Chapter 0 : Prologue

“Priest, there’s a patient! They’re complaining of stomach pain.”

“Yes, I’m on my way!”

Jobs like warrior, priest, rogue, and archer in games.

Among them, priests usually play the role of healers. They’re responsible for healing allies, often showing miracles by healing injuries through prayer.

‘I didn’t know.’

I didn’t realize it when I was playing.

Just how tough the healer’s job could be.

In games, most people choose to be damage-dealers. Only a few select the healing class, and because there are so few support players, it’s often hard to find them.

So, I chose the support role.

As rare as it was, it earned me a noble treatment from others.

The experience of being treated well as a support in the game even influenced my next life.

Do you want to be a knight, a mage, or a priest?

As a child, I had many choices.

To learn swordsmanship, I’d have to train endlessly, drenched in sweat, and I wasn’t fond of that, so I refused.

To learn magic, I’d have to spend my life battling books while sitting in a chair, and perhaps because of memories from my past life, I felt a strong aversion to that.

I decided studying was enough for my third year in high school and the time I spent obtaining certificates for employment.

“I will enter the church.”

So, I chose to become a healer.

Since I’d always played support roles in games, I didn’t have a strong aversion to it.

And here, too, healers were precious.

A rare healer, something not just anyone could do.

At the age of nine, I left home, joined the church, and began my life as a priest.

It didn’t take long for me to realize how wrong my choice was.

‘This is just too much.’

Warriors only needed to train, so at least they didn’t have to worry about headaches.

Mages only needed to use their brains, so at least their bodies didn’t suffer.

But priests had to do both!

Wake-up time was at five in the morning.

After washing and dressing, we would engage in two hours of early morning prayer.

After the prayer, we’d have breakfast, and then it was time for lessons.

Ten volumes of scripture, filled with God’s word.

It was our task to memorize every page of the 3,000-page volumes, all written in tiny text.

To confirm we’d memorized the scriptures, there were tests each quarter.

Passing those exams was essential for advancement, so memorizing the scriptures became our top priority.

‘Failure is absolutely unacceptable!’

Failing meant we had to complete 100 hours of penitential prayer, so failure was never an option.

The problem was that what we had to learn didn’t end there.

After scripture lessons, we had to sing hymns in the choir, and then there were additional lessons in history, culture, art, and exorcism rituals.

Every single day was packed with a rigorous schedule of lessons.

After finishing all the classes, we’d eat dinner, and then the evening prayers would begin.

‘Isn’t praying right after dinner a bit much?’

Two hours would pass, during which I wasn’t even sure if I was praying or dreaming, and then it would be time to sleep as night fell.

It was only after experiencing that life firsthand that I realized:

I had made the worst choice ever! I should have known why healers are so rare. In games, people avoided the role because it was boring, but I should have considered that reality might have a different reason.

‘Of course, becoming a healer is insanely tough…’

But clueless me didn’t know that.

Thinking it would be an easy path, I made an irreversible choice and plunged into the mud, a foolish soul trapped by my own decisions.

Once I had entered the church, leaving was impossible unless I was excommunicated. And there isn’t a single place in the world that welcomes a priest who has been cast out. Nor is there a place where an excommunicated priest could live comfortably.

So, I became a healer.

Even though life as a healer was far from easy, to say the least.