The First Field Trip of the Intern Program

The Blood Demon. Another personality nested within Soso.

Even in Muguk, the Heavenly Demon Cult was a sect of ancient and storied history. And in the bloodline passed down through its successive leaders, a child was born, on the rarest of occasions, bearing the cursed fate of the Heavenly Killing Star.

By now it was little more than a legend even within the Cult itself. Soso's misfortune was that she had been born under precisely that star.

The Heavenly Demon was a being who stood above all others by strength alone. The Blood Demon, too, had been destined for that same absolute power — but the curse of the Heavenly Killing Star twisted her nature into something else entirely. She was a slaughter-fiend who wished to rule over all from a throne of piled blood and corpses.

And that Blood Demon spoke to Yeon Soso. Soso screamed inwardly.

"Shut up and get out. I have nothing to say to you."

"Hmph. How hurtful of you to say so. As ever, it was you who woke me, girl."

The Blood Demon was right. The one who had woken her was Soso — Soso's own frail inner self. And the love she harbored for Lee Minsu.

It had been the winter break of their second year, the nineteenth class of Eins Academy. During that advanced training, Soso had learned Minsu's heart with painful certainty. He already liked Yuri Tarkovskaya. And she herself was nothing more than a friend.

She knew perfectly well why he had paired with her for the finals before that. It had all been so he could spend the break with Yuri.

The Blood Demon pressed on without missing a beat.

"What a pathetic wretch you are. All because some man turned you down — and you went and woke this lady. If you loved Lee Minsu that much, you might at least have tried confessing once."

Soso could not deny it. If she had known Minsu liked Yuri, she should have laid her heart out cleanly and given him up. But she hadn't been able to. If she were rejected that cleanly, and a crack formed even in the friendship between them...

I couldn't bear that. Not ever.

Better, then, to hide her feelings completely and remain his friend for as long as it took. She had wanted to stay by his side even like that. But by nursing those dark feelings toward Minsu and Yuri in secret, she herself had raised the Blood Demon.

The Blood Demon is right. I was a coward who couldn't even confess. I never had the right to be a Heavenly Demon.

Struck to the core, Soso crawled into her sleeping bag without a word. That was when Arin came over.

"Team Leader Yeon. Wouldn't you like some dessert?"

Soso's ears perked up at that. Seeing someone so close to Minsu always left her unsettled — but the dinner Arin had prepared tonight had been far too delicious. She couldn't refuse food from her. She accepted the snacks Arin held out.

"I shall eat well, then."

"It's nothing, Team Leader."

The moment Arin turned away, Soso tore open the wrapping without a second thought and bit in. A chewy macaron.

Did she make these herself too?

No different from a specialty shop. No — better. The little rush of happiness a macaron could give. And then, in the same breath, Arin's feminine charm, which she could never hope to match, threatened to sink her spirits all over again.

The Blood Demon spoke up once more.

"Tsk. Spineless to the last. And you still have the gall to call yourself a Heavenly Demon? All that swaggering resolve of yours..."

"I told you to shut up."

"And if you keep stuffing your face like that, you'll turn into a pig again, just like your cadet days..."

"Shut up!"

But she couldn't deny that either. Just as ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠the Blood Demon said, after the Tragedy of Eins, Soso had resolved to become a true Heavenly Demon.

The pair sparring at the second-year finals. The training she had done to face Minsu in that match had awakened ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠her as a Heavenly Demon. No — more precisely, she had awakened the Heavenly Demon Divine Art, the qualification to become Young Cult Leader of the Heavenly Demon Cult. Even after awakening that art, she had remained as gloomy and timid as ever.

It was only after she had seen Minsu lying unconscious in a hospital bed, hovering between life and death, that Soso had decided to change.

First, she had joined Flame, the guild Yuri had founded. Yuri Tarkovskaya was someone Soso found genuinely difficult to be around. But as the saying went, one must untie the knot one tied oneself. Soso bore no small share of responsibility for the Tragedy of Eins. She had to answer for it. And if she didn't change, she would never be able to stand before Minsu with her head high when he finally woke.

