“I’m back!”
“I’m back!”
The words spoken upon returning to a home where someone is there to welcome me.
After walking down a rather long hallway for a room, I returned to the living room, where Ji-eun was crunching away at some greens.
Our lively voices were in stark contrast to my sister’s weak tone.
“Umm… you’re home?”
A plastic container filled with fresh green vegetables.
In contrast, Ji-eun’s face twisted with disgust every time she chewed on the salad.
Even from a man’s perspective, it didn’t seem like she was particularly plump, yet I couldn’t fathom why she was so obsessed with dieting lately.
After putting down my backpack with Siyeon and washing my hands in the bathroom, I lay on the floor, engrossed in a smartphone game like any other ordinary day.
Siyeon naturally took her seat in front of the computer.
While other kids her age are busy with piano or taekwondo lessons due to their parents’ fervor for education, Siyeon and I are exempt from such academy pressures!
Why, you ask? Because we have jobs waiting for us once we grow up!
In other words… no matter how bad our school grades are, as long as we have adequate experience and a decent mindset, school studies don’t really matter!
Siyeon doesn’t fully understand this system yet, but perhaps she’ll appreciate it when she reaches middle or high school?
As I lay there, my thumbs kept dancing on the attack and movement buttons of my phone.
For a while, the house was filled only with the sound of lively effects, and finally, Ji-eun’s voice could be heard after her crunching ceased.
“Oh, so the next Magical Girl meeting is in Daejeon?”
“That’s quite far…”
Daejeon is quite a distance from Incheon.
Even a quick search on my map app shows that public transport will take at least two and a half to three hours.
The Magical Girl meetings are entirely voluntary, so there’s no separate transport support for attendees.
Thus, the usual practice is to gather near the youngest Magical Girl’s home as a courtesy.
Just like a few years ago, when Siyeon and I traveled several bus stops to reach our meeting place.
“Now that you have juniors, it’s fine.”
Upon hearing my complaint about the distance, Ji-eun, hanging laundry on the drying rack, countered dismissively.
“But we’re in 6th grade.”
Even so, there seemed to be a slight contradiction in her short response.
Indeed.
The appropriate age for a Magical Girl typically starts from the lower grades of elementary school, and we are quite an exception.
In reality, one becomes somewhat adept at telling lies to family by the 5th or 6th grade.
Even if there’s a new junior Magical Girl, the chances of her being younger than us are slim.
By the time it’s a junior, she might actually be older than us?
It’s like treating a thirty-year-old private as a newbie; it becomes awkward!
Suddenly, respectful language slips out, and asking questions feels uncomfortable…
In our current position, we are like a twenty-year-old private with a twenty-five-year-old counterpart.
Yep, that’s about it.
To gather around a junior older than us, we must head all the way to Daejeon.
As the one who wanted to enjoy the privileges of being the youngest, I blurted out my dissatisfaction with the predetermined meeting location, invoking Confucian ideals.
“In a nation of propriety, shouldn’t we decide the youngest by age…?”
“Then just don’t go if you dislike it,” Ji-eun sharply countered to my murmured complaint.
She was right; if I really disliked it, I wouldn’t have to go.
Still, there are older sisters at the meeting who adore me, so Siyeon is keen to attend.
“But seriously, how can people just ditch us because it’s not close?”
It felt a bit rude to simply cut ties because it wasn’t nearby.
Besides, there were no monsters in our area, so we didn’t need to be on high alert anyway.
What’s the harm in spending about three hours traveling to a faraway place?
“I don’t think I can help out that day. Are you really okay with that?”
Ji-eun asked with concern.
It was understandable if she couldn’t make it that weekend…
But I couldn’t help but think, “Isn’t that a bit late to mention?”
How many years have we lived without adults around? Even if I was told to go to that villa in Sokcho, I’d easily manage via public transport if I put my mind to it.
It all became possible thanks to technological advances and the assistance of map apps.
“You just need to follow the directions.”
I responded while examining the map, zooming in and out to get a clear view of the route.
Although the distance seemed quite far, it was just an hour by subway followed by two hours on a high-speed train.
Once I got off, a short walk would lead to the café, our destination.
Do all areas have a designated café for meetings?
I wondered, and upon looking at the satellite image of the destination, I noticed it was named Star Café…?
Wait, is this a franchise?
