We're Officially Open

"Ah, what the hell — let's do this!"

…Or so I grandly decided. In truth, there wasn't all that much left for me to do.

The Ministry of Science and ICT — the ministry with a direct stake in the matter — had already signed off. The Office for Government Policy Coordination and the Ministry of Economy and Finance had already run their reviews. I'd gotten every last signature during that first meeting with the President.

And because this wasn't a central administrative agency but an other-purpose special institution, the amendment to the Government Organization Act had already cleared the National Assembly standing committee and the Legislation and Judiciary Committee. All it needed was the President's signature on the desk.

Which is how, a mere day after the decision was finalized at the Prime Minister's residence, a document landed in front of me containing the personnel order appointing me Director of the Magic Bureau. The delivery person was none other than the 2nd Vice Minister of Science and ICT. Apparently, a vice minister of the parent ministry and the director of an external bureau ranked roughly the same in protocol.

"So that means the 1st Vice Minister outranks me?"

"No. The '1st' and '2nd' are just numbers. The 1st Vice Minister does take over as acting minister when the minister is away, but that's about it."

"Ah."

After that brief exchange, we moved straight into practical business — mostly a summary of everything that had happened so far.

"The presidential decree on organizational structure still has some gaps, but that's not urgent. We can fold it in naturally as we restructure."

Hong Ihyeon, 2nd Vice Minister of Science and ICT, was relatively young among the senior government officials I'd met so far. Mid-thirties, by the look of him.

"Is that really okay?"

"Unless someone files a formal complaint, who's going to make an issue of it?"

Surprisingly, the Science Ministry already had a temporary Magic Infrastructure Research TF — built around the research team that had once carted off my research materials. Elsewhere, the Ministry of National Defense had a Crisis Response TF, and the judiciary had assembled a research consortium for foundational legal work. Organizations were scattered all over the place, managed in pieces.

"I had no idea about almost any of this."

At my dumbfounded tone, Vice Minister Hong laughed it off with a good-natured heh heh.

"This is the kind of work that gets done quietly, under the radar. Once the Magic Bureau's establishment is approved, we'll absorb every one of those TFs and build out the internal structure and departmental system."

Apparently, that was how they handled epidemics and other crises too — stand up a TF, then flexibly merge or split departments as needed. They were running a similar playbook this time.

"There is one problem, though…"

"A problem?"

"We don't have a building."

Ah.

Real estate. That was a serious matter.

Behind the nonstop stream of Magic Bureau breaking news was a deliberate push from certain very important people to broadcast the story worldwide. The bigger the Magic Bureau's profile, the easier it would be to expand its scale and promote projects and results.

The Magic Bureau Establishment Task Force ballooned past a hundred personnel overnight, built mainly around expert staff led by STEM faculty.

"Ahem. Accordingly, as of November 26th, the Magic Bureau Establishment Task Force has completed its activities, and going forward we will be known as the Magic Bureau — a formal government institution."

The schedule had moved at lightning speed, but the public didn't raise much of a fuss about it.

…Yeah, let's just skip the minor noise. Same old comments I always saw — nothing worth reacting to one by one.

"Still, I honestly thought the Magic Bureau was going to pop into existence in twenty-four hours flat."

I handed a bottle of water to Hong Jeongwoo, the Magic Bureau spokesperson, as he barely made it out of the press room after the briefing. He bowed his head in thanks as he took it.

He'd originally been a spokesperson in the Science Ministry's PR office before transferring over to the Magic Bureau — at his own strong request, I'd heard.

"Haa. Thank you. The level and range of the questions were so different from usual — that one really wore me out."

Spokespersons normally had ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠a fair amount of leeway in what they could say, but this time I'd ordered him not to react to anything outside the script and anticipated Q&A I'd written for him.

And now that I was Director, I officially had a secretary assigned to handle my protocol…

"I'll be at your service."

A face I somehow felt like I'd been seeing every day. That familiar polished urban-woman presence. A tall frame that was definitely over 170 centimeters.

"Serin, let's hit a convenience store first."

Choi Serin — the tall female agent who had somehow slipped into the secretary role with complete naturalness — was now doubling as my secretary.

Apparently the government had arranged things this way and that because she was both civil and combat-capable, and legally authorized to carry a firearm. Plus, if she was going to stick with me while I still lived and slept inside a secure facility, the secretary needed that level of security clearance.

They could slap together a government agency with slapdash administration (allegedly), but they couldn't put together a proper security detail? What kind of nonsense was that?! What kind of nonsense?! — I would have staged a protest, except I was strong enough that it didn't matter. Pass.

…Honestly, when Serin had bowed and said, "I'll be serving as your official secretary from now on," I'd thought she was joking. She was not joking. She even got overtime pay for anything outside after five.

Anyway — enough reminiscing. Serin was giving me a puzzled look that clearly said why a convenience store, of all places, so I shrugged.

"I'm hungry."

"Then it might be better to have a proper meal, even if it's a bit early."

I checked the phone she held out. 10:50.

"What should I eat…"

In the span of a second, a parade of dishes marched through my head. Piping-hot sundae soup with rice. Hearty bone hangover soup. All-you-can-eat conveyor-belt sushi for the value. Fast and easy ham-boogie-ham-book…

Ahh, the agony of choice.

