As I spent more time looking around, the number of people kept increasing.
By around 10 o’clock, the line had grown so long that I couldn’t see the end of it, so if all those people got in, it made sense.
Like jellyfish floating on the waves, I was jostled around in the crowd for hours, taking in the sights.
I took photos with people whose cosplay I didn’t even recognize, and bought some merchandise…
I was even surprised to see someone cosplaying as a male character in the women’s restroom.
Saying it in a negative light, they were traces of hardship; but if I said it positively, they were memories packed in my bag and smartphone.
After all the struggles and memories, it was 1 PM.
Although the event was officially running until 4 PM, in reality, I had already seen everything…
However, thinking about leaving just in time for closing would mean running into the crowd of people returning home. So even if it was a bit early, I felt like hurrying back was the right choice.
Likewise, a few people with similar thoughts were gradually leaving the event hall.
‘The long line is all gone now.’
That line, which had seemed so endless.
As I stepped outside, the sight of that line disappearing into the event hall left me in awe.
So, that many people got in, huh?
The time spent looking around was significantly shorter than the more than four-hour wait to get in.
If I weighed the pros and cons, since we had no clear goal, it was naturally closer to a loss…
“Did you have fun?”
“…Sort of?”
Anyway, it was true that I made memories together and had a unique experience at a rare event in our daily lives.
After a brief silence to consider Siyeon’s question, I expressed an appropriately positive response.
A battlefield where money, rather than swords, exchanges hands.
That’s how I could summarize a few hours in Comic World.
For lunch, I settled for some pork cutlet and spicy noodles, along with tuna kimbap from the Kimbap Heaven, which had been firmly closed in the early hours.
A tasty combination that rarely fails.
After filling my stomach, I hopped onto the returning subway.
In the relatively empty subway, Siyeon whispered in a low voice so that the people around couldn’t hear.
“Should I secretly transform next year?”
“……”
With such a playful question, I could only shake my head in response.
It felt like I was utterly drained, perhaps due to being in crowded places all day.
It took a whole hour just to get back home, and when I checked my phone, it was 2:43 PM.
Even after ending that long journey, I still had something left to do.
That would be sorting through the loot… or rather, organizing the bags.
“Ugh….”
“You did well.”
As I opened the largest zipper at the top, a Gomteng crawled out with a pained groan that sounded like something a zombie would make, rolling onto the floor.
I had to commend the tired Gomteng for its struggles.
I squeezed out a few large pieces of merchandise I bought from Comic World with my hand.
Initially, the bag had space to spare.
But practical items like cushions take up a lot of room.
A bag that originally held a charger and some clothes was now about to burst due to all the cushions.
Afraid of losing it like at the amusement park, I had put the Gomteng in the bag.
The poor Gomteng had been squished inside, and it couldn’t have been comfortable.
“Did we really need to bring you along…?”
“Just in case! Besides, you were relatively cushioned, weren’t you?”
Hearing my words, which seemed to imply a ‘you were lucky among the unfortunate,’ Siyeon and the Gomteng shifted their gazes toward her bag.
Hoping to buy even more, things like stickers, acrylics, keychains, pens, various desk pads…
…and cushions too.
Siyeon’s bag was similarly stuffed full, and the mascot stuck in there was squished under hard items.
It struggled to crawl out of the bag, but its body was warped like an old toy called a Snake Cube.
It looked like it wanted to twist into a ball…
Siyeon also seemed a bit lost for words at the sight of the mascot, which clearly looked unfortunate, and gently asked,
“Baemi, are you okay…?”
“Yeah… no.”
The Sea Snake, who typically took rough treatment in stride, reflexively said it was fine, but after pondering for a bit, replied with a “no.”
A little later, after emptying the bag to make it less puffy…
We laid out the merchandise on a large table and snapped a picture.
Perhaps intending to upload it to her SNS account, Siyeon took a while to tap at her phone screen, humming a little tune.
The goods we had gathered, which I had asked to include mine, were displayed on the table.
“Was that sufficient?”
“Yep!”
As soon as the shutter clicked, I asked if it was enough, and Siyeon bobbed her head with an energetic reply.
Among the lineup of goodies on the table, the only things I owned were a badge of Moon’s character that hung on my bag and three cushions.
An appropriate volume that wasn’t excessive and could be carried at once.
The cushions were placed in various corners of my bed where I could rest my head while sleeping.
