Right after the midterms in June.
The time when students enjoy paradise while parents experience hell, as summer vacation begins.
At that moment, noticeable changes occurred aboard the monsters’ ship.
That change was none other than study time.
From the bulky monsters to the ordinary ones that are roughly the same size as humans, they were all diligently learning something in their individual cabins.
The subjects they were studying included words and sentences from Earth, as well as proverbs and slang.
The reason for this learning was to prevent any tragic victims arising from the differences in interpretation due to the two distinct languages.
Starting from the executives down to the regular combatants, this learning ushered in a new era that was, in many ways, a cultural shock due to the clash of cultures.
“No way, isn’t this human seriously cute?”
“Ugh, crazy human-beast bastard….”
Some side effects emerged during the process of accepting the culture of another planet.
While some monsters became infatuated with human idols that dance and sing…
“Can I go to Sokcho this time?!”
“You little shit, you’re just going to see Venus, aren’t you?”
“Tell that bastard in the transmission room to stop me from going to Earth.”
For some reason, there started to appear bizarre folks who were fervent fans of magical girls that they were supposed to fight against.
In truth, they were only fighting because they were told to.
While they claimed to have infinite lives as long as the recovery device was operational, most combatants had no interest in the higher monsters’ territory takeover plans.
From their perspective, the magical girls were just like the neighborhood guy who gets scolded after trying to fight back.
“Everyone’s gone mad; this is all the magical girl’s plot!”
Some monsters that had faced off against magical girls with similar abilities still burned with hostility and combativeness…
But those with experience being overwhelmed by the vast difference in power were filled with curiosity about Earth’s culture and food.
“Don’t you want to try this chicken thing?”
“I want to try something called Dongpo pork.”
“I want to go to a concert once; this vibe is really nice!”
“Th-these…! They are beneath being called monsters…!”
Even learning about Earth’s culture prompted the monsters to spur conspiracy theories that it was part of the magical girl’s scheme.
When they realized their arguments weren’t getting through, they couldn’t help but shake with anger and disparage other monsters.
Seeing this, one of the monsters, almost jokingly, remarked without even looking at them, as if challenging them to give it a try.
“Hey, just send that guy to the black zone on an odd day.”
The odd days in the black zone.
Even though they had formed a treaty, the authority of the black zone still loomed large within the ship.
The Day of Pain.
A name arbitrarily assigned by monsters who had recently picked up some Earth language.
If the fear and terror of the black zone stemmed from Sun until now, the name “Day of Pain” had a slightly different origin.
The existence of Moon, the magical girl, who had been overshadowed by Sun.
Sun stopped the ‘intentional infliction of pain’ on the monsters.
From the perspective of regular combatant monsters, she was like a professional monster hunter who could send them neatly into the recovery device without pain.
With a precise stab through the heart to finish them off, she was already beyond being treated like a magical girl.
However, Moon, the magical girl, was somewhat of an amateur hunter compared to Sun.
From the monsters’ viewpoint, she resembled a mad hunter, repeatedly stabbing and withdrawing her sword in search of the heart, claiming to put them out of their misery.
“But why did Sun want us to come at that time?”
“Maybe it’s just the most relaxed time?”
The monsters who had learned various common sense from Earth.
Naturally, knowledge brought curiosity and interest along with it.
If they broke the time designated by Sun, the monsters began discussing how it would affect their trips to Earth.
Pointing to the metal surface scratched into a clock shape to indicate the transmission prohibition time, one monster humorously revealed their curiosity.
“If we break this time, do we die?”
“If you want to end up in intensive care, you can give it a try.”
In response to the question about dying if they broke the given time period, one monster jokingly retorted about the intensive care unit.
The intensive care unit; it was a place no monster could forget if they had ever been through it.
In the past, it was rumored to be a secret laboratory for higher-ups…
But once it became known as the holding cell for monsters whose minds were shattered by Sun, they began to regard it with pity.
“Has a monster ever come out of there?”
“I heard three came out this time and went back home?”
Where that information came from was unknown, but the monsters continued the story about the intensive care unit.
