The Quiet Promise of a New Morning
After scrubbing my teeth clean, I lay back down in bed once more.
Arin had gone to brush her own. She had even brought her personal toothbrush and left it in my bathroom, so it felt completely natural.
Before long she returned and, without a word, slipped in beside me.
“Should I sleep on the floor?”
“Seriously, why? We haven’t even shared a bed once yet.”
“Don’t speak in such strange ways. People might misunderstand.”
Today, because it was the first time she had worn normal clothes, Arin seemed oddly aware of herself.
I knew her fashion sense was excellent. When she dressed casually, she always drew attention even on the street.
Since becoming a nun, she has worn nothing but her habit.
When I regained consciousness, Arin had still been in her habit. Back then she had shunned people so fiercely because of her severe misanthropy that she avoided everyone—except me.
Looking at her in her habit always brought me peace.
And the sacred prayers she began to chant as her holy power awakened.
Without her, even after I woke up, I could never have moved my body again. I would have lain paralyzed for a year.
The rehabilitation was truly hellish.
My shattered mana heart had ruined my entire system. Mana roads ran through every part of the body, so when they twisted into knots I could barely move.
After a full year unconscious, my muscles had withered away as well. The worst part.
For my recovery I had to relearn every single movement from walking on all fours. Even now, thinking back on it, the memory made me shudder.
If it had not been for my unbearable hatred of the Red Lake, and if Arin had not nursed me with such devotion, I would never have joined Flame at all.
It was also Arin who kept my mana roads functional.
When I could not use my own mana, she poured her holy energy directly into them to maintain my senses.
The process was dangerous and drained every ounce of her strength and will.
Yet even though she was only a third-year at Eins, after classes and training she would always rush off to the hospital to help with my rehabilitation.
On weekends she stayed with me the entire day. That was why sleeping beside her on my bed had become second nature.
But now her atmosphere felt different. A pure, natural Korean girl with soft pink hair and pink eyes that looked straight at me.
“Senior… it’s still February, so it’s cold, right?”
She drew closer, eyes locked on mine, and I caught the faint scent of the perfume she rarely wore.
My gaze drifted unconsciously to her chest, accentuated by the tight sweater. Arin’s pink eyes darkened, growing even more liquid.
“Senior, do you know how many times you stared at my chest today?”
“I didn’t even once.”
She was pretending, but I could see she had noticed everything.
Arin wrapped her arms around me. Even if I wanted to resist, the softness pressing against my chest left no room for denial.
Now I understood she had deliberately worn the tight sweater.
This is going to drive me crazy.
I was no eunuch; I knew every signal she was sending. This was blatant temptation. But I had to hold back.
Arin is someone I treasure.
I understood her heart completely. I had nearly accepted it countless times. No—actually, I had wanted to.
I was a man who would die soon. The more precisely I used mana, the stronger the backlash became.
If I loosen the seal further, the backlash will be even worse.
That backlash would begin to erode my mana heart and roads, and through the cracks my remaining lifespan would leak away.
I had already lost Si-woo and Min-ah, people who were like family to Arin. I could not let her lose anyone else.
Therefore I could never be her lover.
Yet Arin seemed completely unaware of my feelings. She pressed her lips close to my ear and whispered.
“You don’t have to hold back, Senior.”
Fearing the consequences, I removed her encircling arms.
“Stop joking around and go to sleep. I have to go to work tomorrow. I’ll be exhausted after the trip.”
“Oh? What did the guild leader do on that trip to make you so tired? Did you use a lot of strength?”
“Stop making those weird jokes.”
I turned my back to her. Of course Arin immediately hugged me from behind.
“I love how broad your back is, Senior.”
I could feel her face buried against my back. The soft sensation was still there, but by not looking at her I managed to calm the rising excitement.
When nightmares and trauma had tormented me in the hospital, Arin’s arms had always soothed me.
She was warm and gentle.
Soon my eyes grew heavy. The fatigue from last week’s Seoraksan expedition still clung to me. No matter how tempting she was, my body was too tired.
Just as I began to drift off, Arin spoke in a petulant tone.
“Senior! Even when you sleep, you have to say good night! That’s why I brushed my teeth!”
“Stop being ridiculous and go to sleep.”
“Tch. Senior is mean.”
Remorse flooded me. I had never been able to repay the kindness Arin showed me.
After long deliberation, I lay back down. The moment our eyes met again.
And instead of her usual playful expression, Arin’s pink eyes looked soaked with sadness. I could not leave her like that.
“Senior…? Why all of a sudden?”
She tried to turn the conversation away as if nothing had happened, but I ignored her and pulled her into my arms.
“Senior…? Hic…”
Our lips met.
***
The night passed without either of us knowing whether the kiss was only a kiss or something more.
In the morning Arin was already gone when I woke. She had probably wanted to avoid commuting together. It was her way of caring for me.
Good thing.
I went to the bathroom to brush my teeth and, completely unthinkingly, recalled the strange dream I had had.
I had only awakened to check if I was embarrassed by the dream. No matter how familiar Arin became, young people sleeping together in the same bed was still too stimulating.
Good thing I didn’t have an erotic dream.
