Was Happy Being a Despised F-Rank Healer, You Know? - Chapter 4
—————
This chapter was translated by Lunox Team. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
—————
1. Surviving as an F-Rank Healer (4)
“Oath. I, before the proud Taegeukgi flag….”
The student representative ‘Lee Hae-sol’ reads the familiar oath. Despite having passed through destruction, I felt a wistful nostalgia at the same oath words.
‘He was also in Class 8.’
I looked at the future S-rank and protagonist with a composed smile that maintained social grace, someone who would accompany him to the ninth dungeon.
Knowing how packed the schedule ahead of him was, his sparkling appearance only looked pitiful compared to F-rank Jin Hali.
Even now, he was suffering enough to be the student representative while belonging to a class full of problem children.
‘Was that because of the curse?’
A curse that healing potions don’t work on.
‘I know what needs to be done to see effects, but Yuhan Seong will take care of it soon.’
I turned my gaze away from him and examined the faces of the Class 8 kids.
Mainly focusing on those who would survive past the finals.
‘That looks like Hyun I-seo.’
The person diagonally behind in the second row, covering half his face with bangs and muttering to himself.
‘That looks like Gong Seo-yun.’
Unless there was another person chatting with the person in front during the entrance ceremony and getting dragged out by the ear.
I immediately recognized ‘Yu Hee’ too, who would cause an accident in some practice dungeon, get rescued, and then become Yuhan Seong’s loyal subordinate.
‘They said she looked like an angel, and she really does look like a saintly female lead from a romance fantasy.’
They’re all not S-rank yet, but meeting the protagonist’s fate, they’ll reach S-rank within a year.
The other kids have potential too, but their chances of dying this year are high, so I deliberately didn’t look at them.
It makes me feel bad when I see them.
‘I’ve got my own problems to worry about.’
Then someone naturally caught my eye.
‘…Ah.’
A teenager among the Class 8 kids who was intently watching ‘Lee Hae-sol.’
His deep black hair was like a night sky with flowing stars. His clean, white skin like a precious young master’s highlighted his insanely harmonious features.
I slightly opened my mouth.
Is this for real?
‘The protagonist’s trait was being handsome…right?’
The original work was mainly narrated from his perspective, focusing only on raising S-ranks, so his face was barely described, but it’s an official setting confirmed by the reactions of those around him.
Already, many gazes from other classes were directed toward him.
Even without seeing his name tag, this is Yuhan Seong.
Ironically, seeing that radiant beauty allowed me to relax somewhat.
‘This is perfect for maintaining an appropriate emotional distance.’
I became confident that things like the haha-bus incidents that happen to protagonists in typical possession stories wouldn’t happen in my life.
Moreover, I was worried about unnecessarily empathizing with the protagonist since I know the original work. But I tend to feel distant from humans who are too handsome.
Good.
Adjusting the distance somewhere between a loner and popular kid, surviving the final dungeon itself seems like no problem.
Even if I treat them kindly, everyone will basically look down on me anyway.
Should I say that even if I approach them kindly without hesitation, the balance will be maintained?
‘The protagonist side is even less of a problem.’
That guy only had relationships with people who had S-rank potential.
‘Good. Then shall I begin?’
So everyone gets moderately used to me.
Once they reach the level where they don’t want me to die.
‘If things go well, they might become customers at my potion shop after graduation.’
The entrance ceremony came to an end.
‘Then the only remaining problem is practicing potion making.’
As I left the settling auditorium and followed the teacher toward the classroom, my mind was filled only with thoughts of secretly perfecting potion making.
‘I have no choice but to grind. But will there be a practice room I can borrow?’
I didn’t know then.
That my ‘moderately,’ accustomed to modern times, wasn’t just ‘moderate’ to the prospective hunters born and raised in this grim world.
***
To maintain an appropriate presence, I need to take care of two things first.
The first is managing first impressions.
“….”
F-rank is bound to stand out in a bad way anyway.
Not only that. I’m going to be making potions like crazy from now on, and that behavior could also stand out a lot if done wrong, so I need to manage it in advance.
Preferably toward the gentle and bright side.