Turns out, the source of that information was a colleague recovery room monster.
As he relayed news he’d heard from a colleague in the recovery room, it subtly hinted at the peak of fear during the period ruled by the black zone.
“My friend in the recovery room said that Sun has really calmed down recently… these days, monsters haven’t been coming back in convulsions from the recovery device, so it’s feeling nice.”
“Legendary, ah… speaking of legendary, that reminds me.”
“Hmm?”
The monster, quietly listening to the conversation, suddenly recalled a slang term used on Earth and was struck by something, prompting it to speak.
When it declared it suddenly thought of something, the other monster was instantly filled with curiosity.
With a brief, spontaneous question, the others awaited what the speaker would say next.
“I found out the name Sun doesn’t appear in the Korean language, so I looked it up and found out it’s derived from some English word.”
“Really? What is it?”
“It means ‘sun,’ and that red star over there? That’s it.”
“Oh….”
The listener expressed a brief admiration at the unexpected fact that came from their companion.
Outside the ship, gazing at the blazing red star, the monster suddenly thought of an interesting similarity and lifted one of its two fingers, looking at its companion.
“I just found a common point between Sun and that over there.”
“What is it?”
“If you get close, you die.”
“Bwahahaha.”
“Pfft… This isn’t funny.”
The commonality between Sun and the sun: if you get close, you die.
Funny, yet simultaneously a sad predicament for the monsters.
They laughed, insisting it wasn’t something to be amused about, while they were left in awe of her power, which was something they simply couldn’t hope to match.
At that moment, two infamous figures from the black zone celebrated vacation among the monsters.
Mari, with a tickling sneeze, finally let out a loud one.
“Eh, ugh… Atchoo!”
After releasing a big sneeze, she rubbed her nose with her index finger, trying to chase away the remaining tickle.
They say summer colds don’t bother even dogs, so why am I sneezing so much?
It doesn’t seem like a cold… is someone talking about me?
“Are you getting a cold?”
“I don’t think so; maybe I just spent too much time in the air conditioning… cough.”
In response to Siyeon’s worry, Mari nonchalantly blamed the air conditioning, sniffling.
There was no dizziness or dazed feeling typical of a cold.
In contrast to her own messy appearance, Siyeon was well-dressed and even carried a bag.
“I’m heading to the academy-”
“Okay, have a good time-”
Even though the school is on break, Siyeon’s academy is operating as normal.
In fact, using the vacation’s special nature, her schedule had been pushed forward a good bit, and she would go to the academy around 1 PM.
I had once thought, what if I quit after just a month or two… but it seemed meaningless as Siyeon looked happy on the way to the academy.
I had prepared a nice lunch, and from now on, I could lie around, scratching my thighs and butt until dinner.
“Yawn.”
Just as I released a short yawn and shifted my weary steps toward the sofa in front of the TV…
Just a few seconds after Siyeon left through the front door.
I turned around towards the front door upon hearing a playful knocking sound.
‘Did she forget something?’
Without any suspicion, I thought it was Siyeon and flung the door open.
“What did you leave behind?”
Immediately opening the door and asking what she had left behind, I got no answer.
What stood before my eyes was a form I couldn’t possibly imagine was Siyeon.
As it turned out, standing beyond the door was Taehyun, who had coincidentally come to our house at just the right timing.
Looking at what he held, which resembled a kimchi container, it seemed like he brought something again.
“Oh, that… Mom asked me to give you this on the way to the academy…”
“Oh, thanks. What is it?”
“Umm, it’s… umm, duck meat stir-fry.”
“Thanks, tell her I’ll enjoy it. I’ll return the container after I finish it.”
“Uh, okay…”
With a quick little chat, the door closed after a light exchange.
Taehyun seemed particularly nervous today.
Is he sick? I wondered, holding the heavy kimchi container casually and paused halfway through entering the house.
“Ah.”
In front of me stood a narrow, long mirror on the shoe rack.
Looking down at my attire consisting only of underwear, I realized it a moment too late.
With me looking like this, it’s no wonder I stumbled over my words.
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