003 - Magical Girl
"Magical Girl trait confirmed. No doubt about it."
A few hours later.
After undergoing several precise examinations using the inspection device designed for true awakeners, Lee Chang was definitively determined to be a magical girl.
"…."
The girl who had once been a man sat on a simple chair.
Her transformation was released. She had instinctively understood how to undo it.
Lee Chang's feet, dangling from the chair, didn't touch the floor.
It wasn't that the chair was high; her legs were just short.
She was aware of her feet swaying faintly but didn't bother stopping them.
Above all, she had no spare attention for such trivialities right now.
A middle-aged woman called the chief researcher was peering at her tablet and explaining things to Lee Chang.
Her name didn't stick. She vaguely recalled a greeting before the experiment, but she'd brushed it off without interest back then.
"The trait manifestation signal was detected right after the mana overload peaked during the experiment. At that moment, the subject's vital signs changed dramatically, and the physical mutation began simultaneously."
"So."
Lee Chang cut her off. She didn't care about that stuff.
"Why the hell a magical girl? That's one that only shows up in women."
Among the countless traits manifested by true awakeners, some rare ones were known to appear only in specific genders.
Traits like monk or barbarian only in men, and valkyrie or nun only in women, for example.
And magical girl was one of those that only manifested in women.
The chief researcher paused for a moment.
She double-checked the data on her tablet, then shook her head.
"To be honest, we don't know."
"……."
"The magical girl trait has only ever manifested in female true awakeners, without a single exception. There are no reported cases worldwide in men. This case... it seems the abnormal path of artificial awakening is the cause, but the exact mechanism requires further research."
Lee Chang didn't respond.
She just sat there, staring at the floor.
Her small hand clenched into a fist on her knee, white-knuckled tight.
"As for the physical mutation, for now."
The chief researcher continued cautiously.
"Current height approximately 142 centimeters, weight about 34 kilograms. Based on appearance and physical development, estimated as a girl between 12 and 13 years old, and biologically... a complete female body."
"Ha."
"Surprisingly, the mana circuits seem to have mostly retained their original structure. Your reinforcement circuits, built for close-quarters combat specialization, appear intact. However, the magical girl trait is actually…"
"Enough."
Lee Chang cut her off.
And immediately brought up the most important topic.
"How to reverse it."
"……."
"How to go back to normal."
The chief researcher pressed her lips together.
That brief silence was the answer.
"…At present, there's no method. Trait manifestation is an irreversible phenomenon, and the accompanying physical changes are considered part of the trait. You're the first case where the gender itself has flipped completely... but the fact that the appearance persists even without transformation means this isn't a transformation effect—it's a permanent physical reconstruction by the trait."
One word hammered into Lee Chang's brain like a nail.
Permanent.
Her crimson eyes, which had been glaring at the floor, turned to the chief researcher.
"Why the fuck didn't you warn me this kind of side effect was possible from the start?"
"Hunter Lee Chang. The consent form clearly stated that side effects could include death or equivalent phenomena…"
"You call this fucking shit 'equivalent to death'?"
The chief researcher averted her gaze for a moment.
"…Yeah, it's so goddamn awful you'd want to die. My bad. Thanks for the heads-up."
That would have been the honest answer.
All previous test subjects had died upon failure; they hadn't even reached the stage of discussing side effects.
It was all about life or death.
They hadn't even considered the possibility of successfully manifesting a trait that didn't match the gender, let alone the body mutating to fit it.
"What I can say is."
The chief researcher spoke with difficulty.
"We never anticipated this outcome at all. This is the first successful case of artificial trait awakening, so there was no prior data to predict what might happen."
Lee Chang sat there blankly for a long while after hearing that.
The lab was quiet, filled only with the low hum of machinery.
In the room with just the two of them, the chief researcher's gaze fixed on the girl wearing a complicated expression.
Lee Chang stood first.
She had to hop down from the chair.
That small action etched reality into her once more.
"…Where's the bathroom."
"Ah, if you go that way…."
Lee Chang left the lab and walked in the direction the researcher pointed.
Her steps felt off.
Her stride was narrow. Less than half of what it used to be.
It took twice as many steps to cover the same distance.
She didn't want to walk around in the transformation outfit, so even the minimal-size lab clothes she'd been given to wear were too big.
The sleeves covered her hands and flapped with every step.
