Chapter 43

SMH 43

Swordmaster Healer – Episode 43

TL: Boko

Editor: Ren

Chapter 15 – A-rank Healer Hunter (1)

The heat subsided when September arrived. Sung Joon went out for a stroll in order to familiarize himself with the neighborhood. Rishubalt, who was invisible to others, followed behind him.

When he left his studio apartment, he was greeted by a cold breeze, rather than the heat.

“Rishubalt, is a 15% synchronization rate about the level of an A-rank Hunter?” Sung Joon asked.

A-rank Hunters, otherwise known as transcendents, was a realm that all Hunters dreamed of. Although Hunters were normally treated well, once a Hunter got to A-rank, they’d start to receive extremely favorable treatment.

Of course, there were huge differences in skill even amongst A-rank Hunters, but they still got all sorts of preferential treatment.

“What do you think about checking for yourself?” Rishubalt asked.

Sung Joon had been strolling through the neighborhood for around twenty minutes and when he was done pondering, he travelled to the Hunter Bureau.

“Mr. Kang Sung Joon! Over here!”

Sung Joon had contacted Hyun Sung in advance and Hyun Sung had waited outside the Hunter Bureau’s entrance for him. When he saw Sung Joon exit the taxi, he raised his hand and shouted.

“Thank you for coming,” Hyun Sung said.

“The preparations for the rank reexamination are ready, right?” Sung Joon asked.

Hyun Sung smiled and nodded his head.

“The examiner is waiting in the office.”

“Ok.”

“Please don’t be so anxious. I’m absolutely certain that you’ll be promoted to A-rank.”

Sung Joon and Hyun Sung conversed as they went up to the office. Just like Hyun Sung had said, the examiner was waiting for Sung Joon in the office.

He held a briefcase containing his measuring tool in one hand.

“Today, I’ll be responsible for your rank reexamination, Hunter,” he said.

“I’ll be in your care,” replied Sung Joon.

“Shall I begin immediately?”

“Please, go ahead.”

The examiner withdrew his measuring tool from his briefcase and scanned Sung Joon. Eventually, when he had finished, the results showed up on the measuring tool’s screen.

“Congratulations on becoming an A-rank Hunter,” the examiner said.

After the examiner notified them of the results, Hyun Sung clapped excessively.

“Congratulations! This is the first time I’ve seen a Hunter being promoted to A-rank only a few months after being promoted to B-rank! You’re truly amazing!” he exclaimed.

Once Hyun Sung started, the Investigation Team members who had been overseeing their work followed suit, and clapped and congratulated Sung Joon.

“We’ll reissue your hunter’s license by tomorrow.”

“I heard that it took a few days to reissue an A-rank Hunter’s license, though…” said Sung Joon.

He hadn’t heard it personally, but he had remembered reading about it in the corresponding Hunter.com top bulletin board messages.

“It would normally take a few days, yes. However, I plan to do something about it personally.”

The Hunter Bureau had permitted Hyun Sung, who was Sung Joon’s personal connection to the Bureau, a few authorities. It wouldn’t be difficult for him to prioritize the re-issuing of Sung Joon’s Hunter license.

Just as Hyun Sung had said, Sung Joon received his Hunter’s license the next day. Hyun Sung had wanted to personally deliver it to Sung Joon to gain some extra points with him, but because he’d suddenly become so busy, Sung Joon had to go to the Hunter Bureau to receive his license.

Rishubalt examined the A-rank Hunter license. Then, he looked at Sung Joon and asked, “Isn’t an A-rank Hunter quite a high level?”

Although he had learned a lot about this world, there were still many things he didn’t know about.

“You could say it’s a high level, since A-rank Hunters are only 5% of the Hunter population.”

“How amazing!”

“The levels of an A-rank Hunter are vast and divided into tiers. The country can’t mindlessly mess with the top-tier Hunters.

In the case of the Great Demon guild’s Executive Branch, Hunters like Sang Kyu and Joon Yong were the weakest of A-rank Hunters.

