On the way back to the Academy after paying the taxi fare, Irina, who had been so talkative earlier, was now suspiciously quiet. The silence was so uncomfortable that I wanted to say something, anything.
"So, I heard from Suhyeon. She said you two have been dueling whenever you have time."
"Dueling? No, I'm just beating her up every time. She just keeps getting hit."
Of course, that makes sense. No matter how much it's Suhyeon, even if she's the 'Crimson Witch,' her opponent is none other than the 'crazy blonde' Irina.
When it comes to pure power, she's South Korea's strongest without any unexpected turns. For Suhyeon, who's just reached the first stage of the Crimson Witch, winning is impossible.
"But even though she just keeps getting hit, she's annoyingly quick-witted."
So that's how she expresses that Suhyeon is growing with each clash. Maybe it's because we've met so often, but I'm getting used to Irina's expressions.
I used to think 'crazy woman, crazy woman' so many times. They say the scariest thing is getting used to something, right? Now that I'm used to it, I've reached a point where I just laugh.
[You will arrive at your destination shortly.]
Just in case she might try to take me to some strange place again, I deliberately kept the navigation on. It earned me a glare from Irina, but she didn't say anything.
I've already paid the taxi fare she demanded. I even stayed an extra 10 minutes, including the time back to the Academy. If she asks for more, she's not human. Period.
"Thanks for the ride."
A natural expression of gratitude before opening the door and getting out. But Irina was silent. She was so different from usual. Just sitting there looking forward, she gave the impression that I should close the door quickly.
"Don't forget to return this car. Those people might be very inconvenienced."
"Don't worry. It's a registered Ability Association vehicle. I can just tell my secretary to handle it."
I'm jealous. You already have a personal secretary? Even for an S-rank, that's enviable.
"Well, take care, single Irina."
"No response? Single Irina?"
"Ah, really! Just enough..."
"You've been doing it to me all this time. Don't you know about putting yourself in someone else's shoes?"
We learn that to death in moral education class. Maybe the curriculum was different in Irina's time?
"So, I'm also returning 'single' to you, in the spirit of empathy."
Single, single. Wow, saying it feels good.
This must be why Irina kept calling me single, even though she's single herself. It's kind of juicy, isn't it? It's definitely a word that has a flavor of teasing. And it works as an area-of-effect provocation, whether the listener is actually single or not.
Maybe I should use it when fighting villains? It seems like it would be incredibly effective.
"Hey. Could you stop teasing? Please?"
"Why? Are you feeling hurt, Single Irina?"
"Don't ask obvious questions!"
She's so agitated that she's honking the horn. You'll break the steering wheel if you touch it anymore.
"Then Irina should tease me too. If we both call each other 'single,' we both feel bad, so it's a tie, right?"
It would be unfair. Me, who's not single, and Irina, who definitely is. If we both call each other 'single,' who would take more damage? Irina knows this, which is why she's reacting like that.
"Take care. I enjoyed the coffee today."
For something she confidently demanded as a date, she doesn't know how to do it. Time was passing, and all we were doing was walking aimlessly.
At this rate, we'd just be doing cardio for the full 40 minutes. So I decided to just enter the first cafe I saw and sit down.
I don't know what kind of date Irina wanted. Maybe Irina herself made the suggestion without any thought. So when I guided her to the cafe, she surprisingly followed without complaint.
"...Is a cafe really mandatory for dating?"
Irina asked as if she had given up. At this point, it seems fair to say she truly has zero dating experience.
"Then why did we come to a cafe?"
"Because time is tight. Exactly 31 minutes left."
This wasn't the Irina I had seen and experienced so far.
A woman who possesses an enormous power that can't be resisted, a bit strange, who acts as her heart desires, without any sense of justice or belief. That's what she seemed like, but her appearance in the cafe was a bit different.
If what the world has been seeing is the 'crazy blonde,' then what I'm seeing now is just 'Irina,' isn't it?
"What are you standing there for? Aren't you going in? Should I kidnap you again?"
I should go. I should, but I was watching Irina leave before going in. It's a bit rude to just turn your back on someone who gave you a ride, saying, "Bye!"
"I was going to go in after watching you leave. Don't you like that?"
"Forget it and go in quickly. I'll really leave after watching you enter the Academy."
"Are you worried I might go somewhere else?"
