Chapter 28
Lee Hyun-ah is furious for three reasons.
First of all, she was fired from the guild last week.
‘Isn't Guild Master oppa being too harsh? People can make mistakes! It's not like I was the only one! How could he fire an innocent person just because he believed what those bitches said? I'll get my revenge!’
After repeated mistakes and a string of failed dungeon raids, the guild master eventually fired her.
Although Lee Hyun-ah wasn't lacking in skill, the guild members were fed up with continuing to work alongside her.
Next, her boyfriend had actually welcomed the news.
‘What? Now you want me to give up being a hunter and come home? Are you kidding me? You said you'd support my dream! It was all a lie, wasn't it?!’
Her boyfriend, with whom she was in a long-distance relationship, didn't like her living the life of a hunter on her own.
He wanted her to quit being a hunter quickly, return to their hometown, and be with him.
If she succeeded as a hunter, he had even planned to move up to Seoul and support her, but after realizing that wasn't going to happen, he wanted her to give up hunting as soon as possible.
Lastly, she had ended up forming a party with some strange healer.
‘An F-grade healer? One who hasn't even been in a dungeon before? Ha… I hate myself for bringing along someone like that and calling him a healer. He's old, and he looked like a total pig. This is seriously fucking annoying!’
She had waited several days, but in the end, she couldn't find another healer and had formed a party with him reluctantly; now that the dungeon raid was approaching, the thought of seeing his face annoyed her.
It was ridiculous that he wanted to tackle a D-grade dungeon despite being F-grade. Wasn't he basically asking her to carry him? For someone who was nothing more than a substitute for a potion, he sure expected a lot.
But it was no longer worth it for Lee Hyun-ah to run an F-grade dungeon, so she had no choice but to agree to tackle a D-grade dungeon.
‘Seriously… If he even tries to hit on me, I'll report him immediately!’
Before she joined the guild—and even after she joined—many male hunters had tried to hit on her, captivated by her looks and figure.
Her radiant appearance and boldly displayed D-cup breasts drew men's attention wherever she went; no matter how often she said she had a boyfriend, they wouldn't leave her alone.
Lee Hyun-ah already hated that, but she felt even more wronged by the female hunters who openly ostracized her, claiming she was flirting with them.
‘If he shows even the slightest sign of trying anything, I'll cut him down immediately!’
As Lee Hyun-ah trembled with rage and gripped her sword tightly, she heard someone call out to her from behind.
“Hello? You’re Lee Hyun-ah, right?”
“Hello…? Huh? You’re Mr. Gam Deokbae, right?”
“Yes, my name is Gam Deokbae. I’m an F-grade healer. Nice to meet you.”
“Uh… Ah, yes! I’m Lee Hyun-ah, a D-grade swordswoman. Nice to meet you!”
‘What the…? He’s completely different! No, it’s not just that he looks much better in person—he’s a completely different person!’
Lee Hyun-ah was startled when she saw Gam Deokbae.
Gam Deokbae wasn't the pig she'd seen on the Awakened forum, but a man with a pleasant appearance.
His likable appearance and polite manner of speaking gradually eased her irritation.
“By the way, how many times can you use Heal if you’re F-grade? I’d like it if you could use it at least three times.”
“Ah, don’t worry about that. I have an artifact.”
“Whaaaat?! An artifact?!”
The guild she had belonged to also had an artifact: the guild master's armor.
It was a low-grade artifact that healed the wearer's wounds, yet it was powerful enough to let the guild master, who had been stuck at C grade for decades, take the B-grade promotion test.
Yet she couldn't believe that an F-grade hunter possessed an artifact.
“You see this shield? This is an artifact, and it’s what allowed me to awaken. As long as I’m holding this shield, I can use Heal at least twenty times.”
Gam Deokbae said this, holding up the shield as it glowed.
At first glance, it looked like a cheap shield, but the sacred light flowing from it was real.
On closer inspection, though, it had less the feel of a cheap shield than of an expensive antique.
“Hee… Wow, amazing!”
‘Then he’s not an F-grade at all! He’s practically a C-grade healer, not even a D-grade one!’
Lee Hyun-ah's irritation completely vanished.
No, she was actually excited.
She had formed a party with a healer who would have been hard to find even in her old guild.
On top of that, he wasn't bad-looking… At this rate, she might actually enjoy clearing the dungeon.
====
But that was Lee Hyun-ah's misunderstanding.
“Sooooo, I’m telling you, please just leave them alone!”
“Oops, I did it again without thinking…”
“How many times do I have to tell you before you understand? The monsters inside dungeons disappear on their own once they’re dead!”
Surprisingly, Gam Deokbae displayed agility unusual for an F-grade. Whether it was thanks to the artifact or because he had talent, he hunted the monsters in the D-grade dungeon without showing any fear.
But for some reason, he kept cutting off the claws and nails from the corpses of monsters that were already dead.
