I Became The Only Healer In The Academy [EN]: Chapter 31

31

“Give our class heroes a round of applause!”

As I entered the classroom, the teacher’s announcement was met with applause from my classmates.

Some clapped with genuine enthusiasm, while others maintained blank expressions.

It seemed the teacher had instructed them to do so.

“Ahem, so, about the inter-grade competition… can we expect a little something in return?”

The teacher was clearly thinking back to when he himself had been selected as the academy representative.

In the past, the class that produced the academy representative received support that was incomparable to what they get now.

Both the class and the teacher benefited greatly.

‘With the abilities he displayed yesterday, it’s worth getting my hopes up! Then I can easily make up for the salary cut.’

Seonghyun watched the teacher, whose thoughts were so transparent, with apathetic eyes before returning to his seat.

Notably, those who had been hostile to Seonghyun, or those who harbored similar feelings, had completely vanished from the class dynamic.

Goo Sangyeon, their former leader, had become close enough to be considered Seonghyun’s friend.

Goo Sangyeon, catching my eye, frowned and asked,

“…Why are you looking at me like that?”

Seonghyun responded with a slight smile, offering no verbal answer.

‘It seems I don’t have to worry about internal conflicts within the academy anymore.’

At least, not within the class itself.

After finishing his classes for the day, Seonghyun headed towards the gate almost habitually, intending to complete his daily quest that he had to clear every day.

“Didn’t I tell you to find out properly?”

“Th, that was all…! That’s all I could see!”

As Seonghyun was about to leave the academy grounds, heading towards the gate, he overheard a voice coming from the same spot where he had first spoken with Goo Sangyeon.

“Why? What’s wrong?” Inhwan and Sangyeon, seemingly oblivious to the voice, looked at Seonghyun, who had stopped in his tracks, with puzzled expressions. Seonghyun simply shook his head and replied.

“No, are you guys going ahead?”

“Yeah, see you tomorrow.”

After seeing Inhwan and Sangyeon off, Seonghyun cautiously approached the source of the voice.

He positioned himself where he couldn’t be seen and focused on the conversation coming from the alleyway.

“Why don’t you give me a decent excuse? You could have seen enough with your ability, are you lying to screw me over?”

“N, no, really! I told you everything I could see with my ability…!”

A familiar voice reached his ears.

‘Who is that?’

After searching his memory, he realized it was the person he had met just yesterday.

It was Hwang Euihyun, who had won against the berserk Goo Sangyeon.

“I know your ability well, and you’re telling me you told me everything? You son of a bitch, where are you lying?”

“Th, that’s not…!”

The sound that followed wasn’t a voice, but the distinct sound of something being struck.

Once, twice.

As the repeated blows ceased, a voice mixed with painful groans, noticeably different from before, was heard.

“R, really…”

“Haa… If you had told me properly, you could have at least gotten away from me. Right?”

“P, please…”

‘Is this because of the competition yesterday?’

He didn’t know the exact details, but if he considered what could have made Hwang Euihyun so angry recently, the competition was the only thing that came to mind.

“It seems like you’re misunderstanding something, but there are no more chances for you.”

“B, but I clearly did as I was told! I even went to the assassin guild for the first time! You know that too!”

‘Assassin guild? Wasn’t that what Heo Taehyun requested? The hunter clearly stated that Heo Taehyun requested it.’

The situation seemed to be taking a strange turn.

Whether there was another entity pulling the strings, or whether they were connected from the beginning.

“Hah, did you even make a request? You just asked a few questions. And collected samples.”

“B, but…!”

“Stop! Shut your mouth if you’re going to talk nonsense. If I wanted to, I could kill you right here.”

‘Sample collection…’

Unfamiliar terms kept surfacing, and Seonghyun focused even more intently on their conversation.

“Hoo… Okay, I understand everything. If that’s the limit of your ability, what else can I do?”

“R, really?”

“Well, I guess that’s all you’re good for.”

“Euihyun…?”

Hwang Euihyun, having finished his piece, began to emerge from the alleyway.

Seonghyun quickly concealed himself, waiting for Hwang Euihyun to pass by.

“What… what did I do so wrong?”

From inside the alleyway, a voice filled with despair echoed.

It was the voice of someone who had already given up on many things, and also the voice of someone who would give up on many more things in the future.

“Haha…”

A laugh that was devoid of genuine mirth was heard, and when he cautiously peeked into the alleyway, he saw a figure sitting there, already battered and bruised, letting out a hollow laugh.

“Was the academy always like this?”

It was supposed to be an academy for adults, but some of its inhabitants seemed far from it.

‘…I don’t need to get involved, right?’

If he interfered carelessly, it could only lead to negative consequences.

But he couldn’t save everyone either.

Not unless he was prepared to take responsibility until graduation, or even beyond.

Seonghyun, who had been contemplating whether to treat his wounds, ultimately decided against it, reasoning that revealing his presence would only make the other person feel more miserable, and turned to leave.

“I thought things would change when I entered the academy…”

Seongwook, sitting in the alleyway, looked up at the sky and could only manage a hollow laugh.

He had experienced similar situations in high school and middle school, and at the age of 20, he had finally awakened his ability, been recognized for his talent, and entered the academy.

At that time, everything had seemed promising.

