Call Me Mom

"What? That doesn't make any sense."

It was the morning after. The celebration dinner was behind us, everyone had piled into taxis and gone home in high spirits, and we'd all gotten a decent night's sleep. Winning the fight should have meant waking up in a good mood. The news that reached me did the opposite.

"A terms of service violation...?"

"Yes..."

I'd been wondering how much of the stream had actually gone out after the camcorder died. Then Dusick showed up with this.

"So the account got suspended...?"

"Looks that way... Luckily the footage itself was still saved, though."

Broadcasting live from inside the Otherworld was a terms-of-service violation. And just like that, the Mother Channel I'd gone to all that trouble to set up was locked.

"Haah... I really thought that was a great idea..."

From the looks of it, about the first ten minutes had made it out. The part where I'd gathered the Mains, declared the start of battle, stationed Dusick and Sohee, and the fighting had just begun — right up until then. After that, the stream had been cut.

Then again, thinking about it, there was no way I was the first person to come up with this. The previous Mothers never even went out on campaign, so they didn't count. But those money-crazed magical girls? There was no chance they wouldn't have tried to use battle footage from inside the Otherworld. And yet no matter where you looked, everything had been filmed from the outside. Nothing shot from within. So that was why.

"Ah, whatever. If it doesn't work, it doesn't work. So, did we get any donations during those ten minutes?"

"We did get some, but..."

Dusick fidgeted, glancing ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠at me, unable to quite get the words out. Her expression wasn't great either. The donation total probably wasn't anything to write home about.

"How much came in?"

"Fifty-seven thousand won."

"How much did we pay for the camcorder?"

"A hundred and thirteen thousand won."

We took a loss.

Damn it.

"Forget it... Sigh. Can't exactly get mad at people for not donating. It is what it is."

The saved footage was still there, though, and it had captured everything right up through Aquamarine's forced retreat. The more I thought about it, the more I realized it was probably a blessing the stream hadn't gone out. If it had, the Magical Girl Association would have been in for a ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠world of pain — and the attacks wouldn't have stopped at Aquamarine personally. They would have kept coming for the Association itself, and Eve would have had a miserable time of it. I'd keep this one in my back pocket. It would come in handy. Against Aquamarine, who knew my past, I could use it to shut her up. Something like that.

I stepped in front of the mirror and pressed the earring. With a shhhk, I transformed into the uniform — wrecked, exactly as it had been after the fight. For some reason, it wouldn't restore.

"Keru, why won't this thing repair itself?"

"You took a hit from high-tier magic. The damage exceeded the restoration threshold. Even if you reverse-summon it, it won't mend."

"High-tier magic, huh."

It had certainly looked the part. I could still see Aquamarine clearly, pulling down a sky-blotting rain of water-droplet daggers with an incantation that barely counted as a few words.

"Hmm."

"Leave it reverse-summoned long enough and it should eventually — wait. Mother, what are you doing?"

What did it look like I was doing.

Ugh, there were so many buttons and laces on this thing. Trying to undo the ties and buttons on the uniform jacket while looking in the mirror was no joke. The ones I could see were fine, but this chest was not a small chest, which meant the buttons underneath it had to be undone by feel, and that was...

"This is irritating."

"Unni, shall I undo those for you?"

"Ah, Dusick. Yeah, get these buttons for me. I can't see anything below the chest, so I can barely get them open."

"Yes, just a moment."

Dusick's hands came to rest around my chest. She fussed there for quite a while, slowly working the buttons open one by one.

"Dusick, are you sick?"

"...Excuse me?"

"Your face is all red."

"Ah, no. I'm fine."

"Then why are your hands shaking?"

"It's nothing, really..."

Her hands were trembling so hard I'd figured she must be coming down with something, but she said that wasn't it either. That bright-red face of hers still had me worried.

"Mother, what exactly are you trying to do?"

"What does it look like? I'm taking it in for repairs."

"And where do you intend to take it?"

"There's a dry cleaner on the second floor of the building across the street."

"I beg your pardon?"

Dusick and Keru both stared at me like I'd lost my mind. What? Had I said something that strange? If you needed clothes repaired, you went to a dry cleaner. Why were they looking at me with their eyes that round?

I folded the uniform, set it aside, and changed into a tracksuit.

"I'll tie your hair up."

"Yeah, please."

I really needed to practice doing it myself one of these days. Whenever I tied it, I ended up looking like a drowned dog. And I couldn't keep having Dusick wait on me for everything.

"Where's Kabe?"

"Playing with Sohee."

"Is she?"

Sohee had turned out to be surprisingly good with Kabe. She didn't look like the type who'd get along with a child, but there she was, giving her piggyback rides and playing with her like it was nothing. It was kind of amazing.

"And Bethel?"

"Bethel's with them too."

No battles meant Bethel didn't have much to do, so she'd come out in her little-kid form to play with Kabe. Hmm. Come to think of it, there was a snack shop on the first floor of the building across the street. Maybe I should take the little ones over there for lunch.

That was when the doorbell rang.

"Boss, it's me."

And who was that supposed to be.

