The Obsession of the Guild Intern
I walked into the hospital familiar as an old friend. The first two years after my transmigration had been spent in the academy dormitory, and the remaining two in this vast university hospital. It had become a second home.
The place was packed with people. The Awakened Specialized Treatment Center in particular was so crowded that there was barely room to take a step.
“I’m here to see Professor Seong Chaerin?”
I stood at the reception desk and asked the staff member who looked puzzled.
“Yes, Professor Seong Chaerin.”
“Professor Seong Chaerin? There’s a huge backlog of appointments, so even if you register now you might not get seen today. Ah, did you already have an appointment?”
“No, I didn’t make a separate one…”
“That’s a problem. You might not know, but Professor Seong Chaerin is so well-known in Korea and even abroad that it’s hard to see her. Fortunately, today is the day she returned from an overseas trip.”
The receptionist wasn’t wrong. The patients filling the waiting area were almost all there to see Professor Seong Chaerin.
“Look at all the people waiting. If you’re okay with it, maybe another doctor from the same department…”
“Another doctor? That’s a bit…”
At that moment the other staff member beside the receptionist recognized me immediately.
“Wait a second. That patient—no, that person. It’s you, Min-su. Ah, Eun-ji only started working here recently so maybe she doesn’t know.”
“Min-su? Wait a moment?”
The receptionist seemed to be searching my name on the monitor.
I’m sure it won’t matter much.
It wasn’t a particularly distinctive name. In a big hospital there were probably plenty of people with the same name. If I had been reincarnated as the novel’s protagonist—say, someone with a name like Si-woo—I might have drawn more attention, but I was just a minor extra in the story.
The receptionist stared at the monitor for a long time.
“Lee Min-su… Lee Min-su… Lee Min-su… Is the patient’s age—”
Before the receptionist could finish, the other staff member cut her off.
“Mr. Lee Min-su, just send him in.”
“What? Without an appointment, how can I see Professor Seong Chaerin…”
“It’s fine. Send this one first.”
At those words, the patients waiting all turned to look at me. The receptionist who had been talking to me also gave the other staff member a strange look, but the colleague simply said, as if it were the most natural thing in the world.
“Professor Seong gave the order. It’s okay. Come this way, Mr. Min-su.”
“Yes. Thank you.”
Turning away from the puzzled receptionist, I heard a whisper behind me.
“Yoon-ah, what’s the relationship between that person and Professor Seong Chaerin? There’s a patient who gets this kind of special treatment from the legendary professor? I heard she’s known for her sharp temper.”
“Ah, that’s true.”
Not only the receptionist, but the other patients were also whispering among themselves. It didn’t sound like praise.
Now it feels like I’ve done something wrong.
I felt like I was cutting in line for no reason. But I did have business with the famous doctor, after all.
I hurried in front of the consultation room marked Professor Seong Chaerin. Meeting her in the hospital room had been more familiar and less awkward than coming here, but there was no time to hesitate.
I opened the door as if making a promise to myself.
***
“Why the hunter guild, of all things?”
I sat in front of Professor Seong Chaerin.
She wore a doctor’s coat, and the name tag clearly indicated she was a physician. Yet the body beneath the coat, the casual clothes, the long pink hair, and her face all suggested she belonged more on stage than in a medical office.
When I listened to her without really paying attention, her expression quickly turned stern. I answered reluctantly.
“I spent two years in the hospital. I need to make a living too, don’t I? I’m already twenty-two.”
“Then you could work anywhere else. Why the hunter guild?”
“I only know how to do that. I can’t do anything else. Besides, I’m not even a hunter. You know I can’t use mana. I’d be useless even if I tried, so there’s no need to worry.”
“I know that. Still, even if it’s office work, it’s better if it has nothing to do with that world…”
“Doctor, here.”
I slid a document across to her. She read it for a moment before speaking.
“Pre-interview physical examination?”
“Yes. Even though I’m applying for a non-combat position, the job I applied for is operator. I need the results.”
“Operator? That means you’ll have to enter the field.”
Professor Seong’s forehead furrowed as if her head was hurting for a second.
“You already know. That’s why I came to see you. The guild told me to get an MCI check before entering the site.”
“MCI? You know the term too? Only you in the entire world have an MCI of zero.”
MCI—Mental Contamination Index. The background of this novel is modern Earth, but like every academy story, gates and monsters exist.
Entering dungeons beyond gates or encountering monsters leaves a mental impact. The scientific indicator that visualizes that value is MCI.
The groundbreaking theory behind it was created by the professor sitting in front of me. I was a unique individual whose MCI never changed from zero.
I said it boldly.
“Then there’s nothing to worry about. If the index is zero and not one hundred, at least I won’t have any mental collapse from dungeons or monsters.”
She sighed.
“Hoo. You really know how to talk.”
“So you’ll write the recommendation letter? Just like you said, if the index is zero the hiring managers will think something’s strange.”
“You came here knowing I can’t refuse you, didn’t you?”
The direct question made me flinch. Professor Seong Chaerin and I had that kind of relationship. Of course, she wasn’t my hidden lover or anything. She had simply given me one big debt.
“No way. Having a doctor who knows me well and specializes in this area is perfect. I came partly to see you.”
“That’s not sincere.”
