A Kind Monster
-Fwooooosh…!
-Crackle, crackle…
A single monster with a clock for a head stood amid the raging blaze of the fire scene.
“…Unbelievable.”
And that monster was me.
I'd stayed up watching my favorite magical girl series end on a bad ending, left a dignified 5,699-character comment, and drifted off to sleep — only to wake up as a monster, with my spawn point being an active fire.
“…This is urgent, so let's take stock of the situation fast.”
Right. I had become the Time Stop Monster — quite possibly the most broken, balance-shattering monster in the entire web novel Rolling Magical Girl.
His name was something like Cloakian Tima Chronon Watch…?
Whatever it was, I'd become him.
Which meant that if I played my cards right, I should be able to stop time too. The only problem was that the guy who'd fallen asleep in his studio apartment after pounding chicken and beer and scratching his belly had absolutely no idea how to use a power like Time Stop.
-Thud!
“!!”
Debris crashed down right beside me.
I bolted forward without a second thought.
'If I'm a monster…'
He was famous for breaking the game's balance, which meant his raw physical specs alone should chew through lesser monsters. I spotted a window and threw myself straight at it.
“Hup!”
-Crash!
My body slammed through the glass, shards swirling through the open air around me.
'We are way, way too high up!'
Only after I'd already leapt did it register that we had to be at least twenty stories up. This wasn't some bungee jump — it was so terrifying I couldn't bring myself to look straight down.
Praying I wouldn't simply die, I crossed my arms over my chest and braced for the impact.
-BOOM!
I crashed down onto a parked car below.
'…Did I survive?'
Only then did I push myself up, and there beneath me was a car crushed flat as a pancake.
The vehicle had been compressed to barely three centimeters thick.
Seeing it, I truly understood — I really had become a monster.
Just as I let out an inward sigh of relief at having somehow survived…
-BANG!
“Striking your heart like a comet! Magical Comet, here to save the day!”
“…!”
Right in front of me appeared Magical Comet, the protagonist of Rolling Magical Girl.
Exactly as the original described her — blue twin-tails, an adorably round face, a frilly, ultra-girly dress, and a wand in her right hand crowned with a gem shaped like a falling comet.
It was the heroine, Magical Comet, without a doubt.
'W-what do I do first?! Okay, okay — right now I look like a monster, so I have to be as friendly as possible! Friendly! Approach her in a friendly way!'
In the original, Cloakian… Whoever-he-was had a repulsive, heavy appearance and spoke in an arrogant, leaden tone that made him look all the more menacing.
So if I went the opposite direction and kept things light and casual, surely she'd cut me some slack?
Since I needed to make the best possible impression, I brushed the dust and grime off my cloak (it was technically part of my body) and offered Comet a polite greeting.
“Good day to you, Miss Magical Comet, the magical girl! My name is Clo…ck! Cloak, at your service!”
That needlessly long name seemed like it would do me no favors whatsoever, so I trimmed it down for the introduction. Not bad, if I said so myself.
“I have no particular knowledge of this fire, but if you would permit it, I would like to stay by your side and help rescue the citizens. May I have your permission?”
Delivering the lines quite smoothly, I extended my hand toward Comet.
'Thank god I can actually speak what I want to say.'
If being a monster had meant being able to do nothing but roar, or if I'd been stuck with only Cloakian-Whatever's original voice and manner of speech, I'd have triggered a catastrophic misunderstanding.
Truly a blessing, I thought, as I waited for Comet to take my hand.
“You wicked monster! Did you really think I'd trust you just because you're denying everything and offering me your hand?! I'm going to crush you right now and save those people!”
“Eh?”
“Light of the comet — Comet Light!”
“…Well. This has gotten rather awkward.”
How on earth did it come to this?
Korea's first and only magical girl, Magical Comet, was currently wound tight as a bowstring.
'A monster with a clock for a head, at a fire scene…!'
Twilight Apartments was famous as a residence reserved for the very top of the top — the elite of the elite. After years of kaiju incursions and monster appearances, it had been built with the most impenetrable security in the country.
And yet Twilight burned far, far too easily.
Fire engines kept arriving one after another, but the flames showed no sign of dying down, and Comet — Korea's one and only magical girl — deployed immediately.
What greeted her was a clock-headed monster standing tall and proud atop a car it had crushed flat.
A golden clock-face head, and beneath it a grotesque mouth resembling a shark's. A body like black armor, draped in a cloak, seemed to radiate an overwhelming, oppressive aura.
That monster brushed the dust from its cloak and opened its grotesque mouth.
