I Became The Only Healer In The Academy [EN]: Chapter 88

88

The Academy National Competition was broadcast worldwide.

Naturally, the heads of associations from every country, who had been eagerly anticipating this day, were watching TV in their offices, as if it were a prearranged agreement.

“What… what is that sound?”

“…It seems Hunter Kim didn’t explain anything.”

The fact that South Korea was immediately disqualified.

The reason was simple.

They violated the clause prohibiting the use of abilities.

The association president and vice president stared at the TV with blank expressions.

Even though South Korea’s reputation had declined recently, this was clearly an act of blatant disregard.

“I’ll kill those bastards…!”

“P, President! Calm down, please calm down.”

The association president, with veins bulging on his forehead, merely stood up from his seat, but the room began to shake.

“P, President!”

After being continuously dissuaded by the vice president, the association president barely calmed down and immediately picked up the phone to give instructions.

“Find out what happened in China right now and report it to me.”

He had dismissed their concerns when they suggested the Korean staff shouldn’t come, thinking nothing would happen, but this was the result.

“Hunter Kim must have had his reasons. He must have been informed about the clauses before departing.”

“That’s not the important thing. Do you think I don’t know Hunter Kim’s usual behavior? This is clearly a trap.”

The vice president also agreed with the association president’s assessment.

As if in response to the association president’s call, someone knocked on the door.

“Come in.”

The secretary entered, handed the association president the documents, and left the room again.

“…”

It was fortunate that someone had been dispatched on the association president’s personal instructions; otherwise, it would have taken longer to ascertain the detailed circumstances of the disqualification.

“Ha, these bastards…”

The contents were appalling.

Inhwan and Sangyeon were kidnapped, and in the process, Seonghyun slashed one of the Chinese representatives’ wrists.

“Hoo… well, considering the worst-case scenario, he achieved the best outcome.”

If he had killed him, a considerably troublesome problem would have arisen, but Seonghyun resolved it by inflicting a moderate injury, making them avoid looking foolish while also preventing the situation from escalating too seriously.

“So, what are you planning to do…?”

“If Hunter Kim felt wronged… I would have intervened myself. This is also a matter of South Korea’s pride.”

However, there was other information in the report.

It was a long-standing tradition to assign requests according to the ranking of prestige.

DeMarge directly violated that tradition and accepted South Korea’s request before China’s.

Undoubtedly, South Korea’s proud Academy representatives would confidently receive DeMarge’s equipment, while China couldn’t, which could be interpreted as a form of inferiority complex.

“Hoo, it’s comforting to think that way. Let’s continue investigating. Let’s at least check their power levels.”

“Yes, I understand.”

The vice president, relieved by the association president’s suddenly improved mood, let out a sigh of relief and joined him in reviewing the National Competition matches.

——————————————–

“…”

Seonghyun watched the National Competition with surprised eyes.

From the first match, there was a confrontation between 1st place America and 13th place Italy, and America won with an overwhelming difference.

It didn’t seem like they used all their abilities.

Their faces were full of composure [余裕, yoyu in Japanese, meaning having room to spare], and not just their expressions, but every single movement exuded confidence.

Countries with high national prestige rankings were almost all displaying that kind of demeanor [모습, moseup in Korean, meaning appearance or figure].

Of course, China was no exception, and the representative whose tendon Seonghyun had severed was showing quite decent movements.

‘He wasn’t a close-combat Hunter in the first place.’

Looking closely at the abilities he used, it seemed like he had the ability to greatly enhance his allies.

Seeing that the difference was enough to reach a speed that Seonghyun could barely keep up with, it seemed like the extent of the enhancement was beyond imagination.

“The results came out as expected.”

As expected, none of the countries in the upper ranks of prestige were defeated.

And whether it was a coincidence or something else, the countries between 1st and 10th place didn’t have matches scheduled against each other.

“I’ll have to watch until a match is scheduled between top representatives.”

“Right, it’s hard to gauge their true strength because everyone hasn’t shown their full power yet.”

“Their movements are full of composure. We need to see a match between the top ranks to properly assess their power.”

The National Competition would end in a week, so it seemed like he could spend time sparring with Il until then.

As that day’s National Competition was nearing its end.

A huge explosion was heard from one side.

With all the National Competition matches over, there was only one reason such an explosion would be heard.

“Kyaaak!”

The stadium, which had been burning with the excitement of the National Competition until just now, began to burn in a different sense.

Along with people’s screams, the loud noise, which didn’t end with just one, continued to escalate the chaos.

There were more people here now than could be compared to the hotel last time, and most of them were ordinary people or low-level Hunters.

There were security personnel, but there were far too few to control the crowd that was packed even outside the stadium.

It was literally pandemonium.

Everyone rushed to the entrance, and some people were seen falling and being trampled on.

It wasn’t any different for the Hunters.

Hunters began to use their abilities to survive.

The abilities of each of them were weak and insignificant, but as such people gathered and began to use their abilities here and there, it was a situation where no one knew where another terrorist attack would occur.

