Magical Girl Pure Summer (4)
Harin sat perched on the edge of the crumbled outer wall, straightening the dusty hem of her dress as she caught her breath. Her eyes were locked on one thing only: the yellow van from the Disaster Response Office.
“He's here!”
Contrary to her expectations, the one who stepped out when the door opened wasn't Sang-woo alone.
A half-dozen investigators in safety vests poured out of the van in perfect sync. They immediately got to work with practiced efficiency, stringing up yellow tape that read 'Accident Investigation in Progress.'
“Hey, this is no joke. Pure Summer really tore this place up?”
“Team leader, twelve streetlights destroyed. The sidewalk blocks... we're gonna have to relay the whole thing.”
“......Haa.”
Sang-woo tapped away at his tablet with a blank expression amid the team. He didn't seem to notice Harin's scraped knee at all. His mind was filled only with the cost of damages and the stack of reports he'd have to file later.
Harin had hoped he'd rush over, grab her shoulders, and ask, “Why'd you push yourself so hard?”
But Sang-woo was just one of the investigation team. True to his words that day—“We're the ones you never see”—he busied himself with the others, calculating the damage area and checking the ruined buildings.
“Investigator sir...”
Harin called out to him softly, but her voice was drowned out by the shouts of the officials and restoration crews.
I locked eyes directly with Pure Summer, who was sitting at the edge of the collapsed outer wall.
A chill ran down my spine in that instant.
The look in her eyes wasn't that of the frail magical girl I knew. They were a mix of bloodthirsty craving and piercing intensity—like a predator ready to rip apart an intruder in its territory. That ferocious, almost eerie gaze was fixed squarely on me.
No way.
My clumsy attempt at consideration must have backfired. I'd tried to defend her performance in the last report, but bureaucracy has a way of twisting things in unintended directions. ...Actually, it happens pretty often.
Did the higher-ups at the association interpret my report in a way that hurt her? Could one sheet of paper from me have tanked her evaluation?
“Sang-woo, you see Pure Summer's eyes? She looks ready to eat someone alive.”
My senior whispered beside me, voice laced with fear.
Yeah, it wasn't just me. That was straight-up killing intent. A vicious, unrelenting grudge aimed at the investigator who'd ruined her career.
I scanned the scene again. The road torn to shreds, streetlights bent like taffy.
Now the puzzle pieces fit. Pure Summer had lost it. To make up for the points she'd lost because of my report in one go, she needed a flashy, attention-grabbing show to draw the public's eye.
She was putting on a power display right now—proving to the higher-ups, “I'm still in the game.”
The problem? The guy who'd written the root-cause document was me.
“......Investigator sir.”
Her lips moved faintly. I couldn't hear her voice, but I could read the icy shape of her mouth clearly.
It was you, wasn't it? That's what it seemed to say. Her name might be redacted on paper, but there's no way she'd forget the face of the guy who'd confronted her that day. I hurriedly hid my face behind the tablet and quickened my pace.
Life with killing intent is too damn hard...
That sticky gaze chasing me throughout the investigation was terrifying.
“Senior, let's wrap up and head out once the investigation's done.”
“Yeah, sure. Man, we gotta watch out for that Pure Summer. Write the next report carefully, okay? Screw it up, and we might get blasted by magic on the way home.”
My senior's joke felt way too real. Write it carefully? Too late. In that magical girl's head, I was already branded as the “ninth-grade nobody who ruined her life.”
I scrambled into the yellow van and slammed the door shut. Through the window, Pure Summer was still sitting there, staring daggers at our departing vehicle.
As the scene faded into the distance, I buckled my seatbelt with shaking hands.
Target: Pure Summer (■■■)
■■■: 78%
The number next to her name had jumped from 2% a few days ago to 78%. What the hell was ■■■? Hostility? What happens at 100%?
I'm screwed. She's really got me now.
I might have to change my commute route starting tomorrow.
The days that followed turned my daily life into literal hell.
B District became Pure Summer's personal playground. Massive destruction that might happen once a month was now happening every single day.
Damn association bastards. Add destruction rate to the evaluation criteria along with monster kills and magic power.
The bigger issue was the gaze I felt every time we responded to those scenes. After slaying the monster, she'd sit atop the rubble, waiting for our investigation van to arrive.
“It's her again. Even if the association doesn't care about damage, excessive force is a minus. Why's she going so hard?”
Senior was right. It was like threatening me mattered more than her rank evaluation—she didn't hold back on the overkill.
The moment I stepped out of the van, I'd hide my face behind the tablet and duck behind the team. If she couldn't see me, she'd radiate killing intent like she was about to snipe me with her magic wand any second.
Once, I was glued right behind the team leader's broad back for cover, and I can still picture Pure Summer veering her flight path mid-air just to try and spot me. That obsessive glare, like we were playing hide-and-seek, nearly made me piss myself more than once.
The one silver lining? If I stayed hidden among the team and never showed my face, she'd fly off in a huff before the investigation even finished. I'd heard she sometimes bailed the moment we arrived at scenes where I wasn't present.
Target: Pure Summer (■■■)
■■■: 82% → 85%
The number kept climbing without mercy. 85%. At this rate, it'd be instant-execution levels of hostility the moment she saw me. I spent every night trembling in anxiety.
Even Harin's streams, the one comfort in my harsh life, went on an extended hiatus. No Harin meant my after-work life was a total desert.
The system kept updating that oblivious number. Every time it ticked up, I'd check my life insurance coverage out of habit.
Damn, why can't I, Lee Sang-woo, just hambokal in this harsh city?
Days of this dragged on, and now even the dispatch alert made my heart shrink first.
Then, the fateful day arrived.
[B-3 District incident resolved. Investigator Lee Sang-woo, proceed to the scene immediately.]
Not the city center—B-3 District, my patrol area. Pure Summer had taken down a monster in my jurisdiction.
Please, please be gone already!
But against my desperate wish, the moment we arrived, there she was: a half-smashed park bench, and atop it, the girl in the blue dress with her legs crossed, fiddling with her staff.
I was the only one stepping out of the van. No senior to watch my back, no team leader to shield me.
As I opened the door and got out, a sweltering heat hit me along with the thick scent of summer. Residual magic from Pure Summer. Normally, the site would be filled with the team's rowdy shouts and equipment noise, but today, it was just the streetlights buzzing with electricity and the sound of my heartbeat.
The surrounding shops had evacuated early; it was dead silent. And at the center of that silence, she was waiting for me.
Pure Summer slowly turned her head. Like she'd finally cornered the cowardly investigator who'd been hiding behind his team for days, a bizarrely radiant smile crept across her lips.
That smile, contrasting her deep dark circles, was utterly terrifying.
“......You finally came?”
She hopped lightly off the bench and approached me. Each step echoed like the footfalls of an executioner.
Target: Pure Summer (■■■)
■■■: 92%
The number broke past 90%, flashing red. My lifespan was probably dwindling right along with it. I gripped the tablet with trembling hands.
“Um... Pure Summer ma'am. It's just me for the investigation today... I'll grab the paperwork quick and go. You're busy, right?”
I tried to sound as servile and pitiful as possible. But she ignored me, closing in until she was right under my nose. The unique salty sea scent of her magic enveloped me, along with a chill.
“Busy? I've barely slept these past few days waiting for you, Investigator sir.”
She reached out a slender finger and tapped my shirt collar. Her ferocious glare flickered right in front of my eyes.
“Why've you been running away? I called for you so desperately every time. Huh?”