The grand figure of the old man standing near the truck with his arms crossed, hanging a nonsensical banner.
In the end, the old man was reported to the police, and the banner attached to the truck was removed and confiscated.
Just when it seemed like it would end as a simple incident…
Three days later, the sound of a truck rattling from beyond the playground proved that this was not the case.
“Look, that crazy old man is back.”
I distinctly heard that the banner was confiscated right then and there, didn’t I?
Contrary to what I had heard, that same unpleasant banner was reappearing with the truck old man, as if it had never been confiscated in the first place.
It was on a level that could not be understood with the thought processes of an ordinary person.
No, more than that, what kind of people would make those kinds of banners?
No matter how much they were paid, isn’t that insane?
“Hey, hey, that crazy old man is back again.”
“Really? Where? Where?”
As the female students reacted to the comment, making disgusted faces, some aggressive male students leaned out the window.
Though the old man had only appeared for a single day, his strong impression had spread like wildfire on the Internet.
On the internet, he was dubbed “loli-con old man”, becoming infamous for all the wrong reasons.
Comments were filled with remarks like “It’s the demon realm” and “I hope a magical girl will deal with him.”
Of course, I wished I could do something about it too, but the line between the police and a magical girl could easily become blurred, so I usually do not get involved in situations that can be solved by reporting them.
Normally, it’s only when it’s a case that’d take time to catch the perpetrator or if there’s a risk of escape that I’d step in.
Well, if he was that boldly standing there waiting for me to catch him, then there was no reason for me to act.
As the school dismissal time began, the old man started to unfold his banner.
Suddenly, an interesting proposal began to circulate among the male students who had been watching the scene with relaxed expressions, smoking…
“Should we gather the boys and take a ride?”
“Oh, that sounds fun. Should we call Joo Hyun?”
“Let’s take care of it right away.”
These boys, full of youthful vigor and fearlessness.
With astonishing action, they tapped on their smartphones to gather the team for old man hunting.
An old saying goes, “Use a rascal to catch a rascal.”
True to that saying, it was best to deal with a crazy person by using crazy people…
Soon, the smokers, who had vanished from school, could be seen gathering near the truck at the school gate.
“Waaah! Old man, feed me!”
“Get down, you guys!”
“No way! I’m not getting down until you give me 500,000 won!”
The crazy male students, surrounding the truck or climbing on its cargo area, were shouting and causing a ruckus, while the once proud old man was flustered and didn’t know what to do.
The students were playfully demanding 500,000 won with a baby-like whiny tone.
Normally, such crazy behavior would make one frown, but considering who they were dealing with…
“Ha ha ha…”
Other passing students laughed silently, as if they found it refreshing.
They jumped around in the cargo area like a trampoline, or they shouted loudly at the old man as they occupied the truck.
In the end, the situation reached the point where the old man couldn’t withstand it and called the police.
However, by the time the police arrived, the students fled at full speed…
Leaving only the old man, who had once again been left alone with the confiscated banners.
The responding officers confiscated the freshly made banners again, and the crazy old man was taken back to the police station, wrapping things up.
He even called the police himself to arrest him, leaving him bewildered as he was taken away.
After being so soundly dealt with by the boys, it seemed that the truck old man had learned his lesson, as he no longer appeared in front of our school from that day on.
Yes.
In “our school.”
Though people thought he had disappeared, it turned out that he was now pulling the same stunts at the girls’ high school in the next neighborhood.
[“Looking for a 13-year-old victim for the old man to have a child with”… 60-year-old man hanging banners]
“Oh gosh, that’s disgusting.”
I found out about it through an article instead of seeing it with my own eyes.
Glancing at the smartphone screen with a look of disgust for a moment, I pondered.
Could it be that he went to the girls’ school to verify the potential of male students with his own eyes?
Nevertheless, it seemed that the boys’ ruckus had indeed affected the old man.
“Is it time for some private retribution to take place?”
With that nefarious thought, I pushed my body upright from a slouched position on the couch and sat up.
This country has a problem with how quickly it apprehends criminals.
Having made my decision, it was time to formulate a plan for action.
“Today is an odd-numbered day.”
I happened to look at the notification bar on my smartphone, and saw that it was marked the 13th.
It was an odd-numbered night when there was no danger of monsters appearing.
The darkening sky outside.
The time was 10:47 PM, the perfect moment to move with a bit of leisure.
As I gathered my clothes from my underwear-clad state, the Gomtaengi gave me a puzzled look.
“Uh? Where are you going?”
I hadn’t even mentioned that monsters were showing up, but my odd appearance heading outside seemed suspicious.
Indeed, I hadn’t been running outside much lately, often using the heat as an excuse, sticking to strength training at home, so it was understandable to raise suspicions.
Though I could’ve claimed I was going to exercise, I felt no need to lie and just told the truth flatly.
“I’m going for some private retribution.”
“What?”
The confused expression of the Gomtaengi.
