Chapter 300
On Tuesday, the day after the Idol Sports Day recording, there were no music shows, and Wednesday, the day after next, was the Music Box music show day, which we were boycotting.
Today, we had pre-recorded this week’s segment last week, so we managed to get by.
If the grace didn’t activate properly, Seo Moon-gyeol would have to sit through the final broadcast from tomorrow onwards.
That couldn’t happen.
‘I must fix this no matter what.’
As I headed to Seo Moon-gyeol’s room, Kang Ji-woo, who was preparing anchovies while watching TV in the living room, grumbled loudly for me to hear.
“Our youngest only gives the massages he learned on Witube to Gyeol.”
“?”
“The old and sick eldest brother could only manage second place. How can I live with this injustice? I cook, do the laundry, and clean for him. Oh, woe is me!”
“……”
He definitely wanted me to give him a massage too.
Despite being taken aback by Kang Ji-woo’s middle-aged charm and the cuteness coming from his appearance as he lamented, stopping in the middle of removing the guts from the anchovies, I didn’t see why I couldn’t comply.
“But lately, the housekeeper does the cooking, cleaning, and laundry.”
We needed to clear things up.
We were still living in the house provided by Seo Moon-gyeol’s parents, and their overwhelming hospitality included having someone help with the household chores, big and small.
At our original dorm, someone hired by the company would come by every few days to handle the laundry and cleaning that could easily pile up due to our busy schedules.
Here, really, every day someone came to clean and polish this spacious house, leaving Kang Ji-woo with almost nothing to do except his hobby of cooking.
For reference, those anchovies were a whole box sent by Kang Ji-woo’s parents for him to process in his free time.
“Youngest, people shouldn’t be judged by their wealth!”
“What?”
“Gyeol may be the house owner, but I’m the dog owner! Remember how our Sobak and Daebak showed their bellies to you!”
Wondering why he was suddenly emphasizing strange things, I retorted, “What are you talking about! I’m not doing this to get on the homeowner’s good side!”
As I argued against being made out to be a shallow person, Gyun Seong-ha’s door suddenly opened.
His face clearly said, ‘I’m not in a good mood right now,’ and we immediately fell silent.
“What time is it now?”
“It’s 11:30.”
“Is it okay to be shouting at 11:30?”
“No, it’s not.”
“And why is Ji-woo hyung removing anchovy guts at this hour…?”
Seeing the living room covered in anchovies, Gyun Seong-ha shook his head in disbelief and decided not to say anything further.
Given that Gyun Seong-ha had been studying for the college entrance exam in his spare time, we obediently apologized for making noise.
He graciously forgave us.
Anyway, after promising to give him a massage later, I finally entered Seo Moon-gyeol’s room and saw him sleeping soundly on the bed.
Perfect.
It was better for him to be asleep during the treatment process, as I couldn’t predict what might happen.
If he woke up during it…
‘Well, nothing I can do.’
To make sure he was in a deep sleep, I waited a few more hours.
1 a.m.
A time when I was sure the other members were also asleep.
Trying to stay calm, I lightly placed my hand on Seo Moon-gyeol’s ankle, which was breathing evenly without waking up once.
After confirming that the door was well closed, I focused my thoughts on wishing Seo Moon-gyeol well, just as I had treated myself.
[Warning!]
[Using this skill on others is not possible due to the incomplete ■■ and the user’s core. The system recommends that the skill user only use the skill once they have a complete core.]
[Do you really wish to use the class skill 《Grace》 on Seo Moon-gyeol? (Future uses will not require confirmation.)]
[Y/N]
The same warning message as before appeared.
The filtering still bothered me, but there was no way for me to know.
Resolving the core’s incompleteness was currently a difficult issue.
Life is a gamble.
Let’s go for it.
Taking a deep breath, I chose to use the skill.
I felt a blocked force flowing outwards.
‘It’s working!’
—
As new skin grows over a wound, a tingling sensation spread from my fingertips through Seo Moon-gyeol’s body, accompanied by a warmth like sunlight.
Not only that, but the latent abnormalities in Seo Moon-gyeol’s body became vividly clear to me.
