S-Rank Healer Gets Kidnapped First Chapter 30

Of course, the First Team did not volunteer for the missions the Association put forward as bait.

Whenever someone asked why they did not volunteer, they all gave the same consistent answer.

‘They said they had plenty of money, so shouldn’t someone who was more desperate take the job?’

In reality, they refused because the missions were unjust, people’s lives were at stake, and they would have to deal with the aftermath later.

People who knew nothing about the situation saw the First Team as righteous.

After the First Team returned from disposing of the evidence, the Association would make its move.

There was a clause like this in the contract signed when joining the Association.

“Article 14. If an employee does not report to their assigned workplace for more than seven days, the Association may consider it a period of suspension. Furthermore, if the absence exceeds fourteen days, the Association may declare the contract breached and expel the employee.”

I hadn’t known when I signed it.

I hadn’t known that our own will had no place in that clause.

That it could only be invoked when the Association wanted to manipulate Hunters however it pleased.

The Association never made a fuss just because a Hunter who had gone on a mission failed to show up for a few days.

They waited until the full fourteen days had passed.

Until then, they pretended not to know anything. Only when the fourteenth day drew near did they begin searching for the Hunter who had supposedly gone AWOL.

And only then did they handle the situation as though they had just discovered what had happened to the Hunter.

The bigger problem was that, every now and then, a Hunter who volunteered for one of the Association’s bait missions would actually succeed and return alive.

I didn’t know whether they were planted by the Association to manipulate their performance statistics, but because of that, many Hunters believed that death had nothing to do with them.

They had no idea how slim their chances of returning alive actually were.

“You’re passing out from being scared by something this trivial? Stop being such a baby. There are plenty of Hunters besides you who want to take over as the First Team’s healer, so just endure it.”

Remembering that incident after such a long time made my fingertips turn cold.

“…Don’t bring Moon Yeon-hee next time.”

“Then what are we supposed to do about keeping things confidential?”

“Make sure she keeps her mouth shut. Just don’t bring her. It’s not like she does anything here anyway.”

I also remembered the conversation Do Joo-yeon had with another Hunter about me.

After that, I received what could only be called threats, even if they weren’t quite direct.

‘Since I know all of their dirty secrets, there’s no way the Association wouldn’t be concerned about me.’

After hearing about the fourteen-day contract breach clause, Cha Seohae smiled, though there was little warmth in it.

“Now I understand why they’re so desperate. It wasn’t simply because you’re a healer. First, you have to survive two weeks, right? But hasn’t that already passed?”

“Yeah. By quite a lot.”

“They’re changing the contract however it suits them.”

“Wouldn’t it be difficult to openly object to them?”

I shrugged and continued.

“It won’t last forever. I can understand them waiting longer because there aren’t many healers, but now that I’ve been branded a traitor, if they drag this out longer than necessary, internal division will start sooner or later.”

“It’d be easier if we could just get rid of it entirely.”

The subject wasn’t explicitly stated, but I knew he was referring to the Association President.

Cha Seohae stood beside the floor-to-ceiling window and leaned against it. Seeing him look down outside, I moved over beside him as well.

‘What can he even see?’

No matter how clear the view was, we were on the forty-fourth floor. At this height, there was no way to make out anything properly, yet his gaze was sharp, as though he were watching something in particular.

‘I can’t see anything.’

I wondered if Kang Si-hyeon or Jang Jeong-in, who had appeared on the news, were somewhere down there. But it was impossible to even tell whether the tiny figures were people or not.

“Pfft.”

Then I heard a quiet laugh beside me.

With my forehead still against the glass, I turned only my eyes and saw his beautifully curved lips first.

“Your eyes are going to fall out.”

Cha Seohae raised a hand and lightly covered my eyes before pulling it away.

“I’ll tell those two about the contract.”

“Okay.”

Thinking our conversation was over, I started to straighten up, but stopped at his next words.

“I’m sorry.”

“…?”

