WeTried Translations
Translator/Editor: Satori
Discord: https://dsc.gg/wetried
◈ Healers Are Not Tools ◈
Chapter 6: The Landlady's Granddaughter...?
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The woman who had appeared at my door, pounding on it, was my landlady.
I hadn’t had the slightest idea, but...
Apparently, she lived on the first floor of this five-story apartment building where Jeong Hana lived.
“Oh... I’m sorry. I’ve had a cold for the past few days, so I’ve just been lying in bed.”
“Oh dear, really? You should’ve said something! I know you’re shy, Hana, but when you live alone and get sick, you’re supposed to ask for help.”
Had she been worried because a grown young woman hadn’t left her home in over four days?
For now, the fact that Jeong Hana had a good reputation was good news for me.
Nothing would have been more annoying than having to apologize or deal with someone hating me over relationship problems I didn’t even remember.
“Anyway... Are you feeling any better?”
“Oh, yes. I’m fine now. You don’t need to worry.”
“Are you? Oh dear... Still, if you’ve been sick all on your own, I can hardly ask you to look after my granddaughter.”
The landlady shook her head and thumped her own back.
“What? Your granddaughter?”
“Hmm?”
“Oh, um... I’m sorry. Was there something I’d agreed to help you with?”
I had no idea.
There weren’t any particular conversations about it in my messages.
But I couldn’t just pretend I knew...
I’d have to use being sick as an excuse and ask her outright.
“I’ve been sick, so... my memory’s a little fuzzy.”
“Oh dear... Did you get any medicine?”
“I thought buying medicine would be a bit of a waste.”
“Goodness! If you’re sick, you need medicine. You can’t just think everything will work itself out because you’re young.”
The landlady shook her head and thumped her own back again.
“Well, now... You really don’t remember?”
“No... I’m sorry.”
“Well, you see, my granddaughter says she wants to be a pro-gamer or whatever it’s called... You really don’t remember agreeing to look after her?”
“A pro gamer?”
That was the last thing I’d expected to hear from my landlady.
* * *
The arrangement between the landlady and Jeong Hana went something like this.
The landlady had a granddaughter who was practically grown up, and she adored her.
...Wait, why did this woman look so young? I’d never even considered that she might be a grandmother.
Anyway! Her granddaughter’s name was Im Harin.
Apparently, the girl had said she wanted to become a pro gamer. After hearing that Jeong Hana was good at games, the landlady had more or less asked her for a favor.
And this wasn’t just some annoying request from the landlady.
In exchange for looking after Im Harin, Jeong Hana had apparently saved on food by receiving side dishes like kimchi, or occasionally being invited over for dinner.
“I thought you’d dropped dead, Hana. Guess you’re alive.”
Anyway, my first impression of this Im Harin wasn’t a good one.
I met her outside a convenience store near my place. Her school uniform was neat, but she didn’t exactly give off a hardworking vibe.
She didn’t look like a delinquent, but she didn’t look like a dedicated student either.
“I wasn’t feeling well.”
“Right. You should’ve stayed sick, then.”
...This kid was kind of rude.
No, forget it. Whether she was rude or scored a perfect hundred in manners wasn’t what mattered.
I still hadn’t heard which game she wanted to go pro in.
Since I genuinely remembered nothing, I’d gently tried to get some information out of the landlady. But being a grandmother, she clearly had no idea what the game was called.
Her attitude was more or less, “Oh, the girl wants to be a pro gamer or something. Just let her!”
“...You’re going to follow me again, aren’t you? Can’t you ease up on doing what Grandma asked?”
“Isn’t having me around the reason your parents aren’t giving you a hard time?”
That was something I’d learned while talking to the landlady...
Both of Im Harin’s parents worked, and they apparently weren’t paying much attention to their daughter now that she was almost an adult.
“...Ha.”
Im Harin clicked her tongue, scratched the back of her head, and took 50,000 won out of her wallet.
“I’ll give you this. Just lie to Grandma like last time.”
Oh?
From the look of things, she wasn’t actually planning to become a pro gamer.
But I didn’t know what had happened, so maybe I should feel her out.
“Like last time?”
“Why are you asking when you already know?”
“No, I was just wondering if 50,000 won would be enough.”
“Oh, for fuck’s sake...”
Im Harin openly glared at me.
“What? I have my own situation to think about. You live around here anyway.”
The landlady had told me that.
She’d even given me Harin’s apartment address, telling me to go get her if she didn’t show up after I’d waited at the convenience store for more than ten minutes.
“What are you planning to do after giving me 50,000 won? I need to know so I don’t have to worry. If your grandma or your parents catch you messing around, I could get kicked out of my place.”
“But...”
“It’s true. If I have to move somewhere else, I’ll starve.”
Im Harin gave me a sideways look, clearly annoyed.
“Hana... You seem kind of different after getting sick.”
“Yeah, I spent the whole time sick without taking any medicine because I didn’t want to waste money.”
“...Huh? Really?”
For a moment, Im Harin looked worried about me. Then she went back to glaring.
