Chapter 37
Chapter 37
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Translator: MadScientist
Chapter: 37
Chapter Title: The Troublesome Customer's True Identity
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The customer I chased out for being a nuisance turns out to be...
What did I just hear?
"So..."
A variant gate had appeared in Busan...
And it was a large-scale gate that required twenty people to clear, with a limited number of potions allowed inside?
On top of that, the nation's exclusive awakeners had attempted it multiple times, but failed every single time?
"Are you asking me to go into that gate right now?"
"That's correct."
The Director nodded.
"Um... I'm really sorry, but even if I went, I don't think it would make much difference..."
No sooner had I trailed off than she fired back immediately.
"Not at all."
"...Huh?"
Her short, firm response made me blink in surprise as I stared at the Director.
"At present, the person with the highest chance of clearing that variant gate is none other than you, Miss Chrog."
"What do you..."
A soft smile suddenly curved her lips.
"I heard all about your brilliant performance during the artificial Lumina Bell incident. They say you handled several times the workload of other healers all by yourself."
Then, just as quickly, she withdrew her smile and composed her expression.
"This gate places the utmost importance on the healer's capabilities. That's why we desperately need your help, Healer Chrog, and no one else's."
"Ah... Haha... Is that so."
This woman is dangerous.
She has an incredible talent for flattering people.
"But I have a lot on my plate right now..."
I tried one last excuse to wriggle out, but it didn't faze the Director at all.
"Perfect timing, then. We still have plenty of time before the rampage period, and I was planning to assemble a new party anyway."
And without the slightest hesitation, she delivered the finishing blow.
"We'll adjust everyone's schedules around yours, Healer."
...There was no escape now.
But that didn't mean I wanted to get dragged into the gate kicking and screaming.
Large-scale, variant, potion limits.
Heading into a gate plastered with all those nightmarish keywords meant I deserved something in return.
I swallowed hard, then slowly opened my mouth.
"...All right."
The tension visibly drained from the Director's face as it lit up in an instant.
I took in the sight, then continued.
"But I have a condition of my own."
The Director nodded with a warm smile once more.
"Excellent. Whatever it is, I'll grant it, as long as it's within my authority."
◇◇◇◆◇◇◇ After the Director left.
I decided to tackle the tasks I'd planned for the day, one by one.
First up was the seed I'd gotten from eating the Rubidel fruit.
'...Come to think of it, I haven't been in the greenhouse since moving in.'
I'd expected the long-neglected space to be a total mess, but surprisingly, it was neatly maintained.
Soft sunlight poured in through the glass walls and ceiling surrounding it on all sides.
One wall had an irrigation system, and the floor was evenly covered with drainage gravel.
A satisfied smile crept onto my lips unbidden.
'It'd be perfect for turning into an orchard with little trees.'
With that thought, I planted the Rubidel seed in the flowerbed near the entrance.
Then I picked up a pot with a Harunella flower and headed to the vegetable garden in the yard.
As I diligently pulled weeds, cleared stones, and tilled the soil—
"Planning to plant some flowers?"
A unfamiliar voice came from behind me.
I turned to see a woman with strikingly glamorous features peering curiously at the garden.
"Who..."
My first words carried a hint of wariness, but she responded with a radiant smile.
"Sorry for the late introduction! Hi, I'm Han Ga-eun, your new neighbor from next door."
She had a very pretty, endearing smile.
But for some reason, an inexplicable sense of repulsion stirred inside me.
"Oh, hi. I'm Yi Chrog."
Yet her next words melted away my guard like snow in the sun.
"Oh? You're growing Blue Boy Rosemary?"
She knew the plant's name exactly.
"I love Blue Boy Rosemary too! The color when it blooms is just so pretty, right?"
She referred to the plant as "it" like a child.
"You know Blue Boy Rosemary...?"
"Of course!"
Maybe she was a fellow 'Plant Gallery' enthusiast. A spark of fondness bloomed in my heart.
"That one's a Skin Daphne, that one's Sansevieria, that one's Spathiphyllum..."
She began pointing out the plants on the windowsill one by one, naming them effortlessly.
Naturally, my budding fondness for her snowballed.
"Truth is, I'm a total plant geek. I moved here because the nature nearby is just so gorgeous..."
From why she'd moved here to her love for plants.
She felt a lot like me, somehow.
"Huh...? Wait a sec?"
After staring at my face for a while, she suddenly dashed toward her house as if something had clicked—
And soon returned, cradling a small potted plant.
"Huff... huff... The moment I saw your face, neighbor, this flower popped into my head... It's a welcome gift, to get along from now on!"
"Primrose?"
"You got it!"
I accepted the pot with a somewhat bewildered expression.
Maybe because it was my first time receiving a plant as a gift, an indescribable feeling washed over me.
"...Thank you."
"Looking forward to being neighbors!"
My heart thumped with excitement at the thought of making a great new friend.
◇◇◇◆◇◇◇ And watching the whole scene with a sinister gaze was one person.
