Chapter 30
“The gifts human men like are simple. Game consoles, watches, wallets. Give them practical things like these, and they'll be happy. You can narrow it down if you know what the other person likes, but if it's a big gift, this category is a safe bet.”
Game consoles, watches, wallets.
The Hero, Yusera, smiled as she watched Sonya jot down the list and added,
“But if it's a s.p.e.c.i.a.l gift, perfume is the obvious choice.”
“Perfume?”
“I hear the Rangin have a custom of giving perfume to someone important. You can give him perfume. Humans don't dislike perfume as a gift, either.”
I leave behind a scent I chose.
For the werewolf Rangin, it was no different from an intense expression of affection.
“I-I told you, it's just a gift to thank him.”
“…Isn't it a gift for the person who helped us clear the 73rd floor this time?”
Sonya fell silent at Yusera's words.
The Hero sometimes said things that seemed to see straight through people's hearts.
She usually wore a foolish, carefree smile, but at times like this, she was sharper than anyone.
“Y-yeah.”
“Then you should give him a truly special gift. Wouldn't that be better than a wallet or watch?”
“A Rangin woman giving perfume to a man is….”
Something only lovers did.
Before she could say it,
“I hear the Rangin also give perfume to those who saved their lives.”
“Huh?”
“They leave the scent they chose on their benefactor. I heard it means they won't forget their gratitude. Isn't that right?”
That was true.
There were many occasions besides lovers giving perfume to each other.
Parents and children.
A benefactor who saved one's life.
Or a student giving it to a teacher as a token of gratitude.
Conversely, teachers sometimes gave perfume to their students to leave a mark showing that the student was theirs.
The reason they gave it even when they weren't lovers was that it wasn't limited to an expression of affection between couples.
Leaving one's scent behind was a custom dating back to the days when they lived in packs.
Even after coming to Taepyeong City, that custom hadn't disappeared.
“……”
Her thoughts had been too narrowly focused simply because the other person was a man.
Or maybe it was because Yusera had said, “Aren't you dating him?”
“I-I suppose you could see it that way.”
“Exactly. It might even be better that way. Rather than forcing yourself to tailor a gift to a human man, choose a good gift that you yourself can pick.”
“A good gift I can pick….”
“Give him a fragrance only you, a Rangin sensitive to smells, can offer. Wouldn't that do? Better yet, leave behind a trace that others can sense when they smell him, too.”
“B-but that's marking, isn't it?”
“Do Rangin only mark their lovers? If you're going to give him perfume, you should at least make it give him the sense that you're protecting him.”
“P-protecting?”
“That's right. No matter how strong that man is, could he be stronger than you? And if you give him a scent like that, who knows? He might even fall for you.”
“I-it's not like that.”
Kim Min-cheol wasn't a strong man.
He was just a part-timer.
An ordinary human part-timer.
In Taepyeong City, an ordinary human was even rarer.
He was weak.
Objectively speaking, he was weak.
She couldn't help agreeing that such a man needed protection.
‘Leave my scent on him and let everyone know that I'm protecting him….’
Right.
At the very least, people as sensitive to smells as she was wouldn't dare touch him then.
It could serve as a deterrent.
Of course, she still didn't even know his name.
He probably didn't know hers, either.
They had never introduced themselves.
Even so, the kindness she had received from him was immense, and it had left a deep impression on her.
Without Kim Min-cheol, she never would have set the new record on the 73rd floor.
‘I can get to know him from now on.’
And this was a token of gratitude, not anything strange.
Yusera's advice cleared her head a little.
She had spent a long time agonizing over what gift she should give him….
Now she had an idea of what she should give him.
I give the scent I chose to the person who saved my life.
And every time he smells it, I make him think of my heartfelt gratitude.
‘I was too trapped by preconceived notions.’
Perfume given to a man didn't only carry the meaning of a lover.
Of course.
For her, who had lived completely alone unlike other Rangin, giving her scent to someone else was an extremely unfamiliar thing.
‘But I'm a Rangin, too.’
As a werewolf, finding and giving him a scent suited to him wasn't difficult.
They were a race more sensitive to smells than anyone.
She retraced the scent that had come from Min-cheol's body.
The scent of the World Tree.
A subtle body scent amid the convenience store's smells.
