Chapter 57 -----------------------------------------------------------------
Translator: uly
Chapter: 57
Chapter Title: Healer and Healer (2)
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The battlefield where Gigant Pep lay collapsed.
Shin Chaeyoung, who had rushed over, began omnidirectional healing toward the awakeners groaning on the ground all around her.
She had tried to apprehend the strange culprit torturing an unspecified number of awakeners, but the agonized screams echoing from every direction had drawn her here instead.
"What the hell did I just see?"
Shin Chaeyoung, pouring out her Healing Factor, recalled the events with a vacant expression.
Kwa-rung!
Just as it seemed a red cloud shot down from above onto the head of Gigant Pep, which had been overwhelming the gathered awakeners.
Pang!
With a deafening explosion that shook the sky, Gigant Pep's head burst open like a popped balloon.
Chunks rained down.
Black blood poured from the shattered skull of Gigant Pep like rain. And that blood contained a vicious poison that damaged the lungs.
"Uwaaaah!"
Agonized screams erupted from all sides at once.
As Gigant Pep's blood splattered everywhere, the awakeners drenched in it screamed and rolled on the ground.
"There are… too many injured."
Shin Chaeyoung injected her Healing Factor, which had a powerful detoxifying effect on awakeners. A sweet, metallic taste of blood filled her mouth.
With so many injured and detoxification being one of the most time-consuming treatment skills, her own skin felt like it was melting from the pain.
"My bones are burning!"
"I can't breathe!"
"Save me!"
As the treatment dragged on, the injured awakeners' groans grew louder.
Some already had pale lips. If left like this, they'd really lose their lives.
-Chaeyoung, Han Manjae and Yoo Eunho are on their way. Association healers will take about 20 minutes.
She called Chohong in the situation room, but the response from the other end offered little help.
'I have to make a choice.'
Even if she poured everything into her Healing Factor, she could only fully detoxify around ten people. If she spread it thinly like this, all twenty awakeners would die.
"I'll help!"
At that moment, a clear voice mixed with a mechanical tone rang out.
It was the woman in the rabbit mask… no, One Good Deed, who made sure to do one good deed every day.
"Poisoned?"
"Didn't… run away?"
"I'm asking if they're poisoned!"
Shin Chaeyoung nodded at One Good Deed's urgent question.
"Gigant Pep's blood poison."
"Got it. Buy me a little time. I'll make a detox… no, an antidote right away."
One Good Deed hurriedly opened her bag. Inside were an acupuncture kit and vials of multicolored liquids.
"Bear with it even if it hurts."
She pulled out a syringe from the kit and drew blood from a nearby poisoned awakener.
Plop.
The blood touched by the poison coagulated like jelly the moment it was exposed to air.
One Good Deed took out a wide bowl, placed the clotted blood in it, and began mixing liquids from the vials.
Sizzle.
Finally, blending liquids from three vials produced a white mist, and the clotted blood thinned out again.
"Done!"
Shin Chaeyoung's pupils dilated as she watched.
"Wait. There's smoke."
"But the blood's clear now."
"Huh? Still…"
"It's fine."
Waving her hand, One Good Deed mixed large quantities of the liquids from the three vials into syringes.
"Starting treatment."
Before Shin Chaeyoung could respond, One Good Deed moved like lightning, injecting the fallen people.
"Huh, heuk!"
White smoke began rising from the ears and noses of those injected.
Shin Chaeyoung's eyes narrowed slightly as she watched.
"Something's wrong here."
"I told you. This isn't a regular detoxifier—it's an antidote."
"Kwaaaah!"
Shin Chaeyoung's concern became reality.
The injected awakeners spewed white steam from their bodies, then rolled on the ground screaming in agony.
"Hweeeek."
Unable to endure the pain, one awakener drew his sword from his waist and pressed it to his throat.
"No!"
One Good Deed swiftly snatched the sword away.
"Just hold on a bit! My antidote will definitely work."
"Just… kill me."
"Don't say that."
One Good Deed, who had opened her acupuncture kit, gripped a bundle of long needles.
"Hold on until the antidote kicks in."
She went around jabbing the needles into the napes of the suffering awakeners.
