Magical Girl Military: Floor 2
Kim Woo-jin stared piercingly into empty space. More precisely, at the tag information floating before his eyes.
“……Constellation.”
“Got it. So it's some kind of…… transformation ability.”
“But this line below…… I have to shout this out loud?”
“……You're troubled.”
“…….”
Watching Kim Woo-jin, unable to continue speaking and letting out a long sigh—huu—a fresh wave of guilt welled up in me.
“……Understood. Anyway, it means I'll get stronger if I transform.”
“That's good enough. First, before heading out, I want to buy a weapon.”
“A kitchen knife won't cut it on floor 2…… Just in case something happens, I want to buy a decent dagger. The shop sells weapons, but I don't have enough TP.”
His judgment was sound. Based on his experience clearing floor 1, he'd instinctively grasped the limits of his gear.
Kim Woo-jin opened the front door and stepped out. His route showed he was heading to a nearby shopping district first, not straight to Gwanghwamun. Soon, at a camping supply store, he picked up a dagger from the display shelf.
“I'll take this one.”
“73,200 won.”
“Here you go.”
It certainly looked sturdier than a kitchen knife, with a solid edge. Having paid quickly, Kim Woo-jin slipped the dagger into his backpack as he left the store.
“Constellation.”
“Just one question. Do you know what kind of monsters are on floor 2?”
“……But you can't tell me, right?”
“Ah, yeah. It'd be pointless if you told me everything. I get it. I'll head in and check for myself.”
“That's not it.”
And so he arrived at the front of Gwanghwamun. Unlike yesterday, the number of soldiers at the blockade line around the tower had increased. After scouting around, Kim Woo-jin muttered softly.
“No gaps.”
It wouldn't be easy. If he got caught going in right after recovering, it'd just cause unnecessary hassle. But Kim Woo-jin added as if it didn't matter.
“Still, I have to go up. If it means saving my little sister, I can do anything.”
He reached yesterday's barricade. Maybe familiarity would let him through somehow. Kim Woo-jin exhaled deeply and kicked off the ground.
“Hey! Stop!”
“……!”
“I said stop! Hey! Halt!”
“What do we do……? Shoot?”
“Shoot what, you lunatic! Tsk…… Let him go. He's off to die.”
“Got it, sir.”
The screen shifted, revealing floor 2—a far cry from Jin So-yul's memory of it. Where hers had been a massive cave with jagged rocks, this was a vast stone chamber, like the heart of a colosseum.
Threats detected: 6. Goblin warriors. Compared to foes wielding clubs or axes, Kim Woo-jin's mana at 0.3 was barely awakened level.
“……Six.”
“Yes, I'll be careful.”
Kim Woo-jin drew the dagger from his backpack. In that instant, all six goblin warriors turned to him.
A short roar, then a charge. One goblin closed in instantly, slamming its axe down.
Kaang—!
Kim Woo-jin rolled aside nimbly. He swung the dagger, but a second goblin's club came flying at him.
“Kuh……!”
The third, fourth, fifth…… He rolled across the floor dodging the relentless barrage.
What was it Jin So-yul had said? Something about counterattacks being key. If he timed the openings right, he could end it.
“Openings? Openings…… Kuh! I don't get it!”
As expected, this wasn't working. Kim Woo-jin lacked Jin So-yul's combat experience—it was probably inevitable.
Attacks kept coming. He rolled desperately to evade, but countering seemed impossible. Finally, an axe grazed his side.
“Keurk……!”
“I'm fine……!”
The six charged again. What passed for combat was a one-sided barrage.
Kang, kaaang—!
He tried parrying the incoming strikes, but his lack of skill left him flailing. Wounds accumulated on his body.
“Damn…… How the hell do you clear this?!”
He finally dropped to one knee, breathing raggedly. The goblins snickered as they tightened the encirclement.
Instinct screamed he couldn't delay any longer.
Lines, lines……! He dredged up memories, filling in the words.
Content: One, two, three, poof! Commence firing, everyone get down! Magical ☆ Soldier, transform!
Kim Woo-jin's eyes shook faintly.
“……The line?”
He even pulled up the tag info window again to confirm.
“You want me to shout…… this right now……?”
“You're not the mascot?!”
“Haa…… Fine…….”
Gritting his teeth, Kim Woo-jin opened his mouth.
“One, two, three…… poof. Commence firing, everyone get down, Magical Soldier transform…….”
He recited it like a textbook. By the end, his pronunciation was mumbled as much as possible.
Needless to say, nothing happened.
“…….”
“…….”
My hand trembled on the tablet. Half worry, half guilt.
One goblin raised its axe. Kim Woo-jin rolled aside, but a second's kick to his back sent him sprawling forward.
“Hup……!”
Flat on the ground, Kim Woo-jin thrust his dagger. The blade sliced air, grazing a goblin's ankle tendon as it approached.
He tried to rise. “Kuh……!”
Blood trickled from his hip down his left thigh. He dimly realized his body heat was draining away.
He managed to plant one knee. His dagger hand shook violently. The blade, bought less than an hour ago, was bent like scrap metal from a junkyard.
The six goblin warriors were unscathed. A single shoulder scrape was his only mark.
The encirclement tightened—slowly, surely, no need to rush.
He knew without being told. His one hope was the magical girl power.
