Chapter 16
I couldn’t think straight. I couldn’t quite make sense of the situation unfolding before me.
It wasn’t exactly surprising.
...What is this?
If you knew the identity of the woman sitting there so calmly, sipping tea in front of me—if you knew who she was—you’d have reacted exactly the same way. All of you. Every last one.
Why. Seriously, why?
Why is this person here?
Platinum-blond hair, golden eyes that matched it, and a woman drinking tea with such leisurely poise that it almost made the whole scene feel unreal.
Is that really Irene?
Hale Irene.
The world’s strongest superhuman, a great archmage from her past life. The kind of being people said could erase a whole country if she ever felt like it.
The human weapon at the peak of humanity...
The human incarnation of disaster. That was what Hale Irene was supposed to be.
Why is she in front of me?
And that walking calamity of a human was sitting here in front of me, drinking tea.
How was that not strange?
“...Mm.”
Irene took a sip of tea and frowned. I’d heard she was in her mid-twenties, but...
Her face...
She looked absurdly young. Younger than I’d expected, so young I couldn’t even guess her age properly.
“Tastes bad...”
She gave the tea the kind of flat assessment that sounded almost bored. Then she took the cake beside her and stabbed it with a fork before stuffing a handful into her mouth.
“Hmmm.”
This time, she nodded with clear satisfaction.
“...Tasty.”
“Uh...?”
I hesitantly called out to her, watching as she marveled over the cake. At my voice, Irene raised one finger.
What now?
Then—swish.
...
Gold light shimmered at her fingertip, forming the words, Wait a moment.
Seeing that, I froze and stayed still.
Gnaw, gnaw. Only after Irene finished swallowing the cake in her mouth did she finally speak to me.
“...Want some?”
“...N-no?”
“Yes.”
She was about to keep eating when I hurriedly stopped her and said, “No, wait a second.”
“Hm?”
She didn’t seem pleased by my interruption, and her expression hardened.
“...Why?”
“It’s not why—”
Where was I even supposed to start? No, what was I supposed to point out first?
The fact that the strongest person in the world was sitting in front of me? Or that she’d come here out of nowhere with cake and was eating it by herself?
Or maybe...
That she has something to say to me?
That kind of person had come looking for me because she had something to say.
Or maybe...
...Is that a problem too?
I rolled my eyes and looked to the side. There was...
“Mmph... mmmph...”
A man was lying face-down on the floor, bound in golden chains.
He was the person my super-sensory skill had picked up earlier—the same one Irene had sent flying.
“Hrk...”
“Slurp.”
Whether the man groaned or not, Irene was too busy drinking tea to care. Then she casually wiped the cream from the corner of her mouth and ate it too.
No matter how I looked at it, everything about this was a problem. It wasn’t a matter of what to point out first; it was that the whole scene was a problem.
Seriously, what is this?
Was I dreaming? Honestly, saying this was a dream would make more sense. It was that absurd.
“Um...”
“...It’s fine.”
Just as I was about to ask about the man, Irene cut me off.
“People like that... are everywhere...”
“...”
Her cool gaze swept over the man. Even though that look wasn’t aimed at me, my legs nearly gave out beneath me.
“What should we do with him...?”
“...Pardon?”
“Should I burn him or tear him apart...?”
“...What do you mean, ‘—’”
She said something horrifying like it was the most ordinary thing in the world.
The man must have heard her too, because I saw him shudder while still bound.
“Hmm.”
Irene looked at me and said, “...You’re merciful?”
“Huh...?”
Click.
She snapped her fingers. The chains sealing the man’s mouth vanished.
“Ghk...”
Only then, able to breathe properly again, did the man gasp for air.
“...Please, wait... wait a minute...! This is a misunderstanding...!”
He spoke to both Irene and me with a desperate, frantic expression.
“I’m not an enemy...! I only came here to protect Lee Jinwoo, the superhuman, on behalf of the Association...!”
“...Huh?”
Protect me? I looked at him, puzzled. He’d come from the Association? While I was still reeling from that, another voice cut in.
“Protect...?”
It was Irene.
“That’s not protection...”
She crossed her legs and rested her chin on one hand. Her gaze had turned far colder than before as it settled on the man.
“It’s surveillance. If you lie... I’ll rip out your tongue...”
!
The air turned frigid in an instant.
“W-wait... please...”
“...Annoying.”
Click.
There it was again—the sound of her snapping her fingers.
Whoosh—!
“Huh—!”
The man in front of us suddenly disappeared. He really did vanish, as if he’d evaporated into thin air. Had she killed him? I stared at Irene in alarm.
“I sent him away.”
“Sent him away?”
Irene answered in her usual indifferent tone.
“To another place.”
“Another place, meaning...?”
“...”
She fell silent. Her expression made it clear she had no intention of answering.
“Ah. Um...”
Even addressing her was difficult. Should I call her superhuman? I was still hesitating, my lips twitching as I tried to find the right words, when—
“Irene...”
She spoke first.
“...Call me Irene.”
“Ah, yes.”
It felt as though she had read my mind before I could even settle on a proper honorific.
“Thank you, Ms. Irene.”
