Enhancement Success: Magical Girl!

I am a man. No—was a man. Up until yesterday, anyway.

Just an ordinary 22-year-old male office worker named Chae Yeon-sol.

Black hair, black eyes, average build — that's what I used to be. But the person staring back at me in the mirror right now was not the me I'd known yesterday.

Silver twintails tied up at some point I couldn't remember, and a pair of blue eyes.

A line of sight lower than it used to be. Pajamas hanging off a slender frame.

A slight swelling at my chest — and the strange emptiness where my partner in the battle of life had once lived.

"A-aaaah…."

My voice? It wasn't the deep baritone of a man anymore. It was a clear, delicate soprano.

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"…I'm a girl? Me? Just like that?"

There is exactly one situation in this world where you can fall asleep one gender and wake up another, as if struck by lightning.

"I'm… a magical girl?"

When a man awakens as a magical girl — at odds roughly as long as winning the lottery.

"This is insane. How the hell did I wake up in this body?!"

I have to get to work! Right now!

It was eight o'clock — barely an hour until I needed to be at the office! I still had to finish the paperwork due to a client today, of all days!

And on this exact morning, I had to go and awaken as a magical girl?

You know the type — transform into some frilly, sparkly outfit and fight, the magical girls?

The ones where a vanishingly small number of women — and an even smaller number of men — awaken to magic?

Haha. Fantastic. Just fantastic.

No. Calm down, Chae Yeon-sol. Start by figuring out why this happened in the first place.

So I decided to retrace my steps from last night, right before bed, to pinpoint exactly what could have turned me into this.

The last thing I did before bed last night.

That's right. I was enhancing a game item.

No sane person would even consider touching this thing. It's a legendary weapon already at +15 — and if it blows up on the way to +16, the loss would be catastrophic. On the player market it'd fetch at least 3 million won, maybe 5 million if I found the right buyer. A 70% failure rate, and double the chance of destruction over success? Why on earth would anyone roll it?

But I, Chae Yeon-sol, man among men, feared no such opportunity cost.

If it succeeds? I could sell it for a cool 10 million won, minimum!

Well, okay — honestly it's less about the money and more about the dopamine of a successful enhancement. The thought of that rush had my heart pounding before I even clicked.

"Let's gooooooo!"

With a battle cry, I clicked the button. The moment my cursor hit YES, a gorgeous burst of effects hammered and blazed across the weapon on my screen.

Then, a moment later, I clicked the weapon — which was now glowing red — to check the result.

Wait. Red glow?

Red usually means success or destruction, not failure, right?

It's happening. It's happening, it's happening…!

Come on, give me my 10 million wo—…!

…Son of a—

Not a failure. Destruction?

Since when does a 20% roll land on the first try? It never hits even at 80% normally. Not even the 70% failure — straight to destruction on the first roll. Unbelievable.

Ha… my dopamine….

Heavy-hearted, I logged out of the game, shut down the computer, and hurled myself onto the bed.

Time to go to work and earn money, I guess… *sigh*…

I never even got to go to ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠college. Went straight into the workforce after my military service, and I'd been funneling everything I earned into enhancement rolls….

How many times would I have to grind and fail all over again just to get another weapon to +15….

And then, somewhere in the spiral of my misery, a funny thought crossed my mind.

What if… I could do 100% guaranteed enhancements in real life?

Enhancements with no failure. No destruction. Ever.

I tossed and turned in my frustration until sleep finally took me. That was the last thing I remembered from last night.

…And I woke up like this.

"Ha. I think about guaranteeing my enhancement rates one time before bed and I awaken as a magical girl? My luck is genuinely cursed."

The internet is crawling with degenerates posting things like "I wish I could get TS'd into a cute girl too" and "awakening as a magical girl is basically being a legal loli goddess, best life."

But I had never, not once, seriously entertained any of that.

Sure, being pretty would be nice… but my gender identity is man, thanks!

Me? Bashing in Anomalies, prancing around in a flashy transformation outfit, doing broadcast interviews, giggling on variety shows as a magical girl?

