Was Happy Being a Despised F-Rank Healer, You Know? - Chapter 83

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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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12. Magpie and Jesters (2)

On Yuhan Seong’s side, three were already down.

He was grabbing them and throwing them toward the altar-like structure in the center of the floor.

As the snake’s body touched it, the altar glowed faintly.

“It counts.”

He said.

“Good.”

Another snake crawled up.

This time there were two.

One from above, one from the side.

I stepped back and called Magpie.

Magpie dove down sharply.

It swept past right in front of one snake’s eyes.

That momentary distraction.

I didn’t miss it.

I pressed down on the snake’s neck.

I applied force and twisted.

Crack, came the sound.

There was no time to catch my breath.

The next snake was already moving.

The jester was looking down at this scene.

The corners of his mouth lifted just slightly.

“Good.”

He said.

“Very good.”

I gritted my teeth.

‘The more pleased he gets, the more dangerous it becomes.’

The number of snakes showed no signs of decreasing.

If anything, it felt like even more were pouring out.

Sweat filled my palms.

The agility potion’s effect was still maintained.

But it couldn’t last long.

Magpie cried out again.

This time a bit longer.

At that moment, one side of the floor collapsed.

From beneath it, a much larger shadow writhed.

I drew in a breath.

When the last snake’s body fell to the floor, my breath burst out first.

Roughly, as if all the air accumulated deep in my lungs was escaping at once.

On the altar lay exactly one hundred snakes piled up.

The colors of their scales mixed together, creating strange patterns.

The smell of blood and earth, along with the bitter scent unique to poison, were all tangled together.

The second jester slowly nodded his head.

He struck his staff on the floor once more.

At that moment, the altar glowed.

The snake corpses scattered like smoke and disappeared.

“Pass.”

The jester said.

It was a dry voice with no emotion in it.

The floor cracked open again.

However, this time no snakes emerged.

Instead, the jester’s form slowly became hazy and scattered like smoke.

Only then did I straighten my back.

My fingertips trembled.

The potion’s effect was wearing off.

Yuhan Seong approached me.

Shaking off the slime on his sword, he asked.

“Are you hurt anywhere?”

“No.”

I nodded.

“Thanks to Magpie.”

Magpie returned to perch on my shoulder.

After preening its beak a few times, it lifted its head as if nothing had happened.

“Far from being useless.”

Yuhan Seong chuckled softly.

“This is practically cheating.”

Instead of answering, I caught my breath while surveying the surroundings.

The space was changing again.

The ceiling came closer as if descending.

The walls disappeared, and instead shining surfaces appeared.

They were mirrors.

It was a room surrounded by mirrors on all sides.

Even the floor was a reflective surface.

Our figures appeared overlapped dozens of times.

In the center, the third jester stood.

This jester looked the most ordinary.

No exaggerated makeup, no laughter.

Just neat attire and an expressionless face.

“Third.”

The jester said.

When he raised his hand, the mirrors all glowed simultaneously.

Inside the mirrors, something moved.

Figures that looked exactly like us walked out one by one.

Yuhan Seong.

And me.

And even Magpie.

Dozens of ‘us’ filled the room.

“The rule is simple.”

The jester said.

“Pick the real ones.”

“Ten times.”

“If you’re wrong.”

He paused briefly, then added.

“From the beginning.”

I bit my lip.

‘This isn’t something I should handle.’

Mirrors and illusions.

Deception.

This clearly wasn’t a combat type.

Yuhan Seong stepped forward.

Magpie flew to his shoulder.

“I’ll do it this time.”

He said.

I nodded.

“I’ll watch from behind.”

The Jester clapped his hands.

At that sound as a signal, the illusions moved simultaneously.

The first test.

Ten Yuhan Seongs walked out at the same time.

Their gait, breathing, and gaze were all identical.

I held my breath.

Yuhan Seong stood still and looked at them.

He didn’t rush.

He didn’t draw his sword either.

Magpie cried briefly.

At that moment, Yuhan Seong’s gaze stopped at one place.

“You.”

He said.

“Real.”

The illusion he pointed at stopped.

The rest disappeared like smoke.

The Jester nodded.

“One.”

The second test was more cunning.

This time the movements were slightly different.

Someone breathed quickly,

someone moved their fingers unnecessarily.

Magpie cried again.

A bit longer this time.

Yuhan Seong didn’t hesitate this time either.

