Was Happy Being a Despised F-Rank Healer, You Know? - Chapter 79

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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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11. For the Half-Human (5)

As the core completely shattered, the butterfly’s form could no longer be maintained.

Its shape collapsed in midair and disappeared as if a light had been extinguished.

The dungeon shook violently.

Crystals fell from the ceiling, but it wasn’t an aggressive reaction like before.

This was collapse.

“Is it over?”

Gong Seo-yun asked, breathing heavily.

“Yeah.”

I nodded.

“The curse will be lifted now.”

The air in the dungeon gradually became lighter.

The flow of mana was returning to normal.

I could feel the distortion that had remained in this space disappearing.

Gong Seo-yun said nothing for a moment.

He lowered his head and clenched both hands tightly.

“…Thank you.”

He said quietly.

I shrugged my shoulders.

“I just did what I could.”

Those words weren’t a lie.

Choosing this dungeon, preparing the potions.

In the end, it was all within the scope of what I could do.

The space began to collapse, and an exit opened.

We headed toward it without a word.

The moment we emerged from the dungeon, cold wind brushed against our faces.

It was the air of reality.

Now there was only one thing left.

To confirm whether what this dungeon had swallowed had truly returned.

***

Gong Si-yun was sitting in the middle of the living room.

Not on the sofa, but on the floor.

He sat on the rug with his legs neatly folded, hands placed on his knees.

No scales were visible anymore.

The tail that had shimmered with blue light was gone too.

The mermaid form that could only be maintained underwater had vanished without a trace.

Instead, there was a human body.

Thin shoulders and slender but definite arms and legs.

And the expression of someone who hadn’t been able to cry for a long time, somehow hardened.

Gong Si-yun looked down at his hands.

He tried moving his fingers one by one.

Slowly but surely, his hands obeyed.

He tried opening his mouth.

At first, no sound came out.

Out of habit, or perhaps fear, his throat seemed locked.

“…Uh.”

A very small, cracked sound flowed out.

Gong Si-yun’s eyes widened for a moment.

“…Uh-uh.”

This time it was a little clearer.

It was a voice.

His own voice.

At that moment, Mother, who had been boiling water in the kitchen, dropped her cup.

The sound of breaking glass rang out loudly.

“Si-yun?”

Mother’s voice trembled.

There was no certainty.

It had been too long since she shouldn’t get her hopes up.

Father also looked toward the living room.

His usually calm face hardened for a moment.

Gong Si-yun slowly raised his head.

He looked at his parents.

Their eyes met.

“…Mom.”

At that one word, Mother collapsed completely.

Without even taking a step, she sank down and burst into tears.

“Dad.”

This time Father moved.

With a face that couldn’t believe it, he approached and grabbed Gong Si-yun’s shoulders.

His hands were shaking.

“How… how did this happen.”

No answer came back.

Instead of speaking, Gong Si-yun lowered his head.

Tears fell to the floor.

Mother was the first to embrace Gong Si-yun.

She grabbed his shoulders, wrapped her arms around him, and wouldn’t let go.

“It’s okay.”

“It’s okay, it’s okay.”

Not even knowing what was okay, she just repeated those words.

Father also supported Gong Si-yun’s back with both hands from beside them.

“You’ve come back. Really?”

No one knew the exact situation.

How the curse had been lifted.

Why it was this moment.

They couldn’t know, but one thing was certain.

Gong Si-yun was here in human form, with a human voice.

That’s when it happened.

The sound of the front gate opening came.

It opened hastily, then rattled as it hit the wall.

“Si-yun!”

It was Gong Seo-yun’s voice.

He was out of breath.

Without even properly taking off his shoes, he rushed inside.

The moment he saw the living room, his feet stopped.

His younger brother sitting on the floor.

In human form, held in their parents’ arms.

Gong Seo-yun couldn’t move for a while.

Even while confirming it with his eyes, his expression showed he couldn’t believe it.

“Hyung.”

Gong Si-yun called out.

This time he didn’t hesitate.

Gong Seo-yun’s face contorted.

He ran over and embraced Gong Si-yun.

