BS 10

Chapter 10. The Healer We Need (2)

Doyoon’s heart pounded when he saw Jaehyuk’s sword get caught in ‘Big Bear Punch Father’s’ fist. Even if it was Jaehyuk, wasn’t it too much for him to take down such a huge boss monster all by himself?

Unable to hold back any longer, Doyoon hesitated before taking a step closer so he could see the situation more clearly.

“Don’t come over! Stay right there.”

Doyoon immediately put the foot he was about to move back in place.

“I didn’t move!”

He had no idea how Jaehyuk had known, but Doyoon called out so Jaehyuk could fight comfortably.

Jaehyuk grinned when he heard Doyoon’s voice from behind him. He didn’t want to struggle and twist his body while using all his strength just to pull his sword out in an undignified manner.

He had been acting cool in front of Doyoon this whole time. There was no way he could ruin that image now, was there?

Jaehyuk infused his sword with mana. Golden energy shimmered around the blade before tearing through ‘Big Bear Punch Father’s’ hand.

“Kueeeeeeeek!”

‘Big Bear Punch Father’ opened the hand holding the sword and writhed in agony, freeing Jaehyuk’s sword.

Jaehyuk stepped on ‘Big Bear Punch Father’s’ body and leaped even higher, extending the length of his sword threefold with mana.

Then, drawing a large arc through the air, he slashed from ‘Big Bear Punch Father’s’ left shoulder all the way down to its right leg before landing stylishly.

With a single blow, ‘Big Bear Punch Father’ turned gray and petrified, then crumbled into dust.

Doyoon stared intently at Jaehyuk.

It was the first time he had ever seen such a powerful flow of mana right before his eyes. The pure-white mana spreading throughout Jaehyuk’s body, warmed by his elevated body temperature, flowed into the sword in his hand and emitted a golden glow.

“Wow…”

At Doyoon’s absentminded admiration, Jaehyuk grinned and stomped on the core of ‘Big Bear Punch Father’ lying on the ground, crushing it.

Wind began to blow through the space where the air had been completely still, and the surroundings started to ripple.

It was a sign that the Gate was closing.

Doyoon blankly watched Jaehyuk approach him.

He’s amazing.

By the time Jaehyuk reached Doyoon, the Gate had already closed without leaving a trace.

Sounds from everyday life began seeping into Doyoon’s ears—the honking of car horns, the sound of air conditioners running, people’s breathing, their conversations, and so on.

This was how Doyoon distinguished between inside and outside a Gate.

The tension that had been holding his body stiff suddenly disappeared.

“How was it? Not too difficult, right?”

Jaehyuk lightly bumped Doyoon’s body with his shoulder.

Wobble.

Though Jaehyuk had only done it playfully, Doyoon’s body, which hadn’t exercised much since the accident, couldn’t withstand the force.

Jaehyuk quickly caught Doyoon as he staggered.

“Whoa, are you okay?”

“Y-yes, yes. You’re really strong. Hahahaha.”

Seeing Doyoon speak awkwardly, Jaehyuk nodded and used the Hunter Watch around his wrist to submit the Gate settlement request.

“All right, settlement complete. You’ll be surprised when you see the amount.”

Doyoon hesitantly held out his trembling hand.

Jaehyuk quietly looked at his hand before firmly taking it.

Startled by the sudden warmth, Doyoon quickly pulled his hand away.

“Why are you holding my hand?”

“I thought you wanted me to hold it.”

At Jaehyuk’s puzzled voice, Doyoon tilted his head.

Until now, Doyoon had always received cash from Kim Changshik, so he had assumed Jaehyuk would do the same.

Is this not how it’s done?

Just as he was about to ask about the settlement, a mechanical voice in a steady tone came from the earbud in his right ear.

[You have cleared a B-rank Gate. The Gate settlement amount has been deposited. If you wish to confirm, please answer ‘Yes.’]

“Huh? Yes.”

Doyoon answered absentmindedly while looking at Jaehyuk.

Jaehyuk quietly stared at Doyoon.

After listening to something for a moment, his eyes grew incredibly wide.

He really is a person with a lot of different expressions.

“T-this is the settlement amount?”

“Yeah. We split it fifty-fifty.”

“What?!”

Doyoon hadn’t done anything, so how could he possibly get half?

Doyoon’s eyes widened when he heard the amount deposited into his account from the female AI voice in the Hunter Watch.

It was an amount with two more zeroes than what he had earned working with Kim Changshik.

Is this really the right amount?

Confused, Doyoon murmured to Jaehyuk.

“But I…”

“Ahem. It’s because I had a healer with me that I could go in alone and fight without holding back. If you hadn’t been there, I wouldn’t have fought like that. I would’ve played it safe and cleared it slowly. You also worked hard treating my injuries.”

Doyoon couldn’t believe that he had simply stood behind Jaehyuk, healed his wounds a few times, and earned more money than he had been able to touch in an entire year.

Jaehyuk put an arm around the still-dazed Doyoon’s shoulders.

“That is what a healer is. A precious companion who gives you strength simply by being there.”

Jaehyuk smiled at Doyoon, who looked up at him.

Doyoon could vaguely sense the movement of Jaehyuk’s facial muscles through changes in the location of his body heat. More than Jaehyuk’s appearance, it was the warmth in his voice and the feeling of his presence that softened Doyoon’s heart.

After the accident, the world had become unfamiliar to Doyoon.

