Was Happy Being a Despised F-Rank Healer, You Know? - Chapter 183

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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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19. And the Pinwheel Turned (1)

Song Mun-gyeol, vice-master of Eden Guild, was a two-meter-tall Hunter with sun-darkened skin and sharp, distinct features.
He disliked journalists because he was the kind of Hunter who stood out wherever he went.
In appearance, in skill, in his voice.
“Was it really necessary to come all the way to the Academy festival?”
“The Guild Master wished it, so what choice do I have?”
Guided by a former Eden Guild member and current Narin teacher, he replied in a voice like a nightingale’s song.
That clear, high voice flowing like jade beads suited him not at all.
Journalists never failed to mention his voice when discussing his achievements or praising his appearance, which only inflamed his anger.
So he typically avoided places where journalists congregated, yet here he was today.
And on the first day, when they were most numerous.
Officially, it was all because of Eden Guild’s gruff Guild Master.
Since watching that Class 8 Dungeon footage from first year, the Guild Master had been waiting for this day with unwavering focus.
“Go see it with your own eyes!”
“Couldn’t you simply scout them before graduation?”
“Am I supposed to blindly make contact on my impressions alone while offering them top-tier treatment?”
“……Couldn’t you just send someone else?”
“Not this time.”
It was a request made with rare sincerity by the Guild Master, whose expression was ordinarily grim.
“You know as well as I do. The Annihilation Dungeon is connected to this. That thing will follow those kids around for years to come.”
Song Mun-gyeol was one of the few people who had discerned the pattern of the Annihilation Dungeon.
Though still in the realm of hypothesis, Eden Guild’s upper ranks accepted it as established fact.
So Song Mun-gyeol had been unable to refuse and had come here accordingly.
“Those kids will move as a single unit, mark my words. At least until they clear the Annihilation.”
‘Though honestly, even if that’s true, I’m not sure why it’s necessary to start now, when they’re still first-years.’
It was a painful truth, but honestly, their scouting targets would be whoever survived from Class 8.
In the unlikely event this Annihilation period stretched long enough to extend beyond graduation, any survivors would need to cooperate with other Hunters.
Which would mean the Annihilation had grown stronger still…….
Yet even as Song Mun-gyeol entertained these various realistic scenarios, he said nothing and allowed himself to be hurried here by the Guild Master’s insistence.
Because the Guild Master was serious?
That wasn’t entirely wrong, but the deeper reason was more personal.
“Fine, fine. But I won’t make direct contact. If journalists catch wind of me, it’ll be worse for the kids than for me.”
“Of course! Just go gauge their skills, and secretly—emphasis on secretly!—if there’s anything you can help with, offer a word of advice here and there.”
“……The job keeps expanding, doesn’t it.”
“You’re imagining things.”
Brazen bastard.
But that Guild Master was probably grinding his teeth behind Song Mun-gyeol’s back even now, calling him sneaky.
Because Song Mun-gyeol pretended otherwise, yet he watched those Class 8 kids—the Annihilation’s future adversaries—with just as keen an interest as the Guild Master.
Monitoring online reactions about those kids and preventing things from heading in a negative direction had become his recent hobby.
His fan enthusiasm was so fervent that even the Guild Master had warned him to stay within what the guild could officially oversee.
‘But I’m an all-fan,’
(a fan who loves all members equally rather than favoring a specific individual)
‘that’s the thing.’
The cold rationality of a Hunter said those below A-rank in that class would never survive.
But intuition kept whispering hope.
‘……They’re showing unprecedented growth. Who knows? Maybe they’ll all become S-rank.’
Even novels get roasted for that kind of writing.
Yet he kept finding himself captivated by an illusion that such an impossible hope was visibly manifesting.
‘……I really need to empty my mind.’
Even without such intense intuition attached, he’d expected similar things of juniors before and been let down more than once.
But something felt different this time.
So he watched those Class 8 kids as a kind of world’s hope, cheering for them with an uncle’s fervent heart.
There was surely also a sense of guilt at seeing children shouldering burdens too heavy for their age.
In any case, that was why he found himself in a rather excited state.
But he couldn’t reveal such intimate reasoning to his former colleague, his guide.
He threw the Guild Master under the bus instead.
“If word gets out that the vice-master of Eden Guild has come, all the students will lose their composure. And of all people, someone as conspicuous as you had to show up. There are other options, you know. That one from the assassin clans…….”
“You’re awfully dissatisfied.”
“Our kids will be discouraged. What could be more important than that?”
