Was Happy Being a Despised F-Rank Healer, You Know? - Chapter 26

—————
This chapter was translated by Lunox Team. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
—————

4. The Value of Potions (3)

I drew simple lines in my notebook while muttering to myself inwardly.

‘The number of casualties depends on how quickly the awakened Hae-sol regains his senses.’

Fortunately, I had succeeded in creating a high-grade mental barrier potion last night.

In the process, I also learned quite a bit about special potions, and whew. If I hadn’t practiced manufacturing, it would have been a disaster.

‘Even with money, I almost couldn’t obtain it.’

I knew it would be difficult, but I didn’t realize it would be this hard to obtain special potions.

People who can make them rarely do, and even when they do, the effects vary so much depending on the quality and grade of the healer’s mana that it’s better to use that money to hire a healer instead.

Especially in Korea’s case, since systems are in place to lower mortality rates, the demand for special potions was even lower.

Anyway, it was a remarkable achievement.

‘From my perspective, it was an achievement I barely managed to pull off.’

Phew.

I should feel proud of achieving my goal, but I felt no sense of accomplishment—only worries kept bubbling up.

Right now, no one in this classroom knows.

About the Dalmuri Dungeon that will open today.

Even if I warned them in advance, there’s no way to make them believe it.

‘Besides, telling them beforehand would put my own safety at risk. Tsk, but if I could make them believe it, I would have said something.’

Has it been about a month?

I never thought I’d grow so attached in such a short period.

And to so many people at that.

Cruelly, time passed, the bell rang, and class ended.

Hae-sol pushed back his chair, stood up, and walked toward me.

Today, Hae-sol had agreed to stay with me in the Manufacturing Room.

Since it was my usual practice, I couldn’t just skip it entirely, so I planned to pretend to be sick and finish early.

“Let’s go.”

His voice was as composed as usual, but he seemed somewhat sensitive, as if he had sensed some strange atmosphere.

Maybe it was just my imagination.

I picked up my bag and walked quietly alongside him.

Silence is comfortable with Hae-sol.

Just as I was thinking that, he suddenly spoke.

“During today’s practical training, two students who almost died were saved thanks to that potion.”

Ah.

As expected.

It was a time when the difficulty of students’ practical training was subtly changing.

Like a harbinger of the Annihilation Dungeon.

As we drew closer, his breath touched me delicately.

“Thank you.”

I hesitated.

I had already completed and given him the highest-level mental barrier potion.

I had also given the same S-rank mental barrier potion to Han Seong, Yu Hee, Gong Seo-yun with whom I occasionally had friendly conversations, and Hyun I-seo who I’d recently grown close to due to our strangely compatible hobbies.

Of course, keeping it secret from others.

I had done everything I could, but I wanted to do more somehow.

Still, I should hold back. It’s better to restrain myself.

After repeating this to myself, I eventually finished practice in just an hour, and as we were heading back, I called out to Hae-sol.

“Hae-sol, if possible, keep all the potions I gave you together in one place so you can take them with you anytime.”

“I’m already doing that.”

“Oh?”

The slightly embarrassed response made me forget the situation and smile a little.

“You’re doing well!”

“Are you praising me?”

Hae-sol replied with a gentle smile.

“But why are you suddenly saying that?”

“I’m feeling a bit strange. The atmosphere feels off.”

“Can you read the flow of mana, Hari?”

Hae-sol stopped and asked.

He looked a bit anxious too.

I waved my hands in denial.

“No, no! I’m F-rank, how could I do that? It’s just a simple intuition.”

“Ah.”

Reading subtle mana flows or abnormal currents in the air was a sense that came like precognition just before S-rank awakening in the original work.

It had nothing to do with me.

Hae-sol smiled with relief for a moment, then resumed walking.

And that day.

The Dalmuri Dungeon that was scheduled to open late in the afternoon did not open.

‘Did I get the date wrong?’

Actually, I don’t remember the exact date.

In the original work, the Dalmuri Dungeon was said to have erupted on a ‘Monday’ afternoon, less than a month after enrollment.

Then the only remaining option among the Mondays within a month was yesterday.

But daily life continues as usual.

Right, it’s good if the dungeon doesn’t break out.

How wonderful would it be if this were a peaceful parallel world?

However, at that moment.

In broad daylight, when Academy schedules hadn’t even ended yet.

