Was Happy Being a Despised F-Rank Healer, You Know? - Chapter 193
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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 (11)
Jin Hali was a character who died early in the original story.
Her role was to leave information with Yuhan Seong that the blood of an F-rank Healer—her blood—was alluring to monsters, and then die.
This information had been used as a device to reveal Yuhan Seong’s loss of humanity.
But the original version had left out the ‘why.’
It simply stated that an F-rank Healer’s blood was like that, and he’d discovered it—nothing more.
‘Is this how it all ties together? I never even hoped for this, and yet here it is!’
I clicked my tongue to myself, thinking as much.
Then Eden, who’d finished explaining the Magic Circle, spoke carefully.
‘Hali, I haven’t told Teacher all of this. I mentioned the possibility that she might be a Saint, but I didn’t share that there were other Awakeners with Saint-level power after her, and that they’ve been erased.’
‘I see. Thank you.’
It seemed he’d judged it necessary because our enemy right now was far too suspicious.
‘I think it’s better if fewer people know about this.’
‘Agreed.’
‘I think so too.’
‘……If you’re troubled by the fact that we know, just tell me. I’ll even erase our memories along with my own. ……If everyone consents…….’
‘I consent!’
‘Me too.’
The students spoke one by one.
‘No. There’s no reason for that. You all know what we are now, don’t you? We’re a community bound by fate.’
As Adversaries of Annihilation.
I was troubled by the Direct Line members, but I trusted that Yu Hee would handle them well as her tools.
Sure enough, Yu Seop’s voice came through.
‘Don’t worry, Senior. We’re the sort of people who won’t survive unless we keep our mouths shut. But Senior, shouldn’t you be more concerned about yourself first?’
‘I told you to watch your words.’
‘Ugh, I apologize…….’
Yu Hee spoke in a chilling tone, and he immediately bowed his head. She was training her subordinates well.
‘Everyone be careful.’
Then Lee Hae-sol spoke with some urgency.
What.
‘It’s an S-rank skill, so why…….’
At Lee Hae-sol’s murmuring, everyone gasped silently.
An S-rank skill from the start?
‘……Don’t touch the Magic Circle. Let’s escape. Any further than this,’
In that instant, cutting off Lee Hae-sol’s words, a voice came from empty air.
-Did you bring it?
“Yes, Master. I brought it.”
The voice of the outsider who’d carried me shifted in an instant to one dripping with admiration.
It was entirely different from the curses he’d been hurling at Isang Hee moments before.
But I had no time to notice that change in tone.
‘Damn it.’
Lee Hae-sol swore uncharacteristically, his voice strained.
‘Everyone prepare.’
Han Seong spoke.
But no one had the presence of mind to answer.
‘What, this pressure……!’
‘I can’t move!’
‘Ugh, just mana alone and it’s like this…….’
The outsider set me down from his shoulder onto the floor with a thud.
I remained vacant-faced, swaying like an eight-foot doll set upright on a street before steadying myself.
“Here, Master. This is the Salsali Flower you were seeking.”
A sliding door opened soundlessly.
And beyond it, a single figure appeared.
That person, seated in a tall chair, looked exactly like a king.
It was strange—I could see him, his face wasn’t hidden, yet his features wouldn’t stay in my memory.
He rose from his seat and approached me.
All the students stopped their screaming and held their breath. I felt Han Seong’s presence—that rippling sensation wavering invisibly right beside me.
So I understood.
That he was tense.
Yuhan Seong—the one who could have escaped with all of us if things went wrong in the early sections of the Annihilation Dungeon.
“Not all F-rank Healers are Salsali Flowers. You made sure of your confirmation?”
His tone was mechanical, utterly devoid of emotion.
Even though he wasn’t meeting my gaze, I felt his eyes land on me sharp and precise.
……And I had felt this gaze before, at some point.
When was it.
“Isang Hee said so. That she was a Salsali Flower. Looking at the Potion this girl made, there’s more than a fifty percent chance. Furthermore.”
The Flunkey answered obsequiously.
I remembered.
