I'm a Second-Year! The Hunter's Scalpel's True Purpose

I'm a second-year now! "How long has it been since I last breathed in the air of a university campus..." I muttered to myself as I passed through the main gate. I'd only moved up one grade, but it felt like decades since I'd last set foot on campus. And that made sense. Over the past two months, I'd embarked on quite the grand adventure under the guise of clinical observation training.

At first I'd been little more than a hospital volunteer, but before I knew it I'd saved a B-class hunter from the Geumseong Guild and even performed surgery on Han Yura, the leader of the Baekho Guild. The result of all that was the certificate of training completion personally signed by Na Hayeong, a hunter trauma specialist and attending physician at Daehan Central University Hospital.

My academic advisor had sat there with his mouth hanging open for a long time after reading it.

"Y-you really survived that blood-soaked university hospital ward?"

"I did."

"Th-that's impossible... They didn't give you any special treatment or anything, right?"

"It's all written on the certificate."

But then his voice dropped.

"...Jihou. If this turns out to be falsified, it'll be a serious problem. From that moment on, it won't just be your issue. Everyone who helped you will get dragged into a massive scandal."

The voice grew even quieter. "So why don't you just say you enjoyed your time here enough and drop out, then apply for the Ministry of Male Family Affairs—"

I'd done everything exactly as instructed. Yet the only thing he could suggest was the Ministry of Male Family Affairs again.

"Should I call the Ministry of Male Family Affairs right now?"

"Hiiik?! I'm sorry!"

Of course, the answer was to call the Ministry of Male Family Affairs. That single phrase made every administrative procedure move at astonishing speed. My advisor practically folded himself in half bowing, and the school immediately approved my advancement to second year.

Once I got home, I turned on my laptop and accessed the second-year course registration page.

"Tsk. You should've just listened when I was being nice."

After filling in the ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠required courses first, I slowly scrolled through the elective list. My hand stopped.

"Found it."

Hunter Trauma Studies. A subject I hadn't even glanced at during my first year. It was tougher than general surgery, messier than emergency medicine. The rumor among upperclassmen was that if you took it without solid fundamentals, you'd lose more than just your GPA—you'd lose your mind.

But now I had to take it. It was the exact condition Na Hayeong had given me in exchange for showing me the hunter surgery data from Daehan Central University Hospital.

"Take every single surgery class related to hunters!"

At first I'd expected her to demand I join her lab or at least become a research assistant. Since she'd even secretly gathered materials for me, I'd braced myself for something like a graduate student slave contract. But Na Hayeong hadn't said anything like that.

"No matter how much of a genius you are, the fundamentals have to be rock solid!"

"...That's unexpected. I thought you'd at least say something like 'Come work under me.'"

"If I'd needed a research assistant to organize data, I would have." She shrugged. "But you're going to become a doctor eventually, Jihou."

"That's true."

"And saving lives isn't something you can force someone to do."

She was only two years older than me. No—if you included my previous life, she was barely a third my age. Yet those words carried an oddly heavy weight.

"The materials I showed you, the classes you'll take at the university from now on. A genius like you will naturally become fascinated once you see them."

"By saving people?"

"Yeah. After all, that's why you originally applied to medical school, isn't it?"

"Well... I suppose so."

It hadn't ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠been at first. In this life, I'd wanted to live quietly. I'd planned to open a small private clinic in the countryside, check blood pressure for elderly patients, and live in peace. I had no intention of returning to the blood-scented operating rooms like in my previous life, working myself to death only to fail at protecting even my own body.

But then I'd seen the materials. Patients who could have been saved. People who'd died on the operating table simply because they were hunters. It was frustrating. Heartbreaking. Annoying.

Above all, I now possessed the ability to open those bodies. The hands that could cut through a hunter's hardened flesh and bone without destroying the patient. The status window. The class Hunter Trauma Surgeon. With all of that, living comfortably in the countryside would not be some admirable adherence to my original intentions.

It would simply be running away.

"Oh, and one more thing," I recalled Na Hayeong adding at the time. "When you become a second-year, Hunter Trauma Studies will be offered, right? You absolutely must take that one. Understood?"

"Ah, yes..."

So, as promised, I filled out my course registration list. After all, as long as a man has what he has between his legs, he shouldn't go back on his word. I packed in as many hunter-related courses as possible between the required subjects.

Hunter Physiology. Dungeon Infection Studies. Magical Power Contamination Pathology.

And the very first one I'd chosen.

Hunter Trauma Studies.

My hand paused for a moment at the professor's name listed beneath it.

Special Professor — Na Hayeong.

"So she was planning to follow me after all."

A small chuckle escaped me. Well, it wasn't that I hadn't known. I just hadn't paid attention. Na Hayeong was one of the most renowned figures in Korea's hunter surgery field. For the university to have such a person agree to teach directly was like having a signboard star fall into their lap.

Anyway, with this my schedule for the semester was set.

"Shall we get started then?"

Separate from course registration, there was one more thing I needed to do today. I cleared the living room table and placed three plates on it. The first held a roll of toilet paper. The second, a green apple. The third, pork. Respectively: inorganic matter, plant fruit, and animal tissue.

