Chapter 23
Chapter 23
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Translator: penny
Chapter: 23
Chapter Title: Pluto (1)
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"You bitch!!"
"To be precise, wolves are canines."
"Did you leave your brain in the Backside World or what?"
"Argh! This pisses me off! I'm fucking furious!!"
The moment the channel opened, curses flew like a round-robin song.
The stars of the show were Per and Mer. They were A-rank twin monsters who operated as a duo and served as executives in the Monster Association.
"Shut up. I've got two pairs of ears, so it's twice as loud for me. Tone it down."
"Tone it down my ass. We're stuck inside because of the shit you pulled!"
"Aurora that psycho bitch is on fire, sweeping through Seoul because of you!"
Per and Mer took turns raising their voices in rage.
And they had every reason to. The outside world was in a monster crackdown period, basically a state of emergency.
A while back, Ulv couldn't resist the newbie scent of the rookie magical girl Neph and decided to pay an uninvited house call on his own.
That had the magical girls out for blood, combing through every monster affiliated with the Monster Association.
Meanwhile, the culprit Ulv had maxed-out stealth skills among monsters and slipped away scot-free, leaving the other poor monsters to bleed.
"If you don't get caught, it's not a problem."
"We got caught!"
"Not Ulv's location. Just hide well."
"Like that's easy! Yesterday I was heading to the convenience store when lightning flashed from the sky! Thought 'Me?' and dove into an alley!"
"Why do we have to suffer through no cup ramen in peace because of cleaning up your mess?!"
Despite Per and Mer's frustrated screams, Ulv just crunched on his potato chips.
"So, what's the business?"
"Where's that brat. Spill the location."
"Mark the coordinates. We'll go slice her head clean off and end this."
Ulv shot back at the twins' brutal proposal.
"No."
"Why the hell not!!"
"She's Ulv's. Hands off."
"Ha... you crazy bitch."
"Urk... ugh!"
Per grabbing his neck echoed vividly through the mic.
"If she's yours, raise her nice and quiet and eat her! Why send a slime and pull aggro?!"
"Do you eat chicks instead of chickens? Big ones taste better. That's... nurturing."
"Magical girls are circling the area. How do you plan to raise her? Got any thoughts?"
"Thoughts happen on the fly."
"Aaaah!! You don't listen, seriously!"
As the twins nearly burst from frustration, another monster who'd been spectating finally turned on his mic.
"Hey."
Like Ulv or Per-Mer, he was an executive in the Monster Association—an A-rank succubus monster named Seika.
"Seika. You think Ulv's wrong too?"
"Yeah. Honestly, it's pretty dogshit."
"To reiterate, wolves are canines."
"Stupid mutt."
A deep sigh came through.
"Don't we have privacy too? We've been living fine until now. Why cross the line all of a sudden?"
"A monster's duty is to take down magical girls. Can't sit still when one's appeared."
"Then go take down Bella first. She's the most active."
"A monster's duty is to take down magical girls weaker than themselves."
"You son of a bitch."
Seika rubbing her forehead came through the mic.
"Even we moderates have limits. Stop burning through our carefully hoarded monsters on your whims."
She added with a sigh.
"You think I want to get chewed out by the hardliners?"
The Monster Association.
It began right after the Demon King got jumped by the magical girls... no, received the judgment of justice, and gloriously perished.
Even when the Demon King was alive, the war was evenly matched, but without their central figure, the monsters were screwed.
The surviving S-rank monsters formed a pact like the Peach Garden Oath and founded the Monster Association as a new hub.
The association's goal: resurrect the Demon King. Their ultimate vision: suck all human imagination from the real world into the Backside World to build a utopia for monsters.
Early on, they had plenty of residual mana and the executives were pumped. Back then, monsters were running on hope circuits. Startups are like that.
But hiding from magical girls wore them down, planting a huge doubt in the executives' minds.
"But if we resurrect the Demon King, do we actually win?"
Even at full power, the Demon King got beaten like a dog in summer heat and couldn't even pick his bones.
Would things change if they revived him with effort? He'd probably get insta-killed by even stronger magical girls right away.
"Honestly, aren't we living fine as is? We could just keep going like this..."
"What nonsense! Where's your pride as monsters?!"
To test, the association sent Gigantic X—an S-rank monster billed as their combat team lead—into the real world.
The result was惨烈. He vaporized in under a day from a barrage of signature moves from assembled reserve magical girls.
Seeing Gigantic X turned into gi/ga/n tic/X by a signature move Ceres finally made the executives nod.
"...Yeah, that's scary."
Facing the overwhelming power gap, the Monster Association split into two factions over ideology.
One: the hardliners.
Lacking any sense of reality, they're holed up in the Backside World, deluding themselves they can still win.
They occasionally toss monsters into the real world for aggro when bored.
They call it the essence of being monsters, but too scared to go themselves, no S-ranks deploy. Zero real threat.
The other: the moderates.
They blend into human society using humanoid monsters' signature human mimicry.
Exploiting the loophole that mana waves go undetected without transforming.
They became salarymen, shop owners, bureaucrats. Still lurking among humans today.
Of course, they don't plan to stay like this forever.
Seize high positions in human society and dismantle magical girls from within the system. That's their big picture.
Seika was one such moderate executive.
Posing as an accountant at a mid-sized firm, she dressed just skimpy enough to suck up the lewd imaginations of her coworkers.
"Haa..."
Seika pushed up her horn-rimmed glasses and sighed.
"Seo, something wrong?"
"No. Just some dust in my eye."
