The Free Trade Zone
Arin leaned slightly from her seat, resting her hand on my desk.
"The guild master of Flame and an S-rank hunter, Yuri Tarkovskaya. The great guild master sending a direct message to a single intern. How strange. Don't you think?"
Of course the gap between guild master and intern was vast, but Arin had to know we shared a deep bond as classmates.
*'Her eyes are fierce.'*
She was probably just annoyed at the personal contact from Yuri. But I was curious about the purpose too.
"Well, it looks like the guild master has some task for me."
"Really? Are they ordering coffee runs or something? I do those much better than you do, senior."
Arin slid a little closer, her body pressing near. Even today her outfit was the same plain white nun's habit, but it had a strangely tight feel to it.
Even back when we attended Eins Academy, many female students wearing the same uniform altered its fit. Arin certainly did. She was a little shorter than average, but she had a good figure.
As her body drew nearer, the familiar scent of her body wash spread through the air.
*'Not the time for pointless thoughts.'*
Yuri's message was not a mere notification but a question. I had to reply quickly.
*'I'm not busy right now.'*
The first week was supposed to be reserved for simple projects or nothing at all. In fact, today I had only handled basic cleaning and the document copying Team Leader Seo assigned.
Just then, Team Leader Seo, who had been watching the two of us, spoke up.
"Is it Yuri guild master? Reply quickly. There's nothing particularly busy today."
Her expression froze for a moment, but Arin quickly smiled.
"Really? Still, the guild master is quite considerate. She even contacts the intern directly."
"Well, the intern program guide mentions interviews with superior department heads like guild masters. The same applies to Arin and Dong-hyuk. The guild master separates work from personal matters, after all."
"I'm not saying it out of envy..."
"Yes, yes. Anyway, since she called, there must be a task. Minsu, you can go."
I ignored Arin's grumbling and replied to Yuri.
**Lee Minsu:** I'm not busy. Guild Master. ┛
┗ **Yuri Tarkovskaya:** Then come straight to my office.
As Team Leader Seo had predicted, Yuri answered immediately. I told her.
"Team Leader, the guild master called. I'll be gone for a while."
"Go ahead. It's not just a short trip; you may be gone for some time. Ah, and if you end up staying past quitting time, please report it to me via message."
Without thinking, his words made Arin glare daggers at Team Leader Seo. Fortunately, he seemed not to notice.
I left the field team office. Next door was the waiting room, and the field team's break room stood beyond.
Through the open door of the break room came sounds, and I peeked inside for a moment.
*'Soso...'*
Soso was sprawled on the sofa inside, fast asleep, snoring. Her vulnerable appearance made me let out an involuntary chuckle.
*'A grown woman.'*
It was winter. The internal environment of Flame was comfortably heated by the heaters, but Soso's tank top and leggings made her look strangely empty.
I draped the aviation jacket she had left on the floor over her.
*'When did I give her this? Why is she still wearing it?'*
Then I left the break room at once.
*'Soso said she'll be on standby for a while.'*
I had heard it casually from Team Leader Seo. Soso's limit line was currently at 35, so Yuri had ordered her excluded from all field missions.
According to Team Leader Seo, there had been quite a heated argument between Yuri and Soso over this. Yuri was an S-rank hunter, but Soso was still only an A-rank hunter.
Therefore Soso apparently wanted to catch up to Yuri as quickly as possible. Team Leader Seo's words echoed in my mind.
- When a guild has two S-rank hunters, its value soars to the heavens.
Ultimately Soso's goal was to raise Flame Guild.
*'It would not be right for the Heavenly Demon to reside in such a lowly place,'*
Soso had said, but Team Leader Seo had told me her ultimate target was the eradication of the Red Lake syndicate.
- Well, the ones who turned you into this state can't be forgiven anyway.
I didn't think it was only that, but since Soso desired it, I had to satisfy her. It was my responsibility to give her what she wanted.
*'I'll send Soso back to the field. Without fail.'*
With that resolve, I headed to the 32nd floor, Yuri's office.
***
Yuri and I entered the exclusive elevator once more.
Unlike the previous interview, the elevator descended toward the underground parking garage.
The awkward silence from before flowed again, so I spoke to Yuri first.
"Guild Master. I joined as an operator intern, not a driver. Do you also handle driving?"
We were alone, yet I had not dropped the honorifics.
