I Became The Only Healer In The Academy [EN]: Chapter 216

“You knew about the incident in the backwoods from the start, didn’t you? Who it was.”

“Yes, I did.”

“Then why didn’t you say anything at first? Even though you knew.”

This was what I was most curious about.

What had happened that made Kabulsky, one of Russia’s mainstays, keep his mouth shut?

The fact that he hadn’t even told the Pilgrim, who possessed the incredible power of a healing ability, meant that their proposal was more important than the Pilgrim’s existence.

“They contacted me first.”

“Envy?”

“Yes.”

“What did they propose?”

“They said they would deliver the Pilgrim into our arms.”

It was the moment the initial question was resolved.

Why they wanted the Pilgrim while doing the very things the Pilgrim would hate the most.

Leaving joining Russia as the best option, while Russia acted as if they were presenting a gift.

“Is this your first contact with them?”

“Yes, it is.”

From Russia’s perspective, there was no reason to refuse a situation where they could solve the problem without lifting a finger.

And there would be no evidence left that they had contacted them.

I could understand their position.

But accepting it was another matter.

The most important question still remained.

“The slums… what happened to the slums? Why is there no support?”

“The reason is simple. Because they have no investment value.”

The answer that they had no investment value.

Sung Hyun couldn’t argue with that.

What Sung Hyun felt as the Pilgrim while healing them was that there were pre-existing illnesses or minor injuries, not just the recent flood.

The problem there wasn’t just the environment.

Some, though a minority, were addicted to drugs and had given up on everything, while others had the will but no strength.

It was a place where such people lived, and even making them ordinary required a huge investment.

“No investment value… well, that’s not wrong. Then, when I heal them, do they have investment value?”

“No.”

The answer came without the slightest hesitation.

It was obvious that the mind control would make him answer without hesitation, but I still felt quite unpleasant.

“Let’s leave it at that. Then, do you know about the incident that happened in the slums this time?”

“Yes, I do.”

“Is this also related to them?”

“Yes, it is.”

A rather passive answer.

Even though he was under mind control, the rather passive answer seemed as if he was instinctively reluctant to answer.

But that didn’t mean he could escape the power of mind control.

Besides, Sung Hyun’s magic power was infinite, so he would probably live in this mind control for the rest of his life.

If the other party answered passively, all he had to do was ask more persistently and in detail.

“What exactly did they do?”

“They made me a proposal.”

“Tell me in detail.”

The answer that followed from Kabulsky was shocking.

It was an answer I had somewhat expected, but I hadn’t thought about it in more detail, things I couldn’t possibly have imagined.

“I knew very well that maintaining the slums was like a white elephant [a burdensome asset] to Russia. It’s called Russia’s disgrace.”

In Kabulsky’s words, the slums were Russia’s disgrace.

Russia was almost the only country among the top 5 in terms of national power that had slums.

The streets where the American *ajusshi* [a respectful Korean term for an older man] lived were also slums from the American point of view, but the difference was quite severe compared to the Russian slums.

“Envy has offered us to manage the slums on our behalf. All other ownership remains with Russia, but they offered to manage the residents living in the slums.”

“What did you receive?”

At Sung Hyun’s question, Kabulsky’s eyes turned to the wall.

The wall I had seen in Sammy’s lab.

“We also received several other pieces of equipment.”

“Did you completely hand over the management rights of the slums in exchange for those?”

“Yes. There was only the word that we shouldn’t care what happens.”

“Then why did you entrust me with the treatment of the slums this time? If you said you didn’t need to care.”

“That was done on Anatoly’s own initiative. I first learned about it when I received a report that the Pilgrim was leaving the hotel and heading there.”

Anatoly seemed to have done this because his younger brother was in the slums.

‘I wish he had told me honestly.’

It was a pity, but this was clearly using Sung Hyun.

Under the pretext of belonging to Russia.

However, since the intention was not impure, Sung Hyun didn’t take this issue very seriously and just brushed it off.

“So you don’t know what’s happening to the residents of the slums?”

“No, I don’t.”

“Even if they are being subjected to inhumane experiments?”

“…If it is something that helps Russia, they should be happy.”

“Ha.”

Isn’t that an answer you could only hear in a former dictatorship?

That’s how great Kabulsky’s patriotism was, but the direction itself was very twisted.

“Good. Cooperate with them actively in the future.”

“I understand.”

It was good that Sung Hyun had directly recognized their base, but leaving other methods like Kabulsky was also a good idea.

With this, the answer became clear.

Russia is not in an alliance with the group, but they are in a cooperative relationship where their interests coincide.

Of course, this was only in Kabulsky’s case.

“Do you know anything else about them?”

“I have met their leader.”

It was an unexpected answer.

Sung Hyun, who hadn’t expected it at all, looked at Kabulsky’s unfocused eyes with interest and asked.

“What kind of person is he?”

“He was quite calm, but he was a person who hid a lot.”

“Do you know anything about his abilities?”

