Was Happy Being a Despised F-Rank Healer, You Know? - Chapter 72

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Team. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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10. We Found a Strange F-Rank. (7)

 

The air outside the dungeon was cold and thin.

 

Perhaps because I had been breathing in the forest’s humidity and metallic mana scent just moments before, the winter air felt even sharper.

 

We had been ejected not into an alley, but into the open field behind the processing facility.

 

The ground still had hardened bloodstains and magic stone powder scattered here and there.

 

Yuhan Seong first surveyed the surroundings.

 

It wasn’t an easily accessible location, but since traces of dungeon generation remained, it was right to clean up before it was too late.

 

“Everyone check your physical condition.”

 

As soon as those words ended, Yu Hee raised both arms.

 

“Me? I’m fine.”

 

Though he spoke lightly, his lips were slightly pale.

 

I could see traces of him enduring with stamina potions.

 

Lee Hae-sol rotated his wrist and let out a short breath.

 

The wound grazed by the magpie feather had already healed.

 

The potion’s effect was definite.

 

Hyun I-seo pressed the ground once and slowly stood up.

 

Perhaps because he had forcibly pushed defensive magic several times, his fingertips trembled finely.

 

He put his hands in his pockets as if trying to hide the trembling.

 

Seo Jeong-u stood a little behind us.

 

His breathing wasn’t rough, but his eyes kept watching the surroundings warily.

 

It was the gaze of someone without much combat experience.

 

I opened my bag to check the number of bottles again.

 

There were several broken bottles, and some unused ones remained.

 

It wasn’t a big loss, but it was true that my margin to replenish during vacation had decreased.

 

‘Still, it’s cheaper than dying inside the dungeon.’

 

I felt satisfied for no reason.

 

How people would view me was the next problem.

 

“Hali.”

 

Yu Hee came to my side and called quietly.

 

He was smiling as usual, but his eyes weren’t light.

 

“When you were throwing earlier.”

 

“Throwing?”

 

“Those bottles.”

 

I shrugged my shoulders.

 

“I was just carrying them around.”

 

Yu Hee looked into my face once more.

 

“That wasn’t the level of just carrying them around.”

 

I smiled.

 

“Maybe I became more fearful after the final dungeon.”

 

At those words, Yu Hee closed his mouth for a moment.

 

He didn’t smile.

 

Instead, he nodded once slowly.

 

“Yeah.”

 

He lowered his tone.

 

“Becoming more fearful… that’s the same for us too.”

 

Yuhan Seong approached at that moment.

 

He checked Hyun I-seo and Lee Hae-sol once each, then shifted his gaze toward me.

 

And very briefly looked at Seo Jeong-u.

 

“It’s vacation, but there are so many incidents.”

 

Yuhan Seong’s voice was calm, but discomfort was mixed within it.

 

There was definitely underlying suspicion that this dungeon hadn’t appeared by chance.

 

Hyun I-seo spoke first.

 

“This dungeon isn’t following official generation patterns.”

 

Yuhan Seong nodded.

 

“I saw it that way too.”

 

Lee Hae-sol frowned.

 

“Then shouldn’t we report it?”

 

Yu Hee shrugged.

 

“If we report it, the Processing Team will come.”

 

At those words, everyone’s gaze naturally went toward Seo Jeong-u.

 

Seo Jeong-u hesitated for a moment but soon nodded.

 

“When the Processing Team people come, I’ll explain.”

 

Yuhan Seong examined him.

 

“Are you also Processing Team?”

 

Seo Jeong-u hesitated briefly before answering.

 

“Yes. Short-term.”

 

“Who’s in charge of this area.”

 

“Our team leader.”

 

Seo Jeong-u and I were the same students, but also people working here at the same time.

 

Our positions were mixed, so there was a risk of things getting complicated.

 

In that case.

 

I quietly raised my hand.

 

“First, we can’t stay here long.”

 

Yuhan Seong immediately nodded.

 

“Right. Let’s not leave traces.”

 

He kicked the scattered magpie feather fragments and covered them with dirt.

 

Hyun I-seo also swept the ground once as if organizing the mana flow.

 

Yu Hee gathered the broken bottle pieces I had thrown and buried them to one side.

 

Lee Hae-sol watched the process and muttered.

 

“We’re on vacation though.”

 

I found those words funny.

 

“That’s right.”

 

That’s when it happened.

 

Footsteps were heard from the entrance of the open field.

 

Seo Jeong-u stiffened first.

 

He took a breath for a moment, then quickly moved forward.

 

“Team Leader.”

 

A middle-aged man appeared.

 

It was the Administrator who had guided me yesterday.