“Hmph.”
That jade-like voice uttering a dismissive sound made it sound like a sheltered noblewoman sulking.
The teacher felt goosebumps rise unbidden and shuddered.
Before Song Mun-gyeol could strike his broad, pot-lid-like palm against his back, the teacher quickly changed the subject.
He’d said everything he needed to anyway.
“So where would you like to go first? Things are chaotic now, so let’s move as quietly as possible.”
“……Chaotic? Why?”
Song Mun-gyeol glanced at him as if letting it slide, and the teacher’s expression shifted to dismay.
The slight rise of his eyebrows suggested there was no way to dodge around this with Song Mun-gyeol.
‘Well, the Principal already asked us to cooperate with Eden Guild anyway, so it shouldn’t matter.’
The teacher sighed, raised a soundproof barrier using a Magic Tool, and opened his mouth.
‘He’s raising a soundproof barrier?’
Something had happened, then.
Though he might’ve been nervous on opening day, a teacher shouldn’t have anything legitimately chaotic to report. Not normally.
Song Mun-gyeol, who knew things by virtue of being Narin Alumni, waited silently for the teacher’s account.
And when he heard the explanation of the terror threat that had just occurred, his face darkened considerably.
“So the problem didn’t actually materialize?”
“Right. We’re handling the investigation ourselves, but……the Principal thought it would be good if Eden Guild kept an eye on things too, just in case.”
“Understood. I’ll have someone contact you. Ah, Class 8 first-years—are they alright?”
“They seem to have their own matters to attend to, but only their homeroom teacher and the Principal know the details.”
“The kids themselves are okay?”
The teacher gave Song Mun-gyeol a suspicious look.
Is he trying to scout Class 8?
But no matter how famous those kids had become lately, they were still first-years.
Standard scouting was done carefully with third-years, or at the earliest, mid-year second-years.
The scouting itself could have a major impact during adolescence, and first-years were still unpredictable.
If his knowledge was correct, Eden would be more cautious than other guilds about that, not less.
‘Has policy changed?’
But there was no hint of bureaucratic enthusiasm about scouting in Song Mun-gyeol’s expression.
It looked like pure curiosity.
‘Like a fan of idols……. What am I even thinking.’
It was an entirely uncharacteristic thought about Song Mun-gyeol.
The teacher cleared his throat and answered.
“The kids are safe.”
To be honest, the teacher had thought Song Mun-gyeol was here because of how frequently the dungeon Class 8 entered had rank fluctuations, not because of Class 8 themselves.
It seemed the Guild Master had sensed that much and sent someone of vice-master caliber.
But…….
“Safe is good, but a terror threat is strange. If I were a criminal, I’d try kidnapping first.”
“That’s true. We found it odd as well.”
“It might be a feint. Taking promising students during the chaos, say.”
“Could kidnapping even be possible during a bombing?”
“Only if the perpetrators were capable. Then they were targeting A-rank or B-rank students. ……So Class 8 first-years really had no issues?”
“……No, there really weren’t any issues.”
“Then what’s this about?”
“They’re doing a play……. Would you, um, like to see it?”
“One moment.”
Song Mun-gyeol quickly recorded a message in holographic form via a Communication Crystal-shaped device and sent it off.
The sight of it vanishing into thin air was impressive, but only briefly.
“The Guild Master will move on this now, so don’t worry. Lead the way.”
“……Eh? Yes? Where to?”
“To the play, you said.”
……Was he really here on official business?
He had to be, right?
The teacher quickly composed his expression and nodded.
As the two of them lowered the soundproof barrier and headed toward Class 8’s play venue.
“Hm?”
“What is it?”
The teacher guiding Song Mun-gyeol stopped short.
Song Mun-gyeol, stopping as a result, asked his question, and the teacher tilted his head while pointing at something.
“Over there—isn’t that Jin Hali?”
“What? Where!”
Song Mun-gyeol turned his head about eagerly, his fan enthusiasm barely contained.
The sight of the two-meter figure’s eyes sparkling made the teacher regard him with a jaded look.
“Yeah, it’s Jin Hali. She’s over there, see? The play should be in full swing, so why is she out here? Did she not have a role?”
“……Go call the Principal.”
“……What?”
But as the teacher gazed worriedly at Jin Hali and murmured, Song Mun-gyeol’s expression gradually hardened.
His eyes never left Jin Hali’s direction as he quietly issued an instruction to his former junior.
“Bring the homeroom teacher too if she’s available.”
“……Understood.”
The teacher, reading the room, moved immediately.
Song Mun-gyeol stood alone and motionless, both hands in his suit pockets, eyes unfocused and moving slowly toward Jin Hali. He released the Blue Bird to her.
To him, who communed with all birds in the world, the Blue Bird began to relay Jin Hali’s precise condition to him.

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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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