Capitalism.
Even in the world of magical girls, there are no exceptions.
The ordinary citizens, who are practically strangers, feel so flimsy that they come off as NPCs, yet the financial situations of the magical girls who are the main characters are definitely taken care of.
While elementary school students might not be aware of this, by the time one reaches middle or high school, the reality suddenly looms large and comes right in front of them.
What temporarily allows them to forget the anxiety of progressing in their education or finding a job is…
Money, money.
Only money.
“Hahaha! That’s not wrong, is it?”
The owner of the Star Cafe, who had been listening quietly, spoke up with a hearty laugh from behind the counter.
Before long, a dish of honey bread and a cup of hot chocolate that had just been ordered arrived.
The warm steam rising from it makes it look very appetizing.
“Is Sun and Mun’s coffee not ready yet?”
The conversation topic of the girls, exposed to such a poor environment.
It’s as if asking an elementary school student if they’ve had coffee.
‘It’s not like I can’t drink it, but….’
When thinking of caffeine, it’s really not a drink one should be having at this age.
Developing a tolerance to caffeine already is something they would rather avoid.
When asked the question, Shiyeon boldly voiced her thoughts in a rather straightforward manner.
“I don’t like it!”
A pure and simple answer befitting her appearance, Shiyeon is the only one in this place to respond like that.
Having been included in the question, I honestly expressed my thoughts as well.
“If I develop a tolerance to caffeine already, I feel like I won’t be able to handle it later.”
“Oh, that’s true… Wait, how do you know that so well?”
“Hahaha.”
The trivial interjection was brushed off with a dry laugh.
After taking a generous sip of sweet hot chocolate.
With the remaining moistness covered by the extreme sweetness of the honey bread.
I tore off a piece with my fork and brought it directly to my mouth.
This artificial yet intense sweetness filled my mouth with happiness.
“Ugh….”
A short moan emitted from beside me, and the cutlery clattered as Shiyeon struggled to eat the bread.
To help her, who was quite clumsy with using utensils, I tore off another piece and placed it on her plate.
Like a baby receiving food, Shiyeon placed the piece of bread on her plate into her mouth and followed it with a bit of hot chocolate.
“She’s completely acting like Sun unni.”
Others watched her with amused expressions.
Even though it was just a little help with her clumsiness, it caused quite a stir.
At this age, even small gestures of consideration somehow seem to be highly rated.
‘Getting snacks that easily is a dream gone.’
Sighing softly through my nose instead of exhaling a proper breath.
The flow of conversation turned a round and then Mr. Orion murmured something.
“Speaking of which, isn’t the monster appearance rate low around where Sun and Mun are?”
The flow of conversation abruptly shifted towards us.
Monster appearance rate.
This is surely a topic that those invested in this world can hardly ignore.
Other magical girls seemed to be concerned about this as well, turning their attention towards this topic.
“Oh, right! I wanted to ask about that!”
“During tests, if the alarm goes off, there really isn’t a chance to answer.”
“What about when it rings at night….”
“It went off right when I had to do an interview, it was the worst….”
In this regard, magical girls of any age can resonate.
If it could just reduce the number of monsters appearing at night even by one time.
In everyday life, they wish to be disturbed as little as possible.
Their desire to reduce the frequency of monster appearances is something they are quite passionate about.
Lack of sleep is a given, and they are constantly plagued by the anxiety of not knowing when the alarm might go off.
Which is why, if there are more than two monsters appearing a day, it’s hard not to be curious about the secret behind it.
As for Mun… it’s safe to say that a concrete answer wouldn’t come from looking at Shiyeon.
Her fluent speech for her age turned our attention to her.
“Well, it’s not a big deal.”
“What is it, what is it?”
“Uh, you know, the monsters you’ve seen in your area tend to reappear, right?”
“Uh…Usually, that’s true?”
Stella’s calm response of “usually” itself was telling of the root cause.
The reappearance rate of monsters that have been seen once.
In this poorly constructed world, monsters don’t die.
They simply turn into magic powder and return somewhere.
In this child-friendly presentation that doesn’t involve spilling red blood, they can never reach complete death.
Whether they are gradually fought off until finally driven away or quickly obliterated by something like a ‘mysterious pink beam’ from a cane, it merely provokes the monsters’ desire to challenge again.
When they fight evenly and are driven away, they think, “Ah, this one’s not bad.”
If they are killed instantaneously, they might think, “What just happened?” without any pain, so they come back for more.
The key is that thorough pain, fear, and helplessness keep them from returning.
The gazes of the seniors, hungry for insider secrets, were intense.
Even without being stared at so intensely, I was about to speak soon.
“In our area, we don’t have that. The thing where they reappear.”
