39 - Chapter 37: Belladonna
Her slightly sun-kissed, dark skin contrasted sharply with her golden hair, and her facial features carried a distinctly exotic air.
Jin Seo-yun recognized her instantly.
She was the S-rank Hunter who had bailed them out during their run-in with Ilina's gang a while back.
Natalia brushed past the protesting nurse and strode across the room, stopping right in front of the bed.
She sighed, looking down at the still-unconscious Han Su-hyeon, who was hooked up to various life support machines.
"Dumbass. This is why a mere D-rank shouldn't play hunter..."
After muttering those words, Natalia stared down at Han Su-hyeon for a moment before suddenly whipping her head to the side.
"Ah."
Jin Seo-yun accidentally locked eyes with Natalia.
The moment their eyes met, Natalia spoke to her bluntly.
"Hey, you. We've met before, right?"
"Huh? Oh... yes..."
"Sit right there and take good care of this dumbass."
"...I was planning to do that anyway."
Thrown off by Natalia's characteristically rough tone, Jin Seo-yun couldn't bring herself to speak very politely either.
But Natalia, blunt as she was, didn't seem to care how others spoke to her, showing no reaction at all.
"Good."
With that, Natalia left the room as abruptly as she had entered.
Stepping out of the hospital room, Natalia asked the nurse who was still trying to stop her.
"Can you unlock the rooftop?"
"Are you serious? It's off-limits to civilians."
"Is that so?"
Ignoring the nurse's attitude, Natalia nonchalantly rummaged through her pocket and pulled something out.
"Doesn't matter. Open it."
Bristling at her arrogant attitude, the straight-laced nurse was about to snap.
But the words caught in her throat when she saw what Natalia was holding: a Black Hunter License, issued only to S-ranks.
Instead, the nurse quickly recalled the protocol for dealing with high-ranking hunters from her training manual.
'Right, they said anyone with high-rank mana who actually works as a hunter has a major screw loose. Don't needlessly provoke powerful psychos, and just go along with whatever they want unless it's completely unreasonable.'
Sighing, the nurse pinched the bridge of her nose and spoke.
"Understood. I'll unlock the roof for you."
The rooftop was empty save for a helipad used by emergency medical helicopters.
Since that was the only thing up there, the nurse briefly wondered if Natalia had business involving a helicopter.
However, Natalia didn't even spare the helipad a glance as she climbed straight onto the safety railing.
Knowing a thing or two about the insane physical capabilities of S-rank Hunters, the nurse didn't even try to stop her.
Natalia leaped off, bounding across the rooftops of the surrounding high-rises as she sped away.
It looked like parkour taken to a ridiculous, superhuman scale.
'This is going to exhaust me later, but it's still faster than driving.'
Pushing her pace, she soon arrived at the Monster Biology Research Institute.
As she stepped inside, she was greeted by the sight of various monster specimens preserved in giant jars of formaldehyde.
Weaving through the eerie, taxidermied exhibits, she reached a desk where a researcher lay face down, fast asleep.
"Wake up."
Natalia kicked the researcher's chair to wake him.
"Huh?"
Toppled over along with his chair, the researcher jolted awake and frantically looked around.
"Oh, Natalia?"
Adjusting his thick glasses, the brown-haired researcher spotted Natalia and offered a weak smile.
"What brings you here?"
"I had something to ask, but you weren't answering your phone."
"Really?"
He quickly checked his phone. Sure enough, there was a long list of missed calls.
"I was dead to the world, so I missed them. What did you want to ask?"
"Belladonna."
"Belladonna? That lazy monster from the E-rank Gates?"
"Yeah. Some idiot ran into one and collapsed from poisoning. Do you know how to treat it?"
"Of course. They probably ingested too much of the honey Belladonnas produce. Contrary to popular belief, they aren't harmless to humans."
Thrilled to talk about his field of expertise, the researcher began to ramble enthusiastically.
"According to a recent paper by a German research team, when a Belladonna finds a male she likes, she wraps him in her vine tentacles and..."