When I had felt such a gaze before.
‘The Final Dungeon. Back then.’
Good grief.
“You know, don’t you? That there was no such being among the other F-rank Healers. This generation’s Resurrection Flower is surely this one.”
Resurrection Flower?
First, the three flowers that Baridegi obtained from the afterlife in the Baridegi Folktales belong to the Resurrection Flowers.
Those flowers, said to bloom in the Blessed Flower Field, came in many varieties. And each possessed miraculous properties.
Based on their words, it seems one Resurrection Flower is born on the surface each generation.
Moreover, it appeared to be born through the body of an F-rank Healer.
What on earth is this?
‘This never appeared in the original story.’
I stopped communicating with the students through thought as a precaution, and instead my mind raced frantically.
‘That said, what the Divine Slayers were doing elsewhere while interfering with Yuhan Seong was never detailed.’
The original work might be one hundred percent accurate, but only of an infinitesimal portion of this world.
I’d known that, yet it felt desperately insufficient right now.
The parts of the original story about the Divine Slayers that were never fully revealed.
‘If I had any information, it might’ve been possible to escape without casualties.’
All I could do now was maintain the status quo. The person before me was far too extraordinary, making even the technique of exchanging intent through thought feel risky, so I had to entrust our escape to the students.
Then ‘Master,’ as he was called, began to look directly into my eyes.
I naturally met his gaze with unfocused eyes.
Pretending to be under Mind Control was becoming second nature by now.
“……Even accounting for her F-rank status, the brainwashing seems to be lasting awfully long. Did you add more Mind Control Potion?”
“Yes, just to be safe.”
“Good work. She was nearly on the verge of Awakening, so caution is wise.”
Nearly awakening as a Saint—or rather, as a Salsali Flower?
Me?
Even now, it felt strange to connect those extraordinary words with myself, with Jin Hali.
But from what he was saying, I understood that if I awakened, it would cause them problems.
‘I have to awaken, no matter what.’
But how?
The one called ‘Master’ lifted his hand. A faint violet light began to shimmer at his fingertips.
[Should we do more?]
Erich asked at that moment.
His voice lower and sharper than ever before.
[That bastard’s trying Absorption. He’s reading the texture of your mana. The moment he finds an opening, he’ll attempt it.]
A chill ran down my spine.
The fate of the Hunters who’d lost their mana—as Yuhan Seong had described—came to mind.
Either losing all ability, or going mad.
Or dying.
His fingers drew closer. At that instant, I spoke to the students again.
‘How much longer until Invisibility wears off?’
‘Thirty seconds. We’re already positioned.’
With a soft slipping sensation, the students’ presence rippled through transparent water and receded a couple of steps, gathering in one location.
The fact that the man before me hadn’t noticed us yet was surely thanks to Teacher’s Flora Manipulation.
Or perhaps the Lion had done something else.
‘Teacher’s supplying mana through Flora Manipulation, so we have a bit of leeway, Hali!’
‘It’s fine.’
The violet mana felt at the fingertips approaching me was being intercepted by the Lion.
[Intriguing mana, Nari.]
The fact that the Lion wasn’t particularly tense was the reason I could remain calm now.
[Repugnant and base creatures. Nari, this appears to be a Cemetery. Fortunately, it’s not their main base, it seems. Escape will not be difficult. Though we may lose one or two.]
‘What?’
That’s what it calls an explanation.
As urgency seized me, ‘Master’ withdrew his hand.
And spoke.
“Not one of the living, is it.”
The Flunkey raised his voice in confusion.
“Pardon?”
“How dare you bring me a corpse. It’s obvious what happened. You couldn’t control your instinct again and killed her, then brought her animated. How infuriating.”
“No, that’s impossible! Master, I only administered the Mind Control Potion, ahhhhh!”
In an instant, the outsider who’d brought me was engulfed in pale blue flames, becoming ash.
‘Master’ indifferently trampled the pale blue-gray powder that had settled softly.
Then, looking down at me, he murmured.
“Now I am as one dead. That person will not let this stand.”
That person?
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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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