Their writhing bodies stiffened like mannequins.
"Kuhhh."
They felt the burning pain rack their bodies, but couldn't even twitch a finger.
"Kill me instead!"
Watching this, Shin Chaeyoung finally understood why the awakeners had refused treatment.
It traded one brush with death for a lifetime's worth of pain in a single go.
No—it was torture that forced them to cross death's doorstep again just to survive.
* * *
"Hmm."
The Heavenly Demon, observing from a ruined building, shook his head.
"That god… still enjoys her tortures."
[Heavenly Demon, what happened?]
"What do you mean?"
Nameless gazed at the Heavenly Demon's hands, still wreathed in fiery energy.
[Last time you dealt with Gigant Pep, you didn't show this level of destructive power.]
"Didn't I?"
[Please control your power from now on. If One Good Deed hadn't been in the dungeon, those awakeners below would've all perished from Gigant Pep's poison.]
"Hmm."
The Heavenly Demon, fiddling with his demon mask, narrowed his eyes.
In truth, he'd only drawn about thirty percent of his Heavenly Demon abilities as usual and fired a Heaven's Hand Wave.
Yet it erupted with maximum power, completely shattering Gigant Pep's head.
"I'll be careful."
After a moment's thought, the Heavenly Demon deployed his lightness skill toward the abandoned building with the secret passage.
* * *
Han Manjae and Yoo Eunho arrived.
Association healers would still take another hour.
In the meantime, the awakeners teetering on the brink from Gigant Pep's poison had all been saved.
Not by Shin Chaeyoung's treatment or the Association healers' help, but thanks to One Good Deed's antidote.
But the torture-like antidotal process had left some dazed, others with clumps of hair fallen out.
Some even trembled, sobbing that they'd quit being awakeners.
"What the hell happened?"
Han Manjae approached Shin Chaeyoung, who leaned against a wall with a vacant expression.
"Did the awakeners take down Gigant Pep?"
"No. A red cloud-like thing fell from the sky, and its head suddenly exploded."
"Gigant Pep's head exploded on its own?"
It made no sense. Shaking his head, Han Manjae asked again.
"What about the critical patients? You said they were poisoned by Gigant Pep."
"All treated."
"You did it, Chaeyoung?"
"No. The one in the rabbit mask."
"Rabbit mask?"
As Han Manjae blinked, Shin Chaeyoung muttered.
"The one who wore a teapot mask before and sprayed weird drugs on awakeners. Today it was a rabbit mask."
"That person was here?"
Yoo Eunho, standing beside Han Manjae, asked, and Shin Chaeyoung nodded.
"Yeah."
"Where are they?"
"Gone. Just a bit ago."
Han Manjae spoke heavily, eyeing Shin Chaeyoung's hollow gaze.
"You just let them go? After causing such a big incident?"
"It wasn't really an incident."
"What?"
"According to them, it was a drug for blood recovery and boosting strength. They just didn't know it amplified aggression as a side effect…"
"Chaeyoung. What are you saying?"
Han Manjae said sternly.
"Intent aside, making or administering drugs without permission violates medical law. It could endanger people."
Staring blankly into space, Shin Chaeyoung replied hollowly.
"But they saved lives. No one died."
"Chaeyoung!"
"I don't know anymore. What's right."
Seeing her empty eyes, Han Manjae softened his angry expression.
"What exactly happened?"
"When I was about to leave the rest area earlier…"
She took a deep breath and recounted everything to the two men.
"…In the end, that person saved the poisoned ones and vanished again. They helped people this time too."
"Chaeyoung."
Han Manjae looked straight into her confused eyes.
"You're right, of course. But if more people start treating or making drugs on their own, the victims will be the injured."
"Why?"
"Because they won't take responsibility if things go wrong."
"What about the guy in the rooftop room then?"
"What?"
Shin Chaeyoung glanced between Han Manjae and Yoo Eunho.
"He's a criminal too, but you're tolerating him. Just because he does some good deeds… Isn't it the same?"
Han Manjae and Yoo Eunho exchanged glances and shook their heads.
No words. No—Shin Chaeyoung was right.
The Special Response Team's iron rule was no mercy for criminals. Yet they were making an exception for the unregistered awakener in the rooftop room, as promised.
