I Became The Only Healer In The Academy [EN]: Chapter 41

41

The Association did not approve the subjugation of the Sacred Realm.

I had a slight hope, but as the secretary said, permission was not granted.

“Hmm… so are we just going to keep going to the open gates from now on?”

Inhwan asked, looking at Sunghyun with a dejected voice.

Originally, it was time to go to the assigned gate, but permission was not granted, so they were spending time at the Academy.

“It can’t be helped. But they said they’ll do something for us separately, so let’s wait and see.”

As if to support Sunghyun’s words, a call came from the Association.

“Hello?”

The secretary’s voice, as cold as ever, was heard.

“Yes, go ahead.”

“The Deputy Association Head has arranged a separate place for you.”

The place was prepared much faster than Sunghyun had expected.

“Oh, really? Where is it?”

“We’ll let you know the location when you come.”

“Okay, I understand.”

Inhwan and Sangyeon both looked at Sunghyun and asked, noticing that his expression was slightly different before and after the call.

“Where is it? Who is it?”

“Is it the Association?”

“That’s right. The place is ready, and they’ll let us know when we go to the Association.”

Inhwan and Sangyeon were also showing excitement at the place that was prepared much faster than they had expected.

“But… what about Hyein and Sungwook…? We don’t need to form a subjugation party, so there’s no need for five people…”

“Well, I guess there’s no need for five people.”

Inhwan and Sangyeon seemed to want to train with just the three of them.

“But the discussion is already over, and those two have to come after their Academy classes, so it’ll be fine. It might even bring a different vibe to the monotonous training.”

“Well, if you say so, Sunghyun.”

“It doesn’t sound too bad when I hear it.”

“Shall we go to the Association now?”

The three headed straight to the Association, where the secretary was waiting at the entrance.

“Please follow me.”

Following the secretary into the building, they headed in a different direction than usual.

A slightly secluded place. Turning around a corner, there was an elevator.

“An elevator in a place like this…”

The secretary, who was in the elevator, pressed the button for the only floor that existed, and soon the elevator began to descend with the sound of machinery operating.

“May I ask what kind of place it is?”

Sunghyun, unable to contain his curiosity, asked first, and the secretary answered while staring at the elevator door.

“You’ll see when you get there.”

The elevator went down quite a long way for a floor that only had one level, and soon the door began to open with a stopping sound.

The interior was not visible at all because the lights were not yet on, but the interior of the room, partially visible by the light of the elevator, was a landscape that was so foreign that it even felt alien.

“Then…”

The secretary pressed the switch right next to the elevator, and soon the lights turned on.

“W-what is this…?”

“It’s as you see it.”

The interior with the lights on felt even more alien than when only a part of it was visible.

Machines that I had never seen before.

“What is this, really…”

“It’s not a place we use now, but I thought it might be the most suitable place for Kim Hunter and the others.”

The secretary began to touch this and that of the machine, and soon the machines began to light up with a clunking sound.

“To put it simply, it’s a place where you can have virtual battles.”

“Virtual… battle?”

The secretary hesitated for a moment on how to explain it, but decided that it would be faster to show it directly, so she approached the machine that had just started to light up.

“If you do this…”

After pressing a few buttons and some time passed, a familiar-looking monster appeared before my eyes.

A monster from the lowest-risk open gate.

The monster, which looked like a puppy at first glance, was staring at where Sunghyun was.

“It’s a virtual monster created like this, but…”

The secretary waved her hand at the monster, and her hand passed through the monster and scattered in the air.

“If you equip this bracelet.”

At the same time as she finished speaking, the secretary put on the bracelet, and the monster, which had been looking around until just now, began to bark fiercely as if it had finally recognized the secretary’s existence.

Of course, it collapsed helplessly with one attack from the secretary.

“You can fight monsters.”

“Oh… is this the cutting-edge stuff?”

Inhwan asked with shining eyes, and the secretary nodded lightly and said.

“It’s not exactly cutting-edge… but the technology itself is the latest.”

But there was one thing that was strange.

Despite this level of outstanding and sophisticated technology, the secretary had clearly said earlier that it was a place that was no longer used.

“…You seem to have a question.”

The secretary also noticed this and continued with a brief explanation.

“When we introduced this technology in the past, we were clearly cheering. We thought it could dramatically raise South Korea’s status ranking.”

There was a hint of regret in the secretary’s eyes.

“But there was one problem we didn’t expect at all.”

The secretary took off the bracelet and summoned the puppy-type monster again.

As before, the monster was looking around, and the secretary put on the bracelet again.

“There’s no problem so far, but.”

The secretary tried to take off the bracelet she had been wearing again.

But she couldn’t.

“You can’t take off the bracelet when the monster is summoned.”

“You can’t take off the bracelet…”

The secretary quickly dealt with the fiercely barking puppy-type monster, took off the bracelet, and looked at the machine’s screen and said.

“The types of monsters that can be summoned with this machine are very diverse. The lowest-level monsters like just now are possible, but according to the current record, you can summon monsters up to the 2nd level gate.”

