The Guild Leader's Secret Coffee Date
I studied Yuri's expression closely.
It appeared neutral at first glance, yet I had always known her face better than anyone. Her calm was fragile—her brow tightened just slightly, a hint of panic beneath the surface.
‘So the ice barrier spell as well?’
It didn’t seem like she had consciously triggered it.
Her abundant mana, inherited by birth, and her extreme sensitivity to cold-attribute mana made her unconsciously activate such spells. Especially when we were alone together and she let slip her true emotions.
Only a handful of people ever saw this side of Yuri—the real her.
‘Particularly when I held her hand…’
Graduation from Ains Academy drew nearer, the distance between us narrowing to a razor’s edge. We never formally dated, yet when we were alone we would hold hands. Of course, the initiative had come from me, but Yuri never rejected the gesture.
Yet on those occasions her usual impassive face would flush with an almost startling warmth. She would weave ice barriers in all directions around us.
She showed that side to no one else. Only to me. Exactly as she did now. Yuri was a girl who hid her shyness so deeply.
“Um… um, Minsoo-ssi…”
And her voice now, flustered and trembling, explained everything. She was trying to tell me that the situation was the same as back then.
She clearly had a great deal she wanted to say. So did I. The sight of her—mirroring the old Yuri from Ains—stirred something almost affectionate. I nearly called her by her old familiar name, but I bit it back just in time.
“Why are you doing this, Guild Leader?”
At that moment, in this very room that still carried the lingering traces of Ains, I hadn’t fully erased the old emotions either.
I probably never would. Yuri had been my first love. I believed she felt something similar. Of course I would never show those feelings again.
And here, in this enclosed space with just the two of us, reaching out emotionally could trigger another panic attack.
‘But recently Yuri’s limit line…’
The thought made my head spin again, yet I forced myself to stay calm. The mana she unconsciously released had turned the office into an icebox, keeping my own rationality intact.
“Guild Leader? Do you have anything else to say to me?”
I answered in a voice that surprised even myself—cool, distant, professional.
Yuri felt the chill in my tone. She trembled. I felt a pang of sympathy.
But Yuri was also the Guild Leader of Flame. She steadied her breathing and spoke evenly.
“The Association has high expectations for this intern program. They’ve asked me to conduct frequent interviews with the interns so they can get to know each one better.”
“Interviews, you say?”
“Yes. With the S-rank dungeon expedition coming up, I’ll be even busier. It’s wise to do these preliminary interviews while I’m still at headquarters. Please take a seat on the sofa over there.”
Yuri’s expression eased a fraction.
“An interview, then? I’ll pour you some tea.”
“Oh, no need for that…”
“Please, sit. It’s nothing difficult.”
I worried for a moment. If it had been a Slavian tea, who knew what she might serve while working or conducting an interview. But what she brought was plain American coffee. The office even had a small coffee machine.
“No syrup needed, right?”
Yuri still remembered my preference against sweet things. She had definitely intended to brew a hot Americano, yet when she handed me the cup it was already ice-cold.
The two of us sat facing each other across the table in the center of the sofa. For a while we simply sat in silence.
‘So the interview excuse was never real…’
That was the silent tea time we shared. Yuri had brought black tea instead of coffee, along with a small jar of jam.
‘Back at Ains, Yuri and I shared countless such tea times…’
Now she led the guild in Korea, yet Yuri remained a high-born noblewoman of the Slavian Kingdom. The aristocracy there treasured tea ceremonies more than almost anything else.
Using the elegant tea ceremony as an excuse, she had carved out time to meet me in secret.
I let the old memory drift through my mind once more, then pulled myself back to reality.
Recently, Yuri’s limit line hadn’t risen. It was because of me, I suspected.
‘She had missed more raids lately.’
Even if she didn’t participate, the guild leader had plenty to do. Maria, the Executive Director, had mentioned she was worried because Yuri’s limit line had fallen so far.
‘It had dropped to fifty-five.’
That was dangerously low. In Ains it had never happened. Normally it hovered around eighty-five, and as graduation approached it had climbed to ninety-five.
‘Compared to then… it’s terrifying.’
For an A-rank dungeon, an S-rank hunter could clear it in a blitz before the MCI spiked. But the upcoming Park A expedition was on a different scale entirely. We needed Flame to shine brighter than ever in this mission.
‘I can’t let it end like this.’
If the guild leader, Yuri, the S-rank hunter herself, couldn’t fulfill her role, everything would fall apart.
That was why Maria had sent me a message.
Even the private MCI analysis data I had given her. All the raid team members were concerned for Yuri’s safety.
In the end, Yuri had used the interview as an excuse to corner me and say nothing. The moment both our cups emptied.
Suddenly Yuri spoke again.
