I Became The Only Healer In The Academy [EN]: Chapter 48

48

Jeonghwan met Jinseok after a long time.

Jinseok, though tired and busy with his usual Gate subjugation duties, happily made time for Jeonghwan, greeting him with a warm expression.

“What’s bothering you?” Jinseok asked, seeing Jeonghwan.

Jeonghwan thought he was hiding his worries well, but Jinseok wasn’t easily fooled. Jeonghwan smiled and replied, “What’s bothering me? Let’s sit down first.”

The two, regulars at a secluded street stall, ordered their usual side dish and soju. They each downed a glass, as they always did.

“Are your parents okay?”

“Oh, don’t even mention it. They’re too healthy. It feels like they’ve become 10 years younger or something.”

Jinseok made a face as if he was fed up, but he looked happier than ever.

“…It’s all thanks to you. If it weren’t for you, and if it weren’t for Hunter Kim…”

Jinseok’s expression suddenly hardened at the mere thought of the chilling consequences that could have been.

“It’s all good now, so think of it as a lesson learned,” Jeonghwan said.

“I should. But what’s going on with you?” Jinseok stared sharply at Jeonghwan, urging him to get to the point. “You look like something big happened. You’re practically begging me to notice.”

“…Is it that obvious?”

“If people don’t notice, they’re not interested in you. So, what’s going on?”

Jeonghwan, who was just trying to drink, sighed softly and told him about the Academy Competition that day.

“Huh…” Jinseok was dumbfounded, his chopsticks frozen mid-air, unable to eat the side dish he had picked up.

“That’s what happened.”

“Isn’t he completely crazy? He did that to Hunter Kim Seonghyeon?”

“Well…yes, that was wrong too.”

The points they were angry about seemed subtly different, but Jeonghwan raised his glass, feeling that his emotions had been conveyed.

“Doing that to Kim Seonghyeon, a junior…no, Hunter Kim, is terrible, but the problem is he did it in the Academy cafeteria. What if that poison was wrong? What if there was someone who was particularly sensitive?”

“Not everyone at the Academy is outstanding,” Jinseok pointed out.

“Yeah, I realized that painfully today too.”

Not everyone at the Academy would be like that.

He could feel it just by looking at Seonghyeon and Seonghyeon’s team.

There was a clear difference between being young due to lack of experience and being young due to a flawed character.

And Jungseok, a teammate, was definitely the latter. Seonghyeon and his team didn’t seem to belong to the former either.

“More than that, how is Hunter Kim doing these days?”

“I don’t know. I ran into him briefly, but he’s definitely not a Healer.”

“Huh? What do you mean? Then what is he?”

Jeonghwan recalled Seonghyeon from earlier.

Of course, he hadn’t watched Seonghyeon fight directly.

But he was more certain than anyone else that he knew what kind of power Daehyeon, his teammate, possessed.

That ability to control invisible arrows, not just one but dozens, which other students didn’t know yet, was a talent that ranked within the top three among the second-year students at least.

He wasn’t someone who lacked combat sense either.

Daehyeon, who had often gone out to subjugate Gates because of his tremendous ability, had subjugated a large number of monsters each time.

‘He defeated that Daehyeon.’

Whether it was a close battle or an overwhelming one, it didn’t matter.

To be honest, when he thought of Seonghyeon, whom he had encountered when treating Jinseok’s parents, or whom he had encountered at the Academy equipment workshop a month ago, he couldn’t believe that he possessed this much power.

If so, it meant that he had either thoroughly hidden his power until now, or that he had achieved that much growth in just one month.

And if even one of these two things was true, it didn’t seem like Seonghyeon would remain a simple Healer in the future.

“…Has he grown that much?”

As a fellow Hunter, it was something he could be a little jealous or envious of, but Jinseok’s expression was far from those things.

He wore an expression filled only with awe and respect, an expression filled only with congratulations.

‘Well, it’s understandable.’

“I definitely want to go subjugating with Hunter Kim when he graduates.”

“Haha, will you be able to? It’s already hard now.”

“That’s why I’m working so hard, to be of help even a little bit.”

Jeonghwan was briefly worried that he was showing too much blind faith, but he chuckled at the sight of him even becoming a motivation for growth.

“Where shall we go for the second round?”

“Do you want to see my parents for a while? You connected me with Hunter Kim. They said they definitely want to thank Hunter Kim, and of course, you too.”

“Your parents?”

“Yeah, Hunter Kim will be busy anyway… If you have time now and you’re okay with it, let’s go together.”

“…Okay. Let’s go.”

Jeonghwan was convinced that he had done well to meet Jinseok today and followed behind Jinseok.

Jeonghwan, not wanting to arrive empty-handed, bought some appropriate gifts at a nearby convenience store and headed to Jinseok’s house with him.

As they turned into the first alleyway, he felt a sinking sensation in his heart.

“What…”

It wasn’t just a sensation of his heart sinking.

His body also felt heavy, and it was difficult to take a step, as if gravity had become stronger.

‘Wait, gravity…is getting stronger?’

Jeonghwan strengthened his legs through Body Reinforcement [a technique to enhance physical abilities] and stood up.

“Ugh…”

“Just hold on, Jinseok.”

Jinseok, who had no resistance to this kind of ability, was lying on the floor, unable to get up.

