Chapter 33 – LV.Five Mage Lee Hoon – [Two]

“So how many times can you cast Lesser Heal?”

“Thirty-eight times.”

Lieutenant Colonel Lee Hoon let out a groan.

“That many?”

Seo Yun said.

“It’s thanks to my equipment. So I’d appreciate it if you didn’t take my things. The rings and clothes… and I’d also like my sword back, since it was confiscated earlier.”

Lieutenant Colonel Lee Hoon paused briefly and looked at Seo Yun’s hands.

“Let’s see.”

Lieutenant Colonel Lee Hoon fixed his gaze on the rings on Seo Yun’s fingers. As he narrowed his eyes and began muttering some kind of spell, Seo Yun thought to herself. Shit.

He’s a Lieutenant Colonel, but it seems he’s a Mage.

The spell he’s chanting now seemed to be an Appraisal Spell. A spell to check the performance of magic items—this was bad.

Once he finished chanting the spell, Lieutenant Colonel Lee Hoon spoke.

“Two rings that double spells… a gown that increases spell uses by eight times… Equipment is certainly important. So, you wanted your sword back too?”

Seo Yun had to act nonchalant. The sword she received from the chimpanzee didn’t have any function to increase spell uses. She only wanted it back purely for emergencies, but if that fact was discovered, she might lose the item forever or even get beaten up.

“Yes.”

Lieutenant Colonel Lee Hoon called a soldier and ordered him to bring the confiscated sword.

Thus, the two swords that appeared before them were stared at intently by Lieutenant Colonel Lee Hoon.

As Seo Yun tensed up expressionlessly, Lieutenant Colonel Lee Hoon held out the swords.

“These are yours, right?”

“Thank you.”

Only then did Seo Yun smile slightly. It wasn’t hard to tell he was letting it slide.

‘Looks like he’s willing to cut me some slack, after all.’

After Seo Yun fastened the two swords to her waist, the three of them continued walking.

They stopped in front of a huge tent. Lieutenant Colonel Lee Hoon frowned and said.

“This is our Medical Corps. The hygiene conditions, the state of the soldiers… if this were three years ago, the doctor would’ve slapped some sense into us…”

As soon as Seo Yun entered the tent, she understood what he meant.

The stench of blood and rot immediately assaulted her senses. And the sources of the foul odor—the patients—were lying in a row inside the tent. It seemed more accurate to say they were neglected.

“Doesn’t the unit have a Priest?”

In response to Seo Yun’s question, Lieutenant Colonel Lee Hoon answered.

“There’s exactly one, but he doesn’t have the leeway to heal everyone. He just puts out fires for the urgent cases, healing only the immediately life-threatening wounds before sending them here to the rear. So, about that, can you cast some heals on these guys?”

Seo Yun nodded.

“If you order it, of course.”

There should have been a Nursing Officer, but there was no sign of one anywhere. When she asked Lieutenant Colonel Lee Hoon, the reply came that there was no such thing here in the rear.

So, without any specific instructions on what to do, she had to act on her own. Seo Yun approached the first patient.

It was a soldier who looked to be around thirty, with bandages wrapped all over his body. She knelt before him and prayed.

As the light of healing emanated, the soldier seemed to recognize what it was. Groaning, he weakly reached out and grabbed Seo Yun’s wrist. Then he said.

“Don’t, don’t heal me.”

“I’m going to cast Heal, it doesn’t hurt.”

“Even so, don’t heal me…”

Seo Yun realized what the patient was worried about.

‘He’s probably worried about being completely cured and dragged straight back to the battlefield.’

In a voice low enough for only the soldier to hear, she whispered.

“I’ll only heal you enough so you won’t rot if left alone.”

The soldier didn’t stop her even from that.

Seo Yun asked where it hurt the most, then unwrapped the bandage to check the wound.

Pus was oozing from a bluish mark that looked like mold had bloomed. It was horrifying to see, but she didn’t mind much.

After finishing another prayer, the condition of the wound noticeably improved. After rewrapping the bandage, Lieutenant Colonel Lee Hoon, who had been watching from the tent entrance, spoke.

“You’re good at this…? Didn’t even change your expression.”

“I’ve seen worse than this. I’ve pulled out bullets embedded in bodies multiple times.”

“I thought Priests just prayed and that was it, but it’s an extreme profession. Should I call some soldiers to help you?”

“No need for that, if you could just leave…”

After sending Lieutenant Colonel Lee Hoon away, Seo Yun continued what she had just been doing. She unwrapped the patients’ bandages, checked their wounds, and only treated the ones that looked most urgent. All the unwrapped bandages were freshly rewound.

As she repeated this task, a conversation between two people outside the tent reached her ears.

“What’s your name?”

In response to Lieutenant Colonel Lee Hoon’s question, Seong Juri answered.

“Seong Juri.”

Lieutenant Colonel Lee Hoon chanted another spell, this time it seemed to be a Detection Spell. A spell to see the target character’s class and ability scores.

“Warrior, Strength 6 points… You’d be stronger than most soldiers, huh? Good. I’ll return your weapon too, so keep it with you.”

“Yes.”

“Use it to protect yourself, and protect that Priest girl over there. Remember how all the soldiers’ eyes were on her earlier?”

“Yes…”

“There are plenty of guys here who haven’t seen a woman’s face in over a year. Careless, and…”

“I’ll keep that in mind.”

