Was Happy Being a Despised F-Rank Healer, You Know? - Chapter 86

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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. Magpies and Jesters (5)

The ninth stage changed the atmosphere the moment it opened.

While the previous trials had emphasized rules and conditions, this space was blatantly demanding power.

The floor was wide and flat, but covered everywhere with scratch marks.

The ceiling was low.

Low enough to make breathing feel slightly stifling.

The jester stood at the end of the stage.

This time, he wasn’t smiling.

Like someone who had been waiting for a long time, he stood with arms crossed, looking only at Yuhan Seong.

“This place is simple.”

He said.

“No conditions, no tricks.”

The floor rumbled.

The air trembled.

Something happened in the center.

A black mass slowly rose and took shape.

It was much larger than a person, with two arms but far too many joints.

Its entire body writhed like muscle, and the grain of mana flowing was exposed on its surface.

“That’s.”

I swallowed.

“A strength-type.”

Yuhan Seong said.

His voice was low but unwavering.

The jester nodded.

“Defeat it and you pass.”

“There’s no time limit.”

“However.”

He added.

“If you run away, you lose.”

I opened my bag.

But Yuhan Seong raised his hand to stop me.

“It’s okay.”

He said.

“This time I’ll really handle it myself.”

Those words strangely didn’t sound light.

It wasn’t words meant to ease the burden, but closer to certainty.

The magpie quietly crouched on my shoulder.

It seemed to sense the danger in the air.

The monster moved first.

Its speed was slow.

But with each step, the floor caved in deeply.

Yuhan Seong raised his sword.

His stance changed.

It was different from all the battles I had seen so far.

It wasn’t movement using techniques or patterns.

‘True nature.’

That thought came naturally.

The monster’s fist came down.

There was a sound of air being torn.

Yuhan Seong met it head-on.

Bang.

It was closer to an explosion than a collision sound.

The space shook.

I instinctively stepped back.

The monster was pushed back.

Exactly one step.

But it was definitely pushed back.

The jester’s eyes widened.

The monster charged again.

This time it was a continuous attack.

Its arms swung as if stretching.

Yuhan Seong didn’t dodge.

Holding his sword low, he twisted his body and blocked everything.

Bang.

Bang.

Bang.

The floor cracked.

I swallowed.

This wasn’t a battle of technique.

It was a fight of crushing with power, with mana, with one’s very existence.

The monster’s movements became faster.

It looked as if its arms had multiplied to three.

Yuhan Seong’s foot slipped once.

I reflexively grabbed a bottle.

But he regained his balance.

“It’s okay.”

He said briefly.

Without looking at me, it was as if he knew what I was trying to do.

The monster roared.

The air vibrated.

Yuhan Seong’s mana changed.

Its density increased to a visible degree.

A dark, deep light wrapped around his sword.

He took a breath.

And took a step forward.

In that instant, the concept of distance collapsed.

Yuhan Seong was right in front of the monster.

The sword came down.

This time there was no sound.

As if space itself had been cut away, it was quiet.

The monster’s upper body slowly slid out of alignment.

The next moment.

Bang.

The impact exploded belatedly.

The monster’s body completely separated and fell to the floor.

The space became quiet.

Yuhan Seong lowered his sword.

His breathing was slightly rough, but his posture remained composed.

The Jester stood silently for a long while.

“Pass.”

He said in a low voice.

The stage slowly disappeared.

Only then did I exhale.

My palms were damp.

Yuhan Seong turned around.

“Are you okay?”

“Yeah.”

I nodded.

“You look better than I do.”

He smiled briefly.

“It’s not over yet.”

Magpie cried out cautiously.

The last Jester remained.

The tenth stage opened without any devices.

No lights, no devices, no decorations.

It was just a wide space.

So excessively wide that it felt ominous instead.

The floor was smooth, and there were no walls.

No boundaries were visible.

I couldn’t even tell where the stage ended.

The Jester was in the center again this time.

But unlike before, he wasn’t smiling.

His expression was empty.

“Last one.”

He said.

“There’s only one test here.”

He raised his hand.

Instantly, space split apart.

