45 - Chapter 43: Intern
After sending Han Su-hyeon on his way and returning home, the first thing Natalia did was stand in front of the mirror.
"Hmm..."
Maybe because it had been a while since she'd worn a full face of makeup, but no matter how much she touched it up, it still looked a bit off.
"Hey."
"Yes? What is it, Hunter?"
"Does my makeup look weird today?"
She had called in her secretary, who was just about to head home for the day, to ask.
"Not at all. You look beautiful."
The secretary, who had rushed over the moment she was called, gave the expected, polite response.
But even if Natalia weren't her boss, she probably would have said the exact same thing.
"...Never mind. You can go."
"Yes, ma'am. I'll be heading out now. Please call me if anything comes up."
"All right."
Once her secretary left and she was finally completely alone, Natalia ran a bath and undressed.
As she soaked in the warm water, she quietly retraced the day's events and lost herself in thought.
Natalia's actions today hadn't actually stemmed from pure goodwill.
She'd had two main intentions.
The first was to give Han Su-hyeon, who had likely never experienced luxury in his life, a taste of money.
'After all, nothing is more addictive than money when you have it, and nothing makes you feel its absence more acutely when you don't.'
As the saying goes, the reason traveling is so fun is because you're spending hundreds of thousands of won a day.
Once you get someone to spend far beyond their means, they'll constantly replay that memory no matter what they do, leaving them forever dissatisfied with their reality.
'If that happens, he'll gradually start overspending.'
Eventually, unable to keep up with his expenses, he would have no choice but to rely on the wealthiest person he knew.
And if he kept relying on her, sinking deeper and deeper into the quagmire, he would eventually reach a point where he couldn't live without her.
'He isn't stupid. By then, he'll fully realize what's happening to him.'
Natalia closed her eyes, imagining Han Su-hyeon desperately clinging to her, terrified of being abandoned.
Some might call it a shallow relationship built entirely on money.
But Natalia didn't care. She had never cared for vague concepts like destined love, nor had she ever experienced or desired sweet, emotional connections.
To her, what she felt for Han Su-hyeon was simple: he was a possession she wanted to own.
'Well, it doesn't really matter if he doesn't fall into the trap of overspending.'
From what she had seen of him so far, he seemed like the type to just drift through life, devoid of any real greed or desire for success.
Even so, dressing him in luxury brands served another purpose: marking him as hers.
After all, most of the people he would encounter while tagging along as her intern were A-rank and S-rank Hunters.
To reach such a high rank and still choose to work in a grueling, dangerous field like hunting meant they were all screwed up in the head in some way.
She couldn't guarantee that none of those psychos would try to lay a hand on him.
'If he's wearing ordinary clothes, those bitches might think I'm just playing with him before tossing him aside, and they'll try to mess with him for fun.'
But if he was decked out in luxury brands that a D-rank cadet couldn't afford in a lifetime...
...anyone would realize Natalia had a serious claim on him.
In other words, today was ultimately about Natalia marking her territory on her male.
And to her, the cost was pocket change.
"Man, I'll never understand rich people's tastes."
Meanwhile, the moment Han Su-hyeon got home, he tossed the shopping bags carelessly onto his floor.
He had already completely forgotten about what happened at the department store.
Instead, he scurried straight to his computer and tapped the power button with his toe.
As he waited for the PC to boot, Han Su-hyeon looked happier than he had all day.
'I'm definitely hitting Diamond today.'
Fueled by determination, he launched the game and headed to the top lane of the Rift, carrying nothing but an axe.
To a guy like him, playing video games was infinitely more fun than being pampered at some high-end department store.
A-rank Hunter Seo Jae-eun had been summoned to deal with a highest-grade gate that had appeared for the first time in a while.
Sauntering into the assembly area, she checked the roster of summoned hunters first.
'Let's see... Ah, Natalia's here too. So she's the heavy hitter for this raid.'
No matter how high-grade the gate was, it was rare for more than one S-rank Hunter to be deployed.
