No, How Can an Atheist Become a Saintess!?

No, How Can an Atheist Become a Saintess!? – 17

EP.17

Chapter 2

Encounters and Opportunities (4)

After filling my stomach in the middle of the night, I returned to my room and slept soundly. Indeed, having a young and healthy body was great. If it had been in my previous life, I would have felt bloated and uncomfortable. Or, as Ria suggested, maybe my body was unusually exhausted because of the special power I’d used.

“Good morning…”

Even though I’d had a good night’s sleep, waking up in the morning didn’t exactly feel refreshing. It was March, but still a bit early to say spring had fully arrived. Yellow forsythia blooms were beginning to pop up, yet at dawn, the sun hadn’t risen fully. Being especially weak in the mornings, I found it difficult to get up before the sun had properly come up. Summer might get unbearably hot, but at least the sun would rise earlier, making it a little easier to wake up.

Honestly, this country’s weather always seemed just off in one way or another; it was kind of a hassle.

“Good mor— pffft!”

Ria, who’d gotten up and was returning my greeting, burst out with a weird sound, as if she’d been attacked by surprise.

“…What is it?”

Isn’t it generally impolite to laugh at someone’s face first thing in the morning? Wondering if I might have drooled on myself during the night, I quickly rubbed my face. Ria, realizing this wasn’t exactly the nicest thing to do, barely managed to hold back her laughter.

“Go… go check the bathroom.”

At Ria’s words, I wobbled to my feet and headed for the bathroom.

When I looked in the mirror, I was horrified.

My face was completely swollen.

Apparently, eating all those carbs late at night had been a bad idea. That explained why opening my eyes had felt like such an ordeal. …And Ria had seen me face-to-face like this. I sighed deeply, maybe I should consider cutting back on midnight ramen.

*

After a shower and forcing myself to wash up with cold water to bring down the swelling a little—not that it went away completely—I finished my morning routine. Ria and I then followed the Mother Superior to the infirmary.

Though I wasn’t formally trained in medicine, I’d seen enough patients to develop a bit of an eye for these things. As long as the patient wasn’t tainted with magic or infected with one of those strange parasitic creatures I’d encountered once before, a single treatment usually sufficed. In this case, the patient’s injuries were straightforward—just deep wounds covering his body.

I’d heard accounts from the other witnesses after I’d fainted, and it turned out that he had been patrolling just beyond the gate when a monstrous beast had suddenly appeared. The witnesses described it as “overwhelming.” The hunter, lacking real combat experience, was helpless against it.

And as luck would have it, the female hunter who had known him for a long time was right by his side. He threw himself in front of the beast to protect her, repeatedly putting his own life on the line, until his body was irreparably damaged. He held out, withstanding repeated attacks, until higher-ranking hunters arrived to drive the beast away.

Thankfully, the gate had appeared near Mount Bukhansan, along the mountain slopes. If it had been further off, he likely would have died of blood loss before reaching here. But fortunately, they’d managed to transport him to us in time.

“…Wait.”

Hold on a second.

This story sounded strangely familiar.

Not in the sense that someone here had told me about it—no, it was something more distant. Tragedies like a high-ranking monster emerging in a low-level gate, slaughtering hunters, or a powerful monster lurking in the depths of what seemed to be a low-risk gate, were sadly common. And yes, the story of a pair of lovers among hunters, each risking their life for the other, wasn’t exactly unheard of either.

Yet, even considering that, this story felt strangely familiar.

A protagonist who sacrificed himself repeatedly, his body bloodied, all to protect his childhood friend. And then, a saintess who healed that protagonist—

“Anna?”

“Oh, yes.”

Without realizing it, I’d stopped walking. The Mother Superior, who was walking ahead, looked back at me with a puzzled expression. Ria, who was walking beside me, seemed similarly curious.

“What’s wrong? Is something up?”

Ria asked.

“No, it’s nothing.”

I shook my head.

Yeah. It was probably… just a coincidence. I had no concrete proof, but I wanted to believe it was nothing.

The man’s face was mostly unrecognizable from all the injuries, so identifying him was impossible. However, amid the chaos, I had caught a faint glimpse of the woman by his side. Unlike in the novel, she didn’t have her hair tied up in a ponytail.

So, yeah, it couldn’t be them. Right? In web novels, a heroine’s hairstyle is practically a “trait” that rarely changes throughout the story. It’s almost a law of the universe, treated as a kind of identifying attribute. And at this point, the heroine near the protagonist didn’t have straight hair.

