I Became The Only Healer In The Academy [EN]: Chapter 75

75

“What’s up?”

Inhwan asked, watching Sunghyun approach as he hung up the phone. Sunghyun gave a light smile and shook his head.

“It’s nothing. More importantly, are there any magical beasts left?”

“Of course not.”

Sunghyun nodded and immediately looked at Yae-in.

He wondered if she might be scared and trembling in this situation, but far from it, she was looking at Sunghyun with even brighter eyes than before.

“…Why?”

“Oppa, you were so strong!”

Inhwan laughed and chimed in on Yae-in’s praise of Sunghyun.

“Haha. Of course, he is. He’s the strongest here, you know? It would be tough even if we all ganged up on him.”

“…Not *that* strong. Let’s go now. It’s a little disappointing, but we can come again next time.”

“Okay!”

Yae-in seemed satisfied with the rides, nodding without hesitation.

As they were about to leave the amusement park, a group of people in suits entered from the main gate.

“Ah, are you perhaps Hunter Kim Sunghyun?”

“Yes, I am. But…”

“We’re from the Association, here to assess the situation. We briefly heard the report, and it seems there was an unpleasant incident…”

“It’s alright. Everything’s been resolved.”

The Association members repeatedly gave Sunghyun apologetic expressions.

“Then, do you know where Guild Leader Kim Heewon… no, Hunter Kim is?”

“She’s sitting over there.”

Following Sunghyun’s gaze, they saw Heewon sitting on the ground, looking utterly defeated.

“Ah, thank you. Then, we’ll take our leave. Please return safely.”

“Yes. Thank you for your hard work.”

Soon, Sunghyun left the amusement park. The Association hunters, after confirming Sunghyun’s departure, headed straight to Heewon, who still hadn’t regained her composure.

“Guild… Hunter Kim?”

“…”

“Hunter Kim Heewon!”

After calling her several times without a response, the Association hunter lightly slapped her cheek and called again.

“Hunter Kim Heewon.”

“Ah! Ah, wh-who…”

“We’re from the Association.”

At the mention of the Association, Heewon looked up with pleading eyes.

“As you’ve already been informed over the phone, Guild Leader Kim Heewon is now, or rather, from this point forward, a regular hunter.”

Having finished the announcement, the Association hunter took something out of his pocket and showed it to Kim Heewon, saying,

“And separately from that, the actions committed by Hunter Kim Heewon are a clear violation of a hunter’s most basic duties, and there will be punishment accordingly.”

“Pu, punishment?”

Heewon looked back and forth between the paper and the Association hunter with a blank expression.

“Ah, no. I’ve already lost my guild and all my guild members, and now there’s punishment on top of that!”

“I think you’re forgetting that hunters fundamentally prioritize the lives of ordinary people. Do you remember?”

“Th, that’s just a formality…”

There were such clauses, but there were so many exceptions that it was essentially a clause that only existed on paper.

“That’s for us to judge, and you need to come with us for investigation. And this is…”

The Hunter’s Association took something else out of its pocket and showed it to Heewon.

It was the guild registration certificate and permit.

“We thought you should see it in person anyway.”

The Hunter’s Association, after tearing the original registration certificate and permit to shreds in front of Heewon’s eyes, dusted off their hands a few times and said.

“Let’s take her away. She looks too weak to walk.”

“Yes.”

Heewon, who had been half out of her mind until just now, stared blankly at the shredded paper on the floor, losing the last shred of her sanity.

***

Sunghyun headed to the Academy after a long time.

Dealing with magical beasts wasn’t bad, but there was no need to do so now.

The inter-class competition with the 3rd graders hadn’t been postponed; only the observation [field trip] was canceled due to the frequent appearance of mutated gates.

Coincidentally, today’s class wasn’t practical training but a kind of meeting about the frequent appearance of mutated gates, so it was a day worth coming to the Academy.

With less than a week left, thorough preparations were needed, but Sunghyun didn’t feel that pressure.

‘I don’t feel like I’m going to lose.’

It wasn’t arrogance, nor was it a delusion.

It wasn’t even confidence.

Like stating a fact, he just had this calm conviction.

He wasn’t looking down on his opponents either.

Sunghyun knew better than anyone else among the 1st graders what kind of opponents the 3rd graders would be.

“Ha, haha. Sunghyun’s here?”

“Yes. Hello.”

“Inhwan and Sangyeon are doing well too?”

“Yes.”

The homeroom teacher greeted Sunghyun with an awkward smile as always, and Sunghyun, Inhwan, and Sangyeon answered calmly as always.

“Today’s class is…”

With the pressure of the inter-class competition gone, just attending class at the Academy made him feel peaceful.

“As you all know, the frequency of 3rd-grade gates mutating has increased to an unbelievable level recently.”

It wasn’t an incident that could be passed over lightly, so the expressions of the professor and the other students were also stiff.

“The Association and our Academy have continued to investigate, but unfortunately, we haven’t found anything yet.”

The professor, who usually didn’t show much emotion, was very serious this time.

“With the mutation of 3rd-grade gates happening like this, we don’t know when it will affect 2nd-grade gates.”

Dealing with the mutation of 3rd-grade gates was possible with preparation, but if 2nd-grade gates mutated, the situation would be different.

Throughout history, 2nd-grade gates had mutated only once.

