Chapter 82

The name isn’t something you choose for yourself, you know.

You don’t get to name yourself after you’re born.

So even if the name is a bit… questionable, it’s not like Aquamarine had a say in it.

Therefore, making fun of it is a no-go.

“Has the match been decided?”

Aquamarine fluttered over in her sailor uniform, the color of water.

“What are you doing?”

While Eve was looking for a pen, I was staring at the resignation letter. Aquamarine walked over and peeked at it too.

“Resignation letter… Oh.”

At the sound of her pained groan, I turned to see Aquamarine’s face had turned pale.

Her eyes were glued to her real name written on the resignation letter.

“Ugh, seriously.”

That’s it. I’m done.

I grabbed the resignation letter from the desk and tore it to shreds.

In an instant, the pieces fluttered down like dancing confetti. Eve and Aquamarine stared at the mess with bewildered expressions before turning to me simultaneously.

“What? Why?”

“What are you doing?”

“What do you mean?”

I know what they’re asking, but I don’t feel like explaining it out loud.

“Fine. Aquamarine, I’ll let you off the hook this time. Consider it a favor.”

Not that I want to be nice about it. I’ll just chalk it up to catching her weakness.

“Hey, Eve.”

“Yeah, good call.”

“I’m feeling generous. So, do this for me instead.”

I retracted the decision to transfer Aquamarine to the Mogmog Group. Yeah, I decided to let it slide. Why? No particular reason. Just felt like it.

After seeing the face of a girl whose secret I just exposed, what else could I do?

Ah, whatever. I don’t know either. I just hate feeling uneasy. Let’s just say that’s the reason.

“I don’t want to lose out completely either. So, send Aquamarine on a dispatch mission. Her affiliation stays with the Magical Girl Association, but her workplace will be the Mogmog Group.”

“Is that okay? Aquamarine, what about you?”

Aquamarine was staring blankly at the scattered pieces of paper on the floor.

How big of a shock was it to have her real name exposed? I mean, she kept it hidden so tightly, and I just found out in an instant. Of course, she’d be shaken.

I poked her a few times and asked, “Hey, Aquamarine. Did you hear me?”

“Y-yeah, I heard. I don’t mind.”

“She heard. Eve, is that okay?”

Eve nodded at my words.

From Eve’s perspective, it’s not a bad deal either.

“And, Eve. Show your face more often, you jerk. Kabe keeps asking when her dad’s coming home.”

“Got it. I’ll come tomorrow, tomorrow.”

“Bring Kabe a gift. If you bring something lazy, I’ll kick you out.”

“Fine. By the way, we’re going for drinks after this. You coming?”

“Who’s cleaning this up?”

The auditorium was a mess after the event. Trash everywhere, and with so many people coming and going, it’s no surprise.

The lower-ranked magical girls and the event staff were handling the cleanup.

“They’ll take care of it. Don’t worry.”

“Help out first.”

At my firm words, Eve and Aquamarine turned to look at me.

Why are you staring at me like that?

If you help, it’ll be over faster, right?

“Eve, you’ve got magic power to spare. Use your magic to clean up quickly, and we can all go for drinks together. Wouldn’t that be fun?”

“Well, yeah.”

“Then just do it without me asking. It’ll be more fun with more people.”

“You’re… oddly human in the strangest places.”

Eve sighed softly and raised her arm.

“Let what should be where it should be. Let what should go where it should go. Return to the rightful place in everyone’s memory.”

A circle formed in the palm of her hand, facing the sky.

A warm wind blew out from it, soon filling the venue with a powerful gust.

The lower-ranked magical girls and event staff, startled by the force, stepped back as the wind swept through, gathering trash, event booths, and tables near the entrance. Trash went into trash bags, and scattered tents folded themselves neatly into stacks.

“Alright, the big stuff is cleared. Just move it out. Everyone knows where the after-party is, right?”

“Yes!”

The magical girls, who had been looking overwhelmed, now smiled brightly and responded. The event staff, still a bit dazed, also smiled in relief.

“See how nice that looks? Use your magic for the public good, Eve.”

“You should stick to your character. You’re the villain, remember? Are you self-aware?”

Well, in comics, there are villains with a lot of humanity too.

I can do that too, no problem.

Still, sitting at the after-party with just Dusik and me among the magical girls didn’t feel all that pleasant.

It’s understandable, though. It was only a few days ago that I stormed the Magical Girl Association and turned it upside down.

Plus, there are countless magical girls who got beaten up by me and ended up in the infirmary. It’s no wonder they don’t look at me fondly.

But what can I do?

It is what it is.

“Eve.”

“Yeah.”

Looks like they rented out an entire restaurant.

Money really is something.

Anyway, that’s not what I’m curious about right now.

“What was that guy earlier?”

“Right. Vesprede is the name of your gun, right?”

“Yeah. Bedel, Bedel is like my son. To think he’d take him as a bride, that’s just insane.”

“Hmm… It’s still weird. I wish Karin could find out something.”

“She did.”

“WHOA! You scared me!”

I almost cursed.

Karin popped her head out from under the low table, right between my legs, and I almost slammed my chopsticks down on her!

Maybe I should’ve pretended not to notice and hit her.

“Why are you crawling out from there?”

“Do you want to know?”

No, I don’t.

Sometimes it’s better not to know.