"Good."

I sat down in front of the table and raised my right hand.

"Scalpel, summon."

A blue light gathered in my palm. Soon, with a familiar sensation, a thin, sharp scalpel appeared between my fingers. It was the very first ability I'd obtained when the B-class hunter from the Geumseong Guild ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠had been brought in—the ability that let me save a woman everyone else had given up on. Or more precisely, the ability I'd contracted.

I hadn't had the mental space to examine it properly until now. But things were different now. The most urgent matter—advancing to second year—was complete. It was time to properly investigate this power.

"Show me my current status."

The moment the words left my mouth, a blue window appeared before my eyes.

"It really does look like a game character window."

First, I confirmed whether I could use the ability outside the operating room in normal situations. The answer was yes. The status window appeared, and the blue scalpel in my hand had physical form.

So I began clicking through the entries one by one. The Hunter Skills section listed all currently usable surgical tools and procedures. Incision. Hemostasis. Suturing. Contaminated Tissue Separation. Magical Circuit Preservation. Nerve Root Decompression. The descriptions were simple, but clicking on each one brought up detailed explanations and usage methods.

Not particularly necessary for someone who was a surgeon in his previous life, but if the user had been an ordinary person, these would have been incredibly useful.

What surprised me more was the Treatment Records. It contained records of the two patients I'd treated so far: Jang Mihyeon and Han Yura. It wasn't just a simple results chart. I could replay the entire surgical process like a video. It had basic functions like pause and rewind, plus accelerated playback, viewpoint shifting, and partial zoom.

"This is insane for review purposes?!"

From a doctor's perspective, it was an unbelievable function. Even after surgery, I could recheck incision lines, changes in blood loss volume, the exact timing of contaminated tissue removal, and even the angle at which I'd inserted instruments.

‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠

But that wasn't my goal today. I gripped the scalpel in my right hand more firmly. Hunter's Scalpel Lv.2. The tool that had been able to cut even Han Yura, an S-class hunter. The ability that had effortlessly opened a hunter's skin, muscle, and bone—things normal surgical instruments couldn't even touch.

Just how far could it go? I understood it was a tool for saving patients. But what if the target wasn't a patient? With this level of cutting power, it could potentially be used as a weapon depending on the situation.

"Experiment begins."

The first target was the most fragile of the three: the roll of toilet paper. The only inorganic object. I raised the scalpel and brought it down lightly from above.

"Hah!"

Thud. There was a sound, but it was just my fist pressing down on the toilet paper. There was no sensation of the scalpel cutting anything.

"Hmm."

I stabbed it several more times. Thud. Thud. Thud. The result was the same. The toilet paper was merely crumpled under my fist. There wasn't a single mark from the scalpel.

The blade was clearly in my hand. I could see it. But it didn't touch the toilet paper. It wasn't that it felt like cutting something hard, nor that it was cutting too smoothly. This was simply...

"It passed right through."

It felt exactly like swinging the scalpel through empty air. I immediately turned my gaze to the second plate. The green apple. It wasn't a living creature, but it was still a plant fruit. The tissue itself came from a living thing and still retained cellular structure.

I swung the scalpel with the intention of cutting the apple in half.

Whoosh. Whoosh.

"Not even the skin is cutting."

But the result was the same again. The scalpel passed through the apple. I could clearly feel myself holding it, yet it seemed to have no physical presence against non-patient targets. With that strange feeling, I moved on to the final plate.

"What about the pork?"

The best would have been a living animal, but I was a doctor, not a butcher. More importantly, I had no desire to slaughter a live animal at home for multiple reasons, so I'd bought pork from a butcher shop. Still, it was animal tissue. Muscle, fat, connective tissue—all of it.

I brought the scalpel down immediately. However...

Whoosh. Whoosh.

"This doesn't work either."

The pork remained completely untouched.

"Maybe my own body?"

I very lightly touched the scalpel to the back of my hand. And just as expected, the sharp blade passed through my skin as if it were the most natural thing in the world. There was no sensation on my skin at all.

Right then.

"Is it giving me a warning because I kept messing around?"

I let out a hollow laugh as I looked at the status window floating before me.

"Well, I get the general idea now."

It seemed this ability was fundamentally provided for the purpose of saving patients. It didn't work on inorganic matter. It didn't work on fruit. It didn't work on meat. It didn't work on my own body either. At least within the scope I'd tested, it showed no offensive properties toward anything that wasn't a treatment target.

At that moment, the status window appeared again.

"Penalties?" I raised an eyebrow. "What kind?"

To be honest, it seemed a bit ridiculous. After all, it was just a status window. At most it would probably block the surgical tool, deduct points, or stop level-ups. Besides, wouldn't imposing such penalties be a loss for whoever had granted the ability?

But the moment the next message appeared, I froze solid.

"......"

I slowly set the scalpel down.

"I see."

A doctor is a profession that saves lives, and a scalpel isn't a tool meant for stabbing people.

After that, I headed to the kitchen without another word. I sliced up the pork and apple I'd used in the experiment and stir-fried them for dinner. The remaining roll of toilet paper, I took to my room.