Chapter 21: Monsters and Snacks: A Magical Girl’s Dilemma

A day in an ordinary elementary school lasts until 4 or 5 periods. I can still escape this prison called school around lunchtime, but once I hit the third grade, the boundary of lower grades, I’ll be stuck here until around 2 PM. By the time I reach middle school, it’s a life of 7 periods. And if I get to high school, there are not just 7 periods but also mandatory night study sessions, adding up to 8 or 9 periods.

“Sigh.”

“Why?”

Letting out a deep sigh over a future that hasn’t even arrived yet, Siyeon, who was walking beside me, tilted her head and asked. She still finds joy in everything in the world. It was obvious she wouldn’t understand my worries about how to deal with monsters that appear while investing more than half the day in school. In the end, I could only shake my head and say it was nothing.

“It’s nothing.”

Just as my mood sank lower, Siyeon chirped, “Yesul is coming over to play tomorrow!”

She casually mentioned her plans for tomorrow, which I hadn’t even asked about. Yesul was a name I had heard recently—the girl from our pointless magical girl conversation not long ago.

“Hasn’t it been a while since you two fought?”

“Didn’t you two have a fight?”

I asked out of pure curiosity, but…

“The teacher helped us make up! Both Merrily and Sharr are amazing magical girls!”

“Oh, really.”

I replied hollowly after seeing Siyeon’s joy in telling me they had already made up. I couldn’t tell if she was happy about the reconciliation or just pleased that her favorite characters were praised.

Either way, that 10 minutes of recess we lost that day felt even more pointless now. If they could make up with just a few words from the teacher, they should have let them fight in front of the staff room earlier.

“Let’s stop by the mart on the way.”

I decided to brush off the past and suggested stopping by the mart while we continued on our path.

It was a small neighborhood mart on the way home from school. There’s no such mart near the apartment, so I had to remember to buy what I wanted while on the way home… unless I wanted to pay double at the convenience store.

“Mart? Great!”

Siyeon responded brightly to the idea of stopping by the mart. I knew exactly why she was so cheerful.

“Only two bags of snacks.”

“…”

As I firmly limited the number of snacks, Siyeon visibly sulked. We usually eat takeout for every meal besides lunch at school. Still, it felt a bit excessive to rely on snacks for meals, especially during our growth period. After all, Koreans thrive on rice.

Once we arrived at the mart, I decided to let Siyeon loose.

“Choose what you want, and wait at the checkout.”

“Okay!”

Before I finished speaking, she dashed towards the snack aisle with short strides. I was curious about what gigantic snack she would come back with.

Last time, limiting the quantity resulted in her bringing a corn snack almost as big as herself.

“Was this where the coffee mix was…?”

The shopping basket at the mart was so heavy that I had to grip each handle with both hands.

After passing by the mugwort tea, ginseng tea, hot chocolate, and coffee mix, I finally spotted what I was looking for.

The cookie and chocolate-flavored sticks that I had just scattered among the kids in class today.

I grabbed a pack of each and stacked three packs in the corner of the basket—two packs of strawberry flavor that Siyeon likes, and one each of chocolate and banana flavor.

That’s seven packs of 20 sticks each.

Even just this would be quite heavy for a child to carry alone.

Thinking that this is the amount for the little ones in class made my stomach ache a bit… but if I could silence those rude mouths with a few powdered sticks to mix with milk, it would be a bargain.

“37,000 won. Do you have a points card?”

“No.”

I replied firmly, and as the snacks and paper packs were placed in a black plastic bag, I bought one more bag so Siyeon could carry the snack bag herself while I stuffed the rest into my own bag.

The remaining items that wouldn’t fit were crammed into the leftover bag, which I held tightly against my chest.

Since it was quite a load, it was heavy, but if I tried to carry it with one hand, it would drag on the ground, leaving me no choice.

Of course, at some point, I ended up just carrying it with one hand, even if it meant dragging the bag on the ground.

After the exhausting trip to the mart, we returned to our apartment.

Out of my pocket came the teddy bear from my smartphone, and from the bag fell Siyeon’s mascot.

Normally, the teddy bear would head straight to the cushion, but it lingered around the entrance and near me, reluctant to leave.

Watching it, the frustration rose in my throat.

“Stop acting like a dog that needs to take a dump; if you have something to say, just say it.”

Eventually, harsh words slipped out.

The creature, who had been fidgeting nearby, stretched out its hands towards me.

“Uh… may I use your smartphone for a moment?”

Seeing it struggle just to ask for my phone was somewhat pitiful, so I took it out of my pocket and tossed it to her.

