Chapter 5
Chapter 5
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Translator: penny
Chapter: 5
Chapter Title: Magical Girl Gallery
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💬 Magical Girl Gallery
— Neph
Sorry, seniors ㅠㅠㅠ I'll head out somewhere for a bit ㅠㅠㅠ
— Sword
?
— Ignis
You have to come back! I'll wait!
— Pluto
Where? Where? Where? Where? Where? Where? Where? Where? Where?
"Phew..."
With the most pressing fire put out, the next urgent issue popped into my head.
'What about school?'
In Korean society, you could tank your GPA, but you had to at least snag that diploma.
Pulling off self-imposed class skips worked for a day or two, but if I kept ditching every day like this, I might end up with permanent expulsion—aka a lifetime vacation.
Even preparing for when I got back to my original body, dropping school entirely wasn't an option.
The problem was the Magical Identity Secrecy Rule, aka the unbreakable industry taboo.
The absolute law of the biz.
'Magical girls can't reveal their red pill to civilians.'
I hadn't really gotten why until I checked the manual, but it clicked instantly.
A magical girl's power source, imagination, included the vague fantasies the public held about them.
The more illusions people had about a magical girl's identity, the stronger her power got.
But what if you peeled back the shell and found a typical Korean auntie or a crazy cat lady inside?
Poof—imagination gone, powers lost.
And if one girl's identity leaked, it dominoed into shattering illusions about all the other innocent magical girls too.
One red pill could tank the whole industry.
Makes perfect sense, right?
So the academic consensus was that the moment your cover blew, Magic Castle big sis-types swooped in for some iron-fisted discipline.
In this situation, if I went around yelling, "Whoa~ I woke up as a cutie pie~," it'd be as good as screaming, "I'm a magical girl!"
"Gotta take a leave of absence."
Not because I wanted to. Absolutely not.
"Ah~ No choice, huh. I really wanted to go to school~"
My lips twitched into a grin, and a tune slipped out unbidden, but whatever, no.
Humming Aurora's theme song, I whipped up a leave of absence form on the school portal.
But then.
[Leave of absence forms must be submitted in person to your department's admin office.]
Why?
Why in 2025 did I have to hoof it just to submit a damn form? Email exists, people!
No matter how much I clicked, the popup on my monitor wouldn't budge.
Bottom line: to get this processed, I had to drag the form to the department office myself.
"What do I even say when I get there?"
Say I'm Seol Ha-yoon's little sister?
As if that'd fly these days.
One background check, and it'd all come out.
Family registry? Even worse.
Still, I had to hustle out ASAP.
'Gotta beat the TA's lunch break.'
Our department TA vanished like a ghost at lunchtime. Show up late, and I'd get the door slammed in my face for "lunch."
I kicked back my chair and stood.
A glance.
Magical girl outfits strewn across the floor caught my eye.
That damn rabbit trashed the place and bolted without cleaning up. Next time I see it, rabbit stew for sure.
Wait. Hold up. Why's my gaze drifting there naturally? I have my own clothes!
I shook my head hard and yanked open the closet. No reason to cosplay when normal stuff was right there.
Pulled out my usual muted boxy tee and stood before the mirror.
Hmm.
Truth is, Seol Ha-yoon (male, pending leave) was a sturdy adult guy above Korean average.
What happens when a kid like this tries on his clothes?
Obviously, they turn into ankle-length dresses. Pants? One leg swallowed my whole torso plus a fist. Wild!
"......"
A glance.
◇◇◇◆◇◇◇
In the end, I went with a navy hoodie over Frost's drawers combo.
Thank goodness Frost's outfit wasn't a onesie.
Lifted the hem in front of the mirror—frilly cute pumpkin shorts waved hello.
'Well, duh. These are basically underwear anyway...'
But worn over panties, so not panties.
Thus, not embarrassing.
Self-rationalization complete, I stuffed my phone and printed form in my pocket and headed out.
Five-minute walk to the bus stop.
In that short time, the stares I drew were no joke.
Especially from the 60-somethings.
"Isn't that Prima?"
"Oh my god. She looks just like Prima."
"P-Pri... No, it's not..."
Prima's fame wasn't that huge, honestly.
Makes sense—she debuted during the Korean War 70 years ago, peak 50 years back. Tactical nuke magical girl.
Kids born post-2010s? Half don't even know who she is.
