Chapter 18 - The Summon, Jickan
Translator: Roshi
"An animal hospital?"
"Yes."
"Why?"
He had an EX-rank heal and had never once entered a Gate, just running some small animal hospital.
For Raymond, it was incomprehensible.
"His Penalty is apparently the inability to heal his own kind. He can't heal humans."
"Ah."
"So he's running a hospital where he uses his EX-rank heal to perfectly cure any animal, no matter what disease they have or how badly they're injured."
The secretary tapped her tablet and showed him an article.
"If you look here, he recently acquired a Taming skill and treated a Monster, making it his Contract Beast. The speculation is that since he'd never entered a Gate before, the reason he's only now formed a Contract is because having a Contract Beast finally made Gate raids possible for him."
The article had a captured image of Cer rescuing a child.
"......"
Raymond looked at Jickan.
A mane shimmering with an ethereal blue light.
A massive, majestic lion.
But from its abdomen, dark energy was seeping out.
'If it's an EX-rank heal...'
Of course, there was no guarantee it could be healed.
It might be the kind of curse that healing simply didn't work on.
If that were the case, he would either have to somehow track down a new person with an S-rank Curse Removal skill.
Or pray for someone to miraculously Awaken with S-rank Curse Removal.
'For now, this is the only bet I can make.'
【Grrgh...】
Jickan wasn't just a Summon to him.
He was a comrade and friend who had been through life and death together.
If there was any way to cure Jickan's suffering.
He was prepared to pay any price.
Raymond opened his mouth, his expression steeled.
"File an entry screening request with South Korea right now, and get the private jet ready."
*
"Team Leader! A request for hunter jet entry screening just came in from the US!"
"What? Who, all of a sudden?"
For Hunters, the entry screening process was far more rigorous than for ordinary people.
And of course it was.
Hunters possessed tremendous power compared to civilians.
The level of danger varied enormously depending on what skills they had.
It wasn't as though all Hunters were good people who only raided Gates to fight the monsters invading the planet.
Plenty of them used their power to commit crimes and thought only of their own gain.
So when a Hunter entered from overseas, their purpose and length of stay had to be clearly stated, and in some cases, surveillance could be assigned.
That was why Hunters, unlike civilians, couldn't enter the country without authorization from the Hunter Management Bureau.
"It's Hunter Raymond from the Black Phoenix Guild."
"Raymond? That S-rank Summoner?"
"That's right."
Raymond was a famous Hunter whose name would be recognized not only in the US but in Korea as well.
On top of already possessing the rare summoning-type skill.
His Rank was a full S.
And not all S-ranks were created equal.
Raymond's Summon, Jickan, was known as a lion-type Summon that wielded the power of thunder, and had reportedly played a pivotal role in a recent large-scale S-rank Gate raid.
'We also suffered significant losses from the recent large-scale S-rank Gate.'
This was a worldwide trend.
In the early days of the Gate crisis, there had been Awakeners who obtained S-rank skills, and in Jeong Shin-hu's case, even an EX-rank skill.
But in comparison, S-rank Gates hadn't appeared very often.
Of course, even back then, Gate raids were never easy.
Terrifying monsters that humanity was encountering for the first time.
One wrong move and you'd be torn apart by claws or crushed by a bludgeon.
How many people could face that without even a flicker of hesitation and charge straight into battle?
Still, as Hunters gradually grew accustomed to the Gate crisis and banded together through systems like guilds to train, they had been clearing them successfully.
'The problem was that higher-rank Gates were becoming more and more frequent.'
Especially in the last year, not only had A-rank and S-rank Gates appeared in large numbers.
With never-before-seen new types of Gates popping up one after another, talk was going around that this might actually be the lead-up to the end of the world.
All sorts of nonsense was being thrown around: that 2050 would be doomsday, that humanity should invade other dimensions just like the Monsters coming out of Gates and grow stronger that way.
Anyway.
Since the recent S-rank Gate that opened in the US was even larger in scale than Korea's, the boss had reportedly been incredibly powerful.
And the one who had played a critical role there was none other than Raymond's Summon, Jickan.
'So why would someone like Raymond be coming to our country?'
It was only natural to wonder.
"Apparently, his Summon sustained a critical injury during the boss raid and still hasn't been properly healed."
"It can't be healed?"
"Correct. They thought it had been healed on-site, but a curse lingering in its body has been continuously eating away at it. So he'd like to request treatment from Hunter Jeong Shin-hu, the EX-rank healer."
