Time has passed, and it’s 1 AM, a time when I should be closing my eyes and trying to sleep even if I’m not tired.
But in Korea, it’s still around 9 PM, a lively hour when students on break should not be sleeping, and I was caught up in chatting with Shiyeon, my fingers moving across my smart phone.
[Is everything finished? Maybe I can go back early?]
[Really? You’re done already?]
[Yeah, it just happened that way.]
Messages continued to be typed with sleepy eyes. My body, which had already adapted to this time difference, was pulling down my eyelids, urging me to go to sleep.
Right, I can at least expect an early return since my work is finished….
Without even pressing the power button on the smartphone, I gradually let my eyes close and fell asleep.
‘…Huh?’
I thought I had only closed my eyes for a moment, but my consciousness was abruptly cut off. I had fallen asleep in that position, holding my phone loosely in my hand.
I don’t know how many hours I slept, but my smartphone was still brightly lit. It hadn’t been programmed to turn off automatically, and I had dozed off last night.
Without the charger connected, the battery had completely run out.
I tapped the screen with my fingers, but there was no response from the smartphone.
‘Oh?’
I tapped harder, my light gestures now tinged with a sense of panic.
With my small hands, I struggled to grasp the phone and muttered a transformation release spell….
“Ah!”
A short scream escaped my lips.
As my transformation faded, my head hit the wall with a thud.
I gulped a breath of air, wincing with one eye squeezed shut.
I removed one of my hands from the smartphone, rubbing the top of my head.
As I released the transformation, I felt heat at my fingertips that had been numb before.
‘Ouch!’
I felt the warmth from the fingers that had touched the back of the smartphone.
Surprised, I pulled my fingers away, and the smartphone touched the soft bed.
Oh right, in my transformed state, I didn’t mind pouring hot water from the kettle, did I?
I cautiously lifted the smartphone, which felt like it might burst from the heat, between my thumb and index finger and pressed the power button.
I counted to five, and forced the smartphone to turn off due to its severe overheating.
Looking out the window as I offered my exhausted smartphone some rest, the sky was still dark, making it impossible to guess the time just by brightness.
I wasn’t particularly wearing a watch either, so until my smartphone regained consciousness, I was lost in a maze regarding the current time.
Because of that, I started to notice the watch I hadn’t bothered to look for before, casting my gaze around the room.
The eye that swept across the corners of the room found the clock.
“6:49…”
Reading the time written there, I realized with numbers that morning had indeed arrived.
Maybe since I had just woken up, I wasn’t particularly hungry, but it was time for breakfast.
Though most of my remaining schedule was free time, I still had to keep to the meal times.
If I shrugged off the designated meal time with ‘I’m not really hungry,’ the situation of being stuck in my room eating cup ramen when I eventually became hungry felt too pitiful.
After washing up like it was a routine, I joined the interpreter uncle who had been waiting outside, and we walked unhurriedly to the restaurant.
There, I could see the magical girls and interpreters from various countries each having their meals at their own pace, all in accordance with the time.
The first person to greet me at that restaurant was Tiara from the United States, who I could somewhat call a friend.
“Did you sleep well?”
“Yes, did you?”
In response to her morning greeting about sleeping well, I returned a polite reply.
Some of the menu items occasionally changed, but fundamentally, the dining style was always buffet for breakfast, lunch, and dinner alike.
Someone could question if the offerings were a bit too luxurious for my stomach, but…
‘Wait, was this trip package 40 million won?’
Remembering the price, it felt like ‘Of course it should be luxurious.’
This was the price that came up when I simply combined the keywords “icebreaker” and “Arctic” while searching.
Unless one has money to spare, it wouldn’t be easy to casually spend that amount, even if they tried to mentally prepare.
To be honest, it’s a travel package I cannot comprehend with the payment style of a common person who cares about cost-effectiveness.
How would I know what wealthy people, who feel twitchy unless they spend money, are thinking?
“By the way, you didn’t transform today?”
As I pondered such thoughts and set my bowl on the arranged table, a puzzled comment came from beside me.
“Huh?”
I also let out a voice tinged with confusion, realizing something was off as I checked my own body.
“Oh.”
A sigh of realization.
My view was noticeably higher than when I was transformed.
