Chapter 68 : Magical Girl vs. Jeonse Fraud: A Tenant’s Revenge

“Suddenly, what is?”

Ji-eun unnie’s urgent voice came through the smartphone.

Since I didn’t know anything at the moment, I could only respond with a puzzled voice.

Her words, which felt like they were coming from right next to me, were like a bomb dropped on my peaceful everyday life.

“Our house is being put up for auction! What are we going to do?!”

“What?”

Jeonse fraud.

I never thought I’d experience something I had only heard about in stories.

It was the first day of school, and I thought today would be an uneventful, peaceful day, with short classes and all.

But this damn world never lets people rest, not even for a moment.

Or maybe, this is just my fate.

Feeling uneasy, Si-yeon and I returned to the now uncomfortable home.

“What happened?”

“I’m still figuring it out.”

Putting the complicated story aside for a moment, I sat down across from Ji-eun unnie at the low table.

We stared intently at her smartphone, faces serious.

Jeonse fraud—a term that had been making noise in the news recently but was something I only had a shallow understanding of.

Fraudsters have a variety of ways to scam people, but there are two representative cases:

The first is when landlords use tenants’ deposits for financial schemes, fail miserably, and end up unable to pay taxes, leading to seizure.

The second is when they take out as much money as possible through loans to build properties, only to refuse to repay when the time comes, effectively saying, “Screw you.”

Either way, the perpetrators are scumbags. But if I had to rank which is worse, the second case is definitely the more despicable one.

In the midst of the heavy atmosphere, Ji-eun unnie’s phone calls continued a few more times.

“Ah, yes. This is Ji-eun. I wanted to look into something, so…”

As a former magical girl, Ji-eun unnie is in a position where she can converse casually with high-ranking officials.

After chatting a bit, it’s surprisingly easy to track down someone’s location, even without going through official channels.

Being in her mid-twenties, Ji-eun unnie isn’t a pushover and knows how to deal with a landlord who blatantly refuses to cooperate.

Especially with people who handle large sums of money, there’s always a loophole somewhere that gives them the confidence to act boldly.

After a few more serious, intense phone calls…

“They’re in Jeonju, apparently.”

Eventually, Ji-eun unnie learned the whereabouts of the landlord who had cut off contact.

Looking up the address she was given on a satellite map, it turned out to be a nice, well-built detached house.

It seemed like they had planned to run off from the start.

Even if we went to confront such a shameless person, it would be hard to get anything out of them other than “Screw you.”

Ji-eun unnie’s phone calls continued several more times.

Being a former magical girl seems to make it easier to dig up information, as she talked with the bank manager like she was chatting with an average middle-aged man.

“They think he might have hidden assets somewhere. The cash flow looks a bit suspicious.”

“Oh-ho.”

I let out a short sound of admiration, pursing my lips into a circle.

The information Ji-eun unnie was digging up was all top-tier.

I had been worried about the possibility that there might really be no money left, but it seemed the scumbag was trying to handle things in a surprisingly straightforward way.

“So, what are you going to do?”

“What else? We’ll go and deal with him directly.”

After receiving the location from Ji-eun unnie via a map app, I decided to leave Si-yeon with her and step out “for a bit.”

It’s absolutely not about going to catch someone.

I just suddenly felt like transforming and flying to Jeonju.

Ji-eun unnie, knowing full well how reckless I can be, crosses her arms with a worried look and asks me,

“Will you even be able to get the money that way? Sounds like robbery.”

“Ah… about that, I have an idea.”

After requesting a small favor from her, I grabbed Gomteng to keep me company and took to the skies.

I hadn’t had much reason to transform lately, so the winter sky felt surprisingly new.

Now that I think about it, it had been a really long time since my last transformation.

Sometimes, when I needed extra height or strength while cooking, I’d use my transformation to help, but even that hadn’t been necessary lately since Ji-eun unnie stepped in to cover for me.

The sight of my light orange hair fluttering in the corner of my vision felt rather unfamiliar.

“But Sun-nim, what are you planning to do once you get there?”

“Huh?”

Just like Ji-eun unnie, Gomteng suddenly chimes in with a question mid-flight, seemingly curious.

Having picked up some basic knowledge of human society from online communities, Gomteng probably remembered stories about firefighters being sued for trespassing or property damage after saving people from burning buildings.

It sounds ridiculous, but those cases were all real.

Since I brought Gomteng along to keep me company, I decided to explain part of my grand plan.

“Entering someone’s house during an emergency is fine now.”

“Oh, really?”

“And, a monster appearance counts as a nationally recognized emergency.”

“…Ah!”

A few clues were enough for Gomteng-i to let out a sound of realization.

Apparently enlightened, Gomteng-i didn’t ask any more questions.

My gaze landed on a stylish detached house beneath Jeonju’s cloudy gray sky.

