“Kahahk, ptoo!”
Dawoon, who casually spat out the blood remaining in his mouth, was a B-rank healing ability user. In other words, a Healer.
Those who treated the wounded and helped offensive-type Espers were classified as ‘Healers’ in this novel’s world. It was a role in as high demand as Barrier Masters in guilds, but since it was a fairly commonly manifested ability, they weren’t treated as precious.
Moreover, if their rank was low on top of that, there were countless cases of them not even being able to enter guilds and being assigned to the purification team that handled monster corpses.
With such a common ability and an ambiguous rank, Dawoon should have gone to the purification team under normal circumstances. Furthermore, because his body was weak, top-tier guilds were an impossible dream.
However, Dawoon belonged to none other than Sau Guild, South Korea’s representative team. Thanks to a special rare ability he possessed besides his healing ability.
“Haah…”
With a deep sigh, Dawoon pulled out the gloves he’d stuffed into his pants pocket. However, he bent over again as nausea surged back.
At the same time, he tightly clenched his hand holding the gloves. The leather gloves he carried around were to prevent his rare ability from occasionally popping out unexpectedly.
B-rank Healer Jeong Dawoon. He was different from the common existences that were everywhere throughout the Center.
He was a Healer with a rare ability that could not only heal wounds but also transfer and carry the injured person’s pain in his body.
The so-called offensive-type Healer. Thanks to this, as a Healer, he possessed combat skills on par with offensive-type Espers, going beyond a simple support role.
Dawoon very much liked his special ability.
He would have been even more satisfied if only there weren’t the side effect of his body breaking down every time he activated the ability.
But he couldn’t complain. Not just him, but everyone with rare abilities suffered from side effects. He’d heard there were cases where organs broke down every time they used their ability and eventually had to be removed, so Dawoon thought he had it pretty good.
To begin with, Dawoon’s body was congenitally weak. Since childhood, he tired more easily than others and always lived dependent on medicine. That was why, despite having a precious rare ability, he was only rated B-rank.
—These are the settings for the character. The character named ‘Jeong Dawoon’ that I possessed a month ago.
“Ah, stop already… urk!”
As if there was still more to vomit, his stomach churned endlessly. Dawoon, who shuddered at the pain of his organs twisting and the nauseating feeling, eventually collapsed to the ground. His vision kept spinning round and round.
He wanted to hurry home and rest, but his body wasn’t cooperating at all.
“Hah… It’s not like I used my ability that much.”
He wasn’t normally this weak. If he coughed up blood like this just from knocking out one monster, he should have crossed over to the afterlife from excessive blood loss long ago.
It seemed his body had been strained because he’d used his ability while needing to rest somehow. In fact, his body had felt off since he entered the convenience store.
Dawoon rummaged through the convenience store plastic bag with trembling hands. While choosing a lunchbox and cup noodles to eat for dinner, he’d also bought painkillers. He’d bought them because the painkillers he carried as emergency medicine had just run out, but he never thought he’d be taking them right away like this.
Dawoon swallowed the pills without water and pressed hard on his fatigue-stricken eyes.
Of all the many roles, he’d possessed a character with a frail body. Was it because the name was the same?
At least it was fortunate he wasn’t the protagonist, but unfortunately, he was a supporting character with significant screen time.
Moreover, he wasn’t just any supporting character, but an existence deeply—no, filthily—entangled with the protagonist. In a lewd and explicit sense at that.
“Kuk, ptooek!”
Dawoon shuddered at the fishy taste of blood and spat out blood one last time. As if asking if there was more to come out, he tapped his chest and caught his breath for a long while.
He’d adapted to Espers using all sorts of superpowers and monsters breathing fire, but he just couldn’t get used to this nausea and pain that felt like stirring his insides with a ladle. He ended up like this every time he used his ability.
If someone asked why he didn’t just not use his ability then, he wanted to shout back that those were his thoughts exactly.
