I Became The Only Healer In The Academy [EN]: Chapter 170

It was a light unlike any I had ever seen.

Given the perpetual darkness of our surroundings, it was likely a light no one had ever seen before.

Unfamiliar yet comforting, it momentarily evoked the warmth of a mother’s embrace – a feeling I barely remembered – before vanishing completely.

“Oh, what happened…”

Perhaps driven by excessive curiosity, Cartman blurted out the question, startling himself. At the sound, the man brought a finger to his lips, inside his hood.

“Shh. You’ll wake her.”

Cartman, seeing this, covered his mouth with both hands.

Though the man’s face remained hidden, he lightly patted Cartman’s head, as if chuckling softly, and then exited the shack.

“P, Pilgrim!”

“Hmm?”

“Where…are you going?”

“Well…”

After a moment’s pause, the man replied casually.

“Next door, perhaps?”

“…Pardon?”

At that response, Cartman finally understood.

Why this man, calling himself a pilgrim, had appeared here.

‘Next door is…’

In this area, having at least one sick person in every house was commonplace.

People died daily, and many teetered on the brink of death.

“Shouldn’t you go inside and sleep now? It’s late.”

“…Yes!”

He desperately wanted to follow the pilgrim, but Cartman knew better than to interfere, so he nodded vigorously and re-entered the shack.

“I can’t…hear her breathing.”

He couldn’t hear his mother’s labored breathing.

It wasn’t that she wasn’t breathing at all.

The heavy, ragged gasps, as if each breath was agony, had been replaced by an even, quiet rhythm.

Cartman hadn’t fully assessed her condition, and there were things he could only determine upon waking tomorrow, so he squeezed into an empty space in the cramped shack.

Hoping that the miracle he witnessed today would persist into tomorrow.

“…”

“…Ah! Bro! Wake up!”

“Ugh…”

Perhaps due to a late bedtime or simply overwhelming fatigue, Cartman groggily rubbed his eyes and sat up.

“Are you awake?”

A voice came from behind.

Whether it was high or low.

Or whether it was affectionate or cold, he couldn’t quite place it.

But the moment he heard it, he knew.

That the voice belonged to his mother.

“M, Mom…?”

“…Come here.”

Could it be a dream?

Could it be a hallucination?

Despite his doubts, Cartman’s feet carried him toward his mother’s open arms.

‘Warm…’

Everything flooded back to him.

His mother’s voice wasn’t high or low, but filled with affection, and her embrace was warmer than anything he could remember.

“…Noisy?”

“…Is it? Huh, what…”

Loud sounds from outside drifted in.

Mornings were always noisy, but this was the clamor of a commotion, not the usual sounds of people preparing for work.

“Mom. Can I go outside for a bit?”

“Sure. Go ahead.”

He longed to remain in his mother’s arms, but Cartman was consumed by curiosity about the person who had restored their happiness.

Perhaps the commotion outside was a result of his actions?

“Uncle Tiri. What’s going on?”

“Oh? Cartman? Are you alright? I heard about what happened yesterday.”

“Ah, yes.”

“…Don’t tell me, did you meet that pilgrim?”

“Pilgrim…? Did you meet him too, Uncle?”

“Huh, Cartman is the only one who actually met the pilgrim. I didn’t meet him, but look at that.”

On the sandy ground in the village center, Tiri pointed to the word ‘pilgrim’ scrawled alongside the word ‘departure’.

“All the patients in the village got up and left.”

“Ah…I knew it…”

“More importantly, how did you meet that pilgrim? Huh? What did he look like? Where did he say he was going?”

“W, Well, I…”

“What? Cartman met the pilgrim?”

“Cartman? Oh, now that I think about it, Cartman was definitely…”

How could they hear so clearly amidst the chaos? All the villagers who overheard Tiri’s words began to swarm Cartman.

“Where did you meet him? Huh?”

“Um, I have a friend in the next village…did he go there?”

“Did that pilgrim treat your injuries yesterday too?”

“P, Please stop asking! I don’t know either!”

Cartman couldn’t withstand the sudden attention and pressure.

These people, who had shown no interest during their hardship, were now crowding him, exploiting their familiarity with his face and name.

Besides, he knew very little about the pilgrim himself.

Cartman fled back into the shack and sought refuge in his mother’s arms.

“It’s okay.”

“Mom…”

“Was it him who healed your mother too?”

“Yes, that’s right.”

“Was it him who healed you too?”

“Yes.”

His mother cupped Cartman’s face, which was buried in her arms, and made eye contact.

“Did you say thank you?”

“Of course…uh…”

Cartman replayed the events of yesterday in his mind.

Had he expressed his gratitude?

Even without knowing his mother’s condition, he hadn’t thanked him for healing his own wounds.

“Ah, no…”

“If you ever meet him again, you must tell him. Thank you.”

“…Yes!”

Cartman buried his face in his mother’s arms once more.

His mother gently stroked his hair.

“…Is it?”

“Yes.”

Just then.

