Magical Girl Sun, who returned safely while giving many monsters high blood pressure.
Worried that she might not come back, she boarded the transmission device in the transmission room and was able to come down to the familiar rooftop.
This makes it the third time she’s set foot on that rooftop, having dealt with monsters twice before, and now once again.
“Yikes! You scared me!”
On a cold winter day, the repair workers doing cement work on the rooftop suddenly looked over with startled voices.
Unlike when monsters appeared, here she appeared out of nowhere at the place they were working.
Feeling a bit awkward at the startled faces of the older men with their eyes wide like rabbits, she scratched the back of her head and prepared to leave.
“Um, I’m sorry. Please carry on with your work….”
Just as she was about to bow and leave, three workers made up of two men in their 40s and 50s and a young man in his 20s spoke up.
“Oh my, what’s with your appearance on such a cold day?”
One of the older men said with a disgusted expression as if he felt sorry for her.
Startled and not wanting to jump away while the adults were speaking, her departure got delayed for a moment.
Then, the younger-looking man among them slapped his chest lightly with his palm and admonished her.
“Hey, big brother…how can you not know about her? She’s that magical girl or whatever mentioned on the news.”
“Magical girl? That cartoon for kids? That’s on the news?”
The older man, whom the others called big brother, seemed quite oblivious to the situation.
Even the man who had pressed him looked astonished, questioning how he didn’t know such a thing.
If someone has a daughter, it’s true they should at least have a conversation or two, right?
“Are we living in the same world, brother?”
“Hey, why are you speaking like that?”
“Oh, big brother, is this not the first time? Last time too….”
A quarrel started over something trivial.
Among the three, the one who seemed more level-headed approached them as the other two were busy bickering, squinting his eyes and waving his hands as if to push them along.
“Come on, hurry up and leave.”
“Uh, yes….”
It seemed like the two older men were used to such arguments.
It might be that saying the shrimp gets crushed in a whale fight originated from something like this.
Anyway, while she managed to escape that scene, a lingering problem remained.
Her appearance after breaking the transformation was not at all presentable to be out and about.
“Ugh…what’s this look?”
She was wearing only a somewhat thick indoor outfit without an overcoat.
She couldn’t go home transformed, and if she reverted, her getup with only indoor clothes and socks looked ridiculous.
It felt like a runaway girl who got thrown outside after fighting with her mom.
It’d be better to think of it that way, as she couldn’t go home in that transformed state and began walking home in her current look.
Please, may I not run into anyone I know….
“Ugh…so cold.”
It was so chilly outside that she found herself muttering her thoughts aloud.
The stares from passersby seemed to say, “What circumstances led her to look like that?”
After trying hard to ignore those looks, she rubbed her arms and shoulders with her palms to forget the cold slightly and stepped into the shared entrance.
Her upper body felt somewhat warm from the rubbing, but her feet stuck in the snow were the real issue.
Her feet were getting soaked and beginning to freeze in the cold weather.
Having forgotten what it felt like to get frostbite since the cold snap, she never expected to face it like this again.
Standing with a bag in hand, she was shivering from the cold in front of the door.
Beep beep beep, she entered her door lock code, which sounded the same as usual compared to what she had just experienced, and opened the door wide.
As soon as she opened the door, right in front of her was Gomteng, the bear cub, who was plastered to the door with wide-open eyes.
He suddenly shouted loudly, “Aah, are you okay?!”
“Ah!”
Before she could even blink, a punch flew towards her without a pause.
With a sound of ‘thud’, Gomteng flopped on the ground.
Scaring people and falling over.
But without showing any signs of being down, he flew back up and approached her closely.
“Are you okay?! What happened?! You suddenly appeared in front of me….”
Not caring about himself at all, he started poking her all over with his fluffy hands, bewildered, and asked her various questions.
He genuinely seemed worried about her.
Whether it was intentional or not, she thought that at least he was being considerate.
Given how often he acts out of line, it was quite surprising and almost admirable.
“I just got back from your ship; the facilities looked great.”
In response to his demeanor, she calmly answered, lamenting how she felt more relaxed about the ship’s interior rather than worrying.
Honestly, she had been anxious about what to do if she couldn’t return.
“Huh…how did you get back?”
“There was a place called a transmission room, and I just used some strange device there.”
