Heroine Netori

Lee Hyun-ah was furious for three reasons.

First, she had been fired from her guild last week.

"Is Guild Master Brother too harsh? Everyone makes mistakes! Why fire me based on what those women say? I'm going to get revenge!"

Lee Hyun-ah's repeated failures in dungeon raids ultimately led the guild master to cut her loose. While her skills were not lacking, the guild members' dissatisfaction had filled to the brim.

Next, her boyfriend actually welcomed this.

"What? You want me to give up being a hunter and come down? Are you kidding? You used to support my dream! Was that all a lie?!"

Her long-distance boyfriend was not happy about her solo hunter lifestyle. He wanted her to quit and return home as soon as possible. Although he was willing to move to Seoul and support her if she succeeded as a hunter, he now hoped she would give up after realizing it wouldn't happen.

Lastly, she ended up in a party with a strange healer.

"An F-rank healer? And one without any dungeon experience? Ugh... I hate myself for bringing such a person along. He's old and looks like a pig, so annoying!"

After waiting for days, she was unable to find another healer and had reluctantly formed a party, but the thought of facing him in an upcoming dungeon raid was irritating. It was absurd that an F-rank wanted to tackle a D-rank dungeon. He was just a potion substitute yet demanded so much. However, with the economics of not wasting time in F-rank dungeons, Lee Hyun-ah had no choice but to agree to tackle a D-rank dungeon.

"Seriously... if he bothers me even a little, I'll report him immediately!"

Before she joined the guild, and even after, many male hunters had hit on her because of her attractive appearance and her confident D-cup size. Despite having a boyfriend, men wouldn't leave her alone, which was enough to irritate Lee Hyun-ah. If women hunters openly rejected her accusing her of flirting, it felt even more unjust.

"I'll cut anyone down at the slightest hint!"

Lee Hyun-ah was trembling with rage, gripping her sword tightly, when someone called her from behind.

"Hello? Are you Lee Hyun-ah?"

"Hello... Yes? Are you Gam Deok-bae?"

"Yes, I'm Gam Deok-bae, an F-rank healer. Nice to meet you."

"Uh... Ah, yes! I'm Lee Hyun-ah, a D-rank swordsman. Nice to meet you!"

"What the... he's completely different? Not just better in person but like a totally different person!"

Lee Hyun-ah was surprised upon seeing Gam Deok-bae. Instead of the pig she expected from the Awakener site, he was a handsome man. His pleasant appearance and polite manner started to ease her irritation.

"But if you're F-rank, how many times can you use heal? I hope it's at least three times."

"Don't worry about that. I have an artifact."

"What?! An artifact?!"

Her previous guild had one artifact, which was the guild master's armor. It was a lower-tier artifact that healed wounds, powerful enough to let the guild master, a perennial C-rank hunter, take the exam to move up to B-rank. But now an F-rank hunter with an artifact seemed unbelievable to her.

"See this shield? It's an artifact that allowed me to awaken. Holding this, I can use heal at least twenty times."

Gam Deok-bae showed off his shield, which emitted a holy light. At first glance, it looked cheap, but it felt like a fine antique rather than a shoddy piece.

"Wow, that's amazing!"

"This isn't F-rank at all! More like a C-rank healer, right?!"

Lee Hyun-ah's irritation completely dissipated. In fact, she was excited. She had formed a party with a healer that even her former guild would find rare. Plus, he wasn’t bad looking... It seemed like they could enjoy tackling the dungeon together.

====

However, that was a misunderstanding by Lee Hyun-ah.

"Please just leave me alone!"

"Oops, I did it without thinking..."

"How many times do I have to tell you? The corpses in the dungeon disappear automatically!"

Surprisingly, Gam Deok-bae, despite being F-rank, moved well. Whether it was the artifact's effect or his own talent, he hunted monsters fearlessly even in a D-rank dungeon. However, for some reason, he kept cutting nails and claws from the dead bodies. It was pointless inside the dungeon since only the magic stones formed from the disappearing corpses needed to be collected, but Gam Deok-bae kept repeating the same actions no matter how many times he was told.