She'd cinched the pants at the waist with pins and cut off the dragging hem.
Tap, tap, tap.
Even the sound of her slippers dragging on the floor was light.
Back in the day, her combat boots would have thudded heavily; now it sounded like dry leaves falling.
Opening the bathroom door—something she used to do unconsciously—felt heavy and annoying.
She instinctively stood in front of the urinal, then remembered her 34-year-old companion was gone.
By the time she left, went to the women's bathroom, her irritation had doubled.
When she realized she could just use the toilet in the men's room, her frustration hit its limit.
"Ah, fuck!!"
She spat out a curse, sighed, pulled down her pants, and sat on the toilet.
…How the hell do you do this?
She'd sat down, but the sensation was blatantly different from before, leaving her flustered.
Fortunately, she got the hang of it quickly. Relaxing just right produced a trickle and relief.
"Ugh…."
It felt weird somehow.
Out of habit, she tried to shake it off, realized she couldn't, gritted her teeth, and wiped with toilet paper.
Then she stood at the sink, but the height was inconvenient.
The mirror was positioned so high she could only see above her solar plexus.
Luckily, there was a lower kid-sized sink nearby, so she moved over—but even that felt off.
Lee Chang faced her reflection while washing her hands.
The small girl with black bobbed hair and crimson eyes stared back.
Her skin was flawless, without a single blemish.
The scars accumulated over more than twenty years as a hunter were gone without a trace.
The knife scar from her left eye corner to her jaw, the puncture wound below her collarbone, the burn mark on her forearm—all vanished.
She looked like she'd been incubated for twelve years and just pulled out.
Lee Chang furrowed her brow. The girl in the mirror did the same.
But that expression held no menace. Just a kid's sulky face when something didn't sit right.
Lee Chang vaguely understood the researchers' reactions now. No way this could be seen as threatening.
When her old self scowled, anyone facing her backed off instinctively.
Her online rep was mostly "thug" or "gangster," and she'd enjoyed that.
But not anymore.
The girl beyond the mirror.
Her new form, possibly permanent from now on.
And holders of the magical girl trait didn't age outwardly, either….
"This is insane…."
She'd awakened a trait.
That much was true. She'd gotten the result she volunteered for the experiment to achieve.
But deep down, she'd had specific hopes.
Warrior, swordsman, knight, fighter, monk… anything would do.
Ideally, something specialized in close combat.
With a trait boosting the fighting style she'd honed for decades, she could challenge S-rank hunters right then.
Maybe even immediately.
But of all things.
A magical girl.
She didn't even know what it did exactly. It was a rare trait with only about ten known cases worldwide, not well-documented.
But it sure as hell wasn't close-combat specialized.
And on top of that, it changed her appearance like this….
"…Ha."
A laugh escaped her.
The girl's lips twisted in the mirror.
Self-mocking.
Korea's A-rank hunter.
The legend of semi-awakeners.
Online nickname: Dog Thug.
The human weapon Lee Chang. Now drowning in oversized lab clothes—not even kid-sized—standing at a children's sink, chuckling at her reflection.
A sudden thought hit her.
What would Yoo Hayeon, that fucking bitch, say if she saw this?
That goddamn pink bitch. Anyone else, fine—but she absolutely couldn't let her see this.
With that mutter, Lee Chang left the bathroom.
Stepping out, the chief researcher from before was waiting in the hallway.
She looked like she had something to say, gazing down at Lee Chang with a cautious expression.
"Hunter Lee Chang. There's an urgent matter right now…."
"…What now. We did tests for hours already. Save the rest for tomorrow."
But the chief researcher's reaction was strange.
"That's not it. We just got word that she arrived at the institute's main gate."
"She?"
The chief researcher looked troubled for a moment, then lowered her voice as if there was no helping it.
"…The one you fought recently."
"What… oh."
The one she'd fought recently.
In a flash of deduction, a face surfaced in my mind.
Pink hair. Pink dress. Late-teens appearance.
Youngest A-rank. Future S-rank prospect. Magical girl.
Yoo Hayeon.
Pink. Fucking. Bitch!
"Why??"
My head filled with questions.
Why the hell was that bitch here all of a sudden? What reason could she have??
But before I could resolve them—
- Click, clack.
From the stairwell at the end of the opposite hallway, the clear sound of someone ascending echoed.
And seconds later, I met eyes with her.
Those unforgettable pink irises….