After confirming Shiyeon’s faint lingering possessiveness over her toys, I looked out from the house to see the scenery outside.
The snowflakes that had fallen rather calmly on the way home from the park earlier had now turned into a driving snowstorm that blanketed the world in white.
Just as Uncle had said, the weather was perfect for building a big snowman.
While absentmindedly staring outside, a rattling sound of plastic pieces colliding with each other came from the corner of the room.
When I turned my head toward the source of the sound, it turned out that Gomtaengi had been nudging with its foot the sanitation bag that contained the devices confiscated from the Monsters.
“Looks like we’ve accumulated quite a few of these now.”
“Yeah, but are they really that important?”
After realizing that these small devices had gradually been taken from us one by one following our discovery of their misuse by the Monsters as a prank, their numbers, which had originally started with just one, had steadily increased to double digits before long.
If these devices were truly significant, it wouldn’t be strange for “them” to have initiated a conversation by now…
But strangely, there was no word from the Monster side.
‘Was I mistaken about something?’
Maybe the situation here is a bit different from how a single lost bullet would send the Korean military into chaos.
Lost in thought, I scratched the back of my head and found myself pondering over the small dilemma of how to dispose of these devices, now rendered useless. Should they be thrown away as regular plastic, or should they be dismantled to prevent accidental activation before disposal?
No one was offering a clear answer to my internal quandary when the buzzing vibration of an incoming call on my smartphone interrupted me.
Probably just another game notification or ad message.
Absentmindedly, I picked up my phone with a hand already full.
‘Hmm?’
A message from an unfamiliar number. The message simply read: “5 PM, join the video conference,” accompanied by a link, with no further explanation.
After closely inspecting the attached link, it seemed to be a normal video conference link, not suspicious at all.
At first glance, it appeared like another overseas spam message.
But there was something familiar about the link attached to the message.
The cryptic message and video conference.
Based on these bits of information, one figure came to mind when thinking of recent video conferences.
‘Is it that Minister Jang again?’
That person who had recently raked in a fortune from merchandise sales.
Though I had no clue what they wanted to talk about this time at 5 PM, if they’re asking, there’s not much I can do about it.
Before I knew it, 5 PM arrived amidst the heavy snowfall.
I seated myself in front of the computer at the appointed time, pulling over a dining chair when space was lacking.
The moment it hit exactly 5:00 PM, the Minister’s voice started speaking.
“Ah, yes, thank you all for finding time in your busy schedules to join us today.”
A formal and polite greeting started off the conversation smoothly.
“The reason I’ve called all of you here today is to inquire about your participation in the upcoming major festival – Seol.”
This gathering was to check our availability for the annual festival event, an event which always took place around the Seol festival time.
The event held during the festivals has always been a way for those of us who don’t have anywhere else to go to feel the festive mood each year, something we’ve grown grateful for.
Without a separate microphone or camera connected to the computer, we briefly responded in the chat with a simple “We’ll participate,” while observing the mood of the meeting.
Similarly, others were also indicating their participation or absence via the chat window, while only the newly appointed Minister had their microphone and camera turned on.
“Yes, your opinions have all been noted. Thank you for your time.”
In a mere 10 minutes, the video conference was concluded as the Minister scribbled something onto a piece of paper.
It seemed that the days of making one-on-one restricted calls were a part of the past.
Still, if this was the plan, wouldn’t it have been easier to just create a group chat on a messenger app?
What’s the reason behind allowing video conferences but disallowing group chats on a messenger app?
‘This makes no sense at all.’
I internally groaned, again at the military-style security policies.
How should I explain this?
It feels like using a separate network for security reasons while keeping every password standard as “Security12!”.
Although the essence might slightly differ in explanation, they all amount to efforts that contribute little to the actual secrecy and security maintenance.
In any case, once the meeting ended, I got up from my seat in front of the computer as a matter of courtesy and returned the dining chair that Shiyeon had brought to its original place.
“Kw-wwwww!”
Shiyeon followed me out of the room, stretching out with a yawn as if it had stiffened from sitting just for a short while.
She drank cold water straight into the cup left on the side of a water dispenser.
“Since 7 people confirmed their attendance earlier, we might not have as many people as usual this time.”
“How many do you think will come?”
Recalling the number of participants indicated in the chat window during the meeting, we had a modest pre-estimate of the festival gathering.
Seven Magical Girls were set to attend the event this year, slightly fewer than usual.
Thinking about Shiyeon’s question, I contemplated a bit, attempting to estimate in my mind.
If we count a few more people who said they would join despite not being able to participate in the meeting due to personal obligations, the number shouldn’t exceed ten, right?
“Probably no more than ten.”
As every year, participation in the festival events tends to be slightly lower for Seol compared to Chuseok.
