Symbol of Peace (3)
Fill a tall glass with ice, add a little vodka. Pour orange juice over it until the glass is full. Stir with a long teaspoon, and it’s done.
A screwdriver. Han Jae-jung had once worked part-time in a bar to earn money while studying for the civil service exam. He’d worked in the kitchen, since he didn’t want his face exposed, and making a simple cocktail like this was nothing to him.
He handed it to Baek A-hee and sat down across from her.
“Thank you.”
She let out a small, awed sound, inspecting the glass with sparkling eyes. Watching her marvel at the cheap cocktail as if it were the finest vintage, Han Jae-jung snorted softly.
“It’s just a basic cocktail.”
“What about mine?!”
“Why would a minor drink alcohol? Just have some juice.”
“It’s much healthier than drugs or cigarettes....”
Haru whined softly. He handed her a glass filled with plain orange juice.
‘I didn’t hear anything.’
At the same time, he decided to treat what Haru had just said as an exaggerated comparison. The thought of overseas magical girls soothing themselves with things like that would break his heart. Magical girls live on dew alone!
“And mine?”
“You have coffee left from earlier.”
“After seeing that guy’s face, I need a drink. Should I just pour vodka into the coffee?”
“At least mix in some whipped cream or milk. That makes it taste decent.”
“Got it. You want some too, oppa?”
“Yeah, please.”
So it’d basically be a White Russian. Suppressing guilt over drinking in the middle of the day, Han Jae-jung left it to Jo Ah-yoon.
“Ohh... this is sweet!”
“Because I made it sweet.”
“So this is what alcohol tastes like....”
Giggling, Baek A-hee kept lifting her glass. It was already half empty. Only then did Han Jae-jung recall that the screwdriver was known as a lady-killer cocktail.
Lady-killer: a cocktail that makes women drunk easily. The term refers to drinks that are strong but sweet—easy to drink, and quick to intoxicate.
Making it sweet so she could try alcohol for the first time had backfired.
“A-hee, drink slowly.”
“Hehe, why? It’s good. Maybe because you made it, Jae-jung? Why does it taste even better?”
“You don’t even have a comparison. Seriously, drink slowly. You’ll get drunk.”
“Okaaay.”
Baek A-hee half-listened, bringing the glass back to her lips. Haru, who’d been grumpy until a moment ago, had recovered her spirits and was watching Baek A-hee with a fascinated expression.
“I want to see the Weaver Girl drunk...!”
“No. You couldn’t handle it. A-hee, slow down, please.”
Firmly rejecting the idea, Jo Ah-yoon placed the coffee cup laced with alcohol in front of Han Jae-jung.
“Thanks.”
“So? What’s this about wanting to use our place as a base?”
She’d been smacking Haru, but she’d still heard everything. Jo Ah-yoon turned a serious face to Baek A-hee.
“Oh, forget about that stuff, Unnie! Jae-jung, Unnie, let’s toast! Toasht!”
Casually ignoring Jo Ah-yoon, Baek A-hee raised her glass high and insisted on a toast. Feeling the cold glass lightly bump his cheek, Han Jae-jung frowned. Jo Ah-yoon sighed heavily.
They weren’t going to have a proper conversation without dealing with her first.
“...You handle that, oppa.”
“Shouldn’t the senior look after her at times like this?”
“You’re so mean... do you not want to drink with me?”
“You take responsibility, oppa. Hurry.”
Before he could even teach her any drinking etiquette, Baek A-hee was thoroughly drunk. How weak was she? Was this his fault? Han Jae-jung abruptly felt wronged.
Still, he couldn’t refuse Jo Ah-yoon’s suggestion that he serve Baek A-hee’s drinks. Irked on the inside, he raised his glass.
“Yeah, yeah, a toast, and now let’s get to the point....”
“Ehehe! Well then! To success! To progress! Suc—...”
“Yes, yes, cheers!”
“Kampai!”
