After sharing the side dishes, Taehyun had planned to return home without any issues.
However, due to a sudden incident caused by Shiyeon, that became impossible.
“Can we talk for a moment?”
Pinching his brow with his thumb and index finger, Taehyun closed his eyes and sighed as he brought up the topic, suggesting it was a headache. Under the pretext of explanation, he nearly forced Shiyeon to stop on her way home.
“Uh, um….”
It seemed the atmosphere prevented her from casually saying, “I’ll just head out,” as she awkwardly replied and nodded her head obediently.
Normally, our dining table was just the two of us, but it was quite uncommon to see three people sitting around it, aside from the corner next to the wall.
Shiyeon, the culprit of the situation, bowed her head deeply as if she had committed a grave sin, unable to even place her hands on the table, clutching her thighs instead.
The sneaky glances from the sea serpent watching us were a bonus.
In fact, there were no strict rules like “You must not reveal that you are a magical girl.” After all, how many jobs exist these days that come with such drastic penalties like being fired for revealing one’s occupation?
Perhaps it would only apply to those called black agents working for the National Intelligence Service?
If that were the case, there would be lawsuits and media frenzy everywhere if anyone were fired for such reasons in today’s world.
“Hah.”
My thoughts drifted slightly elsewhere; where should I even begin to explain this?
With my thoughts unorganized, I let out a deep sigh.
It didn’t feel right to just sit someone down while continuing to sigh, so I mustered the courage to speak.
“It’s just that….”
“Shiyeon….”
The words I finally managed to stutter out overlapped with Taehyun’s.
As we stopped mid-sentence in an awkward crossover of conversation, the silence reigned again.
Since the uncomfortable atmosphere compelled me to open my mouth, I subtly handed the conversational lead back to Taehyun.
“Keep talking.”
“Is Shiyeon really that magical girl? For real?”
Looking as if he couldn’t quite believe it, Taehyun opened his eyes wide, staring at Shiyeon as he asked.
It was a perfectly reasonable question.
No matter how clueless he might be, he couldn’t possibly be unaware of this situation.
Shiyeon didn’t directly respond to Taehyun at first, nervously glancing over here and there until their eyes met.
With a nod of her head towards Taehyun, signaling him to speak, she silently urged him to say it herself.
Asking now whether she was not would be pointless, given that there was no way to explain otherwise if he pursued the matter with the flying snake.
“Yeah….”
Ultimately, Shiyeon nodded her head.
In truth, there were quite a few clues one could deduce from.
For instance, pictures uploaded to the news showing Ms. Tiara with me, or both Shiyeon and I regularly going out whenever a monster appeared.
We were managing fine without our parents, without any financial difficulties.
If one were to connect those dots, one might think, “Aren’t they magical girls?”
Yet, taking such things for granted often clouds one’s judgment.
Taehyun had indeed never even considered this.
“Wait, since when?”
“When do you mean by since when? This is a story from long before I met you.”
While he had grown more certain looking at the flying snake, after hearing the concrete answer, Taehyun became even more flustered and stumbled over his words.
Anyone would think he himself were a magical girl.
Looking after someone else is generally the same, but he seemed to be worried much more than usual.
“Uh, what do we do? Aren’t we not supposed to be discovered?”
He looked at me with wide eyes, asking how we should deal with it.
The atmosphere made it seem as though both Shiyeon and Taehyun had committed some grave wrongdoing.
I subtly stood up from my seat, approached the water dispenser, filled a cup halfway, and returned to my seat at the table, speaking nonchalantly.
“Not really? There are no such rules.”
I took a sip of water and answered his question.
What is there to do? Being discovered means being discovered.
Still, the reason I had caught Taehyun at the front door to tell him this.
I lightly tapped the table with my fingertips and asked, feeling a little anxious, “You’re not going to blab about this around, are you?”
Wanting this fact not to spread.
That was my only purpose.
“No, of course not….”
When I seriously brought the subject back into focus, Taehyun shook his head in confusion, looking as if he were saying, “Why me?”
I gulped down the remaining water in my cup, relieved, and continued speaking.
“Well, that’s a relief. But if any news comes out in this area, it’ll definitely come back to you, so be prepared.”
“But why are you hiding it if there are no such rules?”
As the mood relaxed once again, Taehyun blurted out his question regarding why we were concealing our identities.
The reason for hiding being a magical girl.
It’s something anyone would figure out just by glancing at a few lines of news articles.
This was particularly related to the closed nature of Korea’s magical girl environment.
