F-Rank Healer (1)
Bzzzzzz.
—Get up! Get up! Get up!
The alarm dragged me out of sleep.
Goddamn it.
“Ugh...”
I rubbed my bleary eyes and pushed myself upright on the bed.
I desperately wanted to sleep longer, but that wasn’t an option. Because I had to go to work? No. I was a young man currently taking a break.
Today I had a lunch date with a childhood friend who’d done pretty well for himself. He’d bragged he was treating me to beef—not pork—so I couldn’t afford to be late.
“If I’m late, I might get demoted to pork.”
Muttering to myself, I finished my shower, changed clothes, and stepped outside. After cutting through the villa neighborhood and into the university district, a figure in a deeply pulled-down hoodie stepped into my path.
“Hey, mister. You gotta pay a toll if you wanna pass through here.”
A short stature and a pretty, mischievous voice.
“Cut the crap and move. This body’s hungry.”
I let a little mana leak out as a warning.
“I’m an Awakened. I could tear a civilian like you apart no problem.”
“Pfft—hahahaha!”
“Don’t laugh.”
I kept a straight face and yanked the hoodie off the person in front of me, revealing a very familiar face.
Brown bob cut, a playful dog-like face full of mischief.
My childhood friend, Jin Haeun.
“Isn’t an F-rank acting a little too full of himself? Keep that up and you’ll meet some foul-tempered hunter and it’ll be game over—done.”
She grinned teasingly.
“I knew it was you.”
“Did you smell the flowers?”
“There’s nobody shorter than you in this neighborhood.”
“Taste a B-rank Awakened’s punch!”
Her fist slammed into my gut.
Thud!
It hurt quite a bit.
But I toughed it out with a grunt.
“This is a B-rank punch? Manageable.”
“I went easy on you. Come on, let’s go eat. I’m buying beef.”
Jin Haeun beamed and took the lead.
The place she brought me for that promised beef was a restaurant that looked pretty expensive.
“Hey, this place seems way too pricey...”
“I got a fat hazard pay bonus this time, so I’m treating. All you have to do is eat well and enjoy it.”
Jin Haeun told me not to worry and just enjoy the meal. Still, hearing it was hazard pay made me feel a little uneasy.
“Refusing kindness forever is rude too. Fine. I’ll eat it very, very well.”
After the meal we walked through streets packed with people.
The world had changed drastically over the past few years, yet the university district still looked the same.
“It was good, right?”
How long had we walked? Before I knew it we’d reached the alley leading home, and Haeun casually spoke up.
“Want to hit a café?”
“Sure. Coffee’s on me.”
“You’re unemployed. You even have money?”
“Call me a young man currently restructuring his finances... And I do part-time work, so I can afford a latte for you.”
We ducked into a nearby café, ordered an iced Americano and a café latte, and sat down.
“I’m gonna step out real quick to take a call.”
“Bathroom already? You overate.”
“You don’t say that to a lady.”
Jin Haeun grumbled and disappeared. I pulled out my smartphone and scrolled through the news.
Nothing but bad news.
“The world is still a mess.”
Ten years ago.
Humanity faced its first calamity.
Starting with the EX-rank calamity Leviathan that polluted half of Earth’s oceans, strange phenomena called “abnormal phenomena” began erupting all over the world.
Urban legends, myths, conspiracy theories—fiction made real and started attacking people.
Chaos swallowed the planet, but humanity didn’t lose. Opposite the calamities hostile to mankind were many abnormal phenomena that were friendly to humans. People began borrowing the power of those “Mysteries” to fight back against the calamities.
A pan-national organization was founded to interpret and manage abnormal phenomena, and humans chosen by Mysteries awakened and stood against the calamities.
The Phenomenon Interpretation Bureau ranked and managed humans who had awakened under the influence of abnormal phenomena. I was one of them—I’d witnessed an abnormal phenomenon as a kid and awakened a healing ability.
As an F-rank healer who couldn’t even solo an F-rank abnormal phenomenon, of course.
If only I’d awakened as a combat type...
Then I wouldn’t have to worry about finding a job like this. Even working as a porter would’ve paid decently enough.
An F-rank healer had less stamina than combat-type Awakened of the same rank, making even porter work hard to land—the lowest of the low. Healing output was basically nonexistent, so you couldn’t work as a hunter, couldn’t work as a porter, and because you were Awakened you didn’t even qualify for calamity support payments.
“Thinking about it, this really is a shitty situation.”
