[‘She came from the United States.’ Magical Girl Tiara’s surprise visit, fighting off a monster and using awkward Korean in Myeongdong to gain attention.]
[Is the open American culture, including Magical Girls, an exception?]
[The identity of the publicly known American Magical Girl? Characteristics of Magical Girls by country.]
[Congressman Song stated that advanced countries should embrace new cultures… mentioning the need for transparency in funding with regards to the revelation of Magical Girl identities.]
[The American Magical Girl Tiara unveiled her transformation in front of people, which is ‘normal’ in America.]
‘So that’s it.’
I opened the internet thinking that if it wasn’t us, it would at least be another Magical Girl nearby.
There, just as expected, the screen was filled with fresh news from one hour ago, three hours ago, etc.
Contrary to my anticipation that there would be criticisms about an American Magical Girl defeating a monster in Korea, the headlines themselves were quite ordinary.
A Magical Girl that was hard to see, and she’s from America.
And in front of the public, casually undoing her transformation or greeting them, and so on…
It seemed that even the reporters found the cultural differences of Magical Girls by country quite fascinating.
Rather than focusing on the criticisms of Korean Magical Girls, the media was more interested in how unusual or intriguing it was.
By the way, Tiara? That name sounds familiar…
[Ah, that person’s name is Anne. Her Magical Girl name is Tiara.]
‘Ah.’
The phone call I received when Senior Jiun was in Japan for her honeymoon.
I scratched my head as I recognized her birth name, which I didn’t even need to recall from the conversation that flashed through my mind.
She usually had a lot of interest in Korea or something, but that wasn’t my business.
It seemed like she had ended up coming all the way to Korea, but seeing that there was no separate call with the Minister, I firmly believed that it had nothing to do with me.
However, perhaps I lacked faith…
With a phone call that came in, that belief was shattered.
[Congressman Uncle]
‘What’s going on? You’re calling me directly…’
I should have pretended not to receive the call.
Since it wasn’t a restricted number, I answered it without any suspicion.
But that Congressman Uncle was someone who knew Jiun, who was ‘once a Magical Girl.’
So I should have realized right away that he was affiliated with some department related to Magical Girls, and the cost of not understanding that was significant.
The contents of the call were a request for help from his Minister.
Since it was originally intended to be a request for help towards me, the conversation had somehow reached me through Congressman Uncle.
When I was in elementary school, I had received a lot of help from Congressman Uncle, so I felt like I couldn’t just rudely ignore him and hang up.
I heard there was a specific reason why it had to be entrusted to me.
“That person, Anne, wants to meet Mary, who defeated the monster, to express her gratitude.”
‘It would have been better if she didn’t come.’
“Oh, I see… That’s an honor…”
I muttered, my thoughts differing from my words.
Even after hearing the entire reason, I didn’t understand why it had to be like that, and I only managed to utter some appropriate words.
The talks that had been smoothly progressing in a place I didn’t even know had now turned into a conversation between the Korean and American governments, and finally today.
Tiara, a Magical Girl from America, had come to Korea.
Since her purpose was me, that situation had already become something I had to do regardless of my own opinion.
“So then I’ll tell Tiara the address where Mary lives, is that okay?”
“…Yes, please go ahead.”
Reluctantly scratching my head, I lay down on my bed and nodded.
It seemed like they intended to pass this bothersome American Magical Girl onto me entirely, but I couldn’t just hang around all day.
I couldn’t just leave a foreigner who barely speaks Korean sitting alone at home, so I quickly searched my mind for various excuses.
In an instant, my spinning mind found a conclusion.
“But what about school?”
The best excuse in a situation like this was, of course, the duties of a student.
But that didn’t work even a little with this uncle.
“Oh, I guess I should let them know beforehand? What elementary school did you say it was?”
The uncle asked, as if assuming it was natural to let the school know.
Didn’t they say that time flies faster as you grow older?
I thought that since he still saw me as an elementary student, he would have given up if I said I went to a difficult middle school.
Could this work? thinking I might have a chance, I stammered a lame excuse over the phone.
“Um… I’m starting middle school this year.”
“Oh dear! Really? I’m making you work without even giving you a present.”
“So, about that, would it be too much to take this Tiara person around?”
“It’s okay, it’s okay, you can just take a day off school! Which middle school are you attending?”
‘No answer.’
Though I tried to speak in a roundabout way, the Congressman Uncle’s words came directly.
Why is it that once you hit your 50s or 60s, indirect speech seems to be useless?
Anyway, it seemed there was no option to refuse on my side, so I just gave up in resignation.
“Fine, I’ll just say I’m sick and take the day off.”
“Why do you have to? I’ll handle that.”
