Ch.145. First Business Trip of the Internship Program (3)

Blood Demon. Another personality residing within Soso.

Cheonma Shingyo, a martial arts sect with an ancient history even in the Muguk.

Especially in the bloodline descending from the leaders of Cheonma Shingyo, very rarely a child is born with the cursed fate called Cheonsal-seong (Heavenly Killing Star).

But now it’s a story passed down like a legend even in Cheonma Shingyo. Soso’s misfortune is that she was born with the fate of Cheonsal-seong.

Cheonma, a being who rules over all solely with power. Blood Demon also has the fate of an absolute ruler like Cheonma, but due to the curse of Cheonsal-seong, her personality is completely different.

Blood Demon is a slaughter demon who desires to rule over all with piles of blood and corpses.

Such a Blood Demon spoke to Yeon Soso. Soso shouted inwardly.

– Shut up and get lost. I have no intention of talking to you.

– Hmph. It’s disappointing to hear you say that. As always, you’re the one who awakened me.

Blood Demon was right. The one who awakened Blood Demon was Soso. It was her weak inner self. And it was because of her feelings for Lee Minsu.

During the winter break of the 19th class, 2nd year at Eins Academy. In that preliminary training, Soso clearly learned about Minsu’s heart.

That Minsu already liked Yuri Tarkovskaya. And that she was just a friend to him.

The reason he had paired with her during the previous final exam. It was all because Minsu wanted to be with Yuri during the break. Soso knew it well.

Blood Demon continued speaking.

– What a pathetic girl. Just because you were rejected by a man. Aren’t you the one who awakened me? If you liked Minsu so much, you should have at least confessed once.

Soso couldn’t deny Blood Demon’s words. If she knew Minsu liked Yuri, she should have clearly conveyed her feelings and cleanly given up on him.

But Soso couldn’t do that. If she was clearly rejected by Minsu and their friendship was damaged because of it.

‘I absolutely hated that idea.’

Then it would be better to thoroughly hide her feelings and remain friends forever. Because she wanted to stay by his side, even if only as a friend.

But it was she who suffered silently and nurtured Blood Demon with her dark feelings about Minsu and Yuri.

‘Blood Demon is right. I was a coward who couldn’t even confess. I wasn’t worthy of being Cheonma.’

Stung by Blood Demon’s words, Soso silently crawled into her sleeping bag. That’s when Arini approached.

“Team Leader Yeon. Won’t you have dessert?”

Arini’s words caught her attention. Whenever she saw Arini, who was close to Minsu, her heart became troubled.

But tonight’s dinner prepared by Arini was too delicious. So she couldn’t refuse the food offered by her.

She casually accepted the snacks Arini held out.

“I shall eat well.”

“No problem, Team Leader.”

As Arini turned away, Soso didn’t hesitate to tear open the packaging and put the snack in her mouth. It was a chewy macaron.

‘I wonder if she made this herself too.’

It tastes no different from a specialty macaron shop. No, it’s even more delicious. The happiness from the macaron. And just as she was about to feel dejected again about Arini’s femininity that was incomparable to her own,

Blood Demon spoke to her again.

– Tsk. You’re so timid. And yet you call yourself Cheonma. What happened to your proud resolution…

– I told you to shut up.

– And if you keep eating like that, you’ll become a pig again like when you were a cadet…

– Shut up!

But she couldn’t deny Blood Demon’s words. As Blood Demon said, after the tragedy at Eins, Soso had decided to become a true Cheonma.

The pair duel in the 2nd year final exam. Thanks to training with Minsu for that duel, she awakened as Cheonma.

Or more precisely, she awakened the “Cheonma Divine Art,” the qualification to become the junior leader of Cheonma Shingyo. Even after awakening that martial art, she remained gloomy and timid.

But after seeing Minsu unconscious and hovering between life and death in the hospital, Soso decided to change.

First, she joined the guild Flame created by Yuri.

Yuri Tarkovskaya was a very uncomfortable person for Soso, but as the saying goes, those who tie the knot should untie it. Soso clearly had a great responsibility in the tragedy at Eins. She had to take that responsibility.

And if Soso didn’t change, she wouldn’t be able to stand proudly before Minsu when he eventually woke up.

