S-Rank Healer Gets Kidnapped First – Chapter 58

Author: isuzuuy

Hearing Park Ji-won’s words made my mind go completely blank.

“I thought you were up to something foolish again. I was going to knock you out and take you away, so why did you suddenly cast a shield?”

“Black Tiger was being pushed back more than I expected, so I had no choice. The rock Oppa threw looked like he was blatantly targeting the healer rather than trying to stop the fight.”

“Really? Then you did well blocking it. Either way, our goal is to take Moon Yeonhee with us, so it doesn’t matter.”

The two of them continued their conversation as casually as if I weren’t standing right in front of them.

It didn’t seem like they had expected much from Park Ji-won in the first place. Still, hearing something like this to my face made the back of my head throb.

Then what had she meant when she told me to run when Do Joo-yeon arrived?

Those words had shaken my resolve.

‘This is bad. I came here after repeatedly telling the others that everything would be fine.’

I felt sorry thinking about how worried the people at Baekyang must be.

Do Joo-yeon looked at me and muttered,

“I don’t know how you managed to pass yourself off as a B-class when you’re actually S-class… but you’ve changed quite a bit. You even killed your former teammate?”

Do Joo-yeon was convinced that I was the one who had killed Jang Jeong-in.

‘I’m obviously the most suspicious one, but if it really was because of my skill, there’s no way he would have died….’

It was frustrating that the very person who had recovered Jang Jeong-in’s body was pointing directly at me.

But putting that aside, how dare he bring up teammates?

I answered irritably.

“Was I ever part of the team?”

At my words, Do Joo-yeon fell silent.

Taking courage from that, I continued.

“I don’t think there was anyone who considered me a teammate. Yet you only call me a ‘teammate’ when it’s convenient.”

“…….”

“Fine. As your former teammate, let me give you one piece of advice. Stop acting so arrogant and look behind you. It looks like these guys are genuinely willing to break the rules and kill you.”

“Huh.”

“Even you can’t handle three S-classes at once, can you? Ah, is it four, not three?”

Do Joo-yeon frowned at my provocation.

“You’ve gotten pretty talkative while we were apart.”

“…….”

“Be careful. You spent all your time holed up in a room, so you probably don’t fully understand what kind of place the Association is.”

With that as his final warning, Do Joo-yeon turned around.

“Move.”

Cha Seohae coldly barked the single word.

The atmosphere around us instantly became tense.

As Na Ye-ri, Han Seongwoo, and Chil-deugi immediately took combat stances, Do Joo-yeon spoke.

“Don’t you intend to follow the rules? Referees aren’t allowed to fight. We came here because you were caught trying to ignore the rules of the match.”

“Get lost. No one asked you why you came.”

Cha Seohae ignored him, his eyes blazing.

“You haven’t forgotten that people are watching right now, have you?”

“Looks like you have no intention of leaving.”

Cha Seohae, who had always held his gun in only one hand, raised another gun in his left hand.

‘Dual-wielding?’

Of course, I wasn’t worried about his aim. I had often seen him practice with both hands during training.

What worried me was that his anger didn’t seem like it would die down anytime soon.

‘No. I should worry about myself.’

Do Joo-yeon didn’t use excessive force. He only separated me from the Baekyang members.

Apparently, he hadn’t come alone either. Support fire occasionally flew in from a distance.

Still, perhaps because a four-on-one fight against the main force was too much, Do Joo-yeon couldn’t afford to look back at me.

That meant this was my chance.

‘Let’s leave Park Ji-won behind and run.’

When I stopped healing, Park Ji-won could only breathe heavily.

I even considered using Divine Protection here.

But if Park Ji-won were injured by Divine Protection, Baekyang would take the blame.

Besides, Divine Protection could become an attack or an area-wide heal depending on my will.

If, by any chance, I still subconsciously felt a sense of kinship with her, the attack might not work either.

That would be troublesome in its own way.

My current position wasn’t good, and neither was the situation. Rather than gamble, escaping was the safer option.

‘There’s nothing for me to fight with anyway. I can activate Divine Blessing and run.’

I cautiously got to my feet.

I moved carefully, wary that she might suddenly try to trick me and make a run for it.

“…Are you leaving?”

Park Ji-won called out to me.

Annoyed by her voice, I answered without even looking back.

“Don’t talk to me.”

“Don’t turn off the shield under any circumstances. There are reinforcements hiding nearby who haven’t received the signal yet.”

“Don’t worry about me. Worry about yourself.”

I couldn’t understand why she was pretending to worry about me now.

‘She was talking to Do Joo-yeon about keeping me here, so why is she acting like this again?’

The Association’s plans were impossible to predict.

Park Ji-won hadn’t been faking her injuries when I was healing her.

Even if their goal had been to lure me in, pushing herself to the point of vomiting blood was far too reckless.

