Finally, the day has come when I must go outside wearing a mask.
A white mask that, in my daily life, I seldom had a reason to use.
I clearly remember how uncomfortable that thick cloth mask was, and how I would take it off even when I had a cold, but now I seem to have to wear a disposable mask every day.
Wearing a mask was oddly comforting, but this disposable one just feels suffocating.
At least it’s fortunate that neither Siyeon nor I have eyesight that requires us to wear glasses.
During school hours, the streets are filled with masks everywhere.
Especially elementary school students around my age, without exception, are all wearing masks.
There are even older folks draping their masks under their chins because they find it stifling.
Or people putting on old cloth masks that had been lying around at home.
And then there’s…
“Is that person insane?”
A person in a black robe, carrying a staff, wearing a crow-like mask with a beak protruding.
Seeing someone casually strolling around dressed as a plague doctor all in black, it really feels like the world has gone mad.
Still, his unique outfit makes him seem as if he just popped out of a fantasy world, drawing the gazes of passing boys.
Though it seems utterly useless against the Black Death, it looks cool either way.
As for public opinion, wandering around dressed like that isn’t exactly sane unless it’s a cosplay festival.
Siyeon points at him with her hand holding her indoor shoes and asks,
“Mari, what is that?”
“Just a crazy person, don’t pay any attention to him.”
To ensure Siyeon doesn’t take an interest, I pulled her hand, urging us to hurry towards school.
What kind of madness is happening that children are acting like this in broad daylight, early in the morning?
During those few weeks stuck at home,
the streets, and even the school, felt like they had transformed into another world.
From children to teachers, everyone was wearing masks, be it cloth or disposable, without exception.
Occasionally, I would spot some kids lowering their masks just below their noses, but they’re still wearing them nonetheless.
I’ve never seen people wear masks like this no matter what disease has appeared.
After swapping my white indoor shoes for sneakers, I took a moment in the classroom to check community posts with my smartphone.
To kill some time, I clicked into a gallery and glanced at a concept post.
[What the hell is this, a magical girl on her way to work? (55)]
“Huh?”
The title piqued my curiosity right from the first line.
I tapped the title with my small finger, and after a short loading time, a large photo appeared.
The photo showed the interior of a subway during rush hour, where a person had their entire face covered with a gas mask, leaning against the subway wall while on their smartphone.
And as I scrolled down a bit more, the picture captured the leisurely pose of the gas mask guy, making a peace sign with his fingers.
Words that I couldn’t bring myself to say back then were captured in the post.
[The moment you take a picture, they even give you a fan service.]
[Crazy woman.]
Comments flooded in with reactions ranging from astonishment to curiosity at the insane content.
Naturally, my finger slipped down the scroll.
[Fuck, LOL, a gas mask? LOL.]
[Is it again the Line 1?]
[Why does it always seem like only Line 1 is amusing???????]
[Only the Seoul folks enjoy this, huh?]
[Why the hell do people buy that kind of thing?]
[That’s tame compared to the other day when I saw a crazy guy cosplaying as a plague doctor. LOL.]
[The fan service is insane, what kind of guy is that?]
[Guess you have to ride the trend to be a show-off.]
The comments were a chaotic mix of disbelief and demonstrations that I’d seen even crazier stuff.
But still, wearing a gas mask is a bit much.
The plague doctor crow mask definitely fits the criteria for insanity.
“Hey, everyone, put your phones away and hold your hands out.”
In this age of the Great Plague, our school had added a little task to the morning assembly.
The teacher moving around with hand sanitizer squeezed out portions between desks.
The slippery, unidentifiable gel rolled around on my palm with a cool sensation.
Making sure not to spill the sanitizer on the desk, I kept my hands away from it and rubbed the remnants off on the floor.
The rest of what I heard was pretty standard.
Don’t lower your masks below your noses, if you start feeling hot, speak up quickly.
Wash your hands well, and so on.
It seems like the parents are particularly sensitive about these issues, so the teachers have also become more on edge.
“Ach!”
Even a quick little cough from the kids caused the teachers’ gazes to converge in that direction.