“…Come out.”

The figure that appeared from the front corner was, as expected, Jungseok.

“What the hell are you doing? Using your ability so openly in the middle of this downtown area?”

He was dumbfounded, but anger was boiling from within.

“Don’t worry. No one here can see or feel it now.”

“…What?”

Jeonghwan quickly looked around.

There wasn’t anything particularly like a device, but when he looked closely at Jungseok, he was holding something in his hand.

“…You weren’t the only one involved.”

“So what? Does knowing that change the situation now? You’re going to die here anyway. Oh, and unfortunately, your friend who got caught up in it too.”

Jinseok was still lying down, unable to properly control his body due to gravity.

Judging from the faint groans that kept coming, it seemed he was still holding on.

“You son of a bitch.”

“Call me whatever you want. You won’t be able to call me anymore anyway.”

Jeonghwan was about to take a step slowly, but Jungseok raised his hand and said, “Uh-uh, if you move even one step further, your friend will die as is.”

“…”

It already seemed difficult for Jinseok to endure even now.

The groans were no longer heard, and it seemed he had fainted without being able to hold on.

“What do you want?”

“Didn’t I just say it? I want you to die.”

Jeonghwan spoke in a voice that was more hardened than ever before.

“…Is it that big of a deal? Is losing one competition enough to take the lives of innocent people?”

“That big of a deal? You wouldn’t know what was at stake in this competition.”

Jungseok’s face twisted for a moment, but he soon changed his expression and said, “Enough with the small talk. I don’t have much time either.”

After speaking, Jungseok took out something else from his pocket.

Then, he roughly put down what he was holding in his other hand and stretched out the hand holding something towards Jeonghwan.

“You can resent me, because I’m resenting you too.”

“What…”

Before Jeonghwan could finish speaking, the thing in Jungseok’s hand began to shine.

Then, the gravity being applied became stronger and stronger.

Jeonghwan, who was enduring with Body Reinforcement, was also getting more and more difficult, so Jinseok’s condition was obvious even without looking.

‘That shining thing, could it be…’

Until now, he had been relying on a glimmer of hope with a ‘no way’ kind of feeling, but no matter how he looked at it, what was shining in that hand was the equipment he had received from the Academy about three weeks ago.

Jungseok’s equipment was an amplification of his ability.

Although the range was reduced compared to before, it was equipment that greatly increased the power.

As the gravity became stronger and stronger, Jeonghwan eventually collapsed in place.

‘…Am I…going to die like this?’

The fact that he had to die at the hands of a friend and colleague who had entrusted each other’s backs at the Gate, and that that colleague was trying to kill his friend, made him laugh in vain.

There was only one thing Jeonghwan could do now.

He wanted the crazed Jungseok in front of him to kill him and spare Jinseok.

If he endured a little longer here, Jungseok’s mana might run out, but if that happened, Jinseok would definitely die.

But then, a voice came from behind Jeonghwan.

“Phew, I’m not too late.”

“Gi, Kim Seonghyeon?”

Jeonghwan stared blankly at Seonghyeon with surprised eyes, and Jungseok stared at Seonghyeon with even more surprised eyes than Jeonghwan.

“Wh, what is it! How did you get here…! No one should know because of the barrier…?”

“Well, there’s something like that.”

Seonghyeon finished answering and stared at Jungseok.

“Th, things have come to this, so you too…”

Just as the thing in his hand was about to shine more, Jungseok suddenly grabbed his heart and sat down on the spot, groaning.

“Keuh! Keuk…!”

It was the same pattern as the competition.

But if there was a slight difference, it was that the pain at that time and the pain now were so different that it was difficult to compare.

‘Why, why is my heart…!’

He tried squeezing his heart, and even tapping it a little harder, but no matter what he did, the pain didn’t stop.

‘Could it be Kim Seonghyeon…?’

No matter how much he thought about it, there was only one cause.

The culprit of all the sudden events.

“Gi, Kim Seong, keulheok! Is it you? Did you do something to me…keulheok!”

He couldn’t even speak properly.

It was difficult to even maintain his gaze towards Seonghyeon now.

But as time passed, the anger and hatred towards Seonghyeon were gradually disappearing.

The constantly surging pain was only getting worse, and now fear that he might die from this pain, no, that he would definitely die, was replacing it.

He couldn’t even run away.

This pain wasn’t allowing him to move even one step.

“Why is he suddenly like that…”

The strong gravity that had been binding Jeonghwan’s body also disappeared, and Jeonghwan immediately checked Jinseok’s body.

“Gi, Kim Seonghyeon! I’m sorry, but can you heal Jinseok here…”

“There’s no need to.”

He wondered if he was refusing, but Jinseok’s expression now was as if he was just asleep, with a peaceful expression, even though he had lost consciousness.

“More than that, how did you get here…?”

He didn’t believe all of Jungseok’s words, but one of the equipment Jungseok had was definitely equipment that created a barrier.

This was strictly illegal equipment that was prohibited from being used in everyday life.

The effect itself was certain, but Seonghyeon had broken through that barrier and come to find them.

“Ah…there’s something like that.”

Seonghyeon recalled the headache he had felt earlier.

As always, he was heading to the Association to hunt, but suddenly, along with a slight headache, an unidentifiable scene began to appear in his head as if it were being engraved.