Please Give Me A Kiss, Healer! Chapter 38

“What is this?”

“It’s something you gave me a long time ago. You said that if I had this, I’d be able to find you no matter where or when.”

Of course, Ji-woo had no memory of it.

She had never met Kang-woo long ago, nor had she ever given him a necklace.

‘But that necklace… for some reason, I can’t stop looking at it.’

Was it because it looked so unusual?

Ji-woo stared intently at the sand slipping down inside the hourglass.

As if he had expected that reaction, Kang-woo placed the necklace into her hand.

“I didn’t believe it back then. But Ji-woo, what you said was true.”

“The necklace you gave me guided me straight to where you were.”

His smooth, low voice flowed gently into Ji-woo’s ears.

She looked down at the necklace resting in her palm.

She didn’t know how it worked, but Kang-woo didn’t seem to be lying.

‘So it’s basically like a tracking device. You’ve been using this to find me all this time?’

That made it a very dangerous object indeed.

Ji-woo clenched the hourglass-shaped necklace tightly.

“Kang-woo… um, if I borrowed this necklace—”

“Yeah. You can have it.”

“Huh? Just like that? Isn’t it something precious?”

“It is. Something precious.”

Kang-woo carefully gathered Ji-woo’s frizzy hair and smoothed it back.

Then, with his own hands, he placed the necklace around her slender neck.

“It was precious because precious Ji-woo gave it to me. And…”

Peck.

As if trailing off mid-sentence, Kang-woo left a kiss on Ji-woo’s cheek.

“Gah! What are you doing?!”

Startled by the unannounced skinship, Ji-woo shoved at his broad chest.

But her hand was quickly caught, their fingers interlacing instead.

“I told you, Ji-woo. I’ll give you everything I have.”

“T-th-that was just something people say!”

“I’m always serious.”

Kang-woo smiled beautifully as he looked at the necklace swaying against Ji-woo’s neck.

Then he thought to himself—

Now that he had filled the emptiness at her neck with a necklace, the only thing left was a ring.

A wedding ring.

 

 

****

 

 

 

“It was a failure. We did find the special flower, but we couldn’t bring it back here.”

Ji-woo and Kang-woo returned to the safe zone empty-handed.

The one consolation was their brief communication with the dungeon raid team, which, apparently, had also reached Shin Woo-hyeok.

“They say the dungeon will be fully cleared by today.”

According to the transmission, the monsters inside the dungeon were nearly wiped out.

Just as Kang-woo had said.

Shin Woo-hyeok frowned.

‘Did that man really sweep through that many monsters?’

Alone, without any preparation?

Was that the difference of an SSS-rank returnee?

A flicker of admiration crossed his mind, but unease soon followed.

An overwhelming existence whose intentions couldn’t be read always brought upheaval.

“That’s great, noona! Then we can finally leave this place, right?”

“Yeah, that’s right.”

Hee-seong nearly jumped with joy at the thought of leaving the dungeon.

But Ji-woo felt as if a heavy stone had been placed on her heart.

She couldn’t stop thinking about the antmen back in the ant nest.

‘They said all the exits leading outside the ant nest were sealed.’

Since the passage connecting to the dungeon was blocked as well, there was no longer any chance of the antmen clashing with the dungeon raid team.

It was a relief that no battles with hunters would occur, but…

The real problem was food.

─ We don’t know how long we can survive trapped in the ant nest-gam.

They might manage for a while on the supplies they had stockpiled, but eventually, a serious crisis would come.

If they could never go outside, they’d never be able to obtain food.

Ji-woo let out a deep sigh.

‘The antmen have helped me so much. And I’ve grown attached to them.’

Even this time, when she handed out candy, they rejoiced, danced in welcome, and even held a festival just for her.

Thinking of the antmen—pure as children—made her feel guilty about leaving them behind.

She tried casually bringing it up to Shin Woo-hyeok, just in case.

It was useless.

“That’s actually good news.”

“…What?”