“Ah…”

I could roughly guess even without hearing the rest of the words.

Maybe they summoned a monster from a high-level gate and couldn’t take off the bracelet.

“That means you can also be injured by that virtual monster.”

“That’s right. If you don’t get hurt, would that be training? It would just be moving your body. This bracelet plays a role in blurring the boundaries between virtual monsters and reality.”

“Why didn’t you fix the machine? If it’s such a fatal problem…”

The secretary put the bracelet back in its original place and said.

“We tried too. But if you forcibly connect the virtual monster and reality, and take off the bracelet while the monster is still there, that is, the connection is not broken, it causes a huge shock to the brain.”

“Um… then why did you recommend this place to us?”

Inhwan, who had been listening quietly, also asked with a serious expression.

“You’re not using us as lab rats, are you…”

“Lab rats! No. But…”

The secretary hesitated for a moment before answering.

“It may sound a little irresponsible, but I thought Kim Hunter was the only one who could handle this fatal flaw.”

“Ah, healing…”

Inhwan also seemed to understand.

If you have to deal with the monster no matter what to take off the bracelet,

Sunghyun was the only one who could handle unexpected situations.

“A considerable amount of crystals are used each time the machine is operated, but the Association has agreed to cover all of that. All Kim Hunter and the others have to do is fight virtual battles and build strength.”

The secretary said, handing over the container with the bracelets.

“Only five bracelets are prepared, based on the minimum subjugation party standard. It matches the conditions Kim Hunter wanted. If you tell me the names of the other people you want to join the subjugation party, I’ll arrange for them to come here right away.”

“Thank you. The other two are Lee Hayeon and Kang Sungwook.”

“Lee… Hayeon?”

The secretary’s expression changed subtly at the name Lee Hayeon.

“Yes, is there any problem…”

“Ah, no. It just sounded like a name I’ve heard before. Then I’ll take care of it as I said. From today, this place is free for Kim Hunter’s group to use whenever they want.”

The secretary, who taught how to use the machine, asked not to touch the other machines, bowed slightly, and left the room in the elevator she had come in.

“Sunghyun! What should we do first? 4th level gate monsters? Or… 3rd level?”

“Crazy bastard, get a grip. We haven’t even adapted to what state we’re in yet, and you’re already summoning strong monsters?”

“Tsk, you’re a coward?”

“Wh, what? A coward?”

Inhwan and Sangyeon were bickering again, and Sunghyun, as if he was used to it, didn’t answer and checked the list of monsters that could be summoned.

“Let’s just warm up lightly, as Sangyeon said.”

“See? It’s not like we’re moths flying into a flame, everything has stages.”

“Tch…”

As the secretary explained, when I operated the machine, the puppy-type monster that had died twice reappeared.

“Let’s get used to it first.”

As a result of deliberately not killing the monster at once and avoiding attacks and moving my body for a while, this machine seemed to be made much more precisely than I thought.

“There’s no difference from reality?”

“It seems so.”

As Inhwan and Sangyeon said, it didn’t feel like it wasn’t real at all.

“It’s like… we didn’t connect ourselves to that virtual monster. It feels like we’re pulling that monster into reality.”

There was no sense of detachment from reality at all, so except for the disadvantage that the secretary told me, a training place superior to the gate was prepared.

And that disadvantage could be eliminated by Sunghyun’s ability.

“If we’ve warmed up lightly… shall we summon a 4th level gate monster?”

“Finally…!”

“Good.”

Inhwan and Sangyeon seemed to be burning with competitiveness rather than being afraid.

“There’s still some time left before Hayeon and Sungwook arrive. Let’s take it slow.”

Sunghyun immediately summoned a 4th level gate monster.

The monster, which looked similar to what they call orcs, was wearing armor and holding sophisticated weapons.

Sunghyun, of course, and Inhwan and Sangyeon also erased the relaxed smiles they had been showing and stared at the huge monster.

“It’s much bigger than the goblin tribe leader back then.”

The monster was looking around because it hadn’t worn the bracelet yet, and the three of them put on the bracelets at the same time, signaling the sound of swallowing saliva in the silence.

There was no need for other instructions.

The three of them had worked together against monsters and even people, so there was no need to say anything else, and each of them knew very well where and what role they had to play.

“…”

The three looked at each other and scratched their heads.

As if an unexpected situation had occurred.

“It’s not set to be weaker than the real thing, is it…?”

“Yeah, there wasn’t anything like that.”

It was too easy to deal with the monster.

Sunghyun was a little nervous because he had no memory of directly facing a 4th level gate monster from his previous memories, but this was at a level where each of them could handle one without any problems.

“Um… shall we summon a 3rd level monster?”

Inhwan seemed full of confidence.

“Let’s summon that when the other two arrive, and for now, let’s have each of us face a 4th level monster.”

“That’s a good idea.”

As Sunghyun said, the three of them spent time facing one 4th level gate monster each until the other two arrived.