Ch.73. Celestial Horse Combustion Chamber (2)

In that moment, her speech pattern was so peculiar it could bewilder anyone listening.

Yeon Soso. Strange enough that those who didn’t know her might think she was insane.

But even those who knew her felt the same. Both Arin and Uncle Donghyuk knew Soso, but…

They clearly hadn’t expected that bizarre way of speaking, especially Uncle, who looked particularly flustered.

“N-Nice to meet you! Intern Jang Donghyuk at your service!”

But he quickly composed himself and responded energetically. I thought to myself that someone with social experience really does handle things differently.

‘Cheonma…’

And truthfully, this speech pattern was new to me as well.

Soso had certainly succeeded in awakening as a Cheonma at Ains, but…

She never had the personality to use such arrogant speech befitting Cheonma formality.

Come to think of it, her outfit was unusual too—like a trainer’s, revealing her entire figure.

It was somewhat provocative attire that I could never have imagined on the Soso I knew.

It seemed she had changed a lot during the two years I hadn’t seen her.

‘Has she really grown accustomed to being a Cheonma now?’

And I briefly recalled the background of Aka Hunter, which was set in modern Earth but where Cheonma actually existed.

The dimensional fusion thirty years ago when gates first appeared didn’t just summon the Slavia Kingdom from another world.

In the Slavian language, Ailetan.

Simply put, the otherworld continent of Ailetan contained not only medieval fantasy nations like the Slavia Kingdom but also Eastern fantasy-style countries.

Thus, another otherworld nation summoned to Earth was Muguk (武國). This Muguk was, in simple terms, a nation straight out of a martial arts novel—a country where martial arts sects actually existed.

This Muguk settled in southern China. So in the world of Aka Hunter, it wasn’t strange for Cheonma to exist.

‘Still, no matter what, that speech pattern is definitely weird.’

Setting aside thoughts about the original setting, I waited for Soso to speak. She said quietly:

“Lee Minsu, Seong Arin, Jang Donghyuk. So there are three new recruits.”

She absently checked the documents in her hand. Or rather, pretended to check them.

Then she shifted her gaze slightly and our eyes met. She immediately startled and quickly avoided my gaze. After clearing her throat, she spoke:

“Ahem. Interns… interns… This lady is actually unfamiliar with this intern system. An intern is like… joining a martial sect without formally establishing a master-disciple relationship, or perhaps an earlier stage… somewhat similar to an outer-sect disciple… I suppose that’s what it is…”

But she couldn’t properly continue her speech. Just then, the waiting room door opened, and another person entered.

It was a thin, middle-aged man wearing horn-rimmed glasses.

“Hey! Team Leader Yeon Soso. You took the wrong documents! And didn’t I say I’d come with you to meet the interns? Why such a hurry? Are you trying to butter up the interns? Haha.”

Soso looked at the papers she was holding. Upon closer inspection, they were the cafeteria menu. She was startled.

While Soso was trying to hide the paper behind her back, the man who had just entered spoke:

“Are you three the new recruits? Nice to meet you. I’m Seo Duho, Information Team Leader. And this is Yeon Soso, Raid Team Leader. You two were classmates at Ains, and Jang Donghyuk worked as security at Ains, so you’re familiar with Team Leader Yeon, right?”

All three of us nodded. This man, Seo Duho, seemed to have already gathered information about all three of us. And he spoke quite rapidly.

“That makes explanations easier. As I mentioned, Team Leader Yeon Soso is Flame Guild’s Raid Team Leader and main dealer. Her official hunter rank is A-class. She’s skilled enough to slice through ordinary monsters and villains like tofu. Isn’t that right, Team Leader?”

“Hmm. That is correct. This lady, as a woman of the Cheonma Divine Sect carrying on the ultimate sword technique through generations…”

But Team Leader Seo didn’t wait for Soso to finish and quickly continued:

“Yes, that’s right. As she’s so skilled and represents the field, it would be ideal for her to personally guide you field interns. However… this happens to be Flame’s first time implementing an intern system, so Team Leader Yeon seems to be having some difficulty familiarizing herself with the program.”

Team Leader Seo was right. Soso had the lowest theoretical grades while at Ains. And she was terrible at communicating her thoughts to others.

‘Her communication skills were… pretty awful.’

It’s hard to imagine from her current appearance, but back then, Soso was incredibly gloomy—what you’d call a loner.

That’s why Soso and I got along so well.

‘Got along… well.’