"From Hunter Jeong Shin-hu?"
Come to think of it, after the S-rank Gate raid, Raymond, who had contributed the most, had given the fewest interviews.
'So that was because Jickan was injured.'
There was no need to needlessly expose a weakness to the outside world, so they had kept the fact that Jickan had been hit by a curse a secret.
But once Raymond entered Korea and met Hunter Jeong Shin-hu, word of Jickan's injury would get out one way or another.
If Shin-hu's heal could cure it, that would be great, but if not, the only thing that would spread would be rumors that the US had been weakened.
"But it's an EX-rank heal. Wouldn't it work?"
"Let's hope so. Didn't they say he even healed an S-rank vampire?"
If the treatment succeeded, it would be an enormous diplomatic gain as well.
"Go ahead and authorize the screening. I'll contact Hunter Jeong Shin-hu separately."
*
The next day.
As expected, there were even more patients than the day before.
I busily used my Restoration skill.
Busy, yes, but not tiring.
All I had to do was click, place my hand, and use the skill, and any wound or illness would heal.
'Curing diseases is seriously broken, I'm telling you.'
Among all the high-rank heals discovered so far, none could cure diseases, even if they could perfectly repair wounds.
That was also why the medical profession, which people had worried would collapse after healers appeared, was still thriving as a high-income specialty.
Though surgery had taken a hit, everything else was going strong.
In fact, many doctors were happy about it, since hiring healers for the surgical side made their jobs much easier.
Especially when a healer on standby at a major trauma center treated critical trauma patients, the rest of the staff only had to handle things like post-treatment pain management and checking for infections.
It was an era where casualties from Gates and Monsters had increased, but the survival rate for people injured in accidents or natural disasters had skyrocketed.
If my skill had been able to heal humans too, it was easy to imagine just how absurdly overpowered that would have been.
Well, as long as the Penalty system existed, that was never going to happen.
'But what if my Penalty had been, say, receiving the same amount of pain every time I healed someone? Or suffering enormous stamina drain?'
That would've been horrifying in its own way.
I was happy right now, healing these cute animals and getting healed in the heart myself.
Be grateful for what you have, Jeong Shin-hu.
"Thank you so much, Doctor! You saved our baby!"
"Don't mention it. Good thing you came in before it got worse."
Thinking those thoughts, I finished treating the last patient, a Pomeranian suffering from acute nephritis, and sent it home.
Ding!
[Your EXP has increased by 1.]
[Restoration Lv.5 (Stage 2) effect: EXP gain slightly increased.]
[You have gained an additional 0.1 EXP.]
...
[Restoration 10 consecutive successes bonus: 100 EXP gained.]
[Restoration Lv.5 (Stage 2) effect: EXP gain slightly increased.]
[You have gained an additional 10 EXP.]
The 10-success bonus came in right on time.
On top of that.
[Skill level has increased.]
[Restoration Lv.5 → Lv.6]
[Skill 'Restoration' restoration speed has slightly increased.]
[Skill 'Restoration' bonus EXP gain has slightly increased.]
With the level-up came a new notification that hadn't appeared before.
'Restoration speed?'
It was already instantaneous for animals, but for serious injuries like a Dragon Heart, the treatment definitely took quite a while.
It wasn't like I'd have many injuries like that to treat, but still, getting even a little faster couldn't hurt.
'What really matters is the EXP gain increase.'
I didn't know exactly how much it went up, but even a 1% increase would be a significant advantage.
Every little bit adds up.
Wasn't it the EXP from treating animals that had gotten me this level-up in the first place?
Of course, the massive achievement EXP from treating Serintia had a lot to do with it too...
Anyway.
Having cleanly treated the last patient and cleanly leveled up.
"It's quitting time!"
I stretched out with a big yawn.
'But why don't I hear the kkiing?'
Normally, the moment I shouted "Quitting time!" Cer would immediately go kkiing!, push open the storage room door, and come bounding out.
I carefully got up from my chair.
Then tiptoed toward the storage room.
I pressed my ear to the door.
Zzz, purrr.
The sound of Cer sleeping soundly reached my ears.
'Heh heh. He's asleep.'
I opened the door as slowly as possible, careful not to make any noise.
Thankfully, there was no creaking.
And there he was, Cer, fast asleep with the goofy-looking lion plushie hugged tightly in his arms.
