The Eve of Spring
Manager Oh scanned the room, confirming that everyone's attention was on him before diving straight into the matter at hand.
"I assume you all had a good holiday. We'll be assigning missions by team right away."
"Aw, come on, Manager Oh. It's been so long since we've all been together. Aren't we doing something like a team dinner?" Chief Sang raised his hand as he asked. Perhaps because he led such an unusually rigid team, he was exceptionally cheerful.
"You idiot, we've got a mountain of work piled up from the holiday. There's a ton that needs to be handled."
"Ugh, they send work even during the holidays? Don't they have days off over there?"
"If there were holidays where gates didn't appear, we wouldn't have this kind of backlog."
It was something Mina had only recently learned, but it was rare for an entire department to gather like this. Unless it was the day after a holiday or an A-rank or higher gate appeared like last time, it was uncommon for a whole department to assemble for a gate subjugation. For B-rank gates or lower, teams within the department would handle them on their own.
"If you really want to have a team dinner, finish the work first and do it with your own teams."
"No way. Manager Oh, you know how boring these guys are, right? If I have dinner with them, I'll be the one suffocating to death first."
The department erupted into laughter at Chief Sang's words. After all, Mina—who had somehow ended up on the same team—knew all too well just how quiet and difficult they were. Her face flushed at the laughter directed their way. Even amid the chuckles, the fact that her team merely frowned slightly and remained utterly silent was almost impressive.
"Enough of that. I'll hand out the copies first, so review the contents and have the team leaders discuss among yourselves to divide them up."
The team leaders, including Chief Sang, gathered around Manager Oh to receive their request forms. Even though Mina had only handled paperwork, she knew how these meetings typically went. She had seen the team leaders bring copies for their members to review, then decide on requests based on the observed gate's rank, location, and each hunter's mana capacity.
When multiple teams wanted the same request, the leaders would hold a meeting to determine who got priority and who would take the leftovers. As Chief Sang approached with the bundle of documents he'd received from Manager Oh, Mina resolved that this time, she would finally earn recognition from this difficult team.
"Mina, could you come here for a moment?"
"Yes?"
It was Chief Sang who had quietly called her over while distributing the papers to the team members.
"A C-grade gate? It's not bad, but the distance is too far. Why did this one come all the way here?"
"Just set it aside for now and look for the decent requests first."
She glanced around and saw that the team members were busy examining the request sheets they'd received from him. Mina walked over to Chief Sang.
"What did you need me for?"
She asked with a sense of unease, noticing the guilt flickering across his face despite her surprise at being singled out.
"Well, you see... Manager Oh told me to show this to you separately."
"Manager Oh?"
Mina's anxiety grew as she took the document Chief Sang held out and read it. She froze solid.
"Regional... investigation?"
The request form described how an investigation team had been formed due to abnormal weather at a ski resort and continuous disappearances of people. They wanted one A-grade hunter as insurance. On the surface, it seemed like a normal enough request, but the real issue was why something like this had come to Hanshin at all.
Hanshin was a guild that specialized in gate clearing—though they called it monster subjugation. It was a privilege that came with being a major guild. The interior of gates was dangerous, but it overflowed with valuable byproducts and money. That's why guilds fought tooth and nail to secure priority gate-clearing rights from the government. From Hanshin's perspective, they should be scrambling to take on as many gate-clearing requests as possible to stay ahead of other guilds. They shouldn't have time for anything else.
"Yeah, apparently they need about one A-grade hunter over there."
Even as Chief Sang explained, his expression was subtly strange, as if he found it odd too. Mina felt like she was going crazy—why did all her superiors make that same face in front of her?
"I... understand. I'll take care of it."
Mina answered, forcing her frozen expression to thaw, but the guilt was plain on his face. He must have noticed.
Once the meeting ended and the office emptied out, Mina sat there blankly, staring at the request form clutched in her hand. It was normal for teams to move together. They should be busy enough with gate clearings, yet here she was with this incomprehensible request. And it had been given to her specifically, on a personal basis.
It wasn't that the request itself was trivial. She understood that someone had to do it. The problem was that it was so far removed from what she was supposed to be doing.
Even as the other teams chose their requests and left, Mina remained alone in the office, staring at her form. The sight was so pitiful that other teams who spotted her gave her startled looks. It was bad enough that even a few members of her own arrogant team showed expressions of pity.
"...They're doing this on purpose to harass me, aren't they?"
Sniff. Mina's eyes reddened with sorrow at the sight of herself left alone in the now-quiet office, as if all the earlier commotion had been a lie. At this point, the higher-ups must be tired of dealing with her. She couldn't understand why they would go so far as to accept a request they wouldn't have taken otherwise, just to torment her.
"It wasn't my fault..."
The real problem had been Gu Gang-woo. He was the one who had obsessively stalked her first. He was the one who had tried to lay his hands on her. If Seok-jun hadn't helped her—if he hadn't killed him—she didn't even want to imagine what might have happened. It was too horrifyingly clear. So why did she have to go through this?
As she flipped through the request form, she found another document that looked like precautions for PTSD patients, as if someone were pretending to be concerned for her. It felt like mockery. Mina swallowed the surge of bitter sorrow rising in her throat. She didn't want to cry here, in this office.
She barely managed to wipe away her tears, gathered her things, and left the office.
"Mina?"
"Manager Oh."
She ran into him on her way out. Mina looked at him, wondering why he was still here. He was someone who had plenty of his own work to do.
"Are you okay? I was a bit worried."
"It's not like you were the one who decided this, Manager Oh."
"That's true, but..."