She flashed a friendly smile at her neighbor, Section Chief Park.
At the same time, she subtly recrossed her legs under the desk. Park's gaze blatantly stuck to her skirt line.
That instant, Seika inhaled deeply through her nose.
The sticky, impure imagination blooming in Park's head turned to sweet mana, seeping into her lungs.
Park's eyes glazed over, imagination drained.
'Tch.'
No need to risk life fighting magical girls. Just dress sharp and sit pretty—mana rolls in on its own.
How efficient and work-life balanced.
Yet that oblivious furball threatens this peaceful ecosystem.
"Ulv. Final warning."
"I'm listening."
"One more screw-up dragging magical girls into our turf, and we'll vote to expel you association-wide. Got it?"
"Do what you want."
With that, Ulv bailed from the chat.
"Th-that crazy bitch?"
"Arghhh! Why dump it on us and run?!"
Per and Mer exploded in anger, and Seika sighed again.
'Well, can't be helped.'
Even humanoid monsters have IQ gaps. Inevitable some like Ulv lead with instinct over brain.
But she had no plans to forcibly extract info from Ulv.
Privacy existed even among monsters. Association policy was laissez-faire.
Still, as an executive, she couldn't ignore monster loyalty entirely. Moderates weren't outright enemies of hardliners.
Minimal risk management was needed.
'New magical girl... Better scout her at least.'
She marked two spots on the map where Neph had appeared: XX Street and Hanwol Elementary School.
Seika had a record of retiring two magical girls in the past. She knew rookies' patterns and mobility well.
Neph likely used this area as a base.
But two spots lacked data. Needed at least three for triangulation.
'C-rank should suffice.'
She summoned her subordinate C-rank monster, Octopus Prince.
And ordered him to sweep the area when free.
"Ms. Seo! Coffee?"
"Americano for me, please."
"Got it!"
A few days after the Ha-sol incident.
"...You're okay with it?"
"It's not plastered all over the news. One or two acquaintances is fine. Just keep their mouths shut."
Ha-sol knowing my identity was fact. Her attitude flipped ghostly the next day.
"Unnie! Eat this! Got the priciest from the canteen!"
"Uh, thanks..."
"And those guys staring at you weird? Want me to handle them?"
"Huh."
The brat who'd glared daggers yesterday suddenly appointed herself my bodyguard.
Especially toward Seo Jun.
"Hey, Seo Jun. Get away from Unnie! Now!"
"What? Why all sudden?"
She'd scowl like a pug whenever he got chummy beside me.
The blatant shift made me think game over, so I secretly consulted Ramu.
"Magic Castle isn't that strict. As long as it doesn't spread wide, they overlook some."
Danger lingered, though. The views demon contract kid might spill on TikTok.
But surprisingly, Ha-sol did nothing.
Whether basking in secret superiority or honoring some code, she stayed silent.
Thanks to that, no transfer or memory wipe (physical) needed. School life continued smoothly.
In just over two weeks since transferring, I'd snagged class reps from Classes 2 and 3.
Grab Class 1's, and I'd own the whole first grade. Presidential run viable...
No, not the point.
"Ramu. How do I rebrand my image?"
Truth was, I summoned the mascot for another reason.
In days, my image had cemented as "Sewing Machine Chad" across galleries and communities.
Not what I wanted.
Mag Gallery memes said it all.
Insane. Slander lawsuit?
This crap daily soured even my mood.
Especially with the monster crackdown overlapping, no chances for proper intros.
I needed a rebrand ASAP.
"Just roll with it, no?"
"Like this?"
Ah. Live as Sewing Machine Chad?
I grabbed Ramu's ears, pinned him down, summoned Druruk, and brought the needle to his ear.
Taste the Chad?
"T-timeout! Timeout!"
"Why? Isn't this what you wanted?"
"Wh-what I meant by 'roll with it' was commission art like that pic and spread it..."
Ugh. Say so earlier. Almost did it.
Yeah. Magical girls dominated fan creations too.
Official merch was hot, Shining and Frost's stuff basically fanart anyway.
Sometimes fan memes overtook canon. Fanon becoming official.
Ignis was prime example.
Started as yuri duo with Aqua, morphed into solo bat-wielding monster-smasher.
'Leave it, and I'll morph too.'
Anyway.
Usually, official steps in to fix fanon takeovers.
Though sometimes they spout crap like 'How do you know Seol Ha-rin isn't stacked?' denying it all, but usually quashed.
Ramu's idea felt solid.
Problem: Seol Ha-yoon ain't a character design major. Outfits fine, characters? Nah.
'Blueprints and illustrations are worlds apart.'
No point agonizing solo. Hit the group chat SOS.
'Useless, these guys.'
Then a private message.
'Pluto, huh.'
Truth be told, I'd ignored the vet on Bella's strict orders.
But even more, her obtuse concept kept me away.
Preceding Bella's generation, her theme was deep dark. Gloomy, decadent, sickly... the so-called landmine vibe.
Thus, minor following in the gallery. Though her few fans had cult-level loyalty.
Now as a magical girl myself, I knew concepts weren't red pills.
I act all "Neph~ hehe" outside but here, stabbing stitches into a mascot ear.
Exposed? Character break.
Still, first impressions stick hard.
Her group chat behavior alone...
This is the concept? For real?
Anyone'd say she needs therapy.
But pondering, not bad. Art skills guaranteed, nothing to lose.
Most importantly.
'Pluto's outfit.'
Meet her, add to Dress Code.
Decision made.