“I just keep feeling sorry. You were already having a hard time, and I feel like I only added to it.”

Had I told him too much about what happened at the Association?

It felt as though, if I didn’t forgive him soon, he might keep confessing until there was no end to it.

I nodded and casually said,

“The people who really should be apologizing don’t seem to have any intention of doing so.”

That didn’t mean being kidnapped had been nothing.

I simply wanted to say that the thing that had frightened me more than Cha Seohae was the Association itself.

If the Association had been a safe and decent place, none of this would have happened in the first place.

“I’m not here with purely innocent intentions either. I want to live, and I want revenge…”

“Are those things really on the same level? You’re comparing things that can’t even be canceled out against each other.”

Cha Seohae sounded incredulous.

“Why are you saying this is okay? I wasn’t trying to force you to forgive me.”

“I chose which ship to board with my own will, and now we’re on the same ship.”

After hearing my words, Cha Seohae’s eyes grew pensive before he abruptly turned his gaze away.

 

***

 

“I think he saw us, right? Seriously, that bastard isn’t even human.”

Jang Jeong-in muttered disgustedly before hiding deeper inside the alley.

There was no response, but he continued grumbling.

“Not even superhuman—maybe he really is an S-rank. They immediately collected the CCTV too. I knew it wouldn’t last long since Yeon-hee knew about it, but I spent all night messing with those things just to figure out the executives’ movements, and it didn’t even last a day. Damn! They’re really wrapping that healer up in cotton.”

“Shut up. We got caught because you insisted on moving after clearing the dungeon.”

Jang Jeong-in frowned at Kang Si-hyeon’s cold reprimand.

“Yeah, yeah. Aren’t you amazing? Since you’re so great, why haven’t you even managed to approach Yeon-hee once?”

Kang Si-hyeon glared at Jang Jeong-in irritably.

When he deliberately narrowed his long eyes, they became as sharp as a beast’s.

Jang Jeong-in sighed and clasped his hands behind his head.

“Just get into the shadows. I think that guy’s going to keep watching until we disappear.”

“How long are we supposed to keep doing this?”

Kang Si-hyeon, exhausted from the long surveillance assignment, slipped into the shadows.

“I guess someone who betrayed them still wants to live a long life. But it’s strange. Wasn’t Yeon-hee a B-rank? You’re an S-rank, so even if hypnosis isn’t one of the Illusionist class’s main abilities, you should have enough of it mixed in for your skills to work to some extent. But judging from what we’ve seen, hypnosis doesn’t seem to have worked very well. She didn’t even come back on her own, and she’s already adapting to the new environment.”

Jang Jeong-in frowned, trying to remember Moon Yeon-hee’s rank.

Then he brought up Kang Si-hyeon’s Illusionist class.

An Illusionist was a damage-dealing class that manipulated and altered things within its field of vision to cause confusion.

There was a separate class called Hypnotist, but mental abilities were fundamentally similar in structure. Because of that, high-ranked mental-type classes could imitate abilities belonging to other mental-type classes.

Even if they were clumsy at it, in this world, rank was everything.

In other words, there was no reason an S-rank couldn’t use a skill on a B-rank.

Jang Jeong-in pursed his lips and thought for a moment before speaking.

“Do you remember what happened in the chairman’s office?”

“I don’t. Why bring up that unpleasant day?”

“Temper. The guys who ran into Yeon-hee in the dungeon said she used some kind of strange barrier.”

“Ah.”

Kang Si-hyeon recalled what had happened that day and answered briefly. Remembering how the chairman had humiliated him in front of Park Ji-won only made him feel worse.

“What if Yeon-hee isn’t actually B-rank? What if she’s a higher rank?”

“Are you kidding me? You dragged me all the way here just to say something like that?”

Kang Si-hyeon continued irritably.

“Listening to you makes me feel like an idiot. How could she fool the measuring device?”

“How should I know? S-ranks get special privileges. Who knows? Maybe they gave her something that conceals or obscures her rank.”