I didn’t know what game, anime, or cartoon they were from, but I bought the character cushions because they looked cute.
They had big, puffed-up cheeks that I felt like pulling at right away.
Once everything was organized, the tension that had built up slipped away in an instant.
After a day that involved a lot of wandering around crowded places with not much familiarity.
As drowsiness washed over me, I turned off the lights in my room, letting myself drift off to dreamland without thinking about anything else.
“Siyeon?”
“Siyeon?”
A rare situation where the two mascots called out to one person at the same time.
In such an unusual scenario, Siyeon, who was sorting through the goods in her room, opened her eyes wide and looked back and forth between the two mascots.
If mascots are calling out to a magical girl, there’s usually a specific reason behind it.
It would make sense if it was her own mascot Baemi, but why the Bear?
Thinking this, Siyeon first turned her gaze to Mari’s mascot.
“What’s up?”
“Oh, um… I think a monster might show up…”
Mari’s mascot gestured for her to come over, as if trying to signal something.
What could it be? Following the gesture, I headed towards Mari’s room.
In the dimly lit room, only faint breaths of various colors could be heard from the other side of the door.
Mari was sleeping soundly, having probably worn herself out more than expected from the trip to Seoul.
Being careful not to make a loud noise, I gently closed the door and returned to the living room.
“If it were a normal day, I’d just wake her up, but with the schedule and having just fallen asleep…”
The Bear explained, scratching its neck as an excuse for not waking Mari.
If I thought about it, Mari had taken on monster-slaying duties without protest just because I said I was going to the academy.
With a fist tightly clenched, proud of its heart, it declared,
“Okay, I’ll go today! I feel bad for always passing it off to you…”
“Oh no, there’s no need to feel that way.”
Dressed in the same clothes I wore while organizing the goods, shifting only my coat aside.
I pulled out a warm padded jacket to cover my upper body, zipped it up completely, and took my wallet, which had a keycard for the shared entrance, slipping out of the house.
The mascots went into my jacket pockets, one on each side!
Now all I needed to do was find a deserted place to transform and head out to defeat the monster!
I searched for a secluded alleyway, but that took a bit longer than expected as even the quiet streets were busy.
Once transformed and soaring up, the Gomteng and Baemi popped out from my jacket pockets.
“Are they just going to run away again…?”
“Oh, right… I heard monsters vanish when they see Sun’s face lately, without even fighting.”
The two mascots conversing with each other.
It was the first time I heard the story that monsters run away at the sight of Mari’s face.
Vanish? Where to? How? Why?
“Oh, really? How? Why?”
“If we knew that, we wouldn’t be out here like this…”
Even asking the Gomteng, who was now flying with its arms crossed, all it did was shake its head in confusion.
In the sky en route to our destination, the Gomteng continued to speak.
“The best way would be to capture one and ask, but the last time a monster saw Sun’s face, they left out of fear right away…”
“Then they really died from her face?”
“Yeah, I retrieved a strange small device, but… I don’t know what it does, so for now, it’s just in Sun’s room.”
“Hmm…”
The mascots’ conversation was a bit complicated and hard to follow.
Something about a strange small device, and it’s in Mari’s room?
The only part I understood was that we could find out something if we captured a monster.
And since Mari failed, I felt a spirit of challenge rise up to try it myself.
“If it needs to be said… should I give it a shot at catching one?”
“Eh?”
At that moment.
A multitude of questions and answers swirled through the Gomteng’s mind.
Would it be okay? Given the ability, it seems like Siyeon would be a better option.
Even if it could be captured, would Siyeon know what to ask?
While there was a method of directly asking, I’d heard that mascots should typically avoid talking to monsters…
But whether I did it now or later, it would have to be done eventually.
If there’s a way to find out sooner, why delay it for later?
The likelihood of Mari getting mad for giving an unnecessary task seemed lower than the probability of her saying I did well, right?
The Gomteng’s mind was flooded with queries.
Not understanding the emotional aspects, I ended up siding with the rational and practical side.
“Let’s just give it a shot.”
“Yeah! I’ll do my best!”
My site has received a lot of DMCA notices, lol. From now on, I will update the MTL on https://darkmtl.com/.
The site is fast and lightweight because there are no ads yet. However, the theme is different from Cybor-TL, so take some time to familiarize yourself.
Support me by donating at least $10, and you'll have the right to request any novel from Novelpia (excluding 19+ content) using a newly developed tool.