Please Give Me A Kiss, Healer! Chapter 56

A single small variable could bring total annihilation.

Even something as simple as one team member breaking formation couldn’t be brushed aside lightly.

In the end, Yoo Jaekyung was disciplined because of that incident, and Cha Taepyeong slammed the higher-ups, insisting they punish him instead. As a result, the two of them were demoted together to Special Team 7.

It was due to the guild master’s firm policy: hunters who couldn’t be controlled had no place on a team.

Jiwoo scratched her cheek.

‘Guild Master… really is sharp as a blade.’

Come to think of it, it had been the same last time.

When she’d said she wanted to help the Antmen.

The way his expression had turned cold in an instant as he pressured her was still vivid.

‘If I hadn’t backed down then, I probably would’ve been kicked out on the spot.’

And being kicked out would’ve been the best-case scenario. She might’ve even been reported to the Association as an enemy of humanity.

Jiwoo reaffirmed her resolve.

‘I can never let anyone find out about the housemates.’

If it came out that she’d taken the Antmen into 〈Our Home〉, she really would be expelled without mercy.

An unexpected chill ran down the back of her neck.

Unaware of Jiwoo’s inner turmoil, Shin Ilguk continued speaking.

“Hunter Yoo Jaekyung and Hunter Cha Taepyeong held their wedding shortly after joining Special Team 7.”

“Wow, they got married right away?”

Even if Yoo Jaekyung had turned her back on her career, she’d held onto love tightly.

Discipline? Demotion? To hell with all that. Ignoring everyone else’s gaze and getting married immediately!

“When someone asked her on the wedding day if she regretted breaking formation back then, Hunter Yoo Jaekyung answered like this.”

Jiwoo’s eyes sparkled as she focused on Shin Ilguk’s words.

Shin Ilguk cleared his throat and slowly spoke.

“When my man is in danger, even if it’s literal hell, of course I have to run to him.”

“Gah—! As expected of Team Leader Yoo Jaekyung!”

So this is what girl crush is!

“Oh my gosh, what do I do? My heart’s racing. She’s seriously so cool!”

Jiwoo cupped her reddened cheeks with both hands. Her eyes curved into soft crescents, and her large light-green eyes turned toward Shin Ilguk.

Shin Ilguk coughed awkwardly and turned his head away.

Whether it was the heat or not, the rims of his ears were red.

“Ahem. Anyway… I don’t really know the details beyond that.”

“Oh, come on. You’ve told me all this and now you say you don’t know?”

She’d expected there to be some kind of story, but hearing it all, it was truly a once-in-a-lifetime romance.

From now on, whenever she saw that couple, this story would be the first thing that came to mind.

‘I should ask Hunter Yoo Jaekyung to tell me more later!’

Especially since they were having a team dinner after today’s raid!

A beef party!

Korean beef sizzling on the grill! Wrapped in lettuce and perilla leaves, loads of garlic, just a little spicy pepper! And finally, half a spoon of gochujang!

Jiwoo smacked her lips, talking excitedly about the dinner menu.

Shin Ilguk, who’d been listening quietly, raised an objection.

“You put gochujang in vegetable wraps?”

“Yes. You’ve never tried it?”

“I can’t even imagine eating it that way. Gochujang is too strong—it’d overpower the taste. And it doesn’t really go with vegetables.”

“Gochujang with beef is secretly amazing. It goes so well with the meat’s natural fat.”

“If you’re talking about fat, then oil and salt would be better. That way you can enjoy the meat’s juices properly.”

“If you add oil sauce on top of the juices, it’s way too greasy. No matter how much I compromise, ssamjang or doenjang has to be there!”

“…Well, I don’t agree with that.”

Bzzzt.

A fierce battle broke out over the title of food connoisseur.

“Ilguk, you’ve kind of got an old man’s taste, don’t you?”

“That’s still better than a child’s palate, isn’t it?”

Jiwoo and Shin Ilguk stared silently at each other.

Just as a second beef debate was about to erupt—

A transmission rang out from the communicator strapped near Jiwoo’s thigh.

It meant that the team who’d gone beyond the valley had suddenly been attacked by monsters.

 

 

****

 

 

 

Jiwoo and Shin Ilguk ran nonstop all the way to the suspension bridge.

Their breathing grew ragged, their hearts pounding violently.

It felt like her pulse was hammering at the very top of her head.

“Hhk— hihk!”

“Are you all right?”

“D-don’t talk to me, ugh— just run faster!”

Lack of breath wasn’t the problem.

She had more than enough stamina to keep running.

The real problem was…

‘This damn leg length!’

It was just too short—ridiculously short.

What good was being an S-rank second awakener?

She barely managed fifteen seconds in a 100-meter dash!

‘It’s my base stats that are the issue.’

Jiwoo’s stats were: Strength 4, Agility 17, Wisdom 8.

Just slightly better than an average adult male.

At least thanks to the Antman antenna headband, she had gained monstrous strength—she could easily lift up to ten tons.