“Um… um… Would you like another cup? If you don’t like coffee, how about black tea?”
“No, I’m fine. More importantly, once the interview is over, would it be all right if I left?”
Being alone with Yuri in this room was bad for me.
My words made her long lashes flutter. But I had already been in her office for some time.
“Yes. The interview is enough. Please go.”
Leaving that flat tone behind, I stood. I started to bow and head for the door, but it wouldn’t open.
Yuri looked startled.
“T-this is strange. It’s still winter, maybe the door has frozen!”
She offered that ridiculous excuse while lowering the barrier. The sight was so unlike her that my heart ached.
Finally, I asked the question I had been hesitating to voice.
“Guild Leader. If you’re not busy, could you spare me a moment to hear what I have to say?”
“Y-yes? M… you want to talk?”
The moment I spoke, a barrier slammed down on the office door.
***
A short while later, the two of us headed to the basement of the headquarters building.
I climbed into Yuri’s car once more. She had taken the passenger seat, just like last time.
I unconsciously chased the mana aura, yet she hadn’t created a barrier inside the vehicle.
‘Thank goodness…’
Compared to the office, she seemed calmer now.
“The trip to the previous location took some time. I’ll see you safely there. If you feel tired, you can rest your eyes…”
“No! I absolutely won’t do that. I only want to make things easier for you…”
Yuri answered firmly, yet only ten minutes into the drive she was asleep.
Even though she skipped raids, the guild leader was always busy. Fatigue had clearly piled up.
‘And the limit line drop…’
For someone whose MCI was always zero, this was a symptom I would never experience. When a hunter’s limit line fell, the dungeon wasn’t the only place it affected them—real life suffered as well.
Yuri never showed weakness to others. I could tell she was pushing herself too hard.
‘Is it… because of me?’
Professor Seong Chaerin’s latest theory. The central factor in limit line decline was the ‘relationship’ she had named.
That relationship with me had made Yuri abnormal. I could confirm it from the MCI data Maria had sent.
‘Just watching her reaction in the office was enough.’
The emotion I felt now was complicated.
After joining Flame, Yuri had sent me private messages often.
As if she wanted to go back to the Ains days.
Of course, most were work excuses, yet she still read them and ignored them or sent curt, short replies.
Yuri surely noticed I had drawn a line. And my cold response had lowered her limit line even further.
It pained me.
More than Soso or Arin, I had pushed Yuri away the farthest.
Right after I woke up in the hospital, I had hoped she would forget me. I had been overjoyed when she became an S-rank hunter.
And just now.
Even the small habit of mine—Yuri remembered I liked my coffee without syrup.
The fact that I still lived in her heart. The fact that our connection hadn’t fully ended. It was painful, yet there was also joy.
Utterly contradictory emotions.
‘Still, I know what I must do.’
To erase those feelings, I thought coldly of the Red Lake.
The original Aka Hunter had been a pure romance story for the first three parts. But when the Red Lake appeared in earnest, the tone grew dark.
Even Si-woo—the S-rank hunter with the best skills in the original—began to fear the Red Lake.
The author of Aka Hunter, Red Lake, had created a villain with the same name as his pen name to counter the criticism of the story dragging on.
‘That’s why he serialized it…’
Right before serialization, the author’s outburst.
At the time, even Si-woo’s grown strength couldn’t defeat that villain.
‘He couldn’t bear it.’
Even in the original, Yuri had been a neutral force in the Snowfield Knights. No other solution existed except to ignore logic and let Si-woo grow rapidly.
And Red Lake couldn’t even do that. He serialized anyway.
‘But I’m glad it was serialized instead.’
If it had ended in a confirmed bad ending, everything I was doing now—and everything Flame was doing—would have been pointless.
So what I had to do now was to make Flame far stronger than Justice, the guild of the original Si-woo.
For that, Yuri’s role as guild leader was more important than anyone else’s.
Therefore, if her limit line was dropping, I would find a way—any way—to raise it.
‘Like before with Soso… I won’t repeat those mistakes.’
Right now Yuri was tangled in emotions too complex. I knew how carelessly handling human feelings could bring tragedy.
So even if I couldn’t cross the line, I could at least become a friend or close colleague.
That was the best I could do for Yuri’s feelings.
Time passed. We arrived at the destination.
I suggested a short trip to Yuri for the next task of the intern.
The place was Incheon Free Trade Zone, just like last time. But I had another destination in mind.
“W-where is this?”
Yuri, who had woken later, saw the wrong place and looked startled.
“Did I take the wrong road?”
“No. I brought you exactly where you needed to go.”
At the same time I pointed to the giant sign visible through the windshield. Yuri’s eyes widened.
“Let’s stop by a bear for a moment?”
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