Chapter 17: Masked Magic: Sun’s Squid Strike

While new victims of the monsters were being chosen, Mari found herself at the center of those concerns. She was visibly losing her vitality as she sat through a class she never thought she’d have to hear again—one meant for lower elementary school students.

Meaningless time. In some ways, it might have been more exhausting for a magical girl than the monsters themselves.

“Okay, pass it back one by one.”

A stack of school newsletters reached the hands of the students sitting in the front row. Each student kept one and passed the rest back. Once, twice, three times—what could there possibly be so many newsletters to give to elementary school students?

Anyway, the only one who would read it when I got home was me. The paper was filled with tiny writing, most of it pointless.

After reading through it all, I opened my bag, and the newsletters I hadn’t removed from yesterday were still there, giving off that musty paper smell.

“It’s all garbage, just garbage.”

The textbooks that were already crammed in the locker and under the desk. All that was left in my bag were the newsletters, a notebook, and a pencil case.

That reminded me—I hadn’t sorted out the recycling over the weekend.

The more it piled up, the harder it became to throw it away in this condition. After the newsletter distribution and homeroom ended, it was time to head home.

Whether then or now, leaving the school building always felt the best.

“Siyeon said she was going to hang out with a friend.”

Recalling what Siyeon had told me during break, I headed home without needing to wait for her. I had nothing more to do on my smartphone, so I turned on the computer first.

There wasn’t much to do, but I browsed OnTube to see if there was anything fun. Filling the screen were bright and cheerful-looking children’s animations. Among them was another magical girl show that didn’t seem like something Siyeon had watched. The power of algorithms.

“She’s watched a lot.”

Scrolling down the video list with the mouse wheel, I couldn’t find anything interesting, so I headed to the search bar.

My fingers, positioned correctly on the keyboard, twitched for a while before I started typing my magical girl name, “Sun.”

At the top of the video list, I saw a video about me. Uploaded an hour ago, it was from a news outlet.

“The magical girls have gathered! Sun’s face revealed beneath the mask!”

Though the image was enlarged for the video’s thumbnail, the facial features were still not very clear. Curious about what this media outlet had to say, I clicked on the video to watch it.

“This is a leaked photo from a magical girl-related community. The image shows a figure that seems to be a magical girl, alongside a monster that appears to have the face of a wolf.”

“The person who captured the photo said they were playing a game despite the evacuation alert and took the picture, uploading the post titled ‘Magical girl meetup’ and claiming that the werewolf monster appeared near that residence.”

[Magical Girl Community User Choi XX (23)]

“I was really shocked, I thought I had to take the picture quickly, forget the game.”

The interview with the poster ended with just those few short sentences, their face pixelated and voice altered.

“This is the first time Sun’s face, which had always been hidden by a mask, has been revealed, drawing the attention of many people.”

“Meanwhile, the typical violation of portrait rights can lead to a lawsuit for damages under Articles 750 and 751 of the Civil Code. This has been reporter Lee XX.”

With the end of the two reporters’ conversation, the video came to a close.

More importantly, why are they even bringing up portrait rights?

‘Are they saying I should file a lawsuit right now or what?’

Honestly, it doesn’t really matter to me if they take pictures or not since my transformed magical girl appearance is pretty much like a mask anyway.

It feels like the media actually wants that to happen.

Well, ‘Magical girl sues ordinary citizen?’ That would certainly grab some attention as a headline.

‘As if I’m going to fall for that.’

I snorted loudly and pulled out the school newsletter from my bag.

I started looking through the sheets I had skimmed over earlier to see if there was anything about money.

As expected, one of the papers I’d glanced over was about milk school lunches.

When it comes to money, teachers tend to get sensitive, so if I didn’t pay, they’d start asking for reasons, which would just be annoying, so I circled the consent section.

10,600 won per person.

‘If I include Siyeon and myself… That makes two of us, which means 21,200 won.’

Feeling a pang of regret as my hard-earned money was about to be spent on nothing but plain milk packs, I sighed at the thought of having to go to the bank soon to make the payment.

Without a registered parent account for automatic deductions, I had to deposit it myself.

To be honest, it’s really annoying having to deal with payments manually every time something like this comes up.

‘Milk lunch, huh….’

While I’m at the bank, I might as well think about milk lunches—especially the first thing that comes to mind when I think of them: chocolate, strawberry, and banana-flavored powdered sticks.

I got up from my seat immediately and clicked the mouse to turn off the computer.

Since I couldn’t even play online games due to account issues, there wasn’t much point in sitting in front of the computer for long.

After walking all the way to the distant bank with my short strides and finishing the deposit to the school’s account,

I decided to go to a big supermarket since some convenience stores don’t have it, and bought packs of 20 sticks each in various flavors.

‘Cookies and chocolate?’