But baby boomers? Different story. To them, Prima was a national hero, full stop!
Seeing a dead ringer for their hero scurrying around in baggy hoodie? Eyes can't help but spin.
Up close, I differed subtly from Prima.
Far off: "Huh? Prima!" Close up: "Nah."
Still, couldn't dodge the stares. Even ignoring the Prima thing.
"So cute! What?!"
"Omg, look at that kid. She's gorgeous!"
"Check that skin! Eyes too? Albino?"
Objectively, I was a plausibly perfect cutie right now.
'Kinda overwhelming...'
I yanked the hood low and cinched the drawstrings tight.
White hair still poked out, but stares eased a bit.
Better to look shady than aggro as Prima's doppelganger.
Or so I thought. My bad.
Now I was a suspicious Prima lookalike. Thought it'd be 100x better—turns out 200x worse aggro.
Some dude even straight-up snapped pics. I was about to stand and report him for portrait rights violation when...
Embarrassing...!
Normally, manly Seol Ha-yoon wouldn't flinch at this.
But now my face burned, heart pounded—like I wanted to crawl into a hole.
Magical girl side effect?
Wanna ask the vets, but "I'm actually a dude" coming-out? The fallout's too horrifying to imagine.
Gotta grill that rabbit later.
"P-Please don't take pictures..."
Whimpered a timid protest, but shutters kept clicking.
Thus, looks + outfit + situation.
The perfect storm nuked yesterday's bold Seol Ha-yoon into frothing oblivion.
In his place? One shrinking loner girl spawned.
Save me.
◇◇◇◆◇◇◇
A community's buzz scales with its bait's freshness.
By that metric, Magical Girl Gallery—aka Magal—was basically a ghost town.
Early days? Never left top 10 majors.
Just magical girl glamour shots and pointless identity bait? Dopamine explosions.
But trends die. No new magical girl drips? Bait starved ages ago.
Views and rank tanked; Magal plunged to ranking abyss.
Yet even ocean trenches have life.
Magal's diehards posted crap nonstop, loyal whether girls aged out or went oval.
Which made yesterday a rare festival.
Frost snapping at auntie's jab and smashing a YouTuber's thick skull warmed the place up.
And today? Back-to-back bombshell bait to flip Magal twice over.
📰 Breaking News
Live) Spotted Prima on the bus. Still going strong.
[Image: Hoodie pulled low, girl huddled with a peek of white hair]
Just hopped on the bus, Prima's in the back ㅋㅋㅋ She's all flustered and fidgety, kinda cute ㅋㅋ
— Old Fart Detector
Can she... still go...?
— Sleepy Bear
↳ Reply
She's... still alive...?
— Polar Bear Bella
You guys are too much...
— Magical Girl Identifier
Prima? No way.
— 36-Year-Old Kim Aurora
↳ Reply
Cap. Clearly Prima.
What kind of degenerates were Magal users?
Armed with useless talent to ID a girl from a dress hem: "Oh, that's her."
Even those armchair detectives couldn't pin the photo's girl easily.
Thus, one anon's stray shot turned morning Magal into a chaotic debate pit.
— Magical Girl Identifier
Look closer. Eyes and jawline totally different.
— Eye Candy
↳ Reply
Fr, her chest has more curve than Prima's.
— Ignis x Aqua
Reported both for child exploitation laws.
— Munch Munch
Fact) Prima's retired, no transforms outside official events. Ergo, fake Prima cosplay kid.
— Eva
↳ Reply
Bootleg Prima then?
One anon, intrigued by these NEETs rolling fossil magical girl bait all morning, crossposted to a major humor site.
Mention of long-missing Prima (status unknown) trickled through big communities.
Soon, Prima hit the tail end of world wiki trending.
National pastime: see an elder celeb trend? "Gasp? Did she...?" Clicks ensue.
Thus, a bus blip wildfire'd across communities in an hour.
Realtime Trends 1. Prima 2. Magical Girl Prima 3. Prima Passes Away 4. Ramu 5. Magic Castle
World wiki trends drowned in Prima bait for the first time in ages.
Meanwhile, ground zero Magal started rolling a wild new theory.
⭐ Top Comment
— Anon (223.39)
Seeing the Prima resemblance... secret granddaughter maybe?
In barely an hour, the bus's mystery shrinking kid got a full identity wash: "Legendary magical girl Prima's hidden granddaughter."
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