Ch.3413. Early Completion of the Internship Program (1)

Inside the car.

Yuri’s car is a rugged SUV, unfitting for a high-ranking noble lady and a young female CEO.

While it couldn’t be called cramped, it was still an enclosed space.

Especially with the barrier in place. It was so confined that not even the noisy sounds from near the subway station could be heard. I could immediately sense the presence of the person beside me.

And inside, there were only Minsu and her.

‘This shouldn’t happen… but still…’

The sound of sleeping Minsu’s breathing reached her ears. His breathing seemed a bit rapid. Yuri found herself taking deep breaths repeatedly without realizing it.

It was just one glass of vodka. She never thought Minsu would get this drunk.

Fortunately, it wasn’t serious enough to rush to the emergency room. But he remained asleep like this.

And Yuri couldn’t deny that she was acutely aware of the defenseless Minsu.

‘Today I received Minsu’s help again.’

In truth, she had been excited just to spend time with Minsu today. But this contract that Minsu had personally sought out would be extremely beneficial for Flame as well.

‘More than me as the guild leader… Minsu seems more like the guild leader.’

Minsu was still just an intern. Of course, Flame, the Phoenix of the Immortal Butterfly, was a guild Yuri had created for Minsu.

So if Minsu wanted, Yuri could hand over the guild leadership to him anytime. Though in reality, that wouldn’t be possible since it was a corporation, not just a friendly hunter guild.

‘I shouldn’t just keep receiving help. I should also help Minsu…’

Recently, her limit line had dropped significantly. Reflecting this, she was always tired and sensitive, but today was completely different.

Her heart couldn’t stop pounding, and her eyes ceaselessly followed only Minsu. Of course, she was briefly distracted by the fire bears, but even those fire bears felt like Minsu’s consideration, and she was genuinely touched.

Perhaps today was a day full of happiness. Her limit line must have risen, she could tell from her body without even measuring it.

‘Yes. Because Minsu is here.’

Right beside her, just an arm’s reach away, was Minsu. And much faster than that thought, Yuri found herself holding Minsu’s hand without realizing it.

‘It’s warm indeed…’

Blessed Ice Mage. Despite her abundant cold attribute mana making Yuri dislike anything warm or hot, Minsu’s warmth was different.

Since realizing her feelings at Eins, Minsu had been someone she liked all along.

And if she could come to like even the things she disliked because of that person, Yuri thought it was clearly an emotion beyond just liking.

The word love. She thought of that word whenever she thought of Minsu.

‘Surely… it was in that dating guidebook too.’

But Minsu’s heart. Yuri couldn’t know Minsu’s current feelings. No, she knew to some extent.

She clearly knew he was keeping his distance from her. She once thought he must have liked her too, but now she felt he had indeed grown distant.

‘Before… at Eins, we were so close…’

At Eins. When Minsu first held her hand, she was so startled that her body trembled.

Just by holding hands, she could feel all his emotions. It was warm and very cozy. She still remembers that sensation.

All of it was in the past.

‘But is this a little better now?’

When he regained consciousness, she went to him to apologize for all her wrongs and contacted him countless times. But Yuri was always rejected.

Compared to then, although it’s because of work, she can be with him like this now.

Even if Minsu keeps his distance now, it’s much more reassuring than when she thought it might be over forever.

‘Yes… even if I can only watch over him like this…’

So starting as friends first. Of course, her true desire is to go back to how they were at Eins, but Yuri knows she doesn’t deserve that yet.

She had spent the past two years deeply regretting that fact, feeling sorry, and wanting to beg for his forgiveness.

She almost interlaced her fingers with Minsu’s hand that she was unconsciously holding, but Yuri eventually let go of his hand gently.

Being with him made her happy, but at the same time, her heart ached as if it were freezing.

‘I need to… be more helpful to Minsu. To wash away all the wrongs I’ve done to him.’

Yuri leaned back against the car seat. And a moment later, Minsu woke up.

***

Minsu’s hangover was worse than expected.

