I Became an Unofficial Healer

“Hic! Huaaaaaaaaah! Sniff sniff!”

Luna was still burying her face in the table and crying loudly.

Luna’s long rabbit ears, which could be called the symbol of the rabbit beastkin, and her fluffy tail that was visibly trembling with sadness behind her, made it even more impossible for me to ignore her.

“Luna.”

“Hic! Ugh! Sniff! Huh…?”

When I called her name, Luna’s ears twitched! in response.
Luna sniffled and raised her head to look up at me.

“Jin…sang? Hic! Sniff! S-sorry! Sniff! W-was I… noisy? Ugh, ugh…!”

The first thing she says is an apology.
Seeing Luna apologizing despite being so sad made me feel even more sympathetic.

“Not at all. But.”

Since I couldn’t always have Luna looking up at me, I pulled up a chair and sat next to her.

“Are you okay?”

“Sniff! Ugh! I’m… f-fine! I’m fine… Hic! Sniff! You don’t need to worry.”

Even though she was clearly not okay at all, Luna was trying her best to smile through her tears, as if thinking of me.

“Luna.”

I looked straight at Luna and said.

“What happened?”

Even though I already knew, I asked for the reason.

“N-no. I’m fine… Sniff! I’m fine…”

Luna tried to say she was fine again, forcing a smile.
But that smile didn’t last long.

Perhaps an overwhelming sadness that couldn’t be suppressed rose up despite her effort to say she was fine.

“Hic, sniff! J-Jin-saaaang! Huaaaaaaah!”

Luna burst into tears, calling my name.

If I had asked a few days later or when she was a bit calmer, Luna would have just said she was fine.
But now, consumed by sadness, she couldn’t endure and was crying while calling my name.

“Luna, please tell me what happened. It’s not good to keep sadness to yourself. If I’m okay, please share it with me.”

When someone is extremely sad,
There are times when they want someone to understand their sad feelings.

And Luna noona has experienced many such sad times.
Because of that frequency, others tried to leave Luna alone.

As usual.

If left alone, she’ll get up again.
If left alone, she’ll form a party again.
If left alone, she’ll regain her energy again.

But I thought that shouldn’t be the case.

Rather, when someone is at their saddest, they want someone to at least be by their side.
After sharing, they can at least have the reassurance that there’s someone who will listen to their worries or sadness.

Leave her alone because this has happened multiple times?
Experiencing sad events multiple times would make each occurrence sadder, so why leave her alone!

If left alone like this, Luna would surely continue to hold her sadness alone.
That’s why I approached Luna like this now.

“Jin-saaaang! Sniff sniff! Lieeeen! Kaaaaal! They left meeeee!”

And when no one else approached.
Luna shared her sadness with me, the only one who approached her.

“I didn’t want to part with theeeem! Hic! Sniff! But… but we parted again. Because I’m… I’m too weak! Sniff! I just hold them back! Sniff! Everyone… everyone gets tired of me and leaves meeeee! Huaaaaaaaaah!”

For an hour, Luna continued to cry loudly and pour out her frustrations.

Because she was always just weak.
Because she had a flaw that couldn’t be fixed.
Because she couldn’t move forward.

No matter how many times, no matter how many times she got new companions.
No matter how many times, no matter how many times she formed new parties.

In the end, everyone left her side.
She would end up living as a loner for her entire life.

Buried in sadness, she cried out the worries she had been thinking about normally.

Throughout this, I didn’t say anything and just listened.

I shouldn’t interrupt.
When someone is releasing accumulated sadness.
Unnecessary words of comfort might instead make Luna blame herself more and feel sadder.

I simply stayed by her side without leaving, listening to Luna’s outpouring of emotions.

◈

Perhaps she had calmed down a bit after crying her heart out and venting her sadness.

Luna glanced at me, sniffling, and said.

“S-sniff! Sorry, Jin-sang. For making you… listen to such… unpleasant stories… Sniff.”

“It’s okay. More importantly, do you feel a bit better?”

“W-well… Sniff. Hic. Ugh…”

As expected, an hour of crying probably wasn’t enough to release all the sadness Luna had.

“Sorry. I, I… Sniff! Hic…”

Luna’s eyes were welling up with tears again.

Hmm, I shouldn’t have asked that.

At times like this… change the subject!

“Luna, aren’t you hungry?”

“H-hungry? Uh… um.”