The mutation of 2nd-grade gates was different from the mutation of 3rd-grade gates, as the magical beasts also had their own unique abilities.

Considering the small accident that happened in the Association’s basement, the magical beasts from the mutated 3rd-grade gate also had abilities, but they were far inferior to those of the 2nd-grade gate.

In fact, during that single mutation, the magical beast appeared with an incredibly absurd ability.

Controlling dead hunters.

Since it was a 2nd-grade gate, quite strong hunters had entered, and since they didn’t expect the mutation, all of those hunters were subjugated by the magical beast.

It was an incident that was resolved only by the top hunters from each country gathering together.

‘If my memories from before regression are correct, there won’t be a mutation of a 2nd-grade gate until I die…’

But the flow had changed, so he had to prepare.

And one of those preparations was the inter-class competition.

He had to get equipment from Dmarge, who was called the god of equipment crafting.

Of course, there were preparations in case he couldn’t get it, so it didn’t matter what the outcome was.

“We’ll probably go into that mutated 3rd-grade gate someday, right?”

“Probably.”

Inhwan and Sangyeon, who would usually bicker, were serious because they knew the seriousness of the situation.

“When you become 2nd graders, there may be changes to the subjugation [monster hunting] schedule. Everyone should make at least minimal preparations.”

“Subjugation?”

“Subjugation, you say…”

“How many times will we go out then?”

The students began to buzz at the word “subjugation,” and the professor frowned, not liking it.

“Are you afraid of subjugation after becoming an Academy student?”

“…”

It would be a lie to say they weren’t afraid.

They couldn’t help but be afraid when they thought of what had happened not long ago.

Of course, except for a few.

“How many times will we go on subjugation?”

Sunghyun raised his hand as a representative and asked, and the professor finally relaxed his frown, smiled slightly, and answered.

“It’s still undecided, but it’s almost certain that it will increase. It was the common opinion of all the professors that the level of the Academy should be raised further.”

“I see.”

“This is the end of today’s class. There’s not much time left until winter vacation, but in the current situation, I hope you think of yourselves as hunters rather than students.”

The professor then left the classroom, and the students began to buzz.

Since it was their first experience with subjugation, they were naturally scared.

Sunghyun wasn’t very interested in subjugation.

At best, they would go to a 3rd-grade gate, and that was now an easy gate for Sunghyun.

For now, the inter-class competition was the most immediate goal.

‘Now I have nothing to do at the Academy…’

Now, not only the same class, the 1st graders, but even the 2nd graders knew Sunghyun’s face and strength.

Before the inter-class competition with the 2nd graders, they only knew him as a hunter with healing abilities, but after the inter-class competition with the 2nd graders, everyone knew that he was quite skilled in combat as well as healing.

Before, it was like looking at a strange person, but now it was like looking at professors or guild leaders.

Of course, not the 3rd graders.

He didn’t care much about their gazes anyway, and they would change on their own after the inter-class competition with the 3rd graders that would take place soon.

“Well, you’re both confident in the inter-class competition, right?”

At Sunghyun’s question, Inhwan and Sangyeon, who had been bickering until just now, smiled at the same time and answered.

“Of course.”

***

After finishing class, Sunghyun headed straight to the Association.

“We are truly sorry for what happened that day… There’s no way the guild leaders wouldn’t recognize Hunter Kim’s face…”

The secretary bowed and apologized to Sunghyun.

“It’s not something the secretary needs to apologize for. It doesn’t matter since it’s all over anyway.”

As soon as Sunghyun finished speaking, the secretary raised her head and handed Sunghyun the documents she had prepared in advance.

“This is the report on Kim Heewon’s disposal. She has been stripped of her guild leader status, the guild has been disbanded, and she has been transferred to the Hunter-only police agency for violating hunter regulations.”

“I see.”

Sunghyun nodded lightly and moved on, not feeling any particular sympathy.

“And this is about the crystal.”

As soon as the secretary finished speaking, Sunghyun’s phone rang.

“Please check it.”

Checking his phone, Sunghyun saw that 300 million won [approximately $250,000 USD] had been deposited into his account.

“Is this the value of the crystal?”

“It’s the value of the crystal and the support that should have gone to that guild.”

“That’s quite a lot?”

“Since flooding isn’t frequent, the support is set quite high.”

“I understand.”

Sunghyun didn’t express gratitude to the Association.

Regardless of how much money Sunghyun received, this was something that should have been handled this way.

“Are the mutated gates being handled well?”

“Yes. Since we’re assuming that 3rd-grade gates are mutating, the handling itself hasn’t been difficult. It’s just that the cost is a bit… very high.”

“If you’re short on funds, you don’t have to give them to me.”

“Ah! That’s not what I meant. This isn’t us showing our sincerity; it’s just that we’ve done what we basically had to do.”

The secretary was thinking the same thing as Sunghyun.

“I’m really okay with it…”

“Absolutely, absolutely not.”

“I understand.”

“Thank you for understanding.”

After that, they briefly talked about the mutated gates and left the Association.

“Still, it was handled well.”

If it had been glossed over, Sunghyun was going to step in himself, but it seemed that the Association had dealt with Kim Heewon very firmly.

“Now all that’s left is the inter-class competition.”

He didn’t know how much skill the 3rd graders would show, but he had already heard things from Sungwook, so he wasn’t expecting much.