Chapter 27
Chapter 27
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Translator: penny
Chapter: 27
Chapter Title: Pluto (5)
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Strung up in the air, tightly bound by tentacles, the thought that flashed through my mind wasn't fear or despair.
Only awe.
'Bella, what in the world are you...'
What the hell is she?
This octopus is C-rank.
Yet Bella had ripped off the arms of a higher-ranking B-rank mantis monster as lightly as tearing into dried squid.
I worship you. GOAT... no, not that!
Anyway.
I was calm.
Very calm.
Even as I stormed out in fury at Pluto, I was calm enough to diligently open the monster encyclopedia and check the strategy for dealing with it.
'Whoa! 85,000!'
My eyes spun a little at the shifted digit count, but anyway, I stayed calm.
Hm hm. According to Noir Sunbaenim, this octopus is weak to fire attributes.
So naturally, I'd faced it in my Bella costume.
But it didn't work.
Hey. The size difference is just too much, isn't it? Honestly, I had no idea I was this weak.
"Ehehehe..."
The octopus drooled lewdly as it tightened its tentacles further.
Yeah. I like "ehehehe" too. Everyone's seen tentacle hentai with magical girls at least once, right?
But I didn't want to experience it firsthand.
No, I couldn't experience it. Someone up there in the sky might stomp the ground in regret otherwise.
'Ah! If I'd known, I should've set my age to 18 instead of 8!'
It was too late to shed bloody tears and rewrite the plot now. Unfortunately, my body was 8 years old, and the tentacles were slick and slimy.
"Dress Code! Type: Frost!"
I quickly swapped costumes.
Fwaaah!
Noir Sunbaenim had written that it's weak not just to fire, but to ice attributes too. I planned to turn the bastard into octopus sashimi.
But the ice melted the instant it touched the octopus's skin. Damn it.
"Type: Aurora!"
This time, electricity. Electricity's like fire's disciple, right?
ZZZAP!
But again, the octopus just shuddered once, as if mildly stung.
This didn't work, that didn't work. Trying everything had drained my mana tank dry.
Meanwhile, a tentacle crept right up to my face.
'No. This can't happen!'
If this kept up, I'd get **** from the tentacles, forced to swallow **, and thoroughly ****!
...That's what I thought, right then.
Vwooom!
Suddenly, thick, pure mana flowed toward me from far away.
"...?"
I barely turned my head to look at the source, and there stood Pluto.
Sunbaenim?
What are you doing right now?
Just come over and beat it already?
You could skewer that octopus with a single shadow needle, right?
GRRAAH!! My gut twisted, and a scream welled up inside. Why are you just standing there gawking?!
Thinking it over, I recalled what I'd spat out when I left.
'Just stay out of it. You're in the way.'
Ah. Don't tell me she's actually following that?
She doesn't want me to hate her, or treat her like she's invisible.
So she's not directly intervening to avoid 'getting in the way,' but she can't just let me die, so she's indirectly infusing me with mana like this?
Cancel! Please come beat it! I'll forgive you right now! Why are you taking my words so literally?!
The newbie's gonna die!!!
Her timidity, transcending all common sense, clogged my chest like it was about to burst.
You think pumping mana into me will let me beat this thing? Huh? Will it?
But.
'?'
The amount of incoming mana was no joke.
Tsk. With this much, I might actually manage?
No, it wasn't just manageable—it was overflowing. And right now, Pluto was still pouring more in.
I instinctively flexed my arm.
Crack.
The disgustingly sticky tentacle around my arm crumpled like tofu the moment my muscles swelled slightly.
"...Octopus?"
The octopus let out a dumb sound.
Floating in the air, I clenched and unclenched my fist, dopamine surging to the top of my head from the overwhelming omnipotence I'd never felt before.
'Is this the mana of a veteran?'
Thinking back, had I ever received a direct mana charge like this?
Whether it was because a small vessel was being filled with buckets of water, or the mental corruption unique to dark-attribute mana, I didn't know.
Either way, it didn't matter.
With the highest high buzzing through me, the octopus head in front of me started looking like total trash♥.
I slowly turned my head to look at Pluto.
She was still standing there in her ghostly getup, infusing me with mana.
Blissfully unaware of what she was doing, desperately playing gas station just to avoid my hatred.
'Forgiveness... is off the table.'
I had zero intention of washing her clean. The sins she'd committed were heavier than anything.
Kidnapping? Imprisonment? Attempted training? Not those.