“If monsters starve to death on their own, that’s ideal, isn’t it? It resolves the issue peacefully without shedding a single drop of blood.”

At his cold words, Ji-woo stiffened.

Seeing her light green eyes tremble violently, Shin Woo-hyeok sighed.

“Monsters are monsters. There’s no such thing as a good monster. Never forget that they are clear-cut beasts that have slaughtered countless humans.”

He ran a hand through his hair, venting his frustration.

“Honestly, I was worried. Your ability is… unique, Hunter Do Ji-woo. I was concerned you might develop sympathy, and as expected…”

“…….”

“Hunter Do Ji-woo, you will encounter countless monsters in dungeons going forward. Will you help every monster you can communicate with?”

It was blunt, but impossible to refute.

Struck dumb, Ji-woo pressed her lips tightly together.

“Even if you help them out of kindness, never forget that those monsters are beings capable of tearing our comrades to pieces at any moment. Please.”

“…Yes. I understand.”

Even after finishing his lecture, Shin Woo-hyeok didn’t look at ease.

Saying he would join the dungeon raid team as a guide, he left the safe zone first.

“What’s wrong, noona? Why do you look like that? Did something happen? …Did Woo-hyeok-nim say something to you?”

Sensing something was off, Hee-seong approached and asked.

Ji-woo silently shook her head.

‘He’s right. Everything the guild master said is correct.’

The antmen were monsters, after all.

No matter how kind they had been to her, they were beings who could harm humans at any time.

Helping them would be a betrayal of the hunters currently risking their lives in the dungeon for humanity.

But—

─ We’re really glad you’re here, human-gam! Watch our welcome dance-gam!

─ This candy is the best-gam! We’ll declare today Candy Memorial Day-gam!

─ Come visit again-gam. Ji-woo is always welcome-gam.

“…….”

It felt like a sharp pebble was rolling around uncomfortably in her chest.

Ji-woo forced herself to push thoughts of the antmen out of her mind.

 

 

****

 

 

Some time later.

Sss, haa.

Ji-woo stepped out of the dungeon and spread her arms wide, soaking in the fresh air.

Even the gum stuck to the asphalt looked oddly lovable right now.

“I can’t believe it’s been this long since I breathed outside air!”

It had taken a full five days for Ji-woo to finally get out of the dungeon.

‘It would’ve been nice if we’d finished all the awakening missions before leaving.’

Unluckily—or maybe luckily—the dungeon raid team cleared the dungeon in the blink of an eye.

After the rescue team arrived.

‘Ji-woo, wait just a little longer. I’ll come find you again.’

Kang-woo said that if he stayed, everyone would end up in trouble, and then he disappeared.

Left alone, Ji-woo hid Hee-seong in the safe zone.

Then, while the dungeon stayed chaotic for several days with people coming and going to process materials, she took Hee-seong and slipped out of the dungeon.

When she met Shin Woo-hyeok again, he was talking seriously with an association official.

Words like unidentified bodies and unexpected major rifts floated over.

Ji-woo shut her ears without hesitation.

‘Mm, not my problem.’

Whatever happened in the dungeon was something important people would deal with. Yep, definitely.

‘I’m sorry, Hunter Do Ji-woo. An urgent matter has come up, so I’ll be away from Seoul for a while.’

Still, before leaving, Guild Master Shin Woo-hyeok took care of all the things that could’ve turned troublesome.

For example, the incident where Ji-woo had set a café on fire before the gate opened.

Or the way Hee-seong suddenly vanished from the hospital.

That wasn’t all.

After leaving the dungeon, Ji-woo received a KakaoTalk message from Shin Woo-hyeok.

It contained an apartment address and the front door lock password.

 

Shin Woo-hyeok

Hunter Do Ji-woo, This is housing provided to hunters belonging to the Blank Guild.

Please use it comfortably.

^^

Excuse me???

I haven’t even signed the employment contract yet??

 

But Woo-hyeok only read the message and didn’t reply.

A polite version of being left on read.

“Seriously. Like this is going to make me fall for it so easily……”