Absurd News
"Good heavens, you already made these?"
Elaine's eyes went wide at the sight of nearly twenty teddy bears.
There were so many of them that I'd had to borrow Kang Jiye's oversized suitcase. Of course, I'd stashed them in a gate for the trip over and only pulled them out once we arrived.
I patted my own shoulder and said,
"I nearly died hauling these over. Go ahead and check them out."
"Oh, here—have some juice. Butler!"
Elaine exchanged a few words with a middle-aged butler. Moments later he vanished and returned with Elaine's mother, Edina. Trailing behind her were two people in their thirties—a man and a woman who looked like household staff.
About two weeks since the last magic show, I suppose.
I bowed my head toward Edina. She returned the greeting with an easy smile.
"Have a seat. We'll just do a quick product inspection. Felix."
A man in white gloves knelt before the suitcase. He began picking up the dolls from the corner and examining them one by one with meticulous care.
He's thorough. Even though I'm his employer's daughter's friend.
Normally people buy a few out of courtesy and lead with the compliments. Then, if they genuinely like them, they draw up a proper purchase contract later. But this magic family was different. Even if a teenage girl who happened to be their daughter's friend had made them, they still put everything through a rigorous inspection—and they did it right in front of the maker, no less.
Any schoolgirl from my previous life would have been too nervous to breathe in a situation like this.
Elaine said proudly,
"Felix is a technician from the golem workshop."
"Golem workshop?"
Elaine nodded.
"He made most of the defensive golems for our family. They're mainly for combat, but he puts real care into the design too—because they can't stand out."
I tilted my head and asked,
"They're for combat, so why can't they stand out?"
"Hmm... well, for example, see that stone path in the garden over there?"
Elaine pointed out the window. A stone path was set into the lawn like stepping stones.
"If the family comes under attack, those stones automatically rise up and join the fight. There are garden trees, ornaments, dolls—lots of them. I can't go into detail for security reasons, though."
Oho. That was a new piece of knowledge.
Come to think of it, I'd cleared stages in my previous life where magical beasts were hidden just like that.
So this is what a true magic family looks like.
Honestly, if you were going to call yourself a magic family of renown, this much was the bare minimum. Until now I'd thought of them as a "family" in name only—their personalities had seemed almost too ordinary—but seeing this, it was starting to sink in. There were surely magic circles I didn't know about laid throughout the grounds. Buffs, debuffs, traps, that sort of thing.
"He made all of that?"
"He designed most of it. He couldn't make everything by himself, of course."
"That's incredible..."
That made things easier. Even if a situation arose where only the Ispellen family came under attack, the Party Bears could blend in naturally among the golems. Even if they started firing steel needles everywhere, we could just claim they were golems.
I looked at the man named Felix with a sense of satisfaction. But then his brow suddenly furrowed, and he tilted his head.
Edina asked,
"Is something wrong?"
"Not wrong, exactly... just a moment."
Felix pulled something like a magnifying glass from his coat. He examined the Party Bears carefully with it, then began flipping them this way and that, his hands gradually picking up speed.
After inspecting several of the dolls for a while—
"...You're the student named Pecia, correct?"
Felix looked at me with a puzzled expression.
"Huh? Yes."
"How exactly did you finish these?"
"Pardon?"
Edina asked,
"What do you mean? Is there a problem?"
Felix replied,
"Ah, I haven't found any problems. Nothing dangerous, either. I simply can't understand the manufacturing method."
Elaine blinked in confusion. Edina also spoke with a puzzled look.
"There's a manufacturing method even you don't understand?"
Felix laughed sheepishly.
"I know, I'm a bit flustered myself. Toys aren't my specialty, but I've still made just about everything there is to make."
All three pairs of eyes turned toward me. They clearly wanted me to explain something—not a chance.
"The manufacturing method is proprietary. For a fee."
Knowledge was a legitimate asset. And these weren't poor people. One of Korea's wealthiest families had no business freeloading.
Felix burst out laughing, looking somewhat deflated.
"Fair enough."
Still wearing a bitter little smile, Felix turned to Edina.
"Lady Edina, I'll have to forgo a precise appraisal."
"What?"
Felix shrugged.
"She makes them better than I do. At least when it comes to dolls."
"......!"
Elaine and her mother both stared at me with genuinely shocked expressions. The craftsman who designed a renowned family's golems was acknowledging someone's skill. I didn't know for sure, but this probably wasn't a common occurrence.
Felix asked the woman beside him,
"What do you think, Yuri?"
The woman named Yuri shook her head.
"The finishing lines are perfect. It's like they came off a factory assembly line. But the material does seem to be Mana Cloth. I don't sense any other impurities."
"So she used the proper materials as well..."
Felix scrutinized a Party Bear carefully.
"How on earth did she get this texture out of Mana Cloth?"
Elaine, unable to hold back her curiosity, asked,
"C-could you explain a bit? What's wrong with the texture?"
Felix shrugged.
"Well, Mana Cloth normally comes out with a silk-like texture. To make a fluffy doll like this, you'd have to mix in other materials. The usual method is to implant yarn into existing Mana Cloth."
But the Party Bears had no mixed materials. Thinking about the manufacturing process, that was only natural. They weren't sewn together the way people usually imagined—I'd molded them by hand, like working with clay. That fluffy coat of theirs was essentially real fur. If damaged, it grew back; if their health declined, it could fall out. It just happened to feel like yarn.
Edina's eyes sharpened as she listened.
"In other words, if you just apply a magic circle, you could easily turn them into golems?"
"That's right. After all, they're made from magical beast byproducts."
......
Look. Those aren't byproducts—they're actual magical beasts.
"Of course, for applying the magic circle, it's best if the maker does it herself. Looking at these, it seems Student Pecia already had that in mind. Am I right?"
