Please Give Me A Kiss, Healer! Chapter 39

With nowhere else to go, Ji-woo headed to the address in the text message with Hee-seong.

What appeared before the siblings was a luxury apartment complex with a great location and convenient transportation.

A spacious 49-pyeong home, more than big enough for just the two of them.

Five rooms.

Three bathrooms.

Hee-seong’s eyes grew huge as he looked around the glamorous company housing of the Blank Guild.

“N-Noona… can we really live here? You didn’t get scammed somewhere, did you?”

After spending half his life in semi-basement studios and cramped shared hospital rooms!

Was this really their home now?

After touring the place, Hee-seong hunched his shoulders like a turtle.

“…Noona, should we just look for a 24-hour jjimjilbang or something? What if we settle in here and later something goes wrong?”

“…….”

Ji-woo also felt her skin prickle at being handed such a luxurious place for the first time in her life.

But she didn’t want to make her young brother, who had just been discharged from the hospital, sleep in a bathhouse.

Seeing Hee-seong standing there with his mouth open, completely overwhelmed, made her chest sting.

‘What is this house, anyway?’

I’m a proper S-rank hunter now.

Yeah, there’s no reason to feel small.

We’re allowed to enjoy this much comfort now!

Ji-woo lifted her chin and straightened her back.

“Do Hee-seong, didn’t you see me lifting that rock by the stream? Don’t worry. I am a top-tier hunter! An S-rank, just like the Blank Guild’s guild master!”

She struck a bodybuilder pose, and a little bulge popped up on her arm.

Her cute show of strength had an unexpected effect.

“Heh… yeah. No way a top-tier hunter like Mr. Woo-hyeok would scam someone like you.”

Finally reassured, Hee-seong bounced around on the sofa.

He was clutching Dong-sik, who had turned into a penguin doll, under his arm.

“Then this is my room, noona, so don’t come in!”

Hee-seong picked the room closest to the front door and disappeared inside.

For a while, loud noises came from him unpacking the things he’d brought from the hospital.

Ji-woo, who had been tense herself, slumped onto the sofa.

‘…Am I really doing the right thing?’

She still hadn’t made up her mind about whether to join the Blank Guild.

If she had to put a number on it, maybe 80 percent yes, 20 percent no.

‘What can I do? I don’t have anywhere to live right now.’

The place Ji-woo had been staying in had ended its contract while she was trapped in the dungeon.

Hee-seong had also just completed his discharge procedures from the hospital.

‘Money is tight right now.’

On top of that, a bill had arrived a few days ago.

All the money she’d spent in 〈Our Home〉—the hoe, pot, ramen, candy, and all kinds of seasonings from the shop!

[Withdrawal source: Happy Earth Co., Ltd.]

She didn’t know what kind of system it was yet, but money had been taken from her account under that company name.

No matter how much she searched online, nothing came up—it felt like a shell company.

Ji-woo grabbed her aching head.

‘Ugh, I don’t know. Thinking about it won’t give me any answers.’

Honestly, way too much had happened in just one week.

Getting stranded in a dungeon, getting kissed by Kang-woo, suddenly becoming S-rank—fine, sure.

But then she barely escaped, only to enter an A-rank dungeon with the number-one guild master in the country.

Kang-woo reappearing as an SSS-rank team leader, Hee-seong talking about awakening as a butler…

‘In all that, who cares about a paper company?’

Even if something felt off, there was no way to dig into it anyway.

Wrestling with questions that had no answers was just a waste of time.

If she was going to get stabbed in the back someday, she’d just deal with the pain then.

Knowing or not knowing, getting stabbed was still getting stabbed, right?

No need to buy trouble and suffer in advance.

For now, Ji-woo decided to accept this comfortable life and enjoy it.

 

 

****

 

 

Time passed at an almost unbelievable speed.

After the storm of incidents had blown over, a peaceful weekend arrived.

Ji-woo finished soaking in the warm bath attached to the bathroom and came out into the living room, all fluffy and refreshed.

In her hand, she firmly gripped a banana milk with a straw stuck in it.

[The divorce papers have been sent to the managing director’s house, so stamp and sign them.]

“What the—this drama still isn’t over?”

A TV drama was playing.

[Hye-na is coming with me.]

[What? Who do you think you are, taking my daughter?!]

[Ha! Now it’s ‘my daughter’? Don’t make me laugh! You said you were infertile! Hye-na is absolutely not your daughter!]

The actors’ impassioned voices boomed from the powerful speakers.

The first defining trait of morning dramas.

Even if it’s your first time watching, just ten minutes is enough to figure out the entire plot.

