Was Happy Being a Despised F-Rank Healer, You Know? - Chapter 186
—————
This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
—————
19. And the Pinwheel Turned (4)
Song Mun-gyeol moved the moment he received Blue Bird’s report.
Catching up to Jin Hali was easy enough.
But there was one thing.
He’d sensed her presence suddenly vanish, evading his aura detection—and that bothered him.
‘As if she’d used Teleportation.’
Teleportation? On an F-rank Healer?
Teleportation was a rare spatial-displacement skill—even Magical Tools for it were seldom discovered.
It would be remarkable if such a tool was in this student’s hands; it would be even more remarkable if she didn’t have one and possessed the skill itself.
How could someone with such a skill possibly be F-rank?
Letting those thoughts drift away, Song Mun-gyeol called out to Jin Hali.
“Hey, you there, student!”
“…….”
“Jin Hali!”
He couldn’t call out loudly enough to draw attention.
Even after closing the distance so she could hear, Jin Hali gave no response.
She merely walked on in a daze, trying to leave the Festival Plaza.
He had no choice but to grab her forearm and stop her.
Instinct told him—with absolute certainty—that he couldn’t let her leave the Dungeon like this.
‘Why is that bastard so slow?’
He’d only just sent word for the Principal and the Class 8 teacher, yet Song Mun-gyeol found himself cursing the junior he’d dispatched.
Being a mere visitor, not a teacher, meant he was already on thin ice just by physically blocking the student’s movement.
And that wasn’t even the worst of it.
Jin Hali’s condition looked distinctly wrong.
‘It feels like she’s been brainwashed.’
He’d need to confirm the details, but.
“Tsk.”
Just as he was about to take Jin Hali directly to Class 8, Song Mun-gyeol stopped short.
He’d just realized that as Jin Hali made her way here in this state, he hadn’t seen a single member of Class 8.
‘Either they didn’t notice, or they let her go knowingly. Either way, that’s a problem.’
For him, even the Class 8 teacher had become untrustworthy in that moment.
Brainwashing symptoms were that grave a matter.
Should he take her directly to the Principal instead?
But just then—as Jin Hali continued struggling forward despite her arm being held, creating a scene that made Song Mun-gyeol look increasingly suspect—she began to stroke Blue Bird’s head with her fingertips.
Song Mun-gyeol’s eyes narrowed.
He’d just witnessed her writing ‘He—give—me’ on Blue Bird’s head as she stroked it.
‘Surely not.’
“So you didn’t actually need help?” he asked.
“…….”
“Don’t worry. No one around here will hear what we say.”
A voice like a nightingale’s song flowed through Blue Bird’s chirp and seeped into Jin Hali’s ears.
“To everyone else, it’ll just sound like birdsong. Could we move somewhere more private for a moment? Once we talk and I’ve assured you, I won’t stop you from going.”
Jin Hali’s fingers, which had hesitated, began to write in the air.
‘O.K.’
Song Mun-gyeol’s lips twitched in spite of himself. Just as he was about to move to a secluded spot with Jin Hali—
Whoosh—
A spray of water flashed before his eyes.
By reflex, he released Jin Hali’s arm and stepped back; the Blue Bird perched near her fluttered away and landed on Song Mun-gyeol’s shoulder instead.
Unperturbed by the sudden water droplets, Song Mun-gyeol stared intently in the direction of Jin Hali.
A silhouette emerged within the spray of mist, and he exhaled softly in appreciation.
“Pardon me, but who are you?”
To the casual eye, Hali appeared to be enveloped in a soft, blue-tinted mist. But on closer inspection, one could tell it was shadow itself.
Song Mun-gyeol answered toward the direction from which the voice had come.
“That’s an ability I’ve never seen in any footage.”
“I asked who you were.”
Hali resumed walking in her daze.
Without the slightest hindrance, the water-spray—now more like a guardian spirit—kept her wrapped in seamless defense, watching the surroundings with proprietorial wariness.
“Your classmate appears to be caught in a terrible curse and dragged away. You’re doing nothing?”
An answer emerged from the empty air.
“I won’t ask a third time. Whoever you are, don’t interfere. Just leave.”
“Your student’s personality is exactly as I suspected,” Song Mun-gyeol said with a quiet laugh, finding Jin Hali more amusing than he’d expected.