Even if she had caught me, it would have been a crisis of human dignity. And Arin had become a frequent visitor to my apartment, where she even washed my laundry.
In fact, she hand-washed my underwear and socks herself.
At this point I was not sure whether Arin wanted to be my girlfriend or my mother.
Anyway, after eating the breakfast she had already prepared, I headed to Flame’s headquarters.
The elevator did not stop at the operations floor, so I rode to the next level as usual.
Arin was already there, chatting happily with the female staff of the operations team. Her sociability was unmatched.
Someone like her probably could not live a normal life at Eins because of me.
Guilt resurfaced, but then I saw Arin smiling at the women and giving me extra attention. My feelings shifted.
“What were you talking about?”
“We were saying Senior’s love life is very complicated. Since he is such a ladies’ man, we told the team leaders to be careful around him.”
“What a morning. Spreading rumors about people?”
“It’s safer to say that, isn’t it? If too many people keep confessing their love to Senior, I’ll be in trouble too.”
“Who would even like a normal guy like me…”
Arin and I bantered as we descended to the ground floor.
Only a few of the operations staff had arrived yet; it was still before nine.
Dong-hyuk uncle hasn’t come… and Executive Director Maria?
Two people were already present: Executive Director Maria and Team Leader Seo.
“Minsu. Welcome back from your trip. Arin, good morning.”
Team Leader Seo greeted us first. I answered him and Executive Director Maria.
“Good morning, Team Leader Seo. Executive Director Maria.”
Maria bowed her head in return.
“Good morning. I needed to speak with you anyway, Minsu. Welcome.”
Maria was the epitome of a Slavic beauty—wavy brown hair, sharp suit, elegant and mature. Although she was still in her twenties, she felt older than me, Yuri, and So-so, all of whom were barely in their early twenties.
At that moment Arin’s gaze turned toward Maria.
Arin was slightly shorter than average. Maria’s height seemed to bother her. Her pink eyes darkened instantly.
If this were usual, I would have scolded Arin for overthinking…
But the embarrassing dream from last night was still crystal clear. The timing was wrong.
Thankfully, Team Leader Seo came to my rescue.
“Ah, that topic again. I’ll sit in too.”
Seo’s words made Arin’s expression return to normal.
She must have relaxed.
I let Arin stay behind and moved to the operations meeting room.
***
Inside the meeting room, Executive Director Maria had already projected a screen. Team Leader Seo and I listened to her report.
“The limit line for this S-rank dungeon support mission has been decided. Hunters below eighty cannot even join support missions—that’s the Task Force headquarters’ policy.”
A Task Force had been organized under the Hunter Association to conquer S-rank dungeons. A temporary organization created for special missions.
Flame is an S-rank guild, but the other participating guilds are fierce.
That was why even guilds like ours—second-tier support—faced strict conditions.
Normal dungeons only required a sixty limit line, so anyone with even one disqualification was instantly rejected. The strictness was clear.
“Fortunately, Flame is fine. The indicator on the screen shows the current limit lines of our Flame raid members. All are well within the required range.”
“Even the guild leader?”
“Yes. Guild Leader returned from the trip yesterday, measured his limit line here, and there have been no changes.”
The other members had already been measured. Even though I had accompanied Yuri, I should have had mine measured too, but…
I knew I was an anomaly with no limit line at all. Maria and Seo already knew that.
“Impressive. All our elite members have over eighty. It hasn’t happened in a long time.”
Seo spoke. As he said, So-so’s limit line had been a mess on the day I joined, and Yuri’s had fluctuated wildly.
“Guild Leader’s is eighty-five, and Team Leader Arin’s is eighty-three. We can submit these to the association right away.”
At that moment Maria turned her gaze to me. Cold eyes on a beautiful face. Sharp, observing eyes.
That’s Maria.
In the past, at Eins, Maria and I had not gotten along.
Her family was a noble house that had served the Tarkovskaya family for generations. Maria herself had been Yuri’s loyal maid since she was a child.
Even when Yuri left the ducal estate to train as a hunter, Maria had helped with some of the lessons.
Maria is an incredibly skilled sniper.
Unlike me, she had received no formal operator training. Yet she had become the operations member of the Flame raid team.
Her talent as a sniper—observing from hidden spots at long range—suited the role perfectly.
Still, Maria, who was so talented, could never have liked the person who had defeated Yuri in a duel. And after that, Yuri had treated me like a sworn enemy for a long time.
But even Maria changed her mind after the winter special training when Yuri and I grew closer.
More than anything, that training had dramatically increased my strength as an awakened.
Of course, that was all in the past.
Now I am simply her boss and subordinate.
And Maria would become a great help in destroying the Red Lake. As my thoughts drifted, Maria spoke to me.
“Thanks to the excellent operator who joined, the long-standing limit line issue is finally solved. We can finally breathe easy.”
“That’s right. Especially Team Leader Arin’s limit line never rises no matter what. But since Minsu joined, everything changed.”
“Correct. It’s all thanks to Minsu.”
Maria was not one to praise people lightly. Seo gave her words an intrigued look.
“Oh, by the way, there is something I wanted to ask Minsu. The Task Force meeting at headquarters is coming up. Could you attend in my place? With the guild leader and team leader.”
Team Leader Seo looked surprised.