This World's Offbeat Habits?

"Ugh. What a pain."

After facing the surreal event of a tower suddenly appearing while I'd only been asleep for a short while, I immediately transformed and headed out for reconnaissance.

The tower had sprouted in a small forest close to my house—or rather, what used to be a forest. Who would've thought an entire woods, even a modest one, would evaporate and get replaced by a tower? Sure, that footprint was pathetically tiny compared to the height piercing beyond the clouds, but this was already beyond modern architecture.

This was blatant superhuman power, an anomaly—perhaps even on the level of a divine authority. And it had pierced through the barrier I'd set up, strong enough to establish its own domain.

"Ah."

"What's up?"

"There's... some text here. Huh? It's not showing up for unnie?"

I turned at the voice of Su-yeon, who'd come along with me. She didn't seem to be joking. Text? What text? Was the tower trying to communicate or something? Nothing had changed for me.

"Wanna read it out?"

"Sure. Let's see... 'Awakener access confirmed. Status window function unlocked!'"

Wait, what? A status window?

"Oh my! It really opened!"

"No way. A status window, and now?"

It had been a while since awakeners first appeared, and the internet had been flooded with beasts howling for status windows. And now they show up?

"Does this damn world just have offbeat habits?"

Gates didn't pop up until long after I returned from that other world. Nothing happens on time around here.

"Hawa... These stats are terrible..."

"How bad? Hmm. Can't I see them?"

"No idea. Oh?"

The moment Su-yeon muttered that, a holographic square frame unfolded before my eyes too.

"It's shared. Pretty concise, huh."

"It's embarrassing..."

"What're you embarrassed about? It's fine. These stats probably came out low because of the egg."

F seemed to be the bottom rank. I didn't know the ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠exact benchmarks, but Su-yeon's mana couldn't possibly be that low. If it was, that mess in Daegu never would've happened. These numbers were likely because all her power ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠was sealed in the egg, making it unmeasurable.

Hmm. But could I see mine? I was kinda curious how it'd turn out.

"Status window!"

...And shockingly, absolutely nothing happened.

"No status window for unnie either?"

"Looks that way. Hmm. Thinking about the text you saw, maybe it's because I'm not technically an awakener?"

Magical girls were treated as awakeners, but that was just our convenient classification. This suspicious tower might use different criteria. Plus, Earth's juniors and I, the otherworld returnee, were in pretty different positions from the start.

"But unnie, if it's that different, isn't calling it 'awakener' kinda weird?"

"Yeah, good point."

This thing just kept piling on more questions. Looked like I needed to get a bit bold.

"Step back a sec and hold position. Lemme focus and check it out."

"Okay."

Just in case, I had Su-yeon fall back to a safe distance, then placed my hand on the tower's wall—where no entrance was visible. Tssstsss—

I could feel a pulsing energy from inside the structure. Not simple mana, but something reaching into higher-dimensional realms. No doubt about it. This was a creation from the domain of divine authority.

Yeah. If it broke through my barrier, it'd have to be this strong. I channeled my mana deeper to probe this mystery structure.

And then.

Oh? So it does treat me as an awakener?

Before I could even be surprised, a new message popped up, and refined divine authority extended from the tower. The content... spatial transfer? Kinda hard to parse. Was it sending me to some pocket dimension inside the tower?

I was curious what an "opening quest" meant, so maybe I'd play along? Nah. Fine if I was alone, but Su-yeon was here. Even if she trusted me, vanishing right in front of her would worry her.

Decision made, I surged my mana.

Craaaack!

The invisible authority trying to pull me in froze solid, and in reverse, part of the tower's wall iced over. The chill had backflowed through the authority into the tower.

"Unnie? What happened?"

"Nothing much. But injecting mana seems to be the trigger, so be careful when approaching."

I warned the worried Su-yeon and pulled my hand from the wall. No real reaction for a counterattack. I was about to summon Bingho-maenghon just in case when another message suddenly flashed up.

"...What the heck is this?"

I hadn't even gone in—why cleared? Oh, did the backflowing chill just wipe out the whole opening quest?

"Unnie. What... just happened...?"

"Huh? What's wrong?"

I'd been nodding to myself when Su-yeon asked, her eyes wide as saucers. Huh. There was more to the message besides the clear notice. An overall message? Mine must've been blocked by the clear one popping first.

Guessing that's what freaked her out, I checked the full message.

* * *

France, Paris.

"Damn it. Another one opened up behind us! Block it!"

"On it!"

