Ice Queen’s Suspicion

Ziiing..

“……”

“Hmm, hmm hmm~”

In the quiet cafe.

Seo Yoon-hee looked with suspicious eyes at Kang I-an, who was humming a song while cleaning the coffee machine.

‘He still looks suspicious..’

There was no particular reason for her suspicion.

It was purely because of her own intuition.

She recalled the information she had investigated about Kang I-an, tracing her memories.

‘Kang I-an, a young cafe owner at 23 years old. Although he’s from an orphanage.. this much is common anywhere.’

His school relationships were quite good.

He grew up as a model student without going astray, graduating from elementary, middle, and high school normally, and even entered a fairly prestigious university.

After dropping out of university, he became a cafe owner with money he earned from investments, and that’s who he was until now.

‘Except for the part where he became rich in one go due to hugely successful investments, it’s an ordinary life without any rough edges.’

“Ga-yeon. Can you help me clean over there?”

“Okay, oppa.”

“……”

“Oh.”

…Bow.

A young girl who looked like she might be in high school now.

She flinched as soon as she saw her and bowed her head in greeting.

‘Come to think of it, there wasn’t much proper information when I investigated that child.’

In such cases, there was a high possibility of being a child from the slums.

Coincidentally, the cafe was also close to the slums.

Seo Yoon-hee stared at them as if entranced.

“I finished cleaning, oppa.”

“Thank you. Thanks to Ga-yeon, I can work more easily.”

“Ahem.”

They seemed close at a glance.

The subsequent scene of him carefully making snacks for the child and patting her head made them look like a normal, real family.

‘I don’t know the exact story, but at least he seems to be a decent person.’

Just from what they were showing, it seemed like they were flaunting their closeness.

Additionally, seeing how she hesitated when she saw her, it seemed the child was quite shy. (Not at all.)

The fact that such a shy child (She hesitated because she’s Ice Queen.) opened her heart already means that he’s not mistreating or exploiting the child.

And Seo Yoon-hee had been watching this for nearly a year, so she could tell that Kang I-an wasn’t a bad person. (He’s a villain.)

‘..That may be so, but I keep feeling suspicious.’

It’s not that he looks like a bad person, but more like something that keeps bothering her?

The most bothersome thing was that sense of familiarity.

‘No matter how I look at him, he seems familiar.’

The sense of discomfort she’s felt since she first came until now.

He clearly seems familiar, but she can’t remember where from.

Maybe that’s why he keeps seeming suspicious.

‘When I checked the records, it’s certain I’ve never met him before..’

She had thought about whether she might have been mistaken.

For instance, mistaking someone else she had seen for him.

But such thoughts naturally disappeared when she saw Kang I-an’s appearance.

‘..For one thing, a face like the owner’s is definitely not common.’

An appearance that made her wonder why he was running a cafe with that face.

Overall sharp features, but because he was always smiling, it gave the impression of a kind handsome man.

‘It’s not a face that’s easy to forget..’

This wasn’t a biased statement, but an extremely objective evaluation.

Even to Seo Yoon-hee, who had rejected all sorts of confessions from men, he was objectively handsome.

Just as Seo Yoon-hee was staring intently at him, examining his features in detail.

“Is there something you need?”

“..No.”

Perhaps because her gaze was too strong.

Seo Yoon-hee’s eyes met directly with Kang I-an’s.

“Yes, please let me know if you need anything.”

“Yes.. thank you.”

Seo Yoon-hee pretended to be calm, deliberately covering her face, and fell back into thought.

‘..If there’s one other peculiarity, it’s that he was involved in a hostage terrorism incident about 2 years ago.’

Two years ago, a hostage situation at a large mart.

It was a dangerous situation, but fortunately, due to the quick deployment and suppression of heroes, most citizens were rescued without major injuries, except for one casualty.

Yes, except for that one casualty.

‘The person who died was.. the owner’s senior from the same university.’

From what she investigated, he quit school not long after that day.

She cautiously guessed that he might have quit school due to the shock of that day.

Moreover, she heard he had been studying in the Hero Support department.

As much as he hoped for a role related to supporting heroes, wouldn’t the fact that someone close to him couldn’t be saved have felt like an even greater betrayal than to others?

‘..It’s a common occurrence.’

Beeeep-

It was a story that resonated deeply with her as well.

