An unexpected monster incident occurred in the United States.
Honking horns blared chaotically in the congested traffic.
Eventually, people began to abandon their cars and rush toward the opposite side of the alarms, creating a scene reminiscent of a true disaster.
This was a stark contrast to Korea, where, unless a monster appeared nearby, the fire alarms ringing at school would be considered a mere drill.
Even the driver in the car right in front was unable to budge, opened the door, and fled.
Should I follow them out or not? As I placed my hand on the door handle…
“Wait! Wait!”
The taxi driver hurriedly urged against that action.
It seemed my natural instinct had led me to think about going outside.
The sounds of shoes hitting the pavement echoed constantly, while outside, people were falling and tumbling in a chaotic frenzy.
After a wave of people passed by outside the window,
The taxi driver, who had been calmly waiting for the right moment, finally opened the door of the driver’s seat, albeit a bit late, to escape as a civilian.
I hadn’t intended to go out in the first place, but it might have been a huge problem if I had panicked and dove into the wave of people.
The driver uncle and us ended up on a considerably quieter street.
Still a learned man, the driver uncle showed his attempts at conversing in English with the taxi driver.
“Is it okay ## I don’t ########?”
“No problem, no problem.”
I couldn’t understand exactly what he was asking, but the taxi driver waved his hand negatively while smiling, saying it was no problem.
Contrasting the fleeing people, we found ourselves enduring in the alley, where few paid attention to us.
After conversing a bit more, the driver uncle approached me and Shiyeon, who had been standing a little further away.
“Oh dear, I guess we’ll have to wait a bit longer.”
“What’s happening?”
Everyone was equally bewildered by the sudden turn of events.
In place of our elementary-level English, the driver uncle integrated the information he had gathered and speculated about the ongoing conversation.
“It seems like they’re planning to hold out until a magical girl or the police arrives to handle it. They say the driver doesn’t need to wait that long.”
“Have they not arrived yet?”
“That’s pretty late, isn’t it?”
It had been roughly 30 minutes since the people began evacuating.
In Korea, even if a monster appeared, it would have likely been dealt with long ago. I tilted my head and asked why they hadn’t arrived yet.
Even Shiyeon seemed to think it odd, bluntly pointing out how late it was.
The driver uncle shrugged his shoulders as if it were only natural, explaining the reason.
“It can’t be helped; the land is vast…”
After hearing the driver uncle’s explanation, it seemed that life here wasn’t so smooth either.
Just like Korea is divided into regions such as Chungcheong, Gyeonggi, and Gyeongsang, the concept of states existed in the United States.
The issue was the number of magical girls stationed across the 50 states distributed over this vast area.
In rural areas, there might be one, while in densely populated cities, there might be no more than six.
In other words, it meant that a magical girl might have to fly tens to hundreds of kilometers just to catch a single monster.
Even in a country regarded as advanced, like the United States, this was the environment.
Unable to understand it, I asked the uncle continuously.
“Why is that?”
“Because the number of magical girls is very limited. Korea has a shortage of people too, so just imagine how much worse it would be in a land as vast as America.”
The conclusion I reached was an unavoidable lack of manpower.
It was a realistic problem that would be hard to resolve, and I let out a long sigh, voicing the obvious.
“With such a large land and many people, there should be a larger number of them…”
“That’s a mystery to us too.”
The driver uncle echoed my sigh.
After a moment of silence, he muttered to himself.
“Hmm, at this rate, we’ll be late…”
He was fidgeting and muttering to himself as if he didn’t want a response.
“Should I go and check on it?”
Once again picking up on his murmuring like a ghost, I pointed to myself and asked the uncle.
In that instant, the driver uncle’s eyes lit up.
However, just for a moment, he returned to reality, hesitating for a bit.
“No, but is that okay? In Korea, it’s fine for a magical girl to solve an emergency, but…”
After saying that, he took out his smartphone and began to seriously search for something.
After a few taps and scrolls,
It seemed he reached a decision, as he brought his curled finger to his lips, lost in deep thought, then nodded.
“It looks like it could work, so… could I ask you a favor?”