The voice from outside was no longer a distant murmur.

The voice came from right outside the shack.

“Hey, Cartman. Come out here.”

“Who are you?”

“What, isn’t that Cartman’s mom’s voice?”

“That’s right. She woke up. Cartman! Come out quickly.”

These were the voices of the men who had given Cartman work.

Why were these people, who had never visited before, here now?

“I’ll be back. Mom.”

“If you don’t go…is something going to happen?”

“Yes. I don’t know what they’ll do.”

Cartman stroked his mother’s hand, which had been caressing his head, as if to reassure her, and stepped out of the shack.

“Why, why?”

“Huh, he’s all healed too?”

“That’s right. Hey, Cartman. That pilgrim. Where did he go?”

“W, Well, I don’t know.”

“Haa…”

The man, sighing deeply, grabbed the entrance of the shack above Cartman’s head and repeated his question.

“You don’t want to lose the happiness of the family you just regained, do you?”

“Th, That…!”

“So tell me everything you know. What clothes he wore, how tall he was, whether he was a man or a woman, where he went, everything you know.”

“But…”

“Tsk, start.”

As Cartman hesitated, the men began to channel magic power into the hand gripping the shack.

“Wait, wait a minute! I’ll tell you everything, so please…”

“That’s how it should be.”

“It’s not good to talk about it here, come with me.”

The man’s hand moved to the back of Cartman’s neck, lifting him into the air, and he was carried away with the men.

“So. Tell me everything you know.”

“Well, that’s…”

“Hey, go and destroy all those shacks…”

“M, He’s a man! His height is similar to the manager…his voice was, how should I say it, a dignified voice.”

“And? How did you meet him?”

“Yesterday, I was lying in that spot and opened my eyes, and suddenly he appeared behind me.”

The men seemed intrigued by Cartman’s story.

“Keep talking.”

“He healed me and went to my house with me. A warm light shone inside the shack, and the pilgrim left. That’s all I know.”

“Hmm…”

Looking into Cartman’s eyes, it seemed he genuinely didn’t know where the pilgrim had gone.

“Tsk, that’s a shame.”

“Then…can I go now?”

“Where to?”

“Home…”

“Home? You had a home?”

“…Pardon?”

Cartman, confused by the man’s words, rose from his seat and started toward the shack where he and his family lived.

“Who said you could go?”

One of the managers guarding the door blocked Cartman’s path.

“Get out of the way!! I said get out of the way!!”

He flailed his arms, not yet fully grown, but they posed no threat to the hunters.

The man watched the scene with amusement.

“Let him go. He needs to see it with his own eyes.”

Cartman shook off the man’s hand with all his might and sprinted toward the location of the shack.

“Haa, haa…”

Arriving breathlessly in front of the shack.

But the shack where they used to live was gone, and in its place, his mother and siblings were kneeling.

“Wh, Why…”

Tears, which he had suppressed even upon seeing his mother awake, began to flow.

Fueled by pure, unadulterated rage.

“Cartman. Now that you have nowhere to live…live in our building.”

“…Yes.”

“Now you’re acting like a kid. You should have listened to us from the start.”

Cartman was young and naive, but it was clear that their intentions were selfish and cruel.

Cartman possessed the only information about the pilgrim.

They intended to control him and extract every last detail.

But Cartman couldn’t refuse.

His mother and siblings were about to be left homeless.

“Well, don’t worry about food from now on. You don’t have to work either. Just do as we say.”

“…Yes.”

The man, stroking Cartman’s head, now docile, instructed the managers to escort Cartman’s family to their new living quarters.

——————————————–

“Hoo, if we could just find that pilgrim, our power would expand even more…”

In this neglected place, all laws, rules, and order were dictated by power.

The appearance of a pilgrim capable of healing people was a key to reshaping the power dynamics of this place.

“By the way, wasn’t there someone with healing abilities over there?”

“Was it Kim Seong-hyeon? Wait, then did another healer appear?”

“Hmm…we need to find out. If that pilgrim is the hunter Kim Seong-hyeon, we alone won’t be enough.”

“What country was it…was it called Korea? Should we investigate whether Kim Seong-hyeon is there?”

The man shook his head at the manager’s question.

He couldn’t possibly gather information about a powerful country like Korea in this remote location.

“…That’s right. There was this method.”

An idea sparked in the man’s mind.

Did they really need to investigate themselves?

“Contact everyone related to the media.”

“Why?”

“Report that another healer has appeared.”

“It’s not even certain yet…”

“No, if it becomes public knowledge, other countries will seek out the hunter Kim Seong-hyeon. The existence of a healer is a significant event, attracting the attention of not only hunters but also ordinary people, so the media is likely to reveal his location.”

“Y, You’re…our brain…”

“I’ll handle the explanation. After you’ve made all the contacts, find out if the pilgrim has appeared in other villages.”

“Okay!”

The man smiled contentedly at his brilliant plan.

Hoping that the hunter Kim Seong-hyeon remained in Korea.