I poured out a lungful of frustration with a sigh.
“Complaining about the world while reading the news again?”
Jin Haeun was back.
On the day the A-rank calamity Fire Fist burned our village, she’d made contact with a pretty powerful Mystery and received its blessing—unlike me.
Thanks to that she was living well now. Well enough to drop by once in a while and buy her currently-restructuring friend a good meal.
“Why the sudden mood? I brought good news.”
So she hadn’t gone to the bathroom after all.
“Good news?”
“Yep. Good news.”
When I asked, Jin Haeun giggled and pulled a document from her bag, setting it on the table.
“What’s this?”
“Application and guide for a public health center dispatch assignment in the Gangwon-do region. Read it.”
I took the application she handed me and read it.
Just as she said, it was a recruitment notice and application form for healers to be dispatched to a health center located in Gangwon-do.
“This... isn’t the minimum requirement E-rank and up?”
“Yep.”
“Competition’s going to be insane...”
“Yep. But you don’t have to worry.”
Her words surprised me.
I didn’t have to worry? Why?
“Don’t tell me... you know someone?”
“Bingo. I personally asked them to slot you in. And for the record, she’s a woman, so no weird fantasies.”
“I wasn’t having any. What do you take me for?”
“A twenty-something guy who has dirty thoughts all day.”
“That’s normal for a twenty-something guy.”
I playfully deflected her joke, but I couldn’t quite hide how excited I was.
I knew this girl was climbing steadily as a B-rank hunter, but I never imagined she had this kind of pull. I hadn’t realized my childhood friend’s social standing had gotten this high.
“But Gangwon-do... isn’t that way too close to North Korea? Isn’t it dangerous?”
North Korea had failed to control the early abnormal phenomena. Now it was a land no human could live in, overrun by countless calamities—what people called the demonic territory.
“The Taegeukgi Unit is guarding it, so it’s fine.”
Jin Haeun stated it with certainty, leaving no room for worry.
The Taegeukgi Unit.
An SS-rank Mystery that prevented the monsters born from calamity-class abnormal phenomena in what was now the demonic territory of North Korea from moving south.
According to the Phenomenon Interpretation Bureau, the Taegeukgi Unit was one of the Mysteries most friendly to Koreans; as long as it maintained its presence along the DMZ, no calamity would be able to come south.
“So it’s safe?”
“Yeah. Don’t worry.”
At her firm assurance, I nodded.
A job. It still didn’t feel real.
A health-center dispatch healer was a popular posting among low-rank Awakened with healing abilities, so competition was always high.
Gangwon-do was less desirable than the capital-area centers, but among the so-called bottom-feeder healers it was still considered one of the best postings, which meant fierce competition and thorough document screening.
Without Jin Haeun’s connections, an F-rank healer like me never would have even gotten past the door.
I’d spent most of my life in Seoul, but working at a Gangwon-do health center had no real downside. The abnormal phenomena had killed my family and everyone I’d known; aside from Haeun, my human relationships were basically wiped out.
Haeun’s operational zone is also in the Gangwon-do area, so I’ll get to see her often. At least I won’t be bored.
My thoughts settled.
“Thanks for looking out for me, Jin Haeun.”
I put genuine feeling into the thanks I offered my dear childhood friend.
“It’s thanks to you. I’m glad you’re by my side.”
“Ugh, that sounds so textbook. Just be normal, like always.”
Jin Haeun made an exaggerated gagging motion, her face bright red.
“Why are you twisting around like that? Does something hurt?”
“It’s not that.”
Still grumbling, Jin Haeun’s expression suddenly turned serious. She glanced around carefully, then spoke with a heavy look.
“Hopefully it never comes up, but... if you end up working in Gangwon-do, the thing you need to watch out for isn’t North Korea.”
“Then what am I supposed to watch out for?”
“You know Baek Soyeon, right?”
“Formless Sword Baek Soyeon? Of course I do.”
Formless Sword Baek Soyeon.
A hunter recently promoted to S-rank and one of South Korea’s rising stars.
“Baek Soyeon is going to be recuperating in Gangwon-do for a while.”
“Guess she wants to rest somewhere with good water and air.”
Come to think of it, I’d seen the news that she was planning to retire. The word “recuperating” made me take it lightly, but Jin Haeun’s expression remained grave.
“It’s not just ordinary recuperation. Baek Soyeon’s condition is serious right now. Because of mental pollution, she’s not in her right mind.”