Chapter 2
-----------------------------------------------------------------
Translator: MJK
Chapter: 2
Chapter Title: 1. Surviving as an F-Class Healer (2)
-----------------------------------------------------------------
Truth be told, those kids could have done far worse to me than just whispering behind my back. After all, I was nothing but dead weight, and honestly, it worked to my advantage. But no.
They didn't do anything beyond murmuring like that.
Ignoring me? Cursing me under their breath?
That much was fine, whatever.
'Considering they could die because of me, it's only natural.'
Come to think of it, the kids in this class were a bit special even in the original story.
This class at Narin Academy was full of kids who'd lived particularly rough lives.
No criminal records, but they'd all experienced the dark underbelly of society in colorful ways.
Yet they'd held onto their kindness, which is why more than half of them died in the original story because of it.
And that became the trigger for the original protagonist to go dark after graduating from the academy.
'That was their role, after all.'
They were probably just pissed right now at the thought of protecting me during the exam. The easy option of just letting me die probably hadn't even crossed their minds.
'They have no idea things went south from the class assignment.'
An F-rank in their group?
Like they said, by the rules, I wouldn't step foot in a dungeon unless an S-rank came to fetch me.
So those kids needed to worry about something other than the F-rank if they wanted to survive until the final exam.
"Sigh."
I let out an involuntary sigh as I meticulously read through the [Dungeon Monsters] textbook.
'This feels so off. Why did I end up in a novel like this!'
Taking advantage of the moment when everyone had lost interest in me, I relaxed a bit and recalled the first day I'd arrived here, my face clouded with worry.
'Right, that was about a week ago, wasn't it?'
[Solo SSS-Class Party].
It had once been one of the top three most popular serials on a certain site.
Though it tanked toward the ending.
I was one of the handful of readers who stuck with it to the end.
'I believed the author would deliver a twist in the finale.'
In a world where dungeons appeared every 50 years after the first one, bringing the threat of annihilation.
Yoo Han-seong was the protagonist who underwent infinite regressions to stop this latest cataclysm in Korea, the first since the previous destruction 50 years ago.
Through dozens of regressions, he grasped the true nature of this 'cataclysm' and reached a conclusion.
No matter how great a hunter he became, he couldn't stop this massive tide alone.
So he resolved himself.
'Gather the S-ranks!'
Hunters tended to be wilder and more aggressive the higher their rank, so S-ranks never formed fixed parties.
Even the temporary parties made right before cataclysm dungeons disbanded after the threat passed—it was common sense.
But the scale and number of cataclysm dungeons grew every 50 years.
This time, Korea's cataclysm would spawn ten dungeons, unlike the three from last time, each rivaling the final one in size.
As if all the previous cataclysms had just been the vanguard.
'And that was exactly the case.'
As Yoo Han-seong said in the story, he needed to clear nine without losses to preserve enough strength to tackle even half of the tenth cataclysm dungeon.
In other words, he had a bloodless clear method for up to 9.5 dungeons.
'And if he succeeded in forming that fixed S-rank party as planned, he was convinced he could clear the final dungeon.'
But in the original, he didn't fully achieve his goal.
'Because the academy kids he'd nurtured early on all died before the final dungeon.'
Yoo Han-seong succeeded in building a tight-knit S-rank party through Narin Academy and Eden Guild, one where everyone meshed perfectly.
Clearing seven dungeons, he brought hope to a despairing world on the brink of destruction.
But unexpected sacrifices piled up through the ninth.
'If only he'd won the tenth and final dungeon with his remaining S-rank party members.'
That's when the author started shitting the bed.
Right after clearing the ninth cataclysm dungeon, a traitor emerged from the team.
On top of an unforeseen external issue, and even after scrambling to fix it, by the time they entered the final dungeon, only Yoo Han-seong and the heroine remained—everyone else dead!
Victory?
What victory? To save the heroine, the protagonist sacrificed his own life to the final boss.
Even thinking back now, it made me chuckle bitterly.
And that dragged on for over 100 chapters. Why did I keep reading? Was I(?) insane for a bit!
"If I go back, I'll read it more carefully."
Recalling that day when nothing but curses came to mind, I muttered something completely out of context.
While looking in the mirror.
The reflection showed a gaunt, depressed-looking high school girl in uniform.
The uniform, based on hanbok design but modified for hunter mobility, was pretty to look at and incredibly comfortable to move in. The outer coat in the durumagi style had a white mugunghwa emblem stitched on it.
It felt like wearing clouds.
But I had no headspace to get drunk on merch like 'I'm a true fan!'
Because I was Jin Hari.
I sighed deeply, staring hard at the name on my name tag.
At least Jin Hari had been mentioned by name in the original, and some muscle memory remained, so I knew the basics.
Like when she'd die, damn it.
'Seventeen years old, scheduled to enter Awakener Academy this year. As an F-rank healer, she'll just get bullied, so why enter a school for awakeners instead of a regular one?'
To escape her ghost-like family.
This unfortunate teen was society's outcast, belonging nowhere.
Despised just for being F-rank, and a healer with zero combat ability against monsters to boot.
By all rights, living as a regular person would have been better.
According to the original description, F-rank healers couldn't even make low-grade potions properly, their heal was F-rank, and they could only use it three times a day.
With open disdain for F-rank healers rampant, just getting by at the academy wouldn't be easy for Jin Hari.
But she couldn't live as a regular either.
Her family had racked up too much debt in her name.
Hunters had a system forgiving civilian debts upon awakening, so for Jin Hari, entering Narin Academy was her only way to survive.
'Die, or spend a lifetime paying off debt. Hellish choices.'
Either way, even knowing the original, I had no alternatives. She'd already enrolled, and canceling meant paying admin fees—increasing debt for no reason.
'Stuck experiencing the original firsthand.'
If things followed the original, it spelled disaster.
'I have to avoid dungeons as much as possible.'
Know what role Jin Hari played in the original?
'Bait.'
Jin Hari dies early on.
After providing Yoo Han-seong the key info that F-rank healers' otherworldly monster-attracting mana made them perfect bait.
'And that happens during the first-year final dungeon exam, right?'
It was also a device showing the protagonist's personality shift from early to mid-game.
Early on, even knowing this, he doesn't reveal it. No matter how desperate, he couldn't use a person as bait—that's how decent he was.
But mid-game, things change. He'd already failed his no-loss clear goal.
Still, he used bait but prioritized protecting it.
'And late-game.'
To protect his team, he hires bait at the cost of lives.
That bait dies namelessly with a scream, and Yoo Han-seong doesn't bat an eye.
Just laments the numbers.
"Tch."
I clicked my tongue and got ready to leave.
"Whatever happens, I have to survive first."
For now, I'd take every precaution to avoid dungeons.
At the same time, since the world couldn't end, I'd have to help the protagonist clear the final dungeon.
'Yeah, that should just mean passing along the right special potions and info at the right times.'
Special potions, huh.
Not the most glamorous field in this world.
But solid enough for a living after graduation.
By graduation, special potions would be revalued anyway.
'The issue is skill. If I have the chops, I could supply potions essential for clears. But even then, I'd have to hustle like mad.'
Ingredients cost a fortune too.
Problems galore.
I shook my head.
For now, aim to graduate safely and just pass along useful info later.
Handle potions if the situation allows and I succeed.
May the world—and I—both survive unscathed.
That was what I thought on my first day.