So she also worked hard to groom her previously unkempt appearance. She lost weight and desperately maintained herself.

The current tank top and leggings outfit that she could never wear without confidence in her figure. To wear those clothes, she reduced her meals to three a day and even cut out snacks.

Even her current confident way of speaking befitting Cheonma, she practiced diligently from that time.

‘But when it came to Minsu…’

She wanted to show him her changed appearance, but one year after the tragedy at Eins, when Minsu regained consciousness, he panicked upon seeing her.

She wanted to apologize to him, but his reaction was too shocking. Fundamentally, it meant that Minsu was rejecting her.

And with that shock, Blood Demon, who had disappeared, awakened again like now. Her limit line kept dropping.

Fortunately, he recovered and joined Flame, allowing them to meet again.

But seeing herself still unable to be confident, Soso’s mind filled with negative thoughts.

‘And Minsu already has Arini… Unlike me… She’s never done anything wrong to Minsu… She’s much more feminine…’

At that moment, her head rang as if struck by a hammer.

– GAL (喝)!!!

***

Soso hurriedly covered her ears. But since the sound was ringing from within her, she couldn’t calm the shock.

Soso shouted inwardly.

– Are you crazy? Why are you suddenly shouting!!

– How can a woman calling herself Cheonma be so timid? There’s no need to overthink. Men will eventually fall if you pounce on them physically.

– What nonsense are you talking about.

– I felt it when you carried Minsu during the day. His heartbeat increased. It means he felt desire for your body. Isn’t that right?

– Stop saying such ridiculous things. Minsu wouldn’t…

But given her outfit, when she carried Minsu, their bodies were quite pressed together.

Soso’s chest is quite large. As Blood Demon said, Minsu must have felt it too…

– And there’s nothing absolute between men and women. If you can’t seduce him with alluring words or actions, you should at least use your body. After all, you’re an empty-headed fool. Though your figure is quite splendid.

– But Minsu now has Arini…

– Again… Again!! Look at that Lee Minsu. The guy who used to follow Yuri Tarkovskaya around saying how much he liked her, isn’t he now giggling with another woman? That’s how men are. If you deliberately seduce him with your body, with one night of passion…

– D-don’t say such lewd things!

– Both of you are already adults, so what does it matter?

At those words, Soso unconsciously blushed. The incident with Minsu in the storage room. She remembered the kiss they shared.

Of course, it was a kiss that was almost unavoidable, to stop Blood Demon who had taken control of her body. But she felt embarrassed remembering Minsu’s breath and the feel of his lips.

She continued this idle conversation with Blood Demon. Though it was more like talking to a pervert than Blood Demon, Soso’s heart felt a little better.

At least Minsu was nearby now. And not everything Blood Demon said was wrong.

Already, two years had passed since that time at Eins. Just as Minsu and Yuri didn’t end up together, and if Minsu wasn’t dating Arini,

Since there’s nothing absolute between men and women, it means she might still have a chance.

‘No. Before that, Flame’s mission… hunting the Red Lake comes first.’

She joined Flame to atone for her original sin of awakening Blood Demon. But for Soso, Minsu was always the priority.

The important thing was that Minsu, who had lost consciousness and hovered near death, had returned alive. And Minsu had recovered enough to join a hunter guild.

‘Dr. Seong Chaerin is really amazing. As the most famous doctor in the hunter world, she ultimately helped Minsu recover.’

And both Minsu and herself were still young. That meant they still had many opportunities and time left. Surely after defeating those villains.

‘I’ll start over as friends. And someday… I might not be able to charge in physically… but with Minsu…’

With these thoughts, Soso fell asleep with a slightly eased mind.

***

The next day. Flame Guild moved actively.

“Since we’re already a day behind other guilds, shouldn’t we hurry?”

I said this without thinking, but Team Leader Seo Duho replied in a relaxed voice.

“If we didn’t have this preliminary analysis information, we would need to. But there’s nothing to worry about. Thanks to Minsu.”

Team Leader Seo and I completed the preliminary analysis of the dungeon quite late.

Among the 8 B-rank dungeons Soso found,

We narrowed it down to 4 dungeons that could definitely be conquered with just Flame’s interns. And we significantly increased the expected resolution of those dungeons through additional work.