“Haah..”

‘Anyway, let’s stop thinking about this.’

Although he had been involved in terrorism once, she wasn’t assigned to that mission at the time.

Therefore, the possibility of knowing his face from that incident is low.

And above all, it would be rude to dig further into someone else’s circumstances here just because she sympathizes.

“Are you leaving?”

“Yes, please give me one drink to take out.”

So Seo Yoon-hee forcibly cut off her train of thought.

‘It was just because my curiosity was excessive, not that I thought I needed to know to the extent of forcibly exposing someone’s past.’

It’s a cafe she’s been indebted to for about a year now.

As mentioned earlier, she’s known for a while that Kang I-an isn’t a bad person.

He’s not a criminal who’s committed crimes, and it would be a nuisance to act like this just because of a hunch.

“Come again!”

“Yes, I’ll come again, owner.”

Seo Yoon-hee, who ordered a new drink for takeout, nodded and then stepped out of the cafe.

“Phew.. She’s finally gone.”

And Kang I-an let out a sigh of relief as he watched her retreating figure in the distance.

---

Right after Seo Yoon-hee returned to the association from the cafe like that.

She encountered a woman she disliked.

“Oh my, who is this? Isn’t it our junior?”

“Sigh…”

It was her senior hero Spark, who always looked down on her and picked fights whenever she had the chance.

An unpleasant person.

If Seo Yoon-hee had to define Spark in one word, this would be it.

Eyes glinting with inferiority complex, and a mouth trying to pull others down below her somehow.

To the extent that the name hero seems wasted, she commits instigation and harassment, so naturally, there’s no way to like her.

“Hmm? Where are you coming from? A date?”

“I was just resting alone.”

“Really?”

Glance.

Spark looked Seo Yoon-hee up and down.

She then smiled incomprehensibly.

She always seemed full of inferiority complex, but recently, it felt like she had changed somehow.

‘Whether it’s for the better or worse, I’m not sure.’

Instead of the sense of inferiority and complex towards Seo Yoon-hee, her eyes were filled with an inexplicable sense of superiority.

And the cause of that superiority was not far away.

“Puhah, junior. Shouldn’t you work a bit harder? At this rate, I’ll become S-class first~”

“..It’s not like we have to compete. The right person will naturally take the position.”

It was that the stagnant Spark had grown.

Whether she had some sort of realization, she grew insanely over the past year and became an A-class hero like Seo Yoon-hee.

Moreover, thanks to her originally high support within the association, Spark’s status in the association is now much higher than Ice Queen’s.

“The right person will take the position.. hmm. That’s a good saying~”

Perhaps due to her newfound sense of superiority?

Since becoming an A-class hero, Spark hasn’t greatly bothered the people around Seo Yoon-hee.

Sometimes she shows off to Seo Yoon-hee or ignores her, but that much doesn’t harm others and is only directed at her, so she just let it be.

‘Somehow her eyes seem a bit clouded..’

Her eyes that made her feel somewhat unpleasant.

There was a strange madness in them that made her feel momentary repulsion, but Seo Yoon-hee didn’t particularly care, thinking there was no need to mention it.

“Senior.. seems to be on a date.”

“Huh? Ah. Well, when you become popular, people start asking to meet once in a while, you know?”

High-ranking heroes are star heroes who can be seen as celebrities in a way.

Fans naturally form among people, and if their appearance is also good, love calls don’t stop coming from here and there.

Whether to accept those love calls is entirely up to the hero.

“You should try dressing up too. Who knows? Maybe people will ask to meet you from everywhere like me?”

The fact that Seo Yoon-hee had a quite beautiful face even without dressing up, and that she had rejected all love calls she received as Ice Queen, wasn’t very important to Spark.

“How about trying to dress more femininely and wear skirts?”

“……”

“Though I’m not sure if it would suit you.”

Regardless of the truth, she firmly believed that she was far superior to Ice Queen.

Seo Yoon-hee looked at Spark who was mocking her.

Then she lowered her gaze to look at the short miniskirt falling over her thighs for a moment.

“..It doesn’t suit me.”

She murmured softly and quietly passed by her, heading into the association.

“Hmph. How rude.”

Spark sharply raised the corners of her mouth as she watched Seo Yoon-hee.

It was winter, a few days before the terrorism.