Especially when kids were whining about their masks being stifling, the teachers would threaten to call home, enforcing the masks even more.
Indeed, the most effective threats against kids are always about their parents.
The only time it’s permitted to lower masks is during lunchtime.
Today’s lunch featured rice with beef bulgogi, miso soup, napa cabbage kimchi, and cucumber salad.
After being served a standard portion of rice with beef bulgogi’s soy sauce, mixing it all up quickly yielded a delightful meal.
School lunches always have that peculiar satisfaction you can only find there.
That strange sense of fulfillment when mixing the limited resources of bland and tasty dishes to finish the meal.
Downing a small yogurt for dessert completes a perfect lunch.
The satisfaction from the yogurt’s refreshing tang is the real deal.
Buying and consuming a large yogurt just doesn’t recreate that taste.
“Why do you eat it upside down?”
“Because it’s tastier that way!?”
Some kids insist on tearing open the yogurt from the bottom and sucking it out.
In reality, the taste difference is negligible, but it seems they believe it’s better that way.
Reflecting on my past clueless childhood, I had no right to judge them as strange.
‘Come to think of it…’
Isn’t there yogurt designed to be opened upside down?
I only know it exists, but I’ve never tried it out myself.
Anyway, after another meaningless and empty five hours, I headed home with Siyeon, who was tightly wrapping her mask.
Only after we returned home as promised did I pull my smartphone out of my pocket.
For some reason, there were a few missed calls and text messages.
Seeing that the sender was limited, it looked like they had something to discuss related to magical girls.
My gaze shifted to a message I hadn’t seen before.
Since communication wasn’t working out, they seemed to have sent a separate message.
The contents of the message were…
[Due to the recent random weapon incidents, the magical girls are urgently required to support the police, but it’s just until the situation calms down. We decided only to involve middle schoolers, so you don’t need to worry. I tried to contact you by phone but didn’t get through, so I’m leaving this here.]
In the end, it appeared that magical girls would momentarily assist police operations in response to the emergency situation.
Fortunately, they seemed to have considered the issue of mental maturity, as support would only start from middle schoolers and thus didn’t affect us.
“Sigh.”
I let out a short sigh at the unilateral policy without the magical girls’ consent.
Nevertheless, it meant that after becoming middle schoolers, we’d be eligible to be dragged into such affairs at any time.
Don’t feel relaxed thinking that it won’t happen right away; someday, it will come for our future selves.
The statement that this would only last until the situation calms down means it gives them a pretext to use emergency situations at any time.
Once you reach middle school, it will be difficult to reject participation under the pretext of studying, given that this field has become much better just after I left it.
If they do quit right away, they’ll be hired directly into convenient office jobs without any interview after battling monsters day in and day out.
So, if there’s nothing else you truly want to do, there could still be jobs worth sticking around for, even if you’re looking to retire.
After checking all the messages and missed calls on my smartphone, my fingers headed to the internet.
For whatever reason, media outlets were ablaze with the thrilling news, spitting out captivating headlines.
[Magical girls fighting monsters give support to the police.]
[‘Wow, it’s a real magical girl!’ Crowds flock around a magical girl who’s hit the streets.]
[Civilians gather at the location of the knife-wielding incident to see magical girls; police say ‘it’s even more dangerous.’]
[Man who uploaded ‘Knife attack announced’ online says after being caught, ‘Didn’t the magical girls come?’]
[Police bewildered by sudden policy; citizens flocking makes it uncontrollable…Criticism of superficial discussions.]
Before even entering the web page, just one photo caught my eye.
Like at a fan signing event, a huge crowd was mobbing the streets to catch a glimpse of the magical girls.
This isn’t a fan signing location; it’s the site of a reported knife-wielding incident, which is even more absurd.
To restate, it’s an area where a knife attack has been announced.
‘Looking at this, it won’t last long…’
That article finally confirmed my suspicions.
In the midst of a plague, a venture to deploy magical girls equivalent to celebrities.
This policy? It won’t last long at all.
‘I wonder how many infected will show up from there?’
I expect at least dozens, thinking to myself as I turned off the screen of my smartphone.
The world is in a bizarre state.
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