If You Take the Blame, That's Perfect for Me
“……Aigoo, I'm gonna die……”
In the middle of a snow-covered forest, right in a massive crater gouged out by destruction, I slammed my overheated black iron spear into the ground and gasped for breath.
“Hoo, fuck. I really thought I was done for.”
With trembling hands, I scooped up the fist-sized A-rank mana stone glistening brilliantly from the pool of blood and shoved it into my bag. It sucked that I couldn't sell the hide, but snagging an A-rank mana stone through my own combat felt damn satisfying.
But the joy was short-lived. Suddenly, the faces of those two passed-out people far off flashed in my mind.
“Shit, this isn't the time to be standing around! Taesoo hyung! Ayoung!”
I turned tail and bolted back the way I'd come, running like a madman.
Thankfully, the two were alive. But the situation was still dire.
“What do I do? They're not coming to.”
They were breathing, at least. Seo Ayoung, slumped against the base of a massive tree trunk, lay motionless with blood trickling from her mouth. Kim Taesoo, who seemed to have shielded her and taken a head injury, had his eyes rolled back, breathing raggedly.
They'd barely deflected a strike from an A-rank monster with their weapons, but the shockwave had clearly ravaged their insides.
I wasn't a doctor or a healer, so the only first aid I could manage was wiping the blood from their foreheads.
What now? Pick 'em up and dash to a safe zone?
As I stamped my feet and shook Taesoo hyung's shoulder, it happened.
A target requiring repair has been detected. Would you like to repair?
“……???”
I rubbed my eyes hard.
A target requiring repair? There wasn't a single broken object in sight. Just two bleeding-out humans.
“Wait, hold up. Repair a person?”
Repair was a term for inanimate objects or machines, not healing human tissue—that was the healer's domain.
But… it made sense, didn't it?
Oh. Right…
I recalled the message from the Multidimensional Secondhand Market system when I'd gained its privileges. I'd gotten a new trait, and my Repair skill had evolved too.
Does it actually work on people? Only one way to find out.
I reached out and placed my hand on the unconscious Taesoo hyung's chest. A human repair estimate popped up in midair.
“Oh!?”
The system's dry tone calling a person an “item name” was a bit creepy, but now wasn't the time to nitpick.
“Alright! Let's repair!”
I pulled a D-rank mana stone from Taesoo hyung's bag, placed it on his forehead, and poured in mana.
Paaaah—!
A warm, gentle light enveloped his body. Like reconnecting a shattered artifact's mana circuits, the light swiftly reassembled his torn blood vessels and overloaded muscles. The wound on his forehead visibly knit shut.
“Kuh, kugh……”
Just 10 seconds later, Taesoo hyung groaned in pain and snapped his eyes open.
“Hyung! You with us?”
“Wha—huh! Daesung! What about Miss Ayoung?! What happened to that crazy panther!!”
Taesoo hyung shot up like a coiled spring, his movements impossibly nimble for someone who'd been wobbling moments ago.
“Calm down. I chased that cat off. How's your body feeling?”
“Huh? Oh… yeah…. It felt like all my bones were crushed, but… what the hell? Doesn't hurt at all. Feels lighter, even?”
Taesoo hyung patted himself down, looking baffled. I placed a D-rank mana stone on Seo Ayoung and activated Repair while casually replying.
“I fixed you up.”
“……What? You're no healer—how'd you fix me?”
“Repairman's supposed to fix broken stuff. Duh.”
“No, but people aren't machines—how does that even work?”
“Hell if I know. It just does.”
Taesoo hyung yelled in disbelief, but he shut up when Seo Ayoung, freshly repaired, slowly opened her eyes and sat up.
“Ugh, ungh… O-oppa…? You died too?”
What a riot this girl was.
“Died? Hell no, we're fine. You okay, Ayoung? Anywhere hurt?”
Seo Ayoung patted herself down.
“Th-this is weird? Didn't that Ice Panther attack me??”
“We'll talk later. We gotta get outta here fast. The whole forest is changing.”
The two snapped to attention and looked around. The subtropical beast forest was now blanketed in pure white snow and ice like midwinter.
Seo Ayoung's face paled again.
“This… has to be a gate mutation. Nothing else makes sense.”
Taesoo hyung gulped.
“G-gate mutation? You mean that disaster from the news and textbooks?”
