REAPER SCANS

Mr. Magical Girl

[Translator – Kuro]

[Proofreader – ilafy]

Chapter 35. 23:59:45 (1)

The overall pointless meeting came to an end, so I made my way to the Hero Association’s accommodations to reunite with my students.

Those two had it good, getting to stay in private rooms. Other heroes who were mobilized ate muddy rations and slept on the gravel behind the barricade wall under construction.

Those girls sure were privileged. Maybe they received special treatment for being my students?

Thud— thud—

“Why isn’t it going through?” muttered the voice behind me.

‘That’s because this is an escalator and not stairs…’ I didn’t voice out my thoughts. She was going to force her way through and figure things out on her own if I let her be.

It wasn’t like I would have to pay for the escalator or wheelchair repairs if they got destroyed. In any case, I wasn’t disapproving of my students getting private rooms or anything.

Somebody had to use the empty rooms, and having them assigned to acquaintances of mine was reassuring. I knew the girls would have a good rest.

However, I was somewhat concerned that they would get too accustomed to the comfy beds and have a harder time on the upcoming battlefield. The Otherworld’s invasion would be a bloody, muddy, and dirty war after all.

Crack—

My trail of thoughts were interrupted by the sound of metal snapping.

“Did the wheelchair’s wheel just break off? What the hell are you up to?”

“Don’t worry about it, I have it under control. I can just carry the wheelchair if I need to anyway.”

Why on earth would a medic carry a wheelchair instead of pushing it around?

“You could just remove these restraints.” My arms and legs were tightly bound together in gray belts to prevent any movement. Furthermore, there were a bunch of syringes stabbing all over my body, slowly yet constantly injecting some unknown liquid into me.

I could easily break free from the restraints if I wanted to, but then the lunatic of a healer would chase after me with a bloody saw in hand.

“You’ll start running around in the name of exercise if I let you out.”

“Even I’m not that dumb. I wouldn’t do that with a shattered left hand and a missing right eye. I just want to walk on my own.” Of course, I didn’t intend to run back to the fight. I knew when to rest properly.

“Just sit back and relax. Rest your body properly. I’ll make sure you’re fully healed by the time the monsters arrive.”

I wasn’t doubting her healing ability. It’s just that the tight restraints annoyed me. 

“Fine, I’ll be in your care.” I didn’t expect that stubborn mule to listen to me in the first place, but I had to give it a shot…

Bang—!

Did the door and my wheelchair’s other wheel go flying?

“Ah, darn it. I’ll just carry you myself.”

Cling clang— Slam—!

She squeezed the scrap metal together and hurled it before picking me up in her arms, destroying the corridor wall in the process.

Someone’s room was invaded by the remains of a wheelchair, but it was up to the Association to compensate them, not us.

“Huup—” She held me in her left arm and brought out another syringe with her right, proceeding to stab my shoulder, where some strange green liquid slowly seeped in.

“You might as well…” Why would she bother using a wheelchair if things were going to end up like that anyway? Did she want to roleplay like we were at a hospital? Well, considering her personality, I wasn’t really surprised. Nothing I could say would convince her otherwise.

I stared at her face, hidden behind her gas mask. The mask’s filter had broken off, and the glass over the eyes was also cracked—a totally useless gas mask.

She was the most naïve and simple-minded person I knew, but her naivety had saved the lives of countless heroes.

“Oxymoron, would you take my girls as your students?”

“Students? Where is this coming from?”

“Only temporarily. It doesn’t have to be official. One of my students has a healing ability, but the effects aren’t very strong. I thought you could help her out.”

No matter how bad her body was at exerting mana, it was weird that Abin Han was also slow at healing herself.

As for Oxymoron, her personality and healing methods were quite odd, to say the least, but she was the best hero when it came to saving lives. The girls couldn’t ask for a better teacher than her.

“I did teach some students a few times at the Association’s request, but they all ran away, in the end,” she muttered.

‘I’m sure they would if you kept bathing in blood while tearing apart monster corpses to show them weak points.’

Due to her powers as a hero, her fighting style caused a bloodbath in any battlefield she participated in—ones even worse than mine. It was no surprise that her students were sickened and lost the will to keep learning under her.

“I just want you to train their healing, not their combat. I don’t want their fighting styles to become a weird mishmash of what you and I teach them.”

“Hm… Well, why not? It’s always better to have more talented medics to save the lives of heroes.”

Indeed. Even if the heroes lost all their limbs and their faces started melting, we could save them if they were rescued and brought back.

‘Look at me now. I also returned in such a sorry state but will soon be back on my feet,’ I thought while inspecting my bandaged body.

“Where are your students staying?” she suddenly asked.

