I Became The Only Healer In The Academy [EN]: Chapter 71

The next morning, Seonghyun and his group headed straight to the Academy.

They left a little later than the scheduled school attendance time, so the hallways weren’t crowded with students. Seonghyun went directly to his homeroom teacher.

“Oh, you’re here.”

The teacher’s expression didn’t look too good.

“What’s going on?”

Seonghyun asked, his voice stiff. The teacher shook his head and replied, “It seems like you need to have a conversation with the Headmaster.”

“With the Headmaster?”

This sounded serious.

The Academy Headmaster rarely interacted with ordinary students.

His time was mainly spent meeting with the headmasters of other academies or other important figures.

“He’s waiting in the Headmaster’s office upstairs. Go up there quickly.”

When they arrived in front of the Headmaster’s office, the third-year representative was also waiting at the door.

“…”

Unlike before, he didn’t greet them. Seonghyun and the third-year representative waited for the Headmaster in an awkward silence.

“Come in.”

As if he knew Seonghyun had arrived, the Headmaster’s voice called out. The third-year representative opened the door and went inside first.

The Headmaster seemed busy, continuously working on documents.

Even after the two representatives entered, he continued to work for a while, then sighed and looked up at them.

“I’ve kept you waiting. Please, have a seat.”

As Seonghyun and the third-year representative sat down, the Headmaster also stopped what he was doing and took his seat.

“First, I would like to apologize for the possibility of changes to the National Competition schedule.”

“…”

Despite the Headmaster’s apology, neither Seonghyun nor the third-year representative reacted positively.

“Why do you say the schedule *might* change?”

At Seonghyun’s question, the Headmaster opened the documents on the table and replied, “You are aware that there was a meeting regarding the increased frequency of Class 3 Gate occurrences.”

This was related to the day the Republic of Korea’s prestige ranking had changed [a measure of a country’s overall power and influence in the world of Hunters and Gates].

“Could it be… has the frequency of Class 2 Gate occurrences increased?”

Seonghyun asked the Headmaster, his voice tense.

If that were the case, events were unfolding much faster than Seonghyun had anticipated.

Seonghyun had been expecting this to happen at least by the end of the year, so an increase in Class 2 Gate occurrences now was a serious problem.

“Fortunately, that’s not the case. However, the instances of Class 3 Gates *mutating* have become significantly more frequent.”

“Gate… mutation?”

Everyone in the room looked puzzled at the mention of frequent mutations.

“The damage to Hunters is immense. As you know, Gate mutations are rare. But already, out of the 17 Class 3 Gates that Hunters have entered, 9 have mutated.”

“…!”

When a Class 3 Gate mutated, monsters almost equivalent to those found in Class 2 Gates appeared.

The difference in difficulty between Class 2 and Class 3 was more than double, so Hunters who entered thinking it was a normal Class 3 Gate faced tragic consequences.

“For now, it seems the National Competition at the end of the year will not be affected, but other regions are suffering immense damage from this phenomenon.”

“Then how exactly is this proceeding? You said the schedule *might* change; can you give us more certainty?”

At Seonghyun’s question, the third-year representative frowned and glared at Seonghyun.

“Show some respect for the Headmaster…!”

“The Academy wants to proceed with the original schedule, but we are coordinating with the Association’s requests. One thing I can say for sure is that all spectators have been canceled.”

No matter how curious they were about Seonghyun’s abilities, they wouldn’t have time to pay attention when their own house was on fire [a metaphor for dealing with urgent, local problems before focusing on external matters].

“In the case of the United States, out of 119 Class 3 Gates, 52 have mutated…”

“52 Gates…?”

That was an enormous number.

Almost half of them had mutated.

“So, Hunters who used to quickly deal with Class 4 and Class 5 Gates are now being assigned to Class 3 Gates, even those that may or may not mutate.”

“That means…”

“That’s right. The Academy has also received a request for cooperation, and we are prioritizing the deployment of third-year students first.”

Fortunately, the third-year students were welcoming the deployment since they didn’t have much time left until graduation anyway.

“So, the schedule hasn’t been confirmed to change yet, but I thought I should inform you in advance that it might change for these reasons. If it does change, you will be contacted separately.”

“…Understood.”

“That’s all I have to say. Our third-year representatives can choose to volunteer to go to the Gates. You might still get to participate in the National Competition.”

The Headmaster rose from his seat, signaling the end of the meeting.

“If you’re done, we’ll be on our way.”

“Yes, please do.”

Seonghyun’s expression was grim as he left the Headmaster’s office.

‘Things are happening differently than before my regression [referring to Seonghyun’s ability to relive his life].’

This kind of event hadn’t occurred during this time before his regression, nor during the nearly 10 years Seonghyun had lived until his regression.

In other words, events would no longer unfold according to Seonghyun’s memories.

‘It can’t be *just* because of the things I’ve done that this happened.’

The fact that the Republic of Korea’s prestige ranking had changed, or that the attitudes of other countries had shifted, were certainly not minor matters.

But what did that have to do with Gate mutations?

Something else was happening that Seonghyun didn’t know about, or if that wasn’t the case…

‘Does the fact that I have this ability have an impact?’