His expression was uneasy, but Mina didn't want him feeling guilty for no reason. Having dipped her toes into administrative work, she knew that those who received and decided on requests were closer to the company's upper levels. She forced a smile.
"Then I'll be going first."
"R-right."
She walked past him quickly, but then—
"Deputy Lee? Perfect timing."
'Ugh!'
She barely managed to smooth out her face, which had nearly crumpled at the sound of the voice. Her mood was already at rock bottom, and she hadn't expected to run into Chief Kim at a time like this.
As Mina worried whether her expression had twisted, Chief Kim approached with a puzzled look.
"What's this? Deputy Lee, have you been crying?"
Mina wondered if it showed that obviously, but she hid her emotions and asked,
"Chief Kim. What brings you here?"
She stared at Mina for a moment before speaking, a hint of hesitation in her voice.
"Um... what exactly is your relationship with that man you met before the holiday?"
"Man?"
Mina thought about what Chief Kim meant, then realized who she must be referring to. The intern was already under her command, so the only other person was Seok-jun.
"Do you have some business with Seok-jun?"
Why was Chief Kim asking about him? Mina, already feeling down, felt her mood sink even further at the realization. When Mina looked at her with those sunken eyes, Chief Kim—rarely—flinched and waved her hands in denial.
"Business with that guy? What business?! I'm just asking because I'm curious about your relationship!"
Her flustered reaction made Mina suspicious, but she thought about Seok-jun. They had managed to enjoy a date during the holiday, but the very next day he'd sent a text saying new work had come in. There had been no further contact since, so they hadn't been able to meet.
"We're just seeing each other occasionally."
Why on earth was the company asking about something like this? Instead of lifting, Mina's mood sank even deeper.
"You'd be better off staying away from that man as much as possible."
Chief Kim left those words behind, then turned to the person waiting for her.
"What are you doing? Hurry up. We still have work left."
"Yes, yes! Have a good evening, Deputy Lee."
"Ah."
Only then did Mina notice Ji-woon—the one she had taught—standing behind Chief Kim and bowing. She really must have been in a terrible mood to miss that.
After confirming they had gone into their department, she patted her cheeks.
"Ugh, what kind of state is this?"
What was the point of showing personal feelings at the company? Mina scolded herself for unconsciously taking out her frustration in the wrong place.
"Still... this is too much."
Yet the contents of the request form in her hand didn't change, and the sorrow remained. It hadn't even been that long since she'd gone on a date with Seok-jun, but she already missed him.
She checked the request form once more and made up her mind.
"Let's take care of this first."
After all, it was a job that required an A-grade hunter. Since she'd come this far, refusing would only cause trouble. Mina decided she would take responsibility and see it through. Who knows? If she handled it steadfastly, maybe Hanshin would start looking at her more favorably.
"It's quite a long-term mission."
The form stated she would need to stay for about a month. However, depending on how things progressed, the duration could shorten or lengthen, so they had agreed that the exact period would be updated on site. Mina suspected that Hanshin might have deliberately assigned her a long-term mission, but she steeled herself.
"I need to show results even here. Let's go, Ppomi."
"Woof!"
Mina smiled at Ppomi's bark from inside the cage. Since there was lodging provided, at least this mission wouldn't be too lonely. She'd also learned that her dog was smarter than she'd thought.
"Please take me to Old Myeong-a Village."
"Sure thing."
She searched the address from the request form on a map to confirm, then got into a taxi.
"Are you a hunter too, miss?"
"Yes? I am, actually."
When Mina answered the taxi driver's casual question, he continued speaking while driving.
"Lately, a lot of people have been asking to be taken that way."
Now that she thought about it, an investigation team had already been formed. Excluding herself, quite a few hunters must have already headed there.
"Even when I tell them the area is restricted, they keep saying it's fine. There's nothing dangerous going on, is there?"
Seeing the driver's slightly worried tone, Mina smiled.
"It'll be fine. If any problems arise, we'll take care of them."
No matter how much this wasn't originally her job, since she'd taken it on, it was hers now.
"Hahaha! What a reliable young lady. So admirable."
As she chatted with the driver, snowflakes soon began to drift past the window.
"Snow?"
Mina found the sight strange. Even though it was still cold, it was already mid-February. This region was closer to the south, so snowfall should have been rare.
"First time here? After some monster died in the area, it's been like this year-round. That's why the village disappeared and a ski resort was built instead."
"A monster, you said..."
Mina recalled a story she'd heard before. In the early days of the gate incident, S-rank or higher boss monsters that had been left unchecked would sometimes escape their gates and cause massive damage. Even after S-grade hunters defeated them, there were frequent reports of the fallen monsters altering the surrounding climate. This place must have been one of those cases.
The taxi soon came to a stop as a checkpoint appeared.
"This is as far as I can take you."
Mina got out and handed the driver the fare.
"Be careful, miss."
"Thank you."
She thanked the worried driver and sent him off, then looked around. The request form had said someone would be waiting nearby. But no matter how she looked, she couldn't find any sign of a person.
"Did I come to the wrong place?"
She checked the checkpoint, but even the guard seemed to have stepped away. She was starting to wonder if they'd gone so far as to change the address on the form when she finally noticed something strange.
Inside the wooded forest, in a spot where snow hadn't accumulated, a knight in familiar armor was crouched inside a large box that perfectly fit his body, looking in her direction. In front of the box, the words Take me with you were written in huge letters with a marker.
'Is this some kind of pet?!'
For a brief moment she felt glad to see him, but then Mina seriously considered pretending she hadn't noticed.