“Thank you for your hard work.”
“Yay.”
The thick greeting mixed with the refreshing sound of rain as I left the police station.
Slowly gliding to ensure the umbrella doesn’t flip, I repeatedly stretched it toward the wind direction until I arrived at the rooftop of the apartment.
This time, I take off my transformation on the rooftop of our apartment, which is rare.
Transforming and de-transforming here and there is to avoid pinpointing my home’s location.
So occasionally, very occasionally, it’s fine to de-transform on the rooftop of my residence.
Especially on a rainy day like this, my true desire is to want to de-transform close to home, not just very occasionally.
“I’m coming out.”
The pronunciation of the letter ‘s’ vanished along with the dispelled transformation.
“Mary, the computer has… died…”
“Uh?”
Upon entering the house, I let out a startled groan at the sudden news of the computer’s death.
What happened to our computer that’s not even a year old?
I approached the computer with the thought that I had planned to use it for at least another ten years.
Strange programs I had never seen before were sprawled across the desktop.
Web pages that appeared three or four at a time with just one click on the internet.
Can it really get this bad just because I didn’t pay attention for a little while?
“Come out for a moment…”
It didn’t seem like the computer’s condition could be resolved just by standing next to it, so I had Shiyeon get off the chair and sat in front of the computer.
I immediately downloaded antivirus or force deletion programs from the internet, went through the installation screens, and placed the shortcut on the desktop.
Just two seconds after the antivirus shortcut icon appeared on the screen.
The antivirus icon that had been on the desktop just moments ago vanished in a puff.
‘What the hell.’
There are occasionally viruses like this.
The malicious kind that takes over the computer and deletes the antivirus program on its own.
It’s been a long time since I’ve seen a virus like this since the 2010s…
Next measure, the forced deletion program.
Fortunately, it didn’t seem to classify this as antivirus, so there was no unfortunate incident of it getting deleted immediately upon installation.
I pressed Ctrl, Alt, Delete to open the task manager and scanned through all the open processes.
Recognizable programs I quickly passed over, and among the clearly suspicious processes with no identifiable icons.
Following the path of a suspicious program that looked like just a combination of letters, I opened the files.
Suspicious applications on a path that seemed like it would cause no problems if deleted.
‘Then, I’ll delete this one…’
I tried deleting the one that seemed most problematic with the force deletion program…
[There is a problem with the PC, and it needs to be restarted. Collecting some error information. It will then restart automatically. (0% complete)]
‘Wow, what the hell…’
As soon as the delete command was issued, the computer displayed a blue screen.
When the computer turned back on, that thing was still there.
In this case, it means the virus has severely corroded the internal system.
By this point, attempts to resolve it with ordinary software won’t work.
Because the virus interacts with the system when deleting, causing these incidents.
In this case, it’s better to wipe everything clean rather than force a recovery.
‘Guess I’ll have to go out again…’
“Don’t touch the computer, just wait.”
“Okay…”
I picked up the umbrella, still dripping with water, and headed towards the convenience store.
I don’t intend to scold Shiyeon too much.
This kind of thing happens to everyone who is clueless about computers.
However, next time when installing something, I should at least get her permission.
The first rule to avoid exposure to computer viruses is:
If possible, only use official sites.
‘This should be enough.’
In the convenience store, I grasped the tiny 5,000 won USB, about the size of my pinky finger, after pushing through the heavy rain.
After quickly achieving my objective, I headed towards the PC café.
Technically, I could do it at home, but it’s also uneasy to create a format USB on a virus-ridden computer.
Whether a member or not didn’t matter; I managed to find a seat and started using the computer.
I lightly ignored the strange looks of people wondering why a little girl was alone in a PC café and finished my task.
After paying as a non-member at the PC café, which I would not be visiting again for a while, I began to head straight back home.
But my umbrella, which should have been in the umbrella stand at the entrance, was nowhere to be seen.
Digging around, looking again.
Even after checking again, it was still missing.
Another thief.
“Damn it…”
Without front teeth, I pronounced the ‘s’ sound with my canine teeth, and kicked the innocent umbrella stand in frustration.
