Chapter 17 - What Does This Guy Even Do?
Translator: Roshi
Hunter Management Bureau office.
"It was S-rank?"
"Yes. The sensor only went off for a brief moment, but the records show it was logged as an estimated S-rank. Considering the nearby CCTV cameras also went dead during that time frame, it seems certain it was caused by the Emission Gate."
Team Leader Heo Min-cheol let out a contemplative hum upon receiving Kim Jun-o's report.
"Then you're saying that vampire girl really was at least S-rank..."
Kim Jun-o had been on his way back from an Emission Gate inspection when the sensor briefly pointed to S-rank, and he rushed to the scene.
At first, he thought a new Gate had opened.
After all, sensors normally only activated when a new Gate was generated.
That was precisely why Emission Gates required more regular inspections.
But there was no new Gate, only traces that the Emission Gate had spat something out.
And he had been startled by the bloodstains at the scene.
Fortunately, Hunter Jeong Shin-hu was perfectly fine.
No, more than that, he had been soothing the S-rank vampire that emerged from there as if he were calming a small child.
'Well, she is a child, technically.'
Still, it was a being that came out of a Gate, yet Jeong Shin-hu showed no fear whatsoever.
Rather, because she wasn't of the same species, Jeong Shin-hu had been able to treat the injured vampire.
Thanks to that, Serintia seemed to have taken quite a liking to Jeong Shin-hu.
"Did she seem like she could be a threat to people?"
"Not as far as I could tell. I didn't observe her for very long, but on the surface, she really did look like a genuinely innocent child. Of course, the power she holds must be immense."
"We still need to be careful. Tremendous power can actually be more dangerous when placed in the hands of an innocent child."
"That's true, but..."
What Team Leader Heo Min-cheol was worried about was the binding force.
In Cer's case, he had been taken as a Contract Beast, so he couldn't disobey orders, making him safe.
Serintia had no such binding force.
But just then.
Ring ring ring!
Kim Jun-o received a phone call.
"Who's calling at this hour? We're in the middle of an important discussion..."
"It's Hunter Jeong Shin-hu-nim."
"Answer it immediately."
Kim Jun-o picked up the phone.
"Yes, yes! Hunter Jeong Shin-hu-nim. Pardon? Yes. You're saying you formed a Contract...? Yes. Understood. Thank you for letting us know."
Kim Jun-o hung up and spoke with a slightly dazed expression.
"Team Leader. He says the vampire formed a Contract with Hunter Jeong Shin-hu and then returned to her own dimension. And apparently she'll be visiting periodically to receive treatment."
"Huh... She formed a Contract?"
"Yes. Since they've already formed a Contract, and she needs to continue receiving treatment, wouldn't you say the likelihood of her harming humans is low?"
"I suppose so."
"And at this point, we have no choice but to trust Hunter Jeong Shin-hu, don't we? If we meddle carelessly and things go wrong, Hunter Jeong Shin-hu might try to terminate the Contract."
"That absolutely cannot happen! He's the nation's sole EX-rank Awakener, and didn't you say he recently obtained an S-rank skill on top of that?"
He had obtained a second skill.
Who was to say he wouldn't obtain a third?
On top of that, he was already commanding an A-rank Monster as a Contract Beast, namely Cer.
He had taken down the Trolls from the Emission Gate without any casualties and even saved a child.
He had even said that since Cer wanted to hunt, he would take charge of guarding the area going forward.
And now he had turned an S-rank vampire into an ally as well.
Given Hunter Jeong Shin-hu's disposition, he might not actively participate in Gate raids, but his assets alone would be a tremendous force.
"If you think of him as a summoner-type Hunter commanding an S-rank vampire and an A-rank Monster..."
"And Hunter Jeong Shin-hu's heal can't be used on humans, but he can use it on them anytime."
A summoner who could perfectly revive his summons over and over with an EX-rank heal, as long as they didn't die instantly.
"When you put it that way, it really is incredible."
"Exactly. The Management Bureau absolutely cannot afford to lose Hunter Jeong Shin-hu. Make sure we give him special attention."
"Yes, sir!"
And so, without him even knowing it.
Shin-hu's standing continued to rise ever higher.
*
Morning broke.
"Hwaaahm! Did you sleep well, Cer?"
Whiiine!!
Cer, who had been sleeping beside me, greeted the morning with a lick to my face.
After rolling around in bed with Cer for a bit, I came out to the living room and started preparing breakfast.
First, I pulled a hind leg cut from the meat I had been stockpiling in the freezer for Cer.
"How about hind leg today?"
Kking! Yes please!