“No, well, they’ll feel guilty about it anyway…”
In short, I didn’t want to show that I was connected to the upper ranks.
I decided to take the absence myself, even if they left a hole for me.
“But what about attendance?”
“Does the world collapse just because you miss one day?”
After that reply, the Congressman uncle kept saying that if he said something, it would be resolved, and that there was no need to worry about a hole in attendance.
Since the teachers had always bothered me with numerous questions since elementary school, I didn’t want to feel such discomfort again from the start of middle school.
I didn’t understand that they were beating around the bush just to say “I don’t want to,” but they understood perfectly well when I started talking like this.
…Wait a minute, was that intentional?
“Okay, I understand. The person also has a busy schedule, and will only be around for a short while tomorrow morning and afternoon before leaving.”
“Then, I can just let her sample a few things.”
“Right, right. Since most of the Korean experiences will be done within the schedule anyway.”
“Okay, understood. Do you know exactly when she is coming?”
“I think she will come around 10 AM.”
“Okay, then people will come to pick her up when the time comes?”
“Yeah.”
“Okay, got it. I’m going to hang up—”
“Sure—”
I reluctantly ended the relatively lengthy call.
The call lasted about 8 minutes.
For me, who usually finishes normal calls in under a minute, this was a record.
The Minister lady didn’t want to answer restricted numbers, so she called someone she knew.
While I do have some fault in ignoring services from restricted callers, even if there was a Magical Girl involved, it didn’t necessarily have to be my job.
Still, considering how much care I had received during my trip to America and the assistance during elementary school, I didn’t want to outright say that I didn’t want to do it.
“Ugh.”
In the end, what came out was just a faint sigh.
Still, since it was said that she would only be here for a short time in the morning and afternoon, I was relieved about that.
By the way, gratitude, what gratitude?
I simply fought off the monster instead of waiting for her to arrive from that vast land due to traffic.
Did she perhaps think she defeated the monster out of some fiery sense of mission?
Or did she believe that she was just returning a favor?
Not knowing her reasons for wanting to meet me, time flowed endlessly… and the following day came, morning arrived.
“Yawn…”
Just 3 seconds after the alarm rang.
My palm, which had been resting on the mattress of my bed, barely reached its destination and touched the rectangular smartphone.
My wake-up time is always 30 minutes earlier than Shiyeon.
I don’t plan to go to school, but I still have to wake up early somehow.
A housewife’s dilemma with children, what to make for breakfast today?
“I made soy sauce egg rice the other day, and there’s neither canned tuna nor ham to make fried rice…”
Neither this nor that.
Scratching my stomach under my clothes, I headed toward the kitchen.
With my eyes half-closed, I trudged over.
I opened the fridge door tightly and scanned the refrigerator.
I spotted leftover blocks of tofu I initially planned to use for budae jjigae.
While it looked pitiful just sitting there by itself with no other ingredients…
However, if I fry this in oil, it will go down easily.
Having decided on breakfast in my heart, I immediately took action.
I drained the water from the tofu pack and placed the firm tofu on the cutting board to slice it thinly.
The point is to slice the tofu to a thickness suitable for a smartphone.
If it’s too thick, the middle will stay mushy, and if it’s too thin, it will turn into a complete snack.
Instead of cooking oil, I pulled out some perilla oil from the shelf.
While it’s not exactly a secret, I always use this instead of cooking oil when frying tofu.
With the sound of oil sizzling in the frying pan, the strong aroma of perilla oil filled the air, and soon white steam began to rise from the tofu, which I had already placed in the oil.
I shouldn’t flip it too often, or the fragile tofu would break apart, so I tried to flip it only once or twice.
When the white tofu surface started turning a light brown reminiscent of tree bark, I left the frying pan and prepared some absorbent paper in the bowl that would hold the tofu.
By laying down the paper in advance, it will make washing dishes much easier later.
I carefully moved the firmed tofu to the bowl without fearing it would break.
I poured plenty of ketchup into a dipping sauce bowl, ensuring it was deep enough to dip the tofu adequately before heading to Shiyeon’s room.
“Shiyeon, it’s 40 minutes, wake up.”
I shook Shiyeon awake with my hands, still carrying the rich smell of perilla oil.
Struggling, the comforter rose up significantly around Shiyeon.
In her sleep, Shiyeon twisted into a position reminiscent of monks praying, seeking the smartphone that specialized in waking her up, moving her hands about.
‘Should I send a message in advance?’
Today is the day I can’t go to school.
It’s a basic courtesy to send a message to the homeroom teacher in advance.
I left a message saying that I was ill and couldn’t go with her contact on the messenger app.
After downing a glass of water, I was finally prepared to host a foreigner in the house, even if just for a short while.
