I Became The Only Healer In The Academy [EN]: Chapter 89

The next day, as expected, Seonghyun and his group checked out of the hotel and headed to DeMarge’s location. It was different from where they had initially commissioned the equipment.

Upon arrival, they saw representatives waiting, positioned according to their country’s prestige ranking.

Originally, the gathering was intended only for representatives receiving equipment from DeMarge. However, those who had been rejected, seeing this as a rare opportunity, had come with a desperate hope.

“Ah, the representatives from South Korea, please come forward,” DeMarge’s assistant gestured to Seonghyun, as if he had arrived just in time. Simultaneously, the intense gazes of the Chinese representatives bore into him—except, of course, for the friend who had briefly met Seonghyun before.

As they stood before the Chinese team, the Chinese representatives began to mutter.

“Those small country folks have no manners…”

“What can you do? It’s all they know. We, with our great generosity, should understand, shouldn’t we?”

Of course, Seonghyun couldn’t understand what they were saying, so he couldn’t respond. He would just stick to the principle of an eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth.

“It seems like it’s already being promoted worldwide?”

“Huh? What is?”

“What are you talking about?” Inhwan and Sangyeon looked at Seonghyun with puzzled eyes, wondering what he was suddenly talking about.

“That we’re going to surpass China. You saw it everywhere else, right?”

At those words, Inhwan and Sangyeon burst into laughter simultaneously.

If the other representatives were unhappy with the current situation, they would have stepped forward themselves. They were more sensitive to prestige rankings than anyone else, and if they crumbled this easily, their authority would be damaged.

But no one in this place objected to DeMarge’s assistant. That was the case today, and it was the same before. In other words, they tacitly acknowledged it.

“What did you say just now?” The Chinese representatives, who didn’t understand anything, strangely felt bad and asked Seonghyun.

Of course, Seonghyun lightly ignored them.

“Ignoring us now…!”

“Korean representatives, you may enter.” No matter what the other party was babbling about, in the end, South Korea was the one receiving equipment from DeMarge, and they were the ones who weren’t.

Seonghyun, with a relaxed smile, followed the assistant’s guidance into the room.

“Oh, you’ve come. Have a seat.” Unlike the place where they first made the request, the decorations were quite calm and antique.

“Oh ho…you…” DeMarge, who had been carefully watching Seonghyun, looked at him with a very amused expression and said, “You’ve gotten a bit stronger in those few days?”

“Ha, haha…” The only thing he had done during those few days was sparring with 1 [likely referring to a specific individual or entity], but it seemed to have helped quite a bit.

“How should I put it…rather than feeling like your strength has increased, it feels like it has become more solid.”

“Thank you.”

“That goes for you two as well.” DeMarge, who had never spoken to Inhwan and Sangyeon from the first moment he saw them, spoke to them first this time.

“Yes? Ah, yes! Thank you!”

“T, thank you.”

DeMarge nodded and looked at the assistant waiting next to him. “Bring them.”

“Yes.” The assistant, who had left the room, quickly reappeared, holding three very sturdy-looking boxes in his hands.

“Listen to this friend for the explanation. I have to go now.”

“Yes, thank you.” DeMarge waved his hand roughly at Seonghyun and his group, who were trying to get up and greet him, and then left the room.

“I will explain. First…Hunter Gu Sangyeon?”

“Yes.” DeMarge’s assistant handed Sangyeon the box containing his equipment and said, “Please check it.”

When he opened the box, there was something that looked like a very small, transparent film, so small that it was questionable if it could even be called equipment.

“T, this is…the equipment?”

“Haha. Yes. That’s right. Those who see DeMarge’s equipment for the first time often react like this. It’s one of the reasons why DeMarge is called the world’s best artisan.”

Sangyeon, holding the transparent thing in the box in his hand, raised it to eye level and checked it from side to side.

“Just overlay it on the ring you’re wearing now. It has perfect immunity to external shocks, so it doesn’t take up space, and there’s no need to worry about it breaking.”

“Oh…” As expected, the reputation of being the world’s best artisan was not for nothing.

“Then, I’ll explain the ability you’re most curious about.” A moment of silence lingered, and Sangyeon looked at the assistant’s mouth with expectant eyes.

“Hunter Gu Sangyeon’s ability: Berserk. It’s definitely a great ability, but it has a fatal flaw.”

That is, it can only be used when your health drops below a certain level. No matter how you look at it, an ability with such a condition had clear limitations to reaching the ranks of the top hunters.

“So, DeMarge tried to eliminate that flaw. If you wear this equipment, you can go berserk at any moment you want.”

“Y, yes? You can go berserk right away?” It was a suspicious statement, even though he had clearly heard it. No matter how good DeMarge was, it was no different from completely eliminating the preconditions of the ability.

“Ah, of course, it’s not all advantages. Immediately upon use, your health drops to a level where you can use Berserk. It decreases on its own.”

“I don’t care at all.” With this, Sangyeon’s biggest drawbacks were completely eliminated.

The Berserk that was released when his health recovered was now unrestricted due to the academy equipment, and with this DeMarge’s equipment, he no longer needed to lower his health to use it.

“I never even imagined it would be this good…”

“However…Hunter Gu Sangyeon will no longer be able to see more of the equipment’s power.”