I had no idea what he had confirmed, but it appeared he looked up something related to American magical girls.
Since the uncle had been very considerate, he had the mindset to let me help in whatever way possible.
Looking around, it seemed difficult to find a place without people’s gazes, and the main roads on both sides were wide open.
“Then please chat with the taxi driver to draw attention.”
“Alright, got it.”
When I suggested to the taxi driver to distract him while he was leaning against the wall fiddling with his smartphone, the uncle took action immediately.
At that moment, Shiyeon raised her hand high.
“I want to go too!”
“This time, I’ll finish it quickly, so you don’t need to follow. Just stay close to the uncle.”
“Got it…”
Unfortunately, this time I meant to finish it quickly, so I didn’t need both of them.
I assured her it was fine and gestured for them to head in that direction, pointing my chin toward the uncle.
Shiyeon, with a glum expression, walked, making sure not to stray far from the uncle.
Only after the taxi driver diverted his attention to the other side of the aisle, did I feel relieved as I uttered the transformation spell.
“Sun.”
With a clean leap, I soared into the skies above America, directing my gaze toward the location where the originating monster was.
As expected, there it was—a shark-headed monster standing in the center of a crossroad, causing a traffic jam.
During the festival, an alligator; this time, a shark.
I couldn’t understand why these aquatic creatures were causing such a ruckus lately.
Since this was America and I had no idea how the money-related matters would go, I touched down lightly right in front of the monster.
“Hahaha, you finally show up! Magical g…”
Rather than uttering anything more, I swiftly approached and took to the skies.
For some reason, I couldn’t speak in English. Anyway, could it be that everything is translated by the powers of a magical girl?
I was too lazy to even use my cane; this time, I simply decided to resolve it with power.
“What, what’s going on! Say something… now?!”
‘Do shark scales and skin tear easily?’
“Grr…”
As I clamped down on its upper and lower jaws, I pressed down firmly enough that its sharp teeth became visible, forcing its mouth to open wide.
Despite the upper and lower jaws trembling and struggling to close, they were utterly useless against overwhelming strength.
Its grotesque, gray fingers, with thin membranes like webbing between the fingers, were reaching toward the jaws I was gripping, but…
They also merely trembled.
On the contrary, my fingers, with sharp teeth, dug in, further prying open its mouth.
“Grr, aah… aaah!”
The long, torn mouth completely lost its strength, beginning to tear open wider.
The shark-man was torn apart from top to bottom, starting with the red blood at the corners of its mouth, caught in my grip.
As I ended the situation, the sound of footsteps and local voices echoed close by.
“Wow, Amazing!”
“Huh?”
“#### ## ## ##### #### ###### # Magical girl ##### #### ##!”
Suddenly approaching and shouting “amazing” with shining eyes was an American magical girl.
With golden hair of a dull color and blue eyes, she had the look of someone who clearly typed, “I am Western.”
All I could understand was “wow, amazing” and “magical girl.”
“What the hell are you saying?”
“Korean, damn it! ### ####!”
“…”
Thinking she wouldn’t understand, I let a curse slip; however, she seemed to have picked up on it from somewhere, her eyes shining as if to say, “I’ve never heard the native curse before!”
I heard that Korean dramas and movies are trending, so it seems like foreign folks can grasp curses.
Since I had accomplished the urgent task at hand, I made a quick escape.
Fortunately, no worst-case scenarios, such as being chased, occurred, and I returned to the alley where Shiyeon and the uncle had initially been.
After glancing around a few times, I let out a brief sigh of relief.
“Huh.”
“Mary’s back!”
“Did you really finish that quickly? Wow, awesome! You’re amazing.”
Shiyeon and the driver uncle congratulated me on my swift return.
The driver uncle especially seemed to bring up a phrase not used for ages and raised both his thumbs in approval, lifting my spirits.
In that brief moment, it appeared that I had gone to the bathroom.
Not long after, the taxi driver uncle, as if he had received a monster message akin to one in Korea, waved his hand and spoke in his thick accent, restarting our schedule.
Although the monster was dealt with… it was no secret that we ultimately fell behind schedule because of the traffic.
