“What’s going on all of a sudden?”
Through the smartphone, Senior Jiun’s urgent voice came through.
I had no idea what was happening and could only ask back with a puzzled voice.
What felt like an explosion of her words next to me was like a bomb dropping on our peaceful daily life.
“They said our house is going up for auction! What are we going to do?!”
“Excuse me?”
A rental scam.
I never thought I would experience it firsthand, having only heard about it.
It was supposed to be a peaceful day with a short class due to the opening ceremony.
This damn world doesn’t let a person rest for even a moment.
Or maybe this is just my fate.
With a heavy feeling, Shiyeon and I returned to our uncomfortable home.
“What happened?”
“I’m looking into it right now.”
Putting aside the complicated story, Shiyeon and I sat facing Senior Jiun at the low desk, seriously looking at her smartphone.
Rental scams had been making noise recently, and I had only known them superficially.
There are many ways scammers operate, but two common examples stand out.
The first is when tenants use the deposit money for gambling or other activities and end up bankrupt, unable to pay taxes, leading to foreclosure.
The second is when someone borrows as much money as possible through loans to build buildings, only to collapse and refuse to pay when it’s time to repay the financial institutions.
In either case, it’s clear that the person is a scumbag… but if you had to choose which one is worse, the second case is more despicable.
Amidst the serious atmosphere, Jiun’s call continued for a few more times.
“Ah, yes… this is Jiun. I was wondering if you could look something up for me, yes.”
As a former Magical Girl, she was in a position to have normal conversations with high-ranking officials.
After a few exchanges, even if it wasn’t through formal channels, finding out where someone lives wasn’t too difficult.
Senior Jiun, who was in her mid-twenties, wasn’t naïve either; she knew how to deal with a landlord who was openly being defiant.
Especially for those who are planning to handle large sums of money, there’s always an escape route, so they come off as bold.
After a few serious and earnest phone calls…
“They’re in Jeonju?”
In the end, Senior Jiun discovered where the unreachable landlord was.
Even checking the address on satellite imagery revealed a brightly designed single-family home.
It seemed like they had been planning to run off all along.
For such shameless people, even if you go find them directly, it would be hard to get anything other than the phrase “get lost.”
After a few more calls, Jiun, a former Magical Girl, was capable of asking more than I expected. Her conversation with a bank manager flowed like any ordinary chat.
“I heard they might have hidden assets? The money flow seems suspicious.”
“Oh.”
With a short, impressed sound, she rounded her lips.
The information Jiun was bringing was all valuable.
What if they had truly run out of money? It seemed like they were actually going to try playing it straight.
“What are you going to do?”
“What do you mean, we have to go confront them.”
After receiving the location from Jiun’s map app, I decided to leave Shiyeon with her and step out for a “moment.”
I was definitely not going to catch someone.
I just suddenly wanted to transform and fly out to Jeonju.
Knowing this was reckless, Senior Jiun looked worried as she crossed her arms and asked me.
“Do you really think you’ll get the money back? Isn’t that a bit like robbery?”
“Ah… I have an idea about that part.”
After asking for a tiny bit of cooperation, I took my Gomtaengi companion and flew into the sky.
It had been a while since I had transformed, so the winter sky felt new.
Thinking about it, it had been a very long time since I transformed.
I had often relied on transformation for help when I was lacking in skills and strength while cooking, but lately, Senior Jiun had covered for me.
Seeing my light orange hair fluttering in the wind felt quite strange.
“But, Sun, what are you going to do once you get there?”
“Huh?”
Just like Jiun, Gomtaengi seemed to have questions, and I received an urgent inquiry while flying.
It seemed that it also had ideas about human society from browsing community forums; it had likely heard about cases where firefighters were sued for burglary or property damage after entering a burning building to save people.
It sounded foolish to say but all of those stories were based on real events.
Since I had brought my companion along as a chat partner, I explained part of my grand plan.
“Entering a house during a disaster situation is fine now.”
“Oh, really?”
“And monster appearances are recognized as a disaster situation by the state.”
“…Ah!”
I tossed out a few clues, leading to an exclamation of realization from Gomtaengi.
After seeming to understand something, it didn’t ask any more questions.
With my eyes lowered from the cloudy, overcast sky in Jeonju, I looked down at the stylish single-family home.
