After lamenting the meaningless surveillance duty and halfway through vacation…
Right as I was enjoying the performance of my new smartphone without any stutter…
“Hey, Mari, have you played this game?”
“Huh?”
Suddenly, Siyeon barged in with her smartphone screen showing off something.
I wondered what she was so proudly displaying, and it turned out to be a game.
Not just any game, but one that used GPS to show a map of the surrounding area, where you catch things yourself.
What do you call this? An augmented reality game?
I had heard some rumors about a popular game trending during the vacation.
I wasn’t really interested since games have become dull lately.
Anyway, it seemed like Siyeon was quite engrossed in this game.
“You catch various objects that have been anthropomorphized with these round balls, and look! This one is a pencil!”
“Wow.”
She began telling me all sorts of things I hadn’t even asked about.
Even with her enthusiastic explanations, I couldn’t grasp how great a character was without trying it.
I responded with just casual acknowledgments.
By the way, trapping something in a ball to turn it into a cute character…
Isn’t that just monsters and mascots?
Do we really need to turn something we can do in real life into a game?
With that question in my mind, I checked out the character compendium she was showing me.
Male, male, just males everywhere.
There were a variety of objects, but they were all male characters, making me wonder if this was a female-oriented game, so I stared at the screen and asked.
“Is it just male characters?”
“No? If you change the player’s gender in the settings…”
I saw a gear icon in the corner of the screen.
When I pressed it and changed the player gender from female to male, all the male characters on the screen turned into female characters.
“Oh.”
An involuntary exclamation escaped my lips.
To attract both male and female users, that’s quite a bold challenge, right?
Different character models prepared for each type, male and female.
I don’t know what kind of game company this is, but they definitely knew how to make money.
Just when the cute SD female characters lined up, the screen filled again with round-faced male characters.
“Do you want to try it too, Mari?”
“Well, it sounds like exercise, so it might be okay.”
I tilted my head, vaguely leaving a positive response, and opened the app to download it.
I was intrigued by the fact that it’s a game that involves movement, and it seemed like a game we could play together since our games never overlapped, so I decided to install it.
Right when I was about to finish the installation, Siyeon spoke up.
“But you can’t play it right now.”
“What do you mean?”
“I don’t know, but it says you can’t play in Korea, characters don’t show up around here.”
As she said, after initial setup, when I opened the game, all I saw around was my character and a map layout.
There was notice about starting the service in Korea, but it seemed the service hadn’t properly begun yet.
Looking up news from overseas, it seemed there was a system for battles using the different traits and skills of the characters you catch.
It seemed like the game was somewhat trending among kids; there were people bragging in group chats about what characters they caught while traveling abroad.
Siyeon was watching those chats with envious eyes.
“…”
Her glances towards me didn’t seem casual.
No way, that’s not happening.
I voiced the thought I least wanted to entertain and asked Siyeon.
“You’re not suggesting we go abroad just because of this, right?”
“…Is that not okay?”
With a slight hint of hesitation, she looked down and peeked up to ask if it was really not okay.
“Even so, that’s just upside down…”
I waved my hands in the air, responding with a look that said no way.
If we just happened to be on vacation and could play the game there, that might be different.
Even though it’s vacation, wanting to travel abroad just for one game is… not really the best idea, right?
Having firmly rejected Siyeon’s travel suggestion for the first time, just a few days later in the morning,
I found myself facing a situation that made me think, why on earth?
[Going to catch characters! The only available area in Korea for the mobile game ‘Earth Walk’ is Sokcho]
[Why is ‘Earth Walk’ possible in Sokcho?]
[Everyone gather! This place has suddenly become a sacred ground!]
‘What in the world is happening?’
The unexpected scenario unfolded way too suddenly.
The game that had been blocked for domestic service, the same game Siyeon showed me recently.
Somehow it turned into news that it was functioning normally in Sokcho, stated simply as a game about walking the Earth.
No, what is actually going on?
It’s not overseas, it’s domestic, and now there’s news that it can actually be played.
“M-Mari…”
Having read the news on her smartphone, Siyeon’s despondency reached its peak.
Is that game really that significant?
I couldn’t just stand by and say no all the time.
Feeling a little anxious, I decided to call the Minister…
“What’s going on in Sokcho? Are all the magical girls planning to travel there? They’ll run out of helping hands around there.”
