We successfully extracted our front teeth, each with its share of agony.
With a cotton roll in her mouth, we waited for the bleeding to stop amidst a bit of a bloodbath.
As I sensed the distinct smell of the cotton roll’s alcohol in my mouth, I was trying to comfort Siyeon, who was shedding a few tears.
“Ugh, Ihanghae.”
“It’s fine, it’s fine.”
Both Siyeon and I were in a bit of a slurred pronunciation situation.
While Siyeon’s front teeth came out in one go, I had to try twice.
The pain that struck me in succession still lingered vividly in my mind, screaming within me.
‘I want to cry more.’
While comforting Siyeon, I couldn’t shake off the sorrow.
Naturally, the intensity of pain felt by me was likely stronger than what Siyeon experienced.
Gently rubbing the area above my tightly closed lips, I brushed around the gums holding the cotton roll.
Had the bleeding stopped well? I opened my mouth to check if the cotton roll had come off with my hand.
Afterwards, when I probed the area where my front teeth used to be with my tongue, I couldn’t taste the metallic saltiness of blood at all.
Now it seems to have stopped, I told Siyeon to open her mouth next.
Without front teeth, I could barely produce the “s” sound by pressing my tongue to my canine.
“Shiyeona, Ah—”
“Aah—”
A slightly blood-stained white cotton roll filled the space where my front teeth had been just a moment ago.
I carefully peeled off that cotton roll and checked to see if any more blood was oozing out.
The bleeding had similarly stopped early.
The fingertips holding the two cotton rolls headed toward the nearby medical waste bin.
Fortunately, the cost wasn’t skyrocketing to the ten thousand won range for pulling baby teeth.
After all, back at home, just pulling it out with thread and applying alcohol to it would suffice; if they charged several tens of thousands, it’d be shameless.
This isn’t wisdom tooth extraction from some other world.
‘Ha, wisdom teeth…’
Thinking about teeth, the concerns about far-off futures started again.
Like in my past life, they wouldn’t grow sideways, causing human hell, right?
Worrying about a time that still felt far away, I stroked the area of my canine through my skin.
Please, let there be no legendary stories of my wisdom teeth being preserved in a gallery this lifetime.
As the day seemed to end uneventfully, I returned home and took off my shoes at the entrance.
“Welcome back.”
Now, with nothing to do, the two mascots just lazed around at home.
They’re like rice bugs, gnawing at the leftover delivery food…
Nonetheless, having someone who welcomes me when I come home eased the loneliness of living solely with two kids.
“Yeah, I’m back.”
“Eh, why does your voice sound like that?”
“I lost a tooth.”
I tossed my socks straight into the laundry basket and, in my cotton-mouthed slurred speech, answered Gomteng’s question before heading up to the second-floor bed.
With my front teeth gone, I had to be cautious about what food I consumed for a while.
Foods like chewy noodles that require biting off something were out of the question, and tough meat goes without saying.
“Humans must be uncomfortable.”
“Are you bored? Are you dying from boredom?”
Gomteng, seemingly bored with life, climbed up to the second floor and made a mockery of how uncomfortable humans must be.
It was like the tone of some high-minded being from cartoons or games sneering down at lowly humans, and I narrowed my eyes at him.
But he had no intent to offend at all and seemed rather flustered as he tried to clarify his thoughts.
“No, why do you keep interpreting it that way! It is inefficient, after all!”
“Then, are you such an efficient being, just lounging around?”
“Ugh… you’re hitting where it hurts. But still…”
Even with that sharp jab, Gomteng seemed unwilling to end the conversation, wanting to tack on a few more remarks.
“I think it’s inefficient that humans only get two sets of teeth in their lifetime…”
“Shut up, you little brat.”
“Ugh!”
As I was about to stand up, unable to hold back, Gomteng let out a yelp and fled from the second-floor bed as if he’d been hit.
He seems to be becoming increasingly skilled at scratching a person’s insides and can now time his hits perfectly.
Those last few words ignite a fire within me as if they were fanning the flames.
If I were to die untimely, most of it would probably be due to him.
“Hah.”
‘What the hell, seriously.’
I wondered if there was anything wrong with my transformed appearance.
…As I mumbled the transformation in my mouth, it couldn’t even transform because it was too slurred.
In the end, I used the edge of my tongue to touch my canine, barely reciting the transformation incantation.
“Sun.”
With the transformation chant, the void that had lingered in my mouth vanished like a lie.
I tried to clack my teeth, wanting to find the emptiness that had just existed, but only after bringing my finger to my front teeth did I realize that the emptiness was filled.
