Chapter 1
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Translator: penny
Chapter: 1
Chapter Title: The Hard Life of a Magical Girl Manager
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Monsters.
Their sudden appearance in this world was a mystery, as was the reason they threatened humanity and destroyed cities.
Human science stood no chance against their terrifying power and durability. Even our most powerful weapons crumbled helplessly before them.
Within mere hours of the monsters' arrival, numerous cities lay in ruins, their functions paralyzed. It was clear humanity faced an unprecedented catastrophe.
But in that moment of absolute crisis... heroes appeared to save us.
Girls who vanquished monsters in an instant with power akin to magic from fantasy realms, smiling nobly and beautifully at the citizens.
Soon after, the monsters that had emerged were completely wiped out by these girls. And whenever monsters reappeared in cities thereafter, they swooped in like comets to protect humanity.
The citizens, saved from death, gazed upon their strong, mystical figures...
And began calling them "Magical Girls."
One utterly ordinary day in a tediously repetitive routine.
In an office filled with weary sighs of exhaustion and the feeble clacking of keyboards, one monitor on a desk broadcast a scene wildly out of place with the drab surroundings.
The footage showed a Magical Girl locked in battle with a monster.
In the heart of a chaotic, wrecked city, a blonde Magical Girl in a pristine white dress faced off against a massive monster heaving ragged breaths.
"Take this! A dazzling shower of beautiful petals!"
⟨ Flora Rain ⟩
Flora swung her flower-shaped staff, and at once, petals gleaming so brightly they dazzled the eyes began raining down from the sky in a torrent.
"Graaaaaah!!!"
Pierced dozens of times by petals softer yet sharper and swifter than any arrow, the monster let out an ugly scream as it began to collapse.
"Wooooah!!!"
As the monster's crumbling body scattered like ashes on the wind, vanishing without a trace, the terrified citizens erupted in ecstatic cheers toward her.
Unlike the monster shattered to pieces by the petal storm, she approached the crowd without a single scratch or drop of sweat, her poise impeccable.
"Is... is everyone alright? No injuries?"
Her voice, warm and gentle like that of a goddess, washed over their ears, leaving the citizens nodding vigorously with goofy grins.
Confirming no one was hurt by the monster, the golden-haired beauty raised her staff high with a smile bright as sunshine.
- Shwooooosh—
Moments later, light poured from its tip, enveloping her body completely. She streaked away like a meteor shower, vanishing toward some distant point.
"Phew... Glad everything went smoothly again..."
I'd been watching the Magical Girl's fight on screen. Only now did I exhale in relief, turning my head slightly and resuming my paused typing with numb fingers.
"Yaaawn..."
My fingers trembled feebly as I worked on documents, but months of overtime had my eyelids drooping against my will.
Part of me wished I'd just collapse right there, but the fear that I might never wake up kept me going.
- Thud thud—
"Eek?!"
But someone always jolted me awake when sleep seemed imminent...
"Hey! Your Magical Girl charge just got back from her mission, and you've got time to nap?"
The woman wearing sports leggings and a pitch-black tank top had kicked my chair. It was none other than Flora herself... or rather, Choi Yu-na.
Real-life Magical Girls differ greatly from those in comics or games.
Far from "girls," they were all adults over twenty. And the cute mascot sidekicks? Pure fiction.
In truth, the Magical Girl Management Bureau hired managers like me to swiftly and efficiently eliminate monsters while keeping the girls in top condition.
I'm Baek Jae-hyun, the dedicated manager for Magical Girl Flora, Choi Yu-na. I'd been watching her battle footage to log it.
Manager sounds nice, but really, I'm just a glorified servant.
"Tch... Still don't like it."
As Flora, she was kind and gentle, saving citizens from monsters. But as plain old Choi Yu-na? A total personality wreck—I wondered how she even became a Magical Girl.
Kicking chairs or tables like earlier was routine. Off-duty, she dumped every chore and errand on me.
With managers quitting left and right lately, all their work piled on me—endless demands meant constant overtime and weekend shifts.
"Did... something happen?"
"Forget it. Get me that."
Lounging on the sofa with legs crossed, she extended her hand imperiously. Classic post-mission fatigue cue: fetch her favorite fruit drink.
"Right... coming up."
I filled a cup to the brim with 100% strawberry juice from the ever-stocked fridge, then bowed obsequiously like an eunuch from a historical drama and set it carefully on the table before her.
"Hey."
But Flora's face soured at the strawberry juice right in front of her.
"I said pineapple starting this week."
"Pardon? Didn't you say strawberry this week on Monday...?"
She'd explicitly said "strawberry from this week onward," yet here she was, nitpicking nonsense after just three days.
"Whatever! I said get it, so get it. You drink this."
Her usual antics were so dramatic I'd grown numb to these absurd whims.
"Here you go."
Too drained to argue, I nodded, cleared the strawberry glass, and poured the pineapple juice I'd wisely prepped into another, handing it over.
"Hehe... delicious."
She slurped it greedily, cheeks puffed, humming contentedly.
Truth be told, every time like this, I itched to slap her cheek and quit. But reality wouldn't let me.
A twenty-something nobody with a worthless degree and zero specs? No other job pays this well.
Sure, take a pay cut, stack part-time gigs for experience—but once you've seen this money hit your account, downgrading feels impossible.
Even when she bullied me or I pondered "Why am I doing this?" during overtime, the drive to earn just a bit more kept my resignation letter buried.
Grind now while young, and life eases later.
My predecessors who left the Bureau first didn't look too lonely—probably 'cause they banked enough to walk away satisfied.
Or at least, I tell myself that to soothe my heart.
After plowing through the mountain of manager tasks and dozens of documents, the moon already adorned the pitch-black night sky.
"Ah... how many days since I last came home...?"
Unlike Flora, who clocked out sharp at sunset, I'd never left on time since starting with her.
Finish work, and it's dinnertime-past-midnight routine. Often, I'd crash in the office lounge without even going home.
Thankfully, today wasn't an all-nighter, so I could recharge at home before fully draining.
"Phew... I'm home..."
I raced back faster than ever, bag slung over my shoulder, to my precious sanctuary.
A spacious, nice place most early-career folks couldn't dream of without family help—my solo pad.
I'd scraped it together from overtime bonuses as a manager, but rarely visiting soured the victory a bit.
"Huh... why's it suddenly so dizzy in here?"
The moment I stepped inside, shoes off, dizziness hit at the entryway.
Cold sweat trickled down my back, strength fled my body, and my heart pounded thunderously in my ears.
"I've been... too exhausted... la—?!"
My utterly limp legs barely held me before slipping on the faintly dusty floor with a thud.
"Ugh... ah..."
Pain from the fall, but no strength left even for a groan.
I racked my brain, mustering what will I had to rise, but my limp limbs dangled like a dead squid.
Fear gripped me—would I die like this? Yet relief followed: just fatigue, nothing serious.
'What if... I don't wake up tomorrow...'
Worries about missing work flooded in, then even thoughts blurred away.
Vision hazed over... and soon, consciousness slipped entirely.