And once you keep watching, it somehow becomes addictive.

“So whose daughter is Hye-na supposed to be, then?!”

Completely sucked in, Ji-woo tore at a cushion in frustration.

The male lead—who was supposed to clear everything up—had just gotten amnesia.

“Oh my, oh my… goodness! When’s the next episode? Tomorrow?”

Sipping her banana milk, Ji-woo focused intently on the preview.

It was a luxury she never could’ve imagined back when she used to secretly sleep in the bathroom at Seoul Station.

Rolling lazily around on the sofa, Ji-woo checked her schedule for the week on her phone.

“Let’s see. Monday is my first day at headquarters… and this afternoon, Hee-seong has a hospital checkup.”

Since his temporary awakening, Hee-seong had gotten healthy enough that hospitalization was no longer necessary.

It was still only “temporary,” so it made her uneasy, but for now, he looked as if he’d been completely cured.

Still, just in case, a thorough checkup was mandatory.

Since the Blank Guild was under the Daewoon Group, affiliated hunters and their families could use Daewoon Hospital for free.

“And money got deposited into my account a few days ago, too.”

The rewards and various allowances promised by the Blank Guild had come in, giving her some financial breathing room.

Her only real worry—Hee-seong—seemed fine for now.

Everything was going smoothly, like toilet paper unrolling without a hitch.

Except for one thing that bothered her.

‘Where did Kang-woo disappear to?’

Since separating in the dungeon, she hadn’t seen him once.

Ji-woo touched the hourglass-shaped necklace hanging around her neck.

‘When he gave this to me, he said he could find me anytime, anywhere with it.’

Then… did that mean she could find Kang-woo with it too?

She stared at the sand falling inside the transparent hourglass and—

“Ah, forget it! Find him, my foot.”

She gave up at 5G speed.

What would she even do if she found him?

She’d felt burdened when he was always around—so now that he was gone, going out of her way to look for him felt ridiculous.

Instead, Ji-woo flipped the hourglass necklace upside down.

The fine yellow sand, reminiscent of Kang-woo’s eyes, slid softly downward.

‘He said he’d come find me again.’

Right before they parted, Kang-woo had definitely said that.

“But seeing how he hasn’t shown up at all… I guess he’s really busy.”

Which made sense.

Between the Emergency Disaster Team and the Daewoon Group, he probably had a mountain of things to deal with.

Forgetting a promise to come see her was only natural.

…Yeah. Totally natural.

Ji-woo pressed a hand against her fluttering chest.

‘Then why do I feel like this?’

Why did her heart feel so oddly empty?

Blinking blankly, Ji-woo quickly arrived at an answer.

“Right, it must be because I’m hungry!”

There was no way she’d feel this gloomy otherwise!

Yep, that had to be it!

She roughly patted her still-damp hair dry with a towel.

Just then, the door to Hee-seong’s room—which had been closed all this time—burst open.

“Oh, Hee-seong. Since you’re out, put some water on. I’ll make a cup of ram—”

“Noona, I’m heading out for a bit.”

“Where are you going?”

“To a friend’s place.”

“…A friend?”

You? Friends?

The kid whose only acquaintances were middle-aged ladies from the hospital who watched morning dramas with him?

Hee-seong’s lips jutted out in a pout.

“Then what about you, noona? You don’t have anyone to meet on weekends either—you’re just stuck at home.”

“I work on weekdays. You and I aren’t the same.”

“What’s different? If anything, shouldn’t you be busier on weekends, going on dates?”

“…….”

“You said you’d have ninety-nine future husbands. That was all a lie, wasn’t it?”

After landing a critical hit with pure facts, Hee-seong went back into his room.

A moment later, he came out again with a backpack in hand.

It was the same backpack that had once sealed Dong-sik inside.

“Hee-seong, so where are you actually going?”

“…Top secret.”

“What?”

With a serious face, Hee-seong answered,

“Stop trying to find out, noona. Knowing will only get you hurt.”

“…What?”

Had he finally lost his mind, too?

As Ji-woo stood there dumbfounded, Hee-seong walked past her with the backpack slung over his shoulders.

Then—

BANG!!

The front door slammed shut so hard it sounded like it might break.

At that moment, the hot-blooded DNA dormant inside Ji-woo stirred.

“Hey, Do Hee-seong!! Why don’t you just break the whole house while you’re at it, huh?! Get back in here! Try slamming the door again, I dare you!”

From outside came a pitiful shout.

“Noona, I didn’t close it!”

“Then who did, if not you?!”

“…The wind. It slammed shut because of the wind.”