“Anyway... Last time, you took the 50,000 won, said okay, and just left.”
“Well, I almost got caught last time.”
“I’m going to a PC cafe anyway, so I won’t get caught.”
“A PC cafe? Do you actually want to become a pro gamer?”
With an unreadable expression, Im Harin neither nodded nor shook her head.
“Anyway... Are we done? I’m going to a PC cafe, so there’s no problem, right?”
“What do you mean, no problem? Let’s go together. I’ll need something to tell your grandma if she asks what we did.”
Despite sticking her lower lip way out, Im Harin didn’t push me away. She turned and started walking toward a building with a PC cafe sign.
Wait, is this going to be a problem?
I’d come straight out in what I was wearing when the landlady knocked earlier, so I wasn’t wearing a bra...?
* * *
“Ugh, why are these the only seats left...?”
Grumbling, Im Harin shoved her bag out of the way on the floor and sat at the far left of the couple seats.
Honestly, I wanted to sit somewhere else too, but there weren’t any suitable seats.
“So, what game are you going pro in?”
“...What?”
“I spent about three days in bed without taking any medicine, so my memory’s hazy.”
Im Harin gave me a look of disbelief.
“What other game would it be? Legend of League, obviously.”
Ah, so it was that one after all.
...But I couldn’t be a pro gamer in that game.
“What did I usually help you with?”
“Hana, do you seriously not remember anything?”
When I simply nodded, Im Harin put her smartphone on the wireless charger.
“Then I’m not telling you.”
“Want me to unplug your keyboard so you can’t play?”
“...Were you always like this?”
Im Harin looked incredibly surprised, but she rested her chin on her hand.
“Actually... Maybe you did always have a bit of a temper...”
“Don’t change the subject. Are you going to tell me or not?”
“You just watched me play... and told me whether I did well or not. Sometimes, when Mom, Dad, or Grandma asked, you lied for me.”
So I’d lied for her...
That explained why she was spilling everything so easily. She needed me to keep lying for her.
“So you don’t actually want to go pro?”
“...I don’t know.”
“Why don’t you know?”
“I just...”
Click, click. Im Harin fiddled with the mouse for no reason, then let out a deep sigh.
“It’s not fun.”
“Legend of League? What rank are you?”
“...I’m Diamond now because I haven’t been playing.”
Diamond was good, sure.
But considering her age, that wasn’t good enough to go pro.
“Really? What role do you play? Mid?”
Im Harin nodded as she accepted the coffee a part-timer brought over.
“Then why isn’t it fun? Didn’t you tell your parents you were going pro?”
“...Why are you asking so many questions? You’ve gotten weird since you were sick.”
“Because you can only get away with lying so many times.”
“It’s just...”
Muttering, Im Harin suddenly opened Darkwatch 2 from the desktop.
“...Playing games is more fun than studying.”
From what I could see, her account level was pretty high.
Even her profile icon was incredibly shiny.
“What rank are you in this one?”
“...Why?”
“You look pretty high-ranked.”
“Master.”
Legend of League and Darkwatch 2 had slightly different ranking systems...
But wasn’t Master still pretty high up?
“I get it. You don’t want to go pro. You just think games are more fun than studying.”
Im Harin didn’t answer.
But my words must have bothered her, because she closed Darkwatch 2 as well.
“So... Why? What? What do you want me to do? Are you going to lecture me like Mom and Dad?”
“Why would I? Just play whatever you want. I’ll stay here beside you, since I need to be able to lie and say I watched over you.”
“...Huh? Really?”
Im Harin blinked.
“I don’t have to play Legend of League or Darkwatch 2? Or Black Survival?”
“Yeah, play whatever you want. We just need to get our stories straight.”
Going pro was incredibly hard.
Even in Legend of League alone, you needed to reach at least Challenger to go pro.
I didn’t know what rank she’d been before inactivity decay dropped her down, but she didn’t strike me as being at that level.
“You mean it...?”
“What, are you worried I’ll tell your parents if you play something without ranked games?”
“...Yes. You know what Mom and Dad said. If I’m going to play games instead of studying, I should at least become a pro gamer.”
“Going pro isn’t some easy fallback option.”
To put it coldly, this was Im Harin’s life.
I didn’t have the skills to turn her into a pro gamer.
And she wasn’t exactly acting like she’d die if she couldn’t become one.
As someone who had actually been a pro, I couldn’t give her some nice-sounding, hypocritical speech about how she should at least give it a try.
“Then I want to play this today. Everyone’s streaming it lately. All the kids in my class who like games play it too.”
“What game is...?”
Humming to herself, Im Harin logged into Lost of Fantasy beside me.
《FireFrog》
【Murmur Server】
【Immortal - Warlock】
【LV.27】
“You play this too?”
“Yes, Hana. It’s really fun. Honestly, I think it’s more fun than Legend of League.”
“Right... I happen to play it too.”
“...Really? Want to play together, Hana?”
Despite her shock, Im Harin eagerly asked me to join her. Unlike my first impression, she turned out to be a cute high school girl after all.
And she was the best ranged DPS.
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