“Ugh, seriously.”
Thanks to the magical girl seniors, who got wind of the news before us and bolted to Sokcho, there wouldn’t be anyone left to watch over our area.
Hanging up and clicking my tongue, Siyeon was burdened with all the world’s sorrow.
It was hard to keep seeing her with a downturned face, so I clenched my fists on my waist and spoke up.
“Lee Siyeon!”
…Not that I had anything substantial in the way of strength, but still.
It’s not common to call out her full name, and her face went from gloomy to confused.
“Yeah, huh?”
“You can just say you’re taking a few days off from the academy.”
As soon as a few words slipped out of my mouth, color returned to Siyeon’s expression.
If it were somewhere far like Cheorwon, it would be one thing, but isn’t Sokcho pretty accessible?
Just one taxi and one express bus would do, so I pulled out her large bag that had been sitting in the closet and started stacking chargers, power banks, and clothes inside.
“Can you go alone?”
“Yeah… Is that, okay…?”
She looked uncertain, asking if it was really okay, with worried eyes.
“Of course, it normally wouldn’t be.”
I answered flatly, as if to point out her naive question.
While adding that ordinarily it wouldn’t be fine, I still kept packing stuff into the bag.
After all, Siyeon’s journey should be about sneaking away.
So, I advised her to take plenty of cash instead of a card.
We wouldn’t want any records left behind, that would be troublesome.
Even in military leave, there are restricted zones, but it ultimately comes down to avoiding getting caught.
The bag was slowly swelling in size, and Siyeon’s sudden solo trip was about to begin.
As I kept packing her things, it eventually became a bag about the same size as her school bag.
I wanted to just pack essentials like clothes and chargers, but ended up throwing in wet wipes and various other items too.
I trailed after Siyeon, who was headed to Sokcho, and stopped at the front door.
“Be careful, eat seafood since it’s summer, message me if you settle in anywhere, and if things get dangerous, transform no matter what, okay?”
Before she headed out, I added my usual cautionary words while watching her anxiously.
Whether or not she understood my concern, Siyeon appeared so excited with her hands gripping the bag straps, her smile radiating.
“Yeah! Love you, Mari!”
With her bold response, she gave me a quick hug before stepping back.
After that warm exchange, I turned to Siyeon’s mascot peeking out from her pocket and said something ominous.
“Make sure no trouble comes, and give me updates, okay?”
“Ugh, okay…”
“Anyway, you’ll come back before vacation ends, right? Have fun until you get tired!”
With a short sigh, I clapped my hands and blessed Siyeon’s very first journey alone.
Rather than worrying her incessantly, it felt better to send her off cheerfully, so I left her with a playful encouragement to enjoy the game.
After the door clicked shut behind her, I waved goodbye until Siyeon was out of sight on the balcony before retreating back inside.
With only two people in the house, now that one was gone, a quietness beyond my imagination filled the void.
“Ah, Sokcho’s fried chicken was seriously the best…”
“If you brought it here, it wouldn’t taste as good.”
“Then how about chicken today?”
“Hmm, I’ll think about it.”
With Siyeon gone, the annoying Gomteng became a decent companion.
Wishing to fill the silence in the house with any sound, I turned on the TV and flopped onto the couch.
I picked up the smartphone that had been away from me for a while, and saw a missed call from the Minister.
Could it be that I can still go travel late…?
I called back without thinking too much.
Just before two rings, I heard the call connect.
“Hello? Why are you calling again?”
“Uh, it’s not anything special…? I wanted to let you know that a lot of other magical girls are going to Sokcho, so our duty area is extended by about five days, I mean, it’s vacation anyway?”
When asked why I called again in a bored tone, it turned out that the magical girls had traveled while we were on our own trips.
So, our responsible area would be briefly stretched due to that.
I sighed inwardly, thinking I shouldn’t have picked up.
“So I’m asking you to cover for us?”
“Sure.”
While I grumbled with annoyance internally, I responded gruffly on the outside before ending the call.
What could I do? When we travel, we’ve relied on others too.
The problem is simply that… tasks outside normal duty hours.
That means… there’s a chance monsters could pop up in the middle of the night.
‘Looks like I won’t be getting much sleep for a while.’
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