“I’m really gonna die at this rate…”
Dawoon wanted to live while conserving his rare ability as much as possible. If it was a situation where he didn’t need to step in, his heart was burning with the desire to run away appropriately and pass it off to others.
The problem was that he couldn’t do that. When people around him asked for help or someone was in danger, Dawoon’s body moved before his head. It wasn’t an area he could suppress with willpower.
It was because the habit he’d developed working as a veteran firefighter before possessing into the novel continued even after possession.
Even in the middle of pouring out hot blood, if a scream rang out, his legs moved reflexively. Just like right now.
“Kyaaah!”
He’d lost count of how many screams he’d heard—today must be quite the day. Dawoon immediately ran out toward the scream coming from the other side of the alley. Though his vision was hazy due to anemia, he launched his body forward for now.
Kieeeek!
Damn it. It wasn’t just one.
Dawoon furrowed his brow as he emerged from the alley. A monster with giant wings flapping was searching for prey in the sky. Its body was twice as large as the monster he’d knocked out earlier. It was almost the size of three dump trucks combined.
“Esper Jeong Dawoon, sir!”
Just then, the rookies came running up behind Dawoon. They must have come after hearing the scream like him while handling the situation ahead. Dawoon gave instructions to the hydrokinesis Esper first.
“You contact the Center and evacuate the citizens. Wind guy, follow me.”
The rookies swiftly acted according to Dawoon’s instructions. This time too, Dawoon rode the wind to float in the air and removed his gloves to quickly deal with the monster.
When he deliberately emitted his wavelength, the monster that detected that energy cried out noisily and charged at Dawoon.
“Wind guy, let’s change positions.”
“Yep!”
The space was too cramped to deal with that big monster. Dawoon moved positions while luring the monster with his wavelength along with Wind guy. He searched for a place with as few people as possible and no buildings to be damaged. Since the number of restoration personnel was decreasing day by day, damage had to be minimized as much as possible.
“Let’s go over there.”
As Dawoon gestured with his eyes toward an empty lot with no people, he covered his mouth again. Seeing this, Wind guy sent him a worried look.
“Are you alri— urk!”
The ability of Wind guy, who was flying through the sky with Dawoon floating in the air, wavered for a moment. The monster’s long tail was rushing toward him with enough force to smash Wind guy’s face. If Dawoon hadn’t quickly kicked him away, everything above his neck would have flown off.
“Go down first.”
Dawoon, who tilted his head, sent Wind guy a signal. Wind guy immediately descended first to the empty lot where the monster would fall. Dawoon turned his body and stretched out both arms toward the monster that had come right up close.
Kieeeek!
Ah, I don’t want to cough up blood.
Today too, contrary to his feelings, his moving body charged at the monster without a moment’s hesitation. Even while furrowing his brow in anticipation of the pain about to hit, he placed his hand on the monster’s hard shell.
He had to make contact to transfer pain. That was the only activation condition for Dawoon’s ability. When healing wounds too, he likewise had to touch the other person’s bare skin.
Kiek—!
The moment Dawoon transferred the pain stored in his body to the monster, the monster that rolled back its eyes began flapping its wings.
Due to Dawoon’s insufficient strength, he couldn’t deliver enough pain to knock it out. Instead, it only ended up stimulating it more.
“Whew—.”
Whatever little color remained on the lips of Dawoon, who bent his body to avoid the monster’s tail, completely disappeared. Dawoon tried to reach out again to attempt contact, but his convulsing hand had no strength.
To make matters worse, his head was dizzy too. Just as Dawoon was holding his throbbing head, the monster’s tail rushed toward the back of his head. From afar, Wind guy shouted to look behind him. However, to Dawoon’s ears, hazy from the headache, it only sounded like a muffled ringing.
“Dawoon hyung.”
At that moment, a familiar low voice cut through the noise filling his ears. Along with a damp and humid energy enveloping his body.