Jiwoo ran at the absolute fastest speed she could manage, while Shin Ilguk kept glancing back and adjusting his pace to match hers.

“They’re over there! Turn left behind that rock—there’s a clearing ahead!”

As she crossed the suspension bridge, Jiwoo activated her Search skill.

By the time they reached the clearing, the situation was already more than halfway over.

At the center of the clearing, Jiwoo spotted Yoo Jaekyung fighting a monster and let her staff droop.

“That’s… a skeleton, isn’t it?”

What had ambushed Special Team 7 were living skeletal soldiers.

Rattling piles of half-rotted bones, wielding chipped cleavers and shields, with teeth long since fallen out.

‘Do skeletons even appear in D-rank dungeons?’

Weren’t those supposed to show up in mid- to high-tier ones?

“[Angel Walking!], [Bless Body!].”

Even while questioning it, Jiwoo diligently supported Yoo Jaekyung.

The last skeleton’s head was severed by the whip Yoo Jaekyung swung.

Thud—roll.

The white skull rolled across the ground and lightly tapped the toe of Jiwoo’s shoe.

“Hiiya!”

Jiwoo punted the skull high into the air like a soccer ball and ran over to Yoo Jaekyung.

“Team Leader! Where are the others?”

“They should be in the rock crevice over there. Hunter Oh Nara’s condition isn’t good…”

While Yoo Jaekyung caught her breath after the fight, Jiwoo headed toward the rocks she pointed to.

It looked like monsters had charged all the way to the entrance—skeleton bones were scattered everywhere.

Cha Taepyeong was patting Oh Nara on the back.

“Try breathing slowly. That’s it, nice and easy.”

“……”

“If you feel nauseous, it’s okay to throw up.”

“I’m sorry— urgh…”

“Haha, it’s fine. When you run dungeons, sometimes you bleed, sometimes you poop yourself. It happens.”

Oh Nara’s condition was awful.

She was pale as a sheet, clutching the rock wall while retching.

Shin Ilguk, who had arrived behind them, called out.

“Hunter Cha Taepyeong.”

“Oh, you’re here already?”

Jiwoo took water out of her inventory and answered instead.

“Just now. Here, have some water… What happened?”

“Just what you see. We ran into a group of skeletons, and there were more of them than expected.”

Still, it hadn’t been an unwinnable fight.

As soon as they encountered the monsters, they hid the trembling Oh Nara nearby and started combat.

“Jaekyung and I took care of them all, but… we let one slip through at the end.”

In a brief moment of carelessness, a skeleton attacked the hiding place where Oh Nara was concealed.

The skeleton flailed its arms between the rocks and dragged her out.

Thanks to Cha Taepyeong rushing over immediately, she hadn’t lost her life—but Oh Nara seemed deeply shaken.

“I’m sorry… I’m so sorry. This is because of me…”

Her eyes, filled with repeated apologies, were unfocused.

‘Did her trauma flare up again?’

Just what had that accident been back then?

Feeling sorry for her, Jiwoo gently patted Oh Nara’s back.

It took time for Oh Nara to calm down.

While they waited, night fell, and Special Team 7 began preparing camp.

Since dungeon raids often lasted several days, setting up camp wasn’t difficult.

Jiwoo walked around with Cha Taepyeong, installing alarm magic to detect any movement.

“Jiwoo, when did you learn stuff like this too?”

“When I worked as a porter in dungeons.”

“Heh, you’re seriously versatile. Our team’s all-purpose workhorse!”

All-purpose workhorse.

The textbook definition of a jack-of-all-trades.

It fit perfectly.

Jiwoo’s skill window was a mess of all kinds of abilities.

Search skills, alarm magic, even basic attack magic.

To survive in the harsh hunter world, you had to learn and use whatever you could, whenever you could.

After finishing her tasks, Jiwoo returned to the campsite.

She checked on Oh Nara’s condition, spread out her sleeping bag in the rock crevice, and took out her combat rations.

Crunch.

“Oh, this is way tastier than I expected?”

How could hardtack issued as supplies be this sweet?

Jiwoo flipped the package over to look at the back.

[Manufacturer: Daewoon Foods Co., Ltd.]

As expected, it was a product of the major conglomerate Daewoon Group.

‘They really do make everything well, no matter what.’

And not just in hunter-related fields.

Since dungeon gates had started appearing, humanity had been suffering from food shortages.

The world’s major breadbaskets saw drastic drops in production, and genetically modified processed foods of unknown origin had increased.

Those foods weren’t necessarily bad—but they were still unsettling.

‘Compared to that, Daewoon Foods uses clean ingredients and prices things pretty honestly for what you get.’

〈Make it as if your own grandson will eat it.〉

Wasn’t that Daewoon Group’s corporate motto?

Crunch, crunch.

Jiwoo stuffed a whole handful of hardtack into her mouth.

But eating with her cheeks puffed out like a chipmunk must have drawn attention.

Shin Ilguk held out a packet of hardtack.

“Hunter Do Jiwoo, please take mine as well.”