Ch.11. Applied as an Intern at an S-Rank Guild (1)

Having been incarnated into an academy-themed web novel for five years now, I still haven’t been able to escape this story.

I stepped into the familiar hospital.

I spent the first two years after incarnating in the academy dormitory. And the remaining two years in this massive university hospital. This hospital felt just like my home.

The hospital was packed with people. Especially the Awakened Specialist Treatment Center I came to visit was so crowded with patients there was barely room to stand.

“You want to see Professor Sung Chaerin?”

I stood in front of the hospital’s reception desk. I replied to the receptionist who asked with a puzzled expression.

“Yes. Professor Sung Chaerin.”

“Professor Sung is completely booked, so even if you register now, you might not get an appointment. Oh, did you make a reservation already?”

“No, I didn’t make any reservation…”

“That’s going to be difficult. I don’t know if you’re aware, but Professor Sung is very famous not just domestically but internationally, so it’s not easy to meet her. Especially today, since she just returned from an overseas trip.”

The receptionist wasn’t wrong. Most of the patients crowding this place were here to see Professor Sung Chaerin.

“See all those people waiting? So if you don’t mind, perhaps another doctor in the same department…”

“Another doctor? That’s a bit…”

At that moment, another staff member next to the receptionist immediately recognized me. I didn’t know her name, but her face was familiar.

“Wait. That patient, I mean that person. It’s him. Lee Minsu. Ah, Eunji, you might not know since you haven’t been here long.”

“Lee Minsu? Just a moment?”

The receptionist seemed to be searching for my name.

‘That probably won’t help much.’

It’s not a particularly unique name. In a big hospital like this, there would be many people with the same name.

If I had incarnated as the protagonist of this novel, I might have had a name like “Siwoo” or something.

But I was just a minor character with almost no significance in the novel. I was right—the receptionist stared at her monitor for a while.

“Lee Minsu… Lee Minsu… Lee Minsu… Um, may I ask your age?”

As the receptionist asked me again, the other staff member from before stopped her.

“Patient Lee Minsu, I mean Mr. Lee. Would you like to go in right away?”

“What? How can he see Professor Sung without an appointment…”

“It doesn’t matter. Let him in first.”

At those words, all the waiting patients turned to look at me.

The receptionist I was talking to also looked questioningly at the other staff member, but that employee spoke as if it were perfectly normal.

“Professor Sung said to do so, so it’s fine. Please go in, Mr. Lee.”

“Yes. Thank you.”

After saying that, I turned away from the confused receptionist. I heard her whisper as I left.

“Yuna? What relationship does that person have with Professor Sung? The great professor is making exceptions for him? She’s famous for being strict as a knife.”

“Well, actually…”

Not just the receptionist, but I could hear other patients whispering too. It didn’t sound like anything good.

‘This makes it seem like I’ve done something wrong.’

It feels like I’m cutting in line. But I also have business with that famous doctor.

I hurriedly stood in front of the consultation room with Professor Sung Chaerin’s name on it.

It felt awkward to visit the consultation room directly rather than meeting in a hospital room as I was used to. But there was no need to hesitate.

I opened the door as if reassuring myself.

***

“Why a Hunter Guild of all places?”

I sat in front of Professor Sung Chaerin.

The doctor’s gown she wore and the title on her name tag confirmed she was indeed a doctor.

But with the fitted casual clothes under her gown, and that pink long hair and face, Professor Sung Chaerin looked more suited to be an actress than a doctor.

When I brushed off her question, her expression quickly turned stern. I reluctantly answered.

“I’ve been in the hospital for two years. Don’t I need to make my own living now? I’m already twenty-two.”

“There are plenty of other options. So why join a Hunter Guild?”

“That’s all I know how to do. How could I do anything else? Besides, I’m not becoming a Hunter. As you know, I can’t use mana. I couldn’t be a Hunter even if I wanted to, so there’s nothing to worry about.”

“I know that. But even for an office job, couldn’t you find something completely unrelated to that world…”

“Professor, here’s this first.”

