After savoring delicious duck jumeok (a Korean dish) with mu ssam (radish wraps) and white rice to fill my stomach, it was a peaceful evening.
As I fiddled with my computer keyboard and mouse, trying to extract photo files from my connected smartphone,
it seemed that Gomteng (the bear cub) realized I was busy and wanted to say something but only kept glancing my way.
When I finally focused on the little guy who was lingering near the keyboard, he opened his mouth.
“Miss Mari, it looks like a monster is coming.”
“…It really only shows up on even-numbered days.”
I turned my head slightly towards the monster alert and glanced at the calendar, confirming that it was indeed an even-numbered day.
With a muttered complaint about how it really only shows up on such days, I got up from my seat.
The monster appearances had become a regular event, occurring every other day without fail.
While I was glad that the sudden events happening twice a day had disappeared, it still felt odd as if I was obliged to go to a regular shift.
“Did I say something unnecessary?”
Gomteng, who had been holding onto the computer, looked at me like he was wondering if mentioning the even-numbered days was a mistake.
I shook my head nonchalantly and shared a brief truth about the monsters that they were currently unaware of.
“It doesn’t matter right now. Even if it’s an odd-numbered day, it’s me anyway.”
As I had uttered, it didn’t matter for the time being.
The real issue would arise later when Siyeon had more free time, and we had to deal with the monsters on odd and even days.
I hastily threw on a short-sleeved shirt and shorts that came up to my knees to suit the summer weather and finished getting ready to head outside.
Since photo data was a matter of just bundling and moving the mouse around, it would resolve itself in due course.
After issuing the photo movement commands with copy and paste, I stood up from my chair with a clatter and headed outside.
When I reached near the entrance, I reluctantly saw Siyeon’s room.
Siyeon, who was diligently drawing with her dedicated pen on the tablet I gifted her, looked up as I neared and asked casually,
“Did a monster come out?”
“Yeah, I’ll be back soon—”
“Okay, take care—”
I tapped the front of my sneakers on the ground and headed down the remembered path.
As I was descending the stairs, the monster alert began blaring.
I hummed along to the melody of the alert and walked towards the usual eerie alley.
However, that alley, which is usually deserted,
was unusually filled with people.
‘Huh?’
In that alley, for some reason, quite a few people were gathered.
They weren’t just wandering around aimlessly but had actually taken up a spot and were just tapping their smartphones like fireflies.
Despite the monster alert blaring away, people were not evacuating. Instead, they seemed to be waiting for the alert, gathering in the alley one after another.
What’s going on? Has this alley been designated as a refuge?
‘That can’t be the case….’
Given that there are designated shelters, that shouldn’t even be a possibility. I tilted my head in confusion and passed through the alley towards another point.
Fortunately, the second point was clear with not a single person around.
I transformed without apprehension and soared into the sky, following Gomteng’s guidance to where the monster was located.
There stood a monster in an empty hiking trail.
No matter how deserted it seemed, it was still a hiking path after all.
If I finished it off with a bombardment, the next day’s news headline might very well feature me.
I ideally wanted to avoid being seen, but the characteristics of the environment made that quite challenging.
Reluctantly, I decreased my altitude and revealed myself on the hiking trail.
“Oops.”
“Ugh, wow! You appeared!”
“Right, I’ve shown up.”
The monster screamed as if it had encountered a bear in the mountains.
Upon reflection, maybe a bear would have been preferable?
Signaling to wrap things up, I sharply tapped my staff on my knee, to which the monster responded.
“I’m a fan!”
“What?”
Such an absurd statement made even the staff, which had been heating up, abruptly cool down.
Here was this two-legged Cthulhu-like creature declaring itself a fan and clasping its hands in prayer.
Like an overly zealous fanboy, the monster started babbling away without me even asking anything.
“So, your spaceship has Earth culture trending?”
“Yup!”
The gist of what he shared was that on the monster spaceship in the cosmic orbit, Earth culture was all the rage, and magical girls were treated like pseudo-idols.
There were even instances of monsters dispatched to certain areas simply to catch a glimpse of the magical girls instead of actually fighting them.
Thus, they started chatting away as if they had established a seat.
“By the way, is it okay to tell me that?”
