UHNA 13

Chapter 13

 The Healer Who Gives Without Holding Back 
Actually, I’ve never really had anyone use it before, so I don’t know how good the effect will be.

But thinking about how Erich rarely ever found fault with it, the effect probably won’t be bad.

“I got permission from our homeroom teacher and have been practicing. I’ve had some results recently.”

“Practice… you were practicing making them.”

Lee Haesol muttered quietly—no wonder I didn’t see her around—after staring at the bottle for a moment, and then spoke in a very small voice.

“Thanks. I’ll use it well.”

The corners of her lips lifted slightly on her otherwise expressionless face.

Her eyes were usually somewhat dull, but right now the shadow in them seemed a little lighter.

I awkwardly avoided her gaze and fiddled with the lid of the box.

Just then, another shadow stopped in front of me.

“Jin Hari.”

It was a voice I’d only heard once before, but it already felt familiar.

“Ah, Hanseong!”

When I turned around and greeted him, his expression subtly changed.

It was the same blank face as usual, but slightly softened. His chest rose and fell once.

It was obvious that Yoo Hanseong had also just returned from practice.

I handed him a potion as well and said,

“I don’t really have much use for them, but they keep piling up. So I brought them to give to people who need them.”

“Here?”

“Well, it’s in front of the infirmary. Won’t there be more people who need them?”

“That’s true.”

Lee Haesol nodded lightly and murmured.

Yoo Hanseong stayed silent for a moment, looking at the infirmary, the empty box that had been cleared out after giving potions to the seniors, and then the box I was still holding.

“…Don’t tell me.”

“Yeah, I prepared some for you guys too.”

I said with a grin.

Even though this was our first real conversation and things were a little awkward, Lee Haesol applied the potion to her hand right away.

Wow, she used it without even doubting it.

For reference, in this world, potions aren’t only for drinking.

You can apply them, throw them, spill them…

There are all kinds of ways to use them.

“How is it?”

Lee Haesol slightly widened her eyes and looked at the back of her hand where the wound had been.

Yoo Hanseong also stepped closer and watched with me.

The sight of new skin forming instantly.

“…It doesn’t seem like a mid-grade potion.”

“Of course not. How could I make that many mid-grade potions? I can’t yet. Looks like the wound wasn’t big, so it healed quickly.”

Which meant I still had a long way to go.

‘I did manage to succeed once, though.’

The two of them looked at me with faces full of things they wanted to say, as if they were dumbfounded.

“…?”

I tilted my head and continued,

“It’s low-grade, low-grade. The very lowest, but it’s still a success. I can make low-grade potions really well now. I could do it with my eyes closed!”

I said proudly, but Lee Haesol’s sharply sculpted brows twitched slightly.

She alternated between looking at her hand and me with a serious expression, then muttered,

“Is it just my imagination?”

“What is?”

“…No, never mind. More importantly, I’ll pay you.”

I tilted my head, then shrugged.

“It’s just something I’m giving out while practicing.”

I said it like it was nothing, but of course I knew—it was something I could charge for.

“If you need more, you too—”

Before I could finish, Yoo Hanseong peered into the box.

Then he sharply inhaled.

“This one’s a different color.”

He pointed at a small pale purple bottle with its lid closed.

I reflexively pulled the box closer to myself.

“Ah. That one is…”

It was the mid-grade potion I mentioned earlier.

Even if it was only D-rank.

I slightly avoided his gaze.

Feeling awkward under Yoo Hanseong’s stare, I smiled and said,

“It is mid-grade…”

For a moment, both of their eyes seemed to light up.

Yoo Hanseong studied my face and asked casually,

“Who are you planning to give this to?”

It didn’t feel like an interrogation, but somehow I felt self-conscious.

I cleared my throat and answered,

“For the teacher.”

“Our homeroom?”

“Yeah. She let me use the lab.”

Yoo Hanseong fell silent for a moment, staring at the mid-grade potion.

