I Became The Only Healer In The Academy [EN]: Chapter 141

141

A Time of Exruciating Pain.

How much time had passed was utterly irrelevant.

Those optimized for missions like kidnapping and assassination knew all too well what caused the most suffering.

“Sigh… I’m telling you this because I care, but what about your family? Why are you holding out like this?”

“…What?”

“Tsk, tsk… you foolish friend. Think about it. We’re the ones who kidnapped your family to control Kim Sung-hyun at will, remember?”

It was like the whisper of a devil.

Delivered with a voice that seemed genuinely concerned, it felt all the more real.

“We’ve already finalized the personnel deployment.”

“What, what does that mean…”

Even though South Korea had tightened all immigration controls after Sung-hyun’s family was kidnapped, Chief Cha had no way of knowing this.

And those who did such things rarely entered the country openly.

“Listen carefully. We’re going to leak evidence, piece by piece.”

“…”

“Of course, fabricated evidence. Some evidence will point to Russia, others to England, China, and so on.”

Chief Cha shuddered at the touch that slowly stroked his hair as if truly feeling sorry for him. He tried to shake his head to avoid the touch, but he was helpless while tied up.

“Each time, Korea will launch an investigation, right? Because it’s an important matter, they might even offend those countries.”

“You, you bastards…”

It couldn’t have been more meticulous.

Chief Cha was still protecting Sung-hyun’s family within the barrier, but he didn’t know how he would react if his own family appeared before his eyes.

He was already wavering even though his family was safe; how much more would he waver if they appeared right in front of him?

The biggest problem was their plan.

Since the investigation would be conducted on a national level, they would surely find any trace.

By cleverly piecing together such evidence and linking it to different countries, they would certainly hinder South Korea’s investigation.

The moment they ignored that hindrance even slightly, they would become hostile to other countries.

“I think you understand roughly, so I’ll stop here.”

Judging from the personalities of the Association President and Vice President, they would surely ignore the hindrance.

As the scope of the investigation gradually expanded, flaws would naturally appear in South Korea’s security itself.

The moment that happened, Chief Cha’s family would meet their predetermined end.

“The time you can hold out is limited to the moment your family arrives here. Unfortunately, from the moment Korea invests more manpower to conduct an active investigation, the time you can endure will decrease.”

“Even if they realize this, what can Korea do? If they do nothing, will Kim Sung-hyun stay in Korea?”

Even if Korea realized their plan, they would have no choice.

All they could do was worry about how quickly they would meet their predetermined end.

“But your body is quite strange. Is it because of the injuries? Why isn’t your magic power recovering?”

“…I don’t know.”

As a torturer, he had dealt with countless people.

From ordinary people to the lowest and highest-ranking Hunters, without exception.

Chief Cha was at the level of a high-ranking Hunter, yet his magic power was not naturally recovering.

“Could it be…”

Chief Cha swallowed his dry, metallic-tasting saliva and stared with uneasy eyes at the torturer’s expression, which seemed to have caught on to something.

“…”

Usually, there were two possible explanations in such cases.

Either he had a unique constitution, or something unknown was constantly using up as much magic power as he recovered.

However, the torturer didn’t seriously consider the first possibility.

As someone who explored and craved the hidden aspects of the human, the Hunter’s body, he couldn’t shake the thought that it was a unique constitution, a mutation.

“You, you’re a mutant?”

“Wh, what?”

The torturer was convinced after seeing Chief Cha’s flustered expression.

He was a mutant.

“Kahaha! A mutant, a mutant!”

Judging from the torturer’s expression, he would clearly mistake him for a mutant for quite some time.

But that wasn’t good news.

“I’ve really… really been waiting for this! Huh? Why did you come only now? The things I, I only thought about in theory are finally… Haha! Hahaha! Sigh, this is no time for this. Now, every minute and every second is precious.”

The torturer’s body trembled as he looked around in a rambling state, then swept away the torture instruments on the table without hesitation.

“Just wait a little. Haha!!!”

A bright smile that stretched from ear to ear.

The torturer, wearing a smile as pure as a child’s, ran out of the room.

“Sigh… this is ominous…”

It was already the worst situation, but for some reason, he had a feeling that the worst would be surpassed, and such ominous premonitions never missed.

“Did you wait long? Now that I know you’re a mutant… even if I had 10 years, there’s no time, so let’s start quickly.”

The torturer, who had brought instruments and all sorts of drugs he had never seen before, stroked Chief Cha’s face while maintaining the smile he had shown earlier.

——————————————–

“So, when will Hunter Kim Sung-hyun be out?”

“If everything goes as planned, there’s about an hour left.”

The Vice President, who had been granted full authority over this investigation, first ordered a ban on the entry and exit of all personnel except for VIPs.

