Omen
Today, the dad who came home wasn't really my dad.
At first glance, I thought he was my dad without a doubt. But after eavesdropping on the conversation between Mom and this man in the room, I finally realized the truth.
"...Just for one day, please pretend to be her dad. I'm begging you."
"I'll only stay until ten, so make sure you explain things properly to Yoona."
My dad—no, the man pretending to be my dad—soon locked eyes with me. After hearing the words that spilled from my mouth, he fled our house like he was running for his life. Mom chased after his retreating back, calling out, "Yoona's dad, wait just a moment—"
Then she pulled me into a tight embrace and said,
"Yoona, um, your dad... he said something urgent came up at work. So he had to step out for a bit."
Mom held me desperately.
"The person who just came... he really is your dad. Mom and Dad were just practicing a little play to surprise you..."
I cried for a long time in her arms before falling asleep as if I'd passed out.
When I woke up, there was no one else in the house.
Even though I went to school by myself, no one was home when I returned. I'd thought Mom would be there waiting. It was a little scary, but I decided to wait while watching magical girl documentaries and cartoons.
The magical girl cartoons and documentaries on TV had already ended, but Mom still hadn't come home. Outside the window, the sun was slowly disappearing, and the house was growing dark.
"Mommy..."
What if I was so focused on the magical girl show that I didn't notice her coming in? I called out for her, just in case, but only silence answered.
"..."
It was really, really scary. I wished Mom would come home soon. We were supposed to be eating dinner together right now.
Just when I felt like I might start crying any second, I heard footsteps outside the door.
"...!"
The footsteps stopped right in front of our door. It really must be Mom.
—Beep, beep, beep, beep.
—Beeeep.
But the door lock didn't open right away. It probably wasn't Mom. She never pressed the buttons that slowly, and she'd never once made a mistake entering the code.
"..."
A jolt of fear hit me. But then I told myself it was silly to worry. After all, only Mom and I knew the password to our house.
—Beep, beep, beep, beep.
—Beeeep!
And when the door opened, there stood...
"Mommy, why..."
The faint smell of that thing called beer that Mom sometimes drank.
"...Hic."
The stranger who had pretended to be my dad was standing there.
The man said he'd bought chicken for me. He called himself Dad while saying it.
But he wasn't my dad.
He asked if I liked chicken.
"...Yeah."
The seasoned chicken Mom had bought a long time ago was really delicious. Without thinking, I nodded. The man said he knew it and casually walked into our house.
I stared at him as he kept calling himself Dad.
"Whoa..."
"This looks good."
The man ignored me and started eating the chicken. It was the same color as the chicken nuggets Mom often made.
—Gurgle.
My stomach rumbled because I hadn't eaten all day. At school, the lunch had only been things I hated, so I'd planned to ask Mom to make me ramen when I got home. But when I arrived, Mom wasn't there, and I'd been hungry the whole time.
Watching the man eat so deliciously, I unconsciously said to him—
"I want some chicken too..."
I ended up saying it to that hateful, scary man.
It was the same color as chicken nuggets, but it tasted much better. While I was devouring the chicken without thinking, the man opened our fridge and looked inside. After scanning the contents, he made an awkward face.
"Eat slowly."
He was acting like a dad, but I was too hungry to respond. It felt uncomfortable when he smiled faintly and sat across from me.
Then a scary thought suddenly occurred to me. What if it got to bedtime and Mom still wasn't back? Would I have to sleep alone?
"..."
Sleeping alone was way too scary. Mom had told me—when I stayed up late watching magical girl cartoons—that if I was awake too late at night, a scary monster might come and take me away.
Unable to overcome my fear, I looked at the man who claimed to be my dad.
...He definitely wasn't my dad.
"..."
I hated and feared monsters so much that, in the end, I decided to believe this man was my dad. Because if I got scared, a real dad would sleep next to me.
My dad—no, that man—didn't sleep next to me. He said he'd sleep in the living room with the door open. So for the first time since moving into this room, I fell asleep alone.
".....!"
The moment I woke up and saw the man's face, I almost cried. He was already ugly, and now he looked scary too. Mom still didn't seem to have come home.
"You have to go to school. Wash up, and I'll make breakfast..."
"...I, I don't want breakfast."
What if this man was actually a monster that had eaten Mom and was pretending to be human? I refused when he offered to help me get ready. But I always needed Mom's help to tie my hair...
"Want me to brush it for you?"
"...Yeah."
The man had no idea how to tie hair. To be precise, he knew the concept but clearly had never done it before. So it hurt. I'd just have to ask a friend to redo it at school.
