Not long after that incident, rumors circulated around Incheon.
A certain girls’ high school in Incheon featured in the news.
Among the students of that school, they wondered if there was a magical girl.
Though it was a completely misdirected assumption and not at all intended, the situation was effectively diverting attention away from the real issues.
Moreover, the neutral response from the school further amplified those suspicions.
“There are no students with such characteristics in our school; you must be misunderstanding something.”
An answer from an elderly teacher was exchanged during interviews, but the boiling public opinion showed no signs of cooling down.
In fact, from the school’s standpoint, it was hard to feel anything but wronged, as they themselves were clueless.
The very mention of “characteristics” in the interview response implied they were unaware that one’s appearance changes when transforming.
Some people were living in their own bubble, oblivious to the world’s trends, whether it be the fad of malatang or tanghulu.
Although the Korean magical girl scene tends to be closed off, it was ironically receiving more attention than necessary because of that very characteristic.
Meanwhile, the real culprit behind the truck incident was catching wind of it all through a smartphone from another local middle school, making it all the more ridiculous for those who knew the truth.
Despite being a story from another neighborhood, the high school was within a reachable distance if they ran just a little.
“Did you hear the old man who came to the school was caught? Did you see it?”
“Yeah, they said he tossed a truck into the mountains, right?”
The notorious lolicon from our school had been a hot topic until just a few days ago.
Although he was famous for all the wrong reasons, he was nonetheless a madman whose actions garnered attention.
With the news that the magical girl personally dealt with him, along with the fact that he was “really” caught, the school was buzzing.
The homeroom teacher even added a note urging everyone to report any strange individuals at once, and so the strange topic seemed to slip through quietly.
However, some students who were keenly interested in this area began paying late attention to the question of whether that girls’ high school really had a magical girl.
…And one of those students was part of our conversation.
Dongha, shaking with excitement, slammed his fist lightly on the desk, his eyes glimmering with conviction and a fervor that had yet to wane.
“There’s definitely one!”
“How can you be so certain?”
Seonhyuk, albeit skeptical of Dongha’s assurance, interjected casually.
In response, Dongha seemed almost frenzied, as if he were pushing a button for a meltdown, questioning Seonhyuk as if he couldn’t comprehend why he didn’t see it.
“No, you can tell just by looking! When he showed up at our school, he didn’t get caught, but the moment he went to the nearby girls’ high school, a magical girl appeared and tossed a truck into the mountains, right?”
Operating strictly on a common-sense level, Dongha was outlining the cause and effect.
Cause: The old man who had appeared at our school showed up at the adjacent girls’ high school.
Effect: A magical girl appeared and dealt with him.
It was a one-dimensional conclusion arising from a one-dimensional analysis.
“I don’t know, idiot, why should I care?”
Even if it was one-dimensional, Seonhyuk responded to the passionate Dongha with an indifferent comment tinged with exasperation.
For those who had no interest in magical girls, it must have felt like that.
“They just took him down because they couldn’t stand it anymore.”
I never expected the fruit of patience, which I had held for so long, to pay off like this, but it was all well and good.
If they misinterpreted things on their own, it would make it easier for me to move.
More than that, however, I was concerned about the whereabouts of Taehyun, who had not returned for quite a while.
I glanced around the classroom, finding no sign of Taehyun, and asked the two who knew him best.
“Where did Taehyun go?”
“He went to the bathroom. Maybe he’s busy making a dump?”
“Hmmm.”
I let out a sound of mild acceptance, then returned to my seat as the school bell rang.
Taehyun finally came back in through the back door and sat down after a few minutes.
I glanced at him and caught his eye…
“Oh?”
For a brief moment, Taehyun quickly looked away.
Could it be that he was feeling conscious because Shiyeon said something unnecessary last time?
Whatever the case, if I didn’t show any reaction, he’d probably give up on it.
Time flowed on with such mundane thoughts.
On a day when I didn’t want to move an inch from under the air conditioner because of the sweltering heat.
The overcast sky and high humidity signaled one particular fact.
“Mary, they say a typhoon is coming?”
“Yeah.”
A single half-hearted remark escaped as I lay on the floor.
Typhoon.
The natural phenomenon that makes Jeju tremble and can even knock the Gangnam Station unconscious.
Around this time of year, I found myself envious of schools that close due to typhoons.