It had been slightly smoky,
yet warm and kind,
with perhaps a faint salty tang.
But it hadn't been unpleasant at all.
And there had also been the scent of a cool chill, like a vampire's.
‘A vampire, the World Tree, and an elf?’
She wondered why their scents clung to him, but the question was fleeting.
In any case, it was the scent that had come from Kim Min-cheol's body.
“Thank you, Sera.”
After retracing Min-cheol's scent, she headed to a perfume shop.
So she didn't see it.
“You can do it~!”
Yusera, cheering her on, was smiling contentedly, as if she'd spotted an amusing toy.
After choosing a gift suited to Kim Min-cheol, she added her trace to the perfume.
Adding her trace was simple.
All she had to do was crystallize her mana and put it inside the perfume.
Using this perfume wouldn't make him especially stronger or anything.
But sensitive people would notice.
Her presence embedded in the scent.
When Sonya arrived at the convenience store,
“It's perfume, isn't it?”
she saw Kim Min-cheol looking at her in surprise as he gazed at the perfume she'd chosen.
“Thanks to the World Tree pollen I received from you then, I was able to clear the dungeon safely. It's not an expensive gift, so please don't feel pressured.”
“I'll put it to good use.”
“Would you like to smell it?”
She wanted to see.
She was a little worried.
The Rangin's characteristically rough mana was something other races were extremely wary of.
She feared Kim Min-cheol might feel the same.
If he was uncomfortable, she planned to give him another bottle with her trace removed.
Even so, she secretly hoped.
If Kim Min-cheol, who hadn't felt the slightest discomfort toward her since their first encounter, were the one receiving it…
perhaps he'd accept it without feeling burdened.
“I'll just use a little.”
Kim Min-cheol sprayed it onto his body once.
A subtle fragrance brushed the tip of her nose.
The perfume containing her trace soaked into his body.
At that, Sonya swallowed hard.
She stared intently at Kim Min-cheol as he sprayed the perfume.
“Oh, it smells nice. I think it suits me pretty well.”
He wasn't uncomfortable.
Even though her mana was gently enveloping his body, he enjoyed the fragrance without any sign that anything was wrong.
Just as she thought.
There was a reason he hadn't disliked her from the moment he first saw her.
A human who wasn't uncomfortable with Rangin mana.
She stared fixedly at Kim Min-cheol.
She needed to look away.
But she couldn't.
She felt like she should say something.
But no words came out.
She stared blankly at Kim Min-cheol, who had sprayed on the perfume she'd given him.
Biting her lip, she seemed not even to realize that drool was trickling from the corner of her mouth.
Gulp.
She had never known that leaving her scent on a strange man could be this exciting.
-You need to make him feel that you're protecting him.
-If you give him your scent, who knows? He might develop feelings for you.
Sera's advice kept circling in her head.
It's not like that.
I didn't give it to him with any such impure intentions.
She denied it to herself, but she couldn't hide how her face was burning beneath her mask.
Her tail stood straight up, and her fur bristled.
Sonya.
A Rangin who had given perfume to a member of the opposite sex for the first time in her twenty-six years.
Having grown up alone without even parents, she didn't know.
She didn't know that a Rangin, sensitive to smells, could become aroused simply by leaving her scent on a member of the opposite sex.
She didn't know that, by human standards, this was skinship no different from a passionate embrace.
She didn't know.
And of course, Kim Min-cheol didn't know either.
“You can really tell it's expensive just from the scent, can't you?”
“R-right?”
I smelled the perfume she'd given me.
It was a perfume with a distinctly luxurious body to it.
It gave off a subtle scent that was obviously expensive, with not a hint of cheapness.
It felt like the sort of smell that shouldn't be in a convenience store.
As I admired the scent and looked at the perfume, I felt warmth nearby and turned my head.
Then.
“Huh? M-Ma'am?”
The masked customer who had given me the perfume was standing on top of the counter, staring at me.
She looked ready to pounce on me at any moment.
Wasn't that exactly the look a wolf gave when stalking its prey?
“Yes?”
“Why are you up there?”
“…Huh?”
She looked surprised, as if she hadn't realized it herself.
“Wh-what? Huh? Why am I…?”
“Are you all right?”
I reached out to catch her.
Then.