Saying cringe-worthy lines like "I'll protect love, justice, and peace" with a straight face on national television?

Ha… damn it. Chae Yeon-sol's life is officially over.

But priorities first. I need proof that I used to be a man, and that I really did awaken as a magical girl. Otherwise I'm just "the woman who claims to be Chae Yeon-sol."

Two things, really.

First, proof I was a man.

My resident registration card should cover that one.

"Ugh… and now I need proof I'm a magical girl…."

What would work? A transformation outfit?

…You want me to put on one of those frilly, sparkly dresses?

Over my dead body. Over my dead body.

Oh, right. The wand.

Every magical girl has a unique weapon — a wand — to channel her innate ability.

Swords, staffs, even flower-card fans; the shapes varied wildly, but every magical girl fought through her wand, transformed with it, and cast her abilities through it.

So if I just had my wand, they'd have to believe I was a magical girl.

And when I took a look around my room, there it was — a hammer I'd never seen before, lying on the floor beside my bed.

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A hammer shaped exactly like the enhancement icon from the game.

No way… that thing is my wand?

I picked it up and turned it over in my hands. Nothing about its appearance was special, but the strange sense of steadiness and warmth that settled into my palm the moment I gripped it told me instinctively — this was my wand.

Wow. I awaken thinking about enhancement, and the universe hands me a wand shaped like an enhancement hammer.

But wait, if that's really the case — isn't my ability some kind of enhancement power?

They say magical girls awaken to a wish, and gain an ability closely tied to that wish.

…Well, if I have to be a magical girl anyway, I'd better have gotten a guaranteed enhancement with a 0% destruction rate.

So… how do I actually use this thing?

As I mulled it over, my eyes landed on a mug balanced dangerously on the edge of my desk.

"Oh, perfect. That'll do."

I'd knocked that mug off and shattered it more than once while gaming. If my enhancement could make it unbreakable, how great would that be?

Gripping the hammer with both hands, I made a silent wish.

Please don't let it break.

With that thought, I gave the mug the gentlest possible tap.

And the mug began to glow.

Just like an item being enhanced in-game.

When the blinding light faded and the mug reappeared, it looked somehow glossier. Cleaner. Polished.

…Did that actually work? Should I test the edge of it? Just a tiny chip?

With that in mind, I picked the mug up and let it bump lightly against the desk.

Tink.

…That should have been enough force to knock a tooth out, and the mug sat there without a scratch.

Just to be sure, I dropped it over the kitchen sink. From a height that should have shattered it into pieces — and all I heard was a clear metallic ring, like a bell. Not a single crack. It just lay there, proud and defiant.

Isn't this amazing? Enhancement success? My ability really IS enhancement?

Thrilled, I grabbed my mechanical pencil next.

Thanks to my terrible writing habits, I snapped lead constantly. Writing had become a genuine pain because of it.

But what if the lead never broke again?

Isn't that basically the dream?

Grinning ear to ear at that beautiful fantasy, I pressed the hammer lightly against the pencil.

Let the lead inside never break.

The same white light I'd seen earlier wrapped around the pencil and settled — and I immediately started scribbling on a sheet of paper.

…Huh? Why isn't it writing?

The paper was spotless, without a trace of graphite where I'd written.

Why won't it leave a mark? Is the pencil broken?

…And then I looked at the lead itself and understood.

It wasn't writing because the lead had become impossibly hard. Something far harder than any graphite had taken its place.

"What on earth is this…?"

I pulled the lead out and squeezed it, poked it, prodded it — I even tried snapping it, just to see.

No matter how hard I pressed, it didn't show the slightest hint of breaking.

All I'd wished for was a pencil lead that wouldn't snap… and instead I'd created a bizarre object that should be labeled carbon but deserved to be called metal.

Ha… incredible. They always say if you spec your enhancement build wrong, you end up with trash gear, huh?

This ability is genuinely insane.

"Okay, one more."

What should I enhance next? How about the ceiling?

I absolutely despised the constant thudding from the upstairs neighbors. This was my chance to make sure it never made a sound again.