He suffered from depressing emotions whenever he saw people’s attitudes toward him, his body that no longer moved the way he wanted, and the person he had become after everything changed.

Even so, Doyoon couldn’t easily accept all the changes.

Waking up after falling asleep had been frightening. Even getting out of bed and walking had been terrifying.

It had taken him three whole months to overcome that fear and finally step outside.

He had kept putting off registering as a Hunter because his body wasn’t healed yet. It wasn’t until the final day of his registration period that he had barely managed to register with Taeyoon’s help.

Even after that, he stayed home.

Then, when an unexpected monster—the materialized form of a Ghost Monster—appeared, destroyed their house, and nearly killed his family, Doyoon had used Heal for the first time to save them.

Even now, thinking about that day still made everything feel bleak.

At the same time, it was the first time Doyoon had thought that he was glad to be a healer.

After deciding to become a Hunter to support his family, Kim Changshik came looking for him not long afterward.

With Kim Changshik’s help, Doyoon joined a team and tried to make money by using Heal.

But the life of a Hunter he experienced firsthand was nothing like the glamorous life he had only seen on the internet and on broadcasts.

There was nothing but contempt and abuse.

To Kim Changshik and his companions, who treated him like baggage and naturally demanded healing whenever they needed it, Doyoon was a worthless existence.

An incapable person they had reluctantly taken in out of the goodness of their hearts.

The lonely years in which his self-esteem had been chipped away until he was treated as an existence worth less than a child seemed to be shattering apart.

This person really needs me.

I can actually be someone that another person needs.

I’m not useless.

Watching Doyoon cycle through expressions—looking dejected, biting his lip, then gradually melting into a softer expression—Jaehyuk suddenly became puzzled by a thought that crossed his mind.

He made a slightly sullen face.

“But do you recognize that I’m handsome?”

“Ah, well. My sister said you’re handsome, so I assume you are. My sister is really into idols, and she only picks out the handsome ones to obsess over.”

“What? Then when you touched my face, you didn’t think that?”

“…Well, at the time, I just thought, ‘He has very distinct features,’ I guess?”

At Doyoon’s lukewarm response, Jaehyuk frowned.

Then he suddenly brought his face close enough that his nose nearly touched Doyoon’s.

“You can see things, so I guess you’re not completely unable to see me. Can you still not see me when I’m this close?”

“This is close enough that I wouldn’t be able to see the other person even if my eyes worked perfectly.”

“Ha! You really live a life full of disadvantages.”

Jaehyuk had thought Doyoon might be able to see somewhat clearly when someone came close, but apparently the world Doyoon saw was completely different.

Jaehyuk clicked his tongue.

“You might not believe me, but I… only see people through their body temperature, like a thermal imaging camera.”

Jaehyuk was disappointed for only a moment before seriously thinking over Doyoon’s words.

A thermal imaging camera? Can someone really see like that?

Unable to properly imagine it, Jaehyuk asked Doyoon,

“Then how do you tell people apart?”

“By things like height, body type, voice, the way they walk, and certain behaviors…”

“Ah! So that’s why you were trying to memorize my body? Then if I don’t move or speak, you might not recognize me like this morning?”

“Huh? Well… if I memorize you, I can tell by instinct…”

Doyoon hesitated, wondering how he should answer.

In a crowded place, if Jaehyuk didn’t speak or move, there was a very high chance Doyoon would simply pass by without realizing who he was.

But if he told him the truth like that, wouldn’t Jaehyuk get hurt?

Jaehyuk watched Doyoon hesitate, then took both of his hands and placed them on his own face.

“It’d be difficult to find me by touching me like this every time, wouldn’t it? Of course, it’s definitely true that I’m the most handsome person when you touch everyone’s faces.”

“!”

To know someone by touching their face, Doyoon would have to touch other people’s faces too.

There was no way that could happen.

Doyoon thought Jaehyuk had come up with a completely ridiculous idea.

“Since your hands are already up there, you can admire me a little more.”

At this point, Doyoon wondered if Jaehyuk had simply made up all of this because he wanted to show off his face.

“I already did that on the first day…”

“That day was your first time, so you couldn’t have admired me properly. Hey, that’s my eye. Don’t poke my eye. My nose is sharp, right? High, too? What do you think?”

Apparently his nose was the feature he was most confident about. Jaehyuk proudly placed Doyoon’s hand on his nose.

Doyoon instinctively realized that this would only end once he told Jaehyuk what he wanted to hear.

“Yes, it’s really high. And your skin is nice, too. You must be handsome.”

“That’s right. I was incredibly popular. When I was in school, there were so many snacks and gifts piled up on my desk every day that they would spill onto the floor.”

Doyoon couldn’t help but chuckle at his boasting.

Jaehyuk moved Doyoon’s hand down to his waist.

“All right, now you have to memorize my body too, right?”

“What?! I can memorize it without touching!”

Doyoon startled and stepped backward, but his foot caught on the curb at the edge of the sidewalk, and he fell backward.

Jaehyuk immediately grabbed Doyoon’s arm and pulled him into his embrace.

Doyoon looked bewildered in Jaehyuk’s arms, as though he didn’t quite understand what had just happened.

“Your knee almost got busted this morning, and now you almost cracked the back of your head.”

Only then did Doyoon realize that Jaehyuk had helped him, when he felt Jaehyuk’s hand gently stroking the back of his head.