Please Give Me A Kiss, Healer! Chapter 84

‘O-Of course I’d feel a little lonely and miss Kangwoo if we were far apart, but… that’s only because we see each other at least twice every day.’

It’s not just Kangwoo.

If I go away on a business trip, I’ll probably miss the apartment security guard and the lady from the neighboring building too.

Right. Missing someone is a perfectly normal feeling.

It’s completely natural to feel this way.

Jiwoo fanned herself and forced thoughts of Kangwoo out of her head.

“Jiwoo, Team Leader is back. We’re leaving now!”

“Ah, yes! I’m coming!”

She hurriedly turned off her phone screen and shoved it into her pocket.

In the process, she accidentally hit the send button on the message—but didn’t notice.

Shin Ilguk was already seated in the driver’s seat.

Only two people in Special Team 7 had driver’s licenses: Shin Ilguk and Jiwoo.

Jiwoo climbed into the passenger seat.

“Ilguk, if you get tired, let me know. We can switch at a rest stop!”

“It’s fine. I’m used to driving. I used to be a military driver.”

“Huh? You served in the military?”

Jiwoo’s eyes widened at the unexpected revelation.

Awakeners who completed hunter registration were exempt from military service.

Since most people awakened before reaching adulthood, hunters who actually served were extremely rare.

“My awakening came late. The awakening fever started the day after I was discharged.”

“Yikes, that’s terrible!”

The kind of story that would easily get hundreds of upvotes in a day on Korea’s hunter community forum.

But Shin Ilguk didn’t resent the time he had spent in the military.

“Even though it was late, I was so happy to awaken that I felt joyful throughout the awakening fever. It felt like I was floating through the sky.”

“Well, it’s unfortunate timing, but awakening is awakening! Your family must have been thrilled.”

Having a child become a hunter was the equivalent of getting top scores on the college entrance exam or being accepted into a prestigious university.

In fact, it wasn’t uncommon to see banners outside schools saying things like:

[Congratulations! Hunter High School freshman Kim Hunter has awakened!]

And someone like Shin Ilguk, a mid-to-high-tier tank, would have received even more praise.

But contrary to Jiwoo’s expectations, Shin Ilguk shook his head sadly.

“Not really.”

“Huh? Why?”

“Until then, I was the only person in my family who hadn’t awakened.”

Shin Ilguk came from a family that had produced outstanding hunters for generations.

Among them, he alone had been an ordinary person.

An outsider.

The odd one out.

The ugly duckling.

All of those descriptions had been used for him.

Since it wasn’t something he liked talking about, he didn’t elaborate.

The car sped down the highway and eventually neared its destination.

As they passed through the toll gate, Jiwoo confirmed that all the team members in the back seats were asleep.

After glancing back a few more times, she spoke carefully.

“Ilguk, about you and the Guild Master the other day… perhaps……”

“Yes. We’re not on good terms.”

Shin Ilguk added with a self-deprecating smile,

“More accurately, I’m the one he dislikes. We were actually quite close when we were younger… but it’s all my fault. I’m just not good enough.”

“No, why would you say that? What exactly are you lacking?”

“You know it too, Hunter Do Jiwoo. Even among C-rank tanks, my abilities are far below average. It was obvious in the last performance evaluation.”

His individual performance rating for the year had fallen well below average.

Not just his achievements—his basic stats and personal capabilities were below expected standards.

Slow.

Clumsy.

Awkward.

He had thought time would eventually improve those flaws.

But it never did.

His growth curve continued pointing downward.

“Maybe people are right when they call me a nepotism hire. I’m only still here because of my family. Otherwise, I probably would have been kicked out of the guild long ago.”

Guild Master Shin Woohyuk took immense pride in Guild Gongbaek.

To him, seeing someone with insufficient ability clinging to the guild might have looked pathetic.

“I’m sorry if I’ve caused negative rumors to spread about our team.”

Shin Ilguk apologized calmly.

“Huh? No, Ilguk! Nobody thinks that. Not just me—the whole team feels that way! And the Guild Master……”

Jiwoo paused.

The Guild Master was certainly strict when it came to guild matters.

