Our son-in-law has not only a good heart but also good cooking skills.
Irina's parents, who received a tearful birthday table with moved expressions.
Well, seeing them eat well, I thought it worked out.
Since it was a birthday, I felt like I should do something more, so I cleanly finished the dishes too.
Then mother was deeply moved again and kept patting my back.
She said if they left this to Irina, she'd break every single dish.
"I'm not adding any exaggeration - the dishes she's broken alone would be worth an apartment."
Hearing that, my first thought? I wished it had been a joke.
How much must she have broken for the dish costs alone to equal an apartment?
But hearing that, father, who was bringing dishes, added:
"Actually, it might be a bit more than that."
At this point, the thought that arises. Why didn't they stop the dish destroyer?
To that question, the two gave a truly concise and obvious answer:
"When she insists on doing it herself, how can we stop her?"
That's right. What parent could break their child's stubbornness?
Especially when it's Irina herself who earns money for the broken dishes.
She breaks them herself and earns the money herself, so what can you say?
Anyway, after finishing all the cleanup, having a cup of tea,
I barely talked them out of wanting to treat me to dinner and left the parents' house.
It's your birthday, why would you prepare someone else's meal? You should spend the rest of the day.
"Oh. Seojin oppa seems to have scored really well today?"
I just stared blankly at Irina saying that.
Sorry, but the score was perfect from when I first met them.
Rather, they asked why I was with you despite having this score.
"What are you going to do now? If you don't have plans, let's together..."
"I'm meeting team members for dinner tonight."
True Koreans become closer by eating together.
Though we're already close, we can get even closer by eating together.
We'll continue working together, so it's good to become friendlier.
"What. Then Kim Suhyeon, that girl will be there too."
"Right. Suhyeon is on my team from the start."
"What about me!"
Irina, please, can't you do some work for the country?
Every time you cause trouble, you cause it properly and make taxes cover it all.
At that rate, you should be working until late every day.
"I want to join that team too."
"...What?"
"There's no law saying S-ranks can't join clans. So I'll also enter there, where was it. Magic Tower? Right. I'll enter there and join oppa's team."
As soon as I heard that, the thought that occurred—
Two S-ranks in one team? Would the country just watch that?
It's not like Han Jiyoon or I where clan affiliation came first.
Would they be crazy enough to transfer important talent from state to clan affiliation?
Even other clans would show tremendous restraint toward Magic Tower.
They're already sending subtle glances because of my existence.
Adding Irina, that tremendous being, to that?
'I guarantee all other competing clans will go crazy trying to restrain Magic Tower.'
So I was about to firmly say no.
What clan does someone who had no clan thoughts suddenly want?
Adding that how would she do clan activities while ignoring association orders.
"It's unfair! I want to stay by oppa's side too!"
"Anyone listening would think you're falling behind! We're the same S-rank so we meet occasionally, and we can see each other when going to work at the association! We're neighbors living close enough that if you fall forward your nose would touch, so what are you lacking?!"
Suhyeon stays at the Kang family's main house by the river where Kang Minseong resides.
Conversely, Irina stays in the special residential area like me.
Even the distance is close - it takes 5 minutes to get from Irina's house to mine.
No matter how much we talk about clans and team activities, it's not every day.
Rather, we'd see each other more at the academy.
You don't say anything about that part but why obsess only over the team?
"Ah, I don't know! I want to join that team too! Even as an honorary team member! Just let me in! Let me in!"
"Why are you asking me that? Am I the Magic Tower clan master?"
"That means if the Magic Tower clan master allows it, you'll accept me as a team member?"
"That's just saying it could be like that, not that I'll definitely do it. Please."
Clan master. I can clearly see Kang Hana's father fainting.
An S-rank joining a clan? Of course that would be tremendously welcome.
Even if the state sends sharp glares and competing clans pour out all kinds of restraint!
The benefits and social growth that return would be overwhelming.
But if that S-rank is Irina, the problem is slightly different.
Even the association can barely control her through her parents.
And that's only if she chooses to - once her eyes roll, it's a catastrophe.
At least the state covers for her, so somehow they endure.
It's almost impossible for a clan to cover such a fearsome woman.
No matter how much Magic Tower, they couldn't handle Irina's power.
"I said I'd be an honorary team member? Not doing activities, just being affiliated with the team!"
What a strange way to say you won't work and just want to play.
If you change to clan affiliation, even the association that used to work you well can't make you work anymore.
Don't tell me you calculated even that and want to be an honorary team member?
"If you keep this up, I'll have to resort to the final measure..."
