Ch.9834. Inside the Cafe (2)

Yuri Tarkovskaya came down to Busan.

Originally, she had scheduled to contact Flame’s Busan branch in the afternoon. She had arranged meetings with Busan’s guilds for the late afternoon.

Yuri had created quite a tight schedule for herself.

The Red Lake’s uprising. The Association had recently obtained information that a named villain had infiltrated the metropolitan area. As a result, guilds cooperative with the Association were extremely busy preventing the villain’s terrorist acts.

Even Flame’s elite members had schedules packed with dungeon raids and security dispatches, leaving them no time to stay at headquarters.

‘Actually, even a day trip was difficult, but…’

Still, she managed to make time, arguing that the business in Busan was extremely important. And from early morning, much earlier than the scheduled meeting time, Yuri departed for Busan.

Perhaps Flame’s Busan branch members, namely Soso and Minsu, wouldn’t know about it. That’s how urgent Yuri’s feelings were.

‘It’s been too long since I’ve seen Minsu…’

She wanted to see his face as soon as possible.

Three months ago, unable to suppress her emotions any longer, she confessed to him. But since then, there had been no progress in their relationship.

Fortunately, she wasn’t rejected, but the distance between guild master and employee remained unchanged, unbridged.

In that ambiguous state, Minsu ended up going to Busan with Soso. If anything, the physical distance between them had only grown.

‘Soso…’

That wasn’t all. As fate would have it, Flame’s expansion to Busan was assigned to Soso and Minsu.

As a result, they shortened a six-month project to three months. While all Flame’s employees were delighted with this achievement,

Yuri, as the guild master, couldn’t be purely happy about it.

‘If they completed a six-month job in just three months… then during that time, Minsu and Soso’s relationship might have…’

The two had accomplished what was normally impossible. That meant they must have spent a lot of time together. Not just for work, but personal matters too.

In that case, even if they were just emotionless workplace colleagues, it was natural for some bond to form. Moreover, they weren’t just any colleagues without feelings.

During the Aince days, they were close friends. And on Soso’s side, she actually liked Minsu very much. Yuri had learned this fact after Soso joined Flame, something she hadn’t known during the Aince days.

‘If it was going to be like this, I shouldn’t have let her work with Minsu.’

But Yuri immediately denied that thought. Soso was essential for growing Flame.

Among the survivors of Aince’s 19th class.

At graduation, there was no close-range dealer better than Soso. Since Kwon Si-woo was dead. For a new guild to recruit a close-range dealer as exceptional as Soso was like catching a star from the sky.

And even if they had recruited someone, the forced march of both dungeon raids and villain subjugation that Flame had been doing for those two years would have been impossible.

Because Soso, who had awakened the Blood Demon, felt guilty toward Minsu.

Like herself, who had trapped Minsu in an eternal barrier. The two shared an implicit sense of kinship. As if atoning to Minsu, to build Flame for him to join later.

For those two years, they devoted everything to Flame’s growth.

But now she regretted it. Yuri might have been unconsciously complacent.

Because she and Minsu liked each other. She had harbored the arrogant belief that if he returned to Flame, Minsu would surely come to like her again.

That thought was obviously wrong. Two years is both short and long. Minsu already had Seong A-rin by his side. And now in Busan, there was Soso.

That fact meant that Yuri had little chance to stand by Minsu’s side.

‘But I couldn’t oppose him going to Busan.’

Because Minsu himself wanted to go to Busan. And because he chose Soso. Having already done something terrible to Minsu, she couldn’t do anything that would hinder his future.

She was Flame’s guild master. And Flame was a guild created solely for Minsu. So when she had to send Soso and Minsu alone to Busan,

Yuri’s heart felt like it was being torn into tens of thousands of ice fragments.

‘This feeling… is this what Soso endured during the Aince days?’

Belatedly, Yuri was clearly feeling that pain, the pain of losing the man she liked—no, loved—to another woman.

‘It’s all… my fault.’

Still, Minsu remained with Flame. And he had clearly told her that he wasn’t thinking about dating yet.

If that was the case, even if there was another woman who got along well with him, Yuri thought she might still have a small chance.

To confirm that small chance, Yuri rushed to Busan today. She wanted to see the atmosphere between Soso and Minsu with her own eyes.

Although three months had passed, she needed to confirm for herself the vague belief that while there might be exchanges between the two as colleagues and friends, there would be no progress as a man and woman.

But all those expectations were gradually shattering as she secretly observed the two walking side by side after finishing a dungeon raid.

The two were casually walking down the street, holding hands. And Yuri followed them, careful not to be detected.

Both were skilled hunters, but Yuri was also an S-rank hunter, so it wasn’t difficult.

Soon, the two entered a café. After waiting outside for a while, Yuri also entered the café after some time had passed.

“Excuse me, I’d like to ask something. Did a young man and woman go upstairs just now?”

The two weren’t visible on the first floor of the café. So Yuri asked someone who appeared to be the café manager.

