S-Rank Healer Gets Kidnapped First Chapter 21

Han Seongwoo explained what had happened in the dungeon.

Surprisingly, the topic that drew the most attention wasn’t my buffs, but my shield.

“Your shield during the dungeon raid was amazing, Hostage. Maybe it’s because it’s an S-rank shield, but it was completely different from the ones I’ve seen before.”

“But it was a B-rank dungeon. Isn’t it just because there was such a huge difference in rank between Yeonhee and the monsters that their attacks couldn’t get through?”

Na Ye-ri pointed out the flaw in his reasoning.

Han Seongwoo let out a short exclamation before asking, “Is that so?”

I listened quietly to their conversation before speaking up.

“I have S-rank privileges too. That’s why.”

“Oh, right. You have S-rank privileges. Can you tell us what they are?”

Na Ye-ri, who had been particularly meticulous when it came to my shield, had her eyes sparkling with interest at this new information.

I explained the privileges attached to each of my skills.

“…A 100% attack reflection?”

“Yeah.”

Of all of them, Na Ye-ri was especially interested in the privilege granted by Divine Protection.

“A hundred percent reflection? When you combine that with S-rank density, that’s practically a match made in heaven.”

“Huh?”

I thought she was asking me, but apparently not.

Without waiting for my answer, Na Ye-ri began muttering something to herself, deep in thought.

I was staring blankly at her, unable to approach because of the intimidating aura surrounding her, when Han Seongwoo spoke.

“Wow. That explains it. I did feel like the number of buffs you put on us that day wasn’t just one. That’s an incredible privilege.”

“Ah, yeah. Haha. Right.”

Han Seongwoo was interested in the privilege attached to Blessing.

“So that’s why I fell asleep.”

“……”

Cha Seohae seemed to have finally solved one of her questions about the privilege attached to Grace.

Although each of them reacted to different aspects, their overall impressions were positive.

“So, Yeonhee! When are you going to use your shield? You have to use it when I’m around, okay? No, should we go right now?”

Na Ye-ri suddenly grabbed both my hands and asked.

“Uh, now? Wouldn’t it be difficult right away? We still have the meeting…”

“Really? Then I’ll organize a list of things I want to check while I’m watching.”

After ending the conversation, Na Ye-ri began folding down her fingers one by one with a serious expression.

“What is she doing…?”

I was surprised, but more than that, I was curious about why Na Ye-ri was showing such an intense interest.

Perhaps noticing the confusion in my eyes, Han Seongwoo smiled and added,

“She’s crazy about shields.”

“Oh…”

“This is probably just the beginning.”

He patted my shoulder as if wishing me luck, then went over to Cha Seohae and asked,

“Even though she has S-rank privileges, she might still be clumsy because she hasn’t mastered using them yet. So it’d be better to make her shield more solid, right?”

“Yeah. We’ll proceed with the training plan we originally made.”

Cha Seohae briefly answered his question before turning to me.

“Na Ye-ri will be in charge of your shield training. After seeing her like that, you may find it a little questionable, but…”

“What?! Were you just badmouthing me?”

Na Ye-ri, who had seemed completely absorbed in counting on her fingers, immediately reacted to the insult.

“We’re the best among us when it comes to handling shields.”

Cha Seohae naturally ignored her and continued speaking.

I wondered how a conversation could be this one-sided, but the relaxed atmosphere—something I’d never experienced at the Association—gradually eased my tension.

Suppressing the urge to laugh because of the two of them, I looked at Na Ye-ri.

“Please take care of me.”

“Huh?”

“The shield training.”

“…Training? I’m in charge of it?”

“Where did you think I meant when I just said that?”

I had thought she was merely distracted while still listening to the conversation, but apparently not.

Maybe she’d only been reacting automatically whenever someone insulted her. It seemed she’d only just realized that she was actually going to be in charge of my training.

Na Ye-ri blinked her large eyes in disbelief before shifting her gaze toward Cha Seohae and Han Seongwoo behind me.

“You’re really going to leave her to me? You know what happened last time. I stepped forward because I wanted to protect her, but the result of my training was ultimately…”

“Na Ye-ri.”

Cha Seohae spoke gently, trying to calm the anxious Na Ye-ri.

I was speechless at this unexpected side of her and simply stared.

The Na Ye-ri I’d known had always been confident, straightforward, and fearless.

Seeing this anxious side of her for the first time, I wondered if taking responsibility for my training had placed too much emotional pressure on her, so I chose not to say anything.

“Ah…”

After a little time passed, it seemed she was gradually coming back to herself, as the focus returned to her eyes.

I approached Na Ye-ri and took her hand.

“Um… am I a burden to you?”

“Huh?”

“No. It’s just… the way you looked just now. I thought maybe I was putting too much pressure on you. If you tell me, I’ll be more careful.”

“Haa…”

Han Seongwoo sighed behind me.

