Magical Girl Impersonation Incident (1)
“You look so cute when you're asleep, miss.”
“Yeah, if only you'd shut your mouth, you'd be a total angel.”
“Enough with my Egostagram already—let's get searching!”
I relaxed and thumped the table lightly with both fists.
We're supposed to be gathered here to catch the impersonator, so why are we holding a review session for my sleeping photos? Especially Kim Doa. She nags me nonstop whenever, but why does she love my pics so much?
Having to deal with this at my age...
Embarrassing. So damn embarrassing.
“I'm not just sitting here with no plan.”
Kim Doa flipped over the phone she'd been holding.
“Got something in mind?”
I shoved the embarrassment aside for now and asked her.
“All the witnesses were attacked in back alleys. I figured we'd focus there today.”
Kim Doa said that and downed the rest of her coffee.
“Then what's the point of meeting at a cafe? Weren't we supposed to strategize here?”
“Nah?”
“Then why'd we even meet up?”
I stared at Kim Doa in disbelief.
We could've just gone straight to the back alleys.
No reason to sit around here like this.
“I pulled an all-nighter yesterday because of the impersonator. I'm tired.”
Kim Doa fiddled with her empty cup as she spoke.
“Liar. You don't look tired at all.”
Come on, make some sense.
There wasn't a single shadow under Kim Doa's eyes.
When Execution Department work piles up to the max, she always turns half-zombie. Dark circles are standard, and she snaps at the drop of a hat.
She's even cracking jokes right now, so she's definitely not tired.
“How'd you know?”
Kim Doa widened her eyes like she was genuinely surprised.
“I've known you for years. You think I wouldn't notice?”
As if I'd fall for such an obvious lie.
Ridiculous. Even Seoyeon would see through that.
“Whatever. If you're rested, lead the way. We've gotta catch that impersonator or whatever.”
I stood up and tugged at Kim Doa's arm.
“Fine.”
Kim Doa got up too.
About time.
We left the cafe to hunt down the magical girl impersonator.
We rode in the car Keter was driving and arrived near Seoul D District.
According to Kim Doa, the impersonator had been spotted around here frequently.
“Creepy vibe here, huh.”
I glanced around.
Old houses and shops with dead signs lined the street.
“Not exactly a ritzy neighborhood.”
Kim Doa walked ahead like she was used to the scenery.
“Most people have cleared out anyway.”
She added a beat later.
Kim Doa was right.
Seoul D District had always been a cluster of older areas even for Seoul standards. Then the dolls invaded, erosion spread hard, and decay piled on.
House prices dropped because of it, drawing in a few bargain hunters.
But now it felt more like a ghost town.
A couple people passed by here and there. Just that many.
“Ah... here.”
Kim Doa, leading the way, stopped in front of a narrow alley.
Worn buildings peeked through the gap.
No light got in—it was pitch dark.
“In there. First sighting of the impersonator.”
“There?”
Even for a sparsely populated area, that seemed too extreme.
Looked dangerous enough at night even without the impersonator.
“Feels like ghosts are gonna pop out—ow!”
Kim Doa chopped the side of my head with her hand.
Harder than last time.
“Why'd you hit me?”
“People live here too. Watch your mouth.”
I rubbed the spot.
That really hurt.
“I agree with Doa this time. You were out of line, miss.”
Keter looked at me and said so. Her expression was dead serious.
“Is that so.”
I glanced at Kim Doa.
She was staring off into the alley, lost in thought. Maybe reminiscing.
If I thought about Kim Doa's life before she became a magical girl, she might be overlaying old memories on this place.
She'd only told me about her past once. It wasn't exactly cheerful, but not heartbreakingly sad either. Just a bit below average, that kind of life.
Come to think of it, same for me. I used to live in a place like this before becoming a magical girl. A step up from here, maybe.
Scraped by at a small company, bought magical girl merch while pinching pennies.