To that, Irina nodded as if it was obvious.
"Alright. I'm going. I'll treat you to a proper meal sometime."
Do I really plan to? Well, this is also just a courtesy-level greeting. One of the common Korean greetings is "Let's have a meal sometime." Of course, neither the listener nor the speaker knows when that 'sometime' will be.
As I was about to turn at the voice calling me, I looked back at Irina.
"Is that really true?"
"The measurement rank. Is it really B-rank?"
I had told her the result of my rank measurement at the cafe earlier. It came out as B-rank. Not a casual look, but a proper one, I said.
I expected her to immediately say that's nonsense, why am I saying that. But Irina just went "Is that so?" and sipped her mint chocolate latte.
These cursed mint chocolate fans. She even said it tastes better with 'Sol's Eye' syrup.
"You heard it earlier."
"Yes, I heard it. To be precise, I heard and realized that Seojin oppa is still hiding something."
No, woman. I'm not hiding anything. That's the truth. When being measured rather than doing the measuring, there's no solution.
"Well, fine. I already know that our Seojin oppa is a bit special, so I'm sure there's a reason."
At this point, even if I said, "There's no reason, B-rank is reality," it would be futile. I've given up trying to correct the misunderstanding. I don't know. Think whatever you want. Keep your convenient misunderstandings.
"But if you go around spreading it, I'll take care of it."
"What else? Are you asking because you don't know?"
"Yes. I genuinely don't know."
"You're really teasing me..."
Then Irina, who was about to shout, suddenly closes her mouth. It seems she's finally realized my intention in continuously saying, "I don't know."
"What happened? I don't remember. We were just talking about rank measurements, right?"
A secret accidentally uncovered, but it's better not to pretend to know or spread it. Just forget it, and if she tries to assert herself, give her a little poke.
"...See you next time."
With those final words, Irina drove away. It's still surprising that she doesn't drive recklessly.
It was a different meeting than I had initially imagined, and also somewhat empty. With her suddenly mentioning a date, I was a bit tense. I had no idea what this crazy woman was up to.
In the meantime, I was able to extract two useful pieces of information.
One, Irina still thinks of me as someone who's hiding something. And two, she's none other than a single.
'Especially the second one. This is truly an amazing discovery.'
Irina is way beyond just being loud. Crazy woman, indeed. She even has a natural talent for making others uncomfortable.
There's potential for this to be a tool that can, to some extent, control her!
'I need to be careful though. If I use it too often, it might backfire.'
If I keep calling her single, she might get used to it and only become angrier. For now, the best approach is to use it moderately as a means of embarrassment control.
But it's genuinely funny. To think that Irina, of all people, turns out to be single. She's been teasing others with the 'single' business, broadcasting provocations everywhere. But in reality, Irina herself is the one with zero dating experience.
Looking ahead, I see Kang Hana blinking her eyes, staring at me.
"Did something good happen?"
"You've been smiling the whole time as you were coming."
The image of Irina's face turning red, showing tears, saying "Siiing!" When I recalled that, I must have unknowingly smiled because it was so absurd.
"Did something good happen? I heard you weren't seen this morning."
"There was something. To be precise, it wasn't a 'good' thing, but this morning..."
"Kang Hana? Didn't you hear from Suhyeon? I mean, Kim Suhyeon?"
"That I had a rank re-measurement schedule today. I even got leave. She told me she informed you."
"Um... I met Suhyeon this morning, but she didn't tell me anything about it?"
Weren't you two close? From what I saw last time, you seemed rather close.
"Ah, um... I guess Kim Suhyeon forgot."
"That must be it, right? Or maybe she's feeling a bit burdened by all the attention she's receiving these days!"
I don't think that's it, but let's just go with that. If not, it would be too pitiful for Kang Hana.
"Ah, anyway! So you went for a rank re-measurement! Then your rank is now..."
Hmm. As expected, the anticipated reaction emerged.
Especially from Kang Hana, I was expecting this even more. She was right behind me when I was wrestling with that Elder.
"Excuse me, Examiner. Did I mishear something?"
"If you heard B-rank, you heard correctly."
Upon confirming, Kang Hana's expression becomes even stranger.
"...The Examiner is B-rank?"
"You fought an Elder."
"And you even injured the Elder."
After that, Kang Hana struggled for quite a while.