Kang Si-hyeon thought the theory was baseless and didn’t even bother responding.

That seemed to be the extent of Jang Jeong-in’s speculation as well, because he quickly backed down.

“Bullshit.”

A shield could have been some little trick inserted into the device.

But claiming that alone was enough to make her an S-rank was too much of a leap.

“Should we stop risking bloodshed between high-level personnel like us and try negotiating peacefully? We won’t be able to bring her out unless we can break through that shield first.”

“Negotiating?”

“Yeah. Negotiating.”

Kang Si-hyeon looked at the Baekyang Guild building, which was so luxurious that it bordered on extravagance.

“Negotiating… might actually be worth a try.”

“What? Are you seriously saying that? We’ve already been on the news, and they caught us using clairvoyance. I only said it because we have no other option, so why are you taking it so seriously?”

Annoyed by Jang Jeong-in’s sharp criticism, Kang Si-hyeon replied impatiently.

“Who said we were actually going to negotiate? Even if we pretend to be nice, there’s no way they’d believe us. Not even the Association President could make that work.”

“Then?”

“You go and try to keep Cha Seohae occupied. They have their principles and their sense of justice too, so someone over there is bound to step forward.”

“…Cha Seohae? Damn, that makes me uncomfortable.”

“I don’t exactly trust you either, but what can we do? I’m an Illusionist. You can’t control other people.”

“…Couldn’t we request reinforcements?”

“From what? They’d happily send them to us after we only attempted one clairvoyance spell. It’d be best if we could find out which room Moon Yeon-hee is staying in, but at the very least, I’ll try to figure out how to disable that shield. Here.”

“What’s this?”

Jang Jeong-in took the chip Kang Si-hyeon held out.

“It’s information on Baekyang that one of our allied guilds managed to obtain. It includes the emergency exits and information on unfamiliar Hunters, so be careful. If anything happens, send me a signal. I’ll cast an illusion outside and buy you some time.”

“Okay.”

Jang Jeong-in wasn’t particularly pleased, but since he couldn’t think of a better plan, he silently accepted the chip.

After inserting the chip into his watch, he said,

“By the way, if I go looking for Yeon-hee, do you think she’ll hide in her room, or come out with the Baekyang executives? I hope she comes out. I’d like to see that face again after so long.”

Kang Si-hyeon’s eyebrow twitched.

“Why do you keep calling her ‘Yeon-hee, Yeon-hee’? You never even treated her well when she was around. It’s disgusting. Who’s going to appreciate you acting like this now?”

“Hm? I’ve always liked Yeon-hee’s looks. It’s just that her healing wasn’t very good. Well, there was a reason for that too.”

Jang Jeong-in grinned and deliberately left the rest unsaid.

Even if he appeared careless, they were standing right outside the enemy’s base. He wasn’t stupid enough to say that much.

“Back then, I tried not to get attached because of my loyalty to Ji-won. But now that I think about it, it’s a shame. If I’d treated her well, maybe she would’ve stayed because of me.”

“Talk about being delusional. Even if she had stayed, it wouldn’t have been because of you. It would’ve been because of Do Joo-yeon.”

Jang Jeong-in raised the modified crossbow—no one knew when he had taken it out—and pressed it against Kang Si-hyeon’s temple.

“Want me to make you regret bringing up that name? I’m pissed off enough to want to shove an arrowhead straight into your head.”

Given the situation, it sounded like he was threatening Kang Si-hyeon, but unless Kang Si-hyeon was actually frightened, it was difficult to call it a genuine threat.

Jang Jeong-in apparently had no intention of actually firing, because he soon put the crossbow away.

“Anyway, who the hell gives a long-range archer a mission that requires close combat? The problem is that none of us has a brain.”

“You just need to do your job properly.”

“You do your job properly. If all my effort goes to waste, you’re the one who dies and I’m the one who lives.”

After exchanging those grim words, the two disappeared deeper into the alley to prepare for their next operation.