“Wow, that’s neat.”
I marveled at witnessing the mystery between a magical girl and a human firsthand.
The transformed appearance seemed akin to that of an avatar in a game.
Indeed, a grown woman turning into a child must easily cover up a missing tooth or two.
But if even that is possible, why can’t they eliminate the fishy smell accumulated on my body during battle?
‘Hmm…’
When I brought my fingers to my jaw, thinking on the subject, there was no proper answer to come to.
It’s paradoxical and mysterious, but this is just how haphazard this damn world is.
The transformation itself is a technological mystery that defies explanation, changing my body to a younger version and adjusting my hair and eye color in a second.
I can’t expect to get that kind of deodorizing on top of everything.
“Release.”
As soon as I untransformed, I immediately felt the emptiness of my front teeth.
I lazily ran my tongue against the emerging permanent teeth.
I wondered when they would grow in, and not long after that thought, a sudden sound came from outside, like rain pouring down.
Thinking about it, today’s weather was far from the bright sunshine.
As I got down from the second-floor bed and pulled back the curtains obscuring the outdoor view, countless streaks of rain poured from a sky that held no sunlight.
‘Is it the rainy season?’
I don’t usually check the weather report, so I grabbed my smartphone to know what the weather had been like recently.
Searching for this year’s date and the keyword ‘rainy season.’
With a smartphone making it easier to watch the news than TV, I came across a video from an hour ago.
“Just as the rain started pouring down, the heat has retreated for the day. This rain will stop by tomorrow, but there are expectations for the official start of the rainy season beginning this Wednesday in Jeju Island. Meteorologist Seola Lee has the details.”
As expected, it said it would rain nationwide starting today.
The screen changed, showing footage of rain falling in Jeju Island.
During the rainy season, after returning from monster extermination, my body would typically become damp and uncomfortable, but thankfully, I felt at ease thinking this year wouldn’t involve that.
Only one inconvenient thing.
‘Laundry… I guess I’ll have to dry it at home for a while.’
While watching the video, I haphazardly pressed the back button, and by the time I closed all the pages, I thought I had closed them all.
In the paused screen I saw the news headlines.
[‘Pad rip’ Magical Girl Sun at the Press Conference, Is It Okay Like This?]
[Monsters Were Impossible to Communicate With? Still Remaining Questions.]
[Monster Expert Professor Hong, ‘Only Natural’ about Sun’s Press Conference.]
[Magical Girl Sun, What’s Her Estimated Age?]
[To the Polite Questions of Reporters, Magical Girl Sun Bluntly Replied ‘I Don’t Care’]
‘Polite, my butt.’
For everything else, I could let it slide, but there was one headline that I couldn’t just overlook.
“Tch.”
Seeing the reporters write only in a way that favors their own position, I clicked my tongue.
This is why there’s no progress. What the hell is ‘I don’t care,’ making up words like that?
Escaping from the rotten, false, and manipulative daily news, I headed toward a gallery filled with honest public opinions.
In fact, it was difficult to consider this side as the ‘general’ public, but…
[Sun <<<< Honestly, if it’s refreshingly cool, I’ll give it a huge thumbs up, LOL(189)] At least there were some people siding with me. [Why is it bullshit when I only spoke the truth? (78)] [Reporter <<<< Kids Who Self-Study Home Education (98)] [Look at how they’re throwing out fake news just because they got scratched, LOL(112)] Anyway, I was okay with those who sided with me, but I also wanted to check the presumably flipped monster gallery. [Oh, really, don’t go crazy, don’t go crazy, don’t go crazy, don’t go crazy (53)] [Don’t lie; it’s possible to communicate with monsters, you idiots (37)] [Are you going insane? Are you going insane? Are you going insane? (72)] [Shut up, you bastard (47)] [A dream I had. (31)] Amidst the magical girl gallery, eagerly cursing the reporters while laughing, the atmosphere in the monster gallery was completely opposite, engulfed in madness. [On a deep summer night, a monster woke up crying.] [Seeing that, another monster curiously asked.] [Did you have a scary dream?] [No.] [Did you have a sad dream?] [No. I had a sweet dream where the monster gallery was recognized.] [Then why are you crying so sadly?] [The monster wiped away its flowing tears and quietly said.] [That dream... can never come true.] [Ha, damn. If it’s a sad monster, give it a thumbs up...] The uproar in the monster gallery was triggered because of what I had said during the press conference. Everyone there seemed completely out of their minds. “Oh dear, everyone is so worked up…”
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