“Yeah. For an Ice Panther—an A-rank monster—to pop out of a D-rank gate… the portal's probably turned purple. This kind of spike means someone's way too strong for the gate's limits snuck in. Probably an overwhelming powerhouse or a vicious villain.”
Her voice trembled faintly.
“Super high chance it's a massive villain who slipped past the Association's eyes… right?”
Gate mutation cause: Gate core rampage from an absurdly powerful intruder's mana.
“…….”
Hearing Seo Ayoung's spot-on logical deduction, I felt a cold sweat trickle down my spine.
No way… did I cause this?
I glanced down at my chest. Dragon Heart mana at 225. Stats-wise, it was borderline A-rank.
Mysterious vicious villain? That was me.
Shit, big trouble. Must be chaos outside. Gotta fix this somehow.
I had to clean up my own mess. With the sudden difficulty spike and blizzard, all the innocent hunters inside were probably panicking.
Bearing heavy responsibility and guilt, I gripped my black iron spear tighter.
“First, find survivors! Head to the safe zone—people'll be there!”
My determined shout got nods from the two as they stood.
We hurried through the forest toward the base camp at the gate's entrance. The Beast Forest was a famous hunting ground, so the entrance had sturdy tents and barricades for hunters to rest.
But the sight awaiting us at base camp was hellish.
“What the fuck is this mess……”
Dozens of terrified hunters crowded inside the snow-piling barricades. Higher-rank monsters had ambushed suddenly—limbs torn, frostbitten skin blue, people groaning on the ground.
The few healers, pale-faced, squeezed out mana for treatment, but there were too many wounded.
“Aaaagh! My leg! Help me!!”
“P-potions! Anyone got any left?! The bleeding won't stop!!”
It was like a battlefield field hospital in chaos.
Hearing the screams stabbed my conscience.
Lots of criticals, but no corpses yet. Phew… dodged a bullet.
But left alone, hypothermia or blood loss would claim lives.
I pulled out the D-rank mana stones from my bag full of loot.
Sigh, fine. Payback time, Kwon Daesung. Gotta live right.
I pulled my hood low and slipped to a corner with the wounded. Discreetly tossing mana stones onto wounds, I spam-fired Repair via the system.
Paat, paaaat—!
“Wha… wh-what?!”
“The blood stopped! Muscles knitting back!! H-healer!?”
I replied without showing my face.
“Yeah, don't move. Wound'll reopen.”
Fatal injuries healed in seconds, frozen bodies thawed—dying hunters rose with miracle-struck faces.
“Th-thank you! Feels so much better!”
“Yeah, rest up. Gotta treat others…”
I shifted spots quick so they wouldn't remember my face, cosplaying healer in silence.
I'd fixed nearly 20 with my mana stones when—
“Everyone!! Calm down and focus on me!!”
A young man in flashy glowing armor hopped onto stacked wooden crates in the camp center. Handsome face dripping arrogance—like a parasite pretty boy. His chest bore a ornate turtle-snake emblem: mark of Korea's 5th guild, Hyeonmu Guild.
“Isn't that Choi Jaewon, Hyeonmu's top prospect?”
“Yeah! The first C-rank verdict Choi Jaewon! Why's he here??”
Terrified eyes locked on him.
Choi Jaewon hand-on-heart, boomed dramatically.
“Fellow hunters! My deepest apologies for this crisis!”
Apologies? My head snapped up mid-repair.
Choi Jaewon bowed deep, then faced them resolute.
“You've probably guessed, but this gate mutated hard—D to A-rank difficulty ballooned. And shamefully… the cause is likely the gate detecting my overwhelming potential and reacting in fear!!”
“…….”
“……?”
Silence blanketed the camp. I swallowed a massive question mark, facepalming internally.
……Huh?
Choi Jaewon clenched his fist, ego exploding.
“I've surged in growth lately, but I snuck in here for training without re-measurement! The gate core mistook my massive mana for an off-spec disaster and mutated!! All my fault!”
Murmurs rose.
“Ahh, that explains it! Choi Jaewon's potential broke A-rank, so the gate mutated!”
I nearly dropped my mana stone in disbelief.
This guy's claiming he's the mutation culprit? Publicly apologizing?
But hilariously, my heart lightened. Who cares if it's me or him? If he's shouldering the blame for me, I was grateful as hell.
Choi Jaewon? I'm your fan starting today.