“Hostage, you didn’t do anything wrong. If there’s anyone at fault, it’s Cha Seohae for failing to be careful.”

“What?”

Cha Seohae shot back sharply.

Meanwhile, Na Ye-ri tightened her grip on my hand.

“Sorry. This isn’t your fault. I was just thinking about something else for a moment. You don’t need to be careful about anything.”

“……”

“You just need to worry about yourself.”

Worry about myself?

I rolled my eyes in confusion at her cryptic request.

‘Maybe there was something she was trying to protect, but it didn’t go according to plan.’

That was as far as I could speculate.

Although she seemed somewhat better, Na Ye-ri still had a sorrowful expression, so it didn’t seem appropriate to press her for more information.

Heavy footsteps sounded behind us.

“I know this is difficult, but this is your responsibility.”

“……”

“I’ll take care of everything else, so don’t put so much pressure on yourself.”

Cha Seohae comforted her encouragingly.

“So, what do you think, Hostage-nim?”

“Huh?”

“About hiding your rank for a while until you become stronger. We were talking about that, remember?”

Only then did I realize what Han Seongwoo was asking.

I couldn’t answer immediately and hesitated.

‘Na Ye-ri doesn’t seem okay. Are they really going through with this anyway? There seems to be something more important than my opinion.’

My answer was delayed because I was thinking.

Han Seongwoo seemed to interpret my hesitation differently and continued.

“I understand that you want to mess with the Association, but that place is even dirtier than we thought. So let’s go with something that’ll really shock them.”

Han Seongwoo raised an eyebrow as if asking for my permission.

There was no other intention hidden in his mysterious violet eyes.

“Okay. Let’s do that.”

I readily agreed while meeting his clear gaze.

He respected my wishes while also suggesting that we wait for the right time for my safety. This seemed like a reasonable compromise.

“How about revealing that you’re S-rank at the Competition?”

“The Competition?”

“…You don’t know what the Competition is?”

“I’ve heard of it.”

The Competition was an annual event hosted by the Association, where all kinds of guilds participated to determine their relative strength.

Because it was an official event organized by the Association, it was known as the fairest competition. It also served as a clear indicator of how much someone had grown compared to the previous year or their competitors.

For individual hunters, it was also a major opportunity to make a name for themselves.

Yet despite having once been a healer affiliated with the Association, I’d never participated in it.

There were far more guilds and organizations without healers than those with them.

The Association claimed that assigning a healer to such groups could put them in danger, so they refused to provide support.

Therefore, I wasn’t the only one. Even among the other healers affiliated with the Association, only a handful had ever participated in the Competition.

When I remained silent, Han Seongwoo rested his arm on the back of the sofa and propped his chin on his hand.

“That’s harsh. They don’t even let you participate in an event they themselves organize?”

“They probably wanted to completely cut off your curiosity.”

“They didn’t let you participate, and they didn’t even tell you about their internal events. That’s practically imprisonment.”

Unlike Cha Seohae, who answered calmly, Han Seongwoo frowned as though merely imagining it was enough to disgust him.

“At this point, should I kneel down and thank the Baekyang Guild for at least letting her know what it is?”

Na Ye-ri, who seemed to have calmed down considerably, chimed in sarcastically.

Then she looked at me and hurriedly waved her hands.

“Ah, Yeonhee. I absolutely wasn’t being sarcastic toward you.”

“I know.”

I’m actually grateful you said what I wanted to say.

I nodded to show that I was fine.

“I’ve never participated before, but if I start preparing now, don’t you think I can do well?”

After hearing the explanation, I could roughly understand why they wanted me to reveal that I was S-rank at the Competition.

I was the first S-rank healer, while there were only three A-rank healers in all of South Korea.

No matter how large the Baekyang Guild was, there was no way around their lack of information about me. Even the rank assessment had only displayed Unable to Measure.

In the end, if I wanted to prove my true level, the only option was to demonstrate skills superior to an A-rank healer and let them see it with their own eyes.

And that would leave the strongest possible impression.

“Great! There isn’t much time left until the Competition, so we’d better hurry. Yeonhee, let’s go train right now! I’ve been dying to see what your skills are like, and there’s no reason to put it off anymore. The shield is definitely what I’m looking forward to the most, but you should save the best for last, so let’s start with your healing or buffs…”

“No. You’re only handling her shield. I’ll train her in everything else.”

“What? You just said I could do it!”

As Na Ye-ri openly revealed her shameless desire, Cha Seohae stopped her without hesitation.

“You heard only what you wanted to hear again, didn’t you? I said I’d handle everything except shield operation.”

“I thought that meant you’d assist with the training? Like buying delicious food for me and Yeonhee after all our hard work, preparing desserts, getting custom training outfits made…”

“No.”

At Cha Seohae’s firm answer, Na Ye-ri’s eyes widened.

This was much better than the dark and gloomy atmosphere from earlier, but that didn’t mean I wanted to get caught in the middle of their argument.