Of course, there was that part in the novel where the protagonist, even before the main plot began, already owed his life to the saintess heroine, and his childhood friend was right there with him. In that instance, the protagonist threw himself into danger multiple times to buy time to save her—while his childhood friend, who was technically of a higher hunter rank than him, ended up injured and unable to do anything but watch helplessly. The novel did mention that once.

Because of that, the protagonist came to trust the saintess’ powers completely and could rely on her at his back. But there was also this annoying tension that made it feel like he trusted the saintess more than his childhood friend, constantly flipping the dynamic and driving readers insane!

And anyway, the main story starts in late fall, transitioning into winter. There’s still plenty of time left… or so I told myself, fully believing it.

“Uh… are you okay?”

Ria asked with a serious look. The Mother Superior, too, glanced at me with a hint of worry, probably prompted by what Ria had told her earlier.

“Sister Anna, if you’re tired, you can go rest. The injuries from yesterday were severe, but there were no traces of magic contamination.”

The Mother Superior assured me kindly.

“Right. If you’re tired, why not head back and rest?”

Ria chimed in.

“No, I’m fine. I need to confirm something.”

I replied, shaking my head to refuse the offer.

Exactly. I needed to verify if the two I’d encountered yesterday were indeed the protagonists from the novel I knew. They probably weren’t—besides, I wasn’t really a saintess, just a candidate. But until I checked how things were unfolding, I wouldn’t truly know what was happening.

Taking a deep breath, I resumed walking. The Mother Superior and Ria, who had momentarily paused in surprise, hurried to catch up.

With a swift motion, I opened the door to the infirmary. Inside, as usual, most of the beds were empty.

The only patients were the two lying at the far end: one woman, one man.

The woman still had straight hair. Good. I’d leave that be for now.

“Oh, Sisters—”

The man lying at the very end saw us, and with a bright smile, began to sit up, probably intending to offer his thanks.

Around him, as always, were several nuns and priests standing by, ready to protect me. But this time, I didn’t hesitate or step back. Silently, I strode past the startled nuns and priests and stood directly in front of the man.

The entire sequence of actions had flowed so naturally that no one around had the chance to register any real surprise.

“Hm.”

I stared intently at the man’s face.

Compared to yesterday, when I’d practically seen his bones, he now looked like a completely different person. His skin was pale and smooth, as if whoever was up there had put in an extraordinary effort to express handsomeness in human form.

But in the novel, the male lead’s face was illustrated in SD. That alone didn’t give me a clear basis for identification.

Dark, glimmering eyes? Check. Glossy black hair? Check.

“Hmmm.”

“Uh, Sister?”

The man spoke up with a voice full of confusion as I tilted my head, scrutinizing him closely.

Alright, so his manners were better than those of some previous patients. He hadn’t tried to grab me or anything like that.

I stepped back and spoke.

“Excuse me, Brother, but could you push your bangs back like this?”

“Huh? My bangs?”

“Yes. It’s very important.”

Unlike in the novel, hair in real life is easily rearranged. Sure, ponytails and side-tails stay put once styled, but bangs or side hair can shift with the slightest breeze.

“Uh… alright…”

Noticing me touching my own bangs, he tentatively raised a hand. Growing impatient, I reached out and gently pushed his bangs into place.

“What—?!”

The woman lying in the next bed exclaimed, but that wasn’t important right now.

“E-excuse me, Sister?!”

The man seemed just as flustered, but I kept at it, shifting his bangs until I managed to arrange his hair in a slightly disheveled but still subtly neat style.

Taking a deep breath, I asked.

“Brother, may I know your name?”

My voice trembled slightly.

“Uh, well…”

His eyes darted around nervously under the many gazes from around the room, then he replied, his expression tinged with embarrassment.

“It’s Lee Si-yoon. I’m embarrassed to admit this happened on my first mission, but I am, well… a Rank 7 Hunter—”

I didn’t hear the rest of his explanation.

The look and the name were more than enough.

Staggering back with my hand on my forehead, Ria immediately caught me, steadying me.

Ah, I see.

So, yesterday’s incident was indeed that event, the very one mentioned in the novel.

And perhaps… I’d become the very force that might push aside the childhood friend heroine I’d rooted for so much.

…This, then, is how I came to meet him, Lee Si-yoon—the protagonist.