Was Happy Being a Despised F-Rank Healer, You Know? - Chapter 192

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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 Spun (10)

“……What’s this?”
The Outsider, who had been looking around cautiously with me slung over his shoulder, came to an abrupt halt.
Then he clicked his tongue and resumed walking.
Into the door.
“It’s opening on its own? First time I’ve seen that. ……Did he wait for us? That bastard?”
‘……First, tell me about that Salsal Flower, Eden. I’ll listen while I scout ahead.’
My vision was a mess, but it wasn’t hard to see inside through the Lion.
‘Got it.’
‘We’re coming too.’
‘Of course. Don’t let your guard down, remember this is reconnaissance, not combat. And if anything feels even slightly off, we bail immediately. Clear?’
All the kids confirmed they understood.
And the moment Eden started explaining the Salsal Flower, the Lion’s vision became sharper and more clearly shared with me.
‘Long story short, that flower from the Underworld has the power of resurrection. You all know the Baridegi folktale, right?’
‘We already figured it out since we’re going into the Baridegi Dungeon!’
‘Right. In that tale, Princess Baridegi goes to the Underworld to save her parents and brings back the Reincarnation Flower. The Salsal Flower is one of those reincarnation flowers.’
[Can you see clearly?]
‘……Yeah, I can see.’
The building looked ordinary from the outside, but inside was completely different.
Just past the entrance, the corridor bent downward sharply, yet the Outsider carrying me walked it as if traversing level ground.
That part was probably just my own nervousness as an F-rank acting up.
The kids following us didn’t seem particularly startled by the corridor’s strange angle either.
‘The princess brought back three flowers along with the sacred water from the Underworld: the Salsal Flower, the Pisali Flower or Bone-Mending Flower, and the Sumsali Flower or Breath-Returning Flower. The folklore records it that way, but did you know there was an Awakener among the first Awakeners who had Baridegi’s power?’
‘Never heard of it.’
‘Me neither.’
‘They’re an Erased Awakener. These Erased Awakeners — for some reason, or because they were too dangerous — weren’t recorded in history, but records proving their existence haven’t completely vanished. They’re just unknown to the general public. One of them is that Baridegi, or rather……a Saint.’
I listened to Eden’s explanation while carefully making sure my body didn’t tense up as I examined the walls.
Mana-infused markings were carved into the walls at regular intervals.
Now that I thought about it, those God-Slayer groups supposedly used dungeon surfaces as passageways.
Was this one of those passages?
……And a saint, no less.
I hid my growing unease and interjected briefly.
‘Wait. When we came in, did the entrance door close?’
‘I checked, and the door just completely vanished!’
Ha-yan answered in her cheerful, carefree voice.
Silence settled over us for a moment before several voices cried out in alarm.
‘No, no, that’s not something you should say so lightly, is it?’
‘So the Teacher can’t get in?’
‘No problem. I tied a vine marker around my waist when we came in. He’ll be watching.’
‘Ugh, so only you guys did that?’
‘What else? That door just suddenly opened. Besides, we were in front, so there was no time to tell anyone.’
When Han Seong and the rest of our party members mentioned they’d tied vine markers around their waists, the other kids teased them, but they accepted Seo Jeong-u’s wry smile and quiet laugh with resignation.
He was right—the whole thing happened in an instant.
‘The Teacher’s probably grinding his teeth outside right now.’
While the Yuhan Seong Party members distributed the vines among themselves, Jung Eun spoke in her characteristic sardonic tone.
Hyun I-seo suddenly said something.
‘……But haven’t we built up quite a bit of trouble to answer for?’
Even though punishment wasn’t exactly terrifying, the kids all looked a little tense.
‘……I’ve been explaining things as we go, more or less.’
Yu Hee, who’d been tasked with explaining the direct line issue, muttered.
Everyone seemed to realize the current situation explanation was indeed lacking, so they just exchanged awkward laughs.
‘Let’s not think about it now.’
Eden spoke with a sigh in his voice, then continued.
‘But a Saint, you said? Does anything come to mind?’
‘Well……I have heard the word before, but they’re someone from way too long ago…….’
‘I haven’t even heard of them!’
While everyone answered, I spoke.
‘There is some information about saints remaining, so I’ve seen related documents in the library. But Eden, wasn’t that saint unrelated to Baridegi?’
‘At first I thought there was only that one saint, but later I found out there were more Erased Saints. And once I checked all those cases, I realized something: those Hunters—at least the Hunters who had the power of a Saint—didn’t belong to Another World. They belonged to this land.’
‘What do you mean? Are there categories like that among Hunters?’
‘Like the difference between Hali’s dungeon and other dungeons, it means there are Awakeners with power closely tied to this world.’
Do you know what’s strangest right now?
It’s that the Lion hasn’t said a single word.
Neither has Erich.
They were just examining the interior with me, corner by corner, without adding any commentary.