But the manager didn’t answer immediately. He was visibly cautious of Yuri. She quickly guessed the reason.

‘Most of the customers on this first floor are hunters.’

And according to reports sent to headquarters, this area around Gwangalli was the territory of Red Breakers, a guild friendly to Flame.

If they knew who Minsu and Soso were, they wouldn’t reveal their private lives to an outsider. He was clearly wary of her.

Yuri forcibly relaxed her tense expression. Pretending to smile, she said to the manager:

“I’m Yuri Tarkovskaya. The guild master of Flame.”

At those words, the manager’s wariness instantly disappeared. He immediately bowed his head.

“I’m sorry! I didn’t recognize the guild master right away.”

“It’s fine. That’s understandable. Soso and Minsu are employees of our guild. I was asking because I wanted to join them.”

“I see. Any drink is fine! For Flame’s guild master, of course, anything for free…”

None of that mattered to Yuri. But she forced a smile. She had something she needed to find out from this manager.

“Really? Thank you. Then I’ll just have a café latte. But more importantly…”

Yuri casually probed the manager.

“How are Minsu and Soso doing in Busan? Those two were known as a sickeningly sweet couple even at Flame headquarters.”

At those words, the manager, who had been busily preparing coffee, said:

“Really? So it was true. Well, they’re famous among Busan’s hunters too. Haha. People say they’re a perfectly matched handsome and beautiful couple.”

The response to her casual probe made Yuri’s heart feel like it was freezing over.

***

Her head was spinning. For a moment, it was so hard to breathe that she could barely maintain her composure.

“Here’s your coffee.”

But Yuri barely held it together. She knew Soso’s feelings. So perhaps people were mistaken just because Soso was acting affectionately toward Minsu.

Because the current Soso was very beautiful. It would be natural for people who didn’t know the situation to misunderstand her showing goodwill toward Minsu.

After all, someone as beautiful as Soso wouldn’t show goodwill to someone she wasn’t dating without reason.

‘Yes, that must be it. They’re a man and woman. Just appearing to get along well could easily cause misunderstandings.’

But Yuri, having received her coffee, couldn’t maintain her composure.

The two were on the second floor. Then, she should confirm with her own eyes. The coffee in her hand felt like it was freezing solid.

The second floor was quiet.

It was completely different from the bustling atmosphere of the first floor filled with people. Perhaps the hunters themselves had noticed Minsu and Yuri and had come downstairs on their own.

She had already been informed by the information team manager who was dispatched with them that the two had quite high positions as Flame’s representatives in Busan.

Anyway, that wasn’t important. Yuri wanted to confirm.

Whether it was just a misunderstanding by others, or if Minsu and Soso had really grown closer during their time in Busan. But she couldn’t openly approach the two.

This wasn’t Flame’s Busan branch office. So Yuri searched with her eyes from near the entrance of the second floor for the two who might be here.

And at that moment, Yuri dropped the coffee she was holding.

‘What did I just see?’

An instinctive freezing spell caught the coffee before it could make a sound hitting the floor.

Yuri forcibly covered her mouth to prevent the scream that was about to burst out.

‘Why… why… is Minsu with Soso?’

Beyond that window, the Gwangan Bridge is visible. And sitting in the spot with the best view are Yuri and Soso.

Despite the distance and the café’s tables, chairs, and interior items partially blocking the view, there are no blind spots for Yuri, who uses freezing spells as naturally as breathing.

Creating a lens with that spell was not difficult at all.

So her eyes clearly saw the image of the two sharing a kiss.

‘A kiss… why… why are they kissing…?’

She felt extremely strange. No, at this moment, it felt like the world was turning upside down.

She felt nauseous, and her heart hurt so much that if she wasn’t covering her mouth, a scream would escape.

But even in that moment of eternal agony, the two’s kiss didn’t end.

Anyone would think they were lovers. Soso’s arms were wrapped around Minsu’s neck, and Minsu’s hands were naturally placed on Soso’s body.

And their overlapping lips were moving busily, as if to represent how passionate their kiss was.

It was clearly a lover’s kiss.

‘What, what is this… I feel strange… nauseous… no… this can’t be…’

She tightly closed her eyes. She couldn’t bear to see this anymore. A deep kiss where anyone could feel they were desiring each other.

If two young people sharing such a kiss had no relationship, that would be the most pathetic lie in the world.

No, she wished it was a lie. She wished it was a kiss done as a joke, out of boredom.

If it was a kiss exchanging and confirming each other’s feelings, if that was true, Yuri’s world would collapse.

The castle of Minsu and herself, precariously built like Yuri’s ice castle, would shatter completely.

“Haa… haa… haa…”

And then she remembers nothing more. Yuri fled from the café.

Soon, standing next to the alley where the café building was located, she shook her head trying to forget that scene, breathing heavily as if suffering from hyperventilation.

But the image only became clearer in her mind. And as she barely supported her collapsing body by grabbing the alley wall,

The tears flowing involuntarily from Yuri’s eyes froze solid. Her blue eyes turned ice-cold, almost turning white.