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Chapter 01
Surviving as an F-Rank Healer (1)
“Number 18, Jin Hari.”
“Yes!”
“…You’re here again today.”
The teacher called attendance and added a remark unnecessarily.
“When does this class’s practical session start?”
“Today at seven in the evening!”
“Hmm.”
Looks like they’re going to die quickly.
He didn’t say it out loud, but that was basically what it meant.
It had been a week since the entrance ceremony.
During that week, “Jin Hari,” who had been the center of attention in a bad way, was now smiling innocently as if she understood nothing at all.
‘She must know the atmosphere is basically wishing for her to die. I just don’t get why she even came here.’
The people of Narin Academy were proud of their school.
Graduation required at least a B-rank.
It was a prestigious hunter school that only produced students with plenty of real combat experience.
Fifty years ago, during the Third Catastrophe, graduates from Narin had played a major role in stopping the disaster, giving the academy a worldwide reputation.
Naturally, the school had admission requirements.
Applicants had to reach at least D-rank before turning 17, have no criminal record, and most importantly, possess skills usable in dungeons.
The problem was that these admission standards didn’t apply to healers.
‘Still… F-rank?’
Healers were a special class with very few numbers, so they were treated differently, but this was the first time an F-rank had enrolled.
Healers protect others in dungeons, but if someone could only save lives three times a day, then what’s the point of protecting them?
And yet, Jin Hari registered here and had spent the week enjoying academy life without a single change in expression.
It was as if she didn’t care that other students might die because of her.
‘Well, that’s none of my concern.’
The poor ones were her classmates.
They’d have to give up on the group performance scores.
‘Guess I’ll have to give up my semester bonus too.’
The teacher clicked his tongue and slammed the attendance book shut.
He had no choice—he’d been stuck with a troublesome F-rank class.
Well, Class 8 had a lot of problem students anyway, so it might actually benefit the academy if their numbers dwindled quickly.
“Alright, then let’s survive. Dismissed.”
He left the room without even trying to hide his lack of motivation, dragging his feet.
“…We’re screwed.”
“Won’t the teacher refuse to recommend her for promotion next semester?”
“…At least one person definitely won’t get it.”
As soon as the teacher left, the students of Class 8 whispered while glancing somewhere.
“An F-rank can’t even heal that much. How is she going to survive all the practical sessions?”
“No idea. The poor ones are the people on her team.”
She looked like a glamorous beauty from a fantasy novel, but she smiled so purely it made her look endlessly naive.
So the students talked about her freely.
Of course, Jin Hari never cared. Even now, she was gleaming at the next theory class materials.
“Studying won’t help anyway.”
Annoyed, some students raised their voices.
“And you don’t have to worry about her team. F-ranks aren’t legally allowed in C-rank or higher dungeons anyway.”
“Oh, right. …But our school’s practical dungeon is at least C-rank, isn’t it?”
“Yeah. So she probably can’t do her assessment and will only go through festival dungeons. Unless top students scout her, that is.”
“…Scouting is ridiculous. She probably came here just to get noticed by guild officials during the festival.”
“Yeah, but even that requires C-rank. Guild officials aren’t just decorative, you know? F-rank? Crazy.”
“Right.”
At that moment, Jin Hari glanced at the students who were spinning circles next to her head and muttering, “Crazy.”
The whispering students flinched.
Did she catch them cursing?
No, that happened plenty over the past week.
They froze because… Jin Hari was pretty.
‘She didn’t look like that at the entrance ceremony, did she? Was it because she looked shabby, so we didn’t notice?’
Her pale skin, as if she had never seen the light, was clean and stood out against her long black hair.
Her mysterious deep purple eyes looked like stars had been embedded in them.
Even among hunters, who were generally beautiful and unique, she was exceptional.
Especially when she smiled so sweetly.
“….”
“….”
…That was a cute smile, right?
Even the families of awakened individuals didn’t look at them that way. So the ones with potential to become hunters developed independent personalities early.
That wasn’t a complaint.
From the moment of awakening, they lived half-controlled by some animalistic instinct. Skills, mana, and stats were basically quantified measures of how strong that instinct was.
So, in their world, acting so kindly and without reason was unusual.
Even after Jin Hari returned her gaze to the materials, the two students remained frozen for a while.
Then, slowly, they adjusted their posture and thought:
‘Shouldn’t she have gone to an entertainment agency instead?’
More unusual than her looks were her eyes.
‘Does she think she’s some kind of saint?’
The F-rank’s relaxed (?) kindness. Even if someone spoke roughly to her, she always responded with gentle eyes, a soft smile, and a voice as clear as birdsong.
Her calm, warm gaze made people’s hearts flutter.
No one would guess that Jin Hari, a grown adult, was looking at teenage students with pure affection.
The two students made sour faces.
Hunters were naturally aggressive.
Their world was closer to that of beasts.
South Korea was one of the few countries with a proper system, so it was slightly better, but only in degree.
So naturally, seeing harmless, innocent things became a rare experience.
Cute creatures, kind gestures…
The two students didn’t even realize why their anger vanished suddenly.
After freezing briefly, they awkwardly continued their whispers.
“Uh, anyway…”
“Yeah, she’s a nuisance!”
…Right. F-ranks were nuisances.
Class 8 had 13 students, an odd number, so one person being left out wouldn’t be an issue for dungeon team formation, but the problem was the semester-end exam.
“Finals are team competitions.”
“Exactly.”
If even one student died, points would be deducted. Everyone would have to fight while protecting the cute, fragile bundle.
If she couldn’t enter dungeons, the penalty would be even bigger.
Once they thought of her as just “cargo,” their racing hearts calmed.
They’d probably get angry again seeing the F-rank scream and hide in the final dungeon.
“Honestly, I wish she’d just drop out this semester.”
Someone muttered it openly, and everyone silently agreed.
They had no idea they’d soon suffer separation anxiety just over whether Jin Hari would leave after a year.
I looked at my classmates with a kind gaze.
They all took going into dungeons for granted.
‘How can they be like that?’
To me, it was a fascinating sight.
Even though the academy always monitored students to prevent deaths, anyone below S-rank could die at any moment.
Graduating safely from Narin Academy was reason enough for guilds to recruit students.
‘So one-third of the class usually doesn’t make it through finals.’
Some died, but many retired early due to injuries.
In the original story, the number of deaths would increase this year.
But unlike me, it seemed these students would remain at the academy, despite knowing the risks.
Each probably had a line of justice in their young hearts.
‘Modern-day heroes.’
Or rather, official emblem heroes.
