I Became the Terminally Ill Character in My Friend’s Academy Novel – Chapter 6

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Translated By Arcane Translations
Translator: JayM
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How could she describe this feeling?

The sensation of her hand easily reaching a realm she couldn’t reach before no matter how hard she tried, as if a wall had been blocking her way.

The principles of movements she couldn’t understand before became instantly clear, and the energy within her body, which she couldn’t control no matter what she did, could now move freely at her will.

A sense of omnipotence, as if she could do anything, washed over her.

She burned away the crude Goblin poison within her body with a surge of energy.

Such things were no longer a problem for her.

For a brief moment, she had stepped into the same realm as her long-admired friend.

Even hundreds, no, thousands of Goblins wouldn’t be a match for her right now.

Only after reaching the state where she could truly control her body did she understand how to throw a punch.

She lightly clenched her fist.

There was no need to exert too much force.

Natural posture.

She punched her fist out straight towards the horde of small fries rushing towards her.

Simple, but powerful.

A strike faithful to the basics.

Bang.

The punch she threw made the most beautiful sound she had ever heard in her life as it cut through the air.

That single blow contained more than enough power to annihilate all the Goblins.

She stared blankly at the aftermath of her punch.

The sense of omnipotence that had enveloped her gradually faded.

Although that feeling was gone now, the sensation of that punch remained deeply etched in her mind.

She suddenly understood why his talent was A-ranked.

The power to show others the next level of their talents regardless of their current level? If not for the side effects, it would have been worthy of being S-rank.

‘Wait a minute.’

She finally remembered the situation just before.

He had used his ability on her.

That meant he had depleted his innate Qi again.

She hurriedly turned around and saw him rolling on the floor while coughing up blood.

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Fuck.

Holy shit.

This hurts so much!

It was a little better than before, but it still hurt.

At least last time, I couldn’t even thrash around because I was afraid of the pain, but this time, it wasn’t to the point where I would die from thrashing about.

Even though my soul capacity had been increased, I still received severe backlash due to using my ability again before fully recovering.

Seriously, I would have died if I had used my ability again without Resurrection…

“Are you alright!?”

“Gasp…!”

This time, it hurt a little less than before, and since I had used my talent knowing it would hurt, it was currently bearable.

“I’m not alright.”

But that didn’t mean I was okay.

“Ugh…!”

More blood came up to my throat.

“What do I do…?!”

-The Saint’s Will is moved by your good deed.-

-Recovery rate increased.-

Huh?

I thought I had to wear the ring for it to work, but it seemed to be effective just by having it in my possession.

The Saint’s Will.

An artifact that granted powerful buffs to the wearer the kinder they were, and provided necessary buffs whenever they performed a good deed.

It probably judged my actions of helping the protagonist by creating a reliable supporter for him and resolving her complex as a good deed.

The effect was minimal as if it didn’t think I was a particularly good person, but it seemed to be enough to calm my churning stomach.

I finally felt like I could live.

“I’m alright now.”

“That’s impossible.”

I said I was alright because I actually felt a bit better, but she glared at me with a disbelieving look.

Well, if someone who was rolling around and coughing up blood suddenly said, “I’m okay now~,” I wouldn’t believe them either.

But she wasn’t very scary because she was pretty.

She was really pretty.

Wasn’t it cheating to be pretty even when she was crying?

Even in this world with a relatively high number of attractive people, she would be considered exceptionally beautiful.

…Even though she experienced “Death Before Heroine Status” in the original story.

“Why did you do that?”

“What?”

“You should have run away. Did you come back because there was no exit on that side?”

“No? There was an exit, but how could I just leave you behind?”

I knew why she was acting like this, but it was time for me to play dumb.

Why? Professor Cathy knew I was a prospective academy student, and she knew the penalty of my ability.

On the other hand, as far as she knew, we just met each other while hiking, and she only claimed to be an academy professor.

What I was aiming for was making an impression on her using this information gap.

“It’s alright. I just get tired for a moment after using my ability, but I’ll recover quickly.”

Yes, right now, I was an innocent young man who hid the side effects of his power and returned to help someone.

Her expression contorted as she was already aware of the side effects of my ability, but she couldn’t say anything to call me out.

Unless she confessed that she was following me, she would want to hide the fact that she approached me while knowing who I was.

For people like her, it was more effective to approach them subtly like this rather than showing off what I knew and burdening them further.

“That… Sigh. Alright, I understand.”

As I expected, she nodded while feeling a bit guilty.

I tried to get up, but I stumbled, probably because my body hadn’t fully recovered yet.

I ended up falling into the professor’s soft embrace, but instead of being embarrassed, she looked at me with concern.

You know, looking at me with those eyes will make me feel a little guilty.

The time when I was actually about to die had passed, and my body was going to get healthier from now on, so she didn’t need to worry so much.

“Sorry, but could you help me up?”

But that was for the future, and it was just right to take advantage of what I could at the moment.

“Yes, don’t worry. We’ll definitely get you out of here.”

Now she was looking at me like I was terminally ill.

…Did I overdo it?

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After forcing the boy, who had insisted he was fine, to go to the emergency room and paying for his bill, Cathy finally returned to the Chairman’s office.

“Oh, you’re back? So, what kind of student is our Kang So-hyun?”

“He’s a good kid.”

Hmm?

The Chairman tilted her head.

First, she knew that Cathy, who always used formal language even when told to speak comfortably, using informal language now meant she had some kind of complaint, a cute protest. Second, the aura Cathy was now emitting had changed slightly.

She decided to ask about the more intriguing part first.

Since the other party had switched to informal speech, she would do the same as her friend.

“What’s wrong? Are you upset with me about something?”