Thinking that I hadn’t heard properly, I repeated myself.
“I said I’m going for private retribution.”
“Huh? What do you mean?”
Even though we were speaking the same language, the Gomtaengi seemed completely confused.
Eventually, he got off the cushion where he had been lying.
Private retribution is private retribution, no other meaning to it.
Given that it wasn’t a monster appearance, he actually didn’t need to follow me, but…
Perhaps due to the chilling words embedded in the sentence, he followed me, scratching the back of his head in resignation.
“Damn it, what kind of trouble are you starting again?”
“If you don’t know, just come along.”
I told the worried Gomtaengi to just follow me without questioning how I would handle things this time.
When had he ever controlled my actions before?
I started to run lightly into the night.
Not the path I usually ran for exercise, but rather the path that some used to head to school.
As the muggy breeze wrapped around my body, I soon arrived at a building beside a place with no CCTV or vehicles.
It was a bit far from home, but it was undeniably one of the transformation points.
If I said that I arrived at my destination by flying from the transformation point, it would of course be in front of the girls’ high school that had appeared in the news.
A blue truck, so standard it could practically be a baseline.
A pristine white paper that clearly identified the owner of that truck.
[Looking for a woman to live with and give birth to an old man’s child in this truck.]
It seemed like all the banners had been used up, as there was now a sketchbook stuck inside the window.
I took the Gomtaengi out, who surely hadn’t seen the banners while we were walking back from school, and showed him the smudged writing written in dark marker on the sketchbook.
“Hey, look at this… Aren’t you feeling any urge to act?”
“Ew, isn’t that a psychopath?”
“If he’s still doing this after getting arrested by the police twice, then there’s no help for it.”
I brushed my hands off and cautiously lifted the truck, gauging its center of weight as I carefully moved my head beneath it.
As I lifted the massive metal cube from below, it began to rattle just as expected.
But after a moment, I found a stable position to raise it and smoothly flew into the sky.
The flying car was something mentioned often in science books, but I never would have thought I’d be making it fly myself.
“Uh oh.”
Dropping even a single part from a high place would lead to a catastrophic accident.
Flying as low as possible to avoid interfering with passing vehicles, I landed the truck in a densely wooded area atop a nearby hill.
With this kind of placement, nobody would imagine it had been driven down.
I realized late that the truck doors weren’t even locked.
Thanks to that, I was able to easily take down the paper.
And yet, the Gomtaengi still had lingering doubts.
He scratched his chin and faced me with a question.
“But, is that crazy old man really going to give up on this?”
“We’ll have to see if he does it again.”
Anyone who becomes infamously known for bad reasons tends to garner public interest.
A few days later, I would simply watch for the outcome of this act on the news.
With CCTV cameras surely present in front of the school, a compilation of footage was gathered.
At the bottom of the TV screen was a caption summarizing the events in a single sentence.
[Decision made by the magical girl regarding the truck of the 60-year-old man in front of the girls’ high school.]
“At a certain girls’ high school in Incheon, a small figure appears. Even in the dark, the long hair and ornate outfit are identifiable as that of a magical girl. She shows a white paper sticking to the window to her mascot.”
Although the footage wasn’t smooth and appeared blurry, it at least showed a figure vaguely recognizable as a magical girl moving around.
“Then shortly after, she crawled under the truck. It shook as she moved, and eventually, she flew off with the truck. The truck that vanished that day was found 14 kilometers away at the peak of XX mountain, surrounded by trees and confirmed to be unable to escape.”
The truck appeared in footage amidst the trees.
In the night, the deep and eerie atmosphere of the mountains was illuminated…
The truck sat there, as if it had originally belonged in the spot.
Seeing it this way was simply amusing.
‘They found it.’
“Meanwhile, the man who realized that his truck was missing was about to face charges without detention when, the next day, he rode a motorcycle and advertised with a sketchbook similar to the banner’s content and was currently arrested due to a warrant application.”
‘In the end, he got caught.’
Being such a highly publicized incident, it appeared there was soon to be a proper sentence after his third arrest.
From the perspective of ordinary people, it must be quite absurd that a person who had been arrested twice was walking around committing the same offenses.
To prove that, my story often appeared on the magical girl gallery today.
[If you liked the magical girl’s disposal style, upvote (118)]
The tales written in the post were predictable.
Arrests, releases, arrests, releases, the police continuing to release criminals back into society.
Compared to that, the magical girl who boldly dumped the truck into the mountains.
It was easy to determine which side would receive more public support.
From the outside, it looked like my actions were being praised in a collective frenzy for a closure that seemed quite refreshing.
However…
Realizing that the police couldn’t act in ways they wanted but were really unable to, I scratched my head thoughtfully.
When you think about it, it’s odd that a magical girl, who can use magic that might topple a building or tear up roads, is using her powers in such a manner.
Surely, the police would want to hit that crazy old man with a baton.
