Chapter 121
Chapter 121
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Translator: Ryuma
Chapter: 121
Chapter Title: S2.5. Does the Butterfly Dream of Being a Magical Girl? -3
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Physical education class consisted of simple gymnastics and a water play lesson, followed by unlimited free time as per the national rules. The students swam, splashed around, or just played in their swimsuits.
Among them was the swimming pool's nightmare: doing swimming and splashing at the same time. Kim Ruru had long since become the public enemy of the class, deliberately flinging water everywhere as she ran about.
"Capture her alive! That girl's gonna pay for my sunscreen!"
"Splash her with water! Drench her!"
"────Too slow."
Kim Ruru darted through the water like a dolphin, mercilessly pelting her pursuing assassins with water bombs.
Whoosh-!!
That barrage of firepower struck Choi Mo-yang—a PE specialty student who hadn't joined swim class because she'd just had her hair done at the salon—unleashing the tyrant of the pool.
And with that, the inescapable net to capture the pool's walking disaster was complete.
"Uhyahahahaha-!! Sorry! I'm sorry!!"
"I'm gonna tickle you till you cry!!"
In the end, Kim Ruru got snared in the net and plunged into tickle hell, bringing her rampage to a close.
And as if deliberately turning its back on all the commotion...
Float... float...
There drifted a lone sea otter in the pool, and its name was Roderus.
"......Haaa."
Oh Daesu let out a sigh like the sky was collapsing. In the end, she hadn't been able to tell Kim Ruru the truth—that she was actually a guy.
How do you drop a bombshell like that on someone who's gonna be utterly devastated?
No more slurping miso soup at Oh Hyein's place. A girl couldn't live with some random guy she didn't know. She'd have to move out.
But she was prepared for independence. She could crash at a sauna, hop between part-time gigs, and scrape by just fine.
Yeah, that's life. She'd just go back to how things were, vanish from Kim Ruru and Oh Hyein's lives like Oh Daesu had never existed in the first place...
She couldn't share crepes or grind dungeons together anymore, but she could work the convenience store counter and watch them from a distance...
That would be enough. It would.
The otter Daesu, carried along by the rippling waves, washed up in the corner of the pool. A human shadow fell over her face.
Looking up, it was Oh Hyein.
"......Something up today? You love the water, Daesu. Last time you swam like your feet had motors attached."
"......Don't ask. Just... stuff happened."
"Jeez, bottling it up like that'll just mess with your head?"
"......"
The mess was already there. Last night, she'd only managed about three hours of sleep.
Even dozing off, she'd jolt awake at dawn from imagined stern scoldings: "Huh? Oh Daesu’s a guy? Eww, gross. Why pretend to be a girl?!"
With no way to heal the mental scar and no fix in sight, all she could do was suffer. Better a whipping. Better face a guillotine... no, even she wouldn't go that far.
So Roderus had gone full sea otter mode like this. Partly to catch up on sleep, partly to steady her nerves.
Harmony and composure. Entrust her body wholly to the sway of the water, never lose that even keel, just let it carry her along. Reminding herself of those nature documentary sounds...
Oh Hyein let out a lazy "Hmng" with a drowsy smile and tossed it out casually.
"Daesu oppa."
"......"
"What, that reluctant to go back? Can't change in the locker room together anymore, can't openly ogle the girls in swimsuits? Or... you like living as a girl?"
"......Don't spout nonsense!!"
Composure shattered like glass, and Daesu sank beneath the water.
Roderus had simply grown accustomed to life as a woman—not that she wanted to become one. That's why, signing up for sites online or whatever, she always checked the male box for gender.
Sitting with her legs primly together? Less "gotta be ladylike 'cause I'm a girl" and more "those male creeps staring at my crotch grosses me out."
Even wearing skirts—no real reason a guy shouldn't. It's traditional Scottish garb, right?
Mungae had said "in Scotland, guys wearing skirts is common sense." Not wearing one would be the weird thing. Though really, Kim Ruru's constant nagging of "why pants?" had worn her down.
