Ch.3212. Short Business Trip (2)

Glass woke up in the passenger seat, feeling quite bewildered.

‘We’ve arrived already?’

And the surrounding scenery wasn’t Incheon’s Free Trade Zone.

A few hours earlier. She finally had a chance to be alone with Minsu in her office. Glass had so many things she wanted to tell him.

But crushed by the weight of those words, she couldn’t say anything when actually facing him.

She had forcibly detained him under the pretext of a meeting, but that opportunity had slipped away.

As Guild Master, she shouldn’t spend personal time with an intern during work hours. But Glass really wanted to ask him one thing.

‘Can we… at least go back to being friends?’

But she couldn’t bring herself to say it. Glass herself was the one who had inflicted deep wounds on both Minsu’s body and heart.

With what right, with what audacity could she say such a thing?

So Glass couldn’t even ask if Flame Guild was treating him well—a question that wouldn’t seem strange coming from a Guild Master.

What’s more, she only realized belatedly that she had cast a barrier when he was about to leave the office.

It was a habit from her Aince days that had emerged unconsciously.

Time alone with Minsu. Those moments in Aince when they held hands tightly and shared their feelings.

Those were still the happiest times in Glass’s life. She didn’t want those moments interrupted by anyone.

So she would spend time with Minsu inside a very sturdy ice barrier.

At first, it was a barrier created by her unconscious desire.

But at some point, she deliberately created barriers to make a space where they could be alone. Naturally, Minsu wouldn’t have noticed.

Today’s barrier was certainly unconscious. But because of it, Glass reaffirmed her feelings.

Indeed, she didn’t want to give Minsu to anyone else. Even if it was a terrible selfishness.

‘But it was cowardly… and wrong.’

Because she had no right to possess Minsu. No, even before that, becoming friends with him again would be impossible without his permission. That’s what Glass thought.

So when Minsu asked her to listen to him in the office, Glass was startled enough to jump.

Minsu was a warm person, but he knew how to separate personal and professional matters.

“Guild Master. If you don’t have any specific business, I’d prefer if you didn’t message me privately or acknowledge me.”

She was momentarily afraid he might say something so frightening.

If he rejected her politely, Glass might melt and collapse like a small ice cube facing the midday sun.

‘What? What… do you mean?’

After saying that reflexively, she waited for Minsu to continue. It was like being trapped in eternal time—a frightening, slowly passing moment.

But with his next words, Glass finally felt relieved.

‘Actually, regarding the upcoming intern business trip. About the distribution of dungeon harvests we’ll obtain then…’

Minsu spoke about it in a calm but businesslike tone.

Dungeon harvests. Magic stones obtained after defeating monsters, items excavated from dungeons, and even monster body parts.

Flame Guild already had a distribution company handling these, but Minsu talked about another distribution company he knew.

‘If it’s alright, I’d like to introduce this vendor to Flame. They’re a company near the Free Trade Zone…’

And because of that, she ended up going on a business trip with Minsu.

Of course, she could have sent someone from the finance or operations team, but Glass joined in on this task alone.

If she sent him on a trip with another female employee, she felt her insides would burn with jealousy.

‘Anyway, we came here because of that distribution company…’

But the giant bear-shaped sign in front of her made Glass feel dizzy.

“Should we stop by the Fire Bear place for a bit?”

Hearing those words beside her, Glass nodded vigorously. Perhaps the people around her, including Minsu, didn’t notice.

Glass absolutely loved fire bears.

***

It was just as I expected. Glass really loved fire bears.

While bears are popular animals worldwide, with many famous characters, they held special significance for people from the Slavic Kingdom.

Fire bears, in particular, were common pets in the Slavic Kingdom. Even in Russia, famous for fire bears, they couldn’t domesticate these dangerous and massive animals.

Surprisingly, the Slavic Kingdom had managed to raise fire bears as ordinary pets, like dogs.

So in the Slavic Kingdom, it wasn’t uncommon to see citizens walking bears on leashes.

For women from the Slavic Kingdom, fire bears were no different from cute puppies.

‘Glass loved them even more.’

But Glass’s father, Grand Duke Andrei, didn’t particularly like animals. He was known for being extremely cold and stern.

In particular, when Glass was young, she tried to secretly raise a fire bear cub in the duke’s residence. But when Grand Duke Andrei found out, she was ultimately forced to give up the bear.

Of course, Glass never told me this story directly. At Aince, Glass was the perfect and cold student council president.

She would never show others that side of herself—completely captivated by cute animals.

‘I heard it from Maria.’

So while I couldn’t give Glass a fire bear directly, I often gave her merchandise and plushies of famous fire bear characters.

‘These aren’t cute at all! I absolutely won’t accept them!’

She would grumble like that, but she never refused the gifts. And around the second semester of our third year, when we had grown closer, Glass even attached the fire bear plushie I gave her to her bag.

Anyway, Glass was so surprised that the car windows were starting to frost over. I cleared my throat and said to her:

“It seems the distributor I mentioned moved their office from the Free Trade Zone to here. I heard they also run a bear café because the location is good. It appears to be true.”

In reality, I already knew this and brought Glass here on purpose. Seeing her reaction, it seemed like a good choice.

“Um… there are… fire bears… fire bears here…”

I lowered the window for Glass. On the spacious grounds covered with vegetation, fire bears were roaming freely.

When we stopped briefly, a fire bear approached and poked its head toward us.

“You can give it this.”

While Glass was asleep, I had bought visitor bear food when we passed the entrance. It was a huge bread filled with honey.

I handed it to Glass, who quickly extended it to the approaching bear. She exclaimed involuntarily:

“So… so cute!!”