Lowering my altitude to stay within signal range, I opened my smartphone and called Ji-eun unnie.

“Oh, did you arrive?”

“Yes. Have you gotten in touch with the local representative for Jeonju?”

The first thing I asked about was the magical girl in charge of Jeonju.

“Yeah, I told Hye-ji about it. A fake alert will go off, so she doesn’t need to deploy.”

Ji-eun unnie’s calm voice came through the phone.

A fake alert.

Even if the homeowner had stolen my money, barging in after breaking down their door and demanding it back would definitely count as robbery.

I didn’t want to be branded as a criminal for trespassing and special theft, splashed across the front page of the news.

That’s why I needed a justification.

And that justification was a monster appearance alert.

Like firefighters entering a burning building, I could break down the door of the house at the center of the alert and charge in.

“Should I call the local representative now and trigger the alert?”

“Yes, you can hang up and do it right away.”

The call ended, and I cracked my neck, wrists, and ankles with a series of satisfying pops to loosen up.
It had been so long since I fought a monster that I might have trouble controlling my strength.

In less than a minute, the shrill blare of an alarm filled the air, signaling the start of the alert right in the middle of the Jeonju residential area.

An unexpected alarm rang out, and the people walking down the street followed the garbled announcements from loudspeakers, moving in the opposite direction of the kaiju sighting.

Despite the mention of a kaiju, the alarm had blended seamlessly into daily life.

People didn’t panic but instead walked leisurely, as if thinking, “Oh, another one?” with a nonchalant attitude.

Alright, work time.

A curved arc traced through the sky, gently landing at the ground entrance of a detached house.

A charming two-story home with a yard, the epitome of romantic living.

Admiring it internally, I thought, “Man, if you rip people off, you really can live in such a nice place.”

Taking a deep breath, I calmed my rising anger for a moment and approached the door, lifting one foot and gently placing it at the bottom center of the door.

If I ended up kicking the door hard enough to shatter the ribs of the person inside, it wouldn’t just be about collecting unpaid money; I’d have to plan a funeral.

I applied a little pressure, and the sound of bending metal echoed along with the groaning of stressed hinges.

The once-sturdy iron door guarding the entrance now looked like a crumpled school newsletter abandoned in a desk drawer for two months.

“What… what the hell!”

The loud noise of crumpling metal.

It was only natural that the homeowner—sensitive about his money—would come running to the entrance in a panic.

A man who looked to be in his 50s or 60s appeared, yelling in shock.
Judging by his reaction and the absence of other voices, it seemed no one else was home.

“Are you here alone, mister?”

“How dare you do this to someone’s door! I’ll sue you for this!”

Obviously, he didn’t realize the magical girl who tracked him down was one of his tenants.
Scratching the back of my head nonchalantly, I twirled my magical staff and replied,

“Ah, there was an alarm about a kaiju being here, you see?”

Of course, there was no kaiju in this house.
Well, to be exact, the record showed one, but it wasn’t real.

Looking around the serene and peaceful interior—aside from the wrecked entrance—the man grew increasingly indignant.

“What nonsense are you spouting! Get out of my house right now!”

If I were the type to back down just because someone told me to, I wouldn’t have come here in the first place.

With each anger-fueled step forward, the weight of my footsteps left deep dents in the floor of the house.

Steps laden with the fury of 150 million won.

I wanted to grab him by the neck and make his eyes pop out right then and there, but first, I needed him to acknowledge his crime.

Lowering myself to his eye level, I grabbed his collar and spelled it out for him.

“Here you are. The kaiju that ran off with my deposit.”

“W-what…”

The anger that had filled his face moments ago vanished, replaced by a stunned expression.
His mouth hung open as he stammered, unable to form a coherent reply.

He clearly hadn’t anticipated that one of the tenants in his countless office buildings might be a magical girl.

“There’s nothing left of your deposit! Not a single cent! Go ahead, do what you want!”

Apparently, he thought being brazen was his best defense, growing bolder in his defiance.

Since he still hadn’t grasped the situation, I raised my staff and struck the wall beside the entrance.

“Ahhhhhh!”

With a deafening crash, bricks crumbled, and the house began to shake.

The thick dust rising from the collapsed building materials only added to the fear.

Most people who arrogantly shout “Go ahead, try me!” do so because they think the law won’t actually let you take things that far.

Time to show him what happens when you meet a truly crazy person—no, a crazy woman.

“Are you giving me permission?”

“W-what? No! No, wait, wait, wait!”

The man, who had confidently stood his ground just moments ago, now cowered in panic, raising his arms defensively and stretching out a trembling hand toward me.

Where did all that bravado go?

Ignoring his plea to stop for just a moment, I turned and delivered a spinning kick to the opposite wall, causing another plume of thick dust to fill the air.

“Arghhhhhh!”