The lead goblin slung its club over its shoulder, glancing at its comrades—like deciding who would land the killing blow.
A standoff. Hardly worthy of the name, the moment stretched.
What the hell am I doing?
The question arose suddenly. His heart pounded like it might burst, yet his mind was eerily calm.
Incongruously, Kim Woo-jin closed his eyes.
Darkness first revealed fluorescent lights. Stark white glow. The pediatric ward hallway lights felt chillingly cold.
And beneath that light, a small girl sat.
‘……I promised A-rin.’
Her small hand always steadied his trembling ones first. Is big bro okay? Aren't you tired? The sick child worried for him, comforting him instead.
I won't get hurt. I'll definitely make you better. Everything will be okay.
Kim A-rin couldn't eat spicy food others took for granted. She watched classmates dash off for tteokbokki from her window.
School trips meant hospital meals instead of bentos. Even basic schooling was denied her.
The few allowances: banana milk, jelly. For birthdays, pudding instead of cake. She blew out an imaginary candle on a tiny cup, lips pursed in a circle.
Then grinned mischievously. ‘Big bro, I made a wish.’
What did you wish for? ‘For you to smile every day.’
Not her health, not her recovery. A dying child's wish was her brother's smile.
Kim Woo-jin hid in the bathroom and cried. He couldn't hold back that night.
Is that any way for a human to live?
He couldn't have endured it. Born into pain, unable to eat, go out—yet smiling through it.
Kim A-rin endured admirably.
Endure…… endure……?
No. Kim Woo-jin's eyes slowly cracked open in the dark.
That wasn't enduring. Endurance implies an end. Hope for recovery lets people bear pain.
But his sister? Had she ever held such hope?
No. She'd quietly given up. Silently, unknowingly. Accepting it as her lot, head bowed, no other way.
He realized it last.
Opening his eyes, stone ceiling above—like a colosseum's apex. Somewhere beyond, his constellation watched.
He'd been chosen. He could say that now.
“Kkiiik!”
One goblin charged impatiently. Axe plunging—he rolled aside instinctively. His side wound screamed.
Ripping pain shot up his spine to his brain. He clenched his teeth. No screaming. He'd promised her.
He stood again. Blood smeared his hand on his waist, but he ignored it.
Goblins reformed their circle. Kkiiik. Mocking sneers.
Yeah, I know. How ridiculous I look.
How long do I keep giving up?
The question was for himself. Not just for A-rin—Kim Woo-jin had given up too. After parents left, only part-time jobs.
Scholarships needed grades he lacked; aid forms were a nightmare. Night shifts at convenience stores, dawn logistics, weekend construction.
Most earnings vanished on caregiving. Government aid fell laughably short.
Thus forsaken: college, hobbies, friends, dating—all a normal twenty-five-year-old enjoyed.
A vile thought flashed: I want to live like a person too—just that one wish. If not for his sister.
He shook his head violently. Gritted teeth. Disgusted at himself for even thinking it.
A free self in a world without Kim A-rin? Imagining it nauseated him.
Then he thought of her smile again.
‘Big bro, banana flavor!’ Clutching milk cartons, mangling the straw, beaming.
‘Big bro's hand is warm.’ Tiny fingers wrapping his hand beside the IV.
‘Big bro, I made a wish. For you to smile every day.’
But one thing. I'll definitely get it—the panacea, the Elixir.
‘Elixir? I saw that online…… It's not fake, right?’
‘It's real. Big bro confirmed it.’
Her eyes, wanting to believe in her brother.
From his depths, something stirred. One certainty. As her brother, he had to keep his word.
A promise to his beloved sister.
‘If I die here, who keeps it?’
No one. He was the only one in the world who truly meant to save Kim A-rin.
Kim Woo-jin straightened. Vitality surged through him inexplicably.
The lead goblin sensed the shift, stepping back half a pace.
Transformation line. Cringeworthy just to recall, too embarrassing to voice.
Magical girl. Magical Soldier. Transform.
A twenty-five-year-old man shouting it? Everyone would call him insane, point fingers.
But.
‘Even if everyone laughs.’
Didn't matter.
‘Even if everyone scorns me.’
Didn't matter.
‘Even if it's cringy, shameful, makes me look crazy—’
For saving his sister, this was nothing.
Kim Woo-jin inhaled. Lungs felt like tearing. Pain flooded his body, but he clamped his mouth shut.
All six goblins tensed warily. They'd instantly noticed the change in their near-dead prey's eyes.
With all his heart, he bellowed.
“One—!”
The first word echoed off stone walls.
“Two—!”
Voice cracked. Shame rose, but he pressed on.
“Three—!”
Goblins tilted heads, baffled at his antics.
‘……A-rin. Big bro's coming.’
Kim Woo-jin ignored them.
“—Poof!”
Shredding shame, surpassing humiliation, casting aside pride—one syllable.
He pictured her face. Blowing out the pudding candle. Clutching banana milk, smiling. Watching peers run off, then turning with a it's okay.
It wasn't okay. Nothing ever was.
“Commence firing, everyone get down—!!!”
He poured every ounce of it into a throat-shredding roar.
He was Kim A-rin's one and only brother in the world.
“Magical ☆ Soldier—!”
Kim Woo-jin emptied his lungs.
“—Transform—!!!”
Then light bloomed, and the world froze.