 

He saw us and stopped for a moment.

 

His eyes very quickly surveyed the situation.

 

“What is this.”

 

Seo Jeong-u briefly explained.

 

“An irregular dungeon opened. We… escaped from inside.”

 

The Administrator’s expression changed.

 

He looked at us once more.

 

Students.

 

Academy students among them at that.

 

“Why on earth were you here.”

 

Yuhan Seong said quietly.

 

“I got caught up in it by accident.”

 

Right, it’s safer to avoid responsibility than to seek profit.

 

Of course, the administrator didn’t look like he believed those words.

 

But this wasn’t the time to argue about it right now.

 

He checked his surroundings and quickly pulled out his radio.

 

“There are traces of an irregular dungeon here. Seal it off first.”

 

Watching him, I thought to myself.

 

‘Thank goodness.’

 

If the Processing Team moves quickly, today’s incident ends here.

 

And my vacation can become quiet again.

 

I wanted to believe that.

 

Then Yuhan Seong stood next to me and spoke very quietly.

 

“Hali.”

 

“Yeah?”

 

“You reacted first earlier.”

 

I smiled.

 

“I’m just a coward.”

 

Yuhan Seong didn’t smile.

 

He looked at me for a moment, then turned his gaze away.

 

“Still, thank you.”

 

As soon as those words ended, I could no longer smile lightly.

 

So I just nodded.

 

At that moment, Seo Jeong-u turned back toward us.

 

His face was a bit stiff.

 

“The team leader is asking.”

 

“About what?”

 

Yu Hee asked.

 

Seo Jeong-u pressed his lips together for a moment before speaking.

 

“He’s asking if anyone took any byproducts from here.”

 

A magpie feather that had fallen on one side of the open field rolled in the wind.

 

One less broken fragment caught my eye.

 

I could feel strangely living mana from that fragment.

 

Yuhan Seong’s gaze turned in that direction.

 

Very briefly.

 

“Well, it is something worth addressing.”

 

He muttered.

 

***

 

The administrator stared intently at the magpie feather fragment.

 

It wasn’t just looking with his eyes, but checking with mana detection.

 

He looked like someone who had been in byproduct processing for a long time.

 

He was the type who could instinctively distinguish which remnants were valuable and which were dangerous.

 

“This.”

 

He said in a low voice.

 

“We can’t leave this behind.”

 

Seo Jeong-u nodded.

 

“Yes.”

 

Yu Hee said with a playful smile.

 

“Team leader, when would we have had time to take anything? We almost died.”

 

The administrator didn’t return Yu Hee’s smile.

 

He slowly swept his gaze over our faces.

 

That process was long.

 

Without realizing it, I gripped my bag strap tighter.

 

‘I didn’t take anything.’

 

I reconfirmed to myself.

 

Only the potion bottles had decreased a little.

 

That wasn’t something I needed to explain.

 

But the problem lay elsewhere.

 

The magpie dungeon was a type I didn’t know about.

 

That meant there could be rewards I hadn’t anticipated.

 

And there was a possibility that those rewards had gone to someone.

 

The administrator picked up his radio again.

 

“When the containment line comes in, clean up the surroundings first. The students… check them.”

 

He trailed off at the end.

 

The word “check” bothered me.

 

Seo Jeong-u said quietly.

 

“These are Academy students. They were working with me.”

 

“Why are students working here?”

 

“It’s vacation.”

 

The administrator let out a short breath.

 

That breath was mixed with irritation, but it wasn’t an emotion of blaming someone.

 

It was just the breathing of someone who disliked having more work.

 

“Anyway, what did you see inside the dungeon?”

 

Yuhan Seong answered first.

 

“Magpie-type monsters came out in swarms. There was a Superior Entity, and we destroyed the nest core.”

 

The administrator’s eyes widened slightly.

 

“Magpies in swarms.”

 

Seo Jeong-u also looked surprised for a moment.

 

It meant this was a strange situation even by Processing Team standards.

 

“The Superior Entity.”

 

The administrator asked.

 

“Is it dead?”

 

“It’s dead.”

 

Yuhan Seong answered briefly.

 

The administrator thought for a moment.

 

Then he looked at the magpie feather fragment again and said.

 

“Then this is probably the most dangerous thing here.”

 

Just as he was about to pick up the magpie feather with his gloved hand, the fragment on the ground moved very slightly.

 

It wasn’t because of the wind.

 

It felt like the mana was trembling on its own.

 

Yuhan Seong’s gaze went in that direction again.

 

This time it lingered much longer.

 

‘There’s something there.’

 

I came to that conclusion inwardly.

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