Please Give Me A Kiss, Healer! – Chapter 59

Author: Asternkm

Jiwoo called out to Shin Ilguk, who was running closest to her.

“Ilguk, over here! Please carry Nara!”

“Yes!”

Shin Ilguk picked up the staggering Onara and ran ahead.

Once the heavy burden that was Onara disappeared, Jiwoo’s body felt much lighter.

However, every time she put weight on her injured ankle, a sharp pain shot through it, making it hard to run properly.

Yoo Jaekyung and Cha Taepyeong, who had started later, passed Jiwoo.

Everyone’s attention was on Onara being carried, so it seemed no one even noticed that Jiwoo was hurt.

The distance between Jiwoo and the team kept growing.

‘Damn these short legs! If I were just a little taller, this wouldn’t be a problem!’

When I get back alive, I’m definitely buying magic shoes.

The really good kind that boost speed!

Jiwoo clenched her teeth.

Just as she finished crossing the suspension bridge—

Kyaaahhh!!

The flying monsters had caught up right behind her.

“Faster!”

From far away, voices that sounded like cheers or screams rang out.

All the team members except Jiwoo were already inside the cave.

The cave wasn’t far now, but the distance between her and the monsters was dangerously small.

The moment Jiwoo reached the cave, the monsters would rush in too.

‘If this keeps up, everyone’s in danger.’

Either they waited for Jiwoo and fought an endless number of monsters.

Or they abandoned the lagging Jiwoo.

Like a scene straight out of a horror movie, only one of the two could be chosen.

There was no time to think.

Jiwoo’s face red with urgency, she shouted at the team staring at her in desperation.

“Break the cave entrance, now!!”

“No!!”

“What are you saying?! Jiwoo, don’t give up!”

Yoo Jaekyung and Cha Taepyeong didn’t move an inch.

As if they absolutely refused to abandon Jiwoo.

But Jiwoo was firm.

“It’s fine, just do it! You know me! Ilguk, hurry!!”

“…!”

Shin Ilguk, who had been frozen in place, snapped out of it at her call.

Using even his skills, Shin Ilguk slammed his shield into the cave wall.

The large cave entrance shook violently, clouds of dust rising.

“Hey, Shin Ilguk!! Are you crazy?!”

“There must be a reason! A reason Hunter Do Jiwoo asked for this!”

The Jiwoo he knew was reckless at times, but never the type to sacrifice herself.

Shin Ilguk believed in her.

He trusted her sharp, precise judgment.

With a full-powered strike, the cave entrance began to crumble.

Huge chunks of rock and piles of stone fell down.

It was right around then that Jiwoo leapt into the cave.

With a massive tremor, dust exploded upward, and Jiwoo’s figure vanished beneath the debris.

Silence fell.

“Ah… Hunter Do Jiwoo…”

No screams could be heard over the noise, but everyone could vividly imagine what kind of terrible state her slender body must be in under all that rubble.

Crushed. Shattered. Smashed.

Yoo Jaekyung let out a sigh, and Cha Taepyeong dropped his weapon and buried his face in his hands.

“Why… why did she do something so stupid…”

They all knew the truth.

Jiwoo had chosen to sacrifice herself for the others.

Onara’s eyes lost focus.

“If it weren’t for me… ah, I…”

If only I hadn’t fallen. If only I’d been able to move properly.

I killed Jiwoo. Someone died because of me again…

She had never hated herself this much before.

Onara collapsed to the ground, gasping for breath.

Standing beside her, Shin Ilguk’s face gradually darkened.

He tried to stay calm, but the fists he clenched began to tremble.

‘What if Jiwoo’s judgment was wrong?’

Or what if she had simply meant to sacrifice herself?

As the team drowned in guilt, self-blame, and regret, the cave continued to collapse.

Every small tremor sent pebbles falling now and then.

As everyone stood there in shock between falling dirt and rocks—

Boom!

A powerful impact came from deep within.

Rocks were blasted outward, dust flying everywhere.

Was it a second collapse from the unstable wall?

