Ah, If You Want to See It That Bad, I'll Show You (Click)
"Yeah, if you wanna see it that badly, here you go. (click) Alright, Mom, you take care too."
[She's the one who's got me worried more.]
"No need to worry about me at all."
[How could I not worry? Aigoo. I haven't even seen my baby's face since last holiday.]
"This isn't the time to talk about holidays."
It had been a full ten days since that shocking incident that forced me back into my main gig as a magical girl. I was climbing the mountain while chatting with Mom.
The communication blackout last time had been due to some kind of precursor to the event—outages in a few areas. Now that things were back to normal, she called every single day. It was starting to feel a bit annoying... no, more like devoted concern.
[Anyway, show your face once you're safe.]
"Got it. Tell Dad and the relatives to stay safe too."
[Yeah...]
In truth, I'd already dropped by once on my end. Mom hesitated like she had more to say before hanging up. I knew exactly what it was. She'd been urging me to come back home ever since the old days—and even more aggressively now that danger was afoot.
Of course, I'd fired back that she should come here instead. Fat chance that'd work. Yeongju-si was a small city to begin with. No way they'd happily trek down from Daegu, our hometown.
Still, I'd checked on them while I was there and taken precautions. It was relatively close, so they should be fine.
"Kids! I'm here!"
"Kyeng kyeng!"
The tiny shapes burst out from the bushes at my shout upon reaching my destination. They were adorable quadrupeds with reddish-brown fur and charming black-gloved paws.
The wild fox family the government had released on Sobaeksan Mountain.
Honestly, I wouldn't have chosen to move here without these guys. I'd decided on the area after hearing about the fox release right when I was house-hunting.
"You all doing okay?"
"Kyeng!"
The biggest one in the family pack led the charge, trotting up and yipping cutely.
"You rascal. All grown up and still hogging the attention from the pups."
"Kee-ing."
Stroking its wild-but-still-fluffy fur made the little ones swarm me with excited yips too.
"Alright, here—have some of this."
"Hek hek."
I tossed them raw meat from the butcher, and their tails wagged like crazy. This is healing. What, Fox Mom? ...Not wrong, I guess.
I hadn't been that into foxes before—horses were more my thing. Guess getting isekai'd changed me. Power of bonds or whatever. Seeing them reminded me of my mascot partner, like every magical girl has.
Couldn't see him anymore, though...
Well, he was a different color from these native foxes anyway, and looked like a plush toy from another world entirely.
'Wait, can you even walk? Your front paws don't touch the ground.'
'I've been flying since birth, so it's fine-kyeng!'
......
"Kyung!"
"Ah, sorry. Too rough?"
While lost in memories, one pup shook off my petting hand with a shiver.
"Kyeng kyeng!"
"Time to go already? You could come with."
"Kruuung."
I pointed downhill, but like always, they retreated into the bushes in refusal. Being government-released foxes, maybe they craved freedom? Or just didn't wanna live with humans. Who knows.
Anyway, hobby time done—time to head down. But the foxes were on my mind a bit today.
With gates spitting monsters now and then, I'd been patrolling daily to clean up. But it was time to reset the routine.
The mood was settling, so I figured it'd be fine to restart streams.
...Just in case, maybe reinforce the Disinfection barrier a tad.
Yeah, better safe. Muttering to myself, I turned my back on Sobaeksan and descended.
"How many damn bugs are there?"
After descending, I checked the Disinfection at home and nearly passed out.
Hundreds of activations per day? Did they nest nearby or something? At this rate, we need a fogger truck disinfecting the whole neighborhood. Gotta vote yes if the community center brings it up.
Of course, ignoring my freakout, the house itself was spotless. It was Disinfection in name only—a mosquito net barrier that evolved into a full barrier spell. Even dragon-bone-munching hellbugs couldn't breach it; Earth's puny insects didn't stand a chance.
Anyway, shelving the bug-plagued rural city issue for now.