Before Baek A-hee could finish making the toast utterly mortifying, Han Jae-jung hastily cut her off. In what world was she an adult? She was just a middle schooler cackling over dirty jokes.
As if disappointed that her toast hadn’t been completed, Baek A-hee whined. Then she dumped the rest of her glass into her mouth in one go.
“A-hee... I told you to lay off the internet.”
“What’s the matter? Why did you cut the Weaver Girl off?”
“You just don’t need to know....”
“I’ll search it!”
“Don’t.”
Just like White Dabih, why did these junior magical girls only learn bad things from the internet? Jo Ah-yoon shook her head, all the while pondering the need for headquarters to manage magical girls’ digital literacy.
“Ah, so the original intention was wordplay! The Weaver Girl has excellent taste!”
Behind a nodding, keenly interested Haru, Jo Ah-yoon parted her lips again.
“...You want to use our store?”
“Hai! As a temporary base to investigate the anomalies occurring in D5 City, she says!”
“Thash right. Jae-jung, one more for me. Ehehe.”
“Don’t talk nonsense, just have juice like Dabih. I’m never giving you alcohol again, Vega.”
Roughly refilling Baek A-hee’s glass with orange juice, Han Jae-jung drank from his own glass.
The bitter coffee aroma swirled in his mouth once, then the taste and scent of alcohol mixed with sweetness shook his throat dully.
“Hm....”
The Magical Girl Headquarters’ proposal itself made sense. The incidents in this neighborhood were clearly abnormal. A monster that abducts people without leaving a trace. If this phenomenon was left unaddressed, it would only cause public anxiety and erode the organization’s authority.
When handling a troublesome case like this, establishing a forward base to observe the whole city would likely be more effective than relying solely on a dispatch system.
But that was only headquarters’ side of things. They had their own circumstances.
If the two people who ran this store were ordinary civilians, he would have gladly allowed them to use the cafe. But they weren’t ordinary.
‘We can’t ignore the possibility of our identities being exposed.’
Jo Ah-yoon and Han Jae-jung were special beings who could transform from human into monster. It would be problematic if the magical girls realized that.
If they were branded monsters, they’d face attacks from the magical girls, and they wouldn’t be able to rest easily even in human form. Every human in the world would recognize their faces and be on guard.
Being accepted as humans would also be problematic. In modern society, which demands trustworthy heroes, a vigilante who conceals their identity is nothing more than a villain. Otherwise, they’d have to reveal their identities....
‘That’s not an option.’
Whether they were sold as villains or heroes, he refused both.
Han Jae-jung did not want his face exposed to the public. Deeply rooted trauma had become a terror that bound him.
‘Besides, a hero other than a magical girl? We don’t need that.’
To a public always enamored by the novel and the groundbreaking, their existence would seem immensely appealing. It might even destabilize the position of the magical girls, who were already gradually losing public trust.
By becoming their allies, they would paradoxically become their greatest enemy.
“Don’t worry too much! It won’t be used for anything but a temporary gathering place for magical girls! They’re not asking you to provide room and board! Obviously, they intend to pay you properly! And senpai knows what her colleagues are like, right? None of them would trash a borrowed place!”
Haru, judging their worried expressions as a belief that this offered them nothing, swiftly jumped to defend headquarters.
Baek A-hee had said it was nothing major, but that detailed defense made it sound like a proposal they’d considered quite seriously.
“Thash right, thash right. Don’t worry too much, Jae-jung! If this cafe becomes a temporary base, I can be here all the time to protect you, right by your side!”
“No, do your actual job....”
“Aheuheuheuk, Jae-jung has gotten so cold. Is it really just me and Haru-chan...?”
“Yes! Come to me, my Weaver Girl!”
“Though I’m not really into younger girls....”
“Eh—, uso!”
Behind the pair’s comedy act, Jo Ah-yoon sent Han Jae-jung a questioning glance. It was a look that said, ‘Well?’
