Anyway, as I wandered around, I found plenty of places where no one’s gaze could reach.
Just walking a bit from the mart and stepping between the buildings led me to a quiet alley where people’s eyes wouldn’t fall.
Checking nearby windows, confirming the path I came from, and looking at the road on the opposite side.
Only after making sure that hardly anyone comes this way did I mumble a short transformation incantation.
“Sun.”
As I bent my legs and jumped up into the sky, that moment—
The mascot, which had been tightly keeping its mouth shut, finally slinked out of my pocket.
Not knowing the direction, I couldn’t just go wherever, so I hovered in place and urged it.
“Get to work, Monster Navi.”
“Umm, it seems like it’s by the seaside?”
Today, the bear cub was giving an ambiguous answer that even included some strange sounds.
I didn’t like that, so I poked at that part and interrogated it.
“What do you mean ‘it seems like’?”
“I-it’s because I haven’t been to that area before, just a bit….”
Scratching its head while under interrogation, the little guy offered a ridiculous answer.
Not like I’ve traveled overseas, but merely three hours by car, and it’s broken?
Pulling one side of my mouth back like I was looking at trash, I glared at it and said.
“You useless piece of junk….”
“Ah, I-I’m sure it’s correct!”
The bear cub, with even its only function having a flaw.
Just when I was wondering if I should return it, the vague words got covered by an even vaguer adjective.
Still, with no other choice, I headed toward where it was pointing.
Once I got close and sent my gaze to the ground, I could roughly deduce where people were evacuating to.
From this point on, I wouldn’t really need the mascot’s guidance.
The beach that Siyeon had so dearly wanted to visit.
Though it was because of the monster, I arrived there first.
“Caw, what the hell is obstructing me-!”
Looking down, I saw a creature resembling a turtle with a dome-shaped shell.
Amid the umbrellas stuck in the sand and the remnants of vacationers that hadn’t been cleaned up, it was causing chaos on the beach.
The monster wreaking havoc at the shore, the umbrellas from the rental shop…
Furthermore, the rental shop itself was being crushed, which honestly felt refreshing.
I had heard that during this time, humans were causing troubles by occupying places, forcing people to buy umbrellas, and evading taxes.
Anyway, being a monster means I have to exterminate it, and as I reached into my pocket…
At that moment, I realized I was missing something essential.
“Ah, I didn’t bring my mask.”
Right.
I had left the mask, the symbol of terror, at home.
I thought to myself not to forget that, lamenting internally as I put my empty pocket behind me and slowly descended onto the shell.
I’ve heard that a turtle’s shell evolved from its bones, right?
“What, what is this!?”
“Oh, you caught on fast.”
Maybe because of that, the monster reacted quickly right after I hopped on.
With a brief gasp, I leaped off the shell and stood before it.
Of course, anyone would notice if someone climbed onto their bones.
“Are you the magical girl called Venus?!”
“Eh?”
I tilted my head at the sudden question.
Oh, right, this was Sokcho.
Most monsters likely didn’t know faces without masks, so mistaking me for Venus wasn’t surprising.
However, there was no need to correct it, and…
Since it was too much to wander around wearing a mask on such a hot day, I decided to just roll with it for now.
“Uh, yeah, let’s go with that.”
“Ha! You look weak as rumored! Your pathetic magic won’t break my defenses!”
I knew there was some kind of communication among monsters.
However, it seemed like the news was quite delayed.
After all, I had been dispatched to Sokcho fairly recently, so it wouldn’t have been easy for this guy to know.
Not to mention, news about which magical girl was supporting which area doesn’t exactly travel around fast.
Anyway, this turtle monster was just terribly unlucky.
“Turtle, turtle, show me your head-♪”
Singing a chilling song to my own rhythm, I twisted my magic wand into flame-thrower mode, and the sound of air hissing began to echo.
“If you don’t show it, I’ll roast you-♩”
Not long after Sun sang that creepy tune, the result was already a foregone conclusion.
The monster that appeared in Sokcho, Kirchepur, despaired.
Even among monsters, its massive jaw was something to behold.
But it didn’t matter to Sun.
“Gah—”
Without changing its expression, it spewed flames as though swatting away an insect.
Diamonds, the hardest gems on Earth, were nowhere near the strength of its shell.
Again, it was no match for Sun.
“I said I’m going to eat you roasted, didn’t I?”
“Craaaaack!”
As the unbearable heat surged from outside and warmed the insides, the monster had no choice but to stick its head and limbs out.