I handed her a document. After reading it briefly, she said:

“A physical examination before the interview?”

“Yes. Even though I’m applying for a non-combat position, my role would be an Operator, so I need examination results.”

“An Operator? That means you’d have to access field sites.”

Professor Sung frowned as if she suddenly had a headache.

“You already know. That’s why I came to see you. They told me to get a Mental Contamination Index test in advance since Operators need to access field sites.”

“MCI? You know very well what that means. You’re the only person in the world with an MCI of 0.”

MCI. Mental Contamination Index in Korean. The setting of this novel is modern Earth, but true to the modern academy genre, it has gates and magical beasts.

Entering dungeons beyond those gates or encountering magical beasts causes mental damage to humans.

MCI is the scientific measurement that visualizes that damage.

The person who created the most innovative theory about MCI was Professor Sung Chaerin right in front of me. And I was the anomaly whose MCI remained absolutely at zero.

I said brazenly:

“Then there’s no problem, right? If my index is 0, not 100. At least I won’t lose my mind because of dungeons or magical beasts.”

She sighed.

“Huh. You’re good with words.”

“Anyway, you’ll write me a medical opinion, right? As you said, if my index is 0, the HR people will find it strange.”

“You came to me on purpose because you know I can’t refuse your requests, didn’t you?”

Her words hit the mark, making me flinch. That’s the kind of relationship Professor Sung Chaerin and I had. Of course, I wasn’t her secret lover or anything like that.

It’s just that Professor Sung Chaerin owed me a big debt.

“Of course not. It just happens that the one doctor I know well is an expert in this field. I came to see you and take care of this at the same time.”

“Such insincere words.”

But even as she said that, Professor Sung obediently wrote the medical opinion. Then, as if suddenly remembering something, she asked me:

“By the way, which guild did you apply to? I heard from Arin that your theoretical grades during your academy days were outstanding. Even with the gap in your record, with those grades, you could go anywhere as a non-combat employee.”

“That… Arin always exaggerates. It wasn’t that good.”

“Well, anyway, where did you apply?”

“Flame Guild, or Bulsa-jeop-ui Yeomrin. Have you heard of it?”

“Bulsa-what? Are there still guilds with such childish names these days?”

I inwardly flinched, but continued:

“You might not know it by that name. It’s Flame Guild.”

“Flame? That sounds familiar. Just a moment.”

She searched for the name on her PC.

“Flame Guild. The CEO’s name is… Yuri Tarkovskaya. Could it be that Grand Duchess from the Northern Country?”

“Yes. Tarkovsky. Yuri is the daughter of that Grand Duke.”

“Of course I know that. She’s the famous Snow Woman. But Yuri is…”

Professor Sung’s voice became more cautious.

“She was your academy classmate. And the person who caused your trauma.”

“No, that was just an accident. Yuri couldn’t help it either.”

“Your PTSD… You’ve only just started to get better. Don’t you remember how you were when your classmates came to visit?”

“That was already a year ago. I’ve fully recovered now, thanks to meeting a great doctor.”

“Great doctor, what nonsense…”

She spoke as if embarrassed, but it was true. She was the doctor who saved me when I was practically a corpse.

“And you said it yourself, Professor. Complete recovery from trauma is impossible if you turn your back on the cause.”

“Even so…”

But Professor Sung couldn’t break my stubbornness.

“As your attending physician, I’ll be honest—you’re fine. As you said, being a Hunter might be too much, but you could manage as an Operator. Just remember one thing.”

“Yes. I should listen to what you say.”

“Empty words. You won’t listen anyway. Anyway, no matter what happens, never use mana. Understand?”

I hesitated for a moment. I wasn’t confident about that. But I nodded anyway.

“I’ll make sure to do that, Professor.”

“…Good. You must remember. Absolutely.”

As she said this, she crossed her legs. Feeling stuffy, she picked up a cigarette from her desk, but of course, this was a non-smoking area, so she just fidgeted with it.

“Well then, Professor. There seem to be many patients waiting, so I’ll be going now.”

