Congratulations on Your Magical Girl Duties

84 – After the Night Passes

A dim night where even shadows were swallowed.

The Magical Mid-rank’s private room, ablaze with light.

“Haa……”

There, Lee Seobin exhaled a sigh heavier than the silent air.

For two reasons.

First, she hadn’t been able to confirm even a sliver of information about the informant Jo Soah had requested.

Of course, she had anticipated it wouldn’t be easy.

That was why Lee Seobin had taken on the task herself.

But.

‘No, how is it that absolutely *nothing* is coming up?’

This time, it was simply too much.

It wasn’t as if Lee Seobin had done nothing. She had, in her own way, accomplished quite a bit.

Scraping together what meager scraps of information she could, wringing deduction and speculation to their very limits, she’d managed to sketch out a rough itinerary for this so-called informant.

But, that was it.

No further progress came.

How could there be, when the slightest trace, the kind any human would inevitably leave behind, simply didn’t exist?

‘What kind of person *is* this, anyway?’

No, really, was he even a person? She considered the question with all due seriousness, so bizarre was her quarry.

And if that weren’t enough, she’d carved time from thin air, seeking out Magical Heavy Offenders in hopes of a lead, but it had all been for naught.

No, worse than that, it was a loss.

Because now, she had one more worry.

‘Why… why did they all end up like that?’

Just a short while ago, these Magical Heavy Offenders had been perfectly… functional. But by the time Lee Seobin found them, they were all experiencing Magical Intelligence Degradation.

— “Twittaah… Twittaah…”

— “ooo… ooo… Rice…”

— “If I get a 7% discount when charging Coins and buy 100, that means I’m taking 7, so it’s a steal, right?”

— “Eat…”

Even replaying it in her mind, it was just… off.

‘Just what happened to them?’

And so, Lee Seobin was now distressed. It felt like she’d run headfirst into an impassable wall for the first time.

But Lee Seobin’s sigh wasn’t only born of the limitations of her abilities.

There was another reason entirely.

‘I wonder if Soah’s alright.’

Jin Soah was what worried her.

Though it goes without saying, it wasn’t Jin Soah’s safety she was concerned for.

She wasn’t likely to come to harm, and even if she did, it would be the other party who should start making preparations.

No, what worried Lee Seobin was whether Jin Soah would actually follow her advice.

And Lee Seobin’s advice hadn’t been anything special.

Take this opportunity, during the Magical Dormitory rounds, to sneak into Kim Siyul’s magical bed in the dead of night, and try to appeal to her in your own way.

Not just to do it, but to transform while doing it.

‘Ideally, even create a magical *fait accompli*.’

A Magical Yo-Bae-Da, as it were.

Even if it didn’t cross the line, it would be enough to make Kim Shi-yul aware of Jin So-ah.

It was quite extreme advice, but there was no other way.

Firstly, Jin So-ah and Kim Shi-yul didn’t have many points of contact. There were few excuses to make them meet.

That being said, showering her with favors to give her a Magical Vacation was also difficult.

The reason being, Kim Shi-yul had never taken an official first Magical Vacation.

Simply put, she didn’t have enough “Magical experience” to send her, even if they wanted to.

‘I never thought Magical Regulations would get in the way here…’

Under normal circumstances, she would have ignored them and pushed ahead with the plan, but this time she had no choice.

Because those Magical Regulations were created by Lee Seo-bin in the past.

Magical Regulations created to restrict magical girls who used connections to receive special treatment before even taking their first Magical Vacation.

Those same Magical Regulations were now being applied to Kim Shi-yul as well.

If she, the creator of the Magical Regulations, ignored them, her Magical Integrity would be questioned.

‘If I had known this would happen…’

I should have made them a little looser. Lee Seo-bin regretfully smoothed her hair.

That’s why Lee Seo-bin gave Jin So-ah such uncharacteristically forceful advice. Eventually, Jin So-ah hesitated, but finally agreed.

However, the worry remained the same.

‘Please, let it work out well…’

It was because she knew Jin So-ah too well.

Frankly speaking, even as her friend, Lee Seo-bin saw that Jin So-ah was a person with many flaws.

The most timid person imaginable, foolishly trying to hide it by using harsh language and maintaining a sharp attitude, which then became ingrained in her.

An ambiguous person who didn’t have enough sociability to get along with everyone, but also didn’t have enough audacity to deceive or exploit others.

A foolish and pathetic person who would give up her own things without hesitation if it disadvantaged the other party, and would silently endure her own unfairness while rushing headlong into danger to help others when they were treated unfairly.

Jin So-ah was that kind of person.

‘That’s why I want to help her even more.’

Lee Seo-bin still remembers it clearly.

The moment, not long after she awakened as a magical girl, when those who barely deserved to be called comrades abandoned her as bait for the monsters and fled.

There was even an order to withdraw because rescuing her was impossible. With a warning that violating it would result in severe disciplinary action.

‘Easy to say, wasn’t it?’

As Lee Seo-bin later found out, they had more than enough resources to rescue her.

They simply issued that order because they didn’t want to go through the trouble for just one magical girl.

‘So, naturally, you end up getting into an “accident,” right?’

Of course, Seo-bin at the time was ignorant of these machinations. She was too busy facing the crisis at hand.

A countless horde of grotesque monsters.

One isolated magical girl.

Effectively as good as dead.

She’d even burned through all her magical power, making escape impossible, even suicide. She could only surrender to fate, endlessly awaiting her approaching death.

But.