He didn’t know what to do with himself, having his boss personally consider his opinion. Rationally, the right call was to refuse. Money aside, the magical girls might sense his identity while searching for the hidden monster around here. They would be looking for a hidden monster, after all.
But Han Jae-jung couldn’t be rational.
“I think it’s fine.”
From the moment he declared himself the guardian of the guardians, he had lost the right to prioritize his own interests. He had extended his life to prioritize their safety over his own.
[Quest alert. Accept the proposal. The penalty for refusal was death. Quest acceptance confirmed. Quest success.]
The moment Han Jae-jung voiced his agreement, the Belt issued a quest. Its occurrence and simultaneous registration as a success—the overlapping system voice—was striking.
He’d never had a choice anyway. If it benefited them, he’d forfeit his own benefit. Even if it came with danger.
Actually, it wasn’t entirely without benefit for him. The anomalies in this city needed to be dealt with. Having collaborators in that process was reassuring. And magical girl intelligence might end up shared.
“Then it’s settled.”
Jo Ah-yoon set her glass down with a thud and nodded.
“We’ll cooperate with you.”
“That fast?”
“Oppa said it’s fine. So it’s fine with me.”
[As expected of the one I chose! Decisive! If only you were as decisive about your one-sided crush....]
‘Shut it.’
If he chose this, Jo Ah-yoon’s reason to refuse vanished as well. Though she couldn’t dream her own dreams, she could protect the dreamer—she could support the path Han Jae-jung decided on, without limit.
“Yes! Really? Really really really, you swear you’ll be with me every day?!”
“When did I say that? I’m just granting you the right to visit the store as you like.”
“Ugh, it’s the same thing!”
Baek A-hee giggled, taking Han Jae-jung’s hand and shaking it as if chanting a children’s rhyme.
“I’ll be in your care from now on.”
“Yoroshiku onegaishimasu!”
Had he made the wrong choice? Though not much time had passed, Han Jae-jung smiled bitterly, already feeling drained.
“Well then, shall we head out right away?!”
“Where.”
“To patrol the neighborhood, of course!”
**
In the end, he couldn’t refuse Baek A-hee.
“Hmm, what a quiet neighborhood! It’d be nice to live in a place like this. What do you think, Jae-jung?”
“I like my own neighborhood.”
“Eh—, well I don’t!”
Looking around the street, Baek A-hee complained quietly.
She said they needed to familiarize themselves with the area they’d be monitoring and asked for a tour. It wasn’t an unreasonable request, and the two were so stubborn that Han Jae-jung and Jo Ah-yoon had agreed.
“She asked us to show her around, but we don’t really know the area either. We just moved here.”
“Still, it’s better than knowing nothing at all! Prepare for danger, as they say!”
“Where does a Japanese brat learn words like that.”
“A tsundere! You’ve turned the compliment that I used an intelligent word into an insult!”
Confidently deflecting Jo Ah-yoon’s words, Haru surveyed the street with eyes coldly settled, in contrast to her cheerful mouth.
“There seem to be plenty of shops, but this is the only foot traffic... hmm, the rumors are definitely having an effect.”
“Rumors?”
“Hai! That there’s an invisible monster in this neighborhood....”
“Jae-jung! Give me a piggyback! I want to see the world from a higher place!”
“And the real reason?”
“I want to be on top of your head, Jae-jung!”
“Ah, the Weaver Girl is next, I request it!”
“Good grief....”
This felt like taking children out for a walk. As Jae-jung sighed from the exhaustion, he sensed a presence behind him.
“Actualization.”
[Reveal the truth.]
The voice of a monster dropping its disguise.
Han Jae-jung turned around as if possessed.
“It’s been a while.”
A monster whose shoulders were adorned with a massive scale stood at the end of his gaze.
“...Libra.”
“You haven’t forgotten me, I see. Good.”
Libra gathered light in their fist. It was larger than what he’d seen before.
“Truly, so fortunate.”
As they thrust their fist towards where Han Jae-jung stood, the light advanced, crushing everything in its path.