But he wasn’t the kind of cold-hearted person who would abandon his own family.

At least, the Shin Woohyuk Jiwoo knew wasn’t like that.

Still, it was someone else’s family matter. She couldn’t just casually interfere.

—You have arrived at your destination.

The navigation system interrupted her thoughts.

The team members in the back rubbed their eyes and woke up.

“Yaaawn, we’re here already? They said the new highway was fast, but wow.”

“Honey, you spilled coffee over there.”

“Hunter Cha Taepyeong, here’s a wet wipe!”

The once-quiet van quickly became noisy.

Special Team 7 got out of the vehicle after arriving at the Donghae Guild building.

“The team we’re partnering with said they’d come greet us. I already told them we arrived earlier than planned, so they should be here soon.”

“This building’s a lot fancier than I expected.”

Cha Taepyeong stared at the guild headquarters in admiration.

The Donghae Guild was located on the outskirts of Gangneung.

Its headquarters stood on elevated ground overlooking the coastline, with glass walls covering the exterior.

The blue ocean stretched endlessly before them, and salty sea breezes drifted in from the shore.

“Wow. Working somewhere like this would be amazing. I think I’d actually look forward to coming to work every day.”

Holding onto the railing, Jiwoo gazed out at the endless sea.

Oh Nara grimaced.

“Ugh, I still hate it. I don’t want to work anywhere. Especially paperwork—it makes me want to throw up.”

Honestly, she’d rather go into a dungeon.

The briefing documents before entering a gate and the reports afterward—she hated all of it.

“Come on, you’ve gotten a lot more used to it lately. Besides, we have a whole week of vacation after this raid!”

“That’s true. Jiwoo, what are you doing during your vacation? Have you made any plans?”

“Hmmm, not really. But I was thinking about making a day trip to an ice-skating rink.”

“An ice-skating rink? In summer?”

“Yes. There’s someone I know who really likes winter.”

A small smile appeared on Jiwoo’s face.

‘Who would’ve thought Kangwoo liked snow that much?’

Once, she had become so curious about what Kangwoo liked that she had repeatedly asked him where he wanted to go.

Kangwoo usually had no interest in anything.

But there was one thing he admitted he wanted to do.

Build a snowman.

Jiwoo wanted to give exhausted Kangwoo something that would make him happy.

She couldn’t make real snow in the middle of summer.

But she could take him to a giant ice rink.

“Jiwoo, besides the skating rink, do you have any other plans? Maybe going somewhere with friends? O-Or coworkers are fine too.”

Oh Nara asked with barely concealed anticipation.

Jiwoo answered immediately.

“A jjimjilbang! I’m going to a jjimjilbang too.”

“…A jjimjilbang?”

“Yes! Did you know some of them have igloo-style ice rooms? A lot of them even have snowmen inside.”

The ice room was Jiwoo’s favorite facility in any jjimjilbang.

After enjoying the baths and saunas, she loved cooling off in the icy temperatures.

And if she had a tray of eggs and ten cups of sweet rice drink on top of that, it was basically heaven.

The snowmen were fake, but they were still snowmen.

Kangwoo would probably be happy enough.

Jiwoo carefully planned her summer vacation.

‘I might be on vacation, but Kangwoo won’t be… so for the first day or two, I should probably just stay home.’

Rest properly first.

Then go out and have fun afterward.

Nothing too far away—just nearby places.

If I don’t go out, Kangwoo will be able to rest comfortably too, right?

Since she couldn’t stop his overprotective tendencies, maybe staying home together was the better solution.

Without realizing it, Jiwoo was gradually becoming accustomed to having Kangwoo as part of her everyday life.

“Jiwoo! Jiwoo!”

Apparently frustrated by Jiwoo’s endless rambling, Oh Nara poked her arm.

“Then you don’t have any other plans, right? If that’s the case, would you maybe like to come to my house during vacation—”

Oh Nara was just about to invite her over when—

“Huh? Honey, isn’t that Assistant Team Leader Kang Jaegyu?”

Cha Taepyeong, who had been fanning Yoo Jaekyung in the shade, pointed toward someone in the distance