"Yesterday you told me to come by for my allowance..."

Ah. The one who'd answered me when I asked if they'd given her plenty of ventilation.

"Yeah, come in."

A Main who still looked a little young around the edges shuffled in, awkward and hesitant. He'd been told to come, so he'd come — but you could tell he was wondering whether he was actually allowed to be here.

"You. What's your name?"

"T-Twenty-Seven, ma'am."

What kind of name was that. Not that I could go around naming every single Main, so I let it go. I didn't think of them as expendable — not at all — but in a fight, Mains were essentially foot soldiers. I couldn't give each of them a name and keep them all straight.

"Right. You gave a good answer yesterday. Come here."

I pulled my wallet from the handbag by the bed. Ten-thousand-won bills. One, two, three... hmm. I drew out ten of them. Honestly, this was a pretty big expense.

"Take this. Grab your friends and go eat something good."

"Thank you, my lady!"

"It's Noona, you brat. What's with the 'my lady'?"

"Yes! Noona!"

"Good. Go on."

"Yes!"

I watched the Main bolt out of the room, delighted, and after a moment I couldn't help but huff out a laugh.

"Goodness, this outfit's taken quite a beating."

The dry cleaner. The whole place was ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠thick with the damp of steam from the machines, a clinging, muggy warmth.

"Yes, so I was hoping you could fix it. Is that possible?"

The owner auntie turned the uniform fabric this way and that, rubbing the velour of the trousers between her fingers. She swiped at her nose, then looked up at me and smiled.

"Please. If I couldn't fix this much, I might as well close up shop. Come pick it up the day after tomorrow."

"Yes!"

Get a load of modern science, Keru, you little shit.

"Hey, kids. Over here."

"Coming!"

Kabe and Bethel had been horsing around in the hallway the whole time I was inside. The second I called, they came tearing over.

"Walk. Don't run. You'll get hurt if you trip."

"Okay, Mom."

Come to think of it, I kept putting off taking Kabe to the dentist. I should get in touch with Eve about that. While I was thinking of it, I sent Eve a message asking how Kabe's identity papers were coming along, then ruffled both of their heads.

"Want to have lunch with Mom?"

If I was being honest, Kabe was the one I wanted to be a mother to. But from the outside, Bethel looked the same age. Having one of them call me Mom and the other one call me Mother wasn't a good look. It also reminded me of when I was little. Back then, I'd wanted so badly to call someone Mom. Just once. I'd wanted there to be someone I could say it to.

"Bethel. From now on, you just call me Mom too."

"What? But Mother, that's..."

"Just do it, you. Kabe calls me Mom. If you look the same age and you're out here going Mother, Mother, it looks weird."

Well. I had given her a pretty hard time. For something that was supposed to be a gun, I'd even used her as a throwing weapon. I did feel bad about that.

I took Kabe's hand in one of mine and Bethel's in the other.

"All right. Let's go eat something good."

Something good, in this case, being a snack shop. But snack shops had a flavor all their own.

A bowl of jjolmyeon and a roll of kimbap for me. A pork cutlet for Kabe. And Bethel...

"Come to think of it, your real body is a gun. Can you even eat?"

"I can, yes. It's a mimicry, but my bodily functions aren't that different from a Main's."

"That so. Anything you want?"

"I don't really know what any of it is..."

So that was why she'd been staring a hole through the menu. She didn't know what any of the food written on it actually was.

"Hmm. Then just get the same thing as Kabe for now. That all right?"

"Y-yes! Moth—"

"I told you to say Mom."

"M-Mo."

Bethel's face went red in an instant. Her eyes couldn't meet mine; they kept sliding lower and lower, until at last she hung her head completely. A voice came crawling out of her, barely more than a whisper.

"There. Good girl."

I ruffled Bethel's hair.

I'd taken the kids out for lunch, bought them each an ice cream from a nearby convenience store, and turned them loose at the playground. I was sitting on a bench watching them when Eve called.

"You call me up and start a fight first thing?"

"What exactly did you hear, and how?"

She should have been grateful I'd finished it with a headshot. If I hadn't been so worn out, I'd have put a round in each of her arms and legs, watched her roll around in agony, and then shot her in the head.

Oh, she did not just say that.

"Hey. You know I almost actually killed her, right? I barely held back. Do you even know what she did to Kabe?"

"You're supposed to be this kid's other parent, and you don't even know what was done to her, and you're blaming me? Huh? Are you even in your right mind right now?! Huh?! You don't even know what happened to that child and you're sitting there going, no matter how mad you weeeere? That's what you have to say to me right now?! You wanna die?!"

And how exactly was I supposed to not get worked up.

That woman playing daddy was taking her subordinate's side when she didn't even know what that kid had been through?

"You know what. Forget it. I'm hanging up."

"Wrong about what?"

The answer didn't come for a while.

"Ugh. Fine. I'll be the bigger person. If you've got time this evening, come over. There's ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠something I want to show you."

"Pick up some gopchang. And grab some pork belly too, so Kabe can eat."

"Got it~ Bye!"

I hung up and sat there in a daze, watching the children play, and the world felt so easy, so good.