"Come on, you should use heal after the battle ends!"

"Oops, I did it without thinking..."

"How many times do I have to tell you? When you heal during battle, it draws aggro!"

Surprisingly, Gam Deok-bae's healing was of a high quality. He easily healed deep cuts and bruises from blunt instruments, which was unexpected. Although the heal felt oddly pleasant, the quality of the healing was excellent. The problem was that he kept using heals during battle, drawing aggro to himself. Despite being repeatedly hit, he quickly recovered, causing the orcs to ignore Lee Hyun-ah and attack Gam Deok-bae. As a result, Lee Hyun-ah had to work harder than usual to protect him.

***

"So, if you're a healer, stay at the back, okay?"

"Oops, I didn't realize..."

"How many times do I need to tell you? What if you get hurt leading the charge? You can't even heal yourself!"

Due to his overconfidence, Gam Deok-bae often took the lead against relatively weak monsters. Although he fought surprisingly well and hadn't been injured yet, Lee Hyun-ah couldn't help but feel anxious.

"I can though..."

"What?"@@novelbin@@

"I can heal myself. Like this."

"...???"

Gam Deok-bae wasn't lying. He created a small wound on the back of his hand and then quickly healed it using his skills. Normally, healers cannot heal themselves; self-healing is usually possible starting from B-rank, but lower-ranked healers cannot target themselves. That's why it's standard practice to have at least two healers in a party, but here was Gam Deok-bae, an F-rank healer, capable of self-healing.

"Uh... Still, it’s better to be cautious! Stay behind me!"

"That makes sense. Sorry about that."

It was a bit embarrassing, but Lee Hyun-ah was not wrong in her judgment. She thought this as she cooled her blushing face.

***

"So...?"

"It's not 'oops'—is there something else?"

"You did well... Pfft! It was a bit annoying, but we cleared it faster than usual. Good job."

"Ah... You've worked hard too, Lee Hyun-ah."

They cleared the D-rank dungeon in less than three hours, a new record for Lee Hyun-ah. Although it was one of the smaller D-rank dungeons and one they had tackled several times before, having Gam Deok-bae there made it possible to finish earlier than usual.

While Gam Deok-bae repeated beginner mistakes, making it frustrating, it turned out to be quite fun towards the end. Lee Hyun-ah found it amusing to be saying the same things to him that she used to hear when she was scolded in the guild, and it was embarrassing to think she might have looked just as clueless. And strangely, she found herself wanting to teach him things.

"Is this what it feels like to be a mentor...?"

When she thought about how her guild seniors might have felt, she began to understand their perspective.

"Do you have a magic stone collector? I've filled mine up, so I'll share some with you now."

"Uh... What's that?"

"..."

'No wonder the seniors used to swear. How can a hunter not know what a magic stone collector is?'

A sigh escaped her. She was about to burst out swearing, but seeing Gam Deok-bae's confused face, her anger faded.

'How can an old man be so naive?'

Rather than being angry, she found it laughable. Lee Hyun-ah held back her laughter while Gam Deok-bae spoke with a somewhat serious expression.

"Um... Lee Hyun-ah. I'll give you all the magic stones we collected today if you could do me a favor?"

Lee Hyun-ah's expression stiffened.

'Ah... I should've known. He's just like everyone else. Ugh...'

It was a typical pattern. Pretend to be a gentleman, but ultimately, they're all the same. She had hoped Gam Deok-bae would be different.

'Is it always just about men... I miss Min-woo...'

"Could you tutor me a bit? I don’t know a lot about things like magic stone collectors."

'...Huh?'

Gam Deok-bae grumbled as he scratched his head, overwhelmed by all the new things he had to learn. His demeanor showed no signs of ulterior motives.

'Now that I think about it, nothing inappropriate happened during the raid, did it? He didn’t leer or try any sneaky physical contact... Pfft! He’s just hard to instruct...'

'Maybe he’s different after all...'