“What?! Really!? How is that possible?!”
“Well….”
Just as I was about to articulate the method of dealing with the monsters….
“Ah!”
A jarring noise filled the cafe.
The sudden loud sound made us briefly scream and cover our ears, prompting the owner to turn off the alarm quickly.
How long has it been since the alarm rang from the apartment? I hadn’t expected to hear this unpleasant sound again.
It felt as if someone had thrown a bucket of cold water over my head, suddenly making my mood sour.
It seems others were no different, as they sighed deeply while gathering their things.
“Ugh… Still, we have to go, right? Let’s transform and go.”
“Yes, let’s meet at the appearance point… Transformation, release!”
We each deactivated our transformations, which had been done to create an atmosphere, and quickly stepped out of the cafe and into the street.
Like seasoned veterans, we expertly faked our escape.
Following them, we quickly blended into the people, making our way into the alleys between the sparsely-populated buildings.
People were fleeing in panic due to the monsters.
There was no room to spare to look at the dead ends between buildings.
As we muttered transformation lines into the alley, we felt the relaxed smile of an adult reach us.
“Shall we show off our abilities, kiddos? You go ahead.”
“Mun Power-! Transform!”
“Sun.”
Shiyeon and I soared into the sky.
The magical girl named Crystal, who said to start first.
“Why did you tell us to go first?”
“Oh, well….”
She, who belatedly joined us, still hadn’t started flying, and I asked her why she hadn’t taken off first.
With a shy expression as she scratched her cheek, she finally managed to speak the reason.
“Well, its kind of embarrassing to shout that at my mid-twenties…”
“Ah.”
“Why! It’s cool! That ‘Magical Crystal Power-!’ thing!”
“Ugh…!”
Shiyeon, who revealed the line that Crystal had been desperately trying to hide.
Crystal clutched her chest, which had shrunk down from the transformation, in distress.
Was that a harmless jab at her?
“I also made a transformation line after hearing that!”
“R-really… Thanks.”
Though she expressed gratitude for the innocence, her face looked like she could vomit blood at any moment.
Shiyeon was rubbing salt into her wounds.
The mental damage seemed significant.
Certainly today, her blanket wouldn’t remain unscathed.
In any case, Crystal, who had adeptly pretended to escape.
Since we were the first to transform, we were the first to reach the monster appearance point.
“Cough! Is the magical girl still not here because everyone’s too scared to run away?!”
‘That voice sounds familiar…’
As soon as we arrived, a familiar monster’s voice reached us.
What was it again? My thoughts didn’t linger long before the truth confronted my eyes.
‘Oh!’
I recognized it as the two-legged wolf that was part of the three-color jajangmyeon components I had seen recently.
Other magical girls began gathering one by one.
“Ugh, 5th place.”
Somehow making it a competition in terms of rankings, I noticed some appearing disgruntled.
Perhaps because there were almost ten magical girls gathering around him, the wolf became cocky and howled even louder.
“Haha! Did you come together because you couldn’t do it alone!”
“Sun, Mun, can I watch you deal with the monster just this once?”
Of course, the magical girls themselves weren’t really interested.
They were just out because a monster had appeared anyway.
Everyone knew that it wasn’t a formidable foe they needed to rush at.
“Yes.”
“Yep! We’ll do our best!”
“Hehe, let’s see the skills of our little ones.”
Rubbing the back of his head, the wolf monster seemed pretty pleased as it approached us.
Unmasked, its long orange hair was cascading over its shoulders.
“That’s as far as you go!”
“Bring it on, kids! Hahaha!”
Possibly having a poor memory, it didn’t even recognize who I was standing next to Shiyeon.
As it prepared for battle, reveling in pride, I muttered just loud enough for it to hear while scratching the back of my head.
“Geez… You really have the worst luck. Seriously.”
That muttering contained genuine sympathy.
How could it be that the second attack point happened to be where the magical girls gathered?
“…?! That voice….”
The creature, hearing the voice again, widened its eyes and pointed at me with its obnoxiously extended finger.
That trembling finger was proof of how scared it truly was, without needing to say a word.
“Oh, it’s you, Sister. Have you been waiting long?”
“What are you doing here?! This is clearly!”
“Haha, how did it turn out like this.”
In the midst of it all, at least this dog-like creature was brave enough to attempt to keep its promise.
But I was just sorry it had turned out this way.
“You’ll have to blame your stupid luck… What else can you do….”
Wielding my magic cane like a whip, I took slow steps towards it.
With each step I took closer, I noticed that the pathetic retreat was becoming increasingly obvious.
Given its audacity to attack without hitting our area, let’s just take it down swiftly today.