Even spinning quickly to shake off Sun, it couldn’t overpower her in sheer physicality either.
Just the fact that she was holding onto its body with those tiny hands left it with nothing it could do but flail around.
Tail swipes, spinning its massive body, biting.
All those struggles became meaningless for the monster, which gave up and resigned.
It simply hung there, knowing it would soon be killed.
It was only conscious of being pulled somewhere slowly.
Splash, moisture seeped between its cracked skin.
That creepy, wet sensation snapped Kirchepur awake.
“What the…”
It hailed from a dry planet devoid of water.
There was no way it could know how to swim.
For his race, the most disgraceful death was drowning.
Dying after digging down to where water lies beneath the planet was a symbol of foolishness.
Sun wouldn’t have known that, but her actions were on the verge of giving Kirchepur the ultimate humiliation.
“They say land turtles can’t swim….”
Land turtles?
I wasn’t quite sure what that meant, but Kirchepur’s instincts screamed at him to beg her for mercy.
Water.
He was being dragged into the water.
Not even knowing what land turtles were, he interpreted that statement as a rope of mercy being thrown to him.
“Y-you’re right! I’m exactly the same! I’ve never had anything to do with swimming in my life….”
“Oh really? Well then….”
But what he thought was a rope was the final step toward the brink.
Ultimately, Kirchepur’s words couldn’t finish, overshadowed by Sun’s reply.
“What a pleasant surprise to hear that.”
Right after she said those words, Kirchepur was soaring through the sky.
With speed he had never felt before, he was spinning and twirling.
Intuiting that the sky he always looked up at was now at the same height, he saw the magically smiling girl amid his dizzying vision.
‘Is she a devil?’
His vast, heavy body sank rapidly into the sea.
In that moment, Kirchepur’s breath began to get caught up too.
“Wow, you really can’t swim, can you?”
Watching the immense body disappear far into the depths, I recalled a photo I had seen online a while back.
It was from some chat app overseas, where someone bragged about returning a turtle to the sea after they found it on land.
And a reply came saying it was a land turtle that couldn’t swim.
It didn’t seem like it was a shallow enough place for a land turtle to swim either, which was kind of sad.
But that was that, and monsters are monsters.
Maybe because he was so big, the bubbles fizzing from him in the water were enormous.
‘When is he going to die?’
Maybe because his lungs were extra large to match his size, the bubbles showed no signs of stopping.
In this sweltering weather, just standing still on the sandy beach was making me sweat.
If that’s the case, then I might as well roast him, I thought, calling out to the bear cub.
“Hey, is it done yet?”
“Just a moment! I think it’s still—.”
The bear cub was about to say still.
At that moment.
“Ah.”
It seemed the monster signal had cut off, with the little guy letting out a short exclamation.
“It’s dead.”
“Okay, let’s retreat.”
With the bear cub confirming the loss of the monster signal.
With that as the starting signal, I kicked off the sand and soared into the sky.
Looking down from above, the ground was filled with nothing but awkward spots.
In a convenient place nearby where the monster had shown up, I released my transformation away from the prying eyes of people.
Even though the villa was pretty far away, guiding the mascots to the right location was possible.
The bear cub wriggling in my pocket to find Siyeon’s mascot response.
I could have found it with the map app, but honestly, I had forgotten where it was.
“I’m back-”
After being guided back, I reached the villa.
The public official uncle was nowhere to be found, but Siyeon was just hanging around.
The inside of the villa had the air conditioning going full blast from the get-go.
As soon as I stepped inside, it was honestly not just cool but a bit chilly.
And waiting inside was….
“Mari! Did the uncle buy you chicken nuggets?”
“Oh.”
Just looking at it, it was brilliantly glistening, sweet crimson chicken nuggets.
As the uncles had talked about it in the car, Sokcho had raw fish, squid sundae.
Well, there are plenty of other foods, but did they think chicken was the best for the kids?
Admiring that wonderful choice, I sat down on a chair at the table to savor the chicken nuggets that were thoughtfully placed in a paper box.
To my delight, Siyeon even brought my fork.
Immediately, I brought the shiny chicken nugget coated with syrup to my mouth and mumbled.
It lingered between hard and crunchy, proving it’s delicious even when cold with its coating.
And from inside, soft meat peeked out.
“Delicious!”
“Yeah!”
It’s common knowledge that chicken tastes great when fried.
But having it for free makes it even more delicious.
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