'Oh my god, how cute.'
Zzz, purr.
Cer shifted slightly and nuzzled his face into the Comfort Toy.
'This little guy is going to be the death of me.'
Since the news coverage, more people had started coming in, and more of them specifically came to see Cer, but Cer never once seemed annoyed. Instead, he happily pushed the door open every time and came out wagging his tail like a propeller.
He really was a people lover.
A lot of visitors asked if they could take pictures of Cer and upload them to social media.
Honestly, in the past, I would have asked them not to post online.
I valued work-life balance, and I'd been perfectly content running a quiet little animal hospital that did decent enough business.
'But ever since I got the Dragon's Mark and my skill became a growth-type, treating animals has gotten more fun.'
All that happened each time was a ding and some EXP going up, but somehow it felt different now.
Was I just a dopamine junkie after all?
Sure, most of the time the EXP only went up by 1.
But there was the 10-success bonus, and the EXP gain efficiency had improved too.
And with future level-ups, the efficiency would only keep climbing.
In any case.
'A lot of the credit for the increased customers goes to Cer.'
Once the people who'd taken pictures of Cer started uploading them to social media, word of mouth would spread and even more people would come.
'Heh heh. While I'm at it, maybe I should take some pictures too.'
I pulled out my phone, set the camera to silent mode, and snapped a photo of Cer sleeping with the lion plushie in his arms.
Click.
No sound, but.
A smile crept across my face when I saw the result.
Okay.
For the foreseeable future, this was going to be my KakaoPal background photo. [TL: KakaoPal is a parody of KakaoTalk, Korea's dominant messaging app]
"Ssaem, aren't you heading home?"
Just then, Park Ji-yeon opened the examination room door and said that.
Kkiing?! We're going home?
Cer, who had been sound asleep, abandoned his Comfort Toy and sprang to his feet.
Oh, wait, maybe "abandoned" wasn't the right word.
He quickly picked it back up with care.
Kkiing!
"Cer looked like he was napping, so I came in to try to get some photos."
"Oh! Can you send me those photos too?"
"Sure. I'll send them over on the messenger."
"Yes!"
A photo of Cer sleeping.
It was definitely a hard picture to get for anyone other than me.
"Well, I've already tidied up, so I'll head out first!"
"Sure. Good work today, Ji-yeon-ssi."
I was about to head out with Cer myself when.
"Wh-who are you? Today's clinic hours have ended..."
Park Ji-yeon's flustered voice came from outside.
I looked out to see a Western man walking into the animal hospital with bodyguards.
"Ah, they're already here? Ji-yeon-ssi, it's fine. This is someone who said they'd be coming. You can go ahead and leave."
I'd gotten a rough idea of the situation from the call the Bureau made yesterday.
He hadn't shown up before clinic hours ended, so I'd been about to just head home.
Having at least ensured Park Ji-yeon's prompt departure, I let him inside.
"Pleasure to meet you, Hunter Jeong Shin-hu. I'm Raymond."
"Oh, your Korean is pretty good."
"I'm a fan of K-pop."
Raymond's expression didn't look great.
Anxiety. Restlessness.
He must have been deeply worried about his Summon.
"Then I'll cut to the chase and summon him right away. His size will adjust to fit the space, so you don't need to worry."
Raymond even threw in a four-character idiom and snapped his fingers. [TL: 거두절미 (cut to the chase) is a four-character Sino-Korean idiom, which is notable coming from a foreigner]
With that, a massive lion was summoned.
Whoosh!
"Wow."
Seeing him in person, the presence was incomparable to any photo on the internet.
A white lion tinged with blue light.
A Summon that commanded thunder.
Jickan's blue mane billowed with elegance.
'That's insane...'
While I stood there staring blankly at Jickan.
Kkiing...!
A whimper came from Cer beside me.
Only then did I snap out of it.
'Oh right, since it's an S-rank Summon, Cer might be scared.'
I quickly looked down at Cer to reassure him that it was okay.
"Cer?"
Far from being scared, Cer was looking up at Jickan with the brightest, most sparkling eyes I'd ever seen.
In his mouth, he still held the goofy lion plushie with care.
'Wait. The lion plushie?'
I looked back and forth between Cer, whose tail was wagging at double speed, and the massive lion Summon.
"Aha."
Day six since I'd brought Cer home.
A patient who looked just like(?) his Comfort Toy had come to visit.
*****
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