He continued, “Polite, well-educated bearing—a proper young man. But your aura doesn’t match that at all, does it? Lee Hae-sol.”
Lee Hae-sol offered no reply.
“Ah, you want to know who I am? I’ll tell you,” Song Mun-gyeol said, his voice like a nightingale’s song, his tone warm with laughter.
He withdrew something from his pocket.
A golden Credential identifying him as Vice-Guildmaster of the Eden Guild.
“……So, I take it you meant to rescue Hali?”
“What else would it be?”
Detecting that there was something more Lee Hae-sol wasn’t saying, Song Mun-gyeol pressed further, testing him.
“Not you yourself, but someone is targeting Jin Hali. That’s what I’m hearing. Did I mishear?”
“…….”
“But here’s what’s strange. You seem to be the type who would let her remain in such danger rather than act. So let me ask again: your classmate appears to be in crisis. Why are you doing nothing?”
Depending on the situation, either one of them could be reported to the Awakened Management Center.
Sensing that, a troubled sigh emerged from the empty air.
“If you wouldn’t mind, how about all three of us—including Hali—step aside for a moment? There’s an explanation needed.”
“Very well.”
At the precise moment the water-spray transformed into mist, Song Mun-gyeol summoned his birds.
Not ordinary birds—Nova, a creature of the Other World.
The bird, having concealed all three of them, scattered into the air with a whisper of wind.
Nothing remained.
“……What the—?”
Isang Hee arrived at the spot where Jin Hali had been mere moments too late, spinning around in confusion.
Sensing something was off with Isang Hee, people nearby began to glance his way.
The very people who, until mere seconds ago, had paid the three no attention whatsoever.
“Nova? A bird that drinks dragon’s blood. It has Teleportation and Invisibility abilities, but it can’t move things too far, and Invisibility doesn’t last long, so I don’t use it often.”
Lee Hae-sol regarded the unfamiliar, broad-shouldered Hunter with a strange look—his manner of speaking oddly warmer than before.
But his gaze soon drifted to Hali, who walked beside him holding his hand in a vacant stare.
“Does she like it?”
“What?”
“You jumped in surprise, so I’d say yes. Good—enjoy it while you can.”
“That’s not what’s happening.”
“Sure it isn’t.”
Song Mun-gyeol chuckled as he watched Lee Hae-sol’s ears flush red, muttering something to himself about a successful fan.
“I’m Song Mun-gyeol, by the way. Nice to meet you.”
While it seemed unlikely they’d have much occasion to meet again, Lee Hae-sol bowed his head courteously nonetheless.
“So? Do you have an explanation ready?”
Lee Hae-sol wondered as they arrived at a secluded gazebo within the Sinmyeong Dungeon—was there such a place here?
He wasn’t nervous, exactly.
If Song Mun-gyeol was Eden Guild and Vice-Guildmaster no less, he couldn’t be a criminal, and he was a trustworthy Hunter.
‘But if I tell him everything, he might object that it’s too dangerous.’
If that happened, Lee Hae-sol wouldn’t be able to stop him.
He couldn’t afford to waste time deliberating.
He needed to hurry back.
He had to capture evidence of the external criminals—including Isang Hee—the moment they tried to kidnap Hali.
It was a role he and Yu Hee had originally shared, but his Direct Line was currently detained by their teacher, so he’d come alone.
This was the hidden reason why those two weren’t taking major roles on stage but instead managing the audience.
Isang Hee didn’t know this.
‘How far to go? ……Hali?’
As Lee Hae-sol deliberated, Hali tapped his hand twice.
Sensing it, Lee Hae-sol hesitated briefly, then began to read the letters Hali was writing on his palm while pretending to think.
‘B—rain—wash.’
Song Mun-gyeol sat perched on the railing with his arms crossed, observing Lee Hae-sol carefully.
Then he opened his mouth.
“Let me just confirm one thing first.”
‘E—xplain?’
Only about the brainwashing?
……Ah, that’s right.
That would be the immediate problem.
Lee Hae-sol realized only then that he’d been more flustered than he thought—unable to even grasp something so simple.
And true to Hali’s reading—
Song Mun-gyeol’s question came through.
“Who cast the brainwashing? A student from Class 8?”
His voice was now businesslike and heavy, nothing like before.
—————
This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
—————