Of course, considering the damage to those regions, it’s not something to envy wholeheartedly…
Usually, by the time storms reach the metropolitan area, they’ve lost most of their strength, which means they mostly just pour down rain, allowing schools to go on as normal.
A few years back, there was such an uproar about the strongest typhoon ever that I even bought bubble wrap and taped it to my windows…
But what was all the fuss about? The windows didn’t even break and just rattled a bit.
Ultimately, the aftermath of preparing for the typhoon was more troublesome.
Since then, I tend to ignore all the media’s claims about “the biggest” or “the strongest” typhoons.
The only thing I check related to typhoons on the news is their paths.
Sometimes I wonder if one might come to Korea, but often they veer towards Japan or China, so I make a habit of checking their journey daily.
For now, Korea is still on the predicted path.
I wondered what kinds of discussions were going on in the gallery and dropped by an online site.
There wasn’t anything particularly interesting in the overall posts, so my fingers quickly moved toward the concept post.
[Real-time status of monsters in Jeju (71)]
Upon seeing the sudden mention of monster status, my finger naturally tapped the jumble of words.
After a brief white screen, I saw a photo of a gray sea rolling fiercely, with turbulent waves against the backdrop of the overcast sky…
In the midst of that gray sea, barely visible, was a strangely shaped monster showing just its head.
Its face looked like an overly dynamic fish, as if it had just been pulled from a fishing line.
And below that photo were the author’s short updates.
[Floating away]
“Crazy, heh heh heh.”
The sudden hilarious point made me burst into laughter in reality.
What added to the humor of the post were the comments lined up below.
[This is insaneㅋㅋㅋㅋ]
[Where is he floating to?]
[How did that happen?]
[Nature, I guess]
[What do you mean? Did he die?ㅋㅋㅋ]
[Wait, really? Did it end like that?]
[Yeah, I just got a text saying the monster floated away, and the warning was lifted.]
[This is hilariousㅋㅋㅋlegendary]
[How did he end up in the sea?]
[Must have had to swim, I guess.]
[The head is a fish, but can’t swim?]
[This is perplexing.]
[Typhoon performance is weakㅋㅋㅋ]
[What the heckㅋㅋㅋ]
[This is really insane.]
“What’s got you so entertained?”
While I was chuckling on my bed for quite a while, Shiyeon, who had been filling water at the water dispenser, came into my room and asked.
She leaned over the edge of my bed and showed me her smartphone screen.
“Look at the monster that appeared in Jeju.”
“Where’s the monster?”
She seemed to be unable to locate the tiny monster face, looking confused as she scrolled around the smartphone screen.
Stretching her neck, she pointed to a specific spot on the screen.
“Here, can’t you see the little fish face in the sea?”
“Oh, wow! What is that, heh.”
Her finger drew my attention, and after spotting the monster in the photograph, Shiyeon let out a light laugh.
It turned out there were similar cases abroad, even though they weren’t identical.
There were reports that a tornado in the United States had a monster sighting alarm that vanished in just 15 minutes…
Or that a monster 20 kilometers outside the tornado’s origin had its head crushed by a flying rock…
These articles about monsters were definitely full of comedic value, but western tornadoes are indeed spine-chilling to behold.
Considering not just the heavy rainfall a typhoon brings but contemplating whether or not your house will still be standing.
Wait, did monsters not have separate alarms for that?
[Monsters being swept away by the waves and getting wrecked by the magical girl and having their heads crushed by rocks, if that gained popularity, that’d be an upvote in my bookㅋㅋ]
The post that Mary was looking at.
At the same time, the high-ranking officials of the monsters were displaying that post on a screen on their spaceship.
Just as the gallery talked about monsters, monsters were peering into the gallery as well.
Actively reflecting the opinions of the internet, the policies on the spaceship were gradually evolving in a humane… no, monstrous direction.
“Uh, so this discussion is about whether to grant permission to transmit alerts in regions where tornadoes, hurricanes, typhoons, volcanic eruptions, and other natural disasters have occurred?”
“Can’t we just do it as we always have?”
“Well, the thing is, according to Reform 24.0, a directive has been issued to establish a flexible invasion preparedness strategy for interplanetary natural disasters, so we were told to operate autonomously at the discretion of the spaceship’s commander…”
Of course, determining detailed strategies for managing changes was always the responsibility of the mid-level managers and high-ranking officials.
The Shield Lion, feeling the complexities of the situation, placed his palm on his forehead with a sigh.
“Let’s just designate it as a holiday.”