“Here you go.”

The phone arced away from my hand and was successfully caught by the soft creature.

“Don’t overdo it with the gallery, okay?”

I added a few casual words and headed towards the bed.

The joyful voice of a child, reminiscent of one receiving a toy from a teddy bear, filled the room.

“Yay!”

‘The unique thrill of the gallery is undeniable,’ I thought, not paying much attention to what he was doing and instead pulling out some papers from the bag to see if there were any updates.

Soon, I found a notice about an upcoming field trip.

The rest was just typical communications for parents, informing them about things like the green mother’s association and safety guidelines near the school.

[Hello! The cold spell of spring has passed, and the warm sun is shining down as the hot season approaches. The birds are chirping, flowers are blooming, and this time of year is perfect for students to learn and be active. We ask for the cooperation of active parents to ensure that students can enjoy and appreciate nature with their friends in this beautiful season.]

Here’s the translated text:

“Field Trip…”

Mixed in with all the polite phrases, the notice about the field trip is half filled with unnecessary words. It’s just a picnic, right?

After all the fluff, there’s a paper with the schedule and what to prepare. “If it’s this long, there might be some people who won’t understand it.” I recalled a story I saw in a community not too long ago about a parent with low intelligence who thought “lunch” meant “jjajangmyeon” or “jjamppong.”

Now, I’m on the receiving end instead of handing it out. I have to carefully read the notice because I’m in the first grade of elementary school…

It’s a pitiful existence for a magical girl. But since no one else will do it, I have no choice. “I need to stock up on wet wipes and a lunchbox.”

As I checked off the items I didn’t have at home, I was about to grab my phone to place an order when…

“Siyeon! Mari!”

Siyeon’s mascot filled the apartment with a frantic voice. Judging by the tone, I could guess what was happening without needing to hear more.

Peeking my head out from the bed on the second floor, I responded in a flat voice, “What’s up? Is there a monster?”

“Yeah! It’s right nearby!”

“Ugh, great.”

I muttered under my breath, grimacing at the response that it was nearby.

Magical girls can’t transform in their own homes to avoid being traced back, one of the few rules in this silly world. So, I need to go far away from the apartment, transform, and then come back.

I got off the bed, pulled a small mask from the closet, and stuffed it into my pocket. I kicked the stuffed animal, which was still just fiddling with its phone, lightly. Why isn’t it saying anything?

“Hey, stop playing around with your phone. Why aren’t you talking?”

Only then did the thing finally look up and stare at me.

“Uh? Did… did a monster come out?”

“What the hell, man.”

The absurdity of the response made me reflexively curse. I couldn’t believe it…

If it can’t even do the bare minimum of checking for monsters, what good is this thing?

I snatched the phone from the stuffed animal and tucked it away, getting ready to leave with Siyeon for transformation.

“Ah…!”

“Just go and come back.”

At that moment, as the phone was hastily taken away, it let out a sound close to panic.

I grabbed its head, made it put on sneakers, and stepped out of the front door.

Leaving the apartment complex, we went to a public restroom in the park that no one was using and chanted the transformation spell with Siyeon.

“Sun.”

“Moon power, transform!”

The strange feeling of flying back home from the park, far from my house.

I tightly grabbed the face of the stuffed animal, which had been negligent, and firmly stated three words.

“Guide me.”

“Yes, yes… to the southeast.”

With a voice full of confusion, Gometang(bear) pointed the direction and launched into the sky, breaking through the clouds.

In just a few minutes, we returned near the apartment, hovering over the middle of the road.

Unlike last time, we successfully slowed down, giving us the luxury to look down at the road where the monster appeared from the high sky.

“That’s it.”

“Huh?”

Seeing Gometang point, I furrowed my brow at the familiar head.

“It’s an octopus!”

“Yep, it is.”

Siyeon said with bright eyes, showing that she recognized it.

It was only natural to be happy when something familiar appeared.

More than that, it was incredible that the same monster visited our area for the second time.

It was a day worthy of raising a monument.

“Isn’t that the guy who came last time?”

“True.”

I nodded at Gometang’s words and looked down at the creature.

Come to think of it, wasn’t it said that the way to stab at its nerves was the quickest and least painful way to kill it?

It didn’t suit me at all.

“…I did let it die too easily, didn’t I?”

I slammed the heart ornament on my staff into my palm and said to Gometang.

“For you, it was a pretty humane death.”

He nodded in agreement.

Yeah, it definitely wasn’t like me.

With a slap, I struck the heart ornament on the staff, feeling a brief heat.

At that moment, I vowed that this time I wouldn’t let it die so easily.