“Kyyaaaah!!!”

Yoo Hana was going absolutely wild in the waiting room.

“Hey, Hana…”

“Get out! Get out!!!”

She was throwing things around, her state of excitement continuing unabated.

“Ha… Our Hana has returned to her usual self…”

The manager shook his head in disbelief.

During the three days that Baek Jihoon had been around, things had been incredibly quiet. She had become an ordinary woman. But as soon as Baek Jihoon disappeared, chaos erupted.

“Ha… Does Baek Jihoon really have to be here? What is going on?”

The manager began to have a lot of thoughts.

“Ha… At this rate, I feel like we won’t be able to shoot.”

*

“Hey, Yoo Hana? Hehe. If you can perform as you did last week, our project will surely skyrocket, right? Of course, it’s not bad now, but the viewership will definitely increase even more. This year’s Best Actress Award is already yours.”

The director greeted Yoo Hana with a wide smile. It seemed he had been planning all weekend, recalling her performance from the previous week.

“Ha. I really want to capture Yoo Hana beautifully this week. I’ve prepared a lot for it. I’ll create a scene that will go down in history. Oh, but Yoo Hana, are you not feeling well today?”

He tilted his head slightly while looking at her.

“Director…”

“Yes~”

“I don’t think I can shoot today.”

“????”

Everyone at the shooting site suddenly froze, turning their eyes towards Yoo Hana.

“Why, Yoo Hana? Is something bothering you today? But you still look beautiful! Is your concentration a bit off? Maybe you didn’t prepare enough? But you performed exceptionally well last week!”

The director hurried over to her, trying to soothe her as much as possible.

“No… it’s just that… I… I don’t think I can do it today…”

“No, no~ Yoo Hana, you can definitely do this. Just perform like last week. That’s all I ask. Got it?”

The director seemed determined to proceed regardless of her state.

*

“All right~ Action!!!”

The director yelled loudly.

“Jinseok, how can I get you to come back? I’ll grant you whatever you want. Just tell me what to do.”

Yoo Hana began to concentrate as much as possible, exerting all her capabilities to showcase her best performance.

“Ugh…”

The director shook his head repeatedly.

Something seemed off.

“Why is this happening? Yoo Hana? Is something wrong?”

The acting that had moved even the crew watching from the sidelines just last week was nowhere to be found. Although her performance wasn’t terrible, there was definitely something lacking.

It seemed not just the director but also the other crew members shared a similar sentiment, whispering to each other.

“Cut!”

“Director… How was it?”

“Haha. Yoo Hana, you’re truly beautiful. You really are. But could you do it like you did last week? You were astonishing last week. I was genuinely surprised!”

Yoo Hana bit her lip.

“Ha… It’s Baek Jihoon… I need Baek Jihoon…”

Her expression began to turn into one of resignation, as if she had anticipated this.

“I messed up. I should have protected Baek Jihoon, but I let him go too easily.”

“Director, I’m sorry, but I really don’t think I can do this today…”

Yoo Hana showed a submissive attitude. Normally, she would have acted self-centered during the shoot, but today felt different.

“Eh?? Why? No, no, it’s okay. You can just perform at today’s level. Let’s just go with this. No, Yoo Hana, don’t misunderstand! I wasn’t criticizing your performance. Last week was simply phenomenal! Let’s just go with this, you must have had a tough time last week.”

The director barely managed to comfort Yoo Hana and began the shoot once more.

*

“Ha… Oppa…”

“Yeah.”

“How was it today?”

“What do you mean? Our Hana is still beautiful, charming, and performing well.”

“No, how was it compared to last week?”

Yoo Hana was resting in the waiting room after finishing the shoot. She looked quite furious as she glared at her manager.

“Uh… this week’s performance wasn’t bad, but last week was definitely intense.”

“Right? Do you think this week’s performance will win me Best Actress?”

“Ah. Um. That’s… a bit unlikely.”

“Ha…”

Yoo Hana pressed her forehead.

“I was too complacent. I should have acted more perceptively. I should have quickly charmed Baek Jihoon last week. I should have ensured he was firmly on our side. How foolish I was. I lacked awareness.”

She began to regret her actions from last week, thinking that Baek Jihoon was just an ordinary Hunter.

In fact, she hadn’t paid him much attention, thinking he was merely an E-Rank Hunter.

But now, in her mind, Baek Jihoon had become a crucial figure.

Essential for her future career in the entertainment industry.

“Oppa.”

“Yeah.”

“I need Baek Jihoon.”

“Eh?”

The manager tilted his head in confusion.

“What do I have to do to get this person on our side?”

“What do you mean?”

“Ugh… That’s it. Lee Sooah is protecting Baek Jihoon. How can I break through that? I absolutely have to bring him in!”

“Eh?”