"I don't give a shit about that. Just answer my question."
Natalia had neither the time nor the patience for a lecture, so she cut him off sharply.
Chastised by her sharp tone, the researcher nodded with a slightly sullen look.
"...Well, anyway, Belladonna honey is a toxin with strong aphrodisiac properties. The chemical community is still researching its molecular structure, but it's a slow-acting poison that begins to break down the body once it's separated from the host. The cure, however, is surprisingly simple. The Belladonna itself produces the antidote."
Natalia nodded slowly as she listened.
"Can't we use that one?"
She pointed to the giant formaldehyde jar next to her, which contained a preserved Belladonna specimen.
The researcher shook his head.
"No. All of its bodily fluids were drained during preservation. Even if there were any left, they'd be contaminated with formaldehyde and completely useless."
"Is that so? Got it."
Realizing she had all the information she needed, Natalia turned on her heel to leave.
Watching her walk away, the researcher smirked.
"So the day has finally come when even you care about someone."
"...What kind of bullshit is that?"
Natalia paused at his unexpected words.
"You probably don't even realize it, but you look incredibly anxious right now."
"Ha."
Natalia scoffed, throwing a sudden punch that shattered the formaldehyde jar next to her.
"Whoa! Th-that was an incredibly rare specimen...!"
As the researcher jumped back in shock, Natalia smirked.
"That's what you get for talking bullshit."
With that, Natalia walked out of the institute.
Once outside, she pulled out her phone and called her secretary.
[Ma'am? What's the matter?]
"From now on, I want you to bid on every single E-rank Gate under my name. I don't care how much extra you have to pay."
"Have you heard the rumor lately?"
One low-ranking hunter asked his partner, who tilted his head in confusion.
"What rumor?"
"You know Natalia, right?"
"Oh, that S-rank crazy bitch?"
"Yeah, they say she's actually lost her mind this time, and not just metaphorically."
The hunter looked intrigued.
"Really? Tell me."
"Apparently, she's suddenly buying up every E-rank Gate in sight. She's even outbidding people way above market price if anyone else tries to buy them."
"She must have completely lost her mind."
The two low-ranking hunters shared a chuckle.
*
Rumors of Natalia's bizarre behavior quickly spread among the hunters, becoming the hot gossip of the community.
'Is this the next one...'
Completely ignoring the gossip, Natalia toured the country, clearing every E-rank Gate she had bought.
When she entered her latest acquisition—an E-rank Gate on Ulleungdo Island—her eyes widened slightly at the sight of the lush forest inside.
"Finally, a Mandrake habitat."
Life returned to her dull, vacant eyes, and her heart rate quickened with excitement.
Wearing a faint smile, Natalia quickened her pace, driven by a sudden rush of urgency.
Any monsters that lunged at her were blasted away with casual waves of her electrified hands, as if she were swinging an electric fly swatter.
Deep in the heart of the forest, she found exactly what she was looking for: a Belladonna guarding the boss monster, a Mandrake.
Though Natalia didn't know it, this Belladonna was the very one that had captured and raped Han Su-hyeon.
"Haha."
Staring at the live Belladonna she had searched so desperately for, Natalia's tense expression melted into a twisted grin.
"I've been fucking dying to see you."
The monster couldn't possibly understand her, but Natalia didn't care and kept talking anyway.
"You kept showing up in my dreams so much, I was starting to wonder if I'd awakened some weird new kink and fallen in love."
Natalia muttered to herself as she closed the distance.
"Hmph."
The Belladonna seemed to realize that Natalia hadn't just come to kill the Mandrake.
Not that realizing it would help the monster stand a chance against an S-rank Hunter.
Before the wary Belladonna could even react,
Natalia's left hand struck.
"...!"
Taking a direct hit to its upper body, the Belladonna was sent rolling across the ground before it could even screech.
The monster thrashed violently as a powerful electric current surged through its body.
Natalia sneered at the sight.
"I used my left hand instead of my right so I wouldn't accidentally kill you, so stop whining."