I stood up. After hesitating for a moment, Professor Sung spoke to my back as I turned away.

“Five years. That’s all the time you have left as a normal person. And that’s just theoretical. So I understand how you feel, but don’t push yourself too hard.”

Somehow, I couldn’t respond to those words.

‘Pushing too hard.’

But if pushing myself too hard could atone for my sins…

I had to push myself until the moment I died.

Because of my mistake, the protagonist of this novel and his childhood friend died.

Along with countless academy students.

I left the consultation room without replying.

***

When I returned to my apartment, it was already getting dark.

It had been only three months since I was completely discharged from the hospital.

I had already been thinking about joining Flame Guild since then, so I found an apartment not far from their headquarters.

‘Three subway stops away. The location is perfect.’

It would have been awkward if I’d been rejected at the document screening stage, but I was confident I wouldn’t be.

Eins Academy. The setting for parts 1 and 2 of the novel “Academy’s All-Around Hunter” that I had incarnated into.

It’s the most famous Hunter academy in the world. Someone like me, who had perfect theoretical grades there, wouldn’t be rejected at the document screening stage.

‘As Professor Sung said, my graduation credentials alone would have been enough for a major corporate guild.’

Of course, the guild I applied to, Flame Guild, was the fastest-growing new guild as of 2027.

Compared to corporate guilds, its scale was small, but its quality was very high.

Yuri Tarkovskaya, the CEO and Guild Master of Flame Guild. The youngest hunter to achieve S-rank in the history of the Hunter Association.

Her achievements under the name of Flame over the past two years were impressive.

Despite being only a small-to-medium sized guild in terms of personnel, it was already rated as a mid-tier guild or higher.

“I wonder what the interview will be like.”

I searched for Flame Guild on my smartphone in a Hunter community, specifically in the employment-related section.

There weren’t as many reviews as I expected. This was actually Flame Guild’s first open recruitment, so it made sense.

‘Only 3 people.’

And they were only hiring 3 people in this recruitment. Moreover, there was only one position for the Operator role I applied for.

So the competition seemed quite fierce. There were quite a few complaints in the reviews from those who were rejected at the document screening stage.

└ Are they really hiring people? Everyone I know got rejected at the document stage

└ Is the salary they posted all lies? I regret applying lol

└ Not lies. Check the guild’s achievements. They’ve conquered dungeons that even major corporations couldn’t tackle. Sigh… I should have secured a spot in such a promising guild early… I’m so jealous of those who passed the document screening.

└ I applied just hoping to see the Snow Woman in person. So I’m just jealous of those who get to go to the interview lol

And a few days later, my interview was scheduled at Flame Guild’s headquarters.

‘Yuri. Will I be able to see her face that day?’

True to her nickname “Snow Woman,” she always kept her silver hair long when she was the student council president.

And Yuri was an exchange student from Slavia, an otherworld kingdom summoned to Earth along with the gates. Racially, Slavians were identical to Earth’s Slavic people.

Of course, Yuri was half Slavian and half Japanese, so she looked different from pure Slavic people. I recalled her appearance in my mind for a moment.

Fortunately, nothing happened. A year ago, right after regaining consciousness, I would have fallen into panic just thinking about Yuri’s face.

‘Yes, I should be fine now.’

More importantly, I needed to think about the interview in a few days. If the document competition was this fierce, the interview competition would be fierce too.

But deep down, I wasn’t too worried.

As the comments suggested, if Yuri really appeared as an interviewer, she would never reject me.

‘That’s probably impossible though.’

If it were Yuri—with her strong sense of responsibility—she would still feel guilty about me.

Yuri was partly responsible for the accident that damaged my mana heart. Of course, I don’t blame her now.

If I did, I wouldn’t be able to see Yuri again. And not just Yuri, but my other classmates in Flame Guild too.

If I had even a little resentment toward them, I needed to change.

‘Too many people died because of me.’

For revenge, I needed them and that guild. I had to continue the story of this novel that I had ruined.

A few days later, I entered the building where Flame Guild’s headquarters was located.