With the family of a top-ranking Hunter missing, the government couldn’t object.

“That bastard… had red eyes.”

And the equipment using crystals only found in Class 1 Gates [the highest level of difficulty for dungeons].

The very act of planning to kidnap Sung-hyun’s family suggested that this wasn’t a small-scale operation.

“This isn’t something that ends with an organization. Never.”

Just breaking through the numerous security personnel meant that the opponent wasn’t just an organization run by an individual.

It was an incident that occurred with the cooperation or direction of a country, one with immense power.

“Could it be Japan?”

It wasn’t just the number of guards, but they couldn’t have pulled this off without knowing their deployment.

If so, it was either the Association, the Academy, or DNN, all of which directly participated in the security.

“How are DNN’s movements?”

“DNN also started an investigation immediately. Some are investigating equipment that might be installed in his home, and all available Hunters have been deployed to the scene.”

“Sigh… cooperate and collaborate, but don’t trust them too much. Their roots are in Japan.”

“Yes, I understand.”

They had to achieve at least minimal results.

Only about an hour left until Sung-hyun came out.

Being incompetent should have its limits.

He couldn’t possibly say to Sung-hyun when he came out, ‘Your family has been kidnapped, and we’re investigating.’

“Has there been a similar incident among the cases so far…?”

One of the Vice President’s strengths was that he had seen, experienced, and heard many things while being involved in the Hunter scene for a long time.

“Red eyes, red eyes…”

Red eyes were rare.

Moreover, if they were skilled enough to carry out such a task perfectly.

“There was a similar incident in Italy nine years ago.”

“Nine years ago…”

When the Vice President was working as a section chief.

Although he didn’t go or see it directly, he had heard of it as a fairly famous incident.

It wasn’t a world-shattering ability like healing, but it was the only rival of Richie, who was evaluated as the youngest Awakened and a promising star at the time.

A Hunter who had the ability to tame magical beasts.

The end of that Hunter was truly miserable.

His family was kidnapped after breaking through the security at the time.

Of course, that Hunter also disappeared afterward, and for exactly three years from that day, tamed magical beasts began to appear in the world.

Three years later, an article reporting that he was found dead was the last of that Hunter.

And in someone’s testimony that was released afterward, there was also a story that a man with red eyes had kidnapped his family.

The next day, the protagonist of that testimony died.

“At that time… the place that benefited the most…”

“The United States…”

The place that earned astronomical amounts of money by selling magical beasts while proposing appropriate international laws at the time was none other than the United States.

Where the magical beasts came from was the first ownership, and most of the magical beasts came from the United States’ Gates.

“Ha.”

But it was only suspicion.

No one had revealed what happened at that time, and of course, it was just an incident that remained in everyone’s memory.

There was no way evidence would remain, and even if they found it, it would be far too short on time and credibility to connect it to the current incident.

“Time is of the essence in this matter. From now on, we will proceed with the assumption that the United States is behind this incident.”

“The United States…? Are you sure?”

The secretary also suspected the United States, but suspecting and investigating were completely different matters.

It was the United States, which spanned the past, present, and future of the entire world, no less.

A place with as many as 12 top-ranking Hunters.

Moreover, the only existing Class 1 Gate was also located in the United States.

“Let me ask you one thing. Secretary, who do you think is more important, the United States or Hunter Kim Sung-hyun?”

“Th, that’s…”

“From the moment you hesitated to answer, the answer has already been decided.”

“Ah…”

It was a comparison between a nation and an individual, not a group.

A comparison with the United States, which ranked first in terms of prestige.

The very fact that he hesitated to answer meant that the answer was already out.

“From the moment Hunter Kim Sung-hyun was recognized as a top-ranking Hunter, find out the entry records and current residence status of Americans.”

“Yes!”

There was a big difference between finding evidence to confirm the culprit and confirming the culprit and then finding evidence.

‘I’ve never heard a report that many people entered at once.’

They might have entered illegally, but if they were caught in the process, the plan would end before it even started, so the entry itself must have been through legitimate means.

Now that they had successfully completed the plan, they would have left using special equipment.

“I will personally inform Hunter Kim Sung-hyun. Don’t worry about that, and please do your best to find quick and reliable information.”

“I will definitely bring it.”

The secretary also left the room with a light bow.

“Not a second time.”

If Sung-hyun fell into the hands of the United States, it would not end with South Korea’s loss.

As the only healer, they were people who would force him to produce elixirs, not to mention all sorts of experiments.

“Forgiveness… it’s not too late to ask for it after everything is over.”

Even if he wasn’t forgiven, he had nothing to say.

He had no right to stop him even if he changed his nationality.

He would just have to step down from the position of Vice President and fulfill his responsibilities as a Hunter and a Hunter who worked for humanity.