Chapter 29
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Translator: penny
Chapter: 29
Chapter Title: Intermission Rest
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The next day.
"Urgh...!"
I let out a scream from the pain surging through every inch of my body first thing in the morning.
Roll... thud.
I had to roll off the bed, using the padding on my chest—something I'd recently come to appreciate—as a shield, before landing on the floor.
"Ah, that's refreshing... I might survive this."
Of course, landing on my chest wasn't painless... but maybe because it was surprisingly springy. Still better than smashing bone-first, I figured.
Squish, squish.
For a moment, I savored the coolness of the cold floor by pressing my shoulders and knees against it.
"Urggggh...!"
Then my whole body screamed again, forcing the sound out of my mouth. I peeled off the worn-out pain relief patches and rummaged through my desk—which had somehow accumulated more and more doll-like trinkets without me noticing—to grab the fresh pack I'd bought the day before yesterday and slap them on.
"Haa... now I can breathe."
Maybe because my body had shrunk. Back then, I needed two patches per joint to feel any relief, but now I had to cut them in half, which was a hassle... but at least it meant less trash. Silver lining, right?
Shh, shhh.
That's when it happened, as I stretched out my stiff body and flung off the sweat-soaked T-shirt from overnight.
Knock, knock.
I heard the polite knocking from Bell—the surprisingly diligent guy despite his looks.
"Come in."
He's gotta know I'm awake already, so why bother knocking every time? With that thought, I called out.
Click.
"Miss Ha-yul. If I may enter for a mo— Kyaaaaah!"
Bam!
Bell, cautiously opening the door, locked eyes with me and shrieked like a little girl before bolting out.
"You'll break the door at this rate."
Utterly dumbfounded, I dragged my aching body over and kindly opened it for him myself.
"Wh-wh-what in the world is that getup—?!"
"Changing my clothes."
Seriously, making a fuss over me in just underwear.
"Since you're here, help me get dressed. My arms won't lift."
I kicked a baggy boxy T-shirt toward the unsightly middle-aged man, who had collapsed in a heap, clutching his face with both hands.
"H-have you no shame...!?"
Bell averted his eyes from my dolphin shorts and sports bra as he pleaded.
"Hmph."
Instead of answering, I snorted derisively. After pissing myself in front of a middle school junior in public, there was no way I'd feel shame over something like this.
"No shame, so shut up and dress me. It's cold."
Unfortunately, the bashful middle-aged guy let out some unholy wail that wasn't quite a scream and tossed the T-shirt at me before fleeing as-is.
A little later.
"Ow, this hurts like hell."
I loosened up my joints, which were finally starting to move, and spoke to the idiot who still hadn't met my eyes since earlier—his face looked like it was burning up.
"You've seen worse from me normally. What's with the embarrassment, you burn victim?"
"...I'm starting to genuinely worry about your future, Miss Ha-yul."
"Why worry about my future? Just sit down already."
There was that incident two days ago, and more importantly... my magic power had skyrocketed beyond comparison, but my pre-transformation body had grown frailer instead. The backlash from overworking it with magic was brutal, so I'd decided to take off from my convenience store job until tomorrow.
"Alright, then... we've got a lot to sort out, don't we?"
Leaning back against the dining chair, I sighed and looked at Bell across from me.
"Yes, we do."
"What happened to that psycho?"
First up: the madman who was practically the root cause of this mess—teacher Lee Hyun-seok.
I'd initially thought he was just a teacher obsessed with education and considered letting him live, but the crap he'd pulled was beyond words. Kidnapping was the baseline; if students didn't obey, he'd beat them until they did or drug them, ruining kids left and right.
"Simple enough. He had videos he'd recorded as 'lesson logs,' and there was that basement setup out in the open. So now he's getting exactly what he deserves—death row material, as expected."
Plus, the girl who turned into a demonic beast—Han-byeol, was it? If he hadn't kidnapped her in the first place, she wouldn't have ended up like that.