Irina, who had been chattering away, suddenly closes her mouth and whips her head around.
I wonder why she's suddenly like this and glance around, but there's nothing special?
"...Ah, right. She really is a witch."
"Huh?"
"She comes like a ghost."
Almost simultaneously with Irina saying that—
"Examiner!"
From far away, Suhyeon comes running "whoosh!" into view.
Literally really 'whoosh.' In an instant, in front of me and Irina.
No, precisely, she quickly slips between me and Irina.
"Is work all finished?!"
"Yeah. It ended well. More than that, what's suddenly going on here? We're meeting for dinner anyway."
"Right. We're meeting for dinner anyway, so why bother oppa from now? What's the reason?"
Irina subtly provokes Suhyeon from beside her.
But Suhyeon acts like she's asking where a dog is barking. No, where a cat is meowing.
Very cleanly ignoring Irina while grabbing my hand.
"You worked hard."
"What are you saying? Hey. I'm the one who caught the mole, so why are you saying oppa worked hard?"
"That's why you worked hard. You must have gotten a lot of stress looking after the troublemaker Irina."
"I didn't?!"
You did. I was stressed, Irina.
"But..."
Suhyeon, who was standing beside me guarding against Irina, suddenly tilts her head.
Then she immediately circles around me and even starts smelling.
"Suhyeon? What's wrong?"
"...It's strange."
"Strange? What's strange?"
"This woman's smell keeps coming from you, Examiner."
Flinch—
I unconsciously trembled for a moment. I should maintain a poker face, damn it.
I'll tell Suhyeon someday. There can't be eternal secrets.
But I judged now isn't the right time, it's premature.
I just had relations with Suhyeon recently and had dinner with her family.
Not long after that, should I immediately say I did it with another woman again?
It would be better to mention it later, casually when Suhyeon's in a good mood.
'Or if Irina wasn't here, I might have tried to say something somehow.'
For now, to break through the current situation, I laid out the thoughts I had.
"That? Today was Irina's mother's birthday. So we prepared together and were close, so maybe that's why?"
"Birthday."
Suhyeon, who questioned that, glances toward Irina.
"Please tell her congratulations."
"Huh?"
"To her mother. Happy birthday."
"Um... okay. I'll tell her. Though it's a bit sudden."
It's not just anything, it's birthday congratulations for her parents.
No matter how much Irina, she can't say 'I don't want to?' to that.
Anyway, Suhyeon's reaction isn't bad, so I'm a bit relieved and...
"But, Examiner. Why do you call her Irina instead of Irina-ssi?"
"Huh?"
...Ah. Damn. I made a mistake.
*
Irina. Certain. She definitely said Irina.
Not Irina-ssi like before, but her name. And very familiarly too.
Recalling that part, Kim Suhyeon unconsciously bit her lips.
She wanted to be the only one Baek Seojin treated familiarly.
She didn't want to see him do that with other people. At least not other women.
Especially this woman standing right beside her, Irina, even more so!
"But, Examiner. Why do you call her Irina instead of Irina?"
"Huh?"
At Kim Suhyeon's words, Baek Seojin's expression stiffens with a "flinch."
He, who quickly blinked several times, opened his lips as if it was nothing.
"Ah. That's, well, Suhyeon. That..."
"That's because we decided to call each other that from now on."
The answer came from Irina, not Baek Seojin.
"What did you just say..."
"What are you pretending not to hear? Seojin oppa and I decided to do that. To call each other comfortably."
Hearing that, Kim Suhyeon's expression hardens in an instant.
Thanks to that, Baek Seojin, who was startled, tried to intervene quickly, but—
"Seojin oppa. Oppa, step aside. Unless you want to die."
Saying this is something she and Kim Suhyeon need to resolve,
Irina pushed him away with her expression, leaving him no choice but to retreat.
"...You don't mean, right?"
"What don't I mean?"
"That you entered Korea today. Don't tell me, that was a lie?"
"Yeah. Actually, I came in yesterday."
Irina's massive bomb drop continues.
Whether Baek Seojin was shocked asking what she was doing, she kept talking.
"You came yesterday but why today..."
"Look here. Why act innocent? You already did everything too. After coming yesterday, what, did I just rest? What you and Seojin oppa did. Yesterday I also did it together with him."
"..."
Hearing up to there, flames blaze up with a "whoosh" in Kim Suhyeon's pupils.
"Irina."
Wanting to add 'fucking' after 'ssi' but forcibly holding back,
Kim Suhyeon said while desperately swallowing her blazing anger.
"Let's have a serious sparring match, you and I."
"Just what I wanted."