Wait, You Were a Healer?
Hunter licenses can be obtained from the age of eighteen. Prove a certain level of skill, and you can join a guild or clear gates of C-rank and below.
Lee Chaerin was exactly that case.
An eighteen-year-old high school hunter: Lee Chaerin.
She had already stood out as a hunter at the tender age of sixteen, catching Origin Guild's eye, and the moment she turned eighteen she joined them.
Her hunter rank? A full B-rank.
A Triple Hunter who had awakened three skills—a promising newcomer with a bright future ahead of her.
"Huh?"
And right now, Lee Chaerin could not believe a word of what her close unni, Han Yuseol, had just said.
"Liar. You made a friend?"
"…I do have friends, Chaerin."
"No, Unni, you always eat alone, and if it isn't work you don't even go outside."
"…"
Hit with a merciless barrage of facts, Han Yuseol had nothing left to say. She could only pout.
Chaerin was right—when she had no work, she stayed home and wasn't fond of meeting people. But this time was different.
Han Yuseol spoke.
"There was a hunter interview yesterday, right?"
"Yeah."
"I got close with someone there."
"Oh? What, our new junior? You should've said so."
"Not that. She was a porter."
"…?"
For a moment, Lee Chaerin's mind went blank.
So what Yuseol Unni was saying was—
"You got close with a porter yesterday?"
"Yeah."
"Hoo— Unni, what if she only approached you for the fame? What if she hits you up for money later?"
"Ellie isn't that kind of person."
"How would you know?"
"You can just tell by looking."
That only made it harder to believe.
Yuseol Unni was more reliable than anyone as a hunter, but when it came to human relationships she had zero talent.
The reason she had no friends wasn't simply because of her Coercion skill.
Even by Chaerin's own eyes, Yuseol Unni had a pretty severe loner streak.
This won't do. I have to check with my own eyes.
A few conversations would be enough to get a feel for whether this person was decent or not.
If she wasn't, Chaerin would scare her off by any means necessary.
She was waiting with her eyes wide open when—
"…?"
Why had it gotten so quiet all of a sudden?
"Ah, she's here."
At Han Yuseol's words, Chaerin turned her head. Through the crowd, a small girl was approaching.
A girl with a mysterious air that made it hard to look away.
"…"
And the moment Lee Chaerin saw her, she felt it clearly.
Whoa… she looks genuinely pure.
It was like looking at the purest crystal of innocence, not a single speck of dirt on it.
"That kid is Unni's friend?"
"Ellie is an adult, Chaerin."
"I want to say 'liar'… but yeah, the vibe is definitely there."
"Right?"
This time she had to concede.
One look was enough to know this person wasn't bad.
If someone like that had approached Yuseol Unni with an ulterior motive, then honestly, getting taken in was only fair.
"But how did you even get close?"
"I asked if she wanted to grab lunch together."
"No, you should've led with that!"
So it wasn't that person who approached first—Unni had spoken to her first.
Unbelievable… if she'd said that from the start, there wouldn't have been any misunderstanding.
A crowd had gathered in front of Jongno Gate 2.
Of course—unlike yesterday, the gate was operating normally, so people were bound to show up in droves.
But they're staring a little too much. It's getting awkward.
Not that I didn't understand. If I saw a tiny kid toddling around in front of a gate like this, I'd stare out of sheer curiosity too.
"Ellie! Over here!"
Ah—Hunter Yuseol's voice.
I turned toward the sound and spotted her right away.
I hurried over. Standing beside her, I suddenly felt like a lost child who'd finally found her guardian.
At the same time, every gaze that had been on me shifted to Hunter Han Yuseol.
She really did have a different kind of presence as an A-rank hunter.
She seemed used to it, though. She didn't care much at all.
"Good morning, Ellie. Any trouble on the way here?"
—Nod nod.
"Ah, this is my close little sister, Chaerin. Chaerin, say hello. This is Ellie."
"Hello. I'm Lee Chaerin."
I knew of Lee Chaerin.
She was famous as Origin Guild's youngest hunter.
Getting close with Hunter Han Yuseol really did mean running into people you might see once in a lifetime.
From the perspective of someone who'd lived a completely ordinary life, it was still pretty wild.
Then Lee Chaerin carefully asked, looking puzzled.
"Um, about talking…—"
"Yeah. Ellie doesn't speak because of her skill."
"Ah, so it's not that she can't, she just doesn't?"
"Yeah."
Hunter Han Yuseol seemed to think the reason I couldn't talk was because of Rune Language.
I didn't bother correcting her. I just nodded.
Either way, it was my skill that kept me from speaking. That much was true.
"Pii."
Just then Pin slipped out of my backpack and began circling Han Yuseol and Lee Chaerin.
Watching them intently, as if checking whether these people were alright.
Lee Chaerin's eyes went round.
"Whoa! So cute! Ellie Unni, are you a summoner?"
—Nod nod.
