Chapter 32
Chapter 32
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Translator: penny
Chapter: 32
Chapter Title: Monster Association Regular Meeting (Not Really) (8)
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"Haa."
Seika let out a sigh as she stared at the chat.
They say sighing too much gives you wrinkles. She already needed to seduce men to drain their imagination, but wrinkles would make it impossible to gather any. What a pain.
A few days ago, the Monster Association had gotten wind of the magical girls' strike through some channel.
Seika had told them it might be a trap and to stand by, but Fermer saw her chance and threw all her subordinates into the fray, hoping to raid empty houses and suck up some sweet nectar.
But what was this? By the time Fermer deployed her monsters, the strike was already over, and her innocent minions got massacred for nothing.
Honestly, in Seika's eyes, that wolf bastard Ulv and these twins were all the same. Sigh. How did the Monster Association end up like this?
In the end, in this hopeless organization, the only one with a functioning brain was Seika, the self-proclaimed super-genius intellectual.
"Octopus Prince did his part. Connecting his rampage point to the previous two spots should pinpoint the newbie's activity range."
The problem was that even Seika wasn't particularly smart.
She wore glasses and tried to maintain an intellectual vibe, but at her core, she was still a succubus.
Her specialty was baring her breasts, thighs, and ass to soak up men's lecherous gazes—not racking her brain.
So her triangulation plan failed spectacularly.
"..."
She had drawn a triangle, sort of, but it looked bizarrely stretched like a Korean long-nosed goblin, still too imprecise to nail down the activity radius.
"...It's within the margin of error."
The silver lining was that Neph's recent active area fell inside the triangle.
Just chuck some monsters around here, and she'd show up eventually.
'Who should I send?'
Now to pick personnel, but scanning the remaining monster list, nothing stood out. Blame the twins for beating them all up.
'Nepenthes... No, too weak. Tyrannoid? Would pull too much aggro from the veteran girls.'
Send anything C-rank or higher, and the old-timers would delete it. E-rank would just fatten Neph up.
'Should I go myself? Nah...'
She kinda got why final bosses in games and comics send weaklings first. Well, not exactly the same vibe, but close.
As she pondered, twisting her mind...
'Huh? Isn't this that?'
A flicker stirred in Seika's chest—the fading monster instinct twitching back to life.
Truth be told, she'd fallen into a rut lately.
Monsters weren't raiding as they should; she was pondering lunch, her corporate card limit, what drama to binge after work—a mayfly existence.
But since Neph appeared, she'd planned ops, sent minions, worried, pondered the association's dark future...
It felt almost like the old flames reigniting? Not quite, but close.
Neph's emergence seemed to butterfly-effect some positivity into Seika and the association.
Made her kinda understand why Ulv was obsessed with Neph, even betraying comrades to avoid doxxing her address.
Thus, super-genius intellectual Seika's brain whirred furiously.
Soon, she clapped with a brilliant idea.
"Wait... For a newbie magical girl... that kid might be perfect?"
Her D-rank subordinate: Doppelganger.
Doppelganger. As the name implied, it learned and absorbed target data to transform into them.
Not just appearance—it copied abilities too.
Decades ago, this named monster troubled magical girls plenty, but now it idled in a Backside World corner, growing mold from lack of gigs.
Sound broken? Sure, but then it wouldn't be D-rank. Copying had limits.
Even perfect Aurora or Bella copies output capped at D-rank.
So against real Aurora (D) or Bella (D), passersby go "Fake?" and click—dead.
But against a newbie? Doppelganger might mix it up fine.
Decision swift. Seika opened a Backside World gate and summoned Doppelganger.
What emerged: a gray jelly-like orb. Doppelganger's core.
"Doppelganger."
"Squish squish squish?"
Now to feed it data.
Veterans had overflowing intel, but Neph's was scant—bummer.
Luckily, Octopus Prince's noble sacrifice provided prime footage.
"Here, learn this magical girl."
"Squish squish squish."
She showed first-person combat footage from Octopus Prince vs. Neph.
Neph's personality, weapons, style, powers—all covered. Should suffice.
In the video, Neph stomped Octopus Prince and yelled.
"Watch closely and mimic perfectly."
"Squish?"
Doppelgangers excelled at infiltration and espionage, seamlessly replacing humans with monsters.
If it beat Neph and took her place? A monster hogging veteran magical girls' love—born.
Seika smiled fondly, tossed Doppelganger in a drawer, and stretched.