So she had taken that unkempt self who had never bothered with her appearance and dressed as she did now, working at it with grim determination. She had lost the weight and managed herself with something close to desperation. The tank top and leggings she wore now were clothes she could never have put on without confidence in her body. To wear them, she had cut her meals down to three a day and sworn off snacks entirely. The imposing way of speaking that suited a Heavenly Demon — she had practiced that just as hard, starting then.

But when Minsu actually...

She had wanted to show him the person she had become. A year after the Tragedy of Eins, Minsu had ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠recovered consciousness — and the sight of her had sent him into a panic. She had wanted to apologize. But that reaction had been too much of a shock. At its core, it had meant he was rejecting her.

And from that shock, the Blood Demon who had vanished had woken again, as she was now. Her Limit Line had kept falling as well.

Fortunately, once he had recovered, he had joined Flame, and she had been able to see him again. But looking at herself, still unable to stand tall, Soso's mind filled with nothing but bleak thoughts.

And Minsu already has Arin... Unlike me, she's never done anything to hurt him... and she's so much more like a girl...

In that instant, her skull rang as if it had been struck by a hammer.

Soso clapped her hands over her ears in a panic. But the sound was ringing from inside her, and there was no quieting the shock. She screamed inwardly.

"Have you lost your mind? Why would you shout like that all of a sudden?!"

"A woman who calls herself Heavenly Demon, this timid? There is nothing to weigh and measure. Pin a man down with your body, and he will yield in the end."

"What kind of garbage is that."

"I felt it this afternoon, when you carried Lee Minsu in your arms. His heartbeat quickened. It means he felt lust for that body of yours. Does it not?"

"Don't talk nonsense. Minsu would never..."

But given what she had been wearing, their bodies had pressed together rather closely when she carried him. Soso's chest was on the generous side. As the Blood Demon said, there was no way Minsu hadn't felt it...

"And there are no absolutes between a man and a woman. If you haven't the wit for seductive words or vixen's tricks, then you ought at least to use that body, ought you not? You are an empty-headed fool as it is. Though your figure is rather fine."

"Even so, Minsu already has Arin..."

"Again... again!! Look at that Lee Minsu. The same man who used to trail after Yuri Tarkovskaya as if she were the sun itself — and now look at him, laughing it up with another girl. That is what men are. If you set your mind to seducing him with your body, one ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠night of a man and woman's clouds and rain..."

"D-don't say such filthy things!"

"You are both adults already. What of it?"

At that, Soso flushed in spite of herself. She remembered what had happened with Minsu in the supply closet. The kiss they had shared. It had been a kiss of near-unavoidable force, meant to stop the Blood Demon who had seized control of her body — but the memory of Minsu's breath, the feel of his lips, still made her burn with embarrassment.

They went on exchanging that idle talk. The Blood Demon's remarks were closer to a succubus's than a slaughter-fiend's, but Soso's heart eased a little all the same. Anyway, Minsu was close by now. And not everything the Blood Demon said was wrong.

Two years had already passed since that day at Eins. In the end, Minsu and Yuri had not ended up together. And unless Minsu happened to be dating Arin... there were no absolutes between a man and a woman. Which meant a chance could still come to her. Plenty of them.

No. Before that, Flame's work... hunting Red Lake comes first.

She had joined Flame to wash away her original sin of awakening the Blood Demon. Even so, for Soso, Minsu had always been the priority. What mattered was that Minsu, who had lost consciousness and hovered at the edge of death, had come back alive. And that he had recovered enough to join a hunter guild.

Dr. Seong Chaerin really is amazing. She's the most famous physician in the hunter world. She brought Minsu back in the end.

And she and Minsu were both still young. For two people like that, it meant a great deal of opportunity and time still remained. Even after they had wiped out those villains. Surely.

I'll start over as friends, at least. And then someday... I... I couldn't exactly charge in with my body, but... Minsu and I...

Holding that thought, Soso drifted into sleep with her heart a little lighter.

The next day, Guild Flame moved in earnest.

"We're already a day behind the other guilds. Shouldn't we pick up the pace?"

I said it without thinking, but Team Leader Seo Duho answered in an unhurried voice.

"If we didn't have this advance analysis, you'd be right. There's no particular need to worry. Thanks to you, Minsu."

