I Level Up With In-app Purchases

I Raise With In-app Purchases – 35

EP.35 Opened the Door (4)

“Damn it. She was pretending to be fine with this kind of injury?”

I called her a madwoman, and she really acted like one.

“What kind of scenario doesn’t give her a moment’s rest?!”

Fran’s scenario had progressed much faster than I had anticipated. I didn’t expect her stomach to already be pierced. It seemed like she had wrapped it with a bandage, but having been out in the rain for so long while in pain, it was inevitable that things would go wrong.

“Did you even try to treat this?!”

Her ability was to heal wounds, so why had she neglected her own? The dark red bloodstains on the bandage indicated that the situation was dire. I unwrapped the bandage to check the wound.

“She did try to heal it, but she didn’t have enough strength to finish the job.”

Perhaps due to the hasty treatment, the wound seemed to have reopened from her ignoring the pain and moving around. Given that she was unconscious, it was clear she was exhausted.

‘If things went according to the scenario, it makes sense. She must have used a lot of strength to escape from the Church.’

No matter how extraordinary an awakened individual is, it would have been difficult for a healer like her to easily defeat dozens of young men. With the mental pressure and a pierced stomach, focusing on the battle itself would have been hard, and harming the Church members would have been even harder, leaving her in a desperate situation.

‘It’s obvious. The situation was too unfavorable.’

Fran didn’t want to harm the Church, but the Church wanted to harm her. Moreover, with her stomach pierced before the battle even began, her physical condition must have been poor. It was impressive that she made it here with only a stomach wound and no other major injuries.

‘Or maybe she used up all her strength healing other wounds, leaving only the stomach wound untreated?’

The wound on her stomach was so severe that it might have been the only one left.

“I need to start treating her.”

Coming to me when she was injured was the right decision. My inventory was stocked with various health recovery items.

‘If I had known earlier, I would have put a health potion in the soup. She has an unnecessarily high tolerance for pain…’

It was surprising that I hadn’t noticed she was in pain while she was eating the soup. I opened Fran’s mouth and poured a health potion inside.

– Gulp, gulp. –

As she struggled to swallow the potion, the gaping wound in her stomach visibly began to heal. However, her pale complexion remained unchanged. She must have lost a significant amount of blood. All I could do now was wait for her strength to recover over time.

“Looks like I’ll be playing nurse for a while.”

Expecting a mercenary to nurse someone back to health—what a cheeky woman.

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“Ugh!”

Fran, suddenly wide awake, tried to sit up in bed but winced in pain from her abdominal wound, letting out a groan.

“Are you awake?”

I spoke to her in a calm voice, despite my internal panic at seeing her open her eyes.

“..Ah.. mister?”

Recognizing my voice, Fran looked at me.

“Yes, it’s me.”

Fran regained consciousness the following afternoon. She had been running a high fever for a long time, but thanks to the continuous administration of health potions, she had regained much of her strength. The problem was that she had been plagued by nightmares all night. Given the traumatic events she had experienced, it wasn’t surprising that she had such dreams. She whimpered like a lost puppy looking for its mother, making it impossible for me to sleep, so I spent the night wide awake.

“You scared me when you suddenly collapsed.”

It wasn’t the most considerate thing to say to someone who had just regained consciousness, but I deliberately spoke with a bit of anger.

“Did I collapse?”

“Yes, you did. Next time you get hurt, tell me right away. Don’t scare me like that.”

“Yes… I’m sorry.”

I didn’t want to keep making an injured person apologize, so I told her to stay in bed and rest a bit longer.

“I’m cleaning up a room for you right now. Starting tomorrow, you can sleep there. It’s smaller than this room, but I hope you understand.”

“My own room?!”

“Did you think I’d keep an unmarried girl in my bed?”

I wondered what kind of person she thought I was.

“I feel like I’m being too much of a burden…”

“I said you could stay for a year or two, but you’ll probably apply for a dormitory once the break is over. Until then, stay here without feeling burdened.”

Getting stabbed in the stomach meant Fran had turned against the Church leader. Returning to the Church in this state would be akin to a death sentence, and the academy dormitory would be her only safe haven. Until then, she could stay at my place.

“…Thank you.”

“By the way, who did that to you?”

“Pardon?”

“Your stomach. It wasn’t fully healed, and you were bleeding heavily.”

“!!”

Fran seemed to remember the wound on her stomach and lifted her T-shirt to check it. She was surprised to see it neatly wrapped in a new bandage.

“Did you do this, mister?”

“Yeah. The wound was deep, so it wasn’t fully healed. Your ability will be much more effective than any health potion. Make sure to heal it once you regain your strength.”

“Oh! I was so out of it that I forgot.”

It was astonishing and shocking to hear her say she forgot about a wound that would have killed an ordinary person. Then again, with a body like hers, she could survive in contaminated zones and kill monsters.