Or an attack from monsters that hadn’t given up the chase?

Instinctively, everyone stared at the cave entrance, sealed off from the outside.

As the dusty haze slowly settled—

Boom! Crash!

From between the piled-up rocks, a white, round fist popped out.

And there—

“Hyah! Super punch!!”

This is what ten tons of strength looks like!

Jiwoo burst out, sliding forward as she punched.

“Hehehe, did you all see that? This is why I like baseball!”

“……”

Against the backdrop of Jiwoo laughing brightly, a single tear that Cha Taepyeong hadn’t wiped away rolled down.

Drip. Drip.

****

Inside the cave, not a single ray of light could enter.

In the darkness, only rough breathing echoed around.

After a moment—

“[Light!].”

The light Jiwoo summoned floated up in the air.

Cha Taepyeong’s grumpy face, arms crossed, was clearly revealed.

“That’s too much, Jiwoo. How could you not tell us until the very end? If you had a protection item like that, you should’ve said so earlier!”

“Hehe, sorry. But there really wasn’t time to explain.”

Right behind her, monsters were flying in with glowing eyes.

She was running for her life with every bit of strength she had—where was the time to explain anything?

Yoo Jaekyung brushed her hair back and let out a sigh.

“Whew… we really thought you had given up on everything, Hunter Do Jiwoo……”

“Come on, of course not! My life is precious to me too!”

Giving up her life for someone else?

Unless it was for her family, like Heeseong, she would never do something that foolish.

Jiwoo had jumped under the falling debris because she had several reasons to be confident.

The first was the Antman antenna headband.

Even though it only lasted five minutes, that was more than enough time to protect her body from the rubble.

The second was the safe zone.

The moment she spotted the monsters, Jiwoo tried to use the safe zone skill.

[There is a monster currently in confrontation. This skill cannot be used.]

The same message as when she had encountered the Ant Queen before appeared.

‘Then I’ll just hide for a bit and move later!’

Luckily, the cave entrance didn’t collapse completely, so Jiwoo was able to go with the first plan.

Of course, she gave the team a believable excuse.

She said she survived thanks to a one-time protective barrier item she had bought long ago.

Cha Taepyeong believed her without a doubt.

“Hahaha, the one developed by the Daewoon Group, right? I heard it costs a fortune. How did you even get something like that?”

“Uh… it was so long ago, I don’t really remember.”

“That must’ve cost you a lot. Come to think of it, Jiwoo, you even carry two staffs around. The one you’re holding now—doesn’t that look crazy expensive too?”

Cha Taepyeong pointed at Jiwoo’s staff.

“Ah, this one is……”

It was a staff the guild master had given her.

Jiwoo hesitated.

If she said it was from Shin Woohyuk, then probably—

“Guild master? What kind of relationship do you have with the guild master?! Best friends? Lovers? Secret family?”

She’d get a flood of curious questions.

Or worse—

“Shin Woohyuk? You’re close with that bastard? That guy?!”

She might get reactions like that.

Yoo Jaekyung and Cha Taepyeong had said their relationship with the guild master wasn’t good because of what happened with their demotion in the past.

‘What should I even say?’

While Jiwoo hesitated, a very convincing conclusion formed on its own.

“Hunter Do Jiwoo… looks like being a hunter is just a hobby for you.”

“Hahaha, guess you’re from a rich family, if you can afford weapons that expensive!”

Jiwoo thought about making an excuse, then just closed her mouth.

Being misunderstood as rich was way better than being misunderstood as having something going on with the guild master!

And so, the “Do Jiwoo is a rich kid” theory slowly became accepted as fact.

Yoo Jaekyung, who had been observing Jiwoo with sharp eyes, pointed to the staff strapped to her back.

“And that staff too. The one embedded in the center—that’s a top-grade mana stone, right? You really must be rich.”

This one was a staff Kang Woo had given her.

Jiwoo quickly waved her hands.

“No, no! This one is, um… I mean… I broke all my savings to buy it! You know how people say equipment is a hunter’s life.”