## Chapter 21 – (5)
“Ga-eun, what are you thinking about?”
A coffee shop beneath the Guardian hero agency’s office.
I snapped out of my thoughts when a fellow hero from the same agency called my name.
“Huh? Oh… just…”
“Are you worried about something lately?”
I must have been wearing a complicated expression, as my colleague noticed it right away.
However, I couldn’t easily confide my concerns.
Doing so would mean talking about my own wall.
A wall of my own that would be difficult for others to understand.
“…No, I’m just a little tired.”
“Really? Oh, right. The boss said he won’t stand for it if you approach the black market again.”
“Worrying is…”
I caught a bald villain in a back alley after hearing rumors, but instead of praise, I received a warning.
It was certainly dangerous at night with so many villains gathering, but it was manageable if all the Guardian heroes went together.
I couldn’t understand why they were leaving it unattended.
Even that bald villain, who they made out to be a dangerous figure, fell with just one of my kicks. What were they afraid of?
The other villains in the black market probably weren’t any different from the bald one.
Villains were all weak anyway.
There were no S-rank heroes or villains in Korea right now.
Only candidates or promising individuals who could potentially reach that rank were occasionally mentioned.
I was one of those candidates.
That fact was truly regrettable.
‘Isn’t there a man strong enough to beat me?’
After becoming an A-rank hero, all the men who stood before me were the same.
Either groveling or weaklings who didn’t know their place.
I couldn’t possibly develop romantic feelings for such men.
…Except for Kang Seok recently.
It wasn’t romantic feelings.
But I was intrigued.
‘He only staggered a little after taking my kick.’
It was a kick born from misunderstanding.
His menacing appearance and sudden approach from behind made me reflexively kick him to subdue him as soon as I noticed him.
An ordinary person would have been seriously injured, and even a powered individual like a hero or villain would have fallen from a kick with that much force.
But Kang Seok didn’t fall; he only staggered.
He proved my claim that he was a promising talent.
That’s why I didn’t feel entirely unpleasant even when he persistently stuck to me afterward.
I promised him then.
If he achieved the best score in the hero exam in three weeks, I would have a meal with him.
“Ga-eun is one thing, but why is Min-ji acting like this again?”
I looked toward Min-ji at my colleague’s words.
Min-ji, a fellow hero with a feline, or rather, a panther-like appearance, wasn’t much of a talker, but she always had a confident expression.
But now, you could say she was lost in thought.
She was staring blankly into the distance.
She occasionally stroked her lips with her fingers.
“Min-ji, do you… have a boyfriend?”
Min-ji’s eyes widened for a moment, and then she looked away.
She was avoiding the question, but she couldn’t hide her body’s reaction.
Her reddened ears and tightly closed mouth said it all.
“Huh? Hey! Really?!”
The colleague who asked the question was even more surprised by her reaction.
And it wasn’t just my colleague who was surprised.
‘Min-ji has a boyfriend?’
I couldn’t believe it.
Min-ji had the most in common with me.
She wasn’t very interested in romance, she hated weak men, and she was as strong a hero as I was.
“What kind of man could he possibly be?”
My colleague was more excited than the person involved, as if she was thrilled by the unbelievable news.
Honestly, I was curious too.
Min-ji’s boyfriend.
And Min-ji’s eyes widened.
It was very slight, but I saw the corners of her lips turn up for a moment.
So, my head naturally turned.
A man was smiling and waving in our direction as he approached.
To be honest, my first impression of the man was.
“Baseball player?”
His fairly sturdy build and the baseball bat in his bag made me think he was part of a social baseball team.
The man approached Min-ji without hesitation and—
“J-Just a second…huff…cold…”
Kissed her.
It wasn’t a light kiss where lips just touched.
It was a deep, passionate kiss that explored each other’s mouths. They exchanged saliva, making suggestive sounds as if they didn’t care about other people’s gazes.
“Wow…”
“…”
My colleague blushed as she watched the two, and I was speechless.
I was worried that Min-ji might blast the man away with telekinesis, but instead, she closed her eyes and tilted her head.
The man responded by wrapping his arms around Min-ji’s waist.
It was their own world.
And the two slowly pulled their faces apart.
A white string of saliva dripped between their lips.
“Puh-ha…you horny bastard…”
“Sorry.”
“M-Min-ji, is this him?”
“…Something like that.”
She tried to act nonchalant, but I was quite shocked to see the two of them sharing such a deep kiss.
