Ch.3112. Short Business Trip (1)

I studied Yuri’s expression.

At first glance, she seemed expressionless. But I, who had always followed her face, could tell. It was an urgent expression, one that couldn’t maintain composure.

‘Then that ice barrier spell too?’

It probably wasn’t something she consciously activated.

Yuri was born with an abundance of mana, particularly sensitive to ice-attribute mana. That’s why she would sometimes unconsciously activate ice barrier spells.

Especially when we were alone together. And when Yuri inadvertently revealed her true feelings.

In other words, I was one of the few people who knew Yuri’s genuine self.

‘Especially when I held Yuri’s hand…’

As Ains’ graduation drew closer. The distance between Yuri and me had significantly narrowed.

We weren’t officially dating, but when alone, we would hold hands. Naturally, I was the one who, led by my feelings, took her hand first. But Yuri never rejected it.

However, at those times, her usually expressionless face would flush remarkably red, creating ice barriers all around us like this.

As if trying to keep that moment and that time from being seen by others, sharing it only between the two of us.

Just like now. After all, Yuri was actually quite shy by nature.

“Um… Mr. Minsu…”

And now, Yuri’s flustered voice. It was explaining by itself that the current situation was the same as back then.

She seemed to have a lot to say to me.

And I too. That appearance that reminded me of Yuri at Ains almost made me call her familiarly, but I barely held back.

“What is it, Guild Master?”

Back then, Yuri and I at Ains. I too, still haven’t erased all the old feelings.

Perhaps I’ll never be able to erase them completely. After all, Yuri was my first love. I think it wasn’t any different for her.

Of course, I won’t show those feelings from back then again.

And approaching her emotionally in this enclosed space where we’re alone could trigger another panic.

‘But recently, Yuri’s limit line has…’

Thinking about that made my head complicated again. But for now, I decided to stay as calm as possible.

Perhaps due to the mana Yuri unconsciously released, the office was freezing cold like a refrigerator. Thanks to that, I could maintain my rationality better.

“Guild Master? Do you have anything else to say to me?”

So, I spoke to Yuri in a voice so cold it surprised even myself.

Yuri must have felt the coldness in my tone, as she trembled momentarily. I felt sorry for her.

But Yuri was also the Guild Master of Flame. After taking a slight breath, she spoke to me calmly.

“The Association has high expectations for this intern program. So they asked me to conduct frequent interviews with the interns.”

“Interviews, you say?”

“Yes. Since I’ll be busier with S-rank dungeon raid coordination, it would be good to conduct these interviews in advance while I’m at headquarters. Would you like to sit on the sofa over there?”

Yuri’s expression became somewhat composed.

“Since it’s an interview, I’ll serve you some tea.”

“Ah, I can…”

“No. Please sit. It’s not difficult.”

I was momentarily worried. If it was Slavian tea, she might serve alcohol during work hours, during an interview.

But what she brought was just regular Americano. There was a small coffee machine in the office.

“You don’t need syrup, right?”

Yuri still seemed to remember my preference for not liking sweet things. I clearly saw her making a hot Americano.

But by the time she handed me the cup, it had already become an iced Americano.

The two of us sat across from each other at the table placed in the middle of the sofa. We were silent for a moment.

‘So the interview was just an excuse after all…’

And so the silent tea time continued. Yuri had black tea instead of coffee. She brought jam with it.

‘When we were at Ains, Yuri and I often had tea time…’

Now she’s leading a guild in Korea, but Yuri is a high-ranking princess from the Slavian Kingdom. The nobles of the Slavian Kingdom placed great importance on tea time and tea ceremony culture.

Using that elegant tea culture as an excuse, Yuri would sometimes arrange time to meet with me.

Unconsciously thinking of those memories again, I returned to more realistic thoughts.

Indeed, it seemed that the reason Yuri’s limit line couldn’t rise these days was because of me.

‘She’s been absent from raids frequently lately.’

Even if she didn’t participate in raids, a Guild Master has many things to do. She always looked busy, but I heard from Executive Director Maria that she was quite worried about Yuri’s lowered limit line.

‘They said her limit line went down to 55.’

That’s a dangerously low level. It never happened when she was at Ains. Usually it was 85, and when graduation approached, Yuri’s limit line rose to 95.

‘Compared to that, now it’s… dangerous.’

For an A-rank dungeon, S-rank hunters can clear it quickly before MCI rises.

But the upcoming S-rank dungeon Paju A raid is on a completely different level of difficulty. And for that cooperation mission, Flame absolutely needed to perform well.

‘I can’t leave things like this.’

If Yuri, an S-rank hunter and Guild Master, can’t do her part, everything will fall apart.

That’s why even Executive Director Maria sent me a message.

Including Yuri’s personal information with MCI analysis data. It meant that the raid team members were also worried about Yuri’s condition.

In the end, Yuri used the interview as an excuse to keep me there but couldn’t say anything. When both our drinks were empty,

Suddenly Yuri exclaimed:

“Um… would you like another cup? If you don’t want coffee, maybe some tea…”

“No, I’m fine. If the interview is over, may I leave now?”

