“Lee Sooah!!!”

I unknowingly raised my voice.

It was only natural.

After all, we had come to an abrupt stop on the eight-lane Southern Circular Road.

Brrrrrrring!!!

Cars around us blared their horns like crazy.

Some even flashed their high beams as a form of protest.

“Ah, damn!!! Are you crazy, ma’am? What do you think you’re doing stopping suddenly here? You almost caused an accident! Get out!!! Right now!!! Just because you’re driving an expensive car, does that make you special??”

The driver behind us, seemingly flustered, approached Sooah’s side of the car and knocked on the window.

Swoosh.

Sooah rolled the window down.

“What did you say? Ma’am?”

As soon as the window was fully down, she casually rested her arm over it.

Sooah was exuding an enormous dark aura.

An overwhelming atmosphere that made the surroundings eerily silent.

“Gasp… Th-this is Hunter Sooah…”

“Say that again. Ma’am?”

Sooah shot a furious glare at the person who had protested.

With a gaze that felt like she could kill just with her eyes.

“Gasp.. Ah.. No, that’s not it. Uh.. Have a safe trip!! I’m rooting for your hunter activities. F-fighting!!”

The driver of the rear vehicle hurriedly retreated without achieving anything.

“Baek Jihoon? Would you care to repeat that? What did you say?”

Now the target was back on me.

“I think I misheard you. You said Yoo Hana, right? Please say it again correctly?”

The atmosphere was completely frozen.

It felt as though I might lose my head if I answered incorrectly.

‘Hmm.’

I began to think calmly.

The old me would have stepped back like a fool in this situation.

But I, Baek Jihoon, would not be the kind of pushover anymore.

‘Nah, I’ll just shoot my shot. Can she even do anything to me? She seems to like me anyway. Life is a gamble after all.’

“Yes. It’s Yoo Hana.”

Against Sooah’s strong stance, I boldly responded back.

I spoke clearly, enunciating each syllable distinctly.

“Huh???”

Surprisingly, it was Sooah who was caught off guard.

Since her attack clearly wasn’t having any effect, she looked bewildered.

Until now, acting like that had always made all the men back down.

She was pretty and strong.

How many men in South Korea could dare defy an S-Rank Hunter?

“It’s Yoo Hana. Didn’t you hear?”

I began my counterattack.

“W-why? Why? How come? I just can’t believe it?”

Her words turned slightly shaky as she appeared to tremble.

“Let’s get moving first. You’re blocking the road.”

“Ah. Yes!”

Following my words, Sooah pressed the gas pedal once again.

‘She’s listening really well.’

In that brief moment, I had become a man casually directing an S-Rank Hunter.

“Wait. I really don’t understand. Yoo Hana? I’ve never heard something like that in my life. It’s Yoo Hana? Are you serious? My name is Lee Sooah, you know? I think you’ve confused the names, Baek Jihoon.”

She distinctly pronounced her name again.

Her voice was increasingly tinged with indignation.

“Turn left here.”

“Ah. Yes. But I genuinely don’t get it! You think Yoo Hana is better than me? Why? How come? In every aspect, I’m better than Yoo Hana!”

She was extremely compliant.

While driving according to my instructions, she kept lamenting her unfairness.

From the way she spoke, it was clear she thought I would definitely choose her.

With no doubt whatsoever.

Yet, it seemed she was shocked when my response was about Yoo Hana.

“Surely Yoo Hana wouldn’t have slammed on the brakes in the middle of a busy road, right?”

I began to slowly draw out my points.

“Eh? Ah… No, I’m not that kind of person. I was just really startled back there. It’s something I’ve never done in my life. Really. No, Baek Jihoon. It’s a misunderstanding. Can we treat that as a tie? Please. I mean, just because I made one mistake, is that really fair? People can get flustered sometimes.”

She began to ramble nonsensically at my words.

It felt as if she didn’t even realize what she was saying.

Then, contrary to how she had been a moment before, she suddenly began to drive much more smoothly.

For sure, the car we were in was a sports car which didn’t provide the best ride.

But suddenly, her driving demeanor had transformed.

“I’m really good at safe driving. What happened back there was a total mistake. A mistake. I’m sorry. I won’t do it again. However, isn’t it a bit absurd? Slamming the brakes like that was related to my appearance discussion, wasn’t it? Now that I think about it? Why are you evaluating my looks in this conversation? You should be asking how I look compared to Yoo Hana, right? Aren’t I a better catch than her? I mean, seriously?”