“Good day to you, Miss Magical Comet, the magical girl! My name is Clo…ck! Cloak, at your service!”
Cloak. A name that didn't merely suit his appearance — it fit him perfectly.
“I have no particular knowledge of this fire, but if you would permit it, I would like to stay by your side and help rescue the citizens. May I have your permission?”
The monster she was all but certain was the culprit — no, the monster she knew was the culprit — spoke in a light, easy tone, as if attempting some kind of deception, proposing they rescue people together. Comet swallowed hard, tension coiling in her throat.
'This is different from all the others…'
She'd been doing the magical girl job since middle school, and she'd met countless monsters in that time. But most of them were so consumed by instinct that conversation itself was impossible, and even among those who could talk, the majority simply raged and rampaged anyway.
This one, though… this one was dangerous in some indefinable way.
The unhurried calm of him standing alone at a blazing fire scene. Even the easy grace with which he extended his hand for a handshake.
Everything about him screamed dangerous. He was even holding perfectly still, apparently — sincerely — waiting for her to take his hand.
“You wicked monster! Did you really think I'd trust you just because you're denying everything and offering me your hand?! I'm going to crush you right now and save those people!”
As a magical girl sworn to protect justice, love, and peace, Comet was not about to fall for a monster's tricks.
“Eh?”
He was so fastidious about the act that he even let out a sound of genuine, flustered confusion.
“Light of the comet — Comet Light!”
Comet instantly fired a beam of light from the wand gripped in her hand.
“…Well. This has gotten rather awkward.”
He claimed to be in a bind, yet his tone was endlessly relaxed.
The light Comet fired struck Cloak dead center.
-KUWOOOM!
The impact sent Cloak crashing backward into a parked motorcycle.
“…That stings a little.”
In stark contrast to the utterly destroyed motorcycle, the man who rose to his feet without a scratch proceeded to say something completely absurd.
“…!”
'Just as I thought — he's incredibly strong…!'
“In that case—!”
Recognizing that her opponent was a monster of terrifying caliber, Comet immediately began preparing her finisher.
“Rainyyyyy…!”
At the very moment she began to call out her attack name—
-FWOOSH!
“Kyaaah!”
A fierce jet of flame came hurtling at her, and she tumbled backward.
“Owww…”
With lightning-quick reflexes, Comet had raised her left arm to block. But the impact was anything but ordinary — her left arm, struck dead-on by the flame, was badly scorched.
“…Ugh.”
Tears welled in Comet's eyes at the vicious pain.
Looking at her, Cloak expressed his heartfelt concern.
“Oh dear… that must hurt quite a bit. I almost wish I could go buy you some medicine.”
“EEEK…!”
The way he poured it on like that — he was definitely setting up some kind of trick. Comet was certain of it, and she began readying her finisher once more.
“Rainy—”
And then, again.
-FWOOSH!
“!! You won't catch me twi—”
-FWOOOOOOSH!
“Kyaaah!”
Flame came flying at her, and Comet scrambled back into stance — but the fireball hurtling toward her suddenly swelled in size and twisted itself into the shape of a human being.
“KHAHAHAHA! Magical girl! Become my sacrifice!”
Its true identity: a monster.
“!! No way!”
Given that it was a monster made of living flame, the culprit behind this whole incident was clearly that fire monster.
Because her attention had been locked on Cloak, she'd been too late to block the flaming monster bearing down on her.
In desperation, she thrust both arms up and crossed them in an X.
“KHAHAHAHAHA!”
-Sssssssss…
The fire monster latched onto her arms, laughing at the top of its lungs.
“Uuugh…! Ghhk…!”
Smoke billowed up as her arms slowly burned away. Worse, the thing's strength was so monstrous that she couldn't shake it off no matter how she struggled.
'…I have to get it off.'
Comet reversed her grip on the wand in her hand. She squeezed every ounce of strength she had left into the hand holding it, and—
-THUNK!
“Ghurk—!”
She drove the sharp point behind the gem straight into the monster's body.
“Y-you bitch…!”
The fire monster released her arm and stumbled backward — but the problem was that its mood had now turned absolutely foul.
“I'll melt you down whole, every last piece!”
It dropped to all fours like a beast and lunged straight at Comet.
“Magical—”
Comet swung her wand, trying to call out her attack name—
“Ghhk…!”
—and the words broke off, severed by the pain.
'N-no…!'
Comet raised both arms, bracing for the impact that was sure to come—
“Too slow.”
In front of her stood Cloak, who in the blink of an eye had seized the fire monster's head in one hand.