I just blinked.
"How did you know?"
"With this much care put into them, it only stands to reason."
"Hmm."
I simply nodded. I had no idea what he was talking about, but if the expert said so, it must be true.
"Haha, this is going to send shockwaves through the toy golem industry. It's been an honor, Student Pecia."
"Oh, you're too kind."
After that, Felix and the woman named Yuri gave the dolls a final inspection. Judging by how he directed most of the mana-related questions to her, they seemed to have a scholar-and-assistant kind of relationship.
Once the quality check was done, Felix gave a rough appraisal value and left. Elaine latched onto my left arm, practically bouncing with joy. She'd never expected to receive finished products of this quality, she gushed excitedly.
"Magic circles on the dolls! You have to apply them for us first. Got it, Pecia?"
"Mm-hmm. Of course."
......
Let's see here. Travel expenses, magic circle design fees, plus mana consumption costs. Looks like I'm about to squeeze them for a fortune. Of course, all I actually had to do was tell the little bears, "You guys can start walking around now."
"Over a million each...?"
Meanwhile, Edina was staring at the teddy bears with a grave expression. The figure exceeded her expected amount by twenty times—a scale that might be burdensome for a formal sales contract.
Edina fixed me with a sharp gaze.
"Pecia."
"Yes?"
"...Would it be possible to arrange an exclusive contract for the dolls?"
"Pardon?"
"I mean exactly what I said—we want to buy the sales rights. We'll pay double the price, and we'd like a fixed quantity delivered on a regular basis."
"......!"
Double would be two million won? I'd brought them thinking fifty thousand won apiece.
I swallowed hard.
"Aren't you overinvesting in mere dolls?"
Edina shook her head.
"What you make aren't just ordinary cheap dolls. Any family that deals in magic would covet these. And we want a monopoly on them."
"......"
I thought it over for a moment. Of course, the Ispellen family's offer was attractive. Looking at the high-grade mana stones and ornaments decorating every corner of the house, they'd almost certainly purchase my toys at the highest possible prices. They certainly had the wealth for it.
But...
No, I couldn't. If I'd simply been short on money, I wouldn't have gone about things this way in the first place.
"I'm sorry, but I don't think that will work."
"Pecia?"
Elaine's face crumpled into a pout. Edina raised a hand to calm her, then asked,
"Is the money not enough?"
"No. It's actually the opposite."
Edina blinked.
"The opposite?"
"I started this so I could distribute the dolls affordably. So that not just wealthy children, but poor kids too, could each have a toy golem of their own."
"......!"
Of course, that was a complete lie. If it helped poor families, great; if not, oh well. What mattered was that the Party Bears stayed by people's sides. That way they could respond immediately to any emergency.
"You started this for poor children...?"
I smiled and nodded. Edina stared at me with a faintly stunned expression. She never would have expected an ordinary girl to turn down that kind of money—especially when she was putting on magic shows just to earn tuition.
Urgh.
But in reality, I was dying inside. Two million apiece for something that took me all of a few minutes to make! If I hadn't known what the future held, I would have accepted without a second thought... Fate was a truly cruel bastard.
"...I see. Well, it can't be helped. If that's truly your wish."
She's not even trying to persuade me.
"But custom orders should still be possible, right? I'll pay the price I just mentioned."
"......!"
I nodded, fighting to suppress my excitement.
"Of course!"
"And I still really want that exclusive contract."
"Huh? What?"
"The one I mentioned before. An exclusive magician contract."
At that moment, Elaine gripped my arm even tighter. She started sending me sparkling, wordless looks. One proposal after another. A request that follows right after you've already turned something down is always hard to refuse.
And so, without meaning to, I blurted out—
"Um, first I'd need to get permission from my mom..."
"......?"
Elaine and Edina looked at each other.
"Hehe, yes. Then I'll see you then. Please take good care of my little girl."
"Aaaah!! That was a slip of the tongue!"
"There, there, calm down... Yes, yes. I'll call you back later. All right then."
Click.
Kang Jiye stared blankly at the disconnected call screen. In the dark reflection of the display, a mischievous smile was already in full bloom across her face. And within a few seconds, she couldn't hold it in any longer.
"Pfft! Ahahahahaha!!"
To think she'd actually say "mom" in a place like that. How mortified must she have been, even after saying it herself? Magical beast of unknown identity or not, the girl was still just a kid—that much was clear.
Even if I have no idea how old she really is.
"Mom, huh..."
She sank deep into the backrest and gazed up at the ceiling. It wasn't as if she'd never considered it. But could she really take a magical beast as her daughter? What about the legal procedures if her true identity was ever revealed? And more than anything—did Pecia herself even want a family?
It was all still vague. They'd grown close in a short time, but there was still a lingering sense of her being a guest.
As she was fretting over the future, her smartphone started vibrating again.
Bzzzzz—
......?
She tapped her smartwatch.
"Oh, Yena."
"Um, Mom!"
......!
Kang Jiye's eyes instantly turned terrifyingly sharp. Because Yena never called in a panicked voice.
"What is it."
"Well... Aunt Haram came over."
"Aunt Haram? Aunt Haram came over?"
"Yeah. No. But it wasn't Aunt Haram."
Kang Jiye tilted her head.
"What do you mean, it wasn't Aunt Haram?"
"He suddenly turned into a man. And then he tried to stab me with a knife."
In that instant, Kang Jiye's mind went blank. Someone had impersonated a neighbor and broken into the house. And if they could mimic someone who visited often, it meant they'd been preparing for a long time.
But what Yena said next was something else entirely.
"Yena, right now—!"
"But he's about to die. The man Aunt Haram."
"Huh?"
"The little bears dragged him into a room and I can hear them beating him up. He's screaming for help. But the oldest one won't let me watch. What do I do?"
"......"