I Became The Only Healer In The Academy [EN]: Chapter 56

Chun-joong was draining the last drops from an empty soju bottle into his glass.

“Tsk.”

He’d lost count of how many bottles he’d gone through, but the mountain of empties in the corner proved he hadn’t been living like this for just a day or two.

“Guess I’ll have to sell the air conditioner now.”

There weren’t many possessions left in the spacious house, but even those would have to go to afford today’s drinks.

“By the way, where did that crazy brat go?”

He distinctly remembered telling him to buy alcohol last night, but now that he thought about it, he still hadn’t come home.

“Annoying… I’ll have to give him a good talking-to when he gets back.”

Still, he *had* been bringing him money, so he’d tried to pat him on the head a few times. The way he flinched was quite a sight.

“Before I go…”

The man picked up the landline phone.

Since he didn’t even have a cell phone anymore, the landline was his only connection to the outside world.

“Hello?”

A delighted voice responded from the other end at the sound of his name.

“Oh, aren’t you our regular? What brings you here today?”

“Well, nothing much… I’m just trying to sell an air conditioner.”

“An air conditioner, you say?”

“Come over and take a look.”

“I’ll be right there.”

Chun-joong roughly crumpled a few bills—the remaining cash from selling the air purifier last time—into his pocket, pulled his hat low, and left the house.

“Huh? Is it winter already?”

No wonder he felt a chilly air in the house; it seemed winter was slowly approaching.

“Ahem, if I’m selling the air conditioner, should I get some decent snacks today?”

Besides, it wouldn’t be long before Ye-in’s support money came in.

With the thought that it would be nice to live like this forever, Chun-joong smiled and entered the alley.

But then, a voice came from behind.

“Mr. Kim Chun-joong?”

“Huh? Who is it?”

“Are you Mr. Kim Chun-joong?”

Turning around, he saw a man in a black suit staring at him expressionlessly.

‘Oh, did they come because of the support money?’

Something similar had happened before.

It was like an audit to check if the support money was being used properly, and he’d had quite a hard time then, having to cough up a week’s worth of drinking money.

“Ha, haha. Are you from the district office?”

“…Excuse me?”

“No, you came last time, and now again…”

Chun-joong sighed lightly, took out the crumpled bills he had just grabbed, and approached the man.

“You’re too early. This is all I have this time.”

“What is this?”

“…Don’t be like that. When did it go up again? You take 500,000 won [approximately $375 USD] out of the 1 million won [approximately $750 USD] support money I get each month, I tell you.”

“Ah. Is that so?”

“‘Is that so?’ What do you mean, ‘Is that so!’ Anyway, this is all I have this time, so come back later.”

“…Alright.”

Chun-joong reluctantly headed back home.

He had to get back the cash he had given to the man.

“Tch, spit. My luck is terrible.”

He opened the front door irritably and entered the house, but strangely, it felt a little colder than before.

As if a door somewhere had been open, or rather, as if a door had been briefly opened in the meantime.

“Mr. Kim Chun-joong?”

“…No way, is it that guy from earlier?”

He clearly said he would give it later, but it seemed he had come all the way to his house.

“What kind of person is so greedy…!”

“Kim Chun-joong, 38 years old. Both parents deceased, became homeless due to successive business failures.”

“Wh, what?”

It wasn’t evening yet, but the curtains were all drawn, so the house was dark, and the man’s figure was partially visible in the gloom.

He was holding a piece of paper in his hand.

“After the last business failure, you were threatened by the father of Ye-in, who was a major investor, and in the process, you killed Ye-in’s father with your own hands.”

“Wh, what nonsense…!”

“As you were living as a homeless person, you learned that Ye-in’s mother was not around, and you pretended to be a friend of Ye-in’s father, aiming for the support money, and entered the house.”

The man scattered the papers he was holding on the floor as he spoke.

The papers, barely visible in the light shining through the small gap in the front door, were all about him.

“Wh, who are you!”

“Not only that, but you hit Ye-in and recently tried to do things that no human being should do.”

“How did you…”

Chun-joong looked back and forth between the man and the scattered papers with trembling eyes.

This man was definitely the same man he had met earlier.

‘He wasn’t from the district office…!’

What should he do?

If it was just that he was caught embezzling support money, he could somehow get away with it, but the man in front of him knew too much.

“W, wait a moment…”

Chun-joong racked his brain.

What could he use to deal with this man in this house?

And then, in the drawer behind the man, there was a decorative dagger made of crystal that he had kept to sell later.

Chun-joong carefully reached behind him, opened the drawer, and took out the dagger.

It wasn’t sharp because it was just for decoration, but if he stabbed a vital point, he could render him defenseless.

“Ha, haha. Instead of that, let’s talk slowly…”

Hiding the dagger behind him, Chun-joong slowly approached the man.

Forcing a smile.

“So, what happened was…”

Finally, he came within striking distance, and the man tried to stab the man with all his might.

No, he was about to stab him.

“Kuaaak!”

But the moment he reached out, an unbearable pain made him dizzy.

“Cough, cough…”

Even breathing was difficult.

The pain, which felt as if it barely allowed him to breathe, neither intensified nor weakened, tormenting Chun-joong.

“…How long has she been living with someone like this?”

At the same time as the unfamiliar voice, other figures appeared from the darkness.