More precisely, space folded.

My vision distorted as the floor flipped upward and up became sideways.

I instinctively tried to maintain my balance.

But the sensation under my feet disappeared.

“This is.”

Yuhan Seong said in a low voice.

“A physical restriction test.”

The Jester said.

“Only one of you two can move.”

The air grew heavy.

It felt like invisible hands were pressing down on my body.

I understood immediately.

This wasn’t a test I could pass directly.

Potions, tools, even Magpie likely wouldn’t work.

“Hali.”

Yuhan Seong looked at me.

“Don’t tell me.”

I opened my bag.

I pulled out a small bottle I had kept in the deepest part.

Mana was slowly rotating inside the transparent liquid.

“Soul swap potion.”

I said.

Yuhan Seong’s eyes wavered for a moment.

“That’s.”

“It’s not a complete exchange.”

I shook my head.

“It’s a method that leaves consciousness intact and only borrows the body.”

The Jester tilted his head as if interested.

“Allowed.”

He said.

“However.”

“There must be consent.”

Yuhan Seong looked down at me.

After watching me silently for a while, he spoke.

“Why.”

He asked.

“Why do you trust me that much?”

I thought for a moment.

Then I spoke very honestly.

“If I don’t trust you, who else would I trust?”

At those words, Yuhan Seong smiled briefly.

Very briefly.

“I understand.”

He said.

I opened the bottle’s cap.

And drank it straight.

Mana flowed into my body.

A sensation neither warm nor cold spread from my heart.

My vision shook for a moment.

My body became light.

No, it became heavy.

Two sensations overlapped simultaneously.

I was standing.

But it wasn’t me.

‘You handle the movement.’

I said inwardly.

‘Got it.’

Yuhan Seong’s voice was heard right beside me.

The body moved.

In a way different from my will.

But it didn’t feel strange.

“Test begins.”

The Jester said.

Space folded again.

This time it wasn’t a stage, but continuous spaces.

Stairs, midair, cliff, narrow passage.

In the rapidly changing environment, only one condition was given.

“Do not lose your center.”

The body leaped.

It kicked off the wall.

It changed direction in mid-air.

I could feel it.

Yuhan Seong’s senses.

Where to step, where to avoid.

“Here.”

He said.

Through my mouth.

My body reacted automatically.

I stepped down just before landing.

The space changed again.

This time blades floated around.

The speed wasn’t constant.

My body moved like sliding.

I barely slipped through between the blades.

I was breathing, but the rhythm was Yuhan Seong’s.

There was no fear.

Only calculation.

“It’s over.”

He said.

The last space opened.

There was nothing.

One step.

And.

The floor disappeared.

All senses were cut off in an instant.

The next moment.

Thud.

Vision returned with the impact.

I took a deep breath.

My body was mine again.

The night sky was before my eyes.

And familiar tile roofs.

“Here.”

Yuhan Seong muttered.

We had fallen onto the boarding house roof.

The magpie flew from somewhere and landed on my shoulder.

I lay there silently for a while, then laughed.

“We passed.”

Yuhan Seong said while catching his breath beside me.

“That was a really insane test.”

I nodded.

“But it’s over.”

The sound of someone opening a door came from below the roof.

It was a sound proving we had returned to daily life.

***

After coming down from the boarding house roof, we didn’t say anything for a while.

It felt like speaking would make it all real.

The Clown Dungeon had definitely ended, but its aftereffects still lingered in our bodies.

My fingertips tingled slightly, and it felt like laughter still echoed in my ears.

“Report.”

Yuhan Seong spoke first.

“We shouldn’t do it.”

I nodded.

“Yeah.”

This dungeon had never been officially recorded.

It wasn’t on the management center’s map or in the appearance patterns.

Most importantly, the problem was the reward.

“This.”

I said while opening my bag.

“If we report it, it’ll be confiscated immediately.”

Yuhan Seong knew that fact too.

He silently looked down into the bag.

The Clown Dungeon’s reward wasn’t a simple item.

Each of the ten jesters left their ‘role’ as a reward.

Rewards that retained clear functions and characteristics, as if they were still alive.

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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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