The warmth of the forks and spoons that had been sanitized in the dishwasher and placed on the table.
I realized everything was wrong and belatedly muttered the transformation spell.
“Sun.”
With the strange sensation of my body shrinking, my line of sight gradually matched Tiara’s.
Seeing me finally transform, she tilted her head in confusion and asked again.
“Did you forget?”
“Yes.”
I positively confirmed her question and grabbed a fork that felt a bit larger than my hand, poking at the chicken.
I, Kim Mari. I’m not a man who coolly admits mistakes… well, I’m a woman.
Tasting the fried food without a drop of sauce, the flavor was straightforward and pure.
The crispy sound resonated from my mouth to my ears.
Though it wasn’t as impressive as something freshly fried, it was tasty enough.
Breakfast, lunch, and dinner were all buffets.
So I didn’t have to stuff myself more than usual, and after eating one to two bowls, I neatly set my utensils down.
“Wow, this is delicious!”
…Of course, I’m only speaking for myself.
In this place filled with magical girls, the presence of the mascot was very natural, and I had no reason to hide it either.
That guy seemed to have a little beggar seated in his belly, as he was already on his third bowl.
Unexpectedly, there was a lot of white rice and tonkatsu, which is a kind of cutlet, and various other dishes whose names I didn’t really know.
“Next, can I ask for that?”
“Sure, sure.”
For that guy, who physically struggled to carry food in a bowl due to his characteristics, I stepped in for a rare moment.
What awaited us after that was an utterly floating schedule.
Just like jellyfish floating in the ocean, we surrendered everything to the flow, lost in thought.
With the monster searches and subjugations all concluded on my end, an unexpected luxurious tour by the magical girls began.
Taking life shots on deck, playing in the indoor pool all day despite being surrounded by sea and ice…
Documenting the ice that the icebreaker was fiercely cutting through, or reading books in the library, which usually I wouldn’t just stroll into.
People living in this world aren’t much different; anyway, we were on a trip, so we came together in a spirit of unity to enjoy various facilities.
Since we were on a trip, what we’ll have left is just pictures.
I pulled out the charger from the smartphone that had been enjoying honey-like rest in the room, pressed the power button down firmly to give it more work.
The screen that had been entirely off before shutting down remained still for a moment, sending a wave of anxiety through me, but…
Fortunately, the smartphone turned back on normally.
“Phew.”
A short sigh mixed with relief.
The smartphone, now cooled down enough to turn on without worry.
While waiting for the smartphone to fully start up, I remembered the conversation that had been abruptly cut off the night before, and after a brief pause, opened the messenger app.
The one-on-one chat with Shiyeon, who had been my last conversation.
In there, the conversation that I hadn’t managed to reply to while I was asleep continued on.
[When do you think you’ll be back?]
[Huh?]
[Are you sleeping?]
[Emoticon]
[???]
[Please answer.]
[Please do.]
The numbers had straightforwardly disappeared, making Shiyeon seem perplexed at the lack of a reply.
Korean time was still early morning, but I quickly typed on the keyboard to reassure her that I wouldn’t be anxious when she woke up.
[Sorry.]
[I fell asleep with my phone on.]
Sending a response that came too late, I stuffed my phone in my pocket and went around the icebreaker with the interpreter uncle, taking pictures here and there.
After all, this person is like a dedicated guide assigned to me, so they must stick close to me except when I entered my room.
And it seemed that the interpreter uncle was getting gradually comfortable with our relationship, as he began to share hidden backstory that had not been mentioned until now.
“They told me to keep an eye on you, saying I don’t know what kind of trouble you might cause, so stay close and watch carefully.”
“Do I really give off an image of someone who would cause trouble?”
Having become somewhat familiar with the interpreter uncle, I asked him a casual question, wanting to know the general public’s perspective.
“Well, if we just look at the public image of ‘Sun’…”
Upon receiving that question, he spoke continuously with no hesitation in his response.
It was as if he were a learned individual who had acquired various languages, throwing in elegant words while belittling me.
While he did try to soften it up a bit, if translated bluntly, it could be interpreted as ‘Your image is quite messed up.’
As I bristled at the fading tone of the uncle’s words, I interjected with a joke amidst my rough reply.
“Hey there, go ahead and say more nonsense.”
“…It’s a joke.”