A very faint resonance that seemed to ring in the ears spread from outside the window.

It was such a subtle vibration that no one else would notice, but I was startled.

‘Ah.’

The Dalmuri Dungeon.

The world had begun to crack.

***

The subtle vibration that swept past the window was momentary but clearly felt.

This is definitely the feeling of the world’s skin tearing thinly just before the Dalmuri Dungeon opens.

That distinctive tremor described in the original work.

Hae-sol looked completely unaware.

Of course, since he hasn’t awakened yet.

I hugged tightly the box I had filled with various potions just in case, and said.

“Hae-sol, today… don’t go anywhere.”

“I was thinking the same thing.”

Even if he didn’t notice the vibration, did he sense something?

Hae-sol read my expression and nodded slightly.

“I have a bad feeling.”

According to the original work, that’s not atmospheric sensing, but it’s probably not just simple anxiety either.

In the original work too, his mind became unstable as the Dalmuri Dungeon approached.

Should I be grateful that it’s a problem that can be solved with potions?

I smiled as gently as I could manage.

“After class ends, go straight to the dormitory today, Hae-sol.”

“I’ll pass.”

“I’m just going to head home today too.”

Yuhan Seong had been unusually busy yesterday and today, so I had been staying with him.

This should also be considered fortunate.

Since I’m with him at the point when Hae-sol’s mind begins to crumble.

If I don’t encounter him directly, I’ll miss the timing to give him the potion.

He might need something other than mental barriers, and it would be better for me to be by his side then.

The depths of Hae-sol’s eyes were trembling darkly and anxiously.

During break time, Hae-sol’s condition was visibly worsening. And for some reason I didn’t understand, he was looking at me anxiously.

Even while walking down the hallway, he turned back several times.

Those eyes seemed to keep holding onto me.

But there’s no time for that now.

I need to make proper preparations.

I let Yuhan Seong go after he briefly left saying he had business to attend to, then hugged the box tightly and headed to my practice room in the old school building.

Fortunately, the afternoon practice time was free practice, so many students were away from their seats.

When I opened the door, a subtle herbal scent lingered.

My table was just as it had been last night.

I hurriedly opened the box and took out the materials.

Mental barrier potion.

Something I absolutely must make Hae-sol drink tonight.

I already had two more bottles completed from the day before.

S-rank still had a low success rate, so even those two bottles were miraculously created.

‘One bottle probably won’t be enough.’

That’s my intuition.

So I made them just in case.

The aging was perfectly finished, so now I could put them in my bag.

My hands trembled slightly.

Still, I couldn’t stop now.

I took out two other bottles.

Emergency mana stabilization potions, five A-rank and ten B-rank.

These might be necessary for Yuhan Seong.

In the original work, his dark attribute mana went berserk once inside the Crescent Dungeon.

This time I need to alleviate it even a little.

I marked the grades and packed those as well.

‘I’ll say I’m giving them because I’m anxious.’

There’s no time to think of excuses.

I just hope it sounds like the usual timid F-rank speaking nervously.

I had been in the practice room for a few minutes like that.

The door suddenly opened and someone came in.

I looked up.

It was Yu Hee.

“Hee?”

“Hah, hah, Ha-ri, you were here.”

“Why, what’s wrong? Why did you come in such a hurry?”

Yu Hee’s face was tensely hardened, more than usual.

“Ha-ri.”

She closed the door and came closer to me.

“Ha-ri. Just now, near the school exterior… I saw something like a crack.”

I completely froze.

She already saw a crack even before her S-rank awakening?

The moment Hee finished speaking, a chilling sensation flowed down my back.

She saw a crack.

This was the part that Hae-sol had sensed first even in the original work.

Well, since Hae-sol awakened first.

‘Of course, Yuhan Seong is an exception. He’s frantically busy right now because of Crescent Dungeon preparations in the first place.’

Among the members of Yuhan Seong’s party excluding Han Seong, Hae-sol becomes S-rank first.

Hee wasn’t there yet.

Hee noticing first was a completely new development.

I asked with as nonchalant an expression as possible.

“What did the crack… look like?”

Hee breathed lightly.

“It’s hard to describe, but just… the scenery looked slightly off. Like wind was bending as it passed by, or like light was rippling.”

That description was exactly the precursor right before a dungeon opening.

And there were very few people who could see that.

—————
This chapter was translated by Lunox Team. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
—————