I lowered my altitude until I could make a call to Jiun on my smartphone.
“Hey, did you arrive?”
“Yes, have you made contact with the person in charge in Jeonju?”
First, I asked about the local Magical Girl in Jeonju.
“Yeah, I informed Hyeji as well. I’ll send a false alarm, so there’s no need for a response.”
Jiun’s voice came casually through the line.
A false alarm.
Even if it was the landlord who swindled my money, if I broke down the door and demanded my money back, it would be clearly labeled as robbery.
I didn’t want to be branded a criminal for breaking and entering and special theft, so I needed justification.
And that justification was a monster appearance alert.
Like a firefighter bursting into a burning building, it meant I could break down the door of that single-family home and enter.
“Should I call the person in charge immediately and trigger the alert?”
“Yeah, it sounds like a good idea to hang up and do that right away.”
With that, the call ended, and I loosened my body, twisting my neck, wrists, and ankles.
Since it had been a while since I had fought a monster, I might not be able to control my strength.
Barely a minute passed when a loud alarm blaring among the residential area of Jeonju began to ring out.
The sudden alarm made the people walking the streets follow the announcement of the loudspeaker and walk in the direction opposite to the monster appearance location.
Even though it was an appearance alert, the alarm sound had become assimilated into the daily life.
People weren’t panic-stricken but walked nonchalantly, as if thinking, “Oh, it’s showing up again?”
Alright, it was time for work.
I gracefully descended from the sky in front of the house with a lawn— a romantic two-story home.
It hit me that if you deceive others and live off them, you can end up living in such a nice place, and I took a deep breath.
“Huh…”
With that breath, I eased my anger a little and stood in front of the house. I raised one foot and lightly touched the lower center of the door.
If I kicked the door and sent the bones of someone inside flying, the money I was owed would no longer matter; I would be burying them instead.
Gently applying pressure to the door, I heard a creaking sound as metal bent.
The sturdy iron door that guarded the entrance was crumpled, looking like a family newsletter that had been left under a school desk for two months.
“What the hell?!”
The noise of metal crumpling.
Of course, a landlord who was sensitive about their money would react instinctively and rush out to see the commotion.
The person who appeared, shouting in shock, was a man in his 50s or 60s.
It seemed there was no one else in the house since he examined the area for other reactions and saw no one else.
“Are you alone, Uncle?”
“What kind of kid kicks someone else’s door like this! I will sue you!”
The man, not realizing that the Magical Girl who had come to confront him was actually a tenant he had swindled, started shouting loudly.
Nervously scratching his head and twirling his wand, I said, “Oh dear, the alarm for a monster is ringing here?”
Of course, there was no monster in this house.
To be precise, there was one on record, but not in reality.
Facing the absurd situation, he began checking the peaceful interior of the house, aside from the entrance.
“What nonsense is this! Get out of my house right now!”
Of course, if he thought I would leave just because he said so, I wouldn’t have come this far.
As I took angry steps, I left footprints while the house’s floor sank beneath the weight of my fury—worth about 150 million won.
I wanted to strangle him and pop his eyeballs out, but first, I aimed for his collar to express my accusations at eye level.
“Here it is! The monster that devoured the deposit money.”
“What…?”
His previous angry demeanor disappeared, replaced by a confused expression as he stuttered, unable to speak.
He probably never imagined a Magical Girl, one of many in his many offices, would be a tenant in one of his buildings.
“You really have no more money left for the deposit! So just screw you!”
He seemed to think he could just stick it out and came out even more boldly.
He clearly doesn’t understand his situation, so I raised my cane and struck the side wall of the entrance.
“Ahhhhhhh!”
With a tremendous noise, bricks began to crumble, and the house started shaking.
The dust pouring from the helplessly collapsed building material instilled fear.
People who declare “screw you” usually think that even if the law tries to get them in trouble, they’ll get away with it.
It was time to show him what happens when you meet a true crazy…or rather, a crazy lady.
“Is this your permission?”
“Huh? Ah, no! W-wait a minute!”
Panicking, he covered his face with his arms while stretching out his trembling arm toward me.
Where did that bravado go?
In any case, he didn’t stop at “wait a minute” and kicked the opposite wall, causing more dust to fly.
“Ahhhhhhh!”