“What do you mean by that?”

“It means that you can’t wear equipment related to Berserk anymore.”

Sangyeon’s eyes flickered for a moment, but he didn’t care about anything else anyway. He just wanted to get closer to pure power.

“…It’s okay.” With DeMarge’s equipment now, Seonghyun’s blocked limits were completely broken.

When he placed the transparent film on the ring he had received from the academy, the film wrapped around the ring as if to embrace it and permeated the ring as it was.

“I’m glad to hear that. Next is Hunter Kang Inhwan.”

“Yes!” Inhwan stared at the assistant with sparkling eyes. He had heard what Sangyeon had heard, so it would be a definite lie if he said he wasn’t expecting anything.

“Hunter Kang Inhwan’s ability is the ability to control blue flames, right?”

“Yes, that’s right.”

“The equipment you received previously was equipment that reduced the accuracy and mana consumption of your ability.”

“Yes!” This time, the assistant opened the box himself and handed it to Inhwan.

“This equipment contains a new ability.”

“A new…ability?!”

“Yes, to put it simply, it’s a barrier.”

“A ba, barrier…!” Basically, the top-tier hunters among the ranged hunters all had a means of self-defense. And this was Inhwan’s biggest weakness.

Of course, Seonghyun was by his side, but he couldn’t be attached to Seonghyun every day of his life. And even if Seonghyun was there, if he had his own means of defense, he could reduce the burden on Seonghyun even a little.

“How…do you like it?”

“…Yes. Thank you so, so much.” Usually, when you have high expectations, most of the time it doesn’t meet them, but for the first time in a long time, maybe even the first time in his life, he felt like he had received a result that exceeded his expectations.

“Now it’s the last turn. Hunter Kim Seonghyun.”

Why did they decide to put him last? It may not mean anything, but it was a strangely anticipated moment.

“For reference, DeMarge spent a whopping two out of the three days he spent making the equipment on Hunter Kim Seonghyun’s equipment.”

“That much…” The assistant handed Seonghyun the box, and inside the box was something similar to a transparent film.

“Hunter Kim Seonghyun’s equipment is…” The assistant couldn’t speak easily. It was hard to tell whether it was regret for not being able to produce a significant result despite spending two days, or excitement for creating something unimaginable.

“It’s the materialization of ability.”

“…Yes?” Seonghyun doubted his ears for a moment. Seonghyun already had the ability to materialize, so if he made a mistake, a situation where it would completely overlap could occur.

“Can I ask for a detailed explanation?”

“Of course. To put it simply, um…ah! This word suits it well.” The assistant said as if he had realized something. “I think it would be good to call it ‘Aura’.”

“Aura…you say?” Seonghyun recalled the meaning of the word aura that he knew. He knew that it meant continuously emitting a specific power around you, and it seemed that the assistant thought the same way.

“DeMarge also worried a lot. And he tried many things…but this time he realized that there are types that DeMarge can’t make.”

“Things that DeMarge can’t make…” If DeMarge couldn’t do it, it meant that no one else in the world could. He thought that maybe the equipment he was receiving now would be the last equipment.

“DeMarge actually wanted to create an attack method for Hunter Kim Seonghyun. But it was impossible. He went through so many attempts, but the only thing he could create was the aura.”

The assistant’s expression was a bit subtle, as if he felt guilty towards Seonghyun.

“If you wear that equipment, you will materialize your healing ability into an aura and emit it around you. Of course, only when Hunter Kim Seonghyun wants to. Those within the range of the aura that is emitted will be healed naturally. The identification of friend or foe depends on Hunter Kim Seonghyun’s will.”

“But why are you making that expression?” At Seonghyun’s question as if he didn’t know, the assistant asked back with a surprised expression.

“Hunter Kim Seonghyun’s healing is…doesn’t it take the pain of the target instead?”

“Yes.” It was a truly indifferent answer. A dry remark that might come out when someone calls your name.

“Huh…don’t tell me you can’t feel pain…?”

“That can’t be. I’m the same as others.”

“But how can you be so indifferent…”

“I’m just adapting. So, this aura means that the target who will receive healing and the target who will not be divided according to my will, right?”

“Ah, yes. And of course, there is a difference in speed compared to using direct healing. According to DeMarge, it’s less than half.”

Even that was already an incredible speed. In the first place, when Seonghyun used his healing ability, he could heal instantly unless they were dead.

“I received a gift beyond my expectations. Please be sure to tell him that I am grateful.”

“Of course. DeMarge was so excited, saying he didn’t know when he had poured so much passion into it.”

“Then…thank you.” Seonghyun and his group, who had thanked the assistant, left the place and returned to the hotel.

He wondered if they wouldn’t proceed with the rest of the schedule because of the terrorism, but China didn’t seem to have any intention of doing so. There was an article that they had also found the bomb in the sewer that Seonghyun had discovered earlier.

The amount was quite different from what he had seen at the time.

After a week of competition, the competition ended with the United States, who had not missed the championship for seven years, winning again this time.

‘It would be a lie if I said I wasn’t disappointed, but I don’t regret it.’ His goal was to get DeMarge’s equipment, so he had already achieved that goal.