“…Let’s go.”

Seonghyun, realizing that the situation was quite unusual, couldn’t just stand by and watch, so he immediately left the VIP room with Inhwan and Sangyeon.

“W, what on earth is going on?”

“…It’s a terrorist attack.”

It might have been questionable to hear Seonghyun’s confident assertion that it was a terrorist attack, but there was no other logical explanation.

Seonghyun barely organized his complicated feelings and headed to the place where the first loud noise was heard.

‘But why now…’

Seonghyun knew very well who was carrying out these kinds of things.

The Hunter terrorist group that had articles about them at least once a week before his regression.

Their stance was that they should assert the superiority of Hunters and either enslave or kill all ordinary people.

But the period when they were active was at least two years after Seonghyun graduated.

‘A lot has been distorted.’

Events that were brought forward by several years.

He arrived at the place where the first explosion occurred, but he couldn’t find any evidence or traces.

“…Come this way.”

This method was similar to the method Seonghyun remembered.

Before his regression, there was an incident where they attacked the stadium where the National Competition was held, and at that time, they were the ones who had finished preparing in advance through the underground sewers of the stadium.

Seonghyun took Inhwan and Sangyeon and pried open the sewer hole in the corner of the building floor.

“They’ll be inside.”

“A, are you sure?”

“My hunch says they’re inside too. Let’s go.”

Seonghyun threw himself in first, and soon Inhwan and Sangyeon also entered the sewer together.

A sewer that was so dark that it was almost impossible to see ahead.

Soon, Inhwan used his ability to light up the area, and the three of them were speechless and shocked at the sight that unfolded.

Before Inhwan used his ability after entering the sewer for the first time, something kept getting caught on his feet, and now it turned out that all of those things were bombs.

“What is this…”

Of course, Hunters didn’t die easily from things like bombs.

In addition to having a much stronger body than ordinary people, they could also avoid or block them by using their abilities.

However, an explosion that occurred underground could end them before they could even use their abilities.

“With this amount, no one can survive unless they’re at the level of the Academy representatives.”

“W, what should we do?”

“We have to defuse them somehow…”

While they were just looking at the bombs, not knowing what to do, a voice was heard from behind.

“Oh my, uninvited guests.”

“Wh, who is it!”

A man wearing a black mask appeared in front of Seonghyun’s group, holding something in his hand.

“Hmm… being discovered now wasn’t in the plan.”

“…Are you going to detonate these bombs?”

“Hey, come on. If I detonate them now, I’ll die too, right?”

Seonghyun knew the identity of this man.

“Envy…”

At the word Envy, the man stopped his uniquely relaxed gestures and asked back in a stiff tone.

“That name. How do you know it?”

“Don’t think that no one would know.”

“Ha, that’s true too. More than that, won’t you just leave? Of course, keep what you saw today a secret.”

“What nonsense…!”

When Sangyeon showed movement, the man raised what he was holding in his hand and said.

“Stop, I’ll press it?”

“…”

He couldn’t rashly use Stigmata either.

Stigmata is an ability that inflicts pain.

He could give that man an unimaginable amount of pain in an instant, but in the meantime, the man could press that button.

It was even more difficult to show movement because that button might not be the button for this place.

“I understand. I promise.”

“Seonghyun-ah!”

“There’s no choice. It’s not just us who are in danger.”

“…Seonghyun is right. We have to back down now.”

Soon, when Seonghyun’s group raised their hands as if they were going to back down, the masked man also lowered the hand he was holding and said.

“Good, good. You’re a 상대 [sangdae in Korean, meaning opponent] that 통화 [tonghwa in Korean, meaning communication or negotiation] is possible with. Then won’t you leave now?”

Soon, Seonghyun nodded and climbed out of the sewer first, and Inhwan and Sangyeon followed Seonghyun.

When he came up from the sewer, the situation outside seemed better than before.

“Let’s help clean up first.”

“Okay.”

“Alright.”

——————————————–

After roughly addressing the situation and returning to the hotel, Seonghyun immediately took a shower and threw himself on the bed in the room.

Events that happened at least 4 years faster.

Moreover, not only did the events happen faster, but even the technologies that would be completed in the future were appearing.

‘I have to accept that the future I knew is no longer here.’

The timing of specific events has now become unpredictable.

He can only react and devise solutions when those events occur.

“…No. Let’s not be too impatient.”

Seonghyun’s 행보 [haengbo in Korean, meaning step or course of action] now was just a 행보 [haengbo in Korean, meaning step or course of action] to become stronger, so even if he acted more urgently here, there wouldn’t be much that would change.

He just needs to be aware of and prepare for the things that will happen in the future.

“Let’s focus on DeMarge’s equipment first.”

No matter how skilled DeMarge is, he couldn’t make it 100% according to the user’s needs.

Luck was also a necessary factor.

And it wasn’t for nothing that it was DeMarge.

Even if most of the results didn’t perfectly match what the user wanted, he had the ability to create even higher-level abilities.

And tomorrow, he would receive that equipment.