The romantic, radiant era of the City of Light was long gone. What remained was a battlefield where even cleaning the few buildings they'd managed to defend was a luxury—let alone repairs. Only desperate struggles to protect the city and its people dominated the once-beautiful streets. Yesterday, today, and probably tomorrow too.

"Shit."

Awakener Louis Belmont, sprinting toward a new gate in a residential area, spat a curse. Would this fight ever end? Or at least give them a breather? As exhaustion seeped in like venom the longer it dragged, he blocked a monster lunging at the houses—

—the situation changed abruptly.

Chaaaaain—

Messages bombarded him before he could read, and bizarre chain-like things poured from the gate, binding the monster tight.

"Grk? Kieeeek!"

The car-sized humanoid monster shrieked as the chains dragged it away—straight into the gate. Once its flailing green skin vanished beyond,

A stark white countdown appeared over the blackened space.

"What... the?"

Louis Belmont stared blankly at the scene. He didn't fully understand, but one thing was clear.

"It stopped."

"The gates... the gates have gone silent!"

Awakeners, soldiers, militias—every fighter across the city realized it. Cheers echoed not just in France, but across battlefields worldwide, as towering spires appeared unnoticed behind those celebrating the 40-hour reprieve.

* * *

"S-Something... something's happening..."

"Pull yourself together. This is unnie's doing, right?"

"Even so..."

After checking the full message, I genuinely panicked as I sensed the tower's authority spreading beyond my detection field. If the description was accurate, this tower's power was pretty much the "path forward" I'd been agonizing over yesterday. Sensing it on a wide scale, it even carried a faint nostalgic vibe from the authority.

Was this humanity's means to adapt to endlessly expanding gates? Honestly, it felt too convenient. Like dealing with someone overly generous. I'd brushed off a similar feeling once before and caused a huge mess.

"No red flags no matter how I dig."

"Then isn't that good?"

"Yeah, definitely. With this, overseas should stabilize somewhat."

As I chatted with Su-yeon,

"Ah! Boss! It was you after all!"

The scaly branch chief uncle fluttered in with a leap and landed beside me.

"Who're you calling boss?"

"Haha. You're the lord's top dog, so obviously the boss."

"Whoa, we have a boss!"

"Boss!"

"..."

Were they all here to check the tower too? A horde of Awakener Association members swarmed in behind the branch chief, chanting "boss" nonstop. I heard they'd cut a deal with the government to become some kind of reserve on-call squad. Shouldn't that mean fewer people? Why more heads?

"Pfft. Puhaha. B-Boss. Boss, huh. Pfft!"

"Why's my little sis laughing?"

It wasn't even that funny. Laughing just 'cause I hate it—what gives.

"You guys have your own leader anyway, right? Go to them."

"Huh? Who?"

"What association?"

"Oh, right. We quit that and became a real free group."

"...?"

"Well, after last time, they kept pressuring us. So we bailed."

The sudden association dropout announcement threw even me off. Wait, aren't they basically gangsters? Calling me boss was already power-logic faithful. Quitting that?

"Yeah. Now the only one we can trust is the boss."

"What we did was all-in on boss."

"Like we'd start trouble in boss's turf?"

"Hahaha! With boss around, clinging to those rotten strings is pointless!"

"Spoken like a true rep. Worldly wisdom on point!"

Ah. So that's what they were banking on—my halo effect. That uncle seemed fearless now. Well, words aside, he was diligently playing "friendly neighborhood citizen" whenever I checked. As long as that held, using them as background support was fine. If they got too clingy, different story.

"So, you all came to check the tower?"

"Yessir! Helped with precinct patrol this morning and spotted it. Felt like big trouble, so we came—and boom, this thing right in front."

"I see."

Patrolling the neighborhood together at dawn? Hard to imagine why people like this turned to crime.

"What do you think, branch chief uncle?"

"Huh? Ah. Yeah, it's suspiciously good."

But, he continued,

"Looks like even your investigation found no issues, boss? Then no poison pills—at least, obsessing over suspicion just spins wheels."

"Oh ho."

Makes sense. Even adding my otherworld experience, he was way older and wiser. How'd someone capable end up like that(2nd time). "Even if it's cleared clean, take the gains. You're not the type to drop guard completely. Heh."

"And stop calling me boss?"

Can't have that with my magical girl dignity. If they insisted, I'd show 'em magical girl traditions.

"Got it, boss. I'll hold back from now on."

"Hey!"

I stretched Su-yeon's cheeks, who chimed in from the side. Even all grown up, her cheeks were baby-soft and stretchy.