“…I thought you were leading us to them.” I stared at her, dumbfounded.

‘Then where are we headed to? Rather, where are we right now?’

I was once again reminded not to trust Oxymoron with anything that didn’t involve healing.

* * *

Reaper Scans

Translator - Kuro

Proofreader - ilafy

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“This is your new teacher who’ll train your healing abilities.”

Oxymoron waved at the girls after placing me down on the floor. Still fully restrained, I could only lean against the wall and watch.

Since she would just be teaching them her know-how regarding healing, we gathered in my room instead of heading to the training hall.

“Her name’s Oxymoron. She’s a healing-type superhuman. She isn’t very well known due to personal circumstances, but I can vouch for her skills.”

‘Vouch for her skills and only her skills, that is,’ I quietly thought to myself.

“Nice to meet you, I’m Oxymoron. I’ll be in your care, girls.” The accomplished senior bowed to greet my students, but they were busy giving me blank stares.

“Didn’t. I. Tell. You. To. Remove. All. Your. Limiters???” Unho climbed onto my head and angrily smacked me with his paws.

“I did. That’s how I returned alive.”

The girls kept staring at me, but I was sure it wasn’t because of the mascot.

“Sunbae, can I ask you something…?”

“Go on.”

“How did you get so badly injured?”

That was the question I expected. Their master had returned half-dead after all. “I’m sure you two heard it as well, but there’s a new common enemy. My story’s enemy, to be specific.”

“That’s not what…”

I purposefully didn’t answer directly and beat around the bush. It was slightly concerning how Sihyeon stared at me quietly, but she must have had a lot on her mind too.

“Master, may I ask a question?” Sihyeon eventually asked, her hand raised.

“Go on.”

“Did you get so badly hurt because of how powerful the invading enemies are?” she grimly asked.

“But the news said that we could easily fight them off…” Flabbergasted, Abin tried to make some sense of the situation, hoping for the best-case scenario, but deep down, the two girls already realized how severe the situation was.

“Abin Han. Don’t treat this like a regular mobilization order. You’ll find yourself a rolling corpse soon enough… if you don’t take this seriously.”

“…!”

It wasn’t the ordinary regulated skirmish, where melee fighters advanced beyond the barricade as a vanguard force with ranged fighters supporting from atop the wall.

No, rather, it was going to be a bloody hellscape where soldiers and heroes were expendables who dropped dead right and left.

“Considering your ages… Do you recall how your parents reacted to the emergency sirens when you were kids?” I asked.

“Um…”

That was back in the days before the founding of the Hero Association, when the entirety of human society was still in a state of wartime emergency. During those times, one emergency siren could spell doom for all of humanity.

The invasion was a return to those dangerous times. 

“Forget all the battles you see on TV these days. Those are just unrealistic productions to entertain people. Our enemy is coming to kill us. They’ll aim for our necks whenever possible, and if they break through our line of defense, civilians will get slaughtered. This is true war.”

I broke free from my restraints and lifted the bandage covering my right eye. Or at least, what was supposed to be my right eye. 

The girls stared at the empty eye socket in my skull. Sihyeon stiffened and paled while Abin Han’s face turned blue.

“So you two need to focus and listen carefu—”

WHAM—

A furious fist slammed down my head. I soon found myself fully tied by more retraining belts and bandages, unable to budge an inch.

“I told you not to move! You need rest! Don’t touch the bandages. How many times do I have to tell you? You’ll infect the wound!”

‘Oh, right, the crazy lady is here as well,’ I thought to myself, belatedly remembering Oxymoron’s presence.

“I bet the bacteria would run away after seeing my sorry state instead of infecting me, though,” I mumbled.

“You’re my patient. My word is law!” Oxymoron’s personality fully flipped in mere moments, going from a nice older lady to a crazy doctor beating up her patients.

She was the type to be gentle in general, but she turned into a furious monster if anyone questioned her medical skills.

That time around, her outburst ended up being beneficial. The sudden shift in mood calmed my students; they started laughing.

“So even our teacher has someone he can’t beat,” Abin chuckled.

‘People need to know when not to wield their powers to maintain good relationships, Abin,’ I silently thought. “Anyways, use this opportunity to properly learn healing from her. The presence of a medic is vital on a battlefield, not just for you two, but for everyone else around you.”

“Yes!” My two students replied in unison.

I had yet to see Sihyeon’s healing magic, but surely it wouldn’t be worse than Abin’s.

“Can I teach them however I want?”

“I don’t know anything about healing, so you have free rein.”

“Alright.” The crazy healer tossed me onto the bed, still fully wrapped up like a cocoon. The girls sat on their chairs and earnestly watched their new teacher.