Yuri quickly bought ionic drinks and hangover medicine from a nearby convenience store. Ignoring Minsu’s repeated assurances that he was fine, she eventually drove to his studio apartment.

“I… I can… go… alone…”

But Minsu kept staggering. Come to think of it, the vodka he drank wasn’t ordinary vodka.

It was a vodka famous for having a much higher alcohol content than regular vodka. She kept patting Minsu’s back as he dry-heaved in the alley.

‘Next time, I’ll make sure he doesn’t drink at all.’

At this rate, she couldn’t escort him home. In the end, Yuri carried Minsu on her back.

Minsu was quite tall. And his body was more solid than she expected. It seemed he had been working out diligently.

‘Minsu is indeed a man after all.’

Her heart raced without her realizing it, but right now, she needed to hurry and let Minsu rest rather than think about such things.

‘At times like this, I’m glad I’m an awakened one.’

Compared to Minsu’s build, Yuri was thin enough to seem frail, but as an S-rank hunter, her physical abilities far exceeded ordinary human common sense.

Fortunately, Minsu was conscious enough to tell her his room number and enter the door passcode.

She quickly laid him on the bed and made him take the hangover medicine and drink. Minsu fell asleep again immediately.

“Phew…”

She was relieved that she had personally escorted him home like this.

And Yuri belatedly realized that she had impulsively entered a man’s apartment.

‘Is this… Minsu’s apartment?’

Naturally, Yuri had never had occasion to visit a man’s home alone. This was probably her first such experience in her life.

But Minsu’s apartment was very neat. There’s a stereotype that a bachelor’s apartment is musty, but contrary to that image, it seemed well-maintained.

‘Minsu is meticulous, so maybe that’s why. Huh?’

And there seemed to be a familiar scent coming from somewhere in the room.

It was clearly different from a man’s smell. That scent seemed to be coming from the bedding, and Yuri’s heart sank for a moment.

‘Could it be… a woman in this room.’

Thinking about it that way, the neat atmosphere of the apartment made sense. And upon reflection, it wasn’t particularly strange.

Minsu was an adult. And that he was a man full of charm was something Yuri knew best. It wouldn’t be strange if he had a girlfriend who frequented his apartment.

‘No… I don’t like it… I don’t like that…’

Though it was a selfish thought, the time she spent with him today had been so happy. The cruel temperature drop felt like it was squeezing her heart.

‘But… just in case.’

Though she shouldn’t, Yuri impulsively entered his bathroom. And quickly checked the cup holding the toothbrushes.

“There are two toothbrushes.”

And when she discovered a blue toothbrush and a pink toothbrush together, Yuri uttered a remark so cold that even she was surprised.

Clear evidence that a woman was frequenting this apartment. For a moment, Yuri almost collapsed onto the bathroom floor but managed to support herself.

“No… no. Calm down…”

There was one woman who naturally came to mind.

Seong Arin. A junior from the second batch at Eins, a member of the 19th student council where she had been president, and a new intern at Eins.

‘And she was Dr. Seong Chaerin’s sister…’

Dr. Seong Chaerin, who performed the major surgery that Minsu’s life depended on. And Seong Arin was her sister.

Yuri already knew that Seong Arin had been by Minsu’s side for the past two years. After all, it was always Seong Arin who relayed the message that Minsu was refusing visitors.

‘But… I heard they weren’t dating.’

Maria, the executive director of Flame and her maid, had told her that.

‘Team Leader Seo Duho said so. They don’t seem to be dating.’

Not only that. The suspicious dating guide that Maria had given to Yuri, from that Dating R&D Center, clearly stated that Minsu didn’t have a girlfriend.

Even now.

‘Why… why am I overreacting like this.’

In truth, Yuri is nothing to Minsu. Even at Eins, where they were so close, they weren’t officially dating.

So whether Minsu dates someone or even lives with someone, it was none of Yuri’s business, or rather, it shouldn’t be her concern.

Yuri desperately shook her head. It was painful. Thinking of someone else being by Minsu’s side felt like her heart was being torn apart.

“First… calm down.”

