Maman Boss

"That's why I said I didn't want to do it."

"No— hihk— heehee— Kabe— wheeze— holding her— hack— cough cough!"

"Would you laugh a little less?!"

The internet news outlets, always first to the scene, were already packed wall to wall with stories about me. The problem was that every last scrap of the press conference—the interviews I'd posed through, the lines I'd delivered with actual dignity—had vanished without a trace. In their place: footage of me sprinting toward Kabe the instant she started to fall. Footage of me scooping her up and soothing her. Footage of me issuing a declaration of war with her still in my arms.

Ah, for crying out loud.

This was exactly why I hadn't wanted to go on the air.

If I'd at least gotten something ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠out of it, I could have called it worthwhile. But it was a declaration-of-war broadcast. I couldn't even put up a donation account! I felt so robbed.

"Would you knock it off already?!"

"Okay— snrk— okay..."

Eve was genuinely about to asphyxiate. She clutched her stomach and howled, her silver hair thrashing like a curtain caught in a gale.

I really wanted to yank that curtain shut.

Part of me couldn't understand what was so funny. The other part of me, looking at the same footage, had to admit it was pretty funny. Freeze-frames from the stream had already proliferated across the internet, and the shot of me bolting toward Kabe the second she went down had come out especially crisp.

My face had gone deathly pale. Quite a look, that.

"Anyway, I think it's safe to say there's nobody left who hasn't seen this broadcast."

She was probably right. It was already up on streaming sites all over the place, and the view counts on every upload were climbing fast. The real-time search rankings had filled up with things like Mogumogu-dan, Mother, Kabe, Maman Boss, Boss Maman...

And what the hell was Maman supposed to be.

"But this actually worked out great."

"Are you about to say something weird again?"

"It's not weird. You named Itaewon and locked in the date, so Halloween is going to be packed. If our magical girls land the product placement just right, we're talking a gold mine."

"Eve."

"Hm?"

"Are you a magical girl or a commercial girl? Listening to you, the president of the Magical Girl Association sounds like the president of the Small Business Association."

"I am a small business owner. We're in advertising now too. What, you want me to land you a sponsor? There's even a place like this."

Eve shoved her hand into empty air, rummaged around, and pulled out a sheaf of papers, which she thrust at me.

"Take a look. With your current image, I think you could actually swing these."

This bitch.

"Hey!"

"Why are you yelling? Children's products and women's products—maternity products especially—have insane ad rates."

"And you still thought it was okay to hand me this?!"

What's the big deal, honestly. Look at her getting all precious about it. Eve grumbled under her breath as she gathered the papers back up and stuffed them into the air again.

I was jealous.

Of that inventory magic.

I couldn't use a single spell, which meant I couldn't use an inventory either.

"So. You didn't drag me off for a private chat for no reason. Spit it out."

After the broadcast, I'd been scanning for a suitably dramatic place to die of shame when Eve grabbed me by the wrist and hauled me away. I had no idea when she'd even arrived. She said she had something to discuss, so we came up to my room, monitored the broadcast together, and only now was she getting around to the actual point.

"I, uh. I think I'll have to stay at the hotel a while longer."

"Why?"

The original plan had been through the end of the month. The renovation on the floor that housed the Association president's office was supposed to wrap around then.

"The kid's parents apparently have some political connections. Looks like they want to pick a fight with me, and this might drag on. I don't want to give them any ammunition, so I should put off moving into the Association building."

"Yeah. If people noticed us coming and going, that wouldn't be great."

Even with magical concealment, human eyes had a way of growing in places you'd never think to look. If we slipped up and someone caught us walking in and out of the Magical Girl Association, the commentary would not be kind.

Eve had said, And what are they going to do about it if they catch us? Even ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠so. Better not to hand anyone a stick to beat us with.

"Hmm. Hotel life."

It was comfortable, I wouldn't deny that. But it wasn't home, and that came with its own small inconveniences.

"Eve. If the product placement goes well, how many companies are we talking about contracting with?"

"Well... it'll depend on the effects during the Itaewon fight, but I'd say fifteen or sixteen. Why?"

"Could we... get our cut in advance?"

"Probably not impossible. Why, though?"

"I was thinking of getting a building."

"Is staying at the hotel that inconvenient?"

It wasn't that. But a prolonged hotel stay wouldn't do us any favors either, and besides... I figured it would be easier on the nerves—and the stomach—to just get a building of our own and settle in properly.

"If that's how you feel, there's no reason not to. Alright. Let me see..."

Eve reached into the air again, rummaged for a good long while, and drew out a single sheet of paper.

I got jealous all over again every time I watched her do that.

What she unfolded in front of me was a full-color catalog, the kind that folded out in three panels. Spread open, it revealed a surprisingly handsome officetel.

"This is an officetel in Gwangmyeong. Eight floors, ten studio units on each one. The top floor has three units, designed for family living—four rooms, a kitchen, a living room, the works. Two levels of underground parking, and a big warehouse underneath that. What do you think?"

What did I think? What was there to think?

This was incredible.

And it was new construction, too.