The very fact that Earth culture is trending on their spaceship…
This seemed, in a way, similar to military secrets, so I asked the monster, who then squinted his eyes and waved his hands as if to dismiss my concern.
“Hey, we don’t want to fight without a purpose either, you know? There’s a saying on Earth, right? ‘The executive is the soldier’s greatest enemy’…”
“Wow, these guys have completely localized…”
The monster raised a single finger, highlighting the keywords ‘the executive is the soldier’s greatest enemy.’
Seeing the bizarre resemblance to the mindset of South Korean soldiers, I crossed my arms, letting out an exasperated sigh as I trailed off.
Is this some kind of hellish localization or what?
Before I knew it, I checked my smartphone; it had been five minutes since our appointment.
It seemed like that was all the casual chatter allowed, and I lifted my rear, which had been stuck to the ground.
“Alright, let’s wrap this up… time to finish.”
“Has it really been that long already? I heard it’s ten minutes in other regions…”
“Where I am, it’s under five, so make sure to close those eyes tight.”
“Yes!”
“Hmph….”
I circled around the one who tightly closed his eyes, measuring angles here and there, and finally found a clear patch in the sky without any branches or leaves to obstruct the view and aimed my staff.
Using a non-lethal output aimed from the bottom up, I fired a beam into the sky.
Like a shooting star soaring through the night, a flash lit up the night sky.
After confirming that nothing had caught fire nearby, I watched as the monster turned into sparkling dust and returned home.
Finding an empty alley had become increasingly tougher these days.
Even the alley where I had just transformed had two or three people in it.
Having no choice, I redirected my path, did a few more loops,
and eventually released my transformation near the hiking trail, which was half-confirmed to be free of people that had held a monster.
‘What’s going on these days?’
There wasn’t a single alley without people anymore.
Feeling something was off but unable to pinpoint the reason, I only grumbled inwardly.
Walking from the entrance of the hiking trail, quite far from home, back to my place, my T-shirt dampened by the adequately warm weather.
As soon as I got home, I promised to throw it in the laundry basket.
In the end, my actual monster-fighting time was cut down to five minutes, but it took me thirty minutes to return home.
With irritation, I tossed my white T-shirt off as soon as I stepped through the entrance.
Noticing the unusually late hour, Siyeon seemed to think something was off too, as she walked out from her room and inquired.
“What happened?”
“There were people at every transformation point, ugh….”
I let out a sigh, mixed with annoyance and lament, as I threw my shirt into the laundry basket.
Feeling sticky in the humidity, I quickly turned on the fan in my room, gathered my underwear, and headed to the bathroom.
I hurriedly peeled off my sweaty clothes, lathered my towel with body wash, and threw myself into a scrub.
After rinsing off and drying myself, I draped the towel over my neck and shoulders and stepped out of the bathroom.
Waiting outside was Siyeon, who was seated at the dining table.
“Hey, Mari, could it be because of this?”
“Yeah?”
As if she had patiently awaited my appearance, she held up her smartphone screen, seemingly eager to show something.
The keywords Siyeon had searched were ‘Incheon Magical Girl’, with the latest news being from two days ago.
[Black figure goes ‘pop’, Magical Girl Sun’s pre-transformation appearance…finally captured?]
The preview image of the article was unusual enough, featuring a distant photo of a single person standing against a pitch-black screen.
An alley lined with cars, a sudden appearance of a black silhouette.
The black figure shrank down to the size of a small child and leaped into the sky, never to return.
“Is that me?”
“It looks like someone reported what was caught on a black box.”
“Ah…so that’s why.”
With a sigh of realization, I finally understood why people had gathered at that transformation point.
It seemed they were eager to approach the magical girl or confirm her identity.
It was sheer luck that I had merely passed by without drawing attention…
I almost ended up in a strange conversation if I had stepped into the alley.
Fortunately, the video quality wasn’t great, and in the pitch-blackness without a single light, my appearance wasn’t clearly captured.
Looks like I won’t be able to use that point anymore.
‘But speaking of which…’
Upon reconsidering, it dawned on me just how foolish the people out there were.
If they’re fiddling with their phones while the alert is blaring, do they really expect the magical girl to come out, ‘Please catch me’ style and transform?
Of course, they’d be looking for somewhere else to flee.
It’s not like they were on a covert mission; what in the world were they thinking?
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