As she casually explained the answer to his question and entered the house, upon hearing ‘transmission room’, he went, “Oh!” and seemed to let out an enlightened sigh.
Standing with one hand holding a bag, she looked a mess with just her wet socks on reflected in the mirror.
Having entered the house, with her toes numb and her body shivering.
“Enough, hurry out… I’m freezing to death.”
“Ugh, what are you doing in this weather…”
Scowling at how cold she was, she waved her hand in front of her as if to make it clear for him to step aside. The cub sidestepped her while mentioning the chilly weather.
She peeled off her wet socks, bending down and tossing them into the laundry basket, wishing to warm her frozen body quickly.
She dashed into the bathroom and turned the tap slightly to the left in the middle, testing the water temperature with her fingertips.
That perfect warmth, feeling like her skin was turning rosy.
Pouring hot water over her shivering body made her initially feel hot, but as she got used to it, her body loosened up from its hunched position.
“Ugh….”
With tension easing out, a refreshing sigh slipped down her throat.
Now that she had calmed down, it felt a bit strange that Gomteng had even asked how she got back from the ship.
Now that she thought about it, wasn’t he a monster?
Flinging open the bathroom door, she called out loudly to Gomteng, who had already gone into the room.
“Hey, but why don’t you know about the transmission room??”
“Hey! How am I supposed to remember that from years ago?!”
His answer rang back to her with equal volume from her room.
Typical of him; it was a perfectly valid excuse.
‘…Useless little guy.’
After inwardly cursing he was useless, she let herself sink into the warm water.
The warm water flowing down her scalp made her stop thinking.
Thus, she stayed still for three minutes.
Finally, she switched the shower head from her head and washed her hair and body in turn.
Her body, which had seemed on the verge of frostbite, was now pleasantly dry.
Perhaps due to the hot water, a light steam began to waft from her body.
Contrary to that refreshing feeling, her nose itched.
“E-excuse me…Achoo!”
Just on the brink of sneezing, after taking a few breaths, a sneeze finally burst out.
The frail body of a middle school girl seemed to have struggled even for a few minutes in the winter streets.
The upcoming Seollal holiday filled her with worry, fearing she might end up bedridden.
“Ugh….”
And yet again, her foreboding feeling proved true through her body.
Just as the holiday began, she woke up with a splitting headache.
Having woken early at dawn without setting an alarm, she found it hard to move and could only let out a painful groan.
How could she feel this sick right at the beginning of the holiday…
In her pain, she urgently recited the transformation chant as a thought crossed her mind.
“Sun.”
As her body shrank, the headache vanished along with it.
Digging through the drawer in the living room, she grabbed a pack of Tylenol and transferred it to her room.
It must have looked bad to keep sneezing right before bedtime.
No matter how unavoidable it was…
‘At this rate, I won’t be able to go down with everyone.’
Whether she threw up or not, getting rid of this headache came first as she stood at the water dispenser, reverted back, filled her mouth with water, and dropped one pill.
Of course, taking that one pill wouldn’t visibly improve her symptoms, and morning soon dawned.
As Siyeon woke up to her alarm, she found herself at the receiving end of concerns.
“Are you okay?”
In a situation where she couldn’t even deny it as mere pleasantries, the question lingered.
She felt a bit better but was far from being in a state to go out and about.
Her throat was swollen from the continuous sneezing, and she spoke in a raspy voice.
“No… just don’t come in the room for now and get ready to go out.”
“Sure….”
This time, they hadn’t caught it together.
Since it was clear they’d both suffer if she caught it too, she left Siyeon outside the room with a mask on.
The only remaining companion was a mascot that didn’t pose a risk of catching a cold.
“Should I bring a gel pack from the freezer?”
“Uh…also grab a towel from the bathroom.”
“Right.”
Gomteng, using his whole body, opened the door to the room and created a small gap to pass back and forth.
If only he could always be that efficient, she thought as she lay on the bed.
“Yes, Mari is sick right now…. Yes, yes….”
Clack, the door opened, and she could hear Siyeon talking briefly.
With the sound of the door closing after, silence took over the house in an instant.
They must have left for the gathering with the adults from that side.
Better to be a bit cold-hearted and stay out for a day or two than catch the same illness.
When you’re sick, the best thing is to take medicine and sleep.
Gnawing on loneliness, she continued to try to sleep; it must have been about ten minutes later.
Once again, the sound of the front door opening reached her ears.
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