Please Give Me A Kiss, Healer! Chapter 103

Summer vacation flew by in the blink of an eye.

On a quiet weekday morning, Jiwoo arrived at the guild and ran into Shin Ilguk in the lobby.

“Yawn… good morning.”

“Hunter Do Jiwoo, your hood is inside out.”

“Oh! Thanks.”

Shin Ilguk straightened her hood for her.

Just then, the elevator reached the floor where their office was located.

As soon as the doors opened, Jiwoo came face-to-face with someone she felt awkward around.

“Nara?”

“Ah… Jiwoo…”

Oh Nara stood there, her face pale as a sheet, nervously biting her fingernails.

She fidgeted with her lips as if she wanted to say something, but in the end, she said nothing and simply walked away.

Sigh… I really need to talk to her.

Ever since their argument in the East Sea Dungeon, Nara had been avoiding Jiwoo.

The occasional messages they used to exchange had completely stopped, and even after a week, nothing had changed.

Well… I’ll get a chance eventually.

It’s not like she can avoid me forever.

It’s not as if she’d suddenly quit the guild.

Jiwoo decided not to overthink it.

She got through the day despite the uneasy feeling, and that evening…

“Today’s chef is me! Tomorrow’s chef is me toooo!”

A perfectly on-key song echoed from the kitchen.

The singer was none other than the cheerful homeowner, Do Jiwoo, who had just gotten off work.

She was dancing with a ladle in hand when her phone rang.

[Team Leader Yoo Jaekyung]

“Huh? Team Leader?”

Yoo Jaekyung valued work-life balance and had never contacted her after work before.

Suddenly anxious, Jiwoo stood up straight and answered.

“Hello, Team Leader?”

“Sorry for calling so suddenly while you’re off, Hunter Do Jiwoo.”

His voice was unusually subdued.

Jiwoo set down the ladle and gripped her phone with both hands.

A moment later…

“She quit? Nara quit the guild?”

“That’s right. She called a little while ago.”

According to him, Nara had simply said, “I’m leaving the guild,” and hung up.

Jiwoo could hear Yoo Jaekyung sigh on the other end.

“I didn’t even have time to ask for details. When I tried calling back, her phone was already turned off.”

“Oh no… Why all of a sudden?”

“I’m not sure. Maybe the disciplinary action hit her harder than we thought.”

A one-month suspension.

Honestly, considering what Nara had done, it was an incredibly light punishment.

But for someone as timid as her, even that might have been too much to bear.

Though Yoo Jaekyung tried to sound detached, he clearly couldn’t stop worrying about her.

“She’s still one of our teammates. I think we should at least talk to her. Since you’re both healers, maybe…”

“Of course! I’ll talk to her!”

Jiwoo agreed before he could even finish.

She had no intention of telling Nara whether quitting was right or wrong.

Whether it was because of guilt or because of the suspension, it was Nara’s decision.

But I can’t let things end like this.

At the very least, she wanted to clear up the awkwardness between them.

Only then could both the one leaving and the one staying move forward without regrets.

As soon as she hung up with Yoo Jaekyung, Jiwoo immediately called Nara.

But the recorded message remained the same.

“The person you are trying to reach is unavailable. You will be connected to voicemail…”

“…”

She hung up on purpose, didn’t she?

Jiwoo narrowed her eyes and called again.

This time, she was greeted by a message saying the phone had been turned off.

I never even considered this possibility!

It took two people to mend a relationship.

If the other person shut the door before she could even try, there was nothing she could do.

Jiwoo stared blankly at her phone.

Then…

“Nara, did you really think I’d give up this easily?”

Giving up was for counting cabbages.

A determined fire blazed in Mini Bulldozer Jiwoo’s eyes.

 

 

***

 

 

“Room 1401… This is it!”

Jiwoo stopped in front of a gray apartment door.

She checked the address Yoo Jaekyung had given her one more time.

Nara had invited her over several times before, but this was Jiwoo’s first visit.

I never imagined I’d end up coming here like this.

Showing up uninvited just to mend a relationship felt incredibly rude.

But after Nara announced she was leaving the guild, all contact had been cut off, leaving Jiwoo with no other choice.

Something doesn’t add up.

Would she really leave the guild without a second thought?

Nara had always cared deeply about Blank Guild.

The fact that she’d continued working as a healer even after the accident a year ago proved that.

She was terrified of facing monsters, yet she’d never quit being a Hunter.

Even if she wanted to join another guild, it wouldn’t be easy.

No matter how talented an A-rank healer she was, who would recruit someone who couldn’t properly enter dungeons?

Besides, Nara wasn’t the type to quit without any plan.

Ding dong.

Jiwoo rang the doorbell.

No answer.

She knocked.

Then she called again, pressing her ear against the door to listen for movement inside.

A neighbor passing through the hallway gave her a suspicious look.

“Haha… my friend’s not answering her phone.”

“Ahem…”

Fortunately, the phone wasn’t turned off this time.

As a cheerful idol song played as the ringtone, Jiwoo heard it ringing inside the apartment.

“You’re in there, aren’t you? Just talk to me for a minute!”

After what felt like forever…

Creak.

The door opened slightly.

A pale, exhausted-looking Nara peeked through the gap.

“Nara!”

But Jiwoo’s relief lasted only a second.

Something felt… wrong.

“…”

Nara’s gaze was ice cold.

She examined Jiwoo the way someone would inspect a complete stranger.

Seeing that unfamiliar look, something from the TV program she’d watched the night before flashed through Jiwoo’s mind.

“No matter how perfectly a doppelgänger copies someone’s appearance, it can’t imitate everything.”

“So before taking their place, it first cuts off all of the target’s relationships.”

“Relationships?”

“Exactly. Things like suddenly dropping out of school… or quitting a job without warning…”

No way…

No. It can’t be.

Jiwoo took a slow breath.

Just in case, she pulled her baseball cap lower over her face.

At last, Nara spoke first.

“Who are you?”

“Uh…”

“I asked who you are.”

“I… um…”

“…”

The longer Jiwoo hesitated, the more the door began to close.

She squeezed her eyes shut and blurted out,

“G-Gas company! I’m here to check your gas meter!”

“The… gas company?”

“Yes! You haven’t had your gas safety inspection yet, right? We’ve come several times, but you were never home!”

“…Now isn’t a good time. Come back later.”

The cold, unfamiliar voice was followed by the door beginning to shut.

Just before it closed completely—

“Wait!”

Jiwoo quickly slid the tip of her shoe into the gap.

Nara shot her a sharp glare.

“What exactly are you doing?”

“Haha… You can’t just send me away like that. The inspection only takes a minute!”

“I said come back another time…”

“When? Do you know how many homes I visit every day? I’ve already done over a hundred today! Yours is the last apartment on my list!”

“…”

“Are you going to pay for my transportation if I have to come all the way back? Or you could just let me do the inspection! It’ll only take one minute, I promise!”

Jiwoo deliberately raised her voice.

It’s less trouble to let me in than to keep arguing this loudly.

Apparently Nara came to the same conclusion.

The door slowly opened again.

“…It’ll really only take one minute?”

“Absolutely!”

And just like that, Jiwoo managed to step inside Nara’s apartment.

She didn’t recognize me at all.

They had fought side by side through countless life-and-death situations.

Even if her face was partly hidden by a cap, this didn’t make any sense.

That’s not Nara.

Following her into the apartment, Jiwoo quietly activated one of her skills.

“[Holy Eyes.]”