She continued to talk endlessly after that.
I felt like I had pressed the button for a seizure very accurately.

Even without saying much, she kept muttering to herself, sounding regretful.

“How do I look? Which one of us is better?”

She stopped driving and shot me a glare.

“Hey, aren’t you looking ahead?”

“No.”

At my reply, she returned her gaze to the front.

“Ugh, come on. I’m trying to drive…”

She muttered as if she were slightly annoyed.

“I told you, it’s Yoo Hana.”

“Ugh…”

Sooah let out a very deep sigh.

It was the kind of sigh I had never experienced before in my life.

It felt like the earth was about to swallow me whole.

Meanwhile, we arrived at the supermarket.

*Tsk. If only I had prepared earlier, we wouldn’t be in this situation.*

How was I supposed to go to the supermarket with Sooah?

It was bound to be a bit awkward.

Taking the subway together had already been uncomfortable enough.

“Ugh. Baek Jihoon, I really don’t get it. Are you sure you’ve seen my face properly? Or are you just too close to Yoo Hana lately? That must be it. You were with Yoo Hana all day, and you haven’t been with me that much.”

Sooah kept following closely behind me.

I was moving quickly through the aisles, and she was hurrying to keep up.

“Hey? Isn’t that Sooah?”

“Hmm? Where? No way. Why would Sooah come to this supermarket? It’s not Gangnam.”

“Really?”

“Plus, it looks like she’s with a guy. That’s impossible. In a public place like this, she wouldn’t be following a guy like that. She’s definitely chasing after him.”

“Yeah, that makes sense.”

It felt like people were murmuring around us.

“Uh… Excuse me, but is that really Sooah?”

A lady passing by stopped, grabbed Sooah, and asked.

She seemed too curious about it.

“Oh… um… no! I’m not Sooah! Haha. I’m not Sooah! Have a nice day…”

Sooah looked a bit flustered, denying it and continuing to follow me.

“Uh, Baek Jihoon? I just asked a light question. I was just really curious, so I asked, but it seems like you misunderstood my question. You understood me correctly, right?”

She kept leaning in, asking me.

*Wow, she’s really worked up… Why is she so bent on this?*

We had been talking about the same topic for almost 30 minutes now.

The conversation couldn’t move forward.

“Lee Sooah?”

“Yes.”

“Do you know why I think Yoo Hana is prettier?”

“Why? Please tell me. Why??”

“Well, she came to the filming set wearing a pure white dress, and it looked really beautiful. I’d never seen such an attractive girl in my life.”

I just threw out any random words.

If I didn’t say something, Sooah would keep trailing after me, chattering away.

The bigger problem was that people were continuing to stare at us.

It was clear that I needed to calm Sooah down.

“Eh…? White… dress…?”

She seemed to be pondering something.

It was certainly effective.

Suddenly, everything fell silent.

*Phew. Now I can finally shop. I need to pick things quickly.*

I regretted casually bringing up dinner; it had made things quite messy.

*I’ll just treat her to dinner… phew…*

Plans started to form in my mind.

*Well, I don’t have to serve anything extravagant… just something decent and send her off…*

Regardless of whether Sooah liked me or not, she was a very daunting presence for me.

Having her come over for dinner was just absurd.

*What? Hosting an S-Rank Hunter for dinner…?*

Of course, Chae Suhyeon was also an S-Rank Hunter, but that had a different weight to it.

My ex-girlfriend, Chae Suhyeon, had been with me since I was E-Rank, almost like family.

In contrast, Sooah was a highly renowned Hunter known nationwide.

The significance was clearly different.

“White… dress…”

Sooah was no longer chattering; it seemed like she was busy searching for something on her smartphone.

*

“Phew. Is that really you, Lee Sooah?”

“Yes…”

Sooah had been glued to her smartphone since earlier.

We had already shopped at the supermarket, returned home, and prepared dinner.

She had worked hard to prepare, but now everything was too quiet.

“Uh… I’ve finished preparing everything…? It’s time to eat…?”

“Oh! Yes, yes…”

Sooah seemed to be having trouble focusing.

*What’s up with her? Did I say too much?*

Her odd reaction made me suspicious.

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