“Um, guys, that’s enough…”

“I’ll just train Yeonhee the whole time! You have to take care of the guild members anyway! I’ll take full responsibility, so you stay out of it!”

“You know most of the Association’s first-team members are dealers, right?”

“…So what?”

“You aren’t weak, but the damage output of tanks and dealers is fundamentally different. You don’t know how many skills they have, how powerful they are, how they’re structured, or how they can be chained together.”

Unfortunately for Na Ye-ri, Cha Seohae’s explanation was logical.

Being a tank didn’t mean you could only defend, but ultimately, a tank’s primary role was to protect allies rather than attack enemies.

As a result, tank attacks generally consisted of drawing an enemy’s aggro and then delivering a single powerful blow.

They couldn’t perform the light, continuous attacks that dealers specialized in.

“Haa…”

Na Ye-ri buried her head on the desk, apparently unable to argue back.

“You unnecessarily honest bastard…”

“……”

“You’re telling me to just teach her the applications and then get lost… You’re not even letting me have a proper taste. You’re just letting me dip one foot in! What an inconsiderate bastard…”

“……”

“He’s obviously doing this because he wants to hog all the healing to himself. I need to protect Yeonhee from Cha Seohae…”

“That’s enough.”

Cha Seohae glared at Na Ye-ri as though he couldn’t listen to any more of it.

His furrowed brow and sharp eyes made him look downright terrifying.

Was that expression really supposed to be a joke?

“Hmph.”

The amazing thing was Na Ye-ri.

She didn’t even flinch after seeing that expression.

“Healers are usually ambushed by dealers. If you want someone to blame, blame your Awakening for making you a tank.”

“You heartless bastard. And you’re supposed to be my friend…”

At this rate, it seemed like they’d never stop.

Perhaps Cha Seohae thought the same thing, because he smoothly ignored Na Ye-ri’s complaints and turned away.

“Tell me when you’re done with the applications. How many days will it take?”

“Ten years.”

“I guess I’ll have to supervise the shield applications too.”

“One month! One month is enough!”

“Han Seongwoo, you handle her shield reinforcement…”

“One week! A week is more than enough!”

Only then did Cha Seohae smile in satisfaction.

“You should’ve just said that from the beginning.”

I reached out and patted Na Ye-ri’s drooping shoulder.

So childish.

Yet contrary to the thought in my head, the corners of my lips slowly curved upward.

I couldn’t hide the sense of relief I felt.

 

***

 

Na Ye-ri and I began the training we’d agreed upon.

“First, I need to check the state of your shield, so try activating it.”

In a secluded training room with no one else around, Na Ye-ri spoke with a barely contained smile.

“Just smile comfortably.”

“Ahem. No. I wasn’t smiling. Hurry up and activate it.”

Perhaps embarrassed at having been caught, she cleared her throat.

“Divine Protection.”

The activation was incredibly fast.

Na Ye-ri let out a short gasp of admiration.

“That’s an amazing activation speed.”

She rounded her lips in amazement, approached, and tapped the barrier several times.

“The diameter from your body is quite large, and the impact absorption is good too. It’ll greatly reduce the damage directed at you. It’s definitely precise.”

Na Ye-ri continued observing the shield from every angle, enthusiastically talking about every characteristic she discovered.

“The duration is long enough even when used alongside other skills. Then we need to see how much damage it can withstand, right?”

The more she investigated, the less she could hide her excitement.

Before long, she had the blissful expression of someone lying on a comfortable bed.

Is this what they mean by a shield maniac…?

Maybe she was simply the type to become completely absorbed in whatever she liked, because her desire to investigate things was extraordinary.

“A shield is like the caster’s core. You have to steel your resolve. The firmer your mindset, the denser and stronger the barrier becomes.”

“So you’re saying I shouldn’t be afraid no matter what kind of attack you use?”

“That’s right.”

I could only gape at her in bewilderment.

That’s easier said than done. How is a healer without even a single attack skill supposed to not be afraid? And if you’re suddenly confronted with a new skill, isn’t it natural to be startled instinctively?

This was basically the same as telling someone not to be afraid while looking at fingers raised as if they were about to poke their eyes out.

As sorry as I was to Na Ye-ri, I couldn’t shake the thought that this was an incredibly crude training method.

“I guarantee it! I’ve tried every possible training method, and nothing works better for this kind of mental training!”

Apparently she’d moved all the way to the other side of the room, because Na Ye-ri was encouraging me from there.

“Okay! Here I come! I’ll control my strength, so let’s start by training you not to chicken out!”

“What? Wait, I need to mentally prepare—!”

“What’s this about mentally preparing in a battle?”

Ignoring my protest, Na Ye-ri placed one hand on the ground.

“Earthquake!”

KRRRRAAAACK!

I was utterly horrified.

Why is the floor of the training room cracking open that easily?!