The Women's Fight - 2
The servants of the Kang family were currently on edge, every last one of them. Their employer, Chairman Kang Minsung, cherished his granddaughter Kim Suhyun more than life itself. Word had just reached them that she had passed through the main gate with a guest in tow. It wasn’t the mere fact that she had brought someone that had them so wound up. The real problem was exactly who that guest was.
Irina, of all people. Dear god. Why would the young lady bring a woman like that…?
In South Korea—indeed, across the entire world—she ranked among the top five strongest living beings. When you considered that most S-rank hunters were in their late twenties to mid-thirties, the odds were excellent that Irina would soon claim the title of the world’s strongest. Up to that point, she could be called the very hope of the nation.
The problem was that she was hardly a model citizen.
Her personality was so wild it was difficult to tell whether she was an ability user or a villain. She had caused enough incidents to spark serious controversy on multiple occasions. The time she hung a villain from the top of a building while the man was still alive was still a story people told in hushed voices.
Yet most of those incidents had been quietly swept under the rug. For one thing, she wasn’t yet at the level where she was completely beyond control. For another, the majority of her rampages stemmed from her personal vendetta against villains, and she had never crossed the line into socially unforgivable crimes. As a result, both the government and the Association had settled on a policy of coaxing and appeasing her whenever possible.
Everyone knew there was an even bigger reason looming above all the others: if an ability user of her overwhelming power ever turned villain, it would be the worst nightmare imaginable.
“Vehicle has arrived.”
The voice crackling over the bodyguards’ radios made the servants stiffen even further. They weren’t villains, and they hadn’t done anything to earn Irina’s wrath, but the strange rumors that constantly swirled around her—and the fact that she never bothered denying them—meant that to ordinary people she was both an object of envy and a source of terror.
Some of the servants were even thinking the worst.
Don’t tell me the young lady made some kind of mistake…
In reality, this visit was the result of a dramatic negotiation between Kim Suhyun and Irina, but the servants had no way of knowing that. All they could do was worry.
By then the car had pulled up directly in front of the entrance. Servants rushed forward to open the doors. From one side emerged Kim Suhyun. From the other stepped her “guest,” Irina.
“Welcome back.”
Kang Minsung pulled his beloved granddaughter into a light embrace. Even with a guest present, he showed no hesitation in expressing his affection. Kim Suhyun, now accustomed to his ways, simply let herself be held.
“I’m back, Grandfather.”
“Good. I heard the news. Examiner Baek Seojin has regained consciousness?”
“Yes. He looked very healthy.”
Watching Kim Suhyun’s bright smile, Kang Minsung let out a quiet sigh of relief in his heart. Ever since Baek Seojin had collapsed unconscious after his bloody battle with an Elder, Suhyun’s mood had been nothing short of catastrophic. The girl who had never once displayed the emotion called “anger” before was now radiating it constantly. Everyone knew that the fury of someone usually quiet was the most terrifying kind.
On top of that, she had recently begun showing explosive growth. The sword she wielded had grown sharp enough to surprise even Kang Minsung. With her in that state and seething with rage, both he and every servant in the household had been forced to walk on eggshells, constantly reading her expression.
But that ends today.
From this moment on, they would see the gentle, kind Kim Suhyun once again. Because Baek Seojin had woken up. Because she had gone to see him.
Thank you, Examiner. I will definitely repay this favor someday.
If Baek Seojin had heard that, he probably would have told the old man it was unnecessary.
After finishing his greeting with his granddaughter, Kang Minsung turned his gaze toward the woman approaching from behind.
“We have a guest, I see.”
“It’s been a while.”
At Kang Minsung’s greeting, Irina scratched the back of her neck before answering.
“Have you been well, old man?”
“Just waiting for the day I die.”
“…Seeing you still crack those weird jokes, I guess you really haven’t changed.”
“What exactly is the same?”
“Like a few years ago—you still haven’t grown up at all?”
The servants flinched in shock at the casual way she spoke to none other than Kang Minsung, glancing nervously at their employer. But the old man simply burst into hearty laughter.
“A man stays the same until the day he dies. That’s how it is.”
“My dad isn’t like that.”
“That’s because your father is a special case.”
After the brief exchange of greetings, Kang Minsung immediately offered lunch. It was almost time, he said—wouldn’t she like to eat? Irina waved her hand, claiming there was something more urgent than food. Sensing something in her attitude, Kang Minsung didn’t press the matter. Instead, he guided her to his study with Kim Suhyun in tow.
“Now then. What brings you all the way here so suddenly?”