Because he was overwhelmingly strong and did good deeds.
"Sorry, Chaeyoung. You're right."
Han Manjae gave a bitter smile and bowed his head.
"We confused you."
Turning, he said to Yoo Eunho.
"Eunho, I'll wrap up here. You go back with Chaeyoung."
"Yeah."
Han Manjae stared at Shin Chaeyoung, walking limply with Yoo Eunho's guidance. A sudden throbbing hit his temple.
"She's right."
Shin Chaeyoung was cynical about everything, borderline pessimistic. If confusion like this continued, she'd leave the team soon.
"In the end, only one way."
Han Manjae looked up at the distant sky.
To resolve distrust, there was only one method: grasp the true nature of the distrusted directly.
"No choice but to trust that guy once."
Recalling the hulking man with flashing red eyes, Han Manjae pursed his lips.
The next day. Special Response Team villa, 5th floor conference room.
"The unregistered awakener called Heavenly Demon. Whether to make an exception is up to you, Chaeyoung."
That was the Special Response Team's conclusion in the situation room.
"Of course, you have to see and judge for yourself."
There was a condition: not reports from others, but direct assessment of Heavenly Demon.
Chohong handed Shin Chaeyoung a nano chip recording the Ice Golem incident.
"If you're not convinced, no need to discuss. Report to the Association immediately."
Shin Chaeyoung stared at the nano chip Chohong offered.
This tiny chip was the team's respect and trust shown to her. If she wasn't convinced, they wouldn't make an exception for the rooftop awakener.
'That'll cause problems again.'
Staring at the nano chip in Chohong's hand, Shin Chaeyoung narrowed her eyes.
She always stayed cool-headed, fearless.
"Got it."
Finally resolved, Shin Chaeyoung took the nano chip from Chohong.
* * *
Late Sunday afternoon.
Opening his rooftop room door, the Heavenly Demon wore a bizarre expression. No one had ever said something like this to his face before.
"Buy me a meal."
The Heavenly Demon's train of thought stalled.
'Is she insane?'
But her eyes were too clear, and they knew each other. She lived in the villa across the way.
"Hmm."
He searched for the most curt rejection, but no fitting words came.
Swallowing dry saliva, the Heavenly Demon cleared his throat and spoke.
"This lord is poorly paid."
Of all things, 'I'm broke.' He swallowed his tongue for spouting nonsense and tried again.
"Begone."
Thud.
But the woman jammed her foot in the closing door.
"Should I report you to the Association?"
"What?"
"I saw everything. You sneaking into the dungeon, mister."
The young woman, Shin Chaeyoung, placed the hologram player Chohong had given her on her palm.
Blue light spilled into the air, and with a boom, footage played of the Heavenly Demon smashing the Ice Golem.
"If I report this, you'll get fired from your job, mister. Or deported back abroad."
The Heavenly Demon stared silently at Shin Chaeyoung.
Sighing as he met her eyes, like a winter lake in a blizzard.
"No helping it."
Clasping hands behind his back, the Heavenly Demon muttered regretfully.
"The way to guard secrets since ancient times is to kil...."
[Heavenly Demon! Stop!]
Nameless, watching from behind, sprinted with all his might.
He'd spotted crimson flames—Demonic Fire Extreme Polar Flame—forming on the Heavenly Demon's clasped fingers.
Murder to silence (:殺人滅口: kill to seal the mouth). The Heavenly Demon planned the simplest way to guard his secret.
[Let's go eat!]
Nameless leaped, sticking to the Heavenly Demon's face.
[Delicious food. Expensive, tasty food.]
"What nonsense."
[Hahaha. She's your neighbor across the way. Treat her. Don't worry about money.]
Nameless pressed his round face close to the Heavenly Demon's eyes, whispering.
[Don't say a word. Just buy the meal. Heavenly Demon.]
In the Heavenly Demon's eyes, an illusion of waterfall-like sweat pouring from Nameless's round face.
[Heavenly Demon. Talk later. Please? Yeah?]
Hearing Nameless's desperately earnest whisper, the Heavenly Demon nodded with an incomprehensible look.
"Fine."
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