“Eek!”
Startled, she fell backward.
After landing with a flourish, she took two steps back and reddened.
“S-sorry. I didn't mean to….”
“Are you sure you're not hurt?”
“N-no, it's not that. I'm just a l-little hot, I guess? Haha.”
But the air conditioner was on.
I'd lowered the temperature as much as possible because of the refrigerated section, yet she was hot?
I approached her slightly, worried, but she startled and stepped back.
“I-I'm f-fine! Mmph!”
She flushed and drew a deep breath.
“I-it's just that the perfume I gave you smells so, so good. Hahaha. Sorry.”
Unable to hide her flustered expression as she scratched the back of her head, she changed the subject.
“Oh, um. By any chance… W-what's your name?”
Her two eyes visible above the mask sparkled with anticipation.
Come to think of it, we hadn't even introduced ourselves.
“I'm Kim Min-cheol.”
“Mr. Kim Min-cheol….”
She quietly repeated my name, then nodded.
“I-I'm Sonya! My name is Sonya!”
After the slightly awkward introductions, she bought the triangle kimbap and drink she always bought.
“That'll be 2,700 won.”
“O-oh, I'm going to eat it when I get home today. Just give it to me.”
“Sure.”
Taking her triangle kimbap and drink, she hurried through the automatic doors as if fleeing.
“Goodbye.”
She had rushed off so quickly she hadn't even waited for my farewell.
She was so fast that she practically left an afterimage.
“What an unusual customer.”
I'd thought so ever since she suddenly asked for World Tree pollen, but she really was an unusual customer.
Her face was always hidden behind a mask, so I couldn't see it properly, but she was clearly a customer with beautiful features.
She also had a toned body, probably because she exercised every day.
“She does seem like a Hunter, though….”
If she needed World Tree powder, she couldn't be a weak Hunter.
She probably cleared at least the fiftieth floor, didn't she?
If she was enough to make that emotional trash can tremble, she was definitely no ordinary Hunter.
“She definitely seems like a good person.”
She had not only paid for the item, but given me a gift after successfully clearing the dungeon.
She'd even dealt with the nuisance for me.
There was no way a customer like that could be bad.
I was humming to myself, feeling that today was especially lucky, when
Jingle-.
It was the underage cat beastkin who'd been kicked out when they tried to buy catnip earlier.
“Um….”
“I told you no earlier. You can't buy catnip without a choker proving you're an adult, remember?”
“N-no, I came to buy Churu this time….”
They cautiously poked their head in, then entered.
With their ears drooping dejectedly, they picked out Churu for cat beastkin from the snack section and approached the counter.
“Good. You should've done that from the start.”
It was the moment I reached out to scan the barcode.
Sniff sniff.
Their nose flared a few times, and suddenly their pupils stretched into narrow vertical slits.
“Kyaaaah?!”
With a hiss, all their fur stood on end, and their tail puffed up like a club.
“W-what's wrong?”
“E-eeek! O-Oppa smells like a s-scary wolf big sis! It's the b-bloody smell of a delinquent big sis!”
“Huh? Wolf lady?”
“Waaah! It smells scary! S-save me!”
The cat beastkin began to tremble.
They backed away, their body shaking like a leaf, like a herbivore facing a gigantic natural predator at point-blank range.
Then they abandoned even the transaction and bolted straight out the door.
“Hey, hey! Where are you going? You have to take this with you!”
I alternated between looking at the Churu left sitting there and the trail of the fleeing cat beastkin.
Then I smelled my wrist again.
A subtle woody scent. And a soft musk.
No matter how much I smelled it, there was no scent of blood or wolf.
The Sonya who had given me this perfume did look like a werewolf, though.
“Is it a scent only beastkin can smell?”
I pressed my nose to my wrist and sniffed, trying to catch the scent I couldn't smell no matter what, but in the end, nothing came through.
Considering that she was an impressive person who had even made a level-five nuisance tremble,
It probably felt like the scent of a predator to ordinary beastkin.
Though I suppose even the nuisances would be afraid of it.
It would be a problem if this scent made ordinary people afraid of me too.
“I'd better avoid wearing it while I'm working. All the little customers will run away.”
I should only wear it when I have plans or am going somewhere important.
It did smell nice, though.
What a shame.