Rising tones filled the air as I heard the Minister’s voice crawling through the smartphone.
“So, it’s not every day… just Wednesday and Saturday, right after school. Take your time preparing at home before heading over to the fire station or the nearest police station?”
“No, what the hell are you talking about?”
I’ve never said I was okay with this, but somehow, without me even knowing, the situation was rapidly progressing.
Using my slightly emerging permanent teeth as leverage, I let out a curse with a clear and distinct enunciation.
You once told me to only deal with monsters, and now you want me to go after criminals and put out fires?
Are you kidding me right now?
“Why? This is a break time when there are no monsters showing up, right?”
“Are you going to fire the server management team just because the servers are running fine?”
What kind of ceasefire is this? Are you saying to pull all the soldiers out of the front lines?
As I sat in front of the air conditioner, the absurd statements made in this circumstance, which are beyond common sense, made heat rise up my body. I pressed my forehead and lifted my hair in frustration.
“No, that’s different…”
“What’s different? You’re saying since there are no monsters, we should just disband the monster response team.”
“That’s true, but it’s being called wasteful since there’s no monster appearing there…”
“Politicians don’t work and just fight over their own interests, but when it comes to raising their own salaries, they unite in a wasteful manner.”
A debate emerged that I couldn’t possibly concede.
Once you allow something like this, it will only keep coming back without end.
This isn’t just my problem; it could affect all the magical girls in this world.
Of course, initially, they would focus on police stations and fire departments that appear significant.
Slowly giving in one by one, they would start to expand the scope by mentioning some impossible abilities or whatever.
Accepting this proposal itself would mean I’m ready to be a handy worker at any time.
Why is it not just my problem?
From the moment I accepted this, whenever I propose it to other magical girls, there’s going to be excuses like “Well, someone else is doing it.”
It would only be a matter of time before all the magical girls become toys for politicians or guardians of the police when there are no monsters around.
Such a nonsensical proposal is something that should be completely ignored.
“Reduce the salaries of the members of Congress to hire more people; that’s not the work of magical girls.”
“Sun! Hey, wait…”
A firm tone that mercilessly cuts off the minister’s urgent voice.
From the look of it, it seems I’m the only one they reached out to for now.
Of course, that makes sense since only our Incheon has a zero monster appearance rate.
It’s ironic that they refer to it as a demonic realm when the monster appearance rate is zero.
“Hey, Gom.”
“Yes?”
The mascots, enjoying the feeling of betrayal buried in the cushion, in the middle of the air conditioning.
I called over Gomtaengi, the one who was easiest to talk to, and signaled with my finger to come closer.
Before that filthy movement reaches the other magical girls, I had decided to take preventative measures.
To the puzzled expression of the one who was slowly flying over to me, I lay on my side in bed and spoke while propping my chin.
“Make sure to signal the other mascots and tell them, if they hear any nonsense from the political sector about supporting the police or fire department, to ignore it without hesitation.”
“Yes? Why police or fire department? I understand for now.”
“This isn’t a matter of one person doing it out of good will; once one person does it, the others will be compelled to follow suit, so make sure to add that.”
“Yes, yes, I’ll spread the word right away.”
Just like that, the magical girls’ support for the fire and police departments ended as simply a fleeting occurrence.
Just after the rain that had lasted for several days passed, the school was met with an event called a sports day.
Even though the rainy season was over, it was still summer.
That meant it was the perfect weather for someone to collapse.
“It’s hot…”
“Here’s some ice water.”
It’s different but clustered together with Shiyeon.
Compared to the other kids who were with their parents, it might be less warm, but it was still a cozy scene.
These days, elementary school sports days don’t split teams into red and blue, so there’s no need to gather all the same class together.
Without teams, there are no scores.
Yeah, the elementary school sports day has turned into some communist retreat meta.
Honestly, no one gets anything for winning, and you won’t get dirty looks for not running just because you don’t want to lose, so I think it’s a good change.
With no competition, there’s no reason to inevitably participate in any specific class event, so in the end, you could just sit and head back home.
The only complaint is that since the event requires outdoor activities under the guise of a sports day, there’s no place to get air conditioning.
As lunchtime approached, I glanced at my smartphone a bit earlier than planned.