“I urgently need to hold a meeting… for the battle over Baek Jihoon.”
EP.63

Yoo Hana wore a very serious expression.

*

“Oh? Jihoon? Weren’t you working in Hunter Lee Sooah’s office?”

“Yes, that’s right. But I just came out.”

“Huh? You just came out? How? Just like that? Through Sooah?”

Everyone was staring at Baek Jihoon with stunned faces, their expressions reflecting a mountain of questions.

“So you’re working here again? Not going to Hunter Sooah’s office?”

“Yep.”

“Oh?”

“Everyone.”

A voice echoed, and it was Lee Sooah.

“Gah! Yes.”

Everyone turned their attention to her.

“You all know I’ve been observing Hunter Baek Jihoon, right?”

“Yes, yes.”

“And I’ll be doing so within the office as well.”

“???”

“This means that a focused surveillance will be implemented on the Hunter Class 6 as well.”

Lee Sooah’s statement implied that CCTV would be installed in the Hunter Class 6 office.

Everyone in Hunter Class 6 was in shock.

Yet, no one dared to oppose Lee Sooah’s words.

“Ha. Now we can’t slack off.”

“That’s not the problem right now.”

“No. Baek Jihoon? What’s going on? Why is Sooah acting like this? She seems to have changed suddenly. She was already strange, but now…”

“Why is she so clingy towards Baek Jihoon? It’s odd. Baek Jihoon, you’re being monitored by Hunter Lee Sooah, right?”

Everyone was murmuring and whispering.

It seemed almost no one could understand the current situation.

“Yes, that’s right. For now, I decided to leave the monitoring aside. I don’t think just telling her not to do it would work anyway.”

It was clear.

It felt like they would even send drones for tracking and monitoring.

So, they decided to leave it.

But that’s okay.

It felt like something had changed, and now they could do things their way.

*

‘Huh? What is this?’

When lunch break ended and I returned, there was a strange letter on my desk.

[I am closely watching Hunter Baek Jihoon’s activities. Please continue to do your best – Guild Master –]

“Huh? Guild Master?”

I glanced around.

But there was no one that particularly stood out as suspicious.

‘The Guild Master is watching me?’

“What are you doing, Jihoon?”

“I received this letter.”

“A letter?”

Members of Hunter Class 6 gathered around me.

“Eh? A letter from the Guild Master? Whoa, Baek Jihoon, are you getting promoted quickly now?”

They all looked shocked.

“What does this mean?”

“This is a personal letter from the Guild Master. Anyone who receives this is guaranteed to be promoted rapidly. Wow…”

“That’s right. This is given to only one person a year. And it was you, Baek Jihoon? Wow…”

Everyone was cheering and envious.

‘What? All I did was escape between Sooah and Yoo Hana.’

I was confused, but that wasn’t what mattered right now.

First, it was important to organize the situation quickly and establish myself.

*

“Wait~ But don’t we have to protest about being filmed by CCTV? Is it okay to film us while working like this?”

Manager Cha complained while sipping his coffee.

“Then you say something, Manager Cha. ‘Putting a bell on a cat’.”

“No~ I just thought it’d be good if Assistant Manager Kim said it.”

“Wow. It’s better if you, Manager Cha, say it as a representative. What strength do we have to complain…”

Everyone seemed like they were resigned to doing whatever they were told.

“What can we do… Hunter Sooah raised our pay, so we just have to shut up and work…”

Everyone was reminiscing about the incidents that happened last week.

The elite composition of Hunter Class 6 and the focused surveillance.

The attention Lee Sooah was giving to Hunter Class 6 was increasing day by day.

“Ha… This isn’t what I wanted. I didn’t want Hunter Sooah to focus on us like this…”

Manager Cha murmured.

“This is what you wished for. It’s better than being the unpopular Class 6. No one noticed us back then… Now Hunter Sooah comes to our side so often.”

Everyone seemed to feel a bit of regret.

After all, they had been the most marginalized among Classes 1 to 6.

Until now, they had struggled to get noticed by Lee Sooah.

But since Baek Jihoon joined, everything had changed.

It felt like Lee Sooah’s top priority had become Class 6.

Everyone was slowly feeling the burden of having their long-cherished dream come true.

“Wait… Are we going to be sent on dungeon runs as well? I saw Hunter Class 1. They looked incredibly busy. They go out twice a day.”

“They don’t get paid so much for nothing. Yeah.”

“Ha… Maybe it was better before?”

Everyone seemed to have a hard time adapting to the speed of the changes.

“Eh~ Still, isn’t it better than having Baek Jihoon around? If we use Baek Jihoon well, it could be very beneficial for us.”

Manager Cha seemed to have high expectations for Baek Jihoon.

“Hmm… Maybe…”

The other employees looked uncertain.

“Come on~ Just wait a bit. I feel like we’re going to be just fine.”

Manager Cha smiled brightly.