With Shiyeon here, I explained the weight of ‘revealing oneself as a magical girl.’
“In this ridiculous hell called Korea, living with a public or famous title is one of the most exhausting things.”
Famous individuals are subjected to an unnecessary level of morality and responsibility.
From entertainers and singers to video creators who are practically famous ordinary people.
In any scenario where opinions can diverge slightly, expressing one’s thoughts can turn into controversy under the harsh scrutiny of the public eye.
At the end of that scrutiny, adult magical girls surely exist, but student magical girls are not an exception, either.
The transformation of a magical girl is akin to a mask of anonymity, a shell like that of a virtual YouTuber.
Because the public does not know whom the individual behind the mask is, there is some freedom in what can be said.
Now, imagine if Shiyeon and I went out tomorrow and declared, “I’m a magical girl!”
Every little thing from swearing in reality, napping during class, to even low grades would become a label of controversy that follows one for a lifetime.
For an ordinary person, it would feel like having everything written behind the anonymity of an online account suddenly exposed to the entire world.
And considering that the masses would pay attention to those writings makes it feel even more daunting.
When I think about it, I realize how amazing Ms. Tiara appears.
Anyhow, regarding this theme, it is officially ‘recommended’ not to disclose one’s identity.
The jealousy and inferiority complex of the public, filled with malice, is something that one shouldn’t be exposed to as a student.
“…I see.”
“That’s right.”
After I slowly explained this serious matter, Taehyun nodded along, seemingly digesting the information.
Given how complex the discussion was, perhaps it would be hard for the newly minted high school student to grasp fully…
Still, it seemed that he understood at least the part about not revealing our identities.
Just when I thought Taehyun would head home, he remained seated at the dining table, staring at us intensely before speaking up.
“Could you possibly show me the transformation as well?”
“Why is that?”
“Just out of curiosity….”
“Sun.”
Reciting the transformation incantation at his request, Taehyun’s gaze dropped for a moment.
Had he really grown that tall?
“Is that enough?”
Putting aside reflections on the height difference, I shot a curt and short answer while looking up at him from my seat.
Taehyun’s expression lit up as if he had seen an interesting toy, his eyes sparkling with wonder.
“Wow… you’re about as tall as my cousin, aren’t you?”
He appeared to measure my height across the table, with his palm spread wide as if to measure me.
Yeah, he probably never saw a person shrink like this before.
After a brief moment of amazement, he started asking questions.
“Is the transformation incantation just that word from earlier?”
This was his opportunity, and Taehyun began interrogating all his curiosities.
Referring to the transformation incantation struck a sharp chord.
Having spilled everything already, I felt no reluctance to share my everyday struggles.
Lazily resting his arms on the back of the chair with one knee up, Taehyun murmured in a manner that even an innocent elementary school student wouldn’t normally adopt.
“I should have made it a bit longer; X-chip, sunglasses, window tinting… I can’t use any of those words.”
“Ah, that must be tough….”
He sympathized as soon as I mentioned that anything containing the word ‘Sun’ was off-limits.
To be honest, one might wonder how often one encounters that word in everyday life, yet it really does become troublesome more often than anticipated.
Now that I had shared my experience, it was time for Shiyeon to share hers.
Taehyun’s questions reached Shiyeon, who was idly sitting without transforming.
“What’s your transformation incantation, Shiyeon?”
“Ah, mine is….”
Realizing her misstep, Shiyeon trailed off, casting a glance in my direction.
It seemed that she found it rather embarrassing to say her transformation incantation in front of a friend.
For us, it was routine, so we were unfazed, but revealing it in front of a boy of the same age would indeed require courage.
Right now, Shiyeon might feel like reaching out to her kindergarten self and pinching her cheeks.
“Mu, mu, Mun….”
“Hmm?”
“Mun power, transform….”
As her voice trailed off low to the ground, Shiyeon’s body shrank, revealing the form of Magical Girl Mun.
I knew I shouldn’t let her incantations get cringey like that.
Well, given that it was a memory from kindergarten, what could be done?
“……”
“Uh, so….”
Shiyeon’s transformation incantation was akin to those lines delivered in animations.
Taehyun, who heard it right in front of him, glanced around nervously, not knowing what to say, only letting out an awkward sound.
Even though I had tried to adjust it to be shorter and less embarrassing at the time, it turned out like this.
“That’s cute.”
“Ugh….”
Taehyun’s clumsy attempt at a consolation only left Shiyeon feeling deep embarrassment.
Looks like I won’t be getting any blankets left tonight.