Blocking malicious interpretations at the source.
Of course, the seniors I saw on the way here will diligently spread rumors about me being an incompetent and lazy F-rank, but that’s a weapon to prevent S-ranks from going berserk.
To prevent rumors from becoming more malicious and just stop at being lazy, I had to show no rough edges personality-wise.
‘That won’t help my survival either.’
Besides, Jin Hali’s appearance… kind of looks like a romance fantasy villainess.
When she smiles gently, she looks like a puppy, but when expressionless, she has a very cold atmosphere.
‘Compared to the main characters in the original work, she doesn’t seem to be a great beauty either, so there’s no chance of accumulating points through looks alone.’
So let’s definitely leave a virtuous impression.
I managed my expression and atmosphere from the moment I moved to the classroom.
Naturally raised corners of my mouth as if basically smiling.
A smoothly relaxed brow is basic.
I entered the class with a subtle smile equipped as a passive skill.
Then, with good timing, the protagonist muttered as he passed by me.
“I guess things like this don’t change….”
I made my eyes hazy and resisted the incoming cringe with all my might.
Do I know what that means?
‘Like he saw before regression, the inferior student class has an old classroom.’
It looks ordinary to me. Well, looking at the original description, other classes seem to be decorated in various ways like the colorful stations I saw on the way here.
I should check it out later.
Anyway, reacting here would be a disaster.
I almost reflexively looked that way, but barely held back and moved my steps.
In the opposite direction from where the protagonist was heading.
‘I can’t even make eye contact today.’
The first day after the protagonist’s regression was described in detail down to the smallest parts in the novel. And with high probability, anyone who catches the protagonist’s eye at this timing gets involved in the protagonist’s events, whether supporting or main character.
Just like the original Jin Hali did.
‘Anyway, being F-rank probably already put me on his bad side.’
Should I say it’s fortunate that pre-regression Yuhan Seong belonged to a different class and doesn’t know much about Jin Hali?
Anyway, with that sense of alertness, I decided to act as defensively as possible just for today.
The protagonist’s designated seat is at the far end by the window in the left row from the teacher’s desk.
I know he sat only in that seat as if it were his own even as grades went up.
So the seat I chose was diagonally opposite from him, at the front right.
‘End to end.’
A position where even if visible, I’d only be stored as background. But close enough to throw potions.
After sitting down and looking around, everyone was still awkward and just watching each other.
So I also inconspicuously looked around at all the class kids, including the protagonist.
The Awakener Academy was elite with small numbers, having twelve students per class up to Class 10.
Among them, our class was the only one with thirteen students since it gathered the rejects.
‘Everyone looks so flashy.’
They say that when you become an Awakened, your charm stat increases as your level rises, so Awakened individuals generally have outstanding appearances.
Even if you start below average, it goes up anyway.
Although this class was a bunch of misfits, they were troublemakers, not incompetents, so there were no F-ranks like me.
That’s why everyone looked decent.
‘As for me, Jin Hali was originally pretty cute, so her base charm stat is on the high side.’
While casually nodding to people I occasionally made eye contact with, I discreetly glanced at the protagonist from time to time.
The protagonist was looking out the window with a serious expression.
‘I think I know what he’s thinking about.’
He’s probably thinking about the S-rank prospects in this class.
This class was a device in the original work to show his characteristic of only putting effort into and gathering S-ranks.
The reason Yuhan Seong was quite kind to the class kids who were called misfits, except for Lee Hae-sol, was because they all had decent potential.
‘Except for Jin Hali.’
Anyway, the whole class is basically going to become the Avengers.
‘Ah, should I remove one of them from the protagonist’s early team?’
I glanced at one corner while recalling the original story content.
The gloomy Isang Hee is a character who kills a C-rank student by trapping them, then reforms and becomes the protagonist’s yandere girlfriend.
‘I should keep things moderate with her… or rather, I absolutely must not get involved with her.’
She doesn’t know I’m F-rank yet, so she avoids my eyes when we make eye contact, but once it’s revealed, there’s no telling what she might do behind my back.
I mustn’t let my guard down.
—————
This chapter was translated by Lunox Team. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
—————