Seo Yun exited the tent thirty minutes later.

“Finished? Good work.”

“Not at all.”

“So, let’s see how you handled things.”

Lieutenant Colonel Lee Hoon went inside the tent briefly and came out, then voiced his impressions.

“You seem better at this than the medics? I didn’t teach you a single thing…”

Seo Yun didn’t mention how she had taken emergency medical training as a former firefighter or anything like that. Instead of saying thank you for the compliment, she just smiled slightly.

After that, she quietly followed Lieutenant Colonel Lee Hoon.

Lieutenant Colonel Lee Hoon stopped in front of a tent. Then he said that from now on, they would be staying in that tent, and the huge tent next to it was his tent. He also told them to inform him immediately if anything happened.

After informing them of the locations of the latrine and water-fetching spot, he said.

“Come to think of it, your hair is too long. Can you even manage or dry it when it’s that long?”

Seo Yun asked expressionlessly, though inwardly delighted.

“If you don’t like how it looks, should I cut it?”

And the reply that came back disappointed her.

“Forget it. Why bother…”

He seemed to think that if a girl who had grown her hair out with effort was dragged into the army and had it cut, she’d be heartbroken.

For Seo Yun, it was unwelcome consideration. If an order to cut it had been given, she had planned to immediately cut off this long hair, but now she couldn’t.

‘I only grew it because of Oh Haengbok, anyway.’Originally, I had planned to chop it all off short because the long hair was getting in the way. But Oh Haengbok stopped me from doing so.

Oh Haengbok sternly warned the hairdresser not to cut it short. He said it looked good now and it would be a waste to cut it.

That said, I didn’t have the nerve to just take scissors and snip it all off myself. It wasn’t that I was worried about ruining my hair.

Even back then, Seo Yun was already ignoring the order not to wander around alone and was out collecting scrap. Since I was already disobeying one of the Chief’s directives, I couldn’t disobey another. If I did, it would likely be seen as outright disregarding the Chief’s authority.

So, unable to cut it as I pleased, I just let it grow. It was a rebellious act, letting it grow excessively long to provoke Oh Haengbok into finally telling me to cut it. But in doing so, for three years I only trimmed the bangs, and eventually the back grew so long it reached my thighs.

‘Anyway…’

Even thinking back on it now, it was insane. No matter how much Oh Haengbok liked to meddle in even the village’s trivial affairs, interfering with a girl’s hairstyle just didn’t make sense.

‘Unless he sees me as his own personal Barbie doll or something…’

That was one of the reasons Seo Yun suspected that orc intended to make her his wife someday.

It was a terrible thing to be dragged back into the military after already being discharged, and it was clear that men in uniform weren’t safe either, but still, thinking about that orc, maybe getting away from that village in any way was a good thing.

Of course, that wasn’t a thought I could voice aloud.

After Lieutenant Colonel Lee Hoon left, Seo Yun was left alone in the tent with Seong Juri.

For a while, Seong Juri stayed quiet, seemingly unsure what to do. Then, she suddenly looked over and asked.

“Are you okay?”

“Huh? Fucking terrible. Extremely.”

“You seemed pretty calm for that…”

Seo Yun gave a slight smile.

“If I made a face, wouldn’t the soldiers just feel like bothering me for no reason? So I’m holding it in. Besides, when we get back to the village, we’ll all be able to claim we’re military veteran high school girls…”

Seong Juri didn’t laugh at Seo Yun’s words. With a serious expression, she said.

“I’m not in the mood to laugh.”

“Sorry.”

After an awkward silence, Seong Juri muttered.

“Can we go back?”

Hearing that voice filled with anxiety, Seo Yun hesitated for a moment, then hugged her shoulders.

As Seong Juri carefully pushed her body away, Seo Yun said.

“I’ll do my best.”

And time passed, a week in the military.

Seong Juri didn’t like Seo Yun. She had felt that way since back in the village, since the day they succeeded in their Class Change and began training together.

It wasn’t resentment towards her exceptional looks. She had long realized that when someone’s appearance reaches that level, you don’t even feel jealousy. She had always just considered them a different species.

She even knew that girl was secretly trying to look out for her. So she tried to change her negative feelings towards that girl, but it didn’t work well.

It was the same now.

Seong Juri looked at Seo Yun. That girl, as she had been since the first day here, was tending to the wounded as a Priest.

“Don’t move your arm.”

“It hurts, so I can’t help it…”

Seo Yun slapped a soldier’s arm and changed the bandage wrapped around it. It was a soldier who had been bedridden since a week ago, and Seong Juri couldn’t understand why she didn’t just heal him completely and send him off at once.

Still, the soldier seemed terribly grateful. He checked the bandage on his body and spoke to Seo Yun.

“You got dragged here, right?”

“Yes.”

“Damn bastards, anyway. Has anyone messed with you since you got dragged here? Guys getting handsy because you’re pretty.”

“No. The Battalion Commander usually keeps us with him and looks after us well so they can’t do anything weird.”

“Still, some dickhead is bound to pop up eventually. If a bastard like that appears, tell them Corporal Oh Se-hoon has your back. I’ve got pull.”

Listening to that conversation, Seong Juri wanted to snap at him to stop getting handsy himself. The way he kept talking to her, it was obvious even at a glance he was interested.

And the fact that this interest might not be simply because of that face made Seong Juri angry.