We had spoken informally only during the interview. Since then, in our subsequent contacts, we had agreed to use formal speech toward each other.
Even now, that level of distance was necessary for the two of us.
"No. As you said, you're an operator. But it would be good to get used to driving. Flame Guild does not use autonomous vehicles."
Yuri answered seriously as well. According to her, a driver's license was a requirement on the guild's job application.
In this era where autonomous driving had become commonplace in the hunter world, licenses were not as common as one might think.
That was why I had found it strange even before joining, and only after hearing Team Leader Seo's explanation afterward did I understand why.
- Vehicles with semiconductors inside are easily hacked by information-manipulation villains. Even hunters can fear traffic accidents.
Especially guilds like Flame that frequently undertook high-profile villain missions avoided autonomous vehicles. Yuri continued.
"Gates and dungeons do not respect locations. And Flame is an Association-certified guild capable of nationwide missions, not just regional ones. If there's a mission, we have to go anywhere. Driving is essential, especially for the field team."
I had recently checked the raid team's mission locations. As Yuri said, Flame roamed every corner of the nation.
*'The term workaholic is accurate.'*
That was why it was unlikely Yuri, who had returned from missions just yesterday, had called me for nothing. Her tone was serious.
It may have been her intention to help me adapt to unfamiliar manual driving.
*'Well, I've been training hard for the job, so there's no problem.'*
The two of us exited the elevator and soon stood in front of her car.
"This is my car. The key is here, so take it."
She handed me the key. It was a key fob that bore no resemblance to the elegant Yuri, utterly out of place.
A complete relic of the old days. And the car in front of us was nothing but a plain SUV. I recalled the vehicle Yuri had driven in academy days.
*'It was a supercar with base options exceeding a billion.'*
Unfortunately there were many supercars in the underground parking garage of this Gangnam building, making that plain SUV stand out.
However, near Yuri's car, surprisingly, there were more old-style vehicles.
*'Anyone would guess they're all from Flame.'*
Nevertheless, once I climbed into the driver's seat, it had a surprisingly heavy, solid feel and was not unpleasant. Then Yuri got into the passenger seat beside me.
"Guild Master? You should have the rear seat. It's more comfortable."
"No. I'll ride here."
"But you're the guild master. It wouldn't be right to sit in the passenger seat."
"There is no need for such formalities at Flame. I'm not a general corporate CEO either. And it's working hours now. I have things to say to operator intern Minsu as well, so this seat is fine."
"I understand."
Saying that made it feel real that Yuri was the representative executive of a successful guild. And suddenly, memories of my time at Eins Academy came back.
"Then where shall I take you, guild master?"
At that time I had also become her driver after losing a bet with her.
Of course, back then Yuri had sat in the rear seat with a haughty air, like a queen. It was nothing like the calm woman sitting beside me now.
But unlike me, Yuri seemed completely unaffected. She spoke in a businesslike tone.
"Ah, wait. This car has no navigation of its own. Due to hacking. So I'll use my smartphone for navigation..."
As she spoke, Yuri placed her phone in the vehicle mount.
At that moment, I unconsciously glanced at the phone's wallpaper. Yuri from a time when she looked younger. And a photo of me in it.
*'That must be... from the winter break of my second year...'*
Special preparatory training. The photo from that time. I had once kept that photo and looked at it often, so there was no mistaking it.
"Wait. Just a moment."
And suddenly I saw Yuri's eyes flicker. She hurriedly switched to the navigation app and entered the destination. The wallpaper disappeared.
"Alright, let's go quickly. I'm busy. Loafing around idly would waste time."
I answered in a way that pretended not to notice the flustered tone in her words.
"Understood. I'll drive safely."
***
The destination Yuri had specified was an unexpected place.
*'The Incheon Free Trade Zone.'*
It was a lawless black market slum in the port city of Incheon, where uncertified hunters, outlaws, and villains traded illegal artifacts, illicit mana stones, and contraband.
From hiring labor to trading every kind of item related to hunter work, most goods in the crime-ridden area were illegal.
Since gates and dungeons were dangerous and Association-affiliated hunters alone could not maintain order everywhere, the Association had tacitly permitted the markets that sprang up there.
*'After all, those items are used to hunt monsters.'*
And during my time as an Eins student, it was a place I had visited as if it were my own home. There was no better place to dispose of artifacts I no longer needed.
