Wearing a bamboo-colored costume, the 2-Star Magical Girl of [Harmony], Lee Meirin, threw herself to the floor as soon as she entered the back room of the Chinese Embassy in Hyojadong after the official meeting with the representatives of the three countries’ magical girls. Thud!
The elegant zither she was holding fell to the floor with a heavy thud.
Shiver, shiver…
Her long black hair swayed on the floor like orchids, while her frail body trembled so hard that the ground shook.
Shiver, shiver…
“Hey, we need to get up and talk now…”
“P-please spare my life…”
“No, if you’re going to curl up like that, then why put on such a show?”
“The things that happened in the front room… the cameras are… watching…”
The damage from the recent terror attack in China was far worse than publicly revealed.
All the buildings belonging to the Party’s Supernatural Abilities Association near Sichuan and Shanghai were completely destroyed, and everyone inside—civilians, patients waiting for treatment, even high-ranking party members—perished.
With the relentless destruction of national facilities and the consistent targeting of basic infrastructure by the [Sword] Magical Girl, two major cities experienced chaos akin to wartime.
Even when they took the extreme measure of launching missiles, risking the threat from friendly officials, they still failed to repel the [Sword].
“I, I really had no choice…!”
Half of the 240 proud magical girls, who were seen as the hope of all China, died overnight.
The remaining half in Beijing fled somewhere in a panic.
Of course, the operation involving the magical girls fleeing from China with help from the USA via Korea was kept secret from the public, but the hope of being cured of their incurable diseases was completely lost in the chaos of China.
In that situation, Korea and Japan established protective organizations for their magical girls, but to the party members, it looked terrible to see Chinese magical girls appearing subservient to other countries…
“That’s not my concern.”
Kang Dorim tied her long silver hair back and firmly placed her cyber translator in her ear.
Of course, I had been wearing mine all along.
“I, I really don’t know anything about politics! I was just told to heal and play music all the time… I was made the representative just because I’m the only 2-Star and am pretty…”
Sniffle…
Lee Meirin spoke with tears glistening in her large eyes.
Truly, as she said, Meirin was undeniably beautiful among the magical girls.
Her waist-length hair flowed with a fragrant sheen, and her well-proportioned body drew harmonious curves.
A beauty.
If one had to summarize it in a word, “beauty” would be the first to come to mind.
“All the ones who fought well and were trained for politics or diplomacy ended up in Shanghai and died, so they told me to do this! I didn’t say it on my own, please believe me!”
“Yeah, I get that, but why go through all this drama?”
“Oh, the chairman asked to plead as much as possible from behind! I swear!”
Kang Dorim flailed her delicate arms in frustration, while Meirin turned pale realizing Dorim was a 3-Star magical girl known for declaring domains.
“I’m really just a poor daughter of a musician; I don’t even have much schooling! I can only do what the important people tell me! Please save me!”
Fidget, fidget…
Meirin begged, rubbing her dainty palms together as if to seek forgiveness.
If given chopsticks and jja-jang-myeon, she could easily mix ten bowls’ worth.
Summarizing all this, the attitude of the Chinese Chairman was…
“Sorry, I’m in big trouble… Please save face in front of the kids…”
…Something like that.
Somewhat contrary to his arrogant demeanor, the diplomatic documents that placed no other conditions except for establishing a self-governing organization seemed inconsistent, as did his evasive words searching for justification.
“Fine, let’s get to the details then.”
I forcibly picked up Lee Meirin and moved her to the cooling table.
“Eek!?”
“Honestly, as [Start], I have no real demands aside from the safety of the magical girls.”
“R-really…?”
After all, the Chinese magical girls mostly consisted of 1-Stars who barely survived the threats of terror, so there was really nothing to demand.
Meirin twisted her body slightly as she glared at me.
“Really, really…?”
“Yep.”
“Really? I’m going to record this from now?”
Meirin took a recorder out of her sleeve, tilting her head slightly to glance at me suspiciously.
Her slender fingers slowly trailed up the recorder, parting her moist lips to gently bite her lower lip with her straight teeth.
“Is there really no turning back?”
“……”
“Aah, stop the acting, you crazy girl!”
Bang!
Kang Dorim seemed irritated by the wiggling Meirin and banged the table.
Sniffle “B-but I’m the official representative; this attitude isn’t right… Please help me save face…”
Meirin squirmed as if something was crawling inside her clothes.
“You’re the one who wanted to go off the record!”
“Well, now I’m saying I’m turning on the recorder…”
Click!
Clearing her throat nervously, Meirin timidly switched on the recorder.
This time, she spoke with a bold voice like a female warrior out of a martial arts movie, contrasting her earlier timid demeanor.
“I, the Magical Girl of [Harmony], proudly demand that the rights and autonomy of Chinese magical girls be guaranteed by the Magical Girl of [Start].”
“Yes, I, the Magical Girl of [Start], swear that I will recognize the establishment of the self-governing organization of Chinese magical girls and will impose no restrictions outside of infringing upon their sovereignty.”
Click!
“Yay! All done! Time to go home!”
“…….”
Meirin gleefully bounced around with the recorder and then quickly hid it against her chest as she shot me a wary glance.
Kang Dorim shook her head in disbelief.
In reality, adding conditions to creating a safe zone for magical girls, which was near the work of nature, turned out to be successful negotiations, effectively wrapping up the unofficial meeting of the representatives of three Northeast Asian countries’ magical girls.
The name of the self-governing organization established by the Chinese magical girls was ‘Myeongwol’, derived from a line of poetry reflecting grief for the deceased magical girls and the lost ones.
＊
November 3
“I didn’t notice at the time we were fighting together, but your Korean is really quite good, [Start].”
Park Saebyeok, sitting next to me in military attire, was smiling with her pink hair styled high.
Her hairstyle was designed so that if she wore the military hat, her hair would be completely hidden.
The reason she tried to hide it completely was that she didn’t want her striking red-ish hair to stand out at the memorial service for magical girls from the EU held in Brussels.
As a magical girl of [Start], I was also dressed in magical girl attire for this trip.
“Hehe, didn’t you know? I have Korean roots too.”
Pose.
Park Saebyeok, who had encountered me several times as Kang Eunbit, noticed my identity and gave a wry smile.
“Must be something Dorim pulled… But Dorim is a bright and righteous talent, so I’m sure she only had good intentions.”
Suddenly, I recalled Dorim jokingly calling Saebyeok “crazy girl” at the Supernatural Ability Countermeasures Headquarters just before our departure as she shared some outlandish tales of patriotism.
‘Is this a difference in caliber…?’
The formerly anonymous [Start] was now beginning to be recognized as a singular identity through her debut performance, domain declarations, battles with terrorists, and the East Asian Magical Girls conference.
What’s more, she truly offered the Chinese magical girls a domain without placing any conditions, directly witnessing the autonomous operation of Japan’s first directly governed region and treating it like a kind of supernatural totem.
“…Europe, huh?”
Japan was also the first place I had ever visited, but to think I would be going to Europe for a domain declaration…
After Kang Dorim’s blooming as a 3-Star, we had promised to allocate a part of the domain to Europe, specifically to Belgium, where the EU’s executive committee is located, and I was flying there with Saebyeok, who was invited to the memorial service.
This was Europe, which suffered the most damage from [Revenge] and [Bombardment], with 200 fatalities and only 42 magical girls surviving.
I was heading there alongside Park Saebyeok to meet the representative magical girl of [Harmony].
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