Chapter 12

“Originally, Magical Girls can only be girls. Even when transformed, they’re still girls, hence the name Magical Girl.”

“Ah, I’ve heard that before.”

No one knows the principle behind how Magical Girls come to be. Scientists from all fields have gathered to investigate the origins and causes of Magical Girls, but nothing has been revealed yet.

One thing that has been revealed is that only girls can become Magical Girls.

“Since I’m a girl, does that mean I became a Magical Girl?”

After taking a bite of bibimbap and a spoonful of soybean paste stew, Dusik continued.

“Ugh.”

“Dusik, finish eating before talking.”

Seeing rice grains flying out of a beautiful girl’s mouth isn’t as pleasant as one might think.

“So, I did become a Magical Girl, but the problem is, when I transform, I turn into a man.”

“Ah.”

That gap is indeed enormous. A delicate, blonde beauty transforming into a burly, sports-haired man is really hard to get used to.

“I’m the only one who turns into a man when I transform. So, naturally…”

“Ah…”

“And, the Magical Girl Association is full of crazy women. Priqu, Prabel, Prilly. It’s not just those three.”

“Wait a minute.”

Prilly?

“Isn’t Prilly the head of the Gwangmyeong branch of the Magical Girl Association I’m meeting tomorrow evening?”

“Right. She’s also a crazy woman.”

“She didn’t seem like it…”

“Unnie, you know what they say. Men who like big-breasted women are openly perverts. But men who like small-breasted women are dangerous perverts.”

“Is that a saying?”

I swear to heaven, I’ve never heard that before.

“Priqu, who’s openly crazy, will listen if you beat her up. But Prilly, who’s secretly crazy, is more dangerous because you never know what she’ll do. Anyway, let’s continue.”

“Okay.”

“It’s not just that they’re crazy in a common sense way, but, ugh, it’s a bit hard to say this…”

“What? Why? Why?”

“Do you know what a lesbian is?”

“Of course I know.”

It’s yuri, yuri.

“The Magical Girl Association has a lot of lesbians. Well, of course, there are heterosexuals too, but strangely, the ratio of lesbians is too high. Not that being homosexual is bad, but the problem is that they’re crazy women with a few screws loose.”

This is completely unexpected.

“To the point where a post like this once appeared on the Magical Girl intranet bulletin board.”

There’s a chat board on the intranet used only within the Association, and a post like this once appeared.

[Please show some consideration for sexual minorities like me who like men, you crazy women!!!! Why are you drying strap-on dildos in front of the main building entrance!!!]

[That’s where the sun shines the most! And, calling it a strap-on dildo! Don’t call our lovely strap-on dildo such a simple word!]

I shouldn’t associate with them.

“Anyway, that’s the extent of it. So, since I turn into a Magical Boy when I transform, those lesbians must hate seeing me. I get more dangerous missions, more physically demanding tasks. It’s dirty and petty, so I just turned to the dark side and joined MogMog.”

“I see…”

Well, it’s not really my concern…

“By the way, the Prilly you’re meeting tomorrow is a top-tier crazy lesbian.”

Oh no. It seems like my chastity is already in danger.

“Unnie, look at your eyes. You have vertical pupils. They’re unique. Plus, you have big breasts, you’re tall, and your style is amazing. When you transform, your outfit is a uniform. You’re a total strike for Prilly’s taste.”

It definitely seems like my chastity is in danger. No matter how I look at it. How did it come to this? It’s not like there are only women around, does becoming a Magical Girl change your sexual orientation? What on earth is going on?

“Ah, so when she said to come in your transformation outfit as the dress code…”

“She has a uniform fetish. She’s crazy about uniforms.”

No wonder I couldn’t understand why there was a dress code for going to a meat restaurant.

“Ah, Dusik. By the way, didn’t you say Prabel is also a lesbian?”

“Yes, she’s a lesbian too.”

“Then why did she attack you out of nowhere when we met at the mall before?”

“Ah, that.”

There’s a reason I remember, but I hope it’s not that. If it is, then my already dwindling illusions about Magical Girls…

“She confessed to me, and I rejected her. She confessed to me in this form, not my transformed form.”

Everything’s falling apart. It’s all over. There’s no more illusion left.

After eating, having a cup of coffee is the rule.

Personally, I prefer sweet mix coffee, so I was lounging on the hall table with a paper cup brought by one of my minions.

Then Keru came strolling over. It feels strange to see a leopard walking like this… Keru sat down at my feet and started licking his front paws.

“Tomorrow afternoon, the equipment repairs will be finished.”

“Really? Isn’t that a day early?”

“Yeah. We need to prepare quickly and get ready to attack. We should also send out the official notice in advance.”

But I don’t understand why we have to send out a notice specifying where and when we’ll attack. It’s like a prearranged game of Go-Stop, talking about world domination and all.

“Hmm…”

Something tastes bitter in my mouth. Working in sales sharpens your intuition. So, you can predict whether someone will sign a contract or not, and eventually, you can even get a rough idea of what they’re thinking.

“Keru.”

“Yeah.”

“Are you hiding something from me?”

“Huh…?”

“Does this make sense? You tell me when and where we’ll attack, and now you’re saying no one dies and buildings are restored. What kind of world-domination-seeking group is this?”

“Mo, Mother-Body. Let’s talk in the office.”

Well, this is the hall, so there are many ears listening, including the minions. It’s not the right place for such a conversation, so Keru and I moved to the office.

CEO Yoon-Woo.

A desk with a nameplate adorned with a dragon.