Just as I was about to get lost in thought, Team Leader Seo continued:

“So to put it simply for everyone: for the time being, Team Leader Yeon will handle physical tasks in the intern program, while I’ll take care of the intellectual aspects. Please understand it that way.”

“…Y-Yes, that is so. As Team Leader Seo says.”

Soso, who had been quiet, added a comment.

By then, Team Leader Seo had finished booting up the PC in the waiting room and lowered the screen.

“Now, I’ll explain the upcoming intern program to you all. Please take your seats.”

We interns, including myself, sat at the waiting room table. Seeing Soso quietly sit down with us, Team Leader Seo remarked incredulously:

“Are you planning to listen to the explanation too, Team Leader Yeon?”

Instead of answering, Soso nodded vigorously.

***

Team Leader Seo Duho. Unusually, he used formal speech even with interns.

“When I speak casually, I tend to excessively abbreviate my words. Formal speech is better for conveying more information, so please bear with it.”

Team Leader Seo’s subsequent explanation was well-organized. Based on a neatly prepared presentation, he explained the intern system to us.

“The Hunter Association has designated the internship period as six months. And this is an employment-linked internship. That means, unless you’re completely incompatible with our guild or suffer an unfortunate accident, you’ll all become official members of Flame Guild.”

Uncle Donghyuk whispered in my ear:

“Thank goodness. There are many places that just work interns to death and never make them official members.”

Then, as if suddenly remembering something, he added:

“Oh right. Team Leader Seo Duho. I thought his name sounded familiar. He was a famous field information analyst. He must have moved to Flame recently. I heard he used to be at Mansong.”

Next, Team Leader Seo explained Flame’s important field policies.

“As you know, Flame is a medium-sized guild, so we don’t maintain multiple raid teams. Since the guild’s inception, we’ve carried out guild missions with just one raid party, without even reserve personnel.”

The core members of that raid team were four people:

Main dealer Yeon Soso. Then Yuri Tarkovskaya, who served as both ranged dealer and tank. Next was Father Stefano, the healer.

Finally, Maria completed the team as the operator. These four were also the members who conquered the AA-class dungeon, Ghost Man-eater.

“Of course, since the Guild Master is so versatile—excelling at melee, ranged attacks, and tanking—there weren’t any problems initially. But as the guild grew, we inevitably became short-staffed.”

In such cases, they would hire freelance mercenaries not affiliated with any guild, but as Flame Guild’s mission intensity became known, even mercenaries became hard to find.

And the real issue was MCI—Mental Contamination Index.

“Guild Master Yuri is such a workaholic that she tackled all missions from the Association without discrimination, whether dungeon clearing or villain subjugation. But no matter how high a hunter’s MCI resistance is, their threshold inevitably drops with continued exposure to dungeon or villain magical energy.”

In other words, to recover from elevated MCI, rotation or rest was necessary.

‘Though the threshold varies from person to person…’

From what I remember, Yuri’s maximum threshold was 95. This meant she could maintain her normal condition even with her mental contamination index rising to 95.

‘If MCI exceeds that threshold, you fully receive the curse carried by dungeon bosses.’

Considering that the average hunter’s MCI threshold is around 65, she had an iron mentality befitting her pride.

‘No matter how bad Yuri’s condition got, her threshold never dropped below 70…’

But as Team Leader Seo said, human limits exist.

“So on my recommendation, we decided to introduce the intern system. The raid team members insisted they were fine, but from the information team’s perspective, well, they looked like they were heading for an accident. Their MCIs were all precariously high.”

That was the background on why Flame recruited interns.

Going forward, the three interns would undergo several months of training before joining as rotation members for the main raid party.

“Well, ‘rotation members’ is just a term. Under a workaholic like Guild Master Yuri, field personnel never have MCI to spare. So you’ll have plenty of field work—don’t worry about that.”

“Really? That’s great. Since I’m getting paid even as an intern, I should work hard. Isn’t that only natural?”

“Oh? The nun makes a good point. Working in the field, we encounter so many salary thieves it’s maddening. Anyway, let’s take a ten-minute break. Anyone who wants to smoke, follow me.”

All three of us shook our heads. I was puzzled.

“Uncle Donghyuk, didn’t you used to smoke?”

“Ah, my wife is pregnant now. So I decided to quit.”

Hearing this, Team Leader Seo momentarily paused. But without showing his reaction, he said:

“Then, Team Leader Yeon, please have some drinks with the new recruits. Oh, and Lee Minsu, you need to come with me.”

“Me?”

“Yes, you.”

Though I don’t smoke,

The fact that he specifically called me meant he had something separate to discuss. I obediently stood up.