Abandoning her duty as a magical girl.
Fleeing despite having power.
Chicken-ing out even with a monster right in front of her.
Defiling the pride of a magical girl otaku.
I couldn't forgive a single one.
By rights, I should treat her like a ghost for life, as promised. That would be the cruelest punishment.
But.
She'd pulled me from the slimy tentacles, so some reward was only proper etiquette.
'I'll remodel you.'
I'll personally rip apart that rotten brain of hers and rebuild her into a perfect, upright magical girl.
That counts as a reward, right?
'First, deal with this guy.'
To engrave in Pluto's head what a true magical girl is, I had to show her.
That the true beauty of the abyss I'd always yearned for was incomparable to the fake darkness piled up by some gloomy shut-in watching depressing anime in her room.
"Watch closely."
This is the outfit you should've worn.
I released the Aurora costume wrapping my body. Then, into that void, I poured every drop of the mana Pluto had sent.
"Dress Code."
A black flash sliced through Hongdae's night sky.
"Type: Pluto!"
Fwaaaah!
With a roar, new attire filled my body.
The base was Pluto's gothic lolita outfit. But I'd added my own twist.
To make pitch-black darkness stand out, paradoxically, use pure white. Overlay white tones, swap stuffy sleeves for an off-shoulder blouse baring the shoulders.
Mini-skirt emphasizing mobility over long skirt, bare legs boldly instead of stockings. Finally, garter straps squeezing the thighs for accent.
This was my redesigned costume for the magical girl Pluto.
Transformation complete, cold, sticky mana flowed down my fingertips.
But for some reason.
'It's sweet.'
Some weird switch flipped somewhere in my mind.
My lips curled up on their own. The octopus before me looked utterly pathetic.
I wanted to step on it. Crush it flat.
Torment it until it begged through tears.
This was the clothes' fault. Definitely Pluto's gloomy mana dwelling in the outfit, slyly poking at some corner of my heart.
Otherwise, the upright Korean man Seol Ha-yoon's soul wouldn't think like this.
"...Hng~?"
I cocked my head and looked up at the octopus.
"What're you staring like a dummy for, mister?"
The words slipped out.
Not my usual polite kid tone, but a nasal, grating, arrogant brat vibe that scraped at the listener's nerves.
The technical term for this is mesugaki, I think.
Glancing around, people were still gathered. After all that time, why hadn't they evacuated?
I'd even done a self-promo to shake the sewing machine rep, but in this state, it felt like I'd pick up another unwanted concept.
But I couldn't stop.
Didn't want to.
"Uh, uhh?"
The octopus panicked and staggered back.
Of course it would. The newbie whimpering in its tentacles moments ago had suddenly gone dark and was acting like a queen.
"Wh-what did you do, octopus! And what's with that look?!"
The octopus shrieked. Loud.
"Shut up."
I casually snapped my fingers.
Pffft!
"GRAAK?!"
A red line slashed across the octopus's cheek.
When? Just now.
A black thread from my fingertip had grazed its cheek at speed invisible to the eye.
Utterly different from my usual threads. Thinner than visible, razor-sharp with pitch-black sparks crackling.
Pluto's mana nature is darkness. And this thread was its conduit.
"Trash~♥"
The word from my mouth gave even me chills, but I still felt Highhhhh.
"C-rank my ass, all shell and no substance? Where'd that bravado go? Hm?"
"Y-you little brat...!"
The octopus's face flushed red and purple.
A pride-wounded monster's response usually boils down to one thing. Overpower with force.
"Die, octopus!!"
It whipped all seven remaining tentacles at once.
An omnidirectional barrage sealing all escape. Nowhere to dodge.
But did I need to?
I stood firm and resummoned Druruk.
"Druruk. Work."
Dr! ru! ru! ruk!
The sewing machine, usually whirring merrily, now rumbled with heavy menace, dark as pitch at the needle tip.
"Piping."
Pabababap!
The machine sprayed dark threads at ferocious speed. Same technique as with the slime.
But thanks to the overwhelming mana, the scale was on another level.
Hundreds, thousands of black threads sliced the air like living snakes, coiling around the octopus's tentacles.
"Uh, uhh?!"
The octopus, dangling helplessly midair by its tentacles, looked just like me moments ago.
"W-wait! What is this...!"
"What? Don't you like this sort of thing?"
You were ehehehe-ing earlier.
"What nonsense is th—octopus...!"