"It's ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠great, but we can't rent a building this nice. We don't have the money."

It was obviously brand new. The catalog itself said pre-sale starting in December, and the completion dates were recent. An entirely new building. If we could actually get our hands on something like this...

"It's fine."

"My account—no, the corporate account—is not fine, Eve."

"No, I'm telling you it's actually fine."

"The money is not fine, you idiot."

"I'm the landlord. This building is mine."

"Unni. Should I start calling you Unni from now on?"

I almost dropped to my knees before I caught myself.

We decided to go look at the building on Sunday. I would have gone that very night if I could have, but it was already late, and tomorrow—Saturday—was the day we'd scheduled a mock battle. Sunday it was. If Dusick was coming along, Sunday was better than a weekday anyway.

Eve went home, and I sat facing Karin.

More precisely, Karin was standing and I was sitting, which put my seated height and his standing height at roughly the same level.

"Is Kabe asleep?"

"Yes, Unni."

Dusick had come over to watch as well. When I told her I was going to learn magic power control from Karin, she'd stuck herself to my side on the grounds that she might pick up something useful.

I couldn't help wondering if she was sitting a little too close...

"Dusick."

"Yes."

"Come here."

I stood, and Dusick rose after me in a hesitant shuffle. I opened the built-in wardrobe and rummaged along the shelf until—there. A pair of sweatpants, the same as the ones I was wearing, just a different color.

I had on a fairly thick pair, so I was fine. Dusick was in a thin school PE uniform. Sitting on a hotel room floor in those, her backside was going to freeze.

"You shouldn't let your butt get cold. Change into these."

"Uh... I'm fine, really..."

"A girl shouldn't let her butt get cold. Go change. Got it?"

"Y-yes..."

Dusick took the pants and disappeared into the bathroom. Karin watched me in silence the entire time. I waited, and waited, and he just kept looking at me—no words, no movement, nothing.

I was just starting to wonder what his problem was.

"What the hell are you?"

"What?"

"Even after becoming a Main, the magic power you possessed as a human does not change. You should not have this much. What are you?"

Karin's gaze pinned me in place.

"I told you I was originally human, you bastard. You certified that yourself."

"So I did."

Were all Guardians this dense?

Dusick, pants changed, came back and sat herself flush against my side again.

"Dusick."

"Yes, Karin-nim."

"Your new boss's magic power truly transcends imagination. The absence of a unique spell may be considered a penalty. I had wondered how she defeated Precue and Frilly. This would explain it."

Karin walked over and jabbed his horn into my lower abdomen, right where I sat formally on the floor.

"Hey, what do you think you're— huh...?"

I'd been about to snap at him. Then a faint heat bloomed in my lower abdomen, and the words died in my throat.

While I sat there speechless, Karin poked a few more spots across my upper body, horn tapping each one in turn.

"The heat should be rising about now. Try moving it in the order I just indicated."

"You can't just say that like it's easy..."

As if that was going to work.

"Magic power, you see," Karin went on, "is the force that underpins principle itself."

When you eat, you grow full. When you lie down, you grow sleepy. When you wake, you feel refreshed. The power that sustains this chain of natural law—that is magic power. Follow the natural order and you cannot create something from nothing. The force that forges a principle by which the impossible becomes possible—that, too, is magic power.

What the hell was that supposed to mean.

"That is the principle of magic power. The term is the same, but the Light Realm and the Underworld call it by different names, and the nature differs as well. The Light Realm calls it magic power; the Underworld calls it dark magic power. That which leans toward the creation of life and the art of healing is magic power. That which leans toward death and destruction is dark magic power... or so they say. In truth, the method of wielding them is hardly different at all."

He asked if I understood. Hearing a concept explained at that level was not going to change anything. A warm heat continued to pool in my lower abdomen, and no matter how I tried to move it, it refused to budge.

"Mother. Stand up and transform."

I rose as instructed—Karin had been circling me, looking me over from every angle—and pressed my earring.

"Oh...?"

The heat in my lower abdomen moved.

But not in the order Karin had marked. It simply flowed, over and over, from my abdomen into my left arm and nowhere else.

"What Keru taught you may have been the best method after all."

"Hey. You said you were different from Keru."

"Hmm. No—wait. The fact that your magic power is blooming outward like that... here. Look at this."

Karin's horn began to stir the air. Caught on its tip, a book emerged—a red-covered volume of considerable thickness. He offered it to me on his horn.

"The Six Harmonies Weapon Codex...?"

The name alone sounded like something off a wuxia novel.

"If your magic power is blooming outward to that degree, it surely means materialization is possible as well. I was told you blocked Frilly's Aura Cannon with magic power. Is that true?"

Aura Cannon. Frilly had definitely fired some kind of beam at me through a magic circle. And I had definitely blocked it. That much was fact.

"Not merely blocking with magic power—we must determine whether you can materialize it into weapons, armor, things of that nature. If that too is possible, then magic power itself will be more than weapon enough for you."

Hmm.

A step beyond what Keru had taught me, then.

I ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠slowly ran my fingers over the energy rising from the glove on my left hand.