"What caused Han-byeol to turn into a demonic beast?"
"Just as we guessed. He offered her a contract while she was mentally and physically weakened and force-fed her magic power."
"Tch. Should've turned the whole building to dust."
As I clicked my tongue, recalling yesterday's brazen Villain Alliance base—tucked deep beyond Gangnam's boundary, complete with its own building...
"Don't talk like that; you'll cause trouble. Even if you're stronger than most magical girls now, it's too soon to clash head-on with the Villain Alliance."
"Hmph."
"Lucky for you I'm such a good guy. Otherwise, who knows what that foul-tempered hag would've done."
The guy who'd casually stormed into the Villain Alliance base and demanded a one-on-one with the chairman shrugged with a troubled grin.
"Anyway... let's move on from that."
"Right. The most important thing right now... is probably about you, Miss Ha-yul."
Brushing aside the prior topics as side notes...
"...The internet reactions feel kinda weird. Am I imagining it?"
"Doubt it."
I flopped onto the table, using my plush chest as a pillow, pulled out my phone, and grumbled while scrolling through communities buzzing with posts since yesterday.
—Robelia's looking hot the more I see her, that's normal right?
—Whoa, those eyes, those armpits, that black!!!!!
—Just once, pls step on me
—Kya, her eyes when she ripped the beast apart at the end were insane
I thought it was just one community at first. But bored from lying around all day, I checked around... and nope.
"Seriously, aren't cameras too durable these days? High-def CCTV footage survived that?"
"What can ya do. If it ran on magic power, maybe, but catching that is impossible~?"
Long story short: a day after my Ruby-level demonic beast fight, while clearing the debris, someone had splurged on fancy store CCTV... capturing my entire battle in crystal-clear HD from start to finish.
"Sigh, and of all scenes..."
"Fallen or not, a magical girl is still one. The headlines killed it, right?"
"I'll kill you first, for real."
"Don't get so mad. Good is good, as they say."
Good my ass. Now my image was shifting to a dark hero protecting citizens even after falling.
"More monkeys incoming."
I'd finally etched some wariness into those monkeys' heads, but this washed it away. Sighing over how my hard-fought first stage debut was losing meaning...
"Now, now, don't be like that."
Bell slyly approached with a grin, having neatly peeled an apple from the fridge and popped a piece into my sighing mouth.
"I revised the second script for once. Take a look first, then complain."
"Mm... Better hope I like it."
"You'll love it."
I lightly skimmed the single volume of a book he slipped over with a lecherous smile.
"......"
Forgetting even the body-wide pain that leaked screams if I let my guard down, I blankly read the second script.
"Ha..."
Finally, after skimming the whole thing from my seat...
"Gotta admit, this is good."
"Heh heh, thank you."
I told Bell, who grinned like he was truly satisfied with his own script.
"That said, executing this? Won't work with just you and me."
The content was great overall... but the scale seemed beyond what Bell and I could handle alone.
"Heh heh. Of course, I've got a plan!"
Bell replied in the most delighted tone, like he'd anticipated my reaction.
"While our Miss Ha-yul was whimpering from magic backlash, diligent and capable me went ahead and called in the other troupe members!"
His energy surging again, he laughed heartily—enough to make my sore body ache—with exaggerated gestures.
"Take a look. They'll arrive tomorrow, so the house'll be lively for once. Heh heh."
He beamed at me, adding that I could look forward to it.
—Hey, hey. Come to the house tomorrow. Got work for us!
I stared at the phone he'd handed over, watching him spin around gleefully with the happiest expression imaginable.
—OK gonna kill u
The short message looked like nothing but a death threat.
"...Yeah. It'll be noisy."
What the hell does this guy do on the daily? That trivial question suddenly felt profoundly serious. With a hollow laugh, I tapped away on his phone in my hand, secretly ordering a few things I'd been eyeing for days.