“Are you kidding me?”
The being that instantly wrapped Dawoon’s body in water appeared before his eyes. A strapping man who appeared while closing the distance excessively until their noses almost touched familiarly grabbed Dawoon’s waist. The young punk, so rude.
The man who caught and burst the monster’s tail with his bare hands while flashing blue eyes was Go Yeoul. He was the youngest Esper of Sau Guild that Dawoon belonged to.
Age twenty-one. Ability: hydrokinesis. He could manipulate liquids, become water himself, or pull off all sorts of shit using water.
“You agreed to rest at home. Is this home?”
As if it would be.
Dawoon suppressed the desire to argue and closed his eyes. Since he was here, there was no need to use his ability anymore. He could finally breathe.
“Open your eyes.”
Yeoul, who’d stuck an ice spear into the monster’s head in one shot, murmured lowly.
“I came to see you, hyung.”
So don’t close your eyes and look at me—that was what he meant. His personality really is something else.
“Yeah… thanks.”
Dawoon forcibly opened his eyes and descended to the ground while held in Yeoul’s arms. The monster, without needing confirmation, died instantly and was stuck in a corner of the empty lot.
The rookie hydrokinesis Esper who joined belatedly watched Yeoul’s ability with a blank face. Unlike himself who’d simply shot water, Yeoul froze water to create a spear powerful enough to pierce the monster’s hard shell in one blow.
It was indeed a skill befitting a member of Sau Guild, counted as one of the nation’s representative guilds. Those who used hydrokinesis so freely were extremely rare. Respect and awe appeared on the rookie’s face.
“Hey, let me go now. I can walk.”
Dawoon tried to stand on his own feet, but Yeoul never allowed it in the end. Ignoring the rookies’ fervent gazes, he only checked Dawoon’s condition.
“How much blood did you cough up?”
“I didn’t cough any up.”
When Dawoon shamelessly lied and turned his head, Yeoul reached out, parted his lips, and rubbed the inside flesh of his cheek.
“Mmph, ptoo, hey, dude!”
“You coughed up blood. Why are you lying?”
Yeoul thrust his fingertip with blood on it forward with cold eyes. Having nothing to say, Dawoon only wiped his lips. Pretending not to hear when at a disadvantage was Dawoon’s specialty.
Yeoul, who’d been quietly watching such a Dawoon, inhaled as if holding back anger.
“Hyung, what’s with you lately?”
“……”
“Please take care of your body. Like you normally do.”
Deflating his puffed chest along with an exhale, he hugged Dawoon even more tightly.
“What are you gonna do if something big happens at this rate?”
Just as Dawoon was about to feel grateful, sensing the sincerity in his worry, at the nonsense that followed, Dawoon’s heart door slammed shut.
“Or should I just make you lie down for life? So you’re comfortable, hyung.”
The crazy bastard’s bullshit was about to go past verse 2 today too. He wanted to give him a knuckle sandwich if he had his way, but right now he didn’t even have the strength to lift a finger. Just averting his gaze and pretending not to hear was all he could do.
“If you can’t move, hyung, I’ll nurse you for life. Don’t worry.”
Yeoul’s arm wrapped around Dawoon’s waist gradually tightened. Dawoon, who didn’t have the strength to push this away, only blinked his eyes with a feeling of desperation. All he wanted was to lie down on a bed. Alone, of course.
“You’re listening to me, right, hyung?”
“Yeoul, stop.”
At that moment, a familiar voice rang out from afar. The rookies who’d been watching the situation looked toward where the sound came from and froze in place.
“G-good day! Guild Leader Ryu Taeha, sir!”
Just hearing the name made Dawoon’s brow furrow involuntarily.
Guild Leader Ryu Taeha.
He was the leader of Sau Guild and the protagonist of the rated-19 BL novel <I’m Pregnant with My Hyung’s Child> that Dawoon had possessed into.