On days like this, there are always one or two adults thinking about ordering food, so I needed to call in advance to make sure we could eat and rest on time.
“What do you want to eat, Shiyeon?”
“Um… tonkatsu!”
“Tonkatsu, huh….”
Shiyeon chooses tonkatsu.
Due to losing her front teeth recently, she’s hardly able to eat hard foods, so now that her permanent teeth have started coming in, I also found myself craving fried food.
However, I was surprisingly looking for a Chinese restaurant.
Contrary to my thought that there’s a limit to contradictory actions, many Chinese restaurants now have tonkatsu on the menu.
If you think of quick delivery, it’s a Chinese restaurant.
The day all the orders pile up? That would be the kids’ sports day.
On a day like this, regardless of which place you order from, it’s tough to get your food on time, so I opted for the Chinese restaurant.
I didn’t order through a delivery app but instead found the phone number of a restaurant that was open and called directly.
“Hello, is this XX Restaurant? I’d like to order two old-style tonkatsu and one fried dumpling for takeout from the back gate of OO Elementary School.”
“Okay, that’s two old-style tonkatsu and one fried dumpling… Remember, it’s number 21. Would you like your tonkatsu cut or left whole?”
“Cut, please.”
Quick and efficient.
Since it’s a restaurant near the school, they must’ve heard about the sports day, as they even reminded me of the number I needed to remember.
This is an absurdity that’s only possible with a phone order.
I’m not sure how it went down to only order tonkatsu and fried dumplings from a Chinese restaurant, but my still-developing permanent teeth wouldn’t let me chew on the chewy noodles.
“Let’s head over there first.”
Holding hands with Shiyeon, I trotted around the playground.
Right behind the back gate, we spread out a mat on the grass and sat down, waiting for the food that would arrive just in time for lunch.
Following the foresight of the parents, the delivery people started arriving one after another shortly after it became lunchtime.
“Number 21!”
Within that mix, our delivery person arrived.
It’s likely that the Chinese restaurant uses its own delivery personnel instead of those supported by the app, so they have some proficiency amid the chaos.
While other delivery personnel were floundering, our delivery guy arrived in front of us normally.
Remembering the number, I raised my hand high.
“Here!”
“Alright, that’ll be 25,000 won.”
“Thank you!”
Taking our tonkatsu served in a broad dish emerging from the silver delivery bag.
Unlike the round white rice and brown sauce typical of Western-style tonkatsu, it came with small and adorable Chinese-style fried rice and a hint of black bean sauce.
The thick ketchup drizzled over the tonkatsu showed the unique trait of Chinese restaurant tonkatsu.
The fried batter looked soggy, soaked in the ketchup and cut small, which, at first glance, seemed far from appetizing.
However, it’s only how it appears.
Of course, it’s coated in batter and doused in ketchup—how could it possibly taste bad?
Memories of a sports day?
Memories from a sports day with no competition or winning prizes.
I didn’t care about that; the tonkatsu from the Chinese restaurant was delicious.
After the sports day was over, the heat that had been scorching started to fade as if it had never been so intense.
Even though these days, summer feels like it lasts forever, a brief autumn came quickly, as if to tell me to turn off the air conditioner.
Again caught under the curse of being a cleaning duty, which means my return home would be delayed, I set out for the market with an inexplicable sense of nostalgia, without even putting my bag down.
“Oh, sweet potatoes.”
Typically, I would stop in front of kimbap shops or snack shops selling various deep-fried goods.
There wasn’t really any particular reason for being in the market, but strangely, my feet stopped at the sight of sweet potatoes.
“I’ll take a basket of sweet potatoes, please.”
Like that, as if enchanted, I returned home with a bag full of sweet potatoes.
At home, the large-capacity air fryer I had purchased with much thought had maintained its proud form in the kitchen.
I neatly wiped off the dirt from the sweet potatoes freshly removed from the bag and shook off the moisture, placing them in the air fryer without overlapping, and quickly turned it on.
Shiyeon, who had been using the computer inside the room, peeked out at the sound of the air fryer and asked.
“What are you doing?”
“Baking sweet potatoes.”
This is a delicacy that should be enjoyed in season.