It had been a while since I last saw powdered sticks, and in addition to strawberry, banana, and chocolate, there was a new flavor.

I impulsively added it to my purchase.

After paying, the cashier lady handed me the bag without me even needing to pack it myself.

Being a small girl sometimes comes with convenient perks like this.

But because I’m so short, if I hold the bag even a little too low, it drags on the ground.

This part is really inconvenient. Can’t I just grow a bit taller already?

“Lady Mari…”

The bear pretending to be a decoration on the back of my phone case tapped the back of my hand.

I really wanted to ignore it, but it was so predictable that I raised my phone to my ear and muttered, pretending to be on a call.

“Is it a monster?”

“Yes.”

“Where?”

As I asked where it was, I stood still in the middle of the road, waiting for its answer.

If it’s far from home, I might as well drop these things off first before heading over.

“People always say bad premonitions never miss, right?”

The guy, with his arms that looked as soft as clouds resting behind his head, immediately gave the answer I least wanted to hear.

“…At least it’s closer than home.”

“Ah, damn, I didn’t even bring a mask.”

I scratched the back of my head in frustration, holding the black bag in my hand, and started looking around for a secluded spot, away from prying eyes.

The area was a busy one, full of big supermarkets and convenience stores, and it was mid-afternoon, so there wasn’t anywhere without people.

Eventually, I found a spot behind some large waste containers near the security office of a nearby apartment complex. Only then could I take off into the sky.

The sunset was turning red, and it was beautiful, but…

“Ah, damn…”

For someone not in the mood for leisurely admiring the view, it was an unwanted ray of light.

After being assaulted by the sudden glare, I adjusted my direction and flew toward where the monster was reported to be. Without a mask, the wind felt especially harsh as it slammed against my face and whipped through my hair.

My face is freezing.

“Kuhehehe! You’re running away, huh?!”

A voice that sounded like it was submerged in water.

Before I even landed, I could see a distinct triangular head and smell the salty stench of the sea. It was enough to confirm that the creature was some sort of seafood.

And then it hit me, as I headed toward the ground.

‘Oh, crap.’

I should’ve slowed down in the air first.

The thought came too late, and the ground was already rushing up to meet me.

“Well, damn…”

A short, helpless mutter escaped my lips.

I had been flying at the speed you’d expect from being 20 stories high, and with all that momentum building up, well…

I crashed straight into the ground with a loud boom, creating a huge crater.

“Kraaaagh?!”

With a pitiful scream, the squid monster flew off into the distance.

A completely unintended meteor strike.

As I approached the squid monster, who had been thrown far by the shockwave…

“You… You wretch…”

With a weakening voice, it barely managed to point one of its tentacles in my direction.

Even though it was an accident, I had taken it out without letting it finish a single line of dialogue.

I scratched the back of my head as I looked at the pathetic, limp form of the squid monster.

“Sorry about that, pal.”

Somehow, the sight was so pitiful that I found myself apologizing.

“A sneak attack… so cowardly… you wench!”

“You guys always show up out of nowhere too, so let’s call it even.”

I fiddled with my staff, ready to turn the creature into magical dust.

Apologizing was one thing, but business was business.

‘A squid… huh.’

I remembered something from a video about seafood handling. I’d never had the chance to try it myself, but I’d seen it done before. And since this thing was a squid, I figured I’d give it a shot.

In that video, they showed what happens when you poke a squid’s nerve — it suddenly turns white and starts twitching…

Twisting the magic wand about four times, the heart-shaped ornament split in half. Then, it retracted inside the wand, and a short blade protruded from within. Crude as it was, it took the shape of a blade.

“What are you… trying to do…?”

“I’ve seen this in some videos. You’re not all that different from a regular squid, are you?”

I approached the creature wriggling on the ground and probed the inside of its shell-like head. With my gloved hand, I pressed the area between its eyes.

“Here we go…”

“S-stop! I don’t know what you’re trying to do, but just… stop!”

The sharp blade at the end of the wand pierced through the squid monster’s skin and slid smoothly into the spot I had aimed for.

“Nngooooook?!”

The top of the creature’s head instantly turned pale. A bizarre scream erupted from the monster.

“Oh, it works, it works.”

Ignoring the creature’s cries, I marvelled at the sight, thrilled.

They call this nerve paralysis, right? I heard it’s a method to make squid more tender. It seemed like the monster reacted just like its appearance suggested.

If I recall, you need to do it again at this spot, between the eyes, to paralyze the legs too?

I plunged the blade once more between its eyes, and the legs also turned pale.

“Wow, that’s amazing.”

The creature, now lying on the ground like a prepared ingredient, quickly disintegrated into magical dust and scattered.

I kind of miss the feel of it in my hands… Will another one come by?

(NHV NOTE)

I think this is what they call Ikejime, right?