Even when he encountered those who had bullied him in the past, he remained optimistic, and even when he was hospitalized for several weeks due to a traffic accident, he was simply happy.

He believed that a new life would begin as soon as the school started, that the unhappy past was merely a chrysalis, and that the moment the academy opened its doors would be the moment of blossoming.

But that was just Seongwook’s delusion.

The ability he possessed was only useful initially, and it was an ability that couldn’t improve with continued use during his academy life.

“When I go home… what will they think again?”

In the past, when he had returned home with a body covered in wounds shortly after the school started, he had made excuses that talented people had gathered and were fighting for dominance.

After that, whenever he returned home with injuries, his parents stopped asking him the cause.

Because he wouldn’t answer even if they asked, just like in middle and high school.

After sitting in the alleyway for a while, Seongwook rose from his seat with an expression of resignation.

“…Let’s go.”

As he emerged from the alleyway with a tired and broken body and an even more shattered mental state, an unexpected figure was there to greet him.

“Kim… Seonghyun?”

Seonghyun, who was on his way home, had been held back by a strange sense of kinship and had waited for Seongwook nearby.

“Your… body…”

Seeing him react as if he was seeing him for the first time, Seongwook, realizing his mistake, quickly erased the despairing expression and replaced it with a forced cheerful one.

“Haha, well, it’s just a common fight.”

“How much did you fight? More importantly, what’s your name?”

“I’m Kang Seongwook.”

After Seongwook’s answer, silence hung in the air for a moment, and Seonghyun looked at Seongwook and asked cautiously.

“Should I… heal you?”

“Huh? Ah… it’s, it’s okay.”

Knowing that Seonghyun would feel the pain of the subject, Seongwook refused the treatment.

He also didn’t want others to know the extent of the pain he was currently experiencing.

“Huh? I, I’m really okay…”

But Seonghyun proceeded to heal Seongwook anyway.

The words Seongwook had spoken earlier kept echoing in his mind, and he couldn’t simply ignore them.

‘I have to get home… safely.’

His parents were already worried whenever he left the house for a short time, so how heartbroken would they be if he returned with these injuries?

“Thank you…”

“You’re welcome.”

Silence returned for a while.

Just as the silence was becoming increasingly awkward, Seongwook spoke up.

“Want to grab a drink or something…?”

“A drink. Sounds good.”

The two bought drinks at a nearby convenience store and headed to a park bench.

“Is your body okay?”

It was Seongwook who asked this time.

Because he didn’t feel any pain from the treatment.

“Ah, this much is nothing. I’m used to it.”

At the words ‘used to it,’ Seongwook smiled bitterly and said.

“Why can’t I get used to it?”

“You shouldn’t get used to it.”

“Huh?”

Seongwook looked at Seonghyun with a puzzled expression at the unexpected response.

“I have to get used to it. But you don’t.”

“…”

Seongwook realized he had made a slip of the tongue.

He had looked at him with envious eyes for possessing a special ability, perhaps even with a hint of jealousy.

But there was a significant difference between Seonghyun’s pain and Seongwook’s pain.

They both shared the desire to avoid pain, but while Seongwook saw it as something he might have to endure someday, Seonghyun would have to live with it for the rest of his life.

“It’s not all good things.”

“That’s right. You may not know, but before the re-emergence [referring to the return of mana and monsters to the world], my ability was to identify vital points.”

At the mention of ‘identify vital points,’ Seongwook also revealed his ability.

“My ability is ability identification. It allows me to identify the abilities of others.”

“Ability identification…”

Regardless of the situation, Seonghyun felt sympathy for Seongwook, who shared a similar predicament.

Ability identification, like vital point identification, was an ability that became increasingly useless as more information was gathered.

‘At least it’s better than mine.’

Seeing that it could be used quite universally even for hunters, it was a better ability than Seonghyun’s.

But in the academy, it was like comparing the height of acorns [an idiom meaning comparing things that are essentially the same].

“If it’s vital point identification… it would have been similar to me.”

He was one of the few people who could understand that the academy, which they had entered with great expectations, had become a shackle that held back their progress.

“I’m just a lucky person. But I don’t think there’s anything you can overcome with luck alone.”

If someone else had said it, he might have dismissed it as naive, but when someone with a similar past spoke those words, it felt like he could actually achieve something.

“…Thank you.”

“Let’s go now.”

Seonghyun and Seongwook got up from the bench, finished their drinks simultaneously, and went their separate ways.

‘Yeah, no matter how hard it is, just a little bit…’

He was about to arrive home with a very small and insignificant hope when a familiar voice echoed under the streetlights.

“Why are you coming home so late?”

“Eu, Euihyun?”

It was Hwang Euihyun, waiting near Seongwook’s house.

“I saw you talking very intimately earlier?”

“O, it’s a misunderstanding…”

“It’s too clean to be a misunderstanding, isn’t it? Why would Kim Seonghyun heal you so thoroughly if you had nothing to do with him?”

“Th, that’s…”

“I think we need to talk a little more.”

Euihyun was wearing an expression he had never shown before.

Not the playful expression he often wore, nor the angry or annoyed one, but a completely blank expression.

Seongwook had no choice but to talk with Euihyun in the alleyway near his house.

A slightly different kind of conversation.