Thus Saith the Magical Girl
"Thus saith the Magical Girl: tteokbokki and kimbap have arrived—"
I kicked the front door open with my foot as I came in, laying on a mock biblical delivery for the occasion.
"You're back?!"
Both hands were full of black plastic bags—bags of kimbap and tteokbokki. The moment those radiant vessels crossed the threshold, color flooded back into Siyeon's face. She bolted for the kitchen, snatched one deep adult-sized rice bowl and four pairs of chopsticks, and hurried back to the low table to sit.
I pulled the still-steaming tteokbokki, bag and all, out of the black plastic, dropped it straight into the deep bowl, and loosened the mouth of the pouch.
Tteokbokki and kimbap, arriving right on the hour when hunger hits hardest. I would have loved to grab an assortment of fried snacks too, but with this tiny body, six rice cakes, two fish cakes, and one roll of kimbap already left no room for anything else.
I handed a roll of kimbap each to the two gold-furred monster-alarm beasts so they wouldn't feel left out, then sat listening to the TV babble while I scrolled on my phone.
My right hand still dipped kimbap into the thick tteokbokki sauce and brought it to my mouth, but my eyes stayed locked on the screen, my other fingers hunting for anything useful.
Cat mom…removal methods…
Nameless communities, galleries, random news scraps—there were write-ups and success stories about dealing with these pests, sure. Most of them were methods I could never actually pull off. Join the apartment app and leave a review about the cats.
File a formal complaint and force the feeding station to be torn down. Either way, they were impossible for a lower-grade elementary schooler.
Why? Think about the age. Obviously.
This damn country where anyone under fourteen can't do a single thing…
Once I realized most of the internet's advice was useless, I cursed my own pathetic situation.
Just lean on the juvenile free pass and stab her once?
I barely managed to shove that ugly thought aside, rinsed the sticky leftover tteokbokki bag, and tossed it with the other plastic. The aluminum foil the kimbap had been wrapped in got crumpled into a ball and thrown in the regular trash. Full stomach, barely any sleep—drowsiness rolled in soft and slow, so I flopped down on the spot.
Ah, if only I could just fall asleep like this. A lazy Sunday afternoon. There was no better hour for it.
I was still in the clothes I'd worn outside, so to keep noise from wrecking my sleep I tore open a pack of earplugs from my pocket. Soft orange plugs, bigger than a finger joint. I crumpled them with a practiced twist and jammed them into both ears. They wouldn't block everything, but they were the best I had.
I was just starting to sink into that quiet, comfortable dark when something soft and padded started prodding my shoulder—poke, poke—and forced my eyes open.
"What."
It was the little bear. Looked like he had something to say.
"…ster, da."
"What?"
I pulled one earplug free so I could hear again, blinking and letting the question stand in for everything else.
"Monster, da."
Hearing the thing I'd already half-guessed spoken out loud sent my body twisting again, pouring out a groan of pure resentment.
"Oh, for fuuuuuck's sake… leave me alone, please…"
"Um… should I just go by myself…?"
The voice cut through my rant. Siyeon, watching how wrecked I looked, had said it.
"…"
If we'd both been adults—hell, even middle schoolers—I would have happily told her thanks and meant it. What cooled the rage trying to explode out of me wasn't anything clever. It was the worry that spilled out of Siyeon's pure, simple heart. All that spite for monsters and the world went cold and sharp in an instant.
Yeah. How was I supposed to send her alone?
I rubbed my eyes, sat up, squeezed them shut, and fumbled around. Still sitting, using only the strength in my arms, I dragged myself to the wardrobe, felt the magnet pop free as I pulled the door, and took out the mask from inside.
"No. Let's go. We have to go…"
Lethargic and yawning, I walked out onto the first floor. Ssshk. The cats clustered around the food bowls slipped into the nearby flower bed. Siyeon, apparently thrilled to see wild animals she almost never got a look at around here, tugged my sleeve and pointed at the eyes glinting from the bushes.
"Wow, cats! Mari, Mari! Look at that!"
"I already saw them earlier."
"They're so cuuute—"
They're so groooss—
I muttered the words I couldn't say out loud to Siyeon while she gushed, and kept walking until we reached a quiet stretch with no one around.
The monster appearance point, by the little bear's guidance, was right in the middle of a fairly distant downtown apartment complex—specifically a playground with play equipment kids would normally swarm. And there, a massive cat with orange-and-white mixed fur, bigger than most large dogs, was pacing around.
Of course it had to be a cat.