“I don’t know his abilities well, but there was one special thing.”

“What is it? That special thing.”

“He had a saying that he always had on his lips. That he is moving towards the best.”

Moving towards the best.

It was a rather abstract word.

Does it mean that what they are doing now is moving towards the best?

The word “best” itself was a very positive word, but there was one drawback.

That it is very personal.

For them, who believe in the superiority of hunters, the best thing is probably a future where all ordinary people have disappeared.

“Moving towards the best… it’s like he’s seen something, like he knows something.”

“He also left a final word. That the variable is one.”

“Don’t you have any idea what that variable is?”

“I have no idea.”

That was the end of the conversation with the leader.

However, one question remained unresolved.

“Why did you get to meet the leader?”

“I don’t know either. He suddenly came to me.”

“…I understand.”

Now I had heard everything I needed to hear from Kabulsky.

Sung Hyun completely cut off the magic power he was using for mind control, and the dazed, unfocused eyes began to regain their vitality.

“Ugh… my head…”

“Are you okay?”

“Ah, I’m fine. More than that, what were we talking about?”

“…It was about supporting the slums.”

Looking at his reaction, it seemed like he didn’t remember it completely.

Since I poured in a much larger amount of magic power than the mind control used by Envy, it seemed like he had no memory of that time itself.

“Ah… it seems like it will be a little difficult to support the slums.”

Kabulsky watched Sung Hyun’s appearance, which looked quite serious, and cautiously answered.

He wasn’t usually a Pilgrim with a benevolent and compassionate personality, but you could tell his attitude towards the weak just by looking at his actions.

“It can’t be helped. I understand.”

Sung Hyun nodded, confirming that he was properly listening to the order he had given before releasing the mind control, and then got up from his seat.

“Are you really okay?”

It was Kabulsky who was rather embarrassed by the easily giving up appearance, but Sung Hyun had no more regrets.

“Yes. There are things that can’t be helped.”

“…Thank you for understanding.”

Many questions were resolved, and the end was now in sight for what had been a string of questions.

‘While using the residents of the Russian slums for bio-experiments, they didn’t take away their consciousness like they did with them.’

I’ll have to watch a little more to know for sure, but what’s certain is that no matter what purpose they have and how much they hide, the best thing they want is quite different from the result Sung Hyun wants.

“If I kill Envy and Sammy, will their leader, who lost both arms, show up?”

I thought about it for a while, but there was only one answer.

They would just create another arm, and nothing would change.

Sung Hyun’s purpose was not to interfere with or stop their plan itself.

They were committing inhumane acts naturally, even though they were different from his plan, and to Sung Hyun, they were no different from demons.

“It’s a problem that time will solve, but I don’t want to leave it like that.”

They were people who would come to the Pilgrim on their own if only a little time passed.

It was highly likely that the only variable mentioned by the group’s leader was Sung Hyun, and the Pilgrim had similar abilities to that Sung Hyun.

However, looking back on the things they had done so far, they were people whose very existence was unacceptable in this world.

They were people who made it impossible to know what would happen even tomorrow.

The existence of the rapidly changing Gate was also quite difficult, but this group, which was eating away from the inside like cockroaches, was unpleasant in itself.

No matter what cause they had, no matter how best the result was.

“Seeing that Kabulsky also met the leader directly, it doesn’t seem like meeting him is a difficult thing in itself…”

Do I have to satisfy something special to meet the leader?

I wondered if the leader had left something on Kabulsky’s body like Envy, but I didn’t feel any other kind of magic power on Kabulsky’s body that I had checked a little while ago.

Of course, Sung Hyun might not have noticed it, but Sung Hyun was confident.

That there is no one in the world right now who can completely deceive Sung Hyun’s eyes.

“How to meet the leader…”

It seemed like he already had a lot of trust in Sammy, but not yet in Envy.

But I couldn’t act like them to gain Envy’s trust.

‘How is that different from sacrificing the few for the sake of the many.’

Sung Hyun didn’t want to sacrifice the few for the sake of the many.

And now he had risen to a position where he could do it without doing this.

“Shall I bring the equipment I made with materialization?”

It was a method that suddenly came to mind.

I could tell without seeing or asking that Sammy was close to the leader.

That meant that Sammy was quite an important person to them, and Sammy’s main job was research and experimentation.

“The equipment I create with materialization is not very high-level equipment, but it is definitely unique.”

Besides, the materialization ability was an ability that had not been revealed under the name of Kim Sung Hyun.

It was an ability that could be used as a Pilgrim, and looking at them valuing Sammy highly and the level of equipment they are currently using, it was a method that had enough potential.

“When is the next materialization possible?”

However, I was restricted in that time because I materialized equipment that could use purification for Department Head Cha.

[Time remaining until next materialization is possible: 5 days]

Fortunately, the time limit was considerably shorter than before.

“If I make equipment with healing abilities, I might catch the leader’s eye.”

The very fact that another method had emerged other than just waiting was very satisfying to Sung Hyun.