"So that's where the foul stench was coming from."
It was Lee Hyun, leader of Full Moon Guild.
Her refined brow furrowed mercilessly at the 'uninvited guest' clinging to her 'fandom target.'
Reincarnation of an angel, saintess, Mother Teresa, walking UNICEF—
The actress who once shook Korea and was called an angel had all sorts of repulsive epithets hanging off her...
But Lee Hyun was certain.
That woman's insides were surely rotten.
What was it—some animal instinct?
Whatever it was, her intuitions had never been wrong.
At that moment, her chief secretary cautiously approached Lee Hyun, who was glued to the window with a telescope.
"Ma'am. Observing the healer again?"
"Observing? I'm protecting her."
"...Yes, ma'am."
The leader, who had spent all day glued to the monitoring room without moving, suddenly shelled out a fortune for a telescope-shaped artifact after moving.
She'd had a bad feeling she might stare into it all day from now on.
And it looked like that premonition had been spot on.
She hadn't even shown her face at headquarters since getting the telescope, just peering through it day in and day out.
"......"
She offered the telescope to her dumbfounded, speechless secretary like it was a grand favor.
"Want a look?"
"Ah... No, I'm good."
As if she'd been waiting for the refusal, Lee Hyun pressed her eye back to the scope.
What could possibly be so fascinating about staring into that thing all day?
As that primal question swirled in the secretary's mind—
The leader tossed out a random question.
"Se-yeon, can digging in the dirt be cute?"
"Most people wouldn't call that cute."
"Even with hands that tiny?"
"The necromancer has pretty small hands too, ma'am."
"Do-yeon's cuteness is on another level."
"...Yes."
Even after that, the leader spent a good while insisting on how cute the figure in the telescope was before finally looking up at Se-yeon.
"Se-yeon. Buy a few houseplants."
"Plants...? Why?"
"I wanna try growing some."
The chief secretary struggled not to let her current emotions show on her face.
'The leader... growing plants?'
Why?
Had she finally come to appreciate the sanctity of life...?
'No way that's it.'
She bowed deeply, silently offering condolences in advance to the plants that would wither in a day or two under the leader's care.
◇◇◇◆◇◇◇ Before heading into a variant gate with limited potions.
I wouldn't feel at ease without some preparation.
So I dove straight into prepping for the large-scale gate raid.
First, I closed the cafe and harvested a massive haul of Lumina flowers from the field, then met Ha Do-yeon to exchange them for a bulk batch of purified water.
I gently coaxed the Lumina Spirits into blooming their sparkling flowers.
I set aside the sparkling ones and shipped the rest to Sprout Guild.
Couldn't leave the empty field bare, so I busily planted seeds with the spirits.
Then I carefully brewed mana expansion potions from the sparkling flowers I'd saved.
After that, to consume the mana expansion potions, I toured medical centers, steadily using Heal and Purify—
⚔ STATUS ⚔ ✨ Magic Power: +35 permanently Now my mana pool was generous enough to last without potions.
'Argh! If only I had two bodies!'
Days blurred by in a frenzy of tasks, and before I knew it...
It was the day of the gate raid.
Riding the vehicle the Director had arranged, I arrived in Busan to a gate of a scale I'd never seen before.
A massive rift towering to the heavens, as if ready to swallow the entire city.
Swirling black currents.
A spiral slowly rotating, tearing the sky apart.
And the throngs of awakeners standing before it spotted me and swarmed over all at once.
"Whoa...? It's the healer!!"
"Hi, Healer!"
"No way you're joining this gate raid too!?"
Sure, I'd worked tirelessly online to draw attention.
"H-Hi, everyone...!"
But facing them in person, under all those eyes at once...
It wasn't as easy as I'd thought.
"You're way cuter in real life than on screen! Could I maybe get a photo...?"
"Not uploading NewTube videos anymore? I wait every day for a new one..."
"You healed me last time—remember me?"
The awakeners surrounding me unleashed a barrage of words without pause.
Before even entering the gate, I felt my energy draining away...
"Healer...? You okay? You've gone pale!"
My mind reeled, the world spinning—
BAM!
Something slammed hard into the ground, the sound echoing.
All eyes around me snapped toward the source.
At the center stood a woman in white plate armor, issuing a commanding shout.
"Get a grip. We're moments from a large-scale gate raid."
The murmuring crowd fell silent in an instant.
She glanced around the gate perimeter and continued, tilting her head slightly.
"I'm the White Night Guild Master, in charge of commanding this large-scale gate raid."
Her low, weighty voice rang out, and the awakeners around me held their breath, gazing up at her.
"Whoa... White Night Guild Master...!"
"She's personally stepping up?"
"The Director must've put a ton of effort into this party..."
And I stared at her with the most shocked expression of all.
- How did you tame the spirits!?
- Please share your secrets!!
- Lumina!!!!!!
The troublesome cafe customer I'd chased out...
Was the guild master of the national guild 'White Night'?
The massive shock left my mind blank.