Was Happy Being a Despised F-Rank Healer, You Know? - Chapter 182

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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 Has Opened Their Eyes (21)

“……Should I go out now?”
“Well, I suppose so?”
As we turned toward the backstage area, I heard Han Seong chuckling as if bewildered, while Hyun I-seo answered awkwardly in reply.
Originally, the “King” was supposed to make his entrance after Shim Bong-sa and Baendeok-eomeom appeared.
I’m not sure why Seo Jeong-u changed the flow now, but I decided to go along with it.
“Hali.”
Yuhan Seong, who had been heading toward the stage with a sigh as if changing places, stopped abruptly once he was close enough to examine my condition.
I felt his piercing gaze scanning me in detail.
‘I’m fine.’
Before he could ask anything further, I answered through thought, and the lion, who had been holding back all this time, suddenly cried out.
[You’re not fine at all! Nari, please take a potion right away——!]
Oh no. Han Seong’s eyes narrowed.
Lee Hae-sol, who was supporting me from the other side as we walked, was also staring directly at me.
I suppose this was as expected?
Isang Hee, who had returned backstage and wasn’t even getting down from the Lotus Carriage, kept glancing my way with the expression of someone who’d lost a tooth they’d been aching over.
‘So that skill really awakened at this precise moment.’
An odd thought suddenly struck me.
Unlike the others, Isang Hee wasn’t training with us specifically for Annihilation Dungeon preparation.
Yet his Skill Awakenings and Rank Advancements were happening at an accelerated pace.
As if he were keeping pace with us.
Even if he had emotional motivation toward me, could growth of that magnitude really occur from that alone?
‘Hali, how are you holding up?’
I also heard Seo Jeong-u’s voice asking cautiously from the stage.
I gathered myself.
Beyond just them, I could sense the sharp tension emanating from the other students backstage. So I finally opened my mouth.
‘Everyone, calm down. Nothing serious happened.’
‘For someone “nothing serious,” Isang Hee’s face sure lit up.’
Eden replied coldly.
I didn’t even glance his way as I methodically relayed what needed to be said.
‘That Radiant Light he kept producing until just now seems to be a skill. Since my body started going numb the moment it touched me, it looks like some kind of poison——but I’m not sure if it’s just one type or if he can manipulate multiple kinds. So if he uses that skill again, don’t get close. Keep your distance.’
Eden and Jung Eun’s mouths fell slightly open.
Yu Hee approached and called to me quietly.
“Hali, you’re sweating cold——.”
Yeah, that’s perfectly natural enough!
But alongside the hand wiping my forehead came Yu Hee’s gaze, which was quiet yet so savage it made me want to break into a cold sweat for real.
“Have you passed on the message?”
As Kim Myeong-hyeon went out first to play the servant role, Seo Jeong-u as the Dragon King was left alone on stage, dragging out time with disjointed monologue.
Our play is a complete mess, honestly.
If the situation were different, I might have let out a hollow laugh, but I didn’t have that luxury.
As I grew a little more comfortable breathing thanks to the Antidote Potion I’d swallowed beforehand, I downed a few more, gauging the combined effect of the Recovery Boost Potion and others.
‘And this is just a hypothesis, but that skill of Isang Hee’s might also prevent the poison from being detoxified while the light is maintained.’
For now, Isang Hee had turned off the skill, perhaps because his Mana was truly depleted, but right up until just before we came backstage, he’d kept the light flickering on and off.
‘The moment the light disappeared, the Antidote Potion started working properly.’
Hmm.
I think this might be the first time I’ve seen Lee Hae-sol washing his face with his hands like that.
‘I’m fine for now.’
Actually, the real problem was the Magical Artifact Isang Hee had used on me during the confusion caused by the poison.
If I mentioned that too, it really did seem like we’d have to stop the play altogether.
That would make controlling Isang Hee even harder, so it was better to avoid it if at all possible.
‘Really!’
‘No matter how I look at it, you don’t seem fine. Was there nothing else?’
Hyun I-seo, who had approached without my noticing, stood beside Yu Hee and asked anxiously, staring at me.
And Yuhan Seong moved once more.
As he passed by, he spoke so everyone could hear.
‘In that state, I don’t think you can pull off pretending to be abducted. I’d recommend thinking it over once more, Hali.’
Silent gazes of agreement poured in from all directions.
Isang Hee was looking at us strangely.
Well, we weren’t making a fuss of concern and were just sending knowing looks, so it probably did seem odd.
Ordinarily, at this point, one might wonder if we too possessed Magical Artifacts, but Isang Hee seemed to have something more important on his mind.
Because even as he looked at the others suspiciously, he couldn’t hide his interest and anticipation toward me.
