Chapter 43
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Translator: penny
Chapter: 43
Chapter Title: The Same Path, and Different Paths
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"Here, drink this first."
I'd ordered a black coffee, then added a tea and handed it over to Nakji.
A single cup wasn't any real burden anyway.
Besides, leaving her there like that felt a little off.
That's when it hit me—I still needed to get something for Whitey and Sora—so I put in another order.
"Oh, and an inari sushi set, plus your most expensive, sweetest drink. To go."
The moment I handed over my card with the to-go stuff, the Magical Café's owner, a magical girl, whispered just loud enough for me to hear.
"We'll settle the magical bill when you leave. Right now, magical comfort comes before the magical math."
"Thanks."
It was a small kindness from the owner magical girl.
I appreciated how quick on the uptake she was.
Thanks to that, I could focus on Nakji.
Meanwhile, Nakji just kept sipping her tea without a word.
She seemed to have regained some composure. In a calmer tone than before, she finally spoke to me.
"Why...... did you help this girl......?"
The same question as before.
I couldn't help but crack a wry smile. Her current state reminded me too much of Taisi's.
— "Why...... did you save me......?"
The girl I'd met in that other world.
Well, if I had to nitpick, it wasn't exactly the same. Unlike Nakji, that girl had already given up on life when we first met.
Back then, she'd been rejected by the hero and lost all will to live, hurling herself off a cliff.
And that's when she ran into me.
I didn't really think about what to do. The moment I saw her, half on instinct, I saved her.
Then the girl asked me.
Why I'd saved her.
She'd wanted death that badly.
If she was going to die under that curse anyway, she'd decide the timing herself, she said.
An eleven-year-old kid driven to end her own life—that's how cornered she was.
Back then, I think I answered like this.
Just because I wanted to.
That was it.
"Why...... did you help this girl......?"
But now, unlike back then, I had a reason I could state confidently.
"Because I'm a hero."
"......Pardon?"
Why so surprised?
We haven't even started yet.
"Plus, I'm a major shareholder in Novelpia. Naturally, every single writer like you is precious."
Nakji looked floored, her eyes wide as she stared at me in silence.
Eventually, she shook her head.
"Even so, claiming to be Novelpia's major shareholder is too much of a magical tall tale."
Of course, I'd half-expected that reaction, so I could brush it off easily.
This didn't hurt my feelings at all.
"Better to say you're a hero. That seems at least a little less like a magical nutjob."
"Ah, you little—"
Okay, that one stung.
A lot.
Suddenly, life felt pointless.
She'd sooner believe I'm a hero than Novelpia's major shareholder.
Anyway, Nakji seemed to have perked up a bit. One or two more words of encouragement, and she'd be good.
"Anyway, you'll do fine. So if you're gonna do it, write the greatest masterpiece. No hiatuses."
That way Novelpia's stock goes up.
But Nakji's expression didn't brighten one bit.
"But...... this girl can't write that well. In magical Buddhist terms, she's nowhere near shedding her magical defilements."
"So what."
I gave Nakji a slight smile.
"If you can't write well at first, so what? Nobody starts out great."
Writing's like farming to begin with.
Not something you accomplish overnight? Obviously. What farm's harvest comes in a day?
You just keep at it steadily, quietly doing your part.
Until the fruits ripen someday.
That's what writing is.
"Isn't there a Mara Bellarus who'd shorten a bit of magical lifespan in exchange for making one write well?"
"If there was crap like that, I'd have done it first."
She really was gripped by those defilements. No hesitation—she'd sell her lifespan in a heartbeat.
Though wasn't it Mara Papiyas?
Why Mara Bellarus of all things.
Felt like everything would get scorched.
Meanwhile, Nakji mumbled quietly with gloomy eyes.
"On the other hand, this girl has nothing she's good at. No matter how hard she tries, nothing improves. She always stays at the rock bottom."
"So what."
So what if it's rock bottom.
Rock bottom's actually a good thing.
Fall down, run away, give up—it's all still rock bottom. Nowhere lower to go.
So then.
"Rock bottom's got no room left to fall back. So eventually, you'll climb up."
Nothing left but to go up now.
You don't have to reach as high as others.
Just a little higher than yesterday. A bit more.
That's enough.
"Even rock bottom has a floor beneath it."
"You gotta say that, you crazy bitch?"
And if you drop below rock bottom?
Fine. Go all the way to the absolute depths, become the king crawling along the true floor.