But the moment I raised the hammer toward the ceiling, I glanced at the clock.

"Oh, crap. Work."

Ugh, honestly. If it weren't for work, I'd be enhancing everything in sight right now.

Fine. Registration at the Magical Girl Administration first.

Then I'd come home after my shift and enhance to my heart's content.

And so, with a heart full of regret, I clutched my hammer and left the house as a silver-haired, twintailed young woman.

…The stares from everyone around me are incredibly unsubtle, by the way.

Well, sure. Silver hair and blue eyes. Of course people would stare at such an exotic face.

Not to mention my clothes were comically oversized. I'd shrunk maybe fifteen centimeters and gone so slender my old build wasn't even comparable anymore.

So there I was, rolling up the ankles of my sagging jeans and hauling on a stretched-out t-shirt before stepping out onto the street. I was going to get noticed, no question.

And the finishing touch? The hammer in my hand.

A beautiful girl trudging down the road clutching a hammer is not a sight you see every day.

All three factors combined meant the stares burned into me the whole way to the Magical Girl Administration, and I kept my head ducked down the entire trip.

When I finally arrived, I passed the statues of countless magical girls and stepped through the entrance.

"Magical Girl Management Division, Magical Girl Administration. How may I help you?"

I held out my resident registration card and my wand.

"I've just awakened as a magical girl. I'm here to get my identity officially recognized."

The clerk who checked my ID blinked at me for a moment, her gaze ping-ponging between my face and the card, before speaking in a tone of mild pity.

"Once your status as a magical girl is confirmed, we can issue you an identity verification certificate. Although… this hammer…?"

"It's my wand. My personal wand. My ability seems to be something like enhancement."

"Enhancement… enhancement, you say…."

The clerk toyed with the hammer briefly, then closed her eyes in concentration.

A pale blue membrane rippled out from her fingertips, and even standing nearby, I felt a faint chill on my skin.

What — is she a magical girl too? Last I heard there weren't even two hundred magical girls in the country. Well, I guess that's the Administration for you.

A moment later, the clerk was staring at the hammer with open bewilderment.

"…This wand… I don't think this is just an ordinary wand…."

"Sorry? What do you mean?"

When I tilted my head at the cryptic muttering, the clerk hesitated a moment, then rose from her seat and began guiding me somewhere.

"This isn't a conversation for the front desk. Please follow me."

She led me into a wide room that looked like a conference hall, took the seat across from me, and began carefully.

"Let's start with the basics. Now that your magical girl status is confirmed, we can issue your identity certificate once you complete the fingerprint registration process."

Phew. So I can still make it to work?

"That's a relief."

"In exchange, I'd recommend registering with one of the offices and joining the emergency contact network. It's part of the Magical Girl Safety Protocol."

"…Sounds like a hassle."

Offices are those companies where magical girls band together, appear on broadcasts, and hunt down Anomalies, aren't they?

And I have to put my name on one of those?

Seeing my obvious reluctance, the clerk soothed me with an easy smile.

"It's just a name on a list for safety purposes, and you're paid an allowance whenever you attend training — you won't lose out on anything. Best of all, it can count in place of reserve forces training."

…Okay, that part is an absolute steal.

"Hmm… alright, I'll do it."

"Do you have a preferred office?"

"No, not really."

"Then shall we register you with the office closest to your address? It appears to be the White Trajectory Office."

Never heard of it. Well, better than one of those agencies that exist to shove girls onto TV, ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠I suppose.

"Sounds good. Please go ahead and register me there."

"Wonderful. That completes the basic procedure. However…"

The clerk powered down her tablet, then trailed off, her eyes fixed on the hammer in my hand.

"…However?"

"I took a brief look at your wand earlier, remember? The magic flowing through it is… rather unusual."

What's that supposed to mean?

"This wand seems capable of interfacing with other magical girls' wands as well. It looks like you can naturally blend your magic with another magical girl's."

…Wait. Hold on a second.

If that pairs with my ability — enhancement…

Doesn't that mean I can enhance other magical girls too?