What was he anticipating?
I already knew the answer.
Ever since the Magical Artifact took effect, an abnormal phenomenon that wasn’t easily resolved even by Mental Barrier Potion and the like had been gradually intensifying.
-Get up and get out.
The bodiless command kept raising its voice.
Lee Hae-sol, as if he remembered what I’d said earlier, was supporting me without panic, neither speaking nor thinking further as I kept silent.
I was startled for a moment by how visibly tense his face had become, but only for a moment.
Once Tak Jung-eun and Seo Jeong-u went out as the king and his retainer, gasps erupted from the Audience Seating.
The lines Eden had improvised on the spot came flowing from them.
“……A letter from none other than the Dragon Palace, Your Highness.”
“A letter from the Dragon Palace, which exists only in legend? Seems even fish are learning to write these days.”
There was a subtle authority woven into the low, cold tone of the delivery.
“Um, when, when do I go on?”
Isang Hee asked Eden bluntly, not bothering with the atmosphere.
……Wasn’t he supposed to have stopped pretending to be timid?
“Who knows. Judging by how it’s flowing. The timing to meet your father should come soon.”
Eden replied with perfect composure.
“That seems a bit…… irresponsible…….”
“Huh? That’s not something I want to hear from someone who just made up dialogue out of nowhere.”
“I, I did my best…….”
You did your best at causing problems, sure…….
The comment had risen all the way to my throat, but I swallowed it. Right now, securing decisive evidence was the highest priority, so I couldn’t afford to be overly confrontational.
But from Eden’s expression alone, he’d heard everything.
Isang Hee, however, was too absorbed in staring at me to notice.
“But why, why is Hali…… like that?”
It was unexpectedly Lee Hae-sol who answered Isang Hee’s question, spoken in a sweeter, more suggestive tone than ever before.
“Hali doesn’t seem to be feeling well.”
“But Hali is a Healer, right? Can’t you treat yourself? You have potions too…….”
-Get out.
Ah…… the command was growing stronger.
Through the flickering haze in my vision, I could see Lee Hae-sol’s hand.
He’d drawn me close, half-embracing me, and continued speaking.
“That’s what I’m about to find out.”
Though his tone was gentle, for some reason a chill ran through me.
As if I were facing down killing intent itself.
“But Isang Hee, do you know what?”
“……What?”
“If anything were to happen to Hali, my clan would move before I even did.”
Isang Hee faltered. Then, looking between me and Lee Hae-sol with discomfort, his eyes blazed with dark menace.
“So, so what?”
“I’m just letting you know in case you didn’t realize.”
“…….”
My clan, was it.
It was the first time I’d heard Lee Hae-sol use that phrase.
Unlike Yu Hee, who seemed to dislike her family yet bore its influence deeply, he appeared to harbor neither affection nor hatred toward the Lee Clan.
Even now, I felt no particular emotion, yet the fact that he referred to the Lee Clan as his own showed no awkwardness——which meant he had completely escaped the original story’s destiny.
Perhaps he’d resolved something with his clan on his own, without letting any of us know?
Even as my vision continued to flicker and blur, such thoughts occupied me.
If that were true, then Lee Hae-sol’s Lee Clan might yet prove to be a valuable asset in what was to come.
Whether Lee Hae-sol spoke now intending for me to think such thoughts, I couldn’t say.
-Leave your divine form and wait among the external audience members.
I finally capitulated, seemingly, and rose to my feet.
To be honest, the hardest part seemed to be feigning being swept along by this messy Magical Artifact’s effect.
[How dare they! Against my master Nari!]
The lion, striking down Mental Control attempts as they came.
Erich too was seething with no small fury, and even the other Baridegi bosses were resonating with the lion, their wrath conveyed clearly.
Yeah, honestly, I could snap back to normal right now.
But gathering decisive proof that Isang Hee had colluded with outsiders to sell out a classmate——that was necessary work.
‘The role Isang Hee played in the original story……. Well, at least I don’t need to worry about the combat aspect, so I’ll do my best to fill in the Healer’s role he was substituting and the purification part.’
……Maybe I’ll have to enter the Annihilation Dungeon even after graduation, once or twice.
Yet somehow, it didn’t feel as much of a deterrent as before.
The restriction against spilling blood still remained, but I was no longer so defenseless that I’d avoid the dungeon out of concern for it.
It was rather like a joke——it wasn’t Shim Bong-sa whose eyes opened when Sim Cheong fell into the Indang Rapids. It was me.
Her misguided choice had become, in a sense, a turning point for me.
“I’m going to get some fresh air.”
“Okay.”
A turning point that would erase some unnamed line I hadn’t even known existed within me.

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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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