But she had admitted that she had successfully lured me away from the Baekyang camp, so there was no reason for me to try to understand Park Ji-won any further.

“…If you go this way and turn right at the second fork, there’ll be a Hunter who can help you.”

“What?”

I turned around, wondering if I had heard her correctly.

I could see Park Ji-won’s dirt-streaked face, stained from fighting on the battlefield.

She gave an awkward smile and pointed toward the bushes.

“I know what I’m saying sounds strange, and I know you don’t want to believe me. It probably sounds like I keep changing what I say, too. But when you run, make sure you run toward the side with the roadside trees. That’s the only way that person will be able to help you.”

“I did come here to heal you because I stubbornly insisted on it, but I’m not stupid enough to believe you just because you say that.”

I spoke coldly before making my plans.

If I wanted to return to the Baekyang camp, I would have to go back the way I came.

If I didn’t use some kind of cover, the first team watching the situation from a distance might spot me.

Fortunately, the place where Park Ji-won and I were standing was underneath a low overpass.

Positioning was important in battles between Hunters.

This structure had been deliberately designed with second and third levels to encourage fights over advantageous positions.

‘This crude terrain is actually useful.’

The ranged support team wouldn’t be able to see me because of the blind spot created by the overpass.

Then all I had to worry about were the people hiding nearby.

I cast a buff that erased my presence.

“This should do.”

The back of my neck prickled, but I ignored the gaze I could feel.

What surprised me was how easily I had escaped Do Joo-yeon’s encirclement.

‘Surely this isn’t a trap?’

On top of that, this was the direction Park Ji-won had pointed out.

There was nowhere else I could escape through, which was why I had come this way, but something about it still felt wrong.

‘No. I even activated the movement buff. If I’m late, the others will realize I’ve disappeared and worry even more. I need to hurry.’

After going straight for a while, I came to a fork in the road.

“Did Park Ji-won tell me to go right here?”

I looked to the right, then went left.

Going right would take me farther away from where the Baekyang members were.

“As expected. It really was some kind of trap….”

“Hehehe. You knew it was a trap and still walked right into it?”

I stopped at the raspy voice.

Three Hunters were standing directly in front of me.

‘That’s strange. The buff is definitely working.’

Hunters were highly sensitive to changes in presence, so simply concealing my presence greatly increased my chances of survival.

Besides, I had been sticking close to the walls.

Which meant the people who had dropped down from above me hadn’t come down because they had seen me.

‘How did they detect me?’

I bit down on my lip.

“You seem curious about how we knew.”

“Well, you’re practically caught already, so should we tell you?”

“We sent out a signal from the battlefield.”

“From the battlefield…?”

Something was strange.

Do Joo-yeon hadn’t had the leisure to keep an eye on me. So how could he have realized I was gone so quickly and even sent out a signal?

I didn’t need to think for long to find the answer.

“…It was Park Ji-won.”

She was the only person there who had known from the very beginning that I had disappeared.

“Correct!”

“Hunter Park Ji-won said she lost track of you because she wasn’t in good condition, so we were ordered to start searching immediately.”

“The guys on the other side are probably coming to catch you too… Huh? Why aren’t the others coming?”

At those words, I quickly checked behind me.

Just as they had said, the path behind me was completely open.

‘If this had been an alley where they could trap me from both sides like a sandwich, I would’ve been finished. I’m lucky.’

I slowly retreated toward the rear.

“Well, whatever. It doesn’t matter. Hey, you go around to the back.”

“Okay.”

The three split apart, two going one way and one going the other.

‘If there are only three of them, I might be able to subdue them easily with Divine Protection.’

I remembered the first time I had used Divine Protection.

Water had poured out in such enormous quantities that a single space could barely contain it.

There was no guarantee that the same amount would come out this time, but this alley should fill up quickly.

‘If I want to end this quickly with Divine Protection, it would probably be better to narrow the range. If the area is too large, it might take time to fill, so I need them to come a little closer.’

Instead of continuing to retreat, I changed direction and pressed myself against the wall of the alley.

Just as I expected, the three readily closed the distance between us.

“Have you given up? Good. You’re better off giving up anyway. Because of that bizarre barrier of yours, we switched all our reinforcements to mental-type and nature-type Hunters.”

The information the enemy casually spilled actually made me relax.

‘That’s actually good news. Through Kang Si-hyeon, I already know that even someone of that level can’t detect me.’

I had even blocked an S-class’s hallucination.

Attacks from lower-ranked Hunters would be easy enough.

‘Looks like Kang Si-hyeon ran away without ever telling them that his ability had been blocked.’

He must have made some kind of error in judgment because he was still in denial that something like that could happen.

‘Of course, that works in my favor.’

I silently thanked him and prepared for battle.

“Divine Pro—”

“Vine.”

Just as I was about to use Divine Protection, someone beside me struck first.

“Aaargh! What is this?!”