An unexpected monster disturbance in America.
The honking horns blared recklessly in the congested traffic.
Eventually, people abandoned their cars and dashed toward the opposite side of the alarm, creating a scene reminiscent of a real disaster.
It was a far cry from the fire alarms one might hear during a drill at school in Korea, unless there was actually a monster nearby.
Even drivers who couldn’t budge their cars just a moment ago flung their doors open and fled.
Should I follow suit or stay put? As my hand rested on the door handle…
“Wait! Wait!”
The taxi driver urgently called out to stop me.
It seems my natural instinct to leave came off as too eager.
The sound of shoes striking the pavement echoed constantly, and outside, people were tripping over one another, creating chaos.
Once the wave of people flowed past the window,
The taxi driver calmly opened his door, slightly belated, but chose to evacuate as a regular citizen.
Truth be told, I hadn’t planned to exit at all, but getting caught in the panic might have led to disaster.
Now, here we were on a relatively empty street alongside the driver.
Being somewhat educated, the representative uncle attempted to engage in conversation with the taxi driver in English.
“Is it okay ## I don’t ########?”
“No problem, no problem.”
I couldn’t quite catch what was asked, but the taxi driver waved his hands and smiled, assuring that everything was fine.
While people were fleeing in panic, we remained in a corner where the focus was far from us.
The two uncles continued their conversation and then approached me and Siyeon, keeping a respectful distance.
“Oh dear, it seems we’ll have to wait a bit longer.”
“What’s going on?”
We were all equally bewildered by the sudden situation.
Since our English conversation skills were more like that of elementary school students, the representative uncle pieced together what they had discussed and translated it for us.
“It seems they plan to wait until a magical girl or the police arrives to handle the situation. The driver doesn’t need to wait that long.”
“Hasn’t anyone arrived yet?”
“That’s pretty late, huh?”
The situation had been unfolding for about 30 minutes since the evacuation began.
In Korea, the monster would have been dealt with by now, but here we were, scratching our heads in confusion.
Siyeon, too, found it strange and outright pointed out how late it was.
To our question, the representative uncle shrugged as if it was obvious and explained the reason.
“It’s simply because the land is so vast…”
Listening to him, it dawned on me that life here wasn’t smooth sailing either.
Just like Korea is divided into regions like Chungcheong-do, Gyeonggi-do, and Gyeongsang-do, the US has its own states.
The issue arises from the number of magical girls stationed across these 50 states that are divided up over this damn wide land.
Rural areas might have just one, while urban places might find as many as six.
In other words, a magical girl might have to fly dozens or hundreds of kilometers just to catch one monster.
Even in a country touted as a developed nation, this kind of environment existed.
I couldn’t wrap my head around it and kept asking the uncle.
“Why is it like that?”
“There just aren’t that many magical girls; Korea also complains about a lack of people… How much worse do you think it is in a land as vast as America?”
It boiled down to an unavoidable manpower shortage.
He sighed heavily while laying out the harsh reality with its undeniable logic.
“But if the land is vast and there are a lot of people, shouldn’t there be more?”
“That’s a mystery for us too.”
The representative uncle chimed in in agreement with my sigh.
After a long silence…
“Hmm, at this rate, it’ll be too late…”
He began to stomp his feet restlessly, muttering to himself as though he didn’t want an answer.
“Should I go and check?”
I blurted out, picking up on his murmurs, gesturing to the uncle.
In that moment, his eyes lit up.
But just as quickly, he returned to reality and hesitated.
“Uh, would that be okay? In Korea, it’s fine for a magical girl to resolve urgent situations, but…”
After saying that, he pulled out his smartphone and started searching for something seriously.
With a few taps and scrolls, he seemed to conclude something, brought a curved finger to his lips in deep thought, and then nodded.
“Looks like it should be fine. Can I ask you to do that?”
I had no clue what he had confirmed, but it seemed he found something related to magical girls in America.
Since he had been very considerate, I thought I should do my part.