Sung-hyun coldly looked down at Chun-joong, who was writhing in pain and barely managed to lift his head to look at him.

He didn’t feel even the slightest bit of sympathy.

He didn’t even think of him as a person.

He was just a person with the same biological structure, but other than that, he seemed to have nothing in common with him.

No, he definitely had nothing.

“Kim Chun-joong.”

“Kkeueo…”

Sung-hyun would have lowered the intensity of the Stigma [a supernatural ability] for the sake of conversation, but he had no intention of doing so now.

Sung-hyun reached out to Chun-joong, who was writhing in pain.

‘Heal.’

Of course, Sung-hyun also felt the pain.

But he didn’t think he was feeling the pain *instead*.

He was just trying to figure out how much pain this man was feeling, and whether it was enough.

“Kuaaak!”

The man’s voice, which had been losing its vitality, quickly grew louder again.

The regained vitality was only being used to groan.

“That’s enough. What conversation is needed?”

Sung-hyun, who was ashamed of himself for trying to have a conversation for a moment, frowned and straightened his body, which he had lowered to the man’s eye level.

“Everyone has time, right?”

“Time? Why? Is there something else?”

“We should leave him like that.”

In-hwan, who had a puzzled expression at Sung-hyun’s question, nodded and answered at Sung-hyun’s words that he would leave him in that state of agony.

“More than enough.”

“I wanted to beat him to a pulp, but this isn’t bad either.”

As they were about to watch the man, a voice was heard from outside.

“Police! Open the door.”

“Police?”

There was no way Chun-joong would have reported it.

He didn’t even have a cell phone in the first place.

“I’ll go.”

In-hwan’s secretary headed to the front door instead.

“What’s going on?”

“We received a report of screams.”

The police craned their necks to see behind the man.

“It’s nothing…”

“Kuaak! H, here…!”

“…Let me take a look inside for a moment.”

As the police pushed past the man and entered, Chun-joong began to cry out to the police as if he had found a way to live.

“Th, these people are trying to kill me…!”

“What is this… Are you people hunters [individuals with supernatural abilities]?”

Using abilities for crime like this was naturally forbidden.

Of course, there were quite a few people like that, so the police were in charge of ordinary people, and the Hunter Association was in charge of cracking down on hunters.

“Request support from the association quickly…”

In-hwan and Sang-yeon were watching the situation with frowns.

“We’re a little burdened by what the Hunter Association is in charge of.”

“Then… what happens to us?”

Sung-hyun also frowned.

‘I have no choice.’

Sung-hyun immediately made a call somewhere.

Before the signal could even go a few times, a familiar voice answered the phone.

“Hello?”

“Hello. This is Hunter Kim. What’s going on?”

It was the association’s secretary.

Calling the vice president directly for something like this was too much, and it seemed okay if it was the secretary.

Sung-hyun briefly explained the situation.

He didn’t have much time, so he only explained that he had used his ability on a man and was caught by the police.

“Yes? How did that happen…”

“I’ll tell you later. I don’t have time right now.”

“I understand. I believe you had a good reason. I’ll take care of it right away.”

Sung-hyun and the police ended their calls at the same time.

“Everyone, don’t leave your positions. Hunter personnel will be arriving soon…”

But before the police could finish speaking, another call came in.

“Hello? Yes? What do you mean… Ah… Yes… I understand.”

The police hung up the phone and stared blankly at the scene for a moment.

“…I don’t know how great you people are, but don’t think you can live like this forever.”

Leaving behind quite meaningful words, the police left the scene.

“H, hey! Officer! Hey, you!”

Chun-joong’s only hope disappeared like that.

It seemed that the fence [slang for a dealer in stolen goods] who came to see the air conditioner had seen the situation and reported it to the police, but it completely disappeared like smoke with just one call from Sung-hyun.

“Wh, what? Suddenly?”

“It seems Sung-hyun made some kind of call…”

“I called the association. Don’t worry about them.”

At Sung-hyun’s words, the two once again reminded themselves of the position Sung-hyun held.

“I’m done here.”

“Ha, I can’t forgive him.”

“Me neither.”

But both of them knew.

That spending the rest of his life in prison would be more painful for the man than ending his life in this place.

“S, save me…”

Chun-joong, who had been listening to the conversation, begged with both hands.

He asked them to spare his life.

“…That’s enough. Let’s go.”

“Tsk, he’s too dirty to even touch.”

Sung-hyun left the house without releasing the Stigma.

When he came out of the house, In-hwan’s secretary was waiting outside with the police from earlier.

“Ah, you’ve come out.”

“What are you doing? With this person?”

“Didn’t you not kill him?”

He was a little surprised that he was saying the word kill in front of the police without hesitation, but the police’s expression was different from before.

“Well, he wasn’t worth it.”

“So I handed over the information I collected. I’m sure they’ll make their own judgment.”

As the secretary said, the police were holding a bundle of documents in their hands.

“Just now… I’m sorry. I didn’t know anything…”

“It’s okay. You’ve seen everything, so I’m sure you’ll make your own judgment.”

The three of them left the place without any regrets.

But since the lingering feelings for Chun-joong were not erased at all, they mobilized everything they could.

Sung-hyun to the association, In-hwan to what he had.

As a result, Chun-joong’s trial proceeded smoothly.

Without even hiring a lawyer.

He was sentenced to 50 years in prison without any objections.