“Anyway, I found out. The Light Realm Library is the best in the world.”

“So, what’s the deal with Vesprede? Why all the fuss?”

“Hmm.”

Karin started nuzzling against my thigh again.

This is…

She’s looking for a place to lie down.

“You perverted horse…”

Fine, lie here.

Oops.

“Ooh, Mother-Body. That expression just now was great.”

I don’t even know what expression I made, but if she says it was good, then fine.

My words and thoughts are all mixed up, but since Karin’s okay with it, let’s just move on.

“I did find out, but Vesprede is…”

“Vesprede is?”

“Well…”

I reached out and grabbed Karin’s mane.

A handful of mane in my grip.

Pulling this would hurt, right?

“She’s the vanished goddess of the Dark Realm!”

Karin quickly spat out the words, yanking her mane out of my hand.

But hearing that, I didn’t care about her mane or anything else.

Vesprede is referring to me?

So, that’s my name?

Meaning, that guy who came to take me as his bride, saying he’d take me away, wasn’t talking about my beloved son Bedel, but about me?

Seriously?!

“Mother-Body, what are you thinking so deeply about? Is it that shocking that your gun is the goddess of the Dark Realm?”

Well, that is pretty shocking on its own.

Without knowing what I was thinking, Eve continued.

“Wow, but it’s really fascinating. The vanished goddess of the Dark Realm became a magical gun and is now your weapon? Huh, if it weren’t me, I’d smack Karin on the back of the head for spouting nonsense.”

Maybe I should smack her too.

Anyway, what should I even say about this?

I heard about being the goddess of the Dark Realm before fighting Aquamarine, so it’s been a while.

But honestly, I forgot.

Of course, I would. Who’d believe it if someone suddenly told you, “You’re the goddess of the Dark Realm!”?

But now that name is Vesprede, and I’ve got a crazy psycho stalker claiming to be my husband.

It’s only natural to feel troubled in this situation.

“Eve.”

Even thinking calmly, this situation is a bit too much for me to handle alone.

Dusik and Sohee are strong, but when that Es-whatever guy activated his barrier, Dusik was pushed out helplessly, leaving only me and Eve inside.

Meaning, the only person who can really help me is Eve.

“Yeah?”

Eve looked at me while dipping meat into the sauce.

“Help me out.”

“Sure.”

“Without even hearing what it is?”

“Well, if you’re asking for help, it must be serious, right? What’s up?”

Thanks for the kind words.

If you were this nice all the time, I’d really appreciate it.

“First, keep it quiet.”

“Ah, hold on.”

Eve flicked her finger, and a semicircular barrier formed around us. Even Dusik just glanced at me and didn’t pay much attention.

“It’s an invisible barrier. To everyone else, it’ll just look like we’re talking. So, what’s up?”

“Actually, there’s a secret I can’t tell you. It’s about my past. I can’t talk about it yet.”

“Oh… Okay.”

Eve’s expression changed subtly.

Is she sulking because I can’t tell her yet?

“I’ll tell you when the time is right, so just bear with me for now.”

“Fine, so what’s the issue?”

“So, I think that Es-whatever guy came for me, not my gun Bedel.”

“He came for you? So, you’re Vesprede?”

Eve’s eyes widened. Yeah, I know it’s hard to believe. But what can I do? It’s the truth.

“Yeah… The goddess of the Dark Realm, Vesprede, is me, Yoon-Woo. Anyway, so that’s that. But what’s the secret you can’t tell me about your past?”

“I really can’t say. Just go with it.”

How am I supposed to tell her I used to be a man?

If I say I was a man but now I’m a goddess, what would she even think?

“Uh… Hmm.”

Eve scratched her head. Seriously, she should wash her hair more often.

“So, what do you need from me?”

“You saw it earlier, right? I can’t handle his attacks alone. If you tank for me, I can deal some damage bit by bit. So, for a while, can you protect me?”

“Hmm…”

Looking back at the earlier battle, my reasoning isn’t entirely wrong.

Eve has two attributes, but neither is S-rank. Her ice attribute isn’t even close to S-rank, and her light attribute is her strongest, which is S-rank. But since the light attribute didn’t work on that guy, there’s no need to use the ice attribute, and Es-whatever couldn’t land a hit on Eve either.

Meaning, if Eve acts as my shield, I can figure out a way to deal with that guy in the meantime.

“Alright. It’s not that hard. Plus, since the location’s been revealed, reinforcements from the Light Realm will come soon. A security team will be dispatched for the arrest. We just need to hold out until then, so don’t worry too much.”

Eve gave a small smile.

“What can I do? My powerless wife is asking for protection, so I’ll protect her.”

Only at times like this, huh? If only you were this sweet all the time.

“Ah, so sweet. Only at times like this, huh?”

“Hehe. That’s my charm.”

Eve smirked and flicked her finger again. The barrier around us melted away like snow.

Still, there’s this lingering unease in my chest. I tried to suppress the feeling and focused on eating the meat.

“Older Sister, eat some vegetables too!”

“Why eat vegetables at a meat restaurant, Dusik…”

But something feels off.

Like I’m forgetting something.

“Hey, you gum-sticking Association President!”

A woman suddenly slammed a bottle of alcohol on the table and roughly sat down in the empty seat.

It was Prilly.

Ah.

Ah?!

W-wait, my, my five million won?!