As if the cats weren't already about to stir up ugly trouble in the apartment, now the monster was a cat too.
"It's a cat!"
"Haaaahk—!"
The second Siyeon called out in delight, the giant cat's fur shot up on end and it started hissing, all bristling caution. It looked like an ordinary cat, sure—but that thing was still a monster. It didn't seem smart enough for speech; it just kept its eyes wide and hissed nonstop.
A cat that size was basically a tiger. Imagine a tiger that had escaped from a zoo showing up in the middle of an apartment playground full of kids. The whole world would lose its mind.
"This time I'm doing it alone!"
Siyeon stepped forward first, rare spark of drive in her voice.
"Sure. Give it a shot."
Maybe because this monster didn't look as terrifying as some. Compared to the werewolf, she seemed outright brave.
Moon Shower
"Moon Shower—!"
A cool blue aura lanced from Siyeon's round moon-shaped staff and froze the cat monster's legs solid. Instantly immobilized, the creature could only twitch and strain to yank its limbs free, eyes huge, still hissing on loop.
Locking it down was fine. The problem was what came after. I was always the one who finished things, so how Siyeon would handle the end was a total unknown. The two of us were a set. If Siyeon's magic was about sealing movement or keeping pressure on, mine was overwhelming destructive force.
…That said, I was so strong Siyeon almost never got a real chance to shine. Even in the community write-ups ranking magical girls, talk about the two of us always ran the same way.
In the power tier: Sun always high, Moon always low. In the cuteness tier: Moon always high, Sun always low. Polar opposites in every direction. Well—the reason I ranked low in cuteness was the mandatory black mask, but still.
"Uh, w-what do I do now?"
Just as expected—she'd stopped it cold, then hesitated to finish it with her own hands. Monsters that openly monologued about being villains were almost no burden to put down. Beast-type monsters that couldn't talk were another story; even I found them a little rough. And for a kid like Siyeon, who just liked looking at animals, this role was cruel past the point of fair.
"Cover your eyes and turn around."
"Okay…"
"It's fine. You did good."
Siyeon's voice had gone small and dejected. Still—the fact that she'd wanted to try alone was more than worth praising.
Even with its legs frozen, the cat monster kept twitching and thrusting its head toward me. Speechless animal or not, it was a monster, and it could hurt people. Feeling sorry for it wasn't allowed. Like I'd thought earlier—what was standing in front of me was the same as a big cat loose from a zoo. Leave it, and someone got hurt.
The light name magical girl carried a heavy creed. Someday Siyeon would have to face that head-on too.
Until then, I have to take it on myself.
"Sun, you're so kind."
"One more word out of you and it won't stop at a flat tire to the back of your head."
"Hup."
The little bear had floated over sideways through the air and tossed out that sly compliment, so I threatened the mouthy little thing until it shut up.
One step. I stopped in front of the thrashing cat monster as it fought to live. Two steps. Its mouth peeled open in a barrage of hisses, pure panic pouring off it.
"Haaaahk—! Haaaahk—!"
At the very least, without pain.
Both hands locked tight around the magic staff. It was the kind of pose you'd only see in some martial-arts comic—a seasoned swordsman raising a long blade to the sky for one final, all-out strike, a clean and solemn ready stance.
Then a single, unadorned straight cut: a massive impact drove from the tip of the staff straight into the monster's forehead.
The shockwave alone told you how hard it hit. Dust billowed up. The ground split. The giant cat never even managed a scream before it began crumbling into magic dust and scattering.
I waited until every last scrap of it was gone—so Siyeon wouldn't even have to see a limp body—then looked at her, still covering her eyes tight, and spoke.
"It's over. You can open your eyes."
"Okay…"
After the fight we walked a little ways from the house, dropped our transformations, and headed back toward the apartment. Sulky face—anyone could tell Siyeon's spirit had completely wilted.
She hadn't handled it alone after all, so of course she was down. Half-baked comfort would only make it worse, so I just walked beside her in silence.
"Ah… cats…"
The cats were gathered at the first-floor entrance again. At least that got a reaction out of the sulking Siyeon. Still, they clearly weren't anything close to tame. I'd shown my face maybe three times already, and they vanished into the flower bed before I could even get near, watching from cover.
…Hm?
Besides the cats, I felt another set of eyes. I scanned the area on a hunch and turned my head toward the window of the unit above ours. There she was—the woman I was pretty sure had set out the food bowls—staring down at the spot where the cats' dishes were.
Crazy bitch…
The sheer, wordless intensity of that obsession sent a full-body chill racing over my skin.