Fran used her ability to heal her stomach wound. As expected, her pale complexion regained some color.

“Ugh…”

“I told you not to get up.”

“I feel better after healing. It’s just a bit of muscle pain.”

Fran got up quite energetically.

“Should I make you some food?”

“You always offer me food whenever you see me, mister.”

That’s just how Koreans are. Asking if you’ve eaten is a common greeting.

“So, you’re not hungry?”

“No, I am hungry.”

“Thought so.”

After losing so much blood and sweating through the night, she must be very hungry.

“Take a shower and come out. I’ll have the food ready.”

It was amusing to see her wearing a bandage over a fully healed wound. I gave Fran some clothes and sent her to the bathroom, making sure to include the underwear that had dried overnight. I decided to prepare a more substantial meal to help her recover her strength, rather than just the soup I gave her yesterday.

“Thank you for the meal.”

Even though it was a late lunch, it was essentially breakfast for her. She happily chewed on the chicken. I had made samgyetang, a chicken soup boiled with medicinal herbs, which is excellent for restoring energy. She even ate the rice, which might not be familiar to her, with gusto.

After she finished eating and was lying down lazily, I asked her again.

“So, who was it?”

“Pardon?”

“Don’t play dumb. Are you really not going to tell me? It wasn’t just anyone who did this to you… Was it the Church leader who stabbed you in the stomach?”

If I didn’t push her, she would probably keep her situation to herself and try to hide it. It was exhausting to pretend I didn’t know when I already had a good idea. And I had a reason to know her situation.

“!!!!”

Fran, realizing that I already knew, clammed up.

“Judging by your expression, I was right.”

“It’s not something you’ll be happy to hear.”

“That’s for me to decide.”

“…Can I take a moment to gather my thoughts before I tell you?”

“Even if I give you time, will you be able to talk about it? People usually talk to friends or someone similar when they have worries. And I’m saying this because I already have a rough idea of your situation.”

Of course, I knew. I wasn’t even a friend to her. But I believed that I was the best person for her to open up to, given that I already knew her situation. Where else could she vent about the Church?

‘It would be like spitting in her own face.’

She wouldn’t be able to badmouth the Church, considering its image.

‘Even though her image of the Church has long since fallen.’

Fran hesitated, her lips moving several times before she finally spoke.

“…Actually, as you guessed, I went to see the Church leader. I thought I had to stop what was happening in the Church.”

“I see, you must not have heard anything good.”

“The Church leader said he didn’t know. I had my doubts, but I believed his words.”

Fran began to recount the events of that day in a calm voice. As she approached the climax of her tragic story, her voice started to tremble.

Just recalling the events must have been difficult for her. Even so, I didn’t stop Fran from speaking. Finally, she reached the part where the Church leader stabbed her.

“You didn’t kill him, did you?”

“Me, kill the Church leader?! That’s impossible!”

“That’s unfortunate. They must have been trying to kill you.”

“…..”

“Didn’t you feel betrayed?”

“They misunderstood. They thought I was trying to kill the Church leader.”

“Those people will never think it was a misunderstanding. The fact that the Church leader stabbed you means he no longer trusts you.”

Someone who had been imprisoned suddenly showed up in a room alone. A paranoid Church leader would naturally think she came to harm him.

‘People see what they want to see.’

To the Church leader, Fran was a threat. If an awakened individual like Fran betrayed him, it could bring down the Church.

‘As long as he believed he could control Fran, he wasn’t afraid. She must have been obedient.’

But Fran rebelled? That would have been unexpected. A single act of defiance meant it could happen again anytime. Could the Church leader trust her with a crack in their relationship?

He himself was practically a traitor. And Fran managed to escape from prison, so it wasn’t unreasonable for him to think his life was in danger.

“I wanted to clear up the misunderstanding. But the Church leader didn’t believe me. Everyone was agitated, and I couldn’t just die there.”

She fought back to survive. The difference in power between an awakened individual and ordinary people was clear, and her overwhelming strength only made them more terrified. It created a vicious cycle.

“Even though I healed them… they were still terrified. I didn’t do anything wrong. And I was already injured and bleeding!”

“So you ran away to here.”

“Did I overstep my bounds?”

“Who knows. Do you follow the Church leader because you like him, or do you follow the Church because you like it?”

“Neither. I like both the Church leader and the Church.”

This kind of thinking was probably why Fran’s true ending was so bleak and tragic.

“Even when you’re forced to choose between the two, will you stubbornly insist on both? The Church leader tried to kill you, and the Church will follow his orders. The Church you love is holding a knife to your throat.”

“I just need to clear up the misunderstanding.”

Clearing up the misunderstanding was impossible. And even if by some miracle she did, the situation wouldn’t improve.

“Even if you clear up the misunderstanding, can people who have become blinded by money return to how they were? You need to make a decision: the Church leader or the Church.”