Please Give Me A Kiss, Healer! Chapter 16

“Are they filming a drama?”

“I heard Hunter Family Season 3 is being shot these days. Maybe it’s that movie?”

No matter how loudly Jiwoo shouted, people only exchanged uncertain glances and didn’t budge.

[00:01:49]

Growing desperate, Jiwoo looked pleadingly at Shin Woo-hyuk—but he was just as confused.

The only one panicking as time bled away was Jiwoo.

‘Screw it!!’

She squeezed her eyes shut and gathered mana into one hand.

Then—

“[Fireball!].”

Before anyone could stop her, she launched the spell into a corner of the café.

The flying fireball struck, igniting furniture and sending flames roaring upward.

“F-fire! FIRE!!”

“Hunter Do Jiwoo!! What are you doing!!”

“No—let go! Everyone, it’s a GAS LEAK! It’s going to blow! Get as far away as possible!!”

…It was, of course, complete nonsense.

But incredibly effective.

People inside screamed and bolted for the exits, shoving each other to escape.

“Guild Master, we need to run too! There’s really no time!!”

“Hunter Do Jiwoo!”

“We can talk later—just RUN!”

Jiwoo seized Shin Woo-hyuk’s hand.

With all her strength, she dragged him after the fleeing crowd toward the entrance.

Thankfully, he followed without resisting.

By the time they escaped the gate’s activation radius, only one minute remained on the timer.

Woo-hyuk wiped his face and pointed at the building.

The café that had been full of people moments ago was now engulfed in roaring flames.

“…How do you plan to take responsibility for that, Hunter Do Jiwoo?”

“…Yeah. That’s… a good question.”

Whether the dungeon appeared or not, she was in trouble.

If the gate didn’t open, she’d end up using the compensation money to pay for fire damages.

Woo-hyuk warned her in a hard voice,

“This won’t be overlooked. The Hunter Association will issue disciplinary action.”

Using a skill outside a dungeon—in a public place full of civilians.

Her hunter license could be revoked. An extremely serious offense.

But Jiwoo only sighed heavily, showing little reaction.

“Well… still better than a dungeon opening in the middle of the city.”

She prayed desperately.

That her system was wrong—she’d take all the blame alone if so.

[00:00:12]
[00:00:11]
[00:00:10]

Then, when the countdown hit single digits—

“No! Wait! My kid is still in there!”

“…What?”

“In the bathroom! On the second floor bathroom!”

“Why are you only saying that NOW!!”

As Jiwoo stared at the café entrance in horror, the system timer hit [0:00:00].

[A-rank Dungeon Gate Activated]

A blinding flash burst forth, too bright to look at.

When her vision finally cleared—

A massive crack split the air.

A jet-black dungeon gate, tearing reality open.

Exactly as the system warned.

Stunned, Jiwoo couldn’t take her eyes off it.

Shin Woo-hyuk stepped in front of her.

With a devastated expression, he spoke while staring at the gate.

“Hunter Do Jiwoo, the Association’s emergency response team will arrive soon. Please stay here.”

“What about you, Guild Master?”

Woo-hyuk glanced at the woman collapsed on the ground, sobbing.

She was the one who had screamed earlier about her child being trapped inside.

“I’m going into the dungeon. I have to protect the civilian until a raid team is formed.”

“Excuse me, have you lost your mind? You think you can survive alone in that dungeon?”

Even if he was S-rank, this was suicide.

High-rank dungeons required teams of elite hunters. How could he endure it alone?!

But his mind was already made up.

“Protecting citizens from dungeon threats is the duty of every hunter. I can’t ignore this knowing a civilian is inside.”

Reciting the basic hunter code, Woo-hyuk summoned a weapon from his inventory.

Jiwoo, watching him, nearly tore her hair out.

‘Why are you bringing up Hunter Academy textbook morals NOW?! I’m going to lose it!’

Even if he was a model hunter, this was insane.

How could someone be so perfectly by-the-book?!

“Don’t go! You’ll die, seriously!!”

Jiwoo grabbed his wrist, but she couldn’t stop him.

Because the grieving mother clung to him desperately.

“H-Hunter! My baby is only seven! Her name’s Kim Mina, she’s wearing a yellow striped shirt!”

“Don’t worry. I’ll bring her back safely.”

With a solemn promise, Woo-hyuk turned toward the gate.

Then he paused and looked back at Jiwoo.

“Hunter Do Jiwoo… earlier, I was wrong to doubt you. I’ll offer a proper apology when I return.”

“Ugh—don’t say things like that!”

Why plant a death flag like that?! Don’t stress people out!

Seeing her fear, Woo-hyuk only gave a quiet smile.

The sight of his back grew smaller and smaller as he headed toward the gate.

Jiwoo couldn’t bear to watch and dropped her head. A sudden rush of hot emotion welled up inside her.

“…What kind of person does that? What if you die a useless death? It’s not like anyone’s going to remember you.”

Jiwoo had neither the courage nor the sense of duty to step forward like Shin Woo-hyuk.

That kind of thing suited heroes on TV—people others cried and laughed for—not ordinary citizens like her.

“My mom and dad… they also tried to save someone else for no good reason, just like you…”

Jiwoo bit down hard on her lip and couldn’t continue.

Her parents, who left her and her younger sibling behind. Whose bodies were never even recovered. And yet no one remembered how they died.

The world has no interest in the lonely ends of heroes.

So she thought she would never become like them.

“……”

After sitting in heavy silence, Jiwoo slowly clenched her fist.

She looked once toward the distant Shin Woo-hyuk. Once at the woman collapsed on the ground, sobbing. And finally at the skill window she had summoned.

Skill

Welcome to My Home (SSS)
= Creates a safe zone within a dungeon.

‘Maybe… maybe if I go with him, it could work.’

She had only used the skill once—who knew what unexpected variables might appear?

But if she turned away from this now, she felt she would regret it for the rest of her life.

So in the end—

“Agh, screw it! Guild Master, I’m coming with you!”

“Hunter Do Jiwoo—what are you doing? Don’t follow me! It’s dangerous!”

“You better pay me hazard pay when we get out!! I’m going in because of you, so triple-rate at LEAST!!”

Squeezing her eyes shut, Jiwoo dashed straight into the pitch-black gate.

The brilliant white light swallowed both Jiwoo and Shin Woo-hyuk whole, and shortly after—

BEEEEEP—!

—A-rank gate detected near Yeoksam-dong!
—A-rank gate detected near Yeoksam-dong!

Sirens wailed through the air.

Emergency-response hunters pushed back the crowd and set up barricades.

And at the front of that chaotic line, someone appeared.

“…Jiwoo.”

Seo Kangwoo—flawless, breathtaking, the man who had endured countless years for her alone.

The lights flashed wildly, like the fireworks on a ship deck he’d once seen long ago.

The area in front of the barricades was packed with people, but the one he searched for was nowhere to be found.

Even so, Kangwoo slowly closed his eyes and whispered, as if she were right beside him.

“…I miss you, Jiwoo.”

He thought he had grown used to waiting.

Compared to all the time he had waited for her, this moment should have been nothing.

But the way his chest tightened, unbearably so— perhaps it was because he had once tasted her sweet warmth.

The image of her running away from him was still vivid in his mind.

‘I never thought she’d mistake me for a monster.’

It wasn’t completely without reason.

He had just returned from another world, and the power he held came from there.

It wasn’t strange if Earth’s system categorized him as a monster.

And Jiwoo, who had lost her memory, wouldn’t know of the otherworld at all.

Still, the reason he hadn’t tried more actively to explain himself was…

‘Because my situation right now really isn’t that different from a monster’s.’