“This one.”

Correct.

Third, fourth, fifth.

As the tests repeated, the difficulty increased.

The illusions became more and more perfect.

They even reproduced the exact angles of Magpie’s feathers.

My palms became sweaty.

‘This is a pure battle of senses.’

In the sixth test, Yuhan Seong closed his eyes for a moment.

Then he lightly tapped Magpie’s head.

“You tell me.”

Magpie flapped its wings once.

At that moment, dust rose very faintly from under one illusion’s feet.

It was different from the other illusions.

Yuhan Seong pointed immediately.

“That one.”

Correct.

Seventh, eighth.

The Jester’s expression changed for the first time.

Very slightly, his eyebrows moved.

The ninth test.

This time the entire room rotated.

It looked like mirrors were breaking and reattaching.

The illusions simultaneously changed positions.

I momentarily lost my balance.

But Yuhan Seong held firm.

“Magpie.”

He called out low.

Magpie suddenly flew up and landed on one illusion’s shoulder.

That illusion wavered.

“Done.”

Yuhan Seong said.

Correct.

The tenth test.

Nothing happened.

The illusions and mirrors remained as they were.

The Jester said.

“Last one.”

“Among these.”

“There is no real one.”

I swallowed.

Yuhan Seong looked around the entire room for a moment.

Then, he raised his sword and stabbed the floor.

“Then.”

He said.

“I’m leaving.”

The floor cracked.

All the illusions shattered simultaneously.

The mirrors broke into pieces.

The Jester’s body wavered.

“…Correct.”

His form collapsed.

The room brightened.

And the next stage was opening.

***

After all the mirrors shattered, the space was briefly empty.

No sound, no smell, not even wind could be felt.

While Yuhan Seong lowered his sword and caught his breath, I reorganized my bag.

Several potion bottles were empty.

Poison antidote, agility, luck.

They weren’t for combat, but they had all played their roles in the recent test.

Magpie came down from Yuhan Seong’s shoulder and flew toward me.

It landed on my wrist and tilted its head.

“Now it’s your turn.”

Yuhan Seong said.

He was smiling, but his eyes were still alert.

“Yeah.”

I nodded my head.

“This time I’ll go.”

As soon as those words ended, the space moved again.

The floor transformed as if rising upward, creating a new stage.

It was a rectangular room.

The walls were low, and the ceiling was close enough to touch.

The lighting was constant and hardly any shadows formed.

The fourth jester stood in the center.

This jester was smiling.

The widest smile of all the jesters I’d seen so far.

The corners of his mouth were raised as if torn up to near his ears.

He wasn’t holding anything in his hands.

No staff, no hat.

“This test is.”

The jester said.

“Very simple.”

He clapped his hands.

Instantly, dozens of bottles appeared in the room.

They were placed in rows on the floor.

All the same size, all the same shape.

I drew in a breath.

“Potions.”

Yuhan Seong said.

“Yeah.”

I answered quietly.

“But they all seem fake.”

The jester’s smile grew wider.

“Correct.”

“Among these.”

“Drink exactly five.”

“Drink them.”

“If you survive, you pass.”

Yuhan Seong immediately stepped forward.

“Then I’ll!”

“No.”

I said right away.

“This time I have to do it.”

Yuhan Seong looked at me.

He hesitated for a moment, but nodded his head.

“Magpie.”

He said.

“Stay next to Hali.”

Magpie moved to perch on my shoulder.

I looked at the bottles placed on the floor.

There was no difference on the outside.

The color, viscosity, and mana reactions were almost identical.

‘Poison potions.’

‘Paralysis.’

‘Hallucination.’

‘Instant death.’

And a very few real healing ones.

I knew about this kind of test.

But not in the form where you had to drink them directly like this.

The jester said.

“There’s no time limit. But you only get one chance.”

I opened my bag.

“Potions should be dealt with using potions.”

The jester’s smile stopped for a moment.

Then it continued again.

“Give it a try?”

I picked up one bottle.

I didn’t open the cap.

Instead, I took out a small dropper bottle from my bag.

‘I need to use neutralizing solution.’

It was still incomplete, but it was meant to detect only trace amounts of toxic reactions.

I set the bottle down on the floor and dropped one drop on the surface.

There was no reaction.

Next bottle.

Another drop.

This time, the liquid trembled very slightly.

At a level barely visible to the naked eye.

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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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