It'd learn the rest itself.
"Mr. Seo! Coffee?"
"Ice vanilla latte for me, please."
"Huh? Not Americano today?"
"Yeah. Brainstorming made me crave sweet."
Genius is tiring.
A week and a half later, after pocketing 150 million won and fattening her bank account.
Magical Girl Neph now had a social identity.
Whoa, people still born in '18? Wild. Technically, I'm a '25 vintage though?
The 4 instead of 3 was odd too, but she'd gotten so used to it, no biggie.
Anyway, social identity. Official Korean government-backed ID for the special "magical girl" profession.
Meaning: No guardian consent needed for site sign-ups under her name anymore.
Plus, legal access to all services requiring guardians or legal reps.
Vtuber, YouTuber, Insta—anything goes!
But first... priorities.
"Hee hee."
I clutched my fresh-off-the-press ID and bolted to the convenience store. Transformed, of course.
"Welcome...?"
The clerk tilted his head at me.
Then fiddled with his phone, going "Huh?" Probably recognized me as Neph.
I proudly plunked Magical Girl Terra cans on the counter.
Clerk alternated between my ID and face.
"Uh... Magical Girl Neph, right?"
"Yes!"
Still transformed, I replied brightly.
Local convenience store clerk already knows me? Time for masks?
Braced for autograph, but nope, not that famous yet, kiddo.
"Here's my ID. It's adult... equivalent."
Handed it over boldly. Clerk scanned it.
"Uh... Can't buy booze with this."
"What."
My beer!!!!
Magic Castle's paperwork was too airtight.
15+ sites worked fine, but adult ones blocked like ghosts.
But no worries. Booze, smokes, porn—not what I craved.
Only one thing.
The game.
A full month later, I sat at the PC with reverence, launching the client.
Not just age kept me away. Original ID Seol Ha-yoon was officially on working holiday in Canada.
Canada-based account logging in from Seoul? Friends would freak, and IP trace? Disaster.
So I twiddled thumbs. But now? Legit ‘Neph’ identity.
"Fuu."
Loosened my hands.
Small, cute hands on keys, but the soul inside? Beastly.
Seol Ha-yoon. Who’s that?
Season 9 Master tier. Not this score-inflated rocket Master—peak of the romantic era where real ones danced with blades.
Sure, door-wall meta helped with every champ door-wall, but still! Badge-of-honor skill.
"I'll show you."
To these rotten deep-sea critters, what heavenly movement is.
Quick bot grind for levels, then normals.
Queueing!
Top position matched fast.
Top: sweaty men's line! Manly champs like Hyper Dinger, Garen, Teemo, Pain, Galio—which?
Real men Pain top.
Game in. Early laning smooth.
Opp sluggish. Bronze/Silver locals obvious.
Ah, sorry to bully weaklings. But natural disaster Nephppyeong? Unlucky.
Opp slips—
'Now?'
Kill angle. Hammered keys.
Roll forward, judgment, auto, auto...
But.
"...Huh?"
"What? Why no skill?"
Why? Short fingers.
Q then instant E—kid hands can't span keys. Stretch max barely Q to R.
"Hngh!"
Why die now? Brain moved right, but mouse stuttered, no go.
Same after. Flash? Slipped to TP. Kite? Walked into enemy core.
Soon KDA: 0/5/0. 3/5/5 Pain? Winnable. 0/5/0? Nah.
But rigged. Pros don't blame gear, but this handicap's huge.
Then.
Ah! Remembered why I quit LoL. This crap.
Chat flooded with raw pad-lip: mom-checks, brain-probes, address-hunts.
Know who I am? I tie C-rank monsters in knots—eh? Eh? Eh?!
Korea's guardian magical girl dissed by Bronze locals?!
"Th-this...!"
Had to curse back, ban be damned. Or haunt forever.
Small hands slowed typing. Typo turned "fuck" to "shibi".
I yeeted the mouse.
It bounced off wall, ricocheted, clocked my forehead.
"Waaah!"
Hurt worse than monster hits. Heart hurt more. Master's pride shattered in Bronze depths...!
Deleted LoL, powered off monitor, burrowed under blankets. Not leaving today. For real.
Then—flash outside blankets.
What? Peeked. Huh?
Shimmy shimmy.
Shimmy shimmy.
The magical beast egg from school science homework in the incubator... wiggled oddly.
Hatch in at least a year, right? What now?
"Uh..."
Help!!