Went through all that to get here, and now someone's impersonating a magical girl.
“Why'd she impersonate one of us? Jealous or something?”
I nudged Kim Doa's side.
“Doubt it. Probably holds a grudge against magical girls.”
Kim Doa finally looked down at me and smirked.
“Did we do that much wrong?”
“You did. You definitely did.”
“I didn't do anything bad enough to earn grudges.”
Sure, I smashed up places here and there.
But I never wrecked normal people's homes badly. Just enough payback for what they deserved.
“If you tally it up proportionally, saving people outweighs it by a landslide, though.”
“People don't see it that way. Think about how we got treated after the Great Subjugation.”
“Yeah, true.”
At first, everyone praised us as heroes.
As time passed and peace neared, we started getting called monsters. Some blamed magical girls for everything they'd lost.
Seoyeon becoming the face of magical girls was to break that vibe.
She took a ton of flak at first too.
Luckily, awakeners started popping up everywhere, and the mood faded naturally.
“Why'd everyone hate us so much? We didn't fight because we wanted to bleed for it.”
Truth is, we had no real obligation to protect the world.
The mascot contract was more voluntary than forced.
We could've run if we wanted.
But we didn't.
Among magical girls contracted to non-elder mascots, some turned into monsters because they couldn't endure the erosion.
They knew their limits were coming.
Still fought. Because they were magical girls.
That was it.
“They just needed someone to dump their immediate grief on. Magical girls were the easiest target to pin it on.”
“We feel grief too, you know. People are ridiculous.”
“Humans are mostly selfish. Can't be helped.”
“Selfish, huh... Yeah.”
Me too.
Maybe I needed someone to dump my grief on back then.
I forcibly cut off the deepening thoughts. Not the time.
First things first: the impersonator.
“Ah... seriously, does the impersonator even know how hard we worked for this?”
Magical girls today are a tower we built through hell.
Mixed with countless sacrifices and emotions.
What the impersonator's doing is trampling it.
I kicked a pebble on the ground. It rolled away.
The more I thought, the worse my mood got.
“Let's head in soon.”
“Yeah.”
We walked forever, but no sign of the impersonator.
Checked the erosion outbreak spot too, but nothing new spawned.
“Maybe she got scared off?”
“Nah. One witness was a B-rank awakener. Knocked out in one go—means she's pretty strong.”
Kim Doa shook her head.
What a menace. Use that power to protect people instead.
Can't just go around beating folks while pretending to be a magical girl.
“So, is it okay we're just wandering like this?”
I stretched to loosen my stiff body.
We'd circled the area for ages.
Haven't seen anyone besides locals.
“Not pointless. Observation Department predicts highest chance of sighting here.”
“You trust those guys?”
They missed a doll summon point last time.
Honestly, their skills are suspect.
“Elite squad or not, who else senses erosion intuitively like you?”
“Indeed. Even I, an elder of the otherworld, can't sense it like you, miss.”
Keter chimed in.
Keep taking her side, why don't you.
“It's not like I asked for this body.”
“If I may, your current form is exactly what you idealized, miss.”
“Not that!”
I know that. It was what I wanted from the start.
“I mean sensing erosion.”
Ability that popped up sometime after becoming a magical girl.
Handy, sure.
Good for ambushes or spotting sudden threats early. But it's kinda meh.
When something heavily eroded like a doll is nearby, it feels super unpleasant. Irritating, even.
But right now? Nothing. Zilch.
“No clue. Nothing here, for sure. I feel absolutely zip.”
Can't waste time like this forever.
Gotta get home, scroll the gallery, check Egostagram.
And I'm getting hungry.
“Ah. Looks like you're right this time. New sighting just popped up in Seoul B District.”
Kim Doa checked her phone and said so.
“What?”
“Guess hanging here's pointless now.”
“Then what the hell did we do today?”
“Stakeouts don't wrap up in a day.”
Hey!!!!!!!!!!