Then he muttered quietly,

“That’s not something you need to repay.”

His tone was strange.

Like he was saying it wasn’t something I needed to feel grateful for.

Still, maybe he thought giving it to the homeroom teacher was reasonable, because he nodded slightly.

“Being grateful is still being grateful!”

Strangely, the two people who shouldn’t even be that close yet both let out small sighs at the same time.

It felt like they were misunderstanding something.

But before I could ask, Yoo Hanseong spoke.

“Alright. If that’s how you feel. Anyway, Jin Hari. Come talk to me for a moment.”

“Huh? Why?”

I glanced at Lee Haesol, and she quietly observed us before making a decision and nodding.

“I’ll get going then.”

“Ah, okay.”

“……”

Yoo Hanseong didn’t respond.

A little later.

As soon as Lee Haesol left, he turned and walked ahead.

I secretly sighed and followed him.

“Why?”

I asked softly while catching my breath, but Yoo Hanseong replied without turning around,

“There’s something I want to ask you.”

Then he added,

“About your potions.”

I tensed up for a moment.

Was there something that bothered this regressor about them?

Maybe I attracted more interest than intended, or maybe I ended up being marked as someone to deal with.

In a short instant, all kinds of paranoid thoughts passed through my head and my steps slowed.

‘Maybe it’s just because of the mid-grade potion.’

That seemed reasonable.

‘It’s not like he’d covet it.’

He wouldn’t be interested in something as low as a mid-grade potion.

Or was there something else I hadn’t realized?

Yoo Hanseong stopped at the end of the hallway and slowly turned around.

The wind slipped in through the window and brushed past his silver eyes.

Then he said,

“Do you, by any chance, know something?”

“…What?”

He said it was about potions, but this came out of nowhere.

‘Ah, no way.’

I hugged the box tighter.

‘Is he talking about some future where he needs a top-grade potion…?’

But why would he ask me like that?

“What do you mean, know something? Weren’t you going to talk about potions? I thought you were going to ask me to make you a mid-grade one.”

“If I asked, would you make one for me?”

“If I could, sure, but I can’t really promise right now.”

When I answered a little dejectedly, Yoo Hanseong looked momentarily dumbfounded.

Then his eyes became complicated, and with a small sigh, he said,

“The reason you were so desperately practicing potion-making from the very start of the semester.”

He spoke quietly, in a low voice.

“That’s what I was curious about.”

What kind of logic is this?

I tilted my head, but still seemed to answer sincerely.

“The earlier and more I practice, the better…?”

“That desperately?”

“Because I’m weak, and useless. This is the only thing I can do.”

Saying it like that directly would probably help my image.

When I said it calmly, Yoo Hanseong froze.

“…You said you had a dream. Didn’t you think that dream was strange?”

A dream…

He must be talking about how I said I met Erich in a dream.

Why did the topic keep jumping like this?

“Well, I did think it was kind of extraordinary… but is there something else to it?”

“Hmm.”

He hesitated with a troubled expression, then shook his head.

“No. I think I misunderstood. Sorry.”

“Huh?”

“I’ve had a strange dream like that too. I thought yours might be the same. My bad.”

At that point, I dropped my confused look and smiled brightly.

“Oh, that’s all. It’s okay. That happens.”

“Thanks.”

He tried to end the conversation there.

But then he hesitated again and said with a slightly suspicious look,

“Jin Hari.”

“Yeah.”

“That potion.”

“Yeah. Why? Want more?”

“No, it’s the color.”

“The color?”

So it really was the color that caught his attention.

It had been bothering him since earlier.

“Purple-type potions are for mental effects, right?”

“Yeah. You know your stuff.”

I said happily, but Yoo Hanseong didn’t change his expression at all.

Instead, he slowly reached out and tapped the top of the box.

The lid lifted just a little.

“Is there another reason you chose a mental-type potion? It’s not even that versatile.”

“Ah, well…”

(continued)