I had calmed down thinking, ‘Who would take a child’s umbrella?’, only to be sorely mistaken.
‘Damn bastard…’
I cursed the one who took my umbrella, wishing they’d be struck by lightning on the way, and returned home, soaked.
I quickly washed away the uncomfortable feeling in the bathroom, then sat at the computer, shaking my not completely dried long hair.
I plugged in the USB and slowly booted the computer up, pressing F2, F4, F8, F10, and other various keys.
While doing my keyboard gymnastics to enter admin mode, I heard Shiyeon’s voice creeping next to me.
“Mary, are you okay…?”
“I’m fine, but next time, can we talk before doing anything other than videos?”
“Okay…”
The screen for entering admin mode came up, and I skillfully prioritized the USB for recognition in the boot sequence over the hard disk and saved it before rebooting.
When it powered back up, instead of the usual desktop, a formatting screen appeared.
I’ve heard that nowadays, formatting can be done with the computer’s own functions…
But an old-school person like me prefers the old method, for it’s more familiar and comfortable.
Deleting the entire drive that had the virus means the virus won’t stand a chance.
After allocating the now empty space, I began the installation.
Now I just need to wait for the format to finish.
The beginning of a clean computer, free from viruses.
“Now, we just have to wait.”
Even after the installation finishes, there are still miscellaneous tasks to do, so I didn’t lie down on the bed right away but instead rested on the floor, holding my smartphone.
Recently, the monster gallery that had been incessantly reviled and the magical girl gallery that had made headlines in the press.
Naturally, it’s not like the people talking about it for days on end were few in number.
The conversation topic has long since shifted.
The current topic in the magical girl gallery is whether liking magical girls is a form of sexual deviation or not.
Just hearing about this topic made me dizzy, and as soon as I entered the site, both sides were sharply opposed to each other.
[Is it on the level of a pedo gallery? (2)]
[Seriously, isn’t it okay to love both sides?]
[I didn’t love her just because she was a girl; I loved her and then realized she was a girl. (3)]
[But isn’t a magical girl who’s been around for 20-30 years a bit of a joke, not just a fairy?]
[Wow, what’s the bait today? Gross. (5)]
[Breaking news: Venus’s successor has emerged. (8)]
“Ugh, terrible.”
I quickly hit the back button to escape the gallery, not at all curious how the conclusion would unfold or what the process would be.
Returning to the ongoing initial settings on the computer, I sat back in the chair.
After several reboots, a clean desktop significantly zoomed in was in my sight.
I had previously put the driver installation files in a corner of the USB.
After several clicks, the computer was not completely empty but returned to normal.
All traces of the video algorithms or search histories I had previously used as a non-member would disappear, but oh well.
It’s resolved now, so I’m just glad.
“All done.”
The computer virus chaos with those two slowly passed like the monsoon rains.
The police station where Sun had handed over the exposure freak.
It’s a fact mostly ignored by most people, but there are police reporters.
Since the police station is a place where one can easily encounter substantial issues or serious crimes, there are formally attached reporters.
The news that a magical girl had captured nearby deviants was a small yet undeniable tasty tidbit for them.
[With the monsters gone, the perverts… immediately apprehended ‘flasher’ at the worst time…]
[“Please save me.” The dazed flasher, what happened to him?]
[“Not just targeted elementary school students.” Magical girl Sun says, “It’s a badge of honor, you jerk.” (in anger)]
[At the onset of monsoon rains, unexpectedly, the flasher is a twenty-something college student.]
The problem arose not from this article but from the public opinion generated by these articles.
Thinking about it, only magical girls can deal with the issue of monster extermination.
Why? Because only with overwhelming speed and strength, and mysterious magic can certain monsters that could raze urban areas be defeated.
This suggests that they possess strength exceeding that of a considerable number of adult men.
Then, the magical girl in the area where the monsters no longer appeared.
If that excess strength were to be offered to the police or fire stations, wouldn’t it yield higher efficiency?
What the citizens casually joked about resulted in politicians seriously discussing it.
“What the hell?”
