You, No Way?!
The taxi fare was fully paid, and we were on our way back to the Academy. Irina, who had been chattering nonstop just moments ago, was now eerily quiet. The silence felt so awkward that I almost wanted to say anything just to break it.
“Um, I heard from Suhyun. She said you two have been sparring whenever you have time lately.”
“Sparring? More like I’ve been beating the crap out of her every single time. She just keeps getting hit.”
Of course she would. No matter how talented Kim Suhyun was, no matter that she was the Red Witch, her opponent was none other than Irina—the Crazy Yellow Bitch. When it came to pure combat power, she was the undisputed strongest in South Korea. For Suhyun, who had only just stepped into the first stage of her Red Witch powers, winning was simply impossible.
“Still, even though she’s always the one getting beaten, her senses are ridiculously sharp.”
So that’s how you phrase “she’s growing with every fight.” We’d met so often that I’d grown strangely used to Irina’s way of speaking. I used to think crazy bitch, crazy bitch so many times. They say the scariest thing in the world is getting used to something. Sure enough, now that I was used to it, all I could do was laugh.
[We will arrive at the destination shortly.]
I had deliberately left the navigation on in case she tried to take us somewhere weird again. Thanks to that, I earned a sharp glare from Irina, but she didn’t complain. After all, she was the one who had demanded I pay for the taxi. She’d even made me waste an extra ten minutes heading back to the Academy. If she asked for anything more after that, she wouldn’t be human anymore. Nope.
“Thanks for bringing me back.”
A perfectly normal thank-you just before opening the door and getting out. But Irina remained silent. It was so unlike her that it felt off. The way she sat staring straight ahead gave the strong impression that she wanted me to close the door already.
“Don’t forget to return this car. The owners might get into serious trouble otherwise.”
“Don’t worry. It’s a vehicle registered with the Ability User Association. My secretary can handle it.”
I was jealous. She already had a personal secretary? Even for an S-rank, that was enviable.
“Then take care. Solo Irina.”
“…”
“Not going to answer? Solo Irina?”
“Ugh, seriously! Can you stop…”
“You’ve been doing it to me every single time. Don’t you know about putting yourself in someone else’s shoes? Empathy?”
It was something we learned to death in ethics class. Maybe the curriculum was different when Irina was in school?
“So, in the spirit of empathy, I’m just returning the favor with ‘solo.’”
Solo, solo. Wow, even the way it rolled off the tongue was perfect. That must have been why Irina kept calling me that even though she was one herself. It really had a satisfying bite to it. There was no doubt it was an excellent teasing word. And it worked as a wide-area provocation whether the target was actually solo or not. Maybe I should try using it on villains later? It seemed like it would be incredibly effective.
“Hey. Can you stop teasing me now? Please?”
“Why? Does it bother you, Solo Irina?”
“Don’t ask obvious questions!”
Beep—beep—!
She was so worked up that she was even honking the horn. If she gripped the steering wheel any harder, it looked like it might snap.
“Then you can tease me too. If we’re both solo, it’s a tie, right? Nobody gets hurt.”
“That’s—!”
Unfair, obviously. Me, who wasn’t solo, versus Irina, who was. If we started calling each other “solo,” who would take more damage? Irina knew the answer, which was why she was reacting like this.
“Get inside safely. Thanks for the coffee today.”
She had boldly demanded a date, yet clearly had no idea how to actually go on one. Time was passing, but all we were doing was walking endlessly. At this rate, we’d spend the full forty minutes doing nothing but cardio. So I just picked the first café I saw and dragged her inside.
I didn’t know what kind of date Irina actually wanted. Maybe she had suggested it without any real thought. When I led her to the café anyway, she surprisingly followed without complaint.
“…Do people really have to go to a café on dates?”
Irina asked, sounding like she had already given up. At this point, it was safe to assume she had zero dating experience.
“Not necessarily.”
“Then why did we come here?”
“Because time is tight. We only have exactly thirty-one minutes left.”
“…Ugh.”
This wasn’t the Irina I had seen or experienced until now. The woman with overwhelming power who was a little strange. The crazy bitch who acted purely on impulse without any sense of justice or conviction. That was how she had always appeared. But the Irina in the café was different.
If what the world had seen was the Crazy Yellow Bitch, then maybe what I was seeing now was simply Irina.
“What are you standing there for? Aren’t you going in? Or do I need to kidnap you again?”
I had to go in. I really did. But I wanted to watch her leave first. It felt wrong to just turn my back after she had gone out of her way to bring me here.
“I was going to watch you drive off. Is that a problem?”
“Just go inside already. I’ll leave after I see you enter the Academy.”
“Are you worried I might sneak off somewhere else?”
Irina nodded as if that were the most obvious thing in the world.
“Wow. Alright, I’m going. I’ll treat you to a real meal next time.”