The two of us entered the smoking room.

***

“Thank you. I should say this to you first.”

Team Leader Seo lit his cigarette and bowed to me. Then he continued:

“Two years ago… during the Ains tragedy. You killed the Doubt Specter, that S-class villain.”

Team Leader Seo explained further. Five years ago, he lost his wife and daughter in a terrorist attack by the Doubt Specter.

That same Doubt Specter caused the same tragedy at Ains Academy two years ago, leaving numerous victims, but I ultimately killed it.

After his brief explanation, he let out a deep sigh.

“Well, who in the hunter industry doesn’t have their share of tragic stories? What matters is that even though the Doubt Specter is dead, its mastermind, the Red Lake, is still active.”

So Seo Duho, who had been working as the head of information at Mansong, one of the largest corporate guilds,

Readily submitted his resignation and transferred to Flame when Yuri proposed they work together to annihilate the Red Lake.

“I see. But wouldn’t staying with the large corporation be better for your revenge… for achieving your goal?”

“No, absolutely not. Large corporations only focus on profitable dungeon clearings; they have no interest in high-risk villain hunting. They certainly wouldn’t confront dangerous villain groups like the Red Lake. Big companies just obligatorily hunt the small fry thrown their way by the Association.”

Then he grinned and said:

“So when I saw the self-introduction you wrote, I thought, ‘This is the real deal.’ Whether it’s Guild Master Yuri or Team Leader Yeon Soso, they desperately want to kill those bastards, but you were a bit different.”

“Me?”

“Yes. You were just like me. You could die tomorrow without regrets, but if possible, you’d prefer to die after taking all those bastards’ heads—that kind of madness.”

He took another drag of his cigarette and exhaled.

“Phew. Not that I’m saying Guild Master Yuri or Team Leader Yeon’s determination is light. Anyway, congratulations on joining. Flame is a good guild. Oh, and Executive Maria said that you joining us at this time is heaven-sent luck.”

“Heaven-sent luck…”

“Well, that executive isn’t one for empty words. And I saw it too—your practical interview answer sheet. The interviewers gave you perfect scores, but I think that’s a bit off.”

He tossed his cigarette butt into an empty can.

“If it were me, I would have doubled your perfect score. Flame needs a new operator like you. Executive Maria is a skilled operator, but the MCI variable is so damn mysterious that she couldn’t handle recent troubles, especially with Team Leader Yeon Soso.”

“Soso… I mean, Team Leader Yeon?”

“Yes. Actually, there are quite a few problems.”

Then he looked directly at me.

“But if we follow the answer you submitted, we should be able to restore the Team Leader to her normal self. Even from that damn state where her threshold has dropped to 35.”

“35? There’s no way a threshold could drop that low…”

“Well, I’ll explain the details gradually. Let’s go back. If we stay away too long, the others will get bored.”

With those words, Team Leader Seo and I returned to the raid team waiting room.

***

After the morning’s brief orientation ended, it was lunchtime. I was heading to the company cafeteria with my two intern colleagues.

“Hmm. The office ladies told me the cafeteria food is quite good—I wonder if that’s true? Well, even if it’s not, there’s no need to worry. If it’s not good, I’ll pack lunch boxes for Senior Minsu every day.”

“No, there’s no need for that…”

I brushed off Arin’s words. My mind was preoccupied with what Team Leader Seo had told me.

‘Soso is in such a bad state?’

He said Soso’s threshold was 35.

For normal awakened individuals, just entering a dungeon raises their MCI by 20 to 25.

After confronting monsters, contamination easily exceeds 30.

This meant Soso was currently unable to participate in raids.

‘No wonder. That’s why she was excluded from today’s mission.’

Arin had heard somewhere that the raid team, except for Soso, had all gone on a mission today. So there was a reason only she remained behind.

Just then,

‘Ugh, what’s happening?’

Before I could react, I felt my body being violently pulled away by something.

‘A villain? No way, right in the middle of Flame?’

A moment later, after being dragged for quite a while, I was finally released.

I found myself in a supply closet, no longer in the office corridor.

And the person who had dragged me here spoke:

“Here, there won’t be any annoying interruptions. Don’t you agree?”

A familiar voice. The culprit who had brought me here was Soso.

“Soso? What are you doing…”

But before I could question her, Soso embraced me so tightly I could barely breathe.

“Minsu… you… you! This lady has truly missed you…!!”

Before I could even register the soft feeling of flesh against my upper body,

Soso’s voice, filled with joy, sent chills down my spine.