Instead, they would just pack the raid with other high-ranking hunters depending on the situation.
Scanning the room for other familiar faces, her gaze stopped on a boy she had never seen before. He was sitting right next to Natalia.
"Hey, who's that guy?"
Seo Jae-eun nudged her friend Kim Hye-jin with her elbow and asked.
"Where... Ah, him?"
Kim Hye-jin spotted him immediately and nodded.
"Can't you tell? That's our S-rank Hunter Natalia's new toy. Han Su-hyeon, was it?"
"Really?"
At her friend's reply, Seo Jae-eun's eyes sparkled with interest as she stared at Han Su-hyeon.
Having known her for years, Kim Hye-jin immediately read her expression and grimaced in horror.
"Hey... don't even think about doing something stupid."
"What? I didn't do anything."
Seeing Seo Jae-eun's sly grin, Kim Hye-jin let out a heavy sigh.
"Look at what he's wearing. He's just a D-rank cadet here as an intern. How could he afford those luxury brands?"
"Maybe he just likes fashion. If people can go broke buying cars, why not clothes?"
"That's not it. It's obvious Natalia bought them for him."
"So what if she did?"
"What do you mean, 'so what'? It means she's actually attached to him, unlike her past flings. If you try to hit on him or get him into bed, you'll end up buried alive."
"Hmm..."
Seo Jae-eun casually brushed off her friend's warning, though she licked her lips inwardly.
'She doesn't get it. That's exactly what makes it fun.'
For this raid, Seo Jae-eun was assigned to guard the exit.
The monsters inside a highest-grade gate were on a completely different level compared to lower-grade ones, both in strength and sheer numbers.
Because of that, even after the boss was slain, escaping the gate was often a brutal struggle against overwhelming waves of monsters.
To prevent that, a dedicated team was formed to secure a retreat path around the exit.
Seo Jae-eun had been appointed leader of the Retreat Path Securing Team for this raid.
And Han Su-hyeon, Natalia's intern, was assigned to her team as well.
After all, securing the retreat path was infinitely safer than hunting the boss.
On top of that, since everyone on the raid had picked up on the vibe between Natalia and Han Su-hyeon, they had carefully excluded him from any dangerous duties.
'I almost feel bad for having it this easy.'
So, despite being inside a highest-grade gate, Han Su-hyeon was casually sipping coffee, completely relaxed.
With Natalia—one of the nation's S-rank Hunters—backing him, no one dared to give him a hard time.
Of course, that didn't mean he was actually safe.
The moment you stepped inside a gate, there was no such thing as a safe zone.
"Whoa!"
Suddenly, a skeleton clad in a black robe and wielding a massive scythe materialized right in front of him. It was a Reaper Skeleton, a monster capable of teleportation.
'I thought these things only showed up in textbooks since they're exclusive to high-grade gates.'
Tossing his paper coffee cup aside, Han Su-hyeon quickly drew his gun.
He pulled the trigger instantly, but the creature easily dodged the bullet by teleporting again.
'Fuck, where'd it go?'
As his eyes darted around, searching for where it had vanished—
—a sudden, icy shiver ran up his spine from behind.
"Oh, shit..."
By the time he felt the chill, the blade of the scythe was already pressing against his throat.
For a split second, he wondered if this was how he was going to die.
But at that exact moment, with a deafening bang*, the Reaper Skeleton's skull exploded.
"Are you okay?"
The Reaper Skeleton collapsed, its skull shattered to pieces. Seo Jae-eun approached with a bright smile, a grenade launcher slung over her shoulder.
"T-thank you."
"Be careful. 'Safe zone' is a relative term here. In reality, there's no such thing."
"Yeah, I see that."
"You're not too shaken up, are you?"
Her voice was soothing and gentle as she pulled out a thermos. Pouring some warm tea into the lid, she offered it to him.
"Want some?"
"Ah... yes. Thank you."
As Han Su-hyeon took the tea, Seo Jae-eun naturally stepped up to stand right beside him.