At my words, Luna looked down at her stomach and muttered softly.

“I-I am hungry…”

Well, she would be hungry after crying for an hour.

“Then let’s go eat together.”

“T-together?”

Luna looked dazed with tears still in her eyes at my words.

At times like this, momentum is important, so I continued immediately.

“Yes. I know a place where we can eat really delicious food.”

I stood up and extended my hand to Luna.

“Let’s go.”

“Uh, th-that… I-I’m fine. I don’t need…”

Luna was trying to decline.
It seems she’s calmed down enough to have the composure to decline.

But this is exactly when I need to keep the momentum going!

“It’ll be super delicious! So come on, let’s go!”

I grabbed Luna’s wrist with a thud and pulled her up.

“Huh, huh? J-Jin-sang? I’m fine… Huh?”

“Delicious food is waiting for us!”

Ignoring Luna’s words, I took her out of the adventurer’s guild.

“J-Jin-sang. Th-that, um, well… uh…”

Luna was at a loss, repeatedly trying to speak to me but then immediately backing down.

She doesn’t want to burden me.
But she also seems reluctant to say anything to me who is acting for her sake.

Right now, Luna’s timid and kind nature actually helped.

If she had been decisive and firm, she would have surely refused, saying there was no need to go this far.

And to feed delicious food to Luna who had been crying her heart out,

Click!

Creeeeak.

I entered Miriana noona’s house.

◈

“J-Jin-sang? W-where is this?”

“This is the house of a noona I know.”

Upon entering Miriana noona’s house, Luna shrank like a wary animal in an unfamiliar place, looking around the house.

“W-weren’t we going to a restaurant?”

“We can eat something much more delicious than regular restaurant food here. Luna likes delicious food too, right?”

“Huh? I-I do like delicious things, but…”

It seems she feels very uncomfortable eating at someone else’s house rather than a restaurant.
But she’s in a situation where it would be awkward to openly refuse me after I’ve brought her this far.

I smiled brightly to help Luna feel a little more at ease and said.

“Then that’s good.”

“U-um…”

“Please sit on the sofa for now.”

“B-but it’s someone else’s house, I can’t…”

“It’s fine, come on.”

I pushed Luna’s back, forcing her to sit on the sofa.
If she kept standing, she might say she wants to leave.

And not long after,

Creeak!

“Jin-sang~ I’m home! Today I brought a super king-sized steak for Jin-sang who exercises~ Huh?”

Miriana noona, who came in with a bright smile, tilted her head when she saw Luna and me in the house.

“Welcome back, Miriana noona.”

“H-hello…”

“Y-yes. Huh?”

Miriana noona placed a bag containing food on the table between the sofas, then.

“Jin-sang, come here for a moment.”

“Yes.”

She went into her room and called me.
Of course, I immediately followed Miriana noona into the room.

As the door closed with a creak, Miriana noona immediately asked me.

“Jin-sang, what’s going on here? Why is Luna in our house?”

Miriana noona asked more in a tone of genuine confusion than accusation.

I honestly told her what had happened today.

“Well, actually… Today after gathering herbs, when I entered the adventurer’s guild, Luna was crying a lot…”

“Ah…”

Just hearing that Luna was crying, Miriana noona seemed to understand the general situation.

“Hmm? Jin-sang. Then why did you really bring her here? I told you, right? Just leave Luna alone for a few days, then approach her, and it’ll be quick.”

“I did recall your advice, but… Honestly, how could I leave her alone when she was crying like that? She was crying so sadly that even I felt heartbroken watching her.”

“Hmm~ So. Our kind-hearted Jin-sang couldn’t ignore her and comforted her?”

“Rather than comforting, I just… asked what happened and then sat next to her while she cried her heart out.”

“Is that so? You handled it well? Jin-sang, you surprisingly have a talent for charming women?”

“How is just listening to someone charming them?”

“Just listening, you say. It’s obvious that you brought her to our house to feed her something delicious because she was exhausted from crying, right? Plus, Luna thought she was going to a restaurant but came to our house instead and is feeling awkward.”

Bingo!

Miriana noona’s deduction skills are impressive.

“W-well, it’s true that she can eat something delicious here.”

At my words, Miriana noona snickered and gave me a sly look.

“But to actually bring her to my house? Jin-sang, you’re quite shameless~.”

“I-it’s the lifesaver’s privilege!”

Even I thought it was a lame excuse.