There existed one person who refused to abandon Seo-bin’s life, even when she herself had given up.

Yes. It was Jin So-ah.

Jin So-ah, ignoring the frantic orders and warnings pouring through the communicator, faced down that multitude of monsters alone, without any support.

Of course, Seo-bin didn’t see it clearly. The impending doom terrified her so much that she dissolved into endless tears and lost herself.

Simply put, when Seo-bin regained her senses, it was all over. Except for her, the only living being on the earth was Jin So-ah alone.

Just then, Jin So-ah, seeing Seo-bin in a daze, reached out her hand.

─ “Are you alright? Are you hurt?”

But instead of taking her hand, Seo-bin turned and asked Jin So-ah:

Why did you save me?

‘I shouldn’t have done that.’

Even now, thinking back on it, it was an embarrassing moment. Instead of expressing gratitude to the benefactor who saved her life, why did she blurt out such a thing?

But Seo-bin couldn’t help it.

She was just so desperately curious at that moment.

Back then, Seo-bin wasn’t even friends with Jin So-ah, they didn’t even know each other’s names. She was only vaguely aware that they had awakened around the same time.

In reality, she was a complete stranger.

And yet, why did she push herself so hard to save Seo-bin? When there was no benefit to be gained, and only disadvantages were guaranteed.

Moreover, Jin So-ah back then wasn’t the overwhelmingly powerful being she was now. Even if she had talent, she hadn’t fully bloomed as a magical girl.

As a result, Jin So-ah had no undamaged parts except for her right hand, which was clutching her magical staff.

Both calves were gouged open enough to expose bone, her left arm was twisted grotesquely, and blood continued to gush from her entire body. She even coughed up clots of blood with every breath.

Meanwhile, Seo-bin wasn’t hurt in the slightest. If you really had to point something out, the parts where the magical girls collided with her when throwing themselves at her were slightly scraped, that was it.

She herself was in more pain and suffering, so who was in the position to worry about whom? From the start, Seo-bin wasn’t even worth that much.

Therefore, Seo-bin asked once more:

Why did you save me, of all people?

“Why’d you go that far?”

“Was there even a reason to?”

But Jin So-ah’s answer was, in truth, nothing special.

─ “If you can save them, you save them, right?”

A tranquil statement, as if stating the obvious.

A smile so heartbreaking, so achingly beautiful.

─ “Isn’t that what a Magical Girl is, after all?”

That was all.

Then suddenly, Lee Seo-bin recalled the moment not long ago when Jin So-ah had thanked her.

‘Who’s thanking who?’

*I* should be the one thanking *you*. Lee Seo-bin smiled softly.

Presently, she turned her gaze towards the Magical Dormitory, where Jin So-ah would be.

‘Gotta do better this time, So-ah.’

Hoping Jin So-ah would have a good time.

And, at that very moment.

Jin So-ah, who should have been spending a *good* time with Kim Si-yul in Kim Si-yul’s bed…

“Are you out of your minds?”

Was spending time with two utterly useless Magical Girls instead of Kim Si-yul.

Naturally, it wasn’t a *good* time.

Not for Jin So-ah, nor for the Magical Girls.

“Who in their right mind uses Magical High Beam when waking someone up?”

“B-But, Magical Girl Black Kitty told me to, so I couldn’t help it! I only did what I was told!”

“N-N-No way! It wasn’t *this one*, it was that blue half-breed inferior who instigated it, *this one* swears!”

Sora and Taishi spat out their words, laced thick with injustice. As if they hadn’t imagined Jin So-ah appearing like this, not in their wildest dreams.

However, they weren’t the only ones feeling wronged.

Jin So-ah, too, felt equally aggrieved.

‘Just what *is* this?’

Following Lee Seo-bin’s advice and wandering around the Magical Dormitory, she had climbed into Kim Si-yul’s Magical Bed, only to find that Kim Si-yul wasn’t there at all.

‘Where did Si-yul go?’

Kim Si-yul’s sudden Magical disappearance.

In the end, Jin So-ah, swaddled in a Magical Blanket so thin it barely qualified as such, quietly waited for Kim Shi-yul.

She waited and waited, but what arrived wasn’t Shi-yul, but a Magical High Beam searing straight into her eyeballs.

“Fuck.”

It was impossible not to feel wronged.

“Both of you, heads.”

“Ah, High!”

“Yorokondein desu wa!”

And so, the grievances harbored by the three magical girls only deepened.

Until the night passed, and the morning sun arrived.

*

Last night, fortune smiled.

Just because I got hungry in the middle of the night and went to quickly boil some ramen, I managed to dodge watch duty.

This must all be thanks to Sora and Nakji.

They probably stood watch for me.

Back in the army, I didn’t know since there were so few bunkmates in my barracks, but I realized this time how great it is to have comrades.

Except, there was a certain…rich aroma emanating from my bed, unlike usual.

Maybe it was from eating ramen?

Well, it wasn’t unpleasant.

Anyway, I was truly grateful to Sora and Nakji for covering my watch. Thanks to them, I could start the day feeling refreshed.

I was thinking of getting them something to repay them.

They must be tired, so maybe I should get them some coffee.

With that thought, I bought some suitable drinks from the Magical Café and headed back to the barracks.

And, exactly 30 minutes later.

“Perhaps your mother is not present?”

“Huh?”

I was engaging in polite customer service.

“Watch your tongue. It’s not that your inferior mother is absent, but that she may have gone to paradise.”

“Huh???”

Accompanied by Nakji, wearing a gentle smile.