Looking around, it was hard to find a shadowy alley devoid of people, with big roads open both to the right and left.
“Well then, chat with the taxi driver to draw some attention.”
“Okay, got it.”
As I asked him to get the taxi driver’s attention, he sprang into action.
Then, Siyeon raised her hand high.
“Me too!”
“This time, I’m going to wrap things up quickly, so you don’t have to follow me. Just stick close to the driver.”
“Okay…”
Regrettably, since I aimed to finish this quickly, I didn’t need two people this time.
I assured her it was fine, gesturing for her to go toward the driver with an encouraging expression.
With a somewhat gloomy expression, Siyeon walked, careful not to stray too far from the driver.
Once the driver’s skilled English distracted him away from my side of the aisle, I felt relieved and muttered the transformation spell.
“Sun.”
With a clean leap, I soared into the American sky, focused on the direction where the monster causing all this ruckus would be found.
And sure enough, there it was, a shark-headed monster standing in the center of a crossroad, creating a traffic jam.
During the holidays it’s an alligator, and now it’s a shark.
I can’t figure out why these water-dwelling creatures are causing so much trouble lately.
This was America, not Korea, so I was uncertain how the financial aspect would work out. I landed softly on my feet right in front of the monster.
“Kehahaha, showing up late, huh? Magical girl…?”
Too lazy to chat much, I didn’t bother responding and stomped closer, floating up into the air.
Isn’t it funny how speaking in English translates in a way only magical girls understand?
I was too apathetic to wield a wand this time, opting to settle this with pure strength.
“What are you! Say something… now?!”
‘Do shark scales and skin tear easily?’
“Augh…”
As I trapped both its upper and lower jaws, applying pressure little by little, its sharp teeth came into view, revealing those deadly fangs.
Though the upper and lower jaws trembled and fought against closing, they were utterly useless against my overwhelming strength.
Those bizarre gray fingers with thin membranes between them reached for my arms that clutched its snout…
But they merely trembled futilely.
In fact, my own fingers, armed with sharp teeth, dove right in deeper to force its snout open wider.
“Gah, ah… Aaaah!”
The long, jagged snout surrendered completely, beginning to tear more significantly.
With blood beginning to drip from the edges of its mouth, the shark-man was ripped apart by overwhelming strength, with each hand clutching one side of the snout.
As I wrapped up the situation, I heard footsteps approaching and local voices nearby.
“Wow, Amazing!”
“Huh?”
“#### ## ## ##### #### ###### # Magical girl ##### #### ##!”
Out of nowhere, someone rushed up shouting “amazing” with shining eyes, the American magical girl began enthusiastically exclaiming.
With her light golden hair and blue eyes, she was unmistakably ‘I’m a Western person!’
I only managed to catch “Wow, amazing” and “magical girl.”
“What the hell are you saying?”
“Korean! ### ####!”
“……”
Assuming she’d think I wouldn’t understand, I let a curse slip, but somehow she lit up as if to say, ‘I’ve never heard that before in my life!’
I guess Korean dramas and movies are gaining traction, even the curses are recognized overseas.
Given that I had achieved my immediate aim, I hurried away.
Fortunately, no worst-case scenarios unfolded, like someone chasing behind me, so I wrapped up by heading to the alley where Siyeon and the uncles had been.
After a quick scan of my surroundings, I let out a short sigh of relief.
“Phew.”
“Mari’s back!”
“Wow, you really wrapped it up fast? Wow, impressive!”
Siyeon and the representative uncle praised my swift return.
Especially the uncle, who pulled a phrase out of nowhere, gave me a thumbs up with both hands, lifting my spirits.
In that brief moment, it seemed I had been away in the restroom.
Before long, the taxi driver, looking as if he had just received a monster alert—a message related to a monster in Korean—gestured to us and started speaking in thickly accented English, signaling the resumption of our schedule.
The monster was dealt with… but the traffic was still stuck, causing a delay in our plans.
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