The term ‘transcendent’ was a suitable term for top-tier A-rank Hunters, since they could exhibit insurmountable strength.

“It seems like this country is weaker than the empire,” commented Rishubalt.

“One of the reasons is the international treaty that forbids Hunters from joining the army, but this country is also set up differently from the empire,” Sung Joon explained calmly.

“Are you going to the Dungeon Bureau?” Rishubalt asked.

Sung Joon nodded his head. The Dungeon Bureau was right next to the Hunter Bureau.

“It’s because I want to hurry and take care of the Awakening Dungeon.”

“My lord, you need to rest. You’ve been pushing yourself too much thus far,” Rishubalt said concernedly.

Mana Absorption would recover his mana and stamina, however, Sung Joon needed to recover naturally from the mental strain.

If it wasn’t for his past self’s strong will, he would’ve been extremely mentally fatigued. He had gotten the nickname, ‘Unlimited Power’ precisely because compared to other Hunters, he didn’t get physically exhausted and his dungeon clear speed was much faster. However, it wasn’t like he never got tired.

“Rest, huh…” Sung Joon said softly.

Rishubalt nodded his head and said, “That’s correct. My memories aren’t clear but I believe this Awakening Dungeon will be quite difficult. You should only attempt the dungeon in your best condition.”

Sung Joon nodded his head. It wasn’t like Rishubalt was wrong. It would be difficult to fight at his full strength if he was mentally fatigued.

“Ok, I’ll rest for a few days.”

“A wise choice,” commended Rishubalt.

Sung Joon stopped walking to the Dungeon Bureau and instead took a nearby taxi and went home to his studio apartment.

Sung Joon took a sip of water while watching people passing by through his window. He then decided to call his father, Soo Hyuk, first.

“Dad?”

“You didn’t reply to my messages, so is something wrong?” asked Soo Hyuk.

Sung Joon quickly checked his inbox. He had only just gotten the message saying that his father would be discharged in a few days.

He must’ve forgotten to check his messages.

“I must’ve forgotten to answer your messages,” he said.

“That’s a relief. You should know from seeing my message, but in a few days, I’ll be discharged from the hospital for about a week.”

The message stated that his father would be discharged for a week before they proceeded with the next treatment, and that his condition had improved a lot.

Sung Joon felt relieved at hearing Soo Hyuk’s added explanation.

“That’s a relief. When did you say you were getting discharged?”

“Friday.”

“Friday, huh…”

Sung Joon checked the calendar atop his bedside cabinet. Today was Wednesday.

“There are two days left. I’ll go to the cancer center Friday morning,” he promised.

“Ok. Sorry for troubling you.”

“As long as you get healthy, it’s alright if you trouble me more.”

Sung Joon ended the call.

A few days later, Sung Joon took a taxi and travelled to the Korean Central Hospital. Sung Joon went through the discharge procedures and returned home with his father to his studio apartment.

“Is this the place you moved to?” asked his father.

“Yes, Dad.”

“The place is nice.”

Soo Hyuk smiled, as they went through the front door and into the living space. However, he didn’t want to trouble Sung Joon, so he remained silent.

At dinnertime, the two ate together on the same table for the first time in a long time.

“Son.”

After a brief silence, Soo Hyuk spoke. Sung Joon briefly stopped eating and looked at Soo Hyuk.

“I’m thinking of visiting my hometown.”

“Your hometown?”

“Yeah. I hadn’t been able to go after I got sick.”

Sung Joon nodded his head. Ever since his father had started struggling with his cancer, he hadn’t been able to go back to his hometown. Before he had gotten sick, he remembered that his father would often visit his hometown, watch the sea, and eat sashimi.

“There’s no problem with you visiting your hometown but… Will you be alright?”

Because of Soo Hyuk’s condition, Sung Joon couldn’t help but put his father’s health first. He still remembered the day that the once healthy Soo Hyuk had suddenly collapsed.

“I’ve gotten a lot better. If you have trouble believing me, give the professor a call.”

“No, it’s alright.”