“Leave that kid alone.”

“That kid? Kang So-hyun? Did something happen between you two?”

Cathy decided to be transparent and tell her about the dungeon incident.

She thought it would be better for her to tell her friend about what happened before things got complicated since the Chairman would find out about it anyway if she decided to investigate.

“Aha, and here I thought you had somehow improved your level in just a few hours. So that’s what happened.”

The Chairman smiled, pleased that her hunch was correct.

A power that could temporarily raise an A-rank hero to the S-rank level, and judging by Cathy’s state, even though the power had disappeared, the enlightenment didn’t completely vanish.

Perhaps, if his ability was utilized well, it might be possible to intentionally increase the number of S-ranks.

“No. Don’t even think about it.”

“Hmm?”

Why was her dear friend being so prickly?

“I told you, he’s a really good kid. He could have escaped from the dungeon, but he came back and used his ability on me. He smiled and pretended he wasn’t in pain, even though he knew he could have died. You can’t ask a kid like that to use his remaining lifespan for others.”

“Well…”

The Chairman was actually suspicious of the part about him coming back and using his ability.

Her dear friend Cathy tended to see people in a too bright and beautiful light.

On the other hand, the Chairman, having lived for a long time, had become more distrustful.

It might be a stretch, but what if he had information about the dungeon from the beginning and used Cathy when she appeared?

Or what if he had pocketed the dungeon’s rewards during the short time he had disappeared?

Above all, his background really bothered her.

His frail body, kind nature, and the near-death experience.

“Does he resemble your younger brother?”

Cathy’s expression hardened for a moment.

She had thought her friend was already over it, but it seemed like talking about her deceased brother was still a taboo.

“You know what, I hadn’t thought about it before, but he does kind of resemble him a bit. Kind and frail.”

‘Oops, I think I went too far.’

She did ask Cathy to follow him, but how could he have known about it and then specifically use Cathy for the dungeon?

It didn’t make sense.

She had already thoroughly investigated him, but there was no information about him being that intelligent, and there seemed to be no secrets surrounding his birth or upbringing.

Her intuition was usually good, but it wasn’t always accurate.

It was probably just a coincidence that he resembled her friend’s younger brother.

Feeling apologetic towards Cathy, she changed the subject.

“Alright, I don’t want to see a prospective academy student die from using his ability either, so you don’t need to worry.”

Fortunately, Cathy’s expression softened quickly after she said that.

“You promise, right?”

“Well…”

“Hey…!”

She could have just made the promise, but being apologetic was just one thing. She just liked teasing Cathy too much.

Still, it was her friend’s request, so even if it seemed interesting, she wouldn’t bother Kang So-hyun too much.

Thinking that, the Chairman gently patted the head of her cute, pouting friend.

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Wow.

A hospital bed could be this fluffy?

Was that even possible?

I seem to recall hearing that using too soft a mattress in a hospital could cause secondary injuries, but that didn’t seem to apply in this fictional world.

Or maybe it was because I had been hospitalized despite having no external injuries.

I looked at the ring I obtained today and rolled it around in my hand.

“It’s definitely effective.”

It was supposed to increase healing, and not only were my internal injuries healed, but the minor scratches I got from climbing the mountain had almost completely disappeared.

My innate Qi was also steadily recovering, so from tomorrow onward, I should be upgraded from being super frail to just being clumsy, right?

“I really hope so.”

It wasn’t very pleasant to be clumsy when I had to enter the academy next month, which was teeming with young and inexperienced superhumans.

“Having only Professor Cathy as my insurance is a bit unsettling.”

Well, despite some lingering anxieties, I was able to start this life off well enough.

At least I wasn’t in immediate danger of dying anymore.

There were no complaints about me interfering with the setting, so this was a huge success in my book.

-Confirmed interference with the story by stealing a specific character’s fortuitous encounter.-

Ah, shit. That’s right. Saying something like that in a web novel was an instant flag.

-However, confirmed that the character has little influence on the main story.-

-Overlooking it this time.-

“Thanks a lot. Really.”

Honestly, I wasn’t confident I could survive if a dungeon suddenly appeared here and collapsed the hospital building.

-Yes, thank you always.-

…?

What? Was that a joke?

I waited to see if there was anything else, but no other response came.

What the…

-Ring ring.

“Hmm?”

My smartphone, which I didn’t even know existed until Professor Cathy, the one who had hospitalized me, forced me to find it and enter her number, started ringing with its tacky default ringtone.

They gave one to every academy student, right?

I wondered if Cathy was calling to check on me, but it was an unknown number.

[I heard you were hospitalized?]

A woman? An unfamiliar voice.

I only knew a few voices, and it wasn’t a voice I had ever heard of before.

“Who is this?”

[…]

The person on the other end of the phone was silent for a while as if dumbfounded, but then answered in a slightly angry voice.

[So you’re going to pretend not to know me now?]

Seriously, who was this?

[Alright. You probably don’t even want to hear my greetings. I shouldn’t have called. I’m sorry.]

She said that and hung up.

“…Seriously, was it wrong to ask who it was?”

It was possible not to recognize someone’s voice, after all.

“Ah, whatever.”

I was too tired today.

I could start doing things properly tomorrow.

Hoping that Resurrection would live up to my expectations, I laid down on the bed.

…If only I had known the identity of the caller at that time, I would have just called back and apologized.

That regret, however, was something for the future.

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T/N – I foresee lots of misunderstandings about the MC being a good person from the effects of that ring. And also, it wouldn’t be a Korean novel if there wasn’t any family drama. I remember it was mentioned that the MC’s talent split his family in two and made the original So-hyun leave.

If you find any mistakes, feel free to point them out in the comments.