Veteran Team Leader Seo, who had rolled through a corporate information analysis team, and I perfectly executed his instructions.

“Well. They say experienced newcomers are trendy these days, but this is like bringing in a 20-year industry veteran as a new hire. Our operator intern, that is.”

And Team Leader Seo sent all the dungeon information that he and I had created to the rest of the members. Uncle Donghyuk, who checked it, said:

“That’s really true. This is almost like a game hack program. If we follow this, even B-rank dungeons shouldn’t be difficult.”

He showed a genuinely surprised expression. Team Leader Seo continued:

“Well, there will obviously be discrepancies in the actual dungeon, but having prior information versus not having it makes a big difference in success rate and conquest time. Shall we go in now?”

And finally, when the group crossed the gate of the first B-rank dungeon, Uncle Donghyuk was even more surprised.

“This is really exactly as Team Leader Seo and Minsu’s information indicated.”

As he said, the dungeon did not deviate from Team Leader Seo’s and my analysis. The first dungeon was, as expected, a labyrinth-type dungeon.

The boss and appearing monsters weren’t actually much, but due to the annoyingly tricky terrain, hunters often use return stones to leave immediately, even at a loss. That was exactly this dungeon.

‘Conversely, I strongly preferred labyrinth-type dungeons.’

If you could avoid those tricky traps and hidden monsters, it was very good for farming items hidden within the dungeon.

And the S-rank Ancient Gear, the Red Jade. That Red Jade was also farmed in such a labyrinth-type dungeon by coincidence.

The Red Jade, which is now replacing the function of the Mana Heart, felt like it was responding to the dungeon’s magical energy.

I calmed that throbbing for a moment.

And Team Leader Seo, who had gathered the interns, gave us one final explanation before conquering the dungeon.

“Since this is an intern program, the main conquest of the dungeon must be performed only by interns. So this time, Team Leader Yeon and I will not participate in the dungeon conquest.”

Instead, he said they would stand by in case of any danger to the interns.

“And I got some information from an office representative. As expected, most guilds excluded operators because they’re interns. Many guilds think that rather than using an operator, it’s better to add any party member from DPS, tank, or healer.”

The current intern raid party consists of 3 people.

Uncle Donghyuk as the tank, Arini as the healer, and me as the operator and non-combat personnel. A 3-person party like this.

“So it’s a regrettable composition without a main dealer, but well, I think Flame’s new operator is quite skilled, so there shouldn’t be a problem. Rather than talking at length, let’s just try it. Let’s begin.”

“Yes, understood!”

The interns who had completed their equipment setup responded. I also finished setting up my operating equipment and stood with them.

It was my turn as the operator to give instructions to the two. I said:

“Arini will cast blessing spells first. Then the two of you will enter and conquer this dungeon. Let’s start as soon as the blessing spells are finished.”

“Yes! Senior!”

“Let’s do that.”

Arini’s body glowed with pale green divine power. And that divine power enveloped me and Uncle Donghyuk.

4th tier divine spell. Adelia’s Blessing. I felt the vitality awakening throughout my body from that spell.

“Then we’re going in!”

Uncle Donghyuk opened the entrance to the labyrinth, the Corrupted Sanctuary. And the two entered.

I, a non-combat personnel, followed behind them. I activated the observation drone and stealth equipment provided by Flame for operating.

‘And this in-ear communication device…’

An item plugged in like earphones. This item responds to an awakened person’s mana and activates a small screen in the corner of the view as augmented reality.

Through this screen, the operator can real-time correct the pre-analyzed dungeon information with the actual dungeon information.

Moreover, continuous tactical instructions are also given through this in-ear device.

In other words, it’s time to use mana now.

However, the in-ear device doesn’t require much mana, so even I, with a broken Mana Heart, can use it without difficulty.

‘But using mana means…’

The cursed status window, the system that I’ve been deliberately avoiding since regaining consciousness, will be activated.

No, to be precise, it’s not a system. The evil spirit that revealed its true colors to me when I was hunting the Suspicious Dark Spirit.

That monster that pretended to be a system, pretended to give quests, and subtly forced me to monopolize relics.

Sure enough, as I used mana, that false system activated.

==================

「System error」

Error code : 1713E0529:CE

XXX : Welcome back, Player!

==================

I immediately turned off that system.