"That's amazing. The look is totally like a fairy from a fantasy story. What kind of abilities does it have?"
"Ellie's fairy can mine magic stones."
Hunter Han Yuseol answered in my place since I couldn't speak—but that answer was…
"Pii! Pii-pii!"
Pin squawked as if in protest. Well, our Pin really was good at mining magic stones.
But even I didn't know Pin's exact abilities.
Pin was a proper summon. Surely there had to be more?
"Ah, we should head in now, Unni. At this rate we'll be late for lunch."
"Yeah."
We started walking toward the gate—but shouldn't we buy entry tickets first?
I tugged on Hunter Yuseol's sleeve and pointed at the ticket booth.
"Ah, we can go in without tickets."
"Yeah. This gate belongs to our guild."
Oh. Jackpot.
Connections really were nice.
Thanks to them, I barely had to spend any money.
The environment inside Jongno Gate 2 was a wide open plain.
Rank: E.
One full rank lower than the gate I'd entered just yesterday.
What made this gate unusual was that difficulty varied by area.
The low-difficulty open plain was considered the best place to practice skills.
Of course, we hadn't come to practice skills. We were just here to earn lunch money.
BOOM!
"Ah, sorry."
The skill Lee Chaerin had awakened was [A] Psychokinesis.
The problem was that the rank was so high she couldn't control it—every time she stretched out a hand, a mound of dirt erupted upward like an explosion.
She was basically a walking human bomb.
"Chaerin…"
"My psychokinesis is A-rank, so the control's not great."
That was why she usually used a sword.
Of her remaining two skills, she often used her [B]-rank Acceleration, which—unlike the psychokinesis—she could handle with real skill.
But today, for some reason, she hadn't brought a sword.
Maybe she wanted to practice the psychokinesis?
Then—
"Hm? Something going on over there?"
"Yeah, there's a huge crowd."
People had gathered on the open plain.
Curious, we approached—and at the center lay someone who looked like an injured hunter.
A deep gash ran along his right arm, and from the wound outward his skin was turning a sickly purple.
"That looks pretty bad, doesn't it?"
"Looks like poison, even."
This was no ordinary accident.
And the injured man already seemed to have lost consciousness.
His companions must have decided they wouldn't make it outside the gate in time, so they were trying to give first aid right here…
"I-Is there a healer here?!"
The desperate cry rang across the plain.
But the people who had gathered only glanced at one another. No one stepped forward.
Of course. Healers were a rare class to begin with, and severe injuries almost never happened in low-rank gates like this—most healers waited at higher-ranked ones.
"Hey, man, if you got poisoned you should've gotten out of the gate right away. What were you doing?"
"We used the antidote and he walked fine for about ten minutes, then suddenly this."
"What even hit him?"
"I-It was an orc…"
"What? Why is there an orc here?"
"Forget that—we need to save him first! Man, get the injured guy on my back, quick!"
They were about to hoist the injured man onto someone's back when—
Ding—
Contaminated energy detected.
‘Abundance’ settles into your touch.
…Huh?
A skill had activated out of nowhere.
At the same time, a soft green light began to bloom around both of my hands, as if cupping them.
What is this?
I stared down at my palms in confusion.
The green light, as if it already knew where to go, began to drift slowly in one direction.
At the end of that path lay the poisoned injured man.
…No way?
Instead of answering, the skill reacted even more strongly.
The green light swirling at my fingertips grew denser, calling to me as if urging me to purify that filth right this second.
Everyone else was focused on the injured man, so no one had noticed the light leaking from my hands yet.
As if entranced, I walked toward him.
"…Ellie?"
"Ellie Unni?"
Han Yuseol and Lee Chaerin's voices came from behind me, but the injured man came first.
I slowly reached out and held my hand over his wound.
Saaaaaah—
In that instant, the purple contamination covering the wound rose like thin threads, drawn toward the green light.
"W-What?"
"The poison… is disappearing?"
The purple that had coated the area around the wound vanished without a trace, and even the skin that had turned black began to slowly regain its original color.
At the same time, the injured man's ragged breathing gradually steadied.
"Cough…!"
The man who had lost consciousness suddenly coughed hard.
"…"
"…"
It had all happened so suddenly.
Everyone around stood with their mouths hanging open.
"W-Wait, Unni, you were a healer?"
Lee Chaerin walked over, looking completely dumbfounded.
Well… if I had to answer, this didn't seem to be a heal skill.
After all, the poison had been purified, but the gash itself hadn't closed.
As always, my skill forced a gentle smile onto my face. I was about to shake my head when—
"Pii!"
Pin suddenly acted on its own.
It stretched a tiny hand toward the injured man's wound.
"Piiiiii!"
Saaaaah!
A warm sphere of light billowed up from its palm.
At the same time, you could see the wound healing with the naked eye.
I went blank without meaning to.
W-Wait, Pin—you were a healer?
My summon was a healing dragon.