Normally, hind leg was a tough and chewy cut, the kind you'd slice thin or simmer long and slow like boiled pork to soften up.
Whoooosh!!
Cer didn't care about any of that.
He just grilled it and ate it as-is.
Chomp chomp chomp chomp!!
Kking!
In fact, from Cer's perspective, the springy, chewy texture of hind leg seemed to be a plus.
I made a point of rotating through different cuts so he wouldn't get bored eating the same meat, and Cer seemed to enjoy that.
Kking!
Just look at that blissful expression as he chewed his meat.
How could anything be so adorable?
'He eats his nutritional kibble well too.'
Cer ate meat as his main diet and treated the nutritional kibble like snacks.
Like crackers, maybe?
He seemed to enjoy the crunchy texture well enough.
I'd been worried that eating only meat might lead to nutritional imbalance.
So it was quite reassuring that he ate a good variety of things.
"Alright then, guess I'll have my breakfast too."
First, I stir-fried the sausages I had opened yesterday while making fried rice for Serintia, tossing them with vegetables to make a sausage-vegetable stir-fry.
Then I dissolved a cube-type doenjang soup packet in hot water for an instant but piping hot bowl of doenjang soup. [TL: doenjang soup is Korean soybean paste soup]
Apparently they made it by dehydrating and compressing actual soup, and it was remarkably convenient.
"Mmm."
I ate the sausage-vegetable stir-fry alongside perfectly fluffy rice from the rice cooker.
Slurp.
And washed it down with a sip of piping hot doenjang soup.
"Ahhhh."
Warmth spread through my stomach, and a wave of contentment washed over me.
After finishing a satisfying breakfast, I played with Cer until it was time to leave for work.
"Cer, try and catch this!"
Kking!
We roughhoused until the 58-minute mark, then headed to work together with Cer.
This time, I left with a generous extra minute to spare.
"Hunter Jeong Shin-hu-nim, good morning!"
On the way to work, I heard someone greeting me from beside the Gate.
It was a Management Bureau employee.
The guy who had come with Kim Jun-o last time.
His name was Kim Young-min, if I remembered correctly?
"Good morning!!"
"Good morning!!"
At his voice, other employees came rushing out of the tent to greet me.
"Oh, hi. Good morning."
For some reason, their attitude was extremely respectful and full of energy.
Was the Bureau cracking down on the new recruits' discipline lately?
'And when did they even set up that tent?'
They had said they would be adding more personnel, but it seemed like they planned to station staff there permanently.
Round-the-clock monitoring of the Emission Gate, huh.
This kind of tedious assignment was naturally the rookies' lot, it seemed.
Well, that's just how working life goes.
'Still, they shouldn't need to worry too much about the Emission Gate anymore.'
Before it opened, our Cer could pick up the scent.
And even if, on the off chance, a Monster too strong for Cer appeared, I had the Pendant that could summon Serintia.
"Good morning, ssaem."
"Good morning, Ji-yeon ssi."
"Morning, Cer."
Kking!
Cer took his Comfort Toy from me and opened the storage room door by himself before heading inside.
Seeing his tail wag 1.5 times faster just from holding the Comfort Toy made me laugh involuntarily.
"Ssaem, the patient's ready to come in!"
The first visitor of the day was a nice easy start: a cat.
Meow...
"Hello, Doctor. Our Cheese won't eat anything and just keeps making gurgling noises from his stomach, like he has indigestion... He won't even eat his favorite Churu." [TL: Churu is a popular brand of liquid cat treats]
"Oh dear, let me take a look."
[Absolute Shield (S) has been automatically activated.]
[Durability decreased by 0.]
"Restoration."
Swoosh!
The glow of light seeped in instantaneously.
"Would you like to try giving him one now?"
Lick lick lick!
"Oh wow, he's eating! Thank you so much, Doctor!"
Meow.
Cheese looked up at me as if to say thanks while eating his Churu, then purred contentedly in his owner's arms.
"Take care, Cheese."
After seeing off the patient, I checked my Status Window.
Ding!
[EXP increased by 1.]
[Restoration Lv.5 (Stage 2) effect: EXP gain slightly increased.]
[Gained an additional 0.1 EXP.]
'Oh?'
What's this? There was an effect like this too?
It seemed that aside from Recharge, there was also a base effect that increased the amount of EXP earned.
'Then could the bonus EXP also...?'
Right now, an extra 0.1 didn't seem like much.
But if it was a 10% bonus, then the 10-success bonus EXP would come out to 110 instead.
If I were to earn the nearly 10,000 EXP I had gotten from treating Serintia right now?
The bonus alone could bring in close to 1,000.