I thought Min-ji would never have a boyfriend, let alone one like that. After all, she hated weak men even more than I did, and she was openly prickly to everyone.
You could tell just by looking at the internet.
Even though Min-ji had saved countless people and caught many villains as a hero, she received mostly negative comments, regardless of gender.
All because of her arrogant attitude.
Well, most of the Guardian members were like that.
It was like a gathering place for heroes with as many haters as fans.
So much so that, according to rumors, there were even groups that paid people just to leave negative comments or curse at us.
There were people who said they would forcibly tame our arrogant attitudes and others who would sponsor those people.
The more we heard such news, the more prickly the Guardian heroes became.
At least the colleague next to me was decent.
This person was normal as long as she didn’t fight on the internet.
I could tell because I had been with Min-ji for a long time.
Even though it was the usual curse she spat out, I could feel a heart-fluttering affection in the curse she directed at that man.
You could tell just by looking at her expression.
A faint smile and a slight eye smile.
The subtle changes in expression on her usually haughty face made me feel that Min-ji liked the man.
So, I was curious.
What kind of man was he that Min-ji was so smitten with?
“Who is he?”
“…I don’t really know…”
Min-ji spoke with a slightly complicated expression in response to my question.
She doesn’t really know?
It didn’t seem like a lie.
Then why did she kiss him?
It was too passionate and enjoyable of a kiss for people who didn’t know each other well.
Well, I had heard of it before.
I couldn’t understand it, but these days, there were cases where people kissed first and then started dating.
I didn’t think Min-ji would enjoy that kind of relationship.
“We’re a little closer than that.”
“Whatever…”
The man chuckled nonchalantly and put his arm around Min-ji’s shoulder.
Min-ji blushed and turned her head, but she didn’t reject his touch.
The man naturally met my eyes and said.
He wasn’t intimidated, and he didn’t seem to realize who I was.
“My name is Seong-han.”
“…Hmph…”
It couldn’t be, but Min-ji seemed to be hearing his name for the first time too.
The man who introduced himself as Seong-han stared intently at me.
It was an intense gaze.
So much so that I averted my eyes without realizing it.
‘Did I just look away? From that man?’
For some reason, my pride was hurt.
And I admitted that Seong-han in front of me was not ordinary.
“Want to do more?”
“You horny bastard…later when we’re done…”
“I’ll be waiting.”
Perhaps that kind of appearance was strength in another sense.
He wasn’t so much a strong man as he was an animalistic figure befitting the word strong male.
“Oh, right. Min-ji, the hero exam in three weeks, can I take it too?”
“What? You’re going to take the hero exam? Well, it’s possible, but…”
“Are you taking the hero exam?”
“Ahaha, yes.”
I ended up interjecting without realizing it.
Hero exam, I remembered it because Kang Seok had decided to participate.
He was an unpleasant man, but at least he was a strong man who had withstood my kick once. Plus, he was a promising talent who was growing.
He boasted that he would receive an A-rank in this hero exam.
Of course, that was close to impossible.
Usually, even the most talented promising individuals would receive a C-rank and grow slowly.
Even I, the highest-ranking A-rank in Korea, started my hero life with a B-rank.
But if Kang Seok really received an A-rank assignment as soon as he took the hero exam.
He might look like a man.
And I looked at Seong-han in front of me.
If Kang Seok and Seong-han fought, who would win?
There was a combat evaluation during the hero exam.
Usually, a duel with the examiner was common, but if there were many examinees who received the highest score, they would sometimes fight each other for relative evaluation.
‘Still, Kang Seok would win, right…?’
Even so, he had withstood my attack.
I was sorry to Min-ji and her boyfriend Seong-han, but my Kang Seok would win.
My?
I shook my head to get rid of the wrong thoughts.
And I gave him a timid word of encouragement.
“Well… good luck.”
“Of course. Min-ji? Don’t you have anything to say?”
“…Do your best.”
For some reason, I felt like I was being left out and they were immersed in their own world.
I felt a little ignored.
Seeing Min-ji, who I thought was in the same position as me, cuddling with that man with a happy expression made me feel a little empty.
And just a little bit, my pride was hurt.
Min-ji was pretty, but I wasn’t inferior to her anywhere.
I just lacked a bit of feminine charm.
Unlike Min-ji, I had a more androgynous appearance.
Thanks to that, I had quite a few female fans.
Maybe it was because of this androgynous appearance that the reaction to me was ambiguous?
I suddenly questioned my long-maintained hairstyle and hero costume.
