SangwooSangwoo
I liked the feel of his rustling shirt. The novel texture of the fabric against my fingertips made me keep fiddling with it.
“Answer me, Investigator. Why have you been avoiding me?”
I could have said it more prettily, but for some reason, my voice came out low and sunken.
“Um, well… If it’s about the report, I’ll revise it with all I’ve got! I’ll bill the association for the post-battle cleanup costs as much as possible so there’s no penalty for you…!”
He shrank back, mumbling. He seemed scared. Sorry, Investigator. I don’t know why I’m coming off so threatening either.
“The report?”
If it was the report he’d written…
“Oh, that report. Thanks. Even though you said it was a hassle, you put in the effort and it helped me keep my evaluation score.”
That report he’d written despite the hassle. The consideration born from worrying about me. The delicate recognition of my efforts when no one else noticed. The kindness that turned away indifferently but ultimately protected my position. The Investigator, with all that gentleness…
“Y-Yes…?”
My thoughts snapped back. The Investigator wore a dumbstruck expression, letting out a ridiculous, flustered voice.
“So why exactly have you been avoiding me…?” My voice edged closer to a sob.
Why on earth have you been avoiding me? If we really were ‘strangers who’d never met,’ there’d be no reason to shun me so blatantly. Could it be… you’ve come to hate me? Oh, right. You said you thought highly of me for not breaking a single streetlamp or sidewalk block. You liked how my precise magic control reduced your workload. But I… I missed you so much that I called you here by turning this whole street into a mess. I piled up mountains of the reports you hate so much. Is that why you’re avoiding me? Because I’m a bad kid who makes your life harder? Because my efforts are just a nightmare of overtime for you? What do I do, oh god… Don’t hate me. Please don’t hate me, Investigator. I’ll control myself from now on… so please, don’t look at me with those eyes.
“I…”
“No! Don’t answer. Later, after work, come to that alley where we met that day.”
I wasn’t ready to hear it yet. Afraid a cold rejection I couldn’t bear would slip from his lips, I cowardly cut the conversation short and flew off.
At odds with the promise to meet after work, I headed straight to that alley.
I waited like a fool until the sky burned red, the flames died out, and dusk fell.
What if he doesn’t come?
It was a promise I’d tossed out while fleeing the conversation. My plea for him to come after work might have sounded to him like just another tiresome overtime task—or a threatening summons from a magical girl. As time dragged on, the anxiety inside me swelled.
Clack, clack. The silence of the quiet alley shattered with the sound of dress shoes. Steady, cautious footsteps.
The moment his white shirt emerged through the darkness and entered my view, the noise in my chest that had kept me up for days stopped dead.
“You… really came.”
My voice was pathetically wet. He looked at me with a flustered expression.
“I thought you were angry.”
His words were completely out of left field. Angry? At him? “Angry? At who…?”
“Yes. For the past few days on site, every time you saw me… your eyes looked like you’d smash my head in with your staff any second. I thought your performance score dropped because of my report, and you’d come to get revenge.”
“No way! How could I ever do that to you, Investigator…!”
My voice shook pathetically. I’d thought he was sick of my destruction, viewing me as a useless magical girl and despising me for it.
“You don’t hate me… right?”
“You’re not hating me for being a bad kid who piles on your work and wrecks this street… right?”
He gazed down at me for a long while in response. Indifferent, straightforward eyes. Eyes I couldn’t read at all. It was a shame, but maybe a relief too. If there’d been even a speck of contempt in them, I’d have crumbled right there.
“I don’t hate magical girls.”
That one sentence wiped away the noise filling my head in an instant.
“All of you, including you, deserve praise for fighting to protect citizens. A city breaking is just unavoidable.”
Ah… so you knew, Investigator. How much guilt I felt wrecking this street, yet how desperately I did it just to call you here. Your words, kindly affirming my destruction as unavoidable, pierced deeper than any magic.
“So, yes. I like magical girls.”
The word ‘like’ from his mouth echoed through my mind, rewinding thousands of times. But soon, a chill settled in one corner of my heart. Like? Who? Not me, but just the existence of ‘magical girls’?
“You… like magical girls?”
I gripped his shirt collar tighter and asked again, stepping closer until our breaths mingled.
“Yes. Well, you all work so hard. It’s nice seeing you sacrifice for the citizens…”
“No.”
“Pardon?”
“Not that general stuff. You like all the other magical girls too? Everyone else?”
“W-Well, they’re all great people…”
That’s not what I wanted to hear.
“Me. What about Pure Summer?”
“Pardon…?”
“Not magical girl. Pure Summer. What about her?”
The Investigator finally let out a long sigh of resignation. He looked at me with a mix of embarrassment, defeat, and the tiniest hint of kindness, his lips twitching.
“…Yes. Well, I could say I like Pure Summer too.”
The ‘like’ he spat out in surrender was cowardly yet sweet. Hehe… right, I never asked his name!
“Tell me your name. Your real name.”
He hesitated a moment, then cleared his throat.
“Yes. Allow me to introduce myself properly. Disaster Response Office Investigator, Lee Sang-woo.”
Lee Sang-woo. The three syllables slipping from his lips rode the night air to settle in my ear. I rolled the name gently on my tongue. Sang-woo, Sang-woo-ssi, Investigator Lee Sang-woo…
But why? It was a name I’d never heard, yet it had this oddly familiar rhythm that tickled a corner of my heart.
Sang-woo… ‘SangwooSangwoo’?
A flash exploded in my mind. The one viewer who silently watched my pathetic streams every night, when no one else came. The fan who tossed casual encouragement like ‘good work today’ not to the city-wrecking Pure Summer in her flashy dress, but to the dark-circled, hollow-eyed Hako streamer Song Ha-rin curled up in her room.
SangwooSangwoo-nim.
“…Ah.”
My heart began pounding like it would tear apart. It was you. Whether Pure Summer smashing the city in her glamorous dress or Song Ha-rin huddled in her room battling insomnia. The one person who watched every side of my world without fail, loving me with a voice free of pretense… it was you.
“Investigator… no, SangwooSangwoo-nim?”
His eyes flickered slightly at my call. Gotcha.
“Pardon? Sang… Sangwoo?”
Oh no. Slip-up. He can’t know yet.
“Hehe, just tried calling it twice. Nice ring to it.”
“Ha… haha. Yeah. My nephew calls me that too. Hahaha…”
His awkward “hahaha” scattered into the alley. I subtly tightened my grip on his shirt sleeve. Through the stiff cotton, I felt his pulse.
“Anyway, I kept the promise, and you seem less angry now, so I’ll head home…”
“No.”
My firm refusal cut him off. I leaned in closer, resting my head against his chest.
“One thing left. Something you have to do for me.”
“Pardon? What could I…”
“Sleep. I don’t think I can sleep tonight either. I mean, I can fall asleep, but not comfortably like you made me that day.”
I looked up at him. You’re my fan, my investigator, the only one who can fix my insomnia.
“Come to this alley every night after work.”
“P-Pardon?! Every night? Pure Summer-nim, I’m an office worker with overtime sometimes…”
He fumbled for his tablet, showing a screen blinking with dense schedules and report lists. I lightly pressed the cold display with my finger, turning it off.
“Every night.”
“…Understood. Every night here. But please, really hold back on the property damage.”
“Promise, Investigator.”
I took his hand and pressed it to my cheek. The rough yet warm feel of his palm.
…Nice.
In the darkness, I flashed him the prettiest smile in the world.