The man naturally followed me on the way to school. I didn't say anything. When I used to walk with Mom, we'd talk a lot about magical girls. But I didn't want to talk about magical girls with this man. I didn't even want to speak to him.
Now that I thought about it, he was scary and awful. Since he hadn't slept next to me, it didn't seem like he cared about me at all.
"Study hard."
Only after I was far away from the man did I feel relieved. Mom would definitely be home today... We'd have to do a magical girl role-play together.
After dropping Yoona off at school, I headed straight back home. Not to Yoona's house, but to my own one-room apartment. My place really was better.
I showered after getting home, and by the time I came out, I'd already landed a guest appearance gig. All I had to do was sit there pretending to be a coworker from the bride's side and clap at the right moments...
"Yeah, this is normal. Damn it..."
Compared to being asked to pretend to be a dad, this was five hundred times easier. After about an hour, I received a thick envelope of cash and headed home.
After finishing the job, I returned to my studio and threw myself onto the bed.
"Ah, this is nice..."
I'd only meant to close my eyes for a moment, but when I woke up, it was already lunchtime. The clock was pointing to noon.
My body felt glued to the bed and wouldn't budge. I could probably sleep a little more like this.
"..."
Suddenly, the thought of going back to Yoona felt incredibly bothersome. Living like this would be happier and more beneficial.
"Sigh, damn..."
Of course, I dismissed it as nothing more than a wicked fantasy. I'd become an adult, yet here I was thinking about leaving a child alone just because it was annoying.
"I have to do what I have to do..."
I forced my heavy body up and grabbed the remote. There was still some time before school let out, so I figured I'd kill time watching TV. When I turned it on, the news was just starting.
[ ...To mourn the late Star Luminous, her fellow magical girls have come to lay flowers... ]
Oh right, that happened. I'd completely forgotten.
On the screen, several magical girls dressed in black stood with stiff expressions.
"Tsk..."
It was pitiful. From what I'd heard, magical girls were chosen purely based on their sense of justice and purity, so they were forbidden from receiving sponsorships while active. That's why most magical girls, unless they were already wealthy, had to split their remaining time into tiny pieces just to keep going.
But if the Magical Girl Association doesn't even give them any support funds, then why does it even exist? Well, it's not like our country has ever been any different.
[ Uuh, huuuh, big sis... big siiiis... ]
I set the remote down. The pink-haired magical girl on screen finally burst into tears, but it had nothing to do with me. Unless you were especially fond of magical girls, that's just how they were in this world.
The front gate of the elementary school right after dismissal was noisy. Kids holding their moms' hands on the way home, kids walking home with friends, kids heading straight to academies nearby.
"..."
And kids still waiting for moms who hadn't shown up yet.
At the school gate, Yoona stood clutching her backpack straps, looking around in every direction. She rose onto her tiptoes, then lowered back down.
She'd thought Mom would be back today and come pick her up like usual.
"Why isn't Mom coming..."
She walked all the way to the corner where Mom always appeared from, but Mom was nowhere to be seen. And the man she'd secretly hoped wouldn't come from school hadn't shown up either.
"..."
About thirty minutes must have passed. Yoona's legs were starting to hurt, so she crouched down on the edge of the flowerbed beside the gate. She tapped the ground with the toe of her sneaker and decided to imagine magical girl scenarios.
Magical girl imagination... My favorite magical girl is Pink Rose... Pink Rose...?
"Oh, that's right...!"
It suddenly hit her. She'd brought her Pink Rose pencil case to use in art class today but had left it in her desk drawer. It was a very expensive limited edition that Mom had bought her. It was made directly by the Magical Girl Association, and all her classmates had been jealous of it.
She'd left it behind. What if someone took it tomorrow? If she lost it, Mom would be so upset. Actually, she'd be the one most upset if it got lost...
Yoona jumped up from the flowerbed. Since Mom seemed like she'd be late anyway, she might as well go get the pencil case. The first-grade classroom was only on the second floor. It'd be quick.
Yoona walked briskly through the now-empty school gate.
And.
In South Korea, where the mere existence of Star Luminous had effectively kept the monsters in check.
Now that she was dead.
— . . .
The other magical girls, caught off guard by her sudden death, had temporarily neglected their duties. The Magical Girl Association still hadn't come up with a plan to fill the void she'd left.
This was precisely the optimal time for monsters—instinctively specialized at hunting the weak—to become active.
And the monster that tore through the air and emerged was now in...
...No one's taken it, right?
An elementary school with only one eight-year-old girl left inside.
In that school, only the thing with the twisted rat's head would remain.