Still, this was Minsu’s home. While she was agitated, the bathroom tiles were freezing over. Whatever her feelings might be, she absolutely couldn’t cause any harm to Minsu.

If the bathroom plumbing froze, it would be a big problem.

When she calmed down a bit, she left the bathroom. And perhaps due to her cold rationality, she could think somewhat clearly.

‘I can’t be certain they’re dating yet.’

Even if they were dating, they probably weren’t living together. Though it might seem like an insignificant difference, that one fact made Yuri feel a little better.

‘No. That’s also a selfish thought. Whoever Minsu dates… rather than a woman like me… Huh?’

It was then. As Yuri sat down on the apartment floor for a moment, she noticed a doll.

“That’s…”

It was an unforgettable doll. A small, cute fire bear doll. It was the same as the doll that Yuri still hugs when she sleeps.

Except the doll Yuri hugs is blue. And that doll was red.

‘He still has that…’

The red fire bear character doll. It was the doll Yuri had given as a return gift for the blue fire bear doll Minsu had bought her as a birthday present.

Blue for herself, the Ice Mage. And red for Minsu, the Fire Mage.

The red fire bear doll Yuri had gifted was placed in the most visible spot on the shelf above Minsu’s bed.

‘What does it mean…’

In that moment, countless thoughts crossed her mind. The heart-wrenching pain from earlier vanished in an instant.

It might mean that Minsu still cherishes her gift. That could be the case. Just then, Minsu mumbled as if talking in his sleep.

“Hot… A… air conditioner…”

It’s still winter, so it’s not at all weather for air conditioning. And being a studio apartment, it would be chilly without heating.

But when she carried Minsu on her back, his body was hot. Not as much as when they arrested Rex, but it might be a side effect of drinking vodka.

And at this moment, Yuri thought of something she could do for Minsu.

“If it’s an air conditioner, here…”

She lay down next to him on his bed. She gently embraced his back as he lay on his side.

Soon, she could feel his body, hot with the raging fire attribute mana, calming down.

And Yuri continued to embrace Minsu’s broad back for a long time.

***

‘I think I’m finally sobering up a bit.’

A few days ago, I had a glass of vodka for the contract with Pyotr. I usually never drink alcohol to maintain my composure, but I didn’t realize I was so weak to alcohol.

‘It’s not like it was my first time drinking.’

Even since my days at Eins, I shared vodka with Pyotr quite often when working with him.

It seems to be a side effect of Hong-ok replacing my mana heart. The unstable fire attribute mana and alcohol seem to have caused adverse effects.

I remember my insides bubbling up the moment I drank. But considering I only had a terrible hangover the next day with no other physical issues, fortunately, it doesn’t seem to have affected my mana heart.

‘I’ll have to be careful when drinking in the future. Maybe decompose it with mana as soon as I drink…’

If it was a weakness I had, I needed to be aware and cautious of it. At least I only showed my weakness in front of Yuri.

Though my memory is almost completely blank, I remember Yuri taking me to my apartment.

When I woke up the next day, there was only a note reminding me to take the hangover medicine, which made me feel sorry towards Yuri. Without her help, my hangover would have lasted much longer.

‘Even after taking the medicine, the hangover lasted for days.’

And it seems Yuri just left after dropping me off. I was worried I might have been rude to her, but Yuri acted no different than usual.

‘Still, she went so far as to take a drunk subordinate home…’

While I was briefly reminiscing, the van carrying Flame’s group was approaching its destination.

Today’s destination was Gangwon Province, specifically the northern part that used to be North Korea. There was a dungeon assignment for the intern program there.

‘This mission is important, even if it’s an intern program.’

Early completion of the intern program. An assignment that could fulfill that condition. To participate in an S-rank dungeon cooperation mission as an intern, one had to produce the best results.

And for Pyotr’s Solaris, I also needed to satisfy the conditions for a contract with a new distributor. I steeled my resolve.

At that moment, someone from the seat next to me in the van suddenly grabbed my hand.

“Senior. I have something to tell you.”