It might have made sense for monsters that had emerged from a rift, but it was pointless inside a dungeon. All they had to do was collect the magic stones that appeared when the corpses disappeared, yet Gam Deokbae kept doing the same thing no matter how many times she told him.
***
“Sooooo, I’m telling you, you’re supposed to use Heal after the battle is over!”
“Oops, I did it again without thinking…”
“How many times do I have to tell you before you understand? If you use Heal during battle, the aggro gets drawn to you!”
Surprisingly, Gam Deokbae's Heal was high-quality. She had expected it to be enough to heal only minor scratches, but it effortlessly healed deep cuts and bruises caused by blunt impacts.
For some reason, being healed felt strangely pleasant, but regardless of that, the quality of his Heal was excellent.
The problem was that he kept using Heal during battle, causing the aggro to focus on Gam Deokbae.
Even after taking repeated hits, he was immediately good as new, so the orcs ignored Lee Hyun-ah and attacked Gam Deokbae. As a result, Lee Hyun-ah had to work harder than usual to protect him.
***
“Sooooo, if you’re a healer, you’re supposed to stay in the back, where a healer belongs, okay?”
“Oops, I did it again without thinking…”
“How many times do I have to tell you before you understand? What if you get hurt while leading the charge as a healer? You can’t even use self-Heal!”
Perhaps because of his excessive confidence, whenever relatively weak monsters appeared, Gam Deokbae took the lead and started the fight.
Gam Deokbae fought surprisingly well, so he hadn't been injured yet, but Lee Hyun-ah couldn't help feeling uneasy.
“I can, though…?”
“Pardon?”
“I can use self-Heal. Like this.”
“…???”
Gam Deokbae wasn't lying. He made a small cut on the back of his hand, then promptly used Heal to cure it.
Normally, healers couldn't use self-Heal. Most B-grade healers and above could, but those below B grade couldn't use Heal on themselves.
That was why the standard was to have at least two healers in a party, but Gam Deokbae was an F-grade healer who could use self-Heal.
“Uh… It’s still better to be careful! Come stand behind me!”
“That’s true. I’m sorry.”
Though it was a little embarrassing, Lee Hyun-ah's judgment had been sound.
Thinking that, she secretly tried to cool her flushed face.
***
“Sooooo…”
“Oops… Wait, is there something else?”
“I said you did well… Pfft! It was a little annoying, but thanks to you, we cleared the dungeon faster than usual. Good work.”
“Ah… You worked hard too, Ms. Lee Hyun-ah.”
It took less than three hours to clear the D-grade dungeon.
This was a new record for Lee Hyun-ah.
Of course, it was a small dungeon that she knew inside and out, having cleared it several times.
Even so, Gam Deokbae's presence let her clear it earlier than usual.
Just as she'd been told, it was Gam Deokbae's first dungeon raid, and his repeated mistakes were the sort only a beginner would make, so they had annoyed her—but by the end, she found them amusing in their own way.
It was funny that she was now telling him the same things she was always scolded about at the guild, and imagining herself making such stupid faces was embarrassing.
At the same time, she strangely felt like teaching Gam Deokbae all sorts of things.
‘Is this what it feels like to be a senior…?’
They said putting yourself in someone else's shoes made you understand them; now that she was in a senior's position, she could understand the guild seniors from back then.
“You have a magic stone collector, right? I put everything in mine for now, but I’ll divide them up now.”
“Uh… What’s that?”
…
‘No wonder the seniors swore at me. What kind of hunter doesn't even know what a magic stone collector is?’
A sigh escaped her.
The curse rose all the way to her throat before she barely swallowed it back down. But when she saw Gam Deokbae looking bewildered, she no longer felt like getting angry.
‘What’s with this old man being so innocent?’
Rather than getting angry, she found it so absurd that she laughed.
As Lee Hyun-ah struggled to hold back her laughter, Gam Deokbae spoke to her with a somewhat serious expression.
“Um… Ms. Lee Hyun-ah. I’ll give you all the magic stones we got today, so could you do me one favor?”
Lee Hyun-ah's smiling expression hardened.
‘Ah… Figures. In the end, this man was just like the rest. Ugh…’
It was a common pattern. The type who acted like a gentleman but eventually hit on you. She had thought this time would be different, but Gam Deokbae was the same as all the others.
‘So he’s just a man after all… Sigh, I miss Minwoo…’
“Could you tutor me? There are so many things I don’t know, like the magic stone collector.”
‘…Huh?’
Gam Deokbae scratched his head and grumbled that there was too much he needed to study.
He showed no sign of trying to hit on her or harboring any ulterior motive.
‘Come to think of it, nothing happened during the raid, did it? He never gave me a lecherous look or even tried to sneak in any physical contact… Pfft! He just didn't listen…’
‘Maybe he really is different from the others…?’