She gave a small nod. Watching her response, I asked, “...Then why did you come looking for me?”
From what I’d heard, she’d entered Korea today. I’d even seen the news footage of her arrival in real time.
...And now she’s suddenly come looking for me with something to say?
It made no sense at all.
At my question, Irene glanced back and forth between the cake and me, as if debating whether to keep eating.
Then she slowly set down her fork and idly waved her index finger through the air.
Wuuung—
Golden energy began to seep out just like before, tracing lines that gradually took shape. I stared at it, wondering what she was doing, when—
BOOOOM—!
Oh.
The circle of light displayed an image, like a television screen. And it was...
...Isn’t this my footage?
It was the video from when I fought the masked bastard in Yeouido last time.
There were so many explosions that the footage was hard to make out. The screen was packed with light, to the point where it almost hurt my eyes.
“Why are you showing me this...?”
I had no idea why she was suddenly bringing this up. When I looked at her with that meaning, she said:
“Something I wanted to ask.”
“Me?”
“Yes.”
What was she planning to ask me based on this footage? I tensed up.
“You...”
Irene asked me,
“Do you know about the God of War?”
!
My body went rigid. I hadn’t expected that name to come out of her mouth.
How?
How on earth was she bringing up the God of War?
Her eyes.
Her gaze, fixed on me as she waited for an answer, was black. They’d been striking golden eyes shining brilliantly a moment ago, but now they somehow felt dark.
What was this feeling?
[Hero's Super-sensory has been activated.]
The back of my neck prickled. Something was there. I didn’t know what it was, but I could feel it aiming for my throat.
[Korca's illusion has been activated.]
[An inhuman gaze is being felt.]
[The power is lower than that of the Four Sacred Spirits. The illusion is blocking it from piercing the essence.]
...
So it wasn’t just that? Korca had blocked out one more thing. I didn’t know what exactly it had stopped, but I could instinctively tell one thing.
Irene had done something.
She just hadn’t managed to get through.
I thought hard. How should I answer this? After a brief hesitation, I chose my words carefully.
“...The God of War? I’m not sure what you’re talking about.”
“...”
“If you mean the God of War, he’s a superhuman who’s been making headlines lately. But what does that have to do with me?”
I chose denial.
My palms were getting sweaty, though I did my best not to show it.
Was that really the right choice? Just as the question rose in my mind—
“Hmm.”
Irene’s eyes drifted back to me.
At once, the sensation at the back of my neck vanished.
“Mm... all right.”
What?
Irene stood up. That was it? She’d accepted it just like that? For such a chilling question, her reaction was strangely simple.
“See you next time.”
She gave a lazy wave of her hand.
Then she walked to the window. With a rattle, she opened it and threw herself out.
“Hey!”
I stared after her in shock, but she was already soaring high through the air and getting farther away. In an instant, Irene vanished from view.
“...What the hell was that?”
Left alone, I could only stare blankly into space. She really was like a storm.
But then...
See you next time?
Her last words bothered me. Was there even going to be a next time?
Just as that thought crossed my mind, there was a knock at the door.
“Ah, yes.”
“Excuse me. Superhuman Lee Jinwoo...”
A nurse cautiously peeked her head in. She met my eyes and spoke.
“Um...”
“Yes?”
“The director said you can be discharged...”
“...Huh?”
Already?
* * *
Whoosh. As she cut through the sky, Irene put on her sunglasses. A little wind like this meant nothing to her—it was just a habit.
A habit of hiding her eyes.
Irene.
A voice sounded in her head. At that voice, Irene frowned.
“Stop nagging...”
...But—
“No need to look anymore. I saw it with your eyes...”
Irene let out a sigh.
The eye that saw through all lies. As long as she had it, no one’s deception could ever work on her.
She thought back to her conversation with Lee Jinwoo. The Eye of the Sage hadn’t activated during that conversation.
“I don’t need it anymore... It’s a hassle.”
The boy’s eyes were definitely confused.
“I’m a monster.”
Of course a person would be flustered in front of a monster. Irene said it flatly, almost self-mockingly.
The voice in her head went quiet for a moment.
Irene... you are—
“I know...”
He meant for her not to say things like she was a monster.
...
But that didn’t change anything. The voice’s sincerity was appreciated, but it didn’t reach her.
“...He’s not it. He’s not strong.”
The power in the footage wasn’t bad. It was just... not bad.
...I had my suspicions.
Just as she thought. She’d learned the God of War was in Korea, and in response she’d come to see the superhuman who had awakened only a few days ago.
The young hero, they said.
She’d assumed it was nothing more than the Association’s silly little performance.
“Hmm.”
But a faint gleam entered Irene’s eyes.
For something like that...
She thought of Lee Jinwoo again. He had a mild face, almost plain enough to be forgettable.
He noticed.
He’d noticed her power, and it seemed he’d even realized the man the Association had planted there.
So why had he left him alone?
She didn’t know. But what mattered was this:
He’s got something.
Even if he wasn’t the God of War, the fact that he was hiding something made him important to her. That was what she needed.
...Less annoying...
She adopted a flat, indifferent look as she thought of what would happen soon enough.