So no, she didn't like having a woman's body even a little──
"Fine, if you're embarrassed, you don't have to admit it."
"Someone smacks your head in the dead of night, you'll know it's me, Oh Hyein."
As Roderus plotted her midnight revenge, Oh Hyein chuckled "Uhihut," waved it off with an "sorry," and spoke in a slightly subdued tone.
"You can just keep living there, at my place."
"......What?"
"It's fine. We can say you're my cousin bro? Keep the name Oh Daesu..."
"......I'm a man."
"I know. But I knew you were Daesu oppa even before. I know you're not the type to pull weird stuff... and if you were gonna, you'd have done it ages ago. Like sneaking into the women's bath?"
Of course, Oh Hyein continued.
"But yeah, gotta tell Lulu. If her friend just vanishes, she'll be sad, y'know? And Lulu won't even care you're a guy. Tell her when you get the chance."
"......She said she would."
"Ah, so that's why you've been moping?"
"......"
Roderus cast her eyes downward. No way that'd happen... Oh Hyein tilted her head oddly, then anyway, moved on.
"The shell doesn't matter, Daesu oppa."
"Shell?"
"Yeah. Not every student's got a short attention span, not every magical girl loves fighting. In the end, it's who the person is... what they carry in their heart that counts."
Roderus curled up and gazed at the water's surface. Oh Daesu's glum face stared back from the still pool.
"......I carry something filthy in my heart. You'd hate it too."
"You didn't exactly choose to carry it, right?"
"Doesn't matter. I've committed plenty of wrongs."
"I see it differently, but... whatever. At least you got permission to keep living together, huh?"
Plop.
Oh Hyein plopped down beside Oh Daesu as she asked. Roderus nodded. Not too much, just a bit.
Thinking days like this could go on eased her heart without her realizing. The shape would change a little, sure.
As long as they could chat together, eat at the same table, sleep under the same roof.
Friends.
Yeah, if she could spend it with friends...
"Oh, and since it came up. Got something important to say."
"......What?"
"I analyzed why the transformation device broke. You kept calling Pure Energy 'mana,' right, Daesu oppa? I thought they were the same, but there's a slight difference."
Oh Hyein clenched her fists.
"It's the clash between this world's power and that one's. Mana and Pure Energy collided, and the device went crack-!"
"......Figured as much."
"The real point's coming up, Daesu oppa. You've been fighting hard as a magical girl this whole time. So... your body's basically assimilated to this world now. It's adapting to Pure Energy, not mana."
"You mean...?"
Roderus asked, already grasping it. She couldn't use 『Transformation』 here anymore. And furthermore...
"Using that 'otherworld power' is dangerous now."
Oh Hyein smacked her fists together with a pop.
"Not the device this time—your body. In the final showdown, if we looked in trouble, you were gonna jump in, right?"
"......No. Never crossed my mind."
"Yeah, total lie, it's obvious. 'Cause it's dangerous... Hand the 'magical girl' duty over to me quietly... and go back to being a spectator. Just cheer your heart out. Got it?"
"......"
Good work, Magical Girl Pure Knight.
With Oh Hyein's words, the bell tolled. Swim class was over, and Roderus clutched her head—threatening to burst from the complications—and barely managed to change clothes.
Then came another bolt from the blue.
"Oh Daesu! School trip's to Donghae, they say!"
"......And?"
"Let's go buy swimsuits!!"
"......?!"
It was swimsuit shopping time without end.
"Yahoo-!!"
Watching Kim Ruru dash ahead with arms flung high, Roderus sighed so deeply it seemed the ground would cave in. Oh Hyein, walking alongside, jabbed his side with her elbow.
"Daesu oppa, why the death glare again?"
"......You think you could not make a death glare in this situation?!"
"Only a few days left, y'know? When else you gonna ogle girls in swimsuits worry-free? Enjoy it!"