Did I really mean that? Hmm. Honestly, it was just a polite courtesy. One of those universal Korean greetings like “Let’s grab a meal sometime.” Of course, the catch is that neither the speaker nor the listener usually knows when that “sometime” will be.
“Seojin oppa.”
I was about to turn away when her voice stopped me. I looked back at Irina.
“That thing you said earlier… was it true?”
“What thing?”
“The measured rank. Are you really B-rank?”
I had told her the results back at the café. B-rank had come up. I hadn’t glanced at it carelessly—I had checked properly. I expected her to explode, asking how that made any sense and why I kept saying such nonsense. Instead, Irina had simply said “Really?” and sipped her mint chocolate latte.
That damn mint-choco faction. She even claimed it tasted better with a shot of Sol’s Eye in it.
“You heard me earlier.”
“Yes, I did. I heard it clearly. Which is exactly how I know that you’re still hiding something, Seojin oppa.”
No, woman. I’m not hiding anything. That’s the real result. When you’re the one being measured, there’s no way to fake it.
“Well, whatever. I already know my Seojin oppa is a bit special. You must have your reasons.”
Saying “I don’t have any reasons, B-rank is just reality” at this point would be pointless. I no longer even felt like correcting her misunderstanding. Whatever. Let them think what they want. They can keep misunderstanding in whatever way is convenient for them.
“If you go around blabbing about it, I’ll deal with you myself.”
“Blab about what?”
“What do you think? Are you seriously asking because you don’t know?”
“Yes. I’m genuinely asking because I don’t know.”
“You really enjoy messing with people, don’t you…”
Irina, who had been about to raise her voice, suddenly shut her mouth. She seemed to have realized that my repeated “I don’t know” answers were completely sincere.
“Did something happen? I don’t remember anything. The conversation ended after the rank measurement, didn’t it?”
It was a secret I had accidentally uncovered. But pretending I knew or spreading it around would be unwise. It was better to just poke her lightly whenever she forgot and tried to act superior again.
“…See you next time.”
With those final words, Irina drove off immediately. It was surprising to see her driving so normally instead of recklessly. The whole encounter felt different from what I had imagined and strangely anticlimactic. When she suddenly brought up a date, I had been tense, wondering what on earth that crazy woman was plotting.
Still, I managed to gain two useful pieces of information. First, Irina still believed I was hiding something about myself. And second, that she herself was—without a doubt—a solo.
Especially that second one. That’s a truly massive discovery.
Irina had long since gone beyond being a mere tomboy. Even calling her a crazy bitch made me chuckle. She had a natural talent for making others uncomfortable. And now I had a tool that could potentially keep her somewhat in check!
I’ll have to be careful, though. If I overuse it, it might backfire spectacularly.
If I kept calling her solo, she might get used to it and it would only make her angrier. Using it sparingly to trigger embarrassment and suppress her was currently the best strategy.
Still, it was hilarious. Of all people, Irina turned out to be a solo. She had been running around calling everyone else solo and launching wide-area provocations, yet she herself had zero dating experience.
“Examiner?”
When I looked up, Kang Hana was blinking at me with wide eyes.
“Did something good happen?”
“Huh? Why all of a sudden?”
“You were walking over here smiling the whole time.”
I must have been smiling without realizing it while remembering Irina’s face turning bright red, tears welling up, and that frustrated “Hmph!” she let out. It had been so absurd that I couldn’t help but laugh.
“Did something good happen? I heard you weren’t around this morning.”
“There was something, yeah. Though I wouldn’t exactly call it ‘good.’ This morning…”
Wait a second.
“Hana. Did you not hear anything from Suhyun? I mean, from Kim Suhyun?”
“No? What news?”
“That I had a rank re-measurement scheduled today. I told her I even got time off for it.”
“Uhh… We did meet this morning, but she didn’t say anything to me?”
Weren’t those two close? Last time I saw them, they seemed pretty friendly.
“Ah, um… I guess Kim Suhyun must have forgotten.”
“That must be it, right? Or maybe she’s been getting so much attention lately that she feels burdened by it!”
I seriously doubted that was the case, but I decided to let it slide. If it wasn’t, poor Hana would feel too pitiful.
“A-anyway! You got your rank re-measured! So your rank is now…”
“B-rank.”
“…Huh?”
Yep. Exactly the reaction I expected. Especially from Kang Hana, I knew she would respond like this. After all, she had been right behind me during that brawl with the Elder.
“Um, Examiner. Did I hear that wrong?”
“If you heard B-rank, then you heard correctly.”
When I confirmed it, Hana’s expression grew even stranger.
“…You, Examiner. B-rank?”
“Yes.”
“You fought an Elder.”
“That’s right.”
“And you even injured the Elder.”
“That part is also true.”
“But… B-rank?”
After that, Kang Hana spent a long time making frustrated little noises.