Still, she wrote the letter without hesitation. Then she suddenly remembered something and asked me.
“Which guild are you applying to? Arin told me you had amazing theoretical grades in your academy days. There was a gap in the record, but with those grades even a non-combat position could go anywhere.”
“It’s… Arin always exaggerates. It wasn’t that great.”
“Then which guild is it?”
“The Undying Butterfly’s Flame Scale. Have you heard of it?”
“Undying Butterfly what? Are there guilds with middle-schooler nicknames these days?”
I startled inwardly, then continued.
“If you say it that way, maybe you won’t know. It’s the Flame Guild.”
“Flame? It sounds familiar. Hold on.”
She searched the name on her PC for a moment.
“Flame Guild. The representative director is… Yuri Tarkovskaya. Don’t tell me it’s the northern archduchess?”
“Yes. Tarkovsky. Yuri is the daughter of the archduke.”
“No, of course I know that. The famous Snow Maiden. As for Yuri…”
Professor Seong’s voice grew even more cautious.
“She’s your academy classmate. The one who caused your trauma.”
“No. That was an accident. Yuri couldn’t help it.”
“Your PTSD… You’ve finally recovered a bit. Don’t you remember? When our classmates came to visit, how you were.”
“That was a year ago. I’ve fully recovered after seeing a specialist.”
“Specialist, you say…”
She spoke awkwardly, but it was true. The doctor who had saved me when I was barely a corpse was her.
“And you said yourself that turning your back on the cause is impossible for complete trauma recovery.”
“Still…”
But Professor Seong couldn’t break my resolve.
“As your attending physician, I’ll be honest. As you said, you can’t become a hunter, but an operator is fine. Still, remember this.”
“Yes. If the doctor says so, I will.”
“Don’t be sarcastic. I know you won’t listen anyway. If anything happens, absolutely do not use mana. Understand?”
I paused for a second. I had no intention of doing so, but I nodded.
“I’ll do exactly as the doctor says.”
“… Yes. You must remember. You must.”
She said it and crossed her legs. Frustrated, she picked up a cigarette from the desk, but of course it was a smoke-free area so she just fidgeted with it.
“Then, Doctor. There are many patients waiting behind you. I’ll go now.”
I stood up. Professor Seong hesitated for a moment before speaking to my back.
“Five years. Even if you live as an ordinary person, the remaining time for you will be no more than that. Even if it’s only theoretical. So I understand your feelings, but don’t overdo it.”
I couldn’t answer that remark.
Overdo it.
But if a little overdoing could wash away the mistakes I had made, I would have to keep overdoing it until I died.
Because of the mistakes I committed. Because the novel’s protagonist and his childhood friend had died.
And because so many academy students had died as well.
I left the consultation room without replying.
***
When I returned to my rented room, the sun had already set and it was dark outside.
It had been only three months since I was completely discharged from the hospital. I had been planning to join the Flame Guild since then, so I chose a place close to their headquarters.
Three subway stops. The location is perfect.
If I had been rejected, I would have been in trouble, but I was confident I would never be turned down.
Eins Academy—the background of the first and second parts of the novel I had been reincarnated into, The Academy’s All-Rounder Hunter.
The most famous hunter academy in the world. With perfect theoretical grades, I had no chance of being rejected on the application alone.
Just like the doctor said, even a large enterprise guild would have accepted me with my graduation record.
Of course, the guild I applied to was the Undying Butterfly’s Flame Scale—the so-called Flame Guild. In 2027, it was the fastest-growing new guild.
Although smaller in scale than large enterprise guilds, its level was extremely high.
“I wonder how the interview will go.”
I searched the Flame Guild on the hunter community, especially the job-seeking section, on my smartphone.
There weren’t many reviews. The Flame Guild had just started public recruitment this time, so it was understandable.
Only three people?
In fact, only three spots were being filled, and the operator position I applied for was one of them.
That made the competition ratio fairly high. The reviews from those who failed the document screening were full of complaints.
And several days later, my interview was scheduled at the Flame Guild headquarters.
Yuri. Can I see her face today?
Named the Snow Maiden, she had long silver hair and had been the student council president.
She was a student from the otherworld kingdom of Slavia, summoned to Earth along with the gates. Yuri came from Slavia, whose people were racially the same as Earth’s Slavic race.
Of course, Yuri wasn’t a pure Slavic because of her Japanese blood, but I briefly recalled her appearance from a year ago.
Thankfully, nothing happened. After regaining consciousness, even looking at her face caused panic attacks.
Yeah. Now it should be fine.
It was better to focus on the upcoming interview. With such intense document competition, the interview would probably be just as fierce.
But deep down I wasn’t worried at all.
According to the comments, if Yuri was the interviewer, she would never reject me.
I’m sure she won’t be able to.
With Yuri, who had always been responsible, she would still be carrying guilt toward me.
Yuri was the party responsible for destroying my mana heart. Of course, I didn’t resent her now.
If I had resented her, I wouldn’t have been able to see her again. Nor would I have been able to see my classmates in the Flame Guild.
If even a tiny part of me still resented them, I had to change.
Because of me, too many people died.
For my revenge, I needed them and that guild. I had to continue the story of the novel I had ruined.
Days later, I entered the building where the Flame Guild headquarters were located.