The bear grabbed the bread with its mouth. In that moment, Glass stroked the bear’s head enthusiastically.

Usually, Glass maintained a cold, dignified expression befitting a high noble, but right now her expression was completely unguarded.

That cute, beaming expression was probably a side of Glass that only I knew about.

‘She hasn’t changed.’

And it was the side of Glass that I cherished and loved the most.

Her reaction made me feel a bit more at ease. This might help raise Glass’s limit even a little.

An A-rank Awakened and S-rank Hunter. A perfect ice mage and barrier specialist in both offense and defense.

Glass needed to play a crucial role in S-rank dungeon operations. I thought more coldly about work while standing next to the delighted Glass.

If I let my guard down even a little here, I might fall for Glass again, just like back at Aince.

‘This is all for Flame Guild.’

After devouring the pizza-sized bread, the fire bear retreated. Glass, finally coming to her senses, exclaimed in embarrassment:

“Oh my… I’m sorry. We’re not here to play but to work… What was I doing…”

“It’s fine. We were just passing by anyway.”

We parked the car and the two of us got out. Within the vast green space stood an equally large building. It was a café.

Despite it being a weekday, the place was packed with people. And fire bears too. Visitors were busily taking pictures with the bears.

Once again, Glass’s eyes darted around excitedly. I sat down with Glass at a suitable spot inside the bear café.

Glass couldn’t contain herself as fire bears approached even when we were sitting still.

While she was busy petting the bears, I approached the café counter.

“Is the owner here right now?”

“The owner?”

The employee looked at me curiously. It seems customers directly asking for the owner were uncommon.

‘Well, ordinary connections wouldn’t allow meeting that owner.’

Justice Guild from the original story’s Siwoo. The European hunter world’s distribution mogul who single-handedly solved Justice’s financial crisis—Pyotr Kim. I had business with him.

“I called ahead.”

“Just a moment. Hey sis, someone’s looking for the boss…”

“Oh right. A guild called about a business inquiry today… Are you from Flame Guild? Could you wait a moment?”

An employee who seemed to have a higher position went into the staff office behind the counter. Soon, a man emerged.

A thin, tall man who appeared to be in his 30s. His hairstyle had changed a bit from a few years ago, but it was definitely Pyotr Kim.

The man I got to know through obtaining the Red Jade, with whom I’d worked several times. Pyotr’s eyes widened in recognition.

“Minsu, Lee Minsu! It really is you. You’re alive?”

***

Pyotr Kim. He was a Korean-Russian of Goryeo descent. And now a businessman who had mainly operated in Europe, which was currently divided into two major federations.

“It’s been so long. If you were alive, you could have at least contacted me. I had no news of you, so I thought you might be dead.”

He had a somewhat roguish face and wore a black suit. His Korean had a distinctive foreign accent mixed in.

I shook the hand he extended.

“Well, as you can see, I’m alive. Things just worked out this way.”

“Wait. Come to think of it, weren’t you from Aince? When that incident happened there a few years ago, were you also…? I tried contacting you several times, but couldn’t reach you. I thought you’d left the industry.”

Being an outsider, Pyotr didn’t seem to know the details about Aince’s tragedy.

“Somehow I ended up back in this field. It’s all I know how to do.”

“Right. Anyway, welcome back. With you, there might be some good business coming my way.”

“Looks like business is good at this bear café? And it seems your franchise business has been quite successful too.”

As I said, this was the first Bear Café location. I’d heard that franchises he created were popping up all over the country.

“Well, this is just a side business. You know how I’ve been trying to break into the Far East monster harvest business. But the cartel here is so vicious that it’s still difficult. Because of that damn Mansong. Why else would I be playing with these cute bears?”

To me, the bears looked more scary than cute.

Anyway, as he said, since my time at Aince, Pyotr had been eager to enter the monster industry in East Asia.

‘Even now, high-grade items and premium by-products are tightly controlled by Far Eastern distribution companies.’

While A-rank and higher dungeons appear all over the world, the only region that properly conquers them and stably harvests rewards is the Far East.

The bilateral alliance between Korea and the Slavic Kingdom, along with the massive clans of the Stateless Nation and other minor guilds.

With the most renowned military forces in the international hunter world concentrated here, the Far Eastern distribution companies connected to these forces have monopolized the distribution.

“If I could directly distribute to Europe just those harvests monopolized by these companies, I could make an enormous amount of money. It’s frustrating. I’ve been in Korea for years and made connections with such guilds, but still, a worthwhile guild is…”

Muttering like that, Pyotr suddenly seemed to remember something.

“Wait, come to think of it. When I got contacted not by you personally but by a guild name. It was definitely Flame Guild…”

“That’s right. Flame.”

“So you joined them. Flame is an S-rank guild, isn’t it? That’s why I was so surprised and canceled all my appointments today to rush here. And to think you’re there too. This is no ordinary coincidence.”

Like the businessman he was, Pyotr seemed to have caught the scent of money. And that was exactly what I wanted.

‘The company currently handling Flame’s distribution takes too much in commission fees.’

It was the same with Siwoo’s guild, Justice, in the original story. That’s why they ended up collaborating with Pyotr. With Pyotr’s help,

He could solve Flame’s financial problems in one go. Before that, I said to Pyotr:

“Hold on. We’re customers here. Since this is a café, how about offering us something to drink?”

“Something to drink? Of course. It’s my pleasure. Get this person a coffee… no, what would you like?”

“An iced Americano would be fine.”

“In this winter? Anyway, wait a moment. Our café not only has fire bears but also premium coffee beans.”

Then, remembering my companion, I added:

“Oh, and some vodka too.”

At that moment, Glass, who had finally torn herself away from the fire bears, approached from behind me.