I sat in the chair behind the desk, and Keru sat on the sofa across from me.

“Tell me honestly. Is there something you’re not telling me?”

“Well…”

“Should I retire? Or should I go on a journey to find another Mother-Body?”

“No, no no. I was just trying to organize my thoughts.”

Resting my chin on my interlaced fingers on the desk, I stared intently at Keru. The conditions he set when recruiting me, and the stories that have been circulating since I started as the boss, were enough to make me suspicious.

An evil organization aiming for world domination.

But in reality, it’s a struggling, dying group.

Magical Girls who must fight and destroy the evil organization.

But in reality, they’re the ones keeping the evil organization on life support.

When the evil organization attacks, the Magical Girls fight back.

But in reality, they’re told when and where the attacks will happen, and even after the fights start, no one dies or gets hurt, and the destroyed buildings are restored.

Where in the world does such a convenient plot exist?

An evil organization that doesn’t harm people or property? Yet aims for world domination?

“Do you think I’m a fool? What’s the real goal?”

“Well.”

Keru is watching my reaction.

Judging by his demeanor, he didn’t expect me to catch on so quickly, but I haven’t been wasting my time in the workforce.

I didn’t go to the military, and I started working right after high school, so it’s been 10 years now.

Even at the company I worked at until recently, I joined five years ago, and despite being a high school graduate, I was finally about to be promoted to assistant manager, but I’ve been through the wringer at various companies.

“Alright, I’ll be honest. It might be a bit shocking, but listen carefully.”

Keru sighed. A leopard sighing, what a sight.

“As you heard when we made the contract, I’m the guardian of the Dark Realm. Although I’m a guardian, I belong to the Bureau of Administration that governs the entire Dark Realm. By the way, the Dark Realm isn’t evil. It’s just that our position is the villain role, not like demons. That’s the guys below, in hell.”

This is getting too sudden. Dark Realm? Bureau of Administration? Position? What is this?

“It’s natural that you don’t understand now. You’ll need to experience more battles and clash with Magical Girls to get it, but you caught on too quickly. Anyway, I’ll continue, so just listen and remember.”

“Ah, okay.”

“And, as I said before, my mission is to maintain the balance of good and evil in this Earth, or more precisely, in Korea. Our Dark Realm is closely related to this world, and we don’t like people dying. It’s just a game played by the gods, so why should people die? But we can’t stop the higher-ups from enjoying their game, so all we can do is try to maintain the balance so that the game doesn’t end and continues for a long time.”

“Then, what about the Magical Girls?”

“They’re the same. They just belong to the Light Realm, not the Dark Realm. They’re on the opposite side, but they’re not enemies. A member of the Light Realm’s Bureau of Administration is attached as a mascot next to the head of the Magical Girl Association. The Light Realm’s position is the hero role. And they share our thoughts. Why should people die in a game played by the gods? But since they can’t oppose it, they try to adjust things so that the game doesn’t end quickly.”

“So?”

“Actually, world domination is just a pretext. It’s the most harmless thing for such an organization to shout. In reality, when we first appeared, some people died, right?”

“That’s right.”

“It was because the Magical Girls didn’t appear in time. Otherwise, the balance would have been too off. Our evil force, MogMog, kept growing, but no Magical Girls appeared, so we had to make the Magical Girls appear quickly, even if it meant harming humans. Regardless of the intention, by doing so, the perception that we are evil spread widely in this world, and thanks to that, Magical Girls could be born. So the balance started to be maintained, but…”

“Wait, I get it. I get it, so what happens if the balance isn’t maintained?”

“They flip the board.”

“What board?”

“The game board of the gods. In the Divine Realm, far above the Dark and Light Realms, they flip the game board of this Earth. The game ends.”

“What?”

“How many times do you think this Earth’s game board has been flipped? From ancient times, starting with the extinction of the dinosaurs, the Great Flood, earthquakes, and other natural disasters, to more recent events like World War I and World War II, and regional wars.”

“So, if the balance is broken and one side completely collapses, a catastrophe occurs?”

“Yeah. A lot of people die.”

What on earth is this?

“Whether good wins or evil wins doesn’t matter. That’s not the problem. But if one side completely collapses, it means the other side has won. The game is over. This round is finished.”

Keru was looking at me with serious eyes.

“We have to start over.”

“Then wouldn’t it be fine to just stay still? The evil organization exists, and the Magical Girls, the good organization, also exist.”

“No. Think about it. If you put a coin in an arcade game but don’t start the game, wouldn’t you be angry?”

“I would.”

“From the gods’ perspective, if we don’t fight, the game doesn’t start. It’s a bug. They’d be like, ‘Why isn’t this game working?’ and start hitting the machine.”

“Then we can just attack and defend casually.”

“Mother-Body.”

“What?”

“Wouldn’t that be an unfair game? No matter how much we care about this world and its people, the game must be fair.”

“Well, that’s true…”

We were really close earlier. Keru stretched his body. Even in the middle of such a serious conversation, Keru’s behavior isn’t helping the atmosphere.

“If we hadn’t found you, and if we couldn’t find a Mother-Body, this round would have been flipped. A catastrophe would have occurred on this land. We would have had to start a new game. Watching the people we’ve grown fond of die.”

“What the…”

“Anyway, that’s why we need to grow our forces quickly. Not as much as the Magical Girl Association, but enough for the gods to see that we’re fighting on equal terms. And to maintain that balance.”

Keru looked at me again.

“To maintain that balance so that this round doesn’t end.”

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