Seated, Kang Minsung looked at Irina and got straight to the point. He knew she wasn’t the type to visit for some trivial reason. Whatever she had come to say was bound to be dramatic and completely unexpected.
“Grandfather.”
Surprisingly, the answer came from Kim Suhyun rather than Irina.
“The truth is…”
What followed was Suhyun’s explanation. They had decided to spar. To be precise, if she could land even the smallest wound on Irina, she would consider it her victory and the match would end. She knew it would be incredibly difficult. In exchange, there would be no time limit.
“……”
Kang Minsung remained silent for a moment, simply shifting his gaze back and forth between the two women several times.
“The reason for the spar. That feels like the most important question.”
He had accurately pinpointed the core issue. But Kim Suhyun firmly declared it a “personal matter.” It was a polite way of saying she had no intention of revealing the truth.
“This is quite surprising, Suhyun. Of all people, with that girl.”
“Old man? The ‘that girl’ in question is listening, and she’s offended. What exactly did I do wrong?”
“If you’re asking because you genuinely don’t know, then you have no conscience.”
After snapping at Irina, Kang Minsung turned back to his granddaughter. In her eyes shone a resolute, steely light he had never seen before—the ideal gaze of a true swordsman. Sensing something profound in that look, he decided not to press further.
“I will permit the use of the training grounds.”
“Thank you, Grandfather.”
“Go down first and prepare. Your grandfather has a few things to discuss with this one.”
Kim Suhyun nodded and left the study. Once the two of them were alone, Irina dropped onto the sofa.
“It’s because of a man.”
“Hm?”
“The way she’s acting. It’s all because of a man.”
Irina blurted it out like a child tattling. Kang Minsung, however, simply nodded as though he had already guessed.
“What? You look like you already knew?”
“That child’s positive transformation has all been thanks to Examiner Baek Seojin. So of course the man himself would be especially precious to her.”
Positive transformation? Irina wasn’t so sure it was entirely positive. You people wouldn’t know, but there’s a faint smell of blood coming off that kid.
She debated whether to mention it, then decided to keep her mouth shut. If it had been anyone else, she might have said it outright. But the person sitting across from her was Kang Minsung.
“Are you still uncomfortable around me?”
“Obviously. You’re the only opponent the undefeated Irina ever came close to losing against.”
It was the revelation of a secret no one else in the world knew. Not even other S-rank ability users. Not even the disaster-class Elders. No one had ever held the upper hand against her. At best they had managed a stalemate—her combat prowess was simply that overwhelming.
Yet that same Irina, even if it had been a few years ago when she had only just awakened her powers, had nearly suffered defeat. Not a close fight. Near defeat. That was an enormous matter.
“It was merely luck. Wind has always been that way.”
“Luck is also part of one’s skill. Wow, seriously. It’s still embarrassing. Just thinking about it makes me want to crawl into a hole.”
Irina clutched her face as though she didn’t even want to remember. This was exactly why she had always found Kang Minsung so awkward to deal with.
“More importantly, why are you doing this?”
“What do you mean?”
“Do you think I don’t know you? If you want something, you seize it no matter what.”
“That’s not true. I got caught by Mom once and got scolded so hard I still remember it.”
Irina pouted and grumbled. Kang Minsung continued calmly.
“What I mean is, there was no need for you to bring up a spar with my granddaughter. You aren’t exactly overflowing with free time, nor are you the generous type who goes out of her way to look after others.”
“Wow. Our old man sure knows how to say hurtful things without even blinking.”
Despite Irina’s continued grumbling, Kang Minsung simply smiled. Then he crossed his arms and stared at her in silence, as if demanding she explain her true intentions behind suddenly proposing a duel.
“Ugh, fine.”
After thinking about how to explain it, Irina finally opened her mouth.
“She’s strange. So I want to know more about her, and the easiest way is to mess with her a little. Satisfied?”
“Is that so? Then that’s fine. Go down and prepare as well.”
After all, a true swordsman converses through strength. Kang Minsung spoke with the air of someone who had just discovered an interesting new development after a long time.
For the record, Irina’s first awakening had also been in the weapon category. She was simply so overwhelmingly powerful that she didn’t need weapons at all. She crushed everything with her bare hands, which led some people to mistakenly assume she was a martial arts type.
“Still… I’d appreciate it if you didn’t go too far.”
Only a doting grandfather would say something like that. Irina clicked her tongue. As if that’s easy. If you held back, could you even call it a spar? It would just be kids playing around.
“Hearing you say that just makes me want to do it properly. Is that a normal reaction?”
“…Damn brat. In the end, you really haven’t changed at all.”
“You should worry about yourself, old man.”