Being alone with Yuri in a space like this wasn’t good for me either.

At my words, she was so surprised that her long eyelashes trembled, but much time had already passed since I entered her office.

“Alright. The interview is sufficient. You may go.”

Leaving that dejected voice behind, I stood up. I greeted her and tried to open the office door, but it wouldn’t open.

Seeing this, Yuri became flustered.

“Th-that’s strange. It must be frozen because it’s still winter!”

Making such an implausible excuse, Yuri released the barrier. That behavior, so unlike a snow woman, made me uneasy again.

Finally, I brought up the words I had been hesitating to say to Yuri.

“Guild Master. If you’re not busy, could you listen to what I have to say?”

“Wh-what? Wh-what do you mean…”

As she answered, a barrier was immediately placed on the office door.

***

A little later, the two headed to the basement of the headquarters building.

I got into Yuri’s car again. Yuri was in the passenger seat like before.

I unconsciously traced the flow of mana, but Yuri didn’t create a barrier inside the car.

‘Should I be relieved…’

Anyway, she seemed more composed than when we were alone in the office.

“It will take some time to get there like before. I’ll drive safely, so if you’re tired, you can close your eyes…”

“No! I, I absolutely won’t do that. I can’t be the only one comfortable like that…”

Yuri responded firmly to my words, but less than 10 minutes after the car started, she fell asleep.

As a Guild Master who’s always busy even when not participating in raids, she seemed to have accumulated a lot of fatigue.

‘And the lowered limit line…’

That’s a symptom I, with an MCI always at 0, will never experience.

An awakened person with a lowered limit line is affected both physically and mentally, not just in dungeons.

Since Yuri is the type who never shows her weakness to others, I could feel she was pushing herself too hard.

‘Is it because of… me?’

Professor Seong Charin’s latest theory. ‘Relationships’ are treated as a major factor in limit line reduction in that theory.

I could be certain from the MCI measurement data sent by Executive Director Maria that Yuri was not normal because of her recent relationship with me.

‘I could tell just by her reaction in the office.’

My feelings were ambivalent again.

After joining Flame, Yuri often sent me personal messages.

As if she wanted to go back to our Ains days.

Of course, like in the office earlier, they were messages disguised as work matters, but I mostly read and ignored them, or replied with short answers.

Yuri certainly couldn’t have failed to notice that I had drawn a line with her. And my cold responses would have lowered her limit line so much.

So I didn’t feel good about it.

Compared to Soso or Arin, I was clearly keeping Yuri at a greater distance.

Right after regaining consciousness in the hospital, I had hoped Yuri would forget me. And when she became an S-rank hunter, I was overjoyed.

And just like earlier,

Yuri remembering even my small habits like liking Americano.

The fact that I was still in her heart, the fact that things between us weren’t completely over, made me both pained and happy.

It was such a contradictory emotion.

‘But I know what I need to do.’

To erase that feeling, I thought more coldly about the Red Lake.

AkaHunter, which was a pure romance novel until part 3. But as the Red Lake began to appear in earnest, the atmosphere of the original work became very dark.

And even Siwoo, who had the most outstanding skills among S-rank hunters in the original work, came to fear that Red Lake.

AkaHunter’s author, RedLake. The author who created a villain with the same name as his pen name. In response to criticism that AkaHunter’s development was dragging on, he introduced an absurd villain and antagonist.

‘The reason for the hiatus too…’

Right before the hiatus, because of the author’s rampage.

Even with Siwoo’s skills developed until then, there was no visible possibility of defeating that villain.

‘That must have been overwhelming.’

Since even Yuri was part of the neutral Snow Knight Order faction in the original work. There was no answer except to make Siwoo grow rapidly, ignoring all plausibility.

And RedLake couldn’t even do that and went on hiatus.

‘But it’s fortunate that it was just a hiatus.’

If it had been a confirmed bad ending, everything I’m doing now, and everything Flame is doing, would be in vain.

So what I need to do now is make Flame much stronger than ‘Justice,’ Siwoo’s guild in the original work.

For that task, the role of Yuri as Guild Master was more important than anyone else’s.

So if her limit line is down right now, I intended to raise it by any means necessary.

‘Like with Soso… I don’t intend to repeat such mistakes.’

The current relationship with Yuri is entangled with too many complex emotions. I know well what tragedy can be brought about by carelessly thinking about and manipulating people’s feelings.

So even if I don’t cross the line, I could at least be friends with Yuri, or rather, friendly workplace colleagues.

That was the best I could do to respond to Yuri’s feelings.

Time passed and we arrived at our destination. I had proposed a short business trip to Yuri for the intern’s next mission.

So the destination was Incheon’s Free Trade Zone like before. But I first headed to another place not far from there.

“Wh-where is this?”

And Yuri, who belatedly opened her eyes, was momentarily confused when she saw it wasn’t the Free Trade Zone.

“Did we take a wrong turn?”

“No. We’ve come to the right place.”

At the same time, seeing the huge sign visible in front of the car, Yuri’s eyes widened, and I continued:

“Shall we go see some polar bears for a bit?”