Spring, summer, autumn, winter.
In the slowly changing seasons, with noticeable growth, Siyeon and I were nearing the upper grades of elementary school.
Fourth grade.
For Koreans, it’s around this time that one becomes accustomed to using chopsticks, pronunciation gets corrected, and one experiences the so-called growth spurt.
Both Siyeon and I, fully benefiting from our growth, found ourselves grappling with the side effects of such rapid changes.
First, the height difference and minor size changes became apparent.
As a result, clothes that once fit well suddenly became useless.
“It’s so suffocating…”
“Doesn’t fit anymore.”
Siyeon, who tried on a shirt she used to wear well just last year, complained of discomfort.
It was truly a stormy growth period, and clothes designed for intermediate boys were now completely inadequate.
The second side effect of growth hit me hard.
No matter how much I tried to deny it internally, the physical features of a girl gradually began to show.
Lowering my head to my chest, a voice from someone who seemed to notice my gaze.
“Isn’t it about time to buy new clothes? You should also start wearing underwear.”
A new change had entered the once intimate space shared only by Siyeon and me.
The former Magical Girl, Venus, whom we last saw in Sokcho.
Now she was here under her real name, Ji-eun, acting as a public official supporting us in daily life.
After retiring, she had been out of touch for a while, but it turned out she had immersed herself in work in this field.
Among the projects related to Magical Girls, somehow, our case began to come up.
Unlike other Magical Girls who were assigned legal guardian details to act like adults, our situation was different.
In cases where there were no parents to take care of us, a minimum level of support was needed.
I thought it was odd to see some common sense being discussed, but it turned out that it was proposed by some public officials who were friends with us.
“Well, um…”
Anyway, that’s that, but hearing that we needed to go buy underwear made me hesitate to answer.
Like dropping my head towards my chest, I scratched the back of my head and stuttered without being able to give a clear answer.
Having become this body, my reason accepted it, but my remaining nature—
That weak nature clearly expressed that I was not ready yet.
“It would be better to get used to it sooner, right?”
“Ugh…”
However, the advice from her, who was far more experienced as a woman.
With growing resignation, I had no choice but to head to the department store.
There was no way to avoid it any longer.
Ultimately, the time to accept that I had become a woman had come.
Inside the dressing room of the department store, I was struggling to wear something that wasn’t too different from adult clothing, having removed everything from the waist up.
Even though it was hardly different from a swimsuit, I felt a strong wave of rejection.
“Goodbye, my last shred of pride…”
With the thought that the first time is hard, the second is nothing, I squeezed my eyes shut.
As the sensation of the soft fabric wrapping around me erased my last remnants of masculinity—
What had felt so rejecting before I put it on now felt like a fitting tank top.
How could I express the whirlwind of feelings of despair, emptiness, and confusion swirling around?
“Haah…”
The mixed feelings that had filled me were things that couldn’t be put into words, turning into a sigh that flowed out of my throat.
As if ignoring such complicated emotions, Ji-eun’s voice began to resonate right outside the dressing room.
“Still not wearing it?”
“No… I did wear it.”
As soon as I answered with a vague tone, the dressing room door creaked open.
Before my confused thoughts could even spit out titles like Venus or Ji-eun, she was already fiddling with the shoulder straps.
“Yeah, this will be enough.”
Then, with a satisfied nod, Ji-eun began to tally up clothes suited to our sizes.
Into the paper bag that was filling up with clothes, skirts that we hadn’t even requested tumbled in.
Caught between the blurred lines of male and female, my mindset was forcibly tilting to one side as the situation changed.
After eating a reduced special mixed cutlet at the department store’s food court, we returned home.
Now that an adult had squeezed into the house, which used to consist of just two kids and two dolls, it didn’t feel cramped, but it did feel full.
Ji-eun systematically put away the clothes we had bought from the department store.
Suddenly, she gazed up at the ceiling and muttered.
“Come to think of it, it’ll be next year, right?”
Her mumblings didn’t seem to be a soliloquy, and I rifled through my head looking for a common topic.
Having just passed December and becoming fourth graders, next year we would become fifth graders.
If anything was anticipated around that time, it could only be one thing.
“About the monsters, right?”
“Yeah, it’s been a long break for both of you. Are you going to be okay?”
Nodding, Ji-eun’s questions seamlessly connected with the answer.
Her worried expression prompted me to respond casually while scratching my cheek.
“Well, not using it doesn’t mean it’s going to wear out…”
As I had just mentioned, not using our Magical Girl powers for a long time wouldn’t diminish them like an unused fire extinguisher.
In fact, even if a monster appeared right now, I could fly over and turn it into barbecue.
Still, the reason for not doing so lay in the vow to the monsters.
Whether it be a Medic Tentacle or a Tentacle Monster, that incredible and humble promise with the monster still held strong.
Unlike the recently buzzing human society filled with fraud and various corruptions, the monsters kept their promises.
Sometimes, it even felt like they exhibited the attributes that humans should possess more than humans themselves.
In any case, upon hearing such a dull response, Ji-eun muttered as she neatly folded the clothes haphazardly crammed into the paper bag and put them away in the closet.
“Truly, the promising Magical Girls are different.”
“What do you mean promising…”
As I responded, there was a mountain of things I wanted to attach to the trailing words, but I swallowed it down and glanced at my smartphone.
In any case, having an adult at home provided a sense of security.
The small chores, preparing breakfast and dinner, and all the minor troubles that arose while we were at school became unimaginably comfortable.
Even questions that had been awkward to ask Siyeon could now be comfortably raised at home.
“When was our move again?”
“By April, we need to be out.”
Her tone of response was flat.
We were in the midst of redevelopment discussions that were being pushed along by the untold circumstances of adults.
Since discussions related to this were already taking place, tenants occupying just a small corner of an apartment had little power to do anything.
If around 80% of the households included in the redevelopment agreed, then there was almost no option for the remaining 20%.
Rather than stubbornly being a nuisance, I decided to choose one of the options presented.
The remaining choices were twofold.
To wait for the undefined end of redevelopment, receiving a small relocation allowance while enduring a life in a monthly rental room or studio.
Or smoothly sell the existing apartment and, without worrying about this place, comfortably start anew elsewhere.
With an adult here, at least some progress was being made in this matter.
Truly, it was not easy for two kids to meddle in such discussions.
“So, have you decided what to do?”
“Just sell and look for another place, whether it’s the upper or lower neighbors, they’re both annoying…”
Instead of stubbornly trying to live in a new house by searching for a studio or monthly rental, I answered with the thought that this was tidier.
Going in after receiving the relocation allowance and entering the redeveloped apartment would also be quite complicated, as it would incur additional costs and various other things.
I chose the path of lesser inconvenience, thinking it was just a good thing that both the upper and lower neighbors weren’t to my liking.
“Should we be careful of newly built villas or officetels?”
“Well, they should help us out, at least, right?”
As I casually asked Ji-eun who was standing a little distance away, she nodded since it was a large amount of money involved even for a monthly rent.
“Sure, but to be honest, I’m not that well-versed in the law either.”
“That should be fine. There are two Magical Girls here… If any problems arise, can’t we just turn the landlord upside down?”
Knowing what she had in mind from her extensive community experience, I chuckled and threw a joke.
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