At that moment, Nakji met my eyes.
"Then there's just one thing I want to ask."
Her pair of red eyes brimmed with worry and anxiety.
"If you try your best, put in more effort than anyone, more than death demands...... but still can never reach the top...... if all you manage is barely scraping the midpoint, a life of nothing but failure......"
Something welled up inside her, and Nakji trailed off, voice choking.
After a brief silence, she spoke again.
"What in the world do you do then......?"
It was a bitter story, for sure.
Not everyone reaches the top. Even if you grind till you drop like Nakji said, some never make it.
But that doesn't make it a failed life.
"Then I'd sell water from the midpoint."
Just a different life, that's all.
"......Pardon?"
"How's getting that far a failure? When you're selling water, that's a successful life."
Who's to say you have to reach the top.
You might want to, but can't.
Barely hang at the midpoint? Only for a moment.
So then.
For that brief time at the midpoint, do your absolute best at what you can.
That's what I've done so far. And what I'll keep doing.
"I'd sell the water gacha-style. Lucky ones pull iced water in one go. Gotta pull quick before it warms up."
"You're such a total asshole."
"That's why it's limited edition."
Anyway, that should be answer enough from me. The rest was up to how Nakji took it.
"That do it? I'm out."
I gave a casual wave and left first.
Hoping she'd find her own answer.
There is a magical girl named Taishi.
Her magical girl name is Black Kitty.
Her rank is magical private.
She wanted to be better than others.
She wanted to play the magical bass a little better than everyone else, write novels a little better than other magical authors.
She worked harder than anyone. She cut sleep, wore her body down, whipped herself endlessly.
But her efforts always betrayed her hopes.
She'd get kicked out of magical bands left and right, and her countless stories gathered dust in indifference, not even worth common scorn.
Failure.
Those two letters terrified her so much that Taishi began wrapping herself in the word "superiority."
She joined Magical Buddhism, changed her speech, slowly reshaped her magical mindset.
Telling herself she was far superior to them.
That others were inferior, unable to understand her.
She kept whispering it to herself.
'It's fucked. The concept isn't landing.'
Well, now she was too deep to turn back.
Even so, Taishi was always anxious.
She knew it. Peel away the shell, and all that remained was one pathetic magical girl.
The path she'd walked.
The path she was walking.
The path she wanted to walk.
All of it dotted with the word "failure"—a wretched, worthless magical girl's life.
Taishi was afraid. Afraid of facing endless failure ahead, of that word stamped on every step.
Yet she couldn't let go of her attachments, and her blindly persistent self felt utterly pathetic.
A failed life. One so bottom-tier she couldn't even refute others' mockery or trampling.
But.
Today, Kim Siyul—who had helped Taishi—described her failed life like this.
Not a failed life.
Just a different one.
The path Taishi thought wrong, he saw as simply different.
The same path, but walked differently.
'Of course, the idea's a bit of an asshole move......'
Well, it was hard to say Kim Siyul was completely right.
Anyway.
So as she watched his retreating back, Taishi harbored a small wish.
She wanted to know.
How to walk a path like that.
How to find a different path that wasn't wrong.
How Kim Siyul thought and lived—Taishi wanted to know just a little more.
"Um...... is everything okay?"
At that moment, a sudden voice snapped Taishi from her thoughts.
It was the Magical Café's owner magical girl.
"What is it?"
"If you're all done, could you settle up?"
"Ah! Sure."
Kim Siyul had ordered two magical drinks but apparently forgot to pay.
Taishi handed over her Magical Patriot Card.
"Here."
"Thanks, I'll ring it up quick."
Magical Café prices were generally steep, but this time she felt like splashing out.
'What, this much this girl can cover!'
Someone worth getting to know a bit more—sure, she could treat a little. That's what Taishi thought.
"Here's your magical receipt."
"......Huh?"
Until she saw the receipt.
"What's wrong?"
"Th-the amount's weird!"
No way it'd be this much.
"Inari sushi set and one drink to go. Two in-house. Total three drinks, one food."
"......"
Taishi's head throbbed.
Bad enough her focus shook.
She'd expected some bleeding, but over double? No, closer to triple. The to-go food and drink prices were vicious.
At this rate, she'd barely breathe till next magical paycheck.
"Sigh."
Thanks to that, Taishi now had one more thing she wanted to know.
"You're dead."
How to smack him hard upside the head.