“Thank goodness.”

“Really, thank goodness.”

His voice choked up.

His eyes reddened.

“It doesn’t hurt.”

Gong Si-yun said.

“There’s nothing strange either.”

Gong Seo-yun nodded while not loosening his arms.

Like someone afraid that if he let go, he would disappear again.

The parents watched this scene and cried again.

This time it was a slightly different kind of crying.

It was crying mixed with relief and joy.

After a moment, Gong Seo-yun caught his breath and spoke to his parents.

“…It was the dungeon.”

His parents’ gazes shifted to him.

“That dungeon where Si-yun disappeared before. I went back in there.”

Mother asked with a surprised face.

“By yourself?”

“No.”

Gong Seo-yun shook his head.

“With a classmate.”

He paused for a moment.

His face showed he was pondering how to explain.

“Jin Hali. She’s the same grade at school.”

His parents tilted their heads at the unfamiliar name.

“That kid prepared potions and… various things for us.”

“My goodness.”

“I couldn’t have done it alone.”

Gong Seo-yun lowered his gaze.

His voice was cautious.

“We cleared the dungeon together. And so… Si-yun became like this.”

A moment of silence flowed.

His parents still had faces that didn’t fully understand the situation.

But that wasn’t important.

Right now in this house, there was a family reunited.

Mother quietly said.

“…To that child.”

“We must definitely give our thanks.”

Gong Seo-yun nodded.

He looked at his younger brother again.

Gong Si-yun was smiling with a still slightly awkward face.

But he was definitely smiling.

In this house, something called laughter was returning after a long time.

***

That night, small changes began from very far away.

Scales fell from someone’s body, suppressed sounds came out again from someone’s throat, and fur and feathers that wouldn’t disappear slowly fell from someone’s fingertips.

No one knew at first that these were simultaneous occurrences.

But as the changes continued, people inevitably reached the same conclusion.

Somewhere, some curse had been lifted.

And the source of that curse had been severed.

The first case was a small detached house in the outskirts of Seoul.

It was a house with an old calendar hanging on the wall and two half-drunk water glasses on the dining table.

It was once a space where an ordinary family lived, but now it was a house where people lived quietly holding their breath.

In one corner of the living room was a large tub.

It was a tub filled with water.

And inside it, a being that was difficult to call ‘human’ was crouched.

Below the waist, a fish tail extended, and faint scales remained on the skin.

The lips were dry, and the eyes were always moist.

When he tried to make sounds, only coughing-like scratchy noises came out, so he expressed his intentions only through his eyes instead of words.

The person caring for him was his mother.

Mother always wet her hands, wiped his scales so they wouldn’t crack, and wrapped his body with a towel.

It was the moment she was about to do the same that day.

A small convulsion occurred inside the tub.

The tail twisted greatly once.

Mother thought it was a familiar reaction and reached out her hand, but her fingertips suddenly stopped.

The scales… were falling off.

Like old skin peeling away, small pieces floated up to the water’s surface.

Those pieces lost their shimmering light and immediately became cloudy white.

Mother gasped.

“You, what’s wrong.”

He looked at mother.

His eyes had grown wide.

His expression had changed.

For the first time, the emotion of ‘confusion’ clearly emerged from a face that had always held only pain and resignation.

Below his waist shook.

The feeling of the tail shrinking in the water was visible.

The shape of legs formed as if flesh was growing.

Mother couldn’t scream.

Her mouth opened but no sound came out.

She just gripped the edge of the tub with both hands, and tears flowed first.

He finally stood his legs in the water.

There were feet.

There were toes.

And there were trembling knees.

He looked down at his own legs for the first time.

And very carefully, he moved his throat to try making a sound.

“…Mom.”

It was a cracked and low voice.

But it was definitely a word.

The moment mother heard those words, she collapsed.

Water from the tub overflowed.

Water flowed down to the floor, but Mother couldn’t pay attention to it.

“You… you…”

Mother couldn’t even form proper sentences.

She simply reached out and touched his face.

Moisture clung to her fingertips, and that moisture was warm.

It was the body temperature of a living person.

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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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