Chapter 16
Chapter 16
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Translator: MadScientist
Chapter: 16
Chapter Title: Beautiful Flowers Have Thorns 1
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Kang Ihyeon spent the past few days coming and going from Colorful Company, learning everything a Care Supporter needed to know.
The training even included shooting practice—the one thing he'd dreaded most—but since he couldn't just skip it because he hated it, he threw himself into it diligently.
After getting his hands on all sorts of info and gear for caring for retired Magical Girls, he was finally ready to start the job.
"Grace Flower, huh..."
Today was the day he'd meet the Magical Girl assigned to him as her Care Supporter.
Of the two he hadn't met yet, he was heading to see Grace Flower.
Riding public transit and blankly watching the peaceful cityscape roll by, he suddenly remembered that morning.
He'd pictured a lovely scene of waving goodbye to his working-wife husband, but Se-ah Sister had clung to him like he was off to cheat.
"Waaah! Ihyeon! Take me with yooou!"
"I said no! I've got my first meeting with the Magical Girl I'm assigned to today—I need to hear about her flaws! How am I supposed to bring someone else?!"
"Someone else?! What do you mean, someone else! Was I just a fling to you?!"
"Don't yell stuff like that at the front door—people will get the wrong idea!"
Only when the neighbors started poking their heads out at her wailing did he manage to pry her off.
Se-ah Sister and Han Min-jeong—Grace Flower, the one he was on his way to meet—knew each other well and teamed up often as pairs, but airing out flaws was a whole different story.
Reviewing the info on the Magical Girl he'd soon be working with, he arrived at his destination.
"This the flower shop Grace Flower runs?"
He'd heard Han Min-jeong opened a little flower shop after retiring.
A flower shop run by a Magical Girl—how romantic was that?
And Han Min-jeong's shop was so gorgeous it took his breath away.
"Feels like this place is from another world."
The vibrant flower shop standing alone in a dingy alley was so strikingly beautiful it felt alien.
The serene vibe, the understated decor—even before stepping inside, the faint, sweet, intoxicating floral scent drifting out relaxed his mind and body.
He stepped into the tidy shop, a masterpiece of artistry in itself.
"Wow..."
The thick floral aroma wrapping around him and the comforting scent of fresh leaves drew an awed gasp without thinking.
"Welcome."
A warm, gentle voice flowed in from the back.
Drawn by the sound, he glanced over and saw a mature woman holding flowers, looking right at him.
She was making a bouquet—multicolored blooms scattered across the table, a pamphlet with what looked like instructions clutched in one hand.
There she stood: the Magical Girl once known as Grace Flower, now just a woman.
"Customer?"
"Ah..."
Catching him staring blankly at Han Min-jeong, she tilted her head slightly, a puzzled question in her eyes.
Her pinned-up brown hair swayed softly, looking as tender as fresh-baked bread; her vibrant green eyes, fresh as new sprouts, gazed at him with gentle warmth.
Her soft skin held a delicate cherry-blossom pink, but it was her full lips that drew the eye.
"Ah, sorry. You're just so beautiful."
He blurted out his honest reaction.
Han Min-jeong smiled brightly, extending her left hand to flash the wedding ring on her finger—an elegant way to say she was taken.
"Hehe. Thank you, but I'm already spoken for."
Covering her mouth as she let out a refined, ladylike chuckle, she reminded him of nobility.
She wore a cream sweater up to her neck and a blue apron, her full, motherly breasts spilling out the sides, jiggling assertively.
Her well-worn dark blue jeans hugged her wide hips and round rear, accentuating every curve.
Like Se-ah Sister, Han Min-jeong didn't seem to fuss much over her figure—her thick thighs and calves, ripe and plush, showed plainly through the fabric, radiating a subtle eroticism.
"Sorry for the rudeness on first sight. Actually..."
After eyeing her up and down, he fished a business card from his pocket and handed it over.
Han Min-jeong looked puzzled at first, but her bright smile froze solid the moment she read it.