"Recommend me something for lunch."

"How about poke?"

"Po… what?"

What even was that. Hmm. Salmon and salad greens and brown rice? Wasn't that just a mixed bowl of leftovers? Oh, just plain brown rice with it? Then why not just eat a salmon salad. It's different? Huh. Then what.

"Fine, let's try this poke-or-poker thing once."

I swore afterward never to eat it again.

December. The wind had gone past cool into outright cold, and long padded coats were starting to appear.

"Four-eight-eight-five — free at last!"

I threw both arms toward the sky in front of a white wall.

"What do you mean, free. And that's the last four digits of a phone number."

Dedicated secretary Choi Serin and I packed our things and checked out of the facility — released? Discharged? Whatever. We could leave. Serin's paperwork just treated it as a long-term external assignment.

"More importantly — where did you say I live now?"

"Incheon. The bureau building is planned for the former Army Engineer Corps base site in downtown Bupyeong. So we've set your residence near the bureau grounds."

"Ah."

I'd heard that for buildings like this, the wider the lot, the better. And as luck would have it, there was a parcel of undesignated land measuring a full fifteen thousand pyeong — more than enough for six soccer fields. That was where they planned to put the bureau.

Well, compared to the Magic Tower in that other world, it was a speck of dust! But then again, I'd been involved in rebuilding that Magic Tower too! My shoulders started creeping up of their own accord.

"I'll be at your service."

"Looking forward to working with you today."

I gave a little bow to Serin as she opened the rear door for me, then settled into the seat.

Vreee—

Wasn't there a saying that the best car in the world is one someone else drives for you? Or was it instant ramen? Nah, no way. This was way too comfortable.

I surrendered myself to the official Sonata hybrid, and before I knew it we were in Incheon.

After about an hour of silent driving, Serin glanced at me through the rearview mirror and spoke.

"There's a site inspection and a meeting with the relevant parties on the schedule, but we have some time to spare. Would you prefer to arrive early, or stop by the house first…"

Option one: rest a bit, work, then go home. Option two: swing by the house, then go to work. No room for debate.

"Let's just go straight to work? If we've got too much time, we can grab a coffee."

"Yes."

And — something I always noticed — Serin was a remarkably stiff person. Not quite "machine-like," but more like her emotions had started forming and then just… stopped halfway?

I was staring out the window with these idle thoughts when the district office came into view. A building packed with gray windows — at first glance I'd have sworn it was some rigid courthouse or legal facility.

Screeech.

"Why would they put that up as a sign when you ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠can't even copy-paste it? And one of the dots is missing."

"…"

Mounting a non-clickable URL on the exterior wall as a sign was, I had to admit, fairly creative. And the library next door was called the "Buk-gu Library." Had they mistyped the district name?

We went into a café near the district office and sat down. The yellow sign of trust and value-for-money never steered you wrong.

"Welcome to Compose Cof— wait? Wait, wait??"

"Hehe."

Sign, scribble-scribble. Photo, click-click. Squeals, shriek-shriek. Handshakes, shake-shake.

After finishing the usual routine and collecting complimentary cookies and a slice of cake, Serin and I sat down and caught our breath.

Sluuurp. Thwip.

Mm. Extra syrup, extra whipped cream caramel macchiato — still undefeated.

While sucking down my coffee, I double-checked the bureau site again. Of course, I didn't have a phone, so it was on the tablet Serin always carried.

"There's a subway station nearby, and it's on a main road, so commuting should be easy."

"That's right."

The subway. I was pretty sure I'd ridden it a lot back on Earth — but with the memories that could identify my past self and name stripped away, all I had left were scattered, broken fragments.

Had I done something subway-related?

"If we get time later, I'd like to ride the train once. It's been so long I'm starting to get curious."

"I'll review that positively."

"So I don't even have the freedom to ride a train, huh. Sob sob. Being a mage is so unfair I'm gonna die."

"Let's start by getting you a transit card."

"Oh right. A card."

Here I was — a bureau director with a house and the ability to use magic. But no phone, no bank account. A body that couldn't even check the time without a secretary.

"I don't have a bank account. Or a phone."

I held out both hands with a please-spare-a-coin expression, and Serin let out a disbelieving little huh of a laugh.

"The government will set up an account for you. Same for the card."

"Then how about we just go buy a phone? We've still got plenty of time."

"Hmm. About two hours left."

"Oh. Nice?"

But Serin thought it over carefully, then shook her head with a troubled look.

"In a special case like yours, Yuria, we can't just open a line arbitrarily. Security concerns can't be ignored."

"Hmm. Then what am I supposed to do? In this digital age, am I supposed to walk around with memo pads and write letters and boo-hoo."

Haha — try handling this body's whining, why don't you. How do you like the pout skills of a hero who's lived over three thousand years, acting like a brat!

"…I'll submit a request to my superiors."

The effect was tremendous.

"While you're at it, make it the latest model."

Serin had started looking at me like I was slightly deficient, but what was I supposed to do about that? If she had a problem with it, she should've given me a phone sooner.