Soon enough, Oxymoron’s lecture began. “Healing skills don’t directly affect a fight but greatly influence the flow of a battle. The benefits can be best seen in long, drawn-out fights where injured combatants can be healed and return to the battlefield without being permanently out of action.”

Oxymoron’s lecture started out fairly standard, but I was certain she was simply repeating stuff from a textbook and not actually voicing her thoughts.

“Moreover, if a combatant can heal themselves, it allows them to maintain their position and continue fighting. Look at Haram Lee over there. He would’ve been able to fight for much longer if he could heal himself.”

‘Don’t bring me into this, geez,’ I silently remarked.

“Back in the day, every squad or platoon had at least one hero specialized in healing arts. Nowadays, it’s very rare to see this formation since heroes don’t operate in groups anymore. You two will have to heal the heroes around you. Even if you don’t have the time or leeway, a super short heal can save the life of a single person.”

Sihyeon and Abin strongly nodded, seemingly impressed by Oxymoron’s words.

“Good… Then let us move onto the practical side of the lesson.” She announced the next segment and grabbed a sinister saw that appeared in the air with her right hand, and…

Scrrrt— Thud—

…she sliced off her left hand.

The hand fell to the floor while blood burst out of the fresh cut, fully drenching her new students in front of her.

“Eh…?”

“Use your magic,” Oxymoron instructed.

I fully understood why her previous students ran away. How was someone supposed to endure such lessons? Even the older generation would’ve refused to attend more.

“Ah… Yes.”

My students weren’t your typical heroes. Even though she was swaying unsteadily from the sudden gore, Abin stood up and approached Oxymoron’s left arm to heal it.

However, despite spending two or three minutes pouring her pink mana into the wound, it showed no signs of closing. The blood kept gushing out. Abin’s healing wasn’t showing any effects.

“Stop.”

“Yes…” Feeling useless and powerless, Abin sullenly sat back down. The futility of her healing magic had just been proven before her eyes.

“I see the problem now.” Oxymoron picked up her left hand and stuck it back on her arm. Even though it wasn’t properly aligned, she rapidly yet sloppily stitched it back together.

Next, she bandaged the cut and injected a syringe into her wrist. A mere 20 seconds passed since she had started treating herself, and Oxymoron closed and opened her left hand to showcase its full restoration to Abin.

“Hm, so… what’s your name again?”

“I’m Abin Han.”

“Miss Abin Han… Were you a doctor or a nurse before? Or did you study medicine at all?”

“Yes, I studied in the department of nursing…” 

Oxymoron’s eyes narrowed. While we couldn’t see her face behind the gas mask, I was certain she was smiling. “Then forget everything you studied. It won’t be relevant to you anymore. All healing arts are powers that transcend logic and reason, whether it’s magic, a superpower, or even a martial art.”

“What?”

Oxymoron removed the bandage she had just wrapped around her left forearm, revealing a pristine wrist with no hints of being sliced through minutes prior.

The stitches were still there, but there were no other indications of an injury. Her left hand had already fully healed.

“Tell me, as a former nurse, what did you think of my surgery?”

“Um… that’s…”

“You can be honest; I won’t get mad.”

“…It was a mess. You didn’t carefully attach the nerves or the arteries at all. In fact, I’d have more criticism than praise about the surgery.”

Despite the negative evaluation, Oxymoron simply nodded with a smile. “That’s right. This is the healing power of a hero. Erase any complicated matters like arteries, nerves, or even the immune system’s rejection from your mind.”

Oxymoron’s voice got louder and more heated as she took pride in her work as the highest-ranking medic. “All you need to think about is picturing the body in its intact state; everything else is unnecessary. As long as you imagine that while healing someone, you’ll get definite results.”

“You used stitches and injections to heal yourself, Miss Oxymoron. Surely it’s got to mean something…” Trying to defend the knowledge she had learned thus far, Abin desperately tried to argue. Oxymoron’s statement was a complete contradiction to all ancient and modern medicine that took thousands of years of research to arrive at.

“The stitches come from my powers, so I don’t know if they’re different from ordinary sutures, but the injection was just plain water.”

…Huh?

“Wait, what? Are you telling me you’ve been injecting us with plain water all this time?” Sitting up on the bed, I couldn’t help but interject at the bombshell of the news.

“I told you to rest!” Oxymoron swung her arm and threw a syringe with some purple liquid inside, which landed square on my forehead.

…Why was it purple if it was just plain water?

“The syringes have water because I feel like I need it to heal people. I don’t actually know if it’s effective or if there are any side effects, but it doesn’t matter since they end up healed,” Oxymoron explained.

‘So it’s just a mental suggestion?!’ I exclaimed in my mind before passing out on the bed.

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