Sung Joon shook his head. He had enough faith in his father that he didn’t need to go that far. After briefly pondering over it, he opened his mouth.

“I’ll go too.”

“You too?”

“Yes.”

At any rate, he had planned to rest for a few days.

“Ok, sure.”

Was there a parent who hated visiting their hometown with their son? Soo Hyuk gladly nodded his head. The next day, Sung Joon visited the Hunter Bureau immediately.

He would be applying for a ‘vacation’.

“Are you saying that if you apply for a vacation, you won’t even be called during the outbreak of a Raid?” Rishubalt questioned.

“Yeah. You never know, there might be a Raid that occurs while I visit my hometown, so I want to apply for it beforehand. However, it won’t be easy to get it since the conditions are quite strict. Probably,” replied Sung Joon.

A ‘vacation’ was only granted when a few special conditions were met. It wasn’t easy to satisfy those conditions, so even though he had come to the Hunter Bureau, he didn’t have huge expectations.

“We’re finished processing your vacation.”

Unlike from his expectations, his ‘vacation’ was processed quickly. Sung Joon wasn’t aware, but the Hunter Bureau had already classified him as a special rookie, so they were keeping their eye on him.

If it was at all possible, they would try hard and work to accommodate him.

“I’d like to escort my father…”

Sung Joon left the Hunter Bureau and went into thought while walking back to his studio apartment. While he could take the express bus, as Soo Hyuk’s health wasn’t so good, it seemed like they’d have to stop at a lot of rest areas.

When he finished thinking, he thought of one solution.

“We can just go by taxi.”

It might cost some money but it was a straightforward solution. Also, if it was on Sung Joon’s, an A-Rank Hunter’s income, it wouldn’t be a problem taking a taxi all the way down south.

“Dad, I’m home.”

“Son, you’re back?” his father answered.

Sung Joon came back home, changed his clothes, and sat next to his father.

“Have you thought about booking an express bus?” Soo Hyuk asked.

Soo Hyuk had thought that they would definitely take an express bus. However, Sung Joon shook his head.

“No. We’ll go by taxi.”

“We’re going all the way to the southern sea by taxi? The taxi bill should be enormous, though…”

“It’s alright. You don’t have to worry about that kind of thing anymore,” Sung Joon said firmly.

Sung Joon and Soo Hyuk rode on the taxi that they had previously talked about. Eventually, the taxi that the two were riding on left Seoul.

The trip to their hometown would be a long trip that would take over four hours. Also, since they took a lot of breaks during the trip, they arrived late at night.

Their house in their hometown still hadn’t been sold. There hadn’t really been any chances to visit so it had collected a lot of dust, but it wasn’t so bad that they couldn’t live in it for now.

Since it was so late for their first day, they made do with sleeping on plastic.

The next day, Sung Joon unpacked their luggage and tried to roughly clear up the dust in the living room first, but it wasn’t as easy as he had thought it would be.

“This won’t work.”

In the end, while Soo Hyuk was sleeping, Sung Joon called for a cleaner to clean the interior of the house.

“It’s become clean,” Rishubalt said.

Sung Joon smirked.

“You’re right, Rishubalt. Life is all about outsourcing your work.”

“What does outsourcing mean?”

Rishubalt might’ve learned a lot, but he still had much to learn.

“It’s something great,” Sung Joon curtly answered and carefully opened the door to the main room.

Soo Hyuk was still fast asleep.

“Should I go and buy something to eat…?” he wondered.

Since the house had been empty for so long and they hadn’t come to visit, the refrigerator was empty. Sung Joon thought he should do some simple grocery shopping.

When he went out to the road to grab a taxi…

“I’ve detected a strong magical reaction ahead of us!” Rishubalt urgently reported.

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Sung Joon bit his lip slightly.

Parts of the sky became dyed in black and a large amount of mana spilled out, like a storm. He had been trying to avoid this, but it was happening right in front of him.

“Why, of all places, did a Raid have to occur here!?”

It was the outbreak of a Raid.