I pressed my index finger to my lips and shushed it.
"Quiet. I'm sewing right now."
I flicked my finger, and the threads binding the tentacles pulled taut.
Crack! Kwajik!
"GWAAAAAHHH!!"
The scream echoed across Hongdae's streets.
Seven octopus legs twisted at grotesque angles, threads digging into flesh, bones (though it's spineless, whatever) crunching.
Cruel? No.
"Pretty."
I meant it.
The monster writhing in black threads. An abstract painting of red blood and black mana intertwined.
Is this the 'aesthetic of darkness' Pluto went on and on about?
"Now I can finally talk to sunbae on the same level."
"Wh-what are you...! Y-you're a newbie!"
The octopus blubbered as it asked.
I sauntered right up to its face and prodded between its eyes with my index finger.
"What good's telling you?"
"...Octopus?"
"You're dying anyway."
Smirk.
Seeing my smile, primal terror flooded the octopus's eyes.
"Sp-spare..."
"Nah."
I lightly lifted my skirt hem and curtsied gracefully.
"Bye, trash octopus mister. Curse me lots in hell."
As I curtsied, Druruk reared up. Confirming the giantified Druruk swallow the octopus's head in one bite,
"Overlock."
I clenched my fist.
Kwaaaang!
The threads in my grasp contracted in unison.
Dark threads pierced the octopus's slimy body, shredding it everywhere.
"GRAAAAAHHHOCTOPUSSSS!!!"
With a massive explosion, the octopus's flesh burst into pieces.
Parssak.
Ash rained down from the monster's remains.
At the center, I brushed back my tousled hair.
"Repair complete."
With a mischievous grin.
"Trash♥"
No sooner had I spoken,
"WAAAAH!!"
Hongdae streets erupted in cheers.
The crowd that had been fleeing now held up smartphones, filming me wildly.
"Look! That's magical girl Neph?!"
"Prima's granddaughter, right?"
"But her look's different from the videos?"
"That's her magic, I bet?"
"It's the Mesugaki Sewing Machine Throne!!"
Pardon?
Sewing Machine Throne was bad enough, now with Mesugaki prefixed. Normally I'd wail and pound the ground.
'Hng.'
Not bad.
No, kinda thrilling?
The sensation of hundreds of gazes sweeping over me. That attention, those cheers, like candy melting on my tongue.
This wasn't my true self. The clothes were making me. Pluto's exhibitionist mana corrupting my reason, for sure.
I tilted my chin up arrogantly, scanned the crowd, then walked toward Pluto standing dazed in the distance.
Clack. Clack.
Pluto stared at me with a complex mix: shock, dismay, guilt, and a hint of... excitement?
"What? Why the blank stare?"
"Th-that's..."
"Your junior cleaned up after you bailed. Shouldn't you at least praise me?"
"Th-that's... that outfit..."
"What? Not good enough?"
"N-nooo! It's... too... too pretty..."
Pluto's face turned ripe-tomato red. Her eyes glued especially to my thigh garters.
This perv.
I arched my back slightly, thrusting my upper body forward. Wow! These poses come naturally now.
"Where're you staring?"
"S-sorryyy..."
An 8-year-old scolding an 18-year-old. Quite the bizarre sight. Well, call it Seol Ha-yoon doing the scolding.
As I gazed at Pluto shrinking into the earth, thinking it was time for more education,
Kwaaaang!!
An orange meteor plummeted from the sky.
Through choking dust and heat, a figure wreathed in blazing flames rose.
It was magical girl Bella, after a while.
"Be-Bella...? Wh-why are you here...?"
Let me say it again: I'm calm.
Bella, my senior who'd treated me to pricey seafood pasta, my direct supervisor, had warned me about Pluto.
Of course I'd reported ahead. Shared my location and situation just in case.
'Perfect timing.'
Thinking about it, what was there for me to scold? This was peak insubordination. Better tattle to Bella to handle Pluto.
"Neph!!"
Bella burst from the flames, teary-eyed, charging toward me.
"You okay?! Did that gloomy bitch do anything?! Are you hurt...!"
A shout laced with worry and rage.
I waved to reassure her.
"Sis, I'm fi—"
But.
Bella screeched to a halt right in front of me.
Her eyes scanning my body went wide.
"..."
Silence fell, and her roaring flames died in an instant.
She looked at me, then Pluto behind me, then back at me.
And.
"What the hell happened to MY Neph!!!!!!!!!!"