‘As I thought, his knees…’
As I had heard before, it wasn’t an immediate issue, but if left untreated, the pain would eventually surpass that of his ankles and torment Seo Moon-gyeol severely.
Due to the intense practice and high-level choreography, his overall joint condition was not good, not just his knees.
Doing this made me feel like a quack doctor.
However, that idle thought didn’t last long.
I soon realized that the energy being consumed was not normal for something that would have ended quickly if I were treating myself.
As time passed, I had to squeeze out the energy from deep within my body, from an organ or component known as the core, to heal Seo Moon-gyeol.
‘Ugh, my head…’
A severe headache struck, as if glass shattered inside my head.
With a ringing in my ears, I felt nauseous.
[Warning! Physical strength has reached a dangerous level!]
Physical strength?
I hurriedly opened my status window without taking my hand off Seo Moon-gyeol, as the treatment was not yet complete.
|■■| On Raon
Level: 41 Experience: 65.60%
HP: 1/10 Fatigue: 60
Stamina: 9 Strength: 48 Agility: 908
(omitted)
I cursed out loud in shock.
‘My stamina is at 9?’
I always complained about being weak, but hadn’t it been over 100 when I last checked?
Anyway, it had never been in the single digits.
Now that I thought about it, my strength and agility had also decreased slightly.
Then.
Right before my eyes, my stamina dropped from 9 to 8.
“!”
No way…
Even with my throbbing head, it wasn’t hard to realize why my stamina stat had always been particularly weak.
Every time I used the grace, my stamina stat was consumed.
As I slowly chipped away at it each time I healed, no matter how many stat points I invested, it remained stagnant.
All this time, I had assumed that the cost of grace was something mental.
In most game settings, healer stats are usually linked to mental power.
Plus, after using grace, my concentration would sometimes waver, or I’d get a slight headache, which naturally led me to think that way.
But since it didn’t significantly affect my daily life, I thought I could just deal with it this time too.
Who would’ve thought grace actually consumed my stamina?
‘I should’ve checked my status window more often.’
In an attempt to avoid thinking of this place as a game, I had left stat investment to Larry and lived as if such systems almost didn’t exist, which resulted in this kind of mess.
‘Did Larry know about this?’
Since he managed my stats, it would be strange if he didn’t know.
Yet he still suggested I become a healer.
“Ugh…”
Unfortunately, I didn’t have the strength to be angry at someone who wasn’t present.
During this time, my stamina stat continued to decrease, chilling my spine.
Whether it was HP or stamina, reaching zero would not end well.
Originally, I had planned to heal his knees all at once today, but given the rate at which my stamina was dropping, I’d be the one to collapse first.
Then, poor Seo Moon-gyeol would wake up to the horrifying sight of a corpse, and Orca would turn into Sarca, making the world once again reflect on the meaning of beauty dying young…
Just as I was about to lose myself in these idle thoughts, a warning message popped up when my stamina fell to 5, and I felt something metallic rise up from my throat.
Whatever it was, it was hard to swallow, so I urgently turned my head and spat with a dry cough.
“!”
Dark blood splattered on the clean floor.
As I lowered my head, I realized belatedly that blood was also dripping from my nose.
‘This is insane.’
Feeling like I was going to die, I withdrew my hand as soon as I confirmed that the ankle was nearly healed.
It wasn’t perfect, so it might feel a bit unnatural for a while, but at least it wouldn’t hinder normal movement.
I grabbed a few tissues and wiped my face, then cleaned the floor.
During this, I had to spit out more dark blood into tissues while pinching my nose.
My head hurt beyond the point of pain, like the dizziness of oxygen deprivation.
—
It was an immense relief that Seo Moon-gyeol remained comfortably asleep during all this chaos.
Had he been awake, it would’ve been like filming a live-action horror movie…
“!”
I almost screamed, but I bit my tongue to suppress it.
At some point, Seo Moon-gyeol had turned to look at me.
“……”
Why are you awake!
Go back to sleep!
“……”
His gaze was unfocused, and he said nothing, as if he were trying to determine in his dazed state whether this was a dream or reality.
I couldn’t decide whether to appreciate Seo Moon-gyeol’s obliviousness in such a situation or to worry about his excessive cluelessness.