I tweaked the magic for easier gate responses, adding a few functions. Even if I was late, no catastrophes now.
Relieved, I prepped for the stream ahead...
...Specifically, buying those burger gift icons I'd promised to rain down last time.
"Tch. This really worth it?"
Not a huge sum, but man, it stung. My pride!
I mean, I saved Lee Jeong-ah's life—ain't she owe me? But nooo, a magical girl throwing a fit over this would be tacky.
With things like this, I had no choice but to force it on her even if she hated it. Plus, no stream since the burger announcement—chat was probably exploding.
Force majeure? Nah, viewers don't care. They lurk for any chance to bite the streamer.
Separate from magical girl dignity, I just didn't wanna feed those wolves firewood.
With that, I clutched my five purchased burger gift icons and marched into battle (the stream).
Stream on—16 viewers right away. A number I only saw when Hako explorers overlapped or rice-munchers showed for freebies like burgers.
Word must've spread. Even with my mention-ban on communities, rumors trickle.
Not enough to explode growth, so no biggie.
Hmm. Scroll flying fast— as expected from burger-bait addicts...
"Huh?"
No, totally different topic.
Unexpected flow—totally caught off guard. Transformation talk. Why were viewers who'd always seen it as RP suddenly flipping?
"Aha."
Then I remembered: mid-stream last time, I'd straight-up transformed and flown off. Forgot about that.
Of course it'd cause a riot if your RP streamer suddenly did the real deal.
Familiar nicks too—not burger randos. Long-time frosties: absentees and off-timers all rallied. The frosties uniting after hearing.
The solidarity from guys whose fandom name embarrassed me to say aloud... Almost brought tears to this magical girl's eyes—not.
"You bastards really had a group chat all along."
I'd suspected, but didn't think they'd actually set up a hub. Sure, Hako chats clique up, but open cliquing crosses a line, right?
Firepower insane—not even comparable to usual. Even Malreong Kongtteok, the rotten regular who lurks more than chats like Lee Jeong-ah, showed.
Group chat drama later. The real issue: this bait.
I got what they wanted. Admitting magical girl? No prob. I'd hidden it as RP to avoid stirring peaceful, magic-free Earth.
But now, with gates and abilities everywhere? Whatever.
...Still, spilling immediately felt off.
'NongNongGeukBingStandUp' charged 100,000 Power!
[Guys... what are you even talking about? Wasn't it obvious from the start that Geukbing's a magical girl? Was I the only one serious??]
"Eek."
Sudden superchat? She'd been on her own tangent claiming she knew the truth, now trolling like my usual RP bits.
"NongNongGeukBingStandUp~ 100k Power superchat! Priszma's magical blessing upon you!"
...Gotta do the pro streamer thing.
'NongNongGeukBingStandUp' charged 10,000 Power!
[Heh heh heh come at me!]
Not too diluted, but I get the intent. High magical girl knowledge. They're covering for me.
Magical girls are sacred heirs to transformation protag tradition—hiding identity is basic.
So basic, my transformation passively triggers Perception Inhibition magic way stronger than usual.
No one connects or even suspects without seeing it right in front of them or a link like with Lee Jeong-ah.
No proof from eyewitnesses... Not enough for clean confession. Time to stake magical girl pride on a dodge—
'Not the time yet.'
"Phew. Okay, okay, got it."
But dodging's an art too.
"Transformation, huh? If you want this magical girl's transformation that bad, no choice..."
Saying the opposite of my thoughts, I finished setup and clicked the mouse.
"Watch closely. And don't tell a soul! Trans! Form!"
In that instant, my stream view changed. Against a fantasy backdrop, 'Magical Girl Geukbing'—tiny, hugging a doll-like mascot—smiled and greeted the frosties.
Precisely: chat ignited at my virtual avatar popping up in VTuber mode.
Why? It is a transformation, technically.
That thick, huh?