No matter how I looked at it, the sign and building’s design were identical to the café I’d seen nearby.
After spending all week questioning various classes, the day of the meeting finally arrived.
I didn’t know what was happening, but due to Ji-eun’s personal matter, it was just the two of us and our mascot at home.
After stuffing our respective mascots into the pockets of our thick jackets, we embarked on our grand journey to Daejeon.
“Alright, we’ve got everything. Let’s go!”
“Let’s go!”
Since we didn’t frequently venture beyond home, it had been a while since we used subway or high-speed trains.
Even if we were headed to another area, there were always intercity buses available.
So for Siyeon and me, subways and high-speed trains seemed foreign this lifetime.
The last subway station I remembered had a metal pole blocking the way, like a tripod camera stand.
Now it had changed to a sponge partition that opened with a touch of my card.
Back then, I had to push through.
Thus, around 9 AM on Saturday, we hopped onto the subway.
I wanted to be early, worried I might be late.
The appointment time was 1 PM, and I thought I might have come out too early.
But it’s better to arrive early than late.
With unfamiliar routes and the potential to get lost, it made sense.
Thanks to the glaring route map and the announcement over speakers, I avoided getting on the wrong subway.
Of course, the splendid assistance of the map app played a role too.
With discounts available for those under 14, we were prudent as we headed to Daejeon.
We passed a bakery with an incredibly long line and finally arrived at the promised Star Café.
Even though I had assumed I might be late, we arrived more than an hour ahead at the Star Café.
“Wow, we’re too early.”
The café was eerily silent, with not even a whisper inside.
As I contemplated whether to enter another café to wait until opening time, I heard a familiar voice from behind.
“Oh, are you two already here?”
I quickly turned to see the familiar face of the owner from our nearby Star Café, strangely appearing here as well.
He was holding bags full of bread in both hands…
“…???”
What? Twins?
No, it couldn’t be; he recognized Siyeon and me.
Did he come here just for one meeting? Really?
Thoughts were swirling in my head, creating chaos.
As my confusion lingered, the café’s door opened, and it was just the owner and us in the empty café.
The owner handed us a few freshly baked breads, enticing us with their warmth.
Daejeon bakeries are so famous that people come from afar just to buy their bread; I had to try them, they’d said.
“Mary! This is amazing!”
“It’s good…”
I replied while mimicking Siyeon’s eating.
I stuffed a croquette-like piece of bread into my small mouth.
Was it because I was hungry or due to the unfamiliar combination of flavors?
Broadly speaking, it was a type of croquette, but instead of meat or seasoned noodles, it was filled with red bean paste.
The fried sweet red bean-filled crumbly bread offered both familiarity and a fresh experience I couldn’t find elsewhere.
Cooling down the crispy surface in my mouth, the sticky red bean paste mixed with milk, quickly obliterating the crunchy texture, leaving an overwhelming sweetness lingering in my mouth.
The sweet red bean paste in the fried bread felt odd, yet it wasn’t bad either.
By this point, it was nearly lunchtime.
Having eaten nothing during our subway and train journey, I couldn’t resist indulging in such high-calorie delicacies.
“Wow, you’re eating like there’s no tomorrow.”
The owner teased, playfully pinching Siyeon’s cheek as she devoured bread with milk.
However, I couldn’t help but be curious.
Why was the café owner I had seen at our neighborhood Star Café now at the Daejeon branch for this meeting?
After swallowing the lingering sweetness from my meal, I wiped my mouth with a napkin and asked the owner.
“Why are you here?”
“Huh?”
The question seemed surprising to him; he rested his chin on his hand while looking fondly at Siyeon before widening his eyes at me.
He soon understood my question and opened his mouth, letting out a gasp of comprehension.
“Oh, you don’t know, Sun?”
As it turns out, the owner of this Star Café was a building owner with a property for commercial spaces in every urban center.
He built the café he had always wanted on each piece of land, leveraging his past experience as a Magical Girl to generously offer his café as a meeting place for them even after retirement.
He could provide a space where Magical Girls could hang out comfortably while keeping secrets safe, and he created a space that could understand and accommodate them.
So far, he was the only one capable of providing a café fitting all those criteria, which also happened to be a former Magical Girl.
Indeed, to run a business, having foundational wealth and smarts is essential.
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