"That's not something you just say...!!"
Before Roderus could erupt, Oh Hyein bolted off at perfect timing. He pressed his throbbing temples and hurried after the girls.
And began dismantling the foreseeable minefield. He rapid-fired at Kim Ruru especially.
"Listen up. I'm not buying any, not trying any on, not matching over clothes, not picking any for you."
"Sure~ Wasn't gonna ask you to pick anyway~ Already decided at home what to get!"
"Lulu, whatcha buying?"
"Don't freak out! I'm getting── this!!"
Kim Ruru snatched a hanger and hoisted it high. Roderus gasped in horror; Oh Hyein turned away, unable to look straight at it.
Because it wasn't a swimsuit—it was closer to a bright red slingshot.
Roderus realized this wasn't the time to slack off. A sense of duty surged within him. He was the only one who could stop Kim Ruru right here.
He had to subdue that mad filly and make her buy a normal swimsuit.
"Put it back."
"?"
"Put that insane swimsuit back, Kim Ruru!!"
"Ugh, I wanna wear it—why do you care!!"
Could he explain the dangers of a slingshot bikini to a kid lacking any sex ed? Roderus didn't have the words. So he used his body instead. A good body saves the brain, after all.
In the ensuing tug-of-war of "put it back" and "no way," the swimsuit eventually tore clean in half and died a tragic death. Or...
Oh Hyein paid for the swimsuit and ordered Oh Daesu into a classic bikini, leaving no choice but to submit. Or...
Kim Ruru shoved a zebra-leopard print monstrosity at Oh Daesu, sparking another massive fight. Or...
Such things happened.
Beep beep beep. Beep beep.
The alarm blared, and Roderus greeted yet another morning with his disheveled hair.
A lot had gone down. Swimsuit defense ops, slaying a crazy tentacle freak, blocking a blond, heavily tanned thug from scoring a number, talking Kim Ruru out of frying her own skin.
By the time he'd cleared all those incidents, he glanced at the calendar... and realized today was his last day as Oh Daesu.
Nothing was set in stone yet.
Sure, Oh Hyein had said living together was fine. But how to explain to Kim Ruru? Re-enroll at school or not?
How to approach her? What to do on final battle day? Decisions piled up like mountains.
Above all, he wasn't mentally ready.
Time had flown by too fast. Way too fast.
"......"
Still, he'd have time to sort it out. Roderus had one day left. He'd do his final magical girl shift, settle things with Kim Ruru—excuse or reveal—and...
Finally break her habit of throwing right fist and right foot at the same time.
If he smashed two of the Four Heavenly Kings today with all he had, Oh Hyein could cruise through the final battle. He'd grit his teeth through the shame, charm civilians for Pure Energy supplies...
Yeah, wrap it up decisively today.
With that resolve, Roderus rose and approached the bathroom mirror.
Zzzzzzt──!!
Static noise erupted, and the image of Oh Daesu in the mirror slowly faded away.
What emerged was Roderus. A man with sharp features. Fearing he'd woken from a dream back in his prison cell, he frantically scanned his surroundings.
Not a cell. No damp bricks, no scuttling roaches.
Then something had happened.
"Mungae, Hyein! What the hell..."
Roderus flung the door open and bolted out, shouting their names. He ran into Oh Hyein and Mungae prepping for flight at the front door.
And beyond them, a massive black vortex swirling darkly in the sky.
They spoke awkwardly.
"Meant to give you time... but raid. Total assault. We were fools to trust the declaration window."
"Daesu... oppa. Looking cool seeing the real you after so long! But we're slammed right now—gotta fly. Remember what I told you?"
"......"
"Cheer us on. Sushi delivery for dinner when we get back."
Oh Hyein—Magical Girl Pure Light—soared into the sky with her mascot.
And so.
One morning, he blankly chased the fading silhouette of the magical girl whose Oh Daesu had vanished.
That was when he finally realized—he had become Roderus again.