*'But it's dangerous there. Especially for a young, beautiful woman like you.'*
There were many hunters who lived without license and villains who had awakened there. Of course, a young woman like Yuri was at risk.
Of course Yuri was an S-rank hunter, but I was secretly worried. While waiting at a traffic light, she crossed her legs the opposite way, perhaps uncomfortable in the passenger seat.
Then, without knowing my thoughts, Yuri spoke from the side.
"I need to buy something the guild requires. I could go alone, but since you the operator intern are here, I have something to discuss as well."
Yuri was clearly busy, so I understood her.
"If you have something to say to me..."
"It's about the answer I gave in the practical interview. More precisely, it's about the latest paper by Professor Chaerin that formed the basis of that answer. I'd like to ask you a few things about it."
Now I finally understood Yuri's intention.
That paper was the most recent one even Maria, the executive director, had not known at the interview.
That I, the main operator of Flame, learned it late was thanks to my connection with Professor Chaerin.
No, more accurately, because I had helped her to some extent. I told her that.
"I see. Since we operate based on Professor Chaerin's theories at Flame, the fact that the theories are more recent than our guild's materials must have been quite shocking for Maria. As expected of you, Minsu. You help Professor Chaerin."
"Well... she's just an acquaintance..."
"No need to be modest. Even at Eins, your grades in the MCI-related subject were outstanding. You always beat me."
Suddenly Yuri slipped and said something private, then cleared her throat.
"Ahem. No, no. It's not that. I learned it because I saw your academy grades on the job application. No, more than that, I'd like to ask about the theory itself."
"Yes. Please go ahead."
"The most important factor mentioned in the latest theory is the 'Relationship' factor. I'd like to know more about that factor."
Exactly as Yuri said. I received full marks in the practical interview by judging the situation differently from the conventional wisdom, considering that Relationship factor.
"That word 'relationship' is too broad and hard to grasp. When I read the paper, I thought it referred to the social relationship elements that an awakened individual possesses, which affect the MCI during raids. That's how I understood the theory. But the word 'relationship' is too vague."
As Yuri had said, the term relationship could not be defined as a single thing. It was not only feelings or emotions between people, such as love or hatred, but also the complex relationship of resentment.
I explained the theory as I understood it to Yuri for a while.
"Judging an individual is the psychologist's domain, but in this case it is a more technical issue. Professor Chaerin's theory starts from the detailed factors of MCI that fluctuate during mana contact..."
Yuri seemed not to have fully understood, but at least she had found something useful for Flame in my explanation.
"Then does that mean we can apply this theory to Soso, or rather Yeon Soso, the team leader?"
I said after a moment of thought.
"Yes. It is possible."
"Will the limit line rise as well?"
"Probably."
Yuri sighed in obvious relief at my answer. Soso was very important to Yuri as well.
"Phew. That's good news. It's a big loss for Flame that a capable main dealer like Soso cannot participate in raids. I'd have a hard time alone."
However, considering her words, Yuri's recent raid records without Soso had been excellent as well. I had heard Soso was even more impatient, but I wondered if Yuri had been pushing herself too hard recently.
As if affirming my thought, while I continued explaining the MCI theory, Yuri had quietly fallen asleep beside me, breathing softly.
***
Yuri Tarkovskaya was dreaming.
After graduating from Eins Academy, she had always suffered from insomnia. So even now, it was not a proper dream but a daydream hovering at the border between consciousness and the unconscious.
In her ears came the voice of a man. Her already overly sensitive nerves, strained by excessive work and missions, were beginning to relax a little. She felt comfortable and drowsy.
*'If I substitute the 'relationship' explained in this paper into the detailed variables of the MCI, the indicator change would...'*
The man beside her, Minsu, continued speaking, but his detailed words were lost to her in the hazy dream.
However, the word 'relationship' kept drifting through Yuri's mind.
*'Relationship...? Then what about Min-su and me?'*
Lee Minsu and Yuri Tarkovskaya.
If one were to define the relationship between the two, in the past it would have been simply classmate and friend, an answer easy to say to anyone. And now they were guild master and intern at a hunter guild.
But it could not be said so easily.
When the graduation ceremony at Eins Academy had been approaching, Yuri still remembered that her feelings inside had been far too intense to simply claim they were friends.
Yuri, in her drowsy daydream, unconsciously recalled that graduation ceremony and those feelings.
It was a very short flashback.
---
***