Team Leader Seo and I had finished the dungeon's advance analysis well into the night. Of the eight B-Rank dungeons Soso had found, we had narrowed it down to four that Flame's interns could reliably clear on their own. And through additional work, we had raised the resolution of those dungeons' projected data considerably.

Team Leader Seo was a veteran who had been run ragged in the intelligence analysis division of a major corporation, and I had carried out his instructions to the letter.

"Well, now. They say experienced rookies are all the rage these days. This is like we brought in a twenty-year industry veteran recycled as a freshman. Our operator intern, that is."

Team Leader Seo sent the rest of the members the full dungeon intelligence brief he and I had put together. Dong-hyuk looked it over and spoke up.

"He's not wrong. This is basically a cheat engine for a video game. If we raid it like this, even a B-Rank shouldn't be difficult."

Genuine surprise sat openly on his face. Team Leader Seo went on.

"Well, the actual dungeon will have discrepancies, of course. Even so, the presence or absence of advance intelligence makes an enormous difference in both clear success rate and clear time. Shall we go in?"

And when the party at last crossed the gate of the first B-Rank dungeon, Dong-hyuk was even more astonished.

"This is... it's exactly the information Team Leader Seo and Minsu gave us."

He was right. The dungeon did not deviate from Team Leader Seo's and my analysis. The first dungeon was, as expected, a labyrinth type. The boss and the monsters that appeared were nothing much, in truth — but the viciously tricky terrain meant hunters took losses and simply burned a return stone rather than push through. That kind of dungeon.

I, on the other hand, had always preferred labyrinth-type dungeons.

If you could avoid the nasty traps and the monsters lying in wait, they were excellent for farming the items hidden inside. And the S-Rank Ancient Gear Ruby — Ruby, too, had been a fortuitous encounter farmed from a labyrinth-type dungeon just like this one.

Ruby, who now served in place of my mana heart, was reacting to the dungeon's miasma. I stilled that pulse for a moment.

Team Leader Seo gathered the interns and gave us one last briefing before the raid.

"This being an intern program, the actual clear of the dungeon must be performed by the interns alone. So this time, Team Leader Yeon and I will not be participating in the raid."

He only added that they would stand by in case of any danger to the interns.

"I also picked up a little information from someone at the office. As expected, most of the guilds excluded their operators — intern teams, after all. Plenty of guilds figure that if you're going to use an operator, you'd be better off just adding another party member from among your dealers, tanks, or healers."

The intern raid party currently numbered three: Dong-hyuk the tanker, Arin the healer, and me — the operator, and a non-combatant. A three-man party.

"So it's a regrettable composition, missing a main dealer. Still, as I see it, Flame's new operator intern has outstanding skill, so it shouldn't be a problem. Rather than ramble on, let's just do this. We start now."

"Yes, understood!"

The interns answered once they had finished putting on their gear. I finished donning the full set of operating equipment as well, and stood with them.

It was time for me, the operator, to issue instructions to the two of them. I spoke.

"Arin, blessing spell first. Then the two of you go in, and we clear this dungeon. We start the moment the blessing is done."

"Yes, Senior!"

"Let's do that."

Arin's body lit with a pale-green radiance of holy power, and that power wound itself around me and Dong-hyuk.

I felt vitality wake through my whole body.

"We're going in!"

Dong-hyuk opened the entrance to the labyrinth — the Tainted Sanctuary. The two of them went in. I, a non-combatant, followed behind them, and activated the operating equipment Flame had issued: the observation drone and the stealth gear.

And this in-ear comm device...

An item worn like an earphone. It responded to an Awakened's mana and activated a small screen in a corner of my vision as augmented reality. Through that screen, an operator could correct the advance-analyzed dungeon intelligence against the actual dungeon in real time. Continuous tactical commands were issued through the same in-ear device.

Which meant it was time to use mana. The in-ear gear didn't require much of it, so even I, with a ruined mana heart, could use it without strain.

But using mana meant...

It meant the activation of that damned status window — the system — that I had deliberately avoided ever since I recovered consciousness.

No. It wasn't a system, not exactly. It was the fiend that had revealed its true nature to me when I took down the Doubtful Monster. An evil that had pretended to be a system, pretended to hand out quests, and cunningly forced me to monopolize every fortuitous encounter.

Sure enough, the moment I used mana, that false system came alive.

I shut the system off at once.