Welcome, Seiren. The Magical Girl.
To sum up the post:
1. Seiren is a mage the Association has been secretly nurturing.
2. Seiren is an orphanage kid who's been with her cameraman since childhood.
3. The Association monitors her streams, but they're basically just her hobby.
4. Spread rumors and the Association's Smile Man will pay you a visit, so watch yourselves.
The initial reaction was cold. The Association's secret weapon? What a joke.
But then the Association—no, the Regional Defense Safety Office—dropped an official statement, and the mood flipped.
The promotional SNS account they put up when recruiting promising talents. The promising talent they called never showed, just flops kept coming, and the feed had gone dormant at some point. Then bam—sparkly magical girl pops up.
And the community lost its shit.
Someone's post became holy ground, racking up hundreds of comments in tribute.
The trolls who stirred shit got spooked by the Association backing her and started groveling in fear.
Some celebrated the win. And with the Association stepping up as her guardian, "magical girl" started trending even among normies.
Every major hunter community spread the word about Seiren... The source calling her "a super rookie surpassing Lee Sun's talent" combined with the overwhelming firepower of the hunter galleries shook up the algorithms.
Eventually, every Korean saw at least one Seiren video, sparking a sudden magical girl craze across the peninsula.
In terms of impact, it rivaled the time Lee Sun left the Association. Thanks to that, Seiren's hiatus dragged on a bit longer.
Of course, Lee Hyun and Seiren didn't just sit around during that time. They fine-tuned the contract terms with the Association.
"Public hunters are bureaucrats too. Like any office job, they can access employee info via the intranet to some extent. You wouldn't want that, right?"
"Yes."
"Seiren is special. We'll treat her accordingly."
Luckily, Yoo Kang-hyuk was a reasonable guy. Everything except her name kept non-public, minimal contact lines, solo mission rights, tax breaks—a ton of perks.
"Quarterly: one dungeon scout team participation and one magic consultation."
Four dungeon scouts and four consultations a year. Just eight gigs annually, and in return, all those perks plus Seiren's identity protection and a 10 billion won salary—that was Yoo Kang-hyuk's offer.
Lee Hyun glanced at Seiren, who nodded.
"Great contract."
"Looking forward to working with you."
Yoo Kang-hyuk and Lee Hyun both smiled as they stood.
Just as they were about to leave the Association, a spark—pop!—went off in Lee Hyun's head.
"Something to say?"
"Ah, yeah, about that."
Lee Hyun turned back to Yoo Kang-hyuk, who'd escorted them to the entrance, flashing a mischievous grin.
"The Bukaksan Gate. Want us to handle it?"
2
Live stream after a long break.
[Viewers: 1,066]
Viewers hit 1,000 in 10 seconds, chat scrolling too fast to read. Old fans mixed with newbies, pure chaos in the chat.
But the chaos unified into one voice: checking on Seiren.
And yeah, the cam showed me, not her.
I let out a small sigh and spoke up.
"Yep. That's how it is."
"My identity got doxxed anyway, so I figured fuck it, show my face too."
Seiren's blowing up. More people will recognize her soon. Better nip any rumors from my sightings in the bud now that the Association vouches for our orphanage buddy relationship.
"You saw the announcement, so..."
Short explanation time after that, fielded some questions, viewers dipped a bit, but I figured we'd wrapped it up clean—then donations exploded.
‘Mi-sik-ga’ donated 10,000 coconuts.
So no blood relation, but grew up together like siblings, super close because of their rough upbringing, got it?
I ignored the rampaging chat and nodded.
"Spot on. You nailed the core of it."
‘Mi-sik-ga’ donated 10,000 coconuts.
Nailed my ass. You like Seiren, don't you? One-sided crush, you fucker.
"What? No way. Absolutely not."
I'm innocent.
‘Mi-sik-ga’ donated 10,000 coconuts.
Prove it then. Show Seiren sparks zero romantic feelings. Prove your purity.
"Huh? Romantic feelings? None at all."
To my eyes, Seiren's still a kid. What dirty thoughts would I have?
...Sometimes I flinch a bit, but nothing serious.
"How do I prove it?"
‘Mi-sik-ga’ donated 10,000 coconuts.
Heart rate monitor to check if it skips.
"No way we got one of those at home."
‘Mi-sik-ga’ donated 10,000 coconuts.
Then promise this.
"Promise what?"
‘Mi-sik-ga’ donated 10,000 coconuts.
If you and Seiren ever become lovers, cut off your dick.
"Pardon?"
No way it needs to go that far... but seems I'm the only one thinking that.
"Y-yeah... Won't happen anyway. Deal."
Chat quieted down once I nodded. Finally, I could move to the main topic. Explanation took too damn long, and this was the real meat.
"Off to Bukaksan."
"Can't let those demonic fuckers' pathway sit there unchallenged. Got a support request from the outpost, so gladly accepting."
Viewers didn't care about this, the important stuff. Should've just posted an announcement. Small regret as I called Seiren.
3
Beep-beep—beep—
"You with us?"
A hospital in Seoul. ICU.
The white-haired woman opened her eyes.
Her gaze demanded answers, and the man beside her explained what had happened.
"You've been in a coma since then till now."
"Ah..."
Memory hitting her, she clutched her head.
Open Field, cocky porter, and... fire pillar.
"Kyaaaaaa!"
"C-calm down."
Lee So-rin thrashed. Those cold eyes looking down at her felt like they pierced her heart.
Doctor came, sedatives administered, fit finally stopped.
"Rest..."
The caregiver left the room, and Lee So-rin stared blankly at the ceiling.
Sedatives or not, that witch kept flashing in her mind.
To force a distraction, she flicked on the TV. Nothing specific, but the noise might keep her sane.
"Huh?"
Then a terrestrial news channel glued her eyes.
Blonde hair, gray eyes.
How could she forget? Still burned into her brain.
Huff, huff.
So-rin's breathing quickened. Vision swam, sounds faded.
Panic attack.
But... a little different.
"Do you desire power?"
4
Meanwhile, at that very hour.
Association execs gathered in a conference room, discussing two people.
Talent surpassing Lee Sun. Prime candidate for next archmage, but intel from back channels says she's already at archmage level—a once-in-a-lifetime genius.
Seiren.
First agenda: her past and how the Association should handle her going forward.
Second: "No, seriously, who the hell is that guy."
"...Former porter. Currently Seiren's cameraman."
"You're kidding. Say something that makes sense."
Lee Hyun.
"Seiren sticks to him like he's her parent. How'd he build that bond?"
"Still investigating."
"To me, that guy's hiding something. Makes sense? Keeping an archmage under wraps like that?"
The execs' frustrated outburst prompted the investigator to float the most likely theory.
"Well... Seiren likes Lee Hyun..."
"Bullshit. Just say she popped up outta nowhere, huh? Dropped from the sky?"
"Sorry..."
"Tch. Kids these days..."
The exec sighed deeply and continued.
"Hard to believe he raised and hid an archmage, but why reveal now after laying low? Dig deep. Could be... from the shadows."
And so, the Lee Hyun black curtain theory made its debut.