However, since Restoration had only reached Level 5 after treating Serintia, I hadn't received the bonus at that time.
'I'll find out whether it works or not soon enough.'
As luck would have it, the next guardian brought in multiple patients.
"Doctor, they're completely out of it... I think they might have a fever. They're still just babies... Sob sob."
Inside the carrier the guardian brought in, seven tiny hamsters lay in a row.
Squeak...
Squeak...
The hamsters let out faint squeaks and squirmed weakly, or lay completely limp.
"Oh no. They're in pretty bad shape."
I started with the ones that had gone limp, placing my hand on each one in turn and using Restoration.
"Restoration."
Swoosh!
Swoosh!
The limp hamsters lifted their heads and looked around with expressions that said, 'What just happened?'
The ones that had been suffering settled into a comfortable calm, rolling around in the carrier or wobbling to their feet in search of food.
"Thank you so much, Doctor!!"
The guardian's face lit up.
"These little ones seem to have naturally weak respiratory systems. You see the wood shavings you've been using as bedding in the carrier? What you're using now is fine, but if you search online, you'll find something called dust-free bedding. It might be a bit of a hassle, but if you switch to that, they'll be much better off."
"Oh, thank you so much!"
The guardian bowed deeply and left.
Ding!
[EXP increased by 1.]
[Restoration Lv.5 (Stage 2) effect: EXP gain slightly increased.]
[Gained an additional 0.1 EXP.]
...
[Restoration 10-success bonus: gained 100 EXP.]
[Restoration Lv.5 (Stage 2) effect: EXP gain slightly increased.]
[Gained an additional 10 EXP.]
"Oh-ho!"
A full 10 percent extra, for real.
When this kind of thing stacked up, it was nothing to scoff at.
Especially the next time Serintia visited and I treated her, that's when the 10 percent bonus would really pay off.
'Then if Restoration hits Level 10, could it go up by 20 percent?'
And considering a bonus trait called Recharge had appeared this time around, there was a good chance something else would unlock at Level 10 as well.
'A heal-related trait, huh...'
In Recharge's case, it had allowed me to restore things in a field I previously couldn't.
So maybe next time, the range of things I could restore would expand again.
'Or maybe I could heal at range without having to touch the target?'
In practice, healers who fought in the field mostly healed from a distance.
If I could do that too, it would make restoring not just animals but even plants on my walks significantly more convenient.
It shouldn't ever come to this, but if Cer ever got hurt in a fight, I'd be able to heal him on the spot.
'Well, there's no guarantee I'd get a trait like that.'
For now, I just needed to keep using my heal steadily and work on leveling up.
Things had been getting busier and busier since the news coverage, so it might not take as long as I thought.
*
"I'm sorry, Raymond. It seems my heal can't treat it either."
"...Got it. Thanks for trying."
Even Merienne Shard, an S-rank healer, had to bow her head in defeat.
Once she left, Raymond sprang to his feet.
"Dammit! If even an S-rank heal can't treat it, then what the hell are we supposed to do?!"
At that, the massive lion-type summon lying to one side, Jickan, spoke to him.
【Calm down, Raymond. I'll try to purify it as much as I can... Ugh.】
Raymond Phil, America's S-rank summoner, had recently cleared an S-rank Gate in Texas.
The raid was a success, but his summon Jickan had taken a powerful dark-element attack from the boss and was left incapacitated.
An immediate heal from a guild member saved his life.
But the deeply embedded cursed wound would not heal.
And on top of that, it was slowly eating away at his body.
"Damn it... What the hell kind of situation is this..."
A curse that couldn't be treated even with an S-rank heal had never been reported before.
The Curse Removal skill, which specifically targeted curses, did exist, but unfortunately, the highest-ranked Curse Removal user they could find was only A-rank at best.
It wasn't enough to break a curse inflicted by an S-rank boss.
As Raymond watched Jickan suffer and clenched his jaw.
"Raymond-nim!"
His secretary appeared and made a report.
"There's apparently an EX-rank healer named Jeong Shin-hu in South Korea. Would you consider paying him a visit?"
"What? An EX-rank healer? What are you talking about?"
If someone like that existed, there was no way Raymond wouldn't have known about it until now.
They would have been world-famous as a healer already.
"The thing is, he's a newly Awakened individual who hasn't done any Hunter activity at all until now, so he never showed up in the database. But recently, news broke that he signed a contract with the South Korean Management Bureau. I just found out myself."
"A new Awakener? What does this guy even do that he's only showing up now?"
"Well..."
The secretary answered.
"He apparently runs a small animal hospital."
*****
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