"Care Supporter..."
"Kang Ihyeon, the new Care Supporter assigned to you."
He bowed as politely as possible to avoid seeming rude.
Thinking she'd been too harsh herself on a first meeting, Han Min-jeong apologized with a regretful look.
"Oh dear. I knew you were coming today, but not this soon."
Abandoning her bouquet, she flipped the shop's "Open" sign to "Closed."
"I'm a total rookie who just started, so please be patient with any slip-ups. Looking forward to working together."
Her prickly vibe suddenly made perfect sense.
No telling how long they'd be stuck together, but who could look fondly on a watchdog poking into their private life?
Even if it was just for care during flaw outbreaks, the meddling itself was stressful—he'd heard that hammered home endlessly in training.
Guiding him to the back of the shop, Han Min-jeong kept up a soft, flowing conversation.
"You're younger than I pictured. How old...?"
"Ah, twenty-one. I was in college, but stuff happened, and now I'm a Care Supporter."
He hadn't quit school, so he kept the "student" label for now.
Lying could wreck their rapport from the start, so he casually let slip that he hadn't gone through official training.
"Hmm... I see."
Han Min-jeong stayed kind and warm the whole time, but he could tell she was sizing him up, probing.
It was only natural, so he took it humbly and followed her to a homey living room—turns out she lived right there in the shop.
"You live here?"
"Yes. Part of the first floor's the shop, but the whole building's mine."
That explained the single address; they sat facing each other on the sofa.
'Huh? Up close, her hair's not two-toned?'
Now that they were face-to-face, he could see her better.
Besides the fresh-baked-bread brown, there was no trace of the signature Magical Girl hair mutation.
"Ah... come to think of it, no need to hide it from you, Ihyeon."
Noticing his stare, she smiled kindly and let her hair revert to its true color.
Subtle mana wrapped her locks, light specks drifting down like falling petals.
Revealing her natural two-tone: brown twisted with green, hidden by magic till now.
'Kinda gives off a bad vibe...'
In this mana-saturated world, even normals' hair and eyes shifted colors from the influence.
She wasn't in some image-sensitive job, so bothering to magic away her hair color felt like she was sick of—or uncomfortable with—her Magical Girl past.
Someone he'd be seeing nonstop from here on out; he coached himself not to jump to biases already.
"I just messaged him, so my husband's on his way. Let's get into the details once he's here."
"Ah... yeah, okay."
The question nagging his mind: why bring the husband into it?
Gazing at Han Min-jeong's back as she prepared guest tea in the kitchen, he bitterly chewed his lip—did he really seem that untrustworthy?
'Was I too rude right off the bat?'
He'd been so taken by this glamorous mature beauty that he'd forgotten she was married—fact.
Especially since popping his cherry, any woman set his libido raging; he'd sworn to hold back just days ago, and here he was slipping already.
'This must be how Adam and Eve felt after the forbidden fruit.'
Ignorance was bliss, but now that he'd tasted pleasure, it kept flashing in his head, driving him nuts.
Training had sidelined things with Se-ah Sister; he'd have to ask her out when he got back—idle thoughts like that, when Han Min-jeong brought the tea.
"Like black tea?"
"Ah, thanks. Don't drink it much, but it smells amazing."
The rich floral aroma hooked his nose; he sipped gingerly.
The sweet, velvety taste tingling his tongue jolted him.
"Whoa... this black tea? Best fragrance I've ever had."
"Glad you like it."
"Honestly a coffee guy, but stuff like this? Might switch teams."
The floral punch so intense he thought it was flower tea filled his mouth; he downed more, when the door clicked open and a man walked in.
"Honey. I'm home."
"Sorry to drag you from work."
The guy stepping through the door matched Han Min-jeong so perfectly, he screamed "husband."
Mild-mannered, with an honest air that said he'd do right even without laws.
Glasses gave him an intellectual vibe—not drop-dead gorgeous, but they made an instantly obvious handsome couple.