Just as he was getting lost in thought, Inhwan put his hand on Seonghyun’s shoulder and asked, “Are you okay?”

“Ah, yeah. I just have something to think about. Let’s go for now. It seems like we’re done here.”

“Okay.”

Seonghyun and his group returned to Inhwan’s house.

It had become their regular hangout, so they naturally went there without discussing it.

“Seeing as the Association hasn’t said anything separately…”

“…Yeah.”

If there were a lot of injured people, the Association would have requested support from Seonghyun.

But that hadn’t happened.

The tragic results the Headmaster mentioned didn’t necessarily mean fatalities.

“Then what should we do…”

Inhwan’s expression wasn’t good this time either.

He would have looked brighter if the support request had come to Seonghyun.

“We don’t need to do anything.”

“Why?”

Inhwan looked at Seonghyun, puzzled by the unexpected answer.

“In the first place, if it’s an incident where we, first-year students of the Academy, have to go out for subjugation, it won’t just be the Association’s disgrace.”

“Ah…”

Although many Class 3 Gate mutations had occurred, it was difficult to compare to the 52 mutations in the United States.

Of course, the number of Hunters was greater in the United States, but from their perspective, it would be a disgrace to borrow the power of the Academy’s first-year students because of only 9 mutated Gates.

Moreover, Seonghyun had even received an offer from the United States, so there was no way they wouldn’t be aware of Seonghyun’s abilities.

“I don’t know what the schedule will be like, but we just need to prepare for the National Competition that will be held a little later.”

Of course, Seonghyun had many other things to think about besides this.

The situation was completely different from before the regression.

In this case, he couldn’t predict when the frequency of Class 2 Gate occurrences would increase, and it was uncertain whether Class 3 Gate mutations would continue to occur frequently.

“Let’s wait and see for now. Now that the Association knows about the mutations, there won’t be any more victims like this time.”

To put it coldly, it was *just* a Class 3 Gate.

Not a Class 2 Gate mutation, but a Class 3 Gate.

“Ignore that and let’s move as we have been doing so far.”

“Yeah, that would be good.”

“Then let’s rest a bit today and start tomorrow. There’s something to show you.”

“Something to show?”

He was a little worried about whether he should show Inhwan and Sangyeon, but it was clear that it would be of great help to their training, so Seonghyun was considering revealing the ability he had gained this time.

“Oppa [a Korean term for older brother, used by females], are we resting today?”

Yein asked brightly, as if she had been listening to Seonghyun’s conversation all along.

“Huh? I guess so?”

“Let’s go play!”

“Go play?”

Come to think of it, it had been a while since Yein started living in this house, but she didn’t go out much.

There was no particular reason to go out.

“Okay. Is there anywhere you want to go?”

“Um… I don’t know!”

Since he had decided to rest anyway, it seemed like a good idea to spend a day with Yein.

“Should we go to the amusement park?”

“A, amusement park…?!”

Yein’s expression at the words “amusement park” was as if she had gone to heaven for a moment.

“Yeah!”

She probably had never been there before, and since it was a weekday, there wouldn’t be many people, so it seemed like a good idea.

“What about you guys?”

“I feel like it’s been a long time since I’ve been there too? Sounds good.”

“I’m in too.”

“Let’s contact Hayeon and Seongwook too.”

Hayeon and Seongwook were taking Academy classes and immediately left the Academy upon Seonghyun’s contact.

“They said they’ll be there first…? I got a reply right away.”

He meant for them to come after class, but it seemed like they needed a reason to get out of class.

“Then are we leaving now?!”

Yein’s voice sounded as if she had already arrived at the amusement park.

“Yeah. Let’s go.”

Seonghyun and his group headed straight to the amusement park.

This time, Inhwan drove himself without a driver.

“I’m so excited!”

“Have you never been there before?”

“I think I went a long time ago, but I don’t remember.”

It seemed like she had gone when she was younger.

“It’ll take about an hour, so get some sleep. That way you can have fun when you get there.”

“Okay!”

She was too excited to fall asleep, but at Seonghyun’s words that she had to sleep to have more fun, Yein forced herself to close her eyes.

After driving for about an hour, they arrived at the amusement park, where Hayeon and Seongwook were waiting at the entrance.

“You’re here?”

“You’ve arrived?”

“Did you wait long?”

“No. We just got here.”

Hayeon handed Seonghyun the tickets, as if she had made the reservations in advance.

“Oh. You even made all the reservations.”

“It’s nothing.”

The amusement park on a weekday was very deserted compared to the weekend.

Empty enough to ride all the rides.

It was a little cold, but everywhere she looked, there was nothing but fun things to see, so Yein didn’t even feel the cold as she turned her head from side to side, looking around.

“Let’s ride that!”

The first thing Yein pointed to was the fastest ride.

“From the beginning, something like that…”

“Next, that!”

Somehow, the rides she was pointing to were all thrilling rides that even adults couldn’t ride.

“We can ride them all, so let’s ride them one by one slowly.”

“Okay!”

At the energetic answer, Seonghyun stroked Yein’s head and headed for a more suitable ride.