cover, entered, closed it again from inside, and stopped in the darkness.
He steadied his breathing once.
This Underground Passage was built as a makeshift addition atop an old drainage structure designed before the Great Cataclysm.
A space that didn’t appear on official maps.
After a moment.
He began to walk with his waist bent slightly.
When he first walked this passage two years ago, the person who guided him had said:
‘Think of this place as a Dungeon from here on.’
Don’t cross the temperament of the Dungeon Bosses—the rulers of the Other World.
When he opened a door no one knew of, a passage filled with the Mana of the Other World appeared.
He didn’t know if any pursuit had attached itself to him.
But he didn’t know.
That plants sprout even where only rusty pipes fill a space, if there’s just a handful of soil.
And that such sprouts typically grow in crevices, hidden from their natural enemies.
The moment the criminal became confident they’d entered their own territory, they began to subtly lower their guard.
-Are you handling this properly?
And to the master’s voice that reached him, he answered without hesitation, voice ringing out:
“No issues. I’ve delivered the goods as well. That human will move even without a signal.”

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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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