Many Magical Girls who are still eligible to receive New Year’s money miss out.
Additionally, participation in the event counts as work, subtracting it from wages.
Assuming a large family with over ten adult relatives, the New Year’s money grows incrementally with each elder.
It’s only natural then that the participation rate is lower for Seol compared to Chuseok, yes.
Setting aside the upcoming festival for now, I casually opened the refrigerator.
“What’s for dinner tonight?”
Calling out loud more to myself than anything else.
The items inside the fridge were pretty simple: a glass container filled with bits of canned ham chopped fine like eraser crumbs, and, as always, eggs and leftover rice.
‘Guess I should make fried rice then.’
Tonight was an ideal evening for some fried rice.
After placing two eggs carefully on the rubber noodle holder to prevent them from rolling and placing the glass container on the sink with a soft sound, the peaceful afternoon of heavy snow was suddenly disrupted by an uninvited guest carefully flying over.
“Um…”
Gomtaengi’s voice came from somewhere near the floor.
Predicting the typical follow-up after such an attitude, I preemptively asked,
“What is it? Isn’t today an odd-numbered day?”
Monsters usually appear on even-numbered days.
It was already obvious that the next sentence would be, “I think a Monster is going to show up.”
“Uh… yeah, it seems so.”
Gomtaengi, after scratching the back of their head upon my pointing out that it was an odd-numbered day, nodded in agreement, while also tilting their head in confusion.
What can be done if it’s coming today?
“Ah…”
With a deep sigh, I placed the eggs and the glass container back into the fridge.
It’s annoying and frustrating, but things need to be done.
‘However…’
Why on earth are Monsters coming on odd-numbered days now? What wind brought this about?
While pondering the oddness of this change and putting back on the clothes I had worn outside, a slight chill from leftover sweat on my top didn’t bother me too much.
Perhaps my bustling actions in the kitchen seemed suspicious, as Shiyeon peeked out from the room to ask.
“Are you going somewhere again?”
“A Monster’s coming, I’ll come back to make fried rice.”
“Uhhn~”
As usual with the Monsters’ appearance.
With a cute response, Shiyeon’s pronunciation twisted while responding.
Apparently expecting me to leave, even the sea serpent hadn’t bothered to inform Shiyeon about the incoming Monster.
Naturally, I intended to go, but not even announcing it felt kind of strange.
Pushing aside the uneasy feeling, I stepped outside.
“Wow, it’s piled up a lot.”
Stepping out of the shared entrance of the first floor, the sight was breathtaking.
Even though it had only been snowing for a few hours, the world was already transformed into a sea of pure white.
The snow was piled so high that it made a crunchy sound with every step.
For a moment, I forgot that I had come out to catch a Monster, and with the innocence of childhood, I tried forming a snowball with bare hands.
Then, promptly returning to reality, I hurled the perfectly shaped snowball into the grass and headed for a nearby alley.
This was the same alley from last time that got captured by a car’s black box.
It seems that the human hunters who had previously been trying to hunt for Magical Girls have given up, leaving the alley once again deserted.
As if it was their designated spot, the illegally parked cars still occupied the same location.
On their windows were layers of snow, thickly accumulated.
“Sun.”
Assuming that transforming here wouldn’t be captured by anything, I calmly recited the transformation spell and soared into the sky.
White, white, everything was white.
“Where am I going?”
With buildings of similar heights completely covered in white, all I could do was follow the Gomtaengi as a compass toward the Monster.
Even though I live in a relatively urban area, the situation was like this.
Had I lived in some remote American countryside or the agricultural regions of Gangwon Province, I would undoubtedly have lost my sense of direction.
Following Gomtaengi’s direction like a compass, I flew for several minutes until I reached the rooftop of a snow-covered building where there stood a mysterious snow-covered statue.
“Isn’t this…”
Upon setting foot on the rooftop, it felt oddly familiar.
The positioning and shape of the rooftop structures, its width—it was unmistakably the rooftop of the apartment building where we had previously busted the wall trying to capture a Monster.
However, I didn’t remember ever seeing such a snow-covered statue.
“Hellooooo, good to see you!”
“DEEEEEEK?!?!”
Suddenly.
As the statue shook off the snow while letting out a scream, an involuntary scream erupted from within me.
And then, disregarding my own thoughts, my fist launched before me while my body screamed.
“AAAAGH!!!!”
“AaaaAAaaAAaa!”
Startled, the punch slashed through the air accompanied by screams…
The Monster, caught off guard, was immediately shredded into pieces with a sound akin to bursting air.
Plop plop. Unidentified liquids and bits of flesh scattered through the air.
In my heightened senses, metallic letters flashed by in slow motion.
[I want conversation; I desire to talk.]
The metallic plate, creating a sharp sound, tumbled pointlessly in the rooftop snowfield.