‘So you’re saying the Saint is one of those Awakeners.’
Lee Hae-sol affirmed Eden’s statement.
‘And I found something all the Erased Saints had in common.’
‘What?’
‘……It’s almost miraculous how I figured this out.’
‘I have a related skill. ……Anyway, that commonality is: they all possessed the power of those flowers from the Baridegi folktale.’
Flowers that make flesh bloom where touched, that make bones knit, that make blood flow, that restore breath.
‘As a skill?’
‘Who knows.’
I wanted to ask “Then what?” but didn’t.
An inexplicable dread was creeping over me.
‘……Whether it was a skill or something else, I can’t say. It was good for masking as a Healer, but unlike a Healer, something was different about it.’
In that moment, we probably all thought of the same thing.
‘……What was different about it?’
Hyun I-seo asked in a subdued voice.
Eden hesitated slightly before answering.
‘For one, there are records of them resurrecting even the dead.’
‘What?’
Han Seong echoed in disbelief.
‘The power worked not just on humans but on all things—though I don’t know how broad “all things” means. Whether it included dungeon creatures…….’
‘Better to keep it hidden.’
Yu Hee said.
Eden immediately countered.
‘……According to the records, it’s impossible for a Saint to hide their identity.’
‘Why?’
‘It’s just——’
The corridor was ending, so his voice picked up speed.
‘Mana shows an aurora. Hali’s…….’
Mana. Aurora.
For a moment, I wanted to stop Eden mid-sentence, but the situation didn’t allow it.
‘You’ve barely used healing publicly, right? You said your healing level is still low, didn’t you, Hali?’
‘……Yeah.’
‘That might have been a stroke of luck. But looking at your potions……. I’d say it’s already been exposed. Though that anomaly in potions from mana—that was a phenomenon found in S-rank Healers’ potions, right? So even if someone noticed, they’d still be uncertain.’
I remembered people saying my potions showed a soft glow.
‘Since you’re an F-rank Healer, it might seem odd, but there’s something strange about this too. F-rank Healers didn’t exist in ancient times. They only appeared later, relatively speaking. Which means F-rank Healers might be connected to the Erased Saints. This is just my hypothesis, but there’s no law saying someone else wouldn’t come up with the same theory, so I’m mentioning it just in case.’
F-rank always existed, but F-rank Healers appeared later.
By now, only the rapid-fire stream of Eden’s words reached our ears.
None of us could find a response.
‘At any rate, for now. You should be fine for now, Hali. It seems healing skills at low levels don’t show anomalies in mana. The glow mixed in potions isn’t enough to be conclusive either.’
‘I guess so. ……Thanks for sharing, Eden.’
‘……I wanted to tell you privately, honestly. I mentioned to the Teacher early on that you might be a saint, but I didn’t share the research results after that. Sorry, but it felt like now was the right time. It’s all just hypothesis, though.’
‘No, the timing was perfect. And wow, Eden, how did you investigate all this?’
‘Information invisible to the naked eye started becoming visible. Right now even this space looks different to my eyes. This space—it’s not a dungeon. It’s genuinely the interior of a normal building, but I can see strange magical formations.’
‘Tell Han Seong, Lee Hae-sol, and Yu Hee.’
Han Seong probably couldn’t be stumped, and Lee Hae-sol and Yu Hee had accumulated considerable knowledge growing up in their families.
‘That should work.’
While Eden relayed information about the magical formations to them, I thought.
Really, the timing was perfect.
Class 8 was a community of shared fate anyway.
‘You okay?’
Hyun I-seo and Seo Jeong-u asked almost simultaneously.
‘They suspect the Saint might be me, but nothing’s confirmed. And our enemies are probably confused too.’
Both nodded in agreement.
‘If we’d learned later, it might’ve been too late.’
I pushed the confusion aside and stared hard at the door at the end of the corridor.
And I spoke.
‘If only the ancient, first-generation Awakeners are recorded, and all the Saints who appeared afterward were erased……then it stands to reason that humans who noticed something from observing that first Awakener killed all the Saints who came later.’
If a dragon’s dungeon had a door, it would probably look like this.
That’s the kind of thought the doorknob-less door provoked.
[A sliding door.]
The Lion spoke in an inscrutable voice.
[The God-Slayers are paranoid. They don’t make door handles. Only registered mana can open it.]
Erich too.
Both had been quiet throughout Eden’s research presentation.
As if her hypothesis was the complete and utter truth.
‘It wouldn’t even be strange if those God-Slayers we’re facing are the ones who’ve been erasing Saints.’
Seo Jeong-u and Hyun I-seo fell silent for a moment.
That silence was assent.
I couldn’t help but think of one thing I’d been trying not to remember.
‘The power worked not just on humans but on all things—though I don’t know how broad “all things” means. Whether it included dungeon creatures…….’
‘F-rank Healers didn’t exist in ancient times.’
The original Jin Hali.
I thought I was beginning to understand why her blood had the power to draw monsters.

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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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