Mr. Magical Girl

Chapter: 114. Exploring the Otherworld. (2)

With one hand holding a pizza and Unho perched on my head, I opened the door to my house.

I felt like something was off, but shouldn’t I do this at least?

Ding ding!

A refreshing electronic sound echoed through the entrance, and my beloved home came into view.

Home sweet home.

The management office wasn’t bad, but no place beats your own home.

I was expecting a joyful welcome from my students, but the inside of the house was silent.

Seeing the lights on, it wasn’t completely empty.

“I’m back!”

I raised my voice, wondering if they couldn’t hear me, but all I got back was the sound of Unho gently landing on the floor. Instead of a warm welcome, there wasn’t even a “Welcome back.”

“You’ve been abandoned. Poyo.”

“Shut up.”

After kicking the chattering white soccer ball,

“Poyo!”

I maneuvered around the bouncy white obstacle that was overly elastic, as it bounced around the house like a pinball, searching for my students.

First, I checked the dining room.

It was early, but I thought maybe they were still eating dinner.

As is often the case with my predictions, the dining room was empty, and only a few dishes in the sink welcomed me.

If they were in the dining room, they would definitely have heard me coming.

Next, I checked the bathroom, but the light was off.

The darkness was a bit odd given they weren’t showering, so what was left…?

“Are they already asleep?”

“Children grow while they sleep.”

Unho came over after the pinball game seemed to be over and blabbered that nonsense.

Why is Unho being so cheeky today?

I thought about kicking them again, but it seemed like repeating the same thing would just be pointless, so I ignored it and headed towards my students’ rooms.

Before me stretched a narrow hallway. On the left was Baek Sihyeon’s room, and on the right was Han Abin’s room.

Symbolizing their personalities, Sihyeon’s door was covered in various sizes of scratches, while Abin’s door shined with a polished doorknob.

Given the lack of sounds and light escaping, they were most likely asleep or not in their rooms.

I could burst in and check right away, but…

“Are you sleeping?”

Instead, I knocked harshly on the door.

If they were sleeping, it should wake them up.

No matter how much of a teacher I am, I can’t just barge into my students’ rooms. I’m not their parent.

Or am I? The Thunder God grandpa seemed to come in without knocking…

I think I even got stabbed while sleeping once… Hmm…

Regardless of my life as a teacher, I knocked on both doors, but there was no response.

Finally, wanting to confirm, I released my senses but felt no presence inside either room.

“Nothing here?”

As I spun in circles doing nothing, Unho asked and I looked down to answer them.

Then it left only one place…

Still, I wouldn’t think they’d be training this late, would I?

Ding!

The elevator doors opened with a chime indicating its arrival, revealing an unexpected scene before my eyes.

A 2-on-1 battle?

“Lin! Shield!”

“Got it!”

Zing!

With a magical sound cutting through the air, a light sky-blue shield appeared in front of Han Abin, and Baek Sihyeon, wielding a hammer, charged straight toward it.

I thought she would crash right into the shield like her usual self, but…

Crackle!

With a spark, Sihyeon unexpectedly transformed into lightning and took a peculiar action.

She didn’t move to change her position; instead, she changed her stance.

While charging straight ahead, she maintained her speed and rotated her body 180 degrees, turning her back.

What followed was a twist made by stepping with one leg.

Maintaining her charge’s speed, she minimized power loss, adding the rotational force of the hammer—a clever move from the inventive Baek Sihyeon.

Along with that clever move came something else into view.

Clothing that was black and burning, and Baek Sihyeon’s expression as she gritted her teeth against the pain.

Perhaps she hasn’t overcome the fact that electric magic harms her body yet.

That’s why she chose to change her stance instead of moving positions to minimize the burden on her body.

She must have thought this through, taking my scolding into account.

Then what about Han Abin?

Crash!

With the sound of shattering glass, the shield shattered upon colliding with the hammer.

Sihyeon, who caused such destruction, aimed her hammer at the still-standing Han Abin, but…

“It’s a trap.”

Baek Sihyeon’s hammer passed right through Han Abin’s figure—a mere illusion—and her mouth hung open.

Was she flustered?

Did she not see this with her future vision?

Considering how she shattered the shield and swung the hammer with force, it seems she saw the scene of the hammer hitting Han Abin.

Now she realized that Han Abin was a fake.

“Abin won. Poyo.”

“Yeah.”

I tilted my head up slowly, looking upwards.

I could see her taking aim at Baek Sihyeon from above on a platform Lin created, drawing a deep pink arrow.

Taking advantage of the brief moment Sihyeon changed her stance, she had prepared all her plans while hidden from view.

The bowstring snapped loudly, and the pink arrow flew straight toward Baek Sihyeon’s head.

Unlike the first time, this arrow was vastly different in size, power, and stability.

Back then, I could have flicked it away with my hand, but now, I wonder if it would at least peel my skin. Penetration would be difficult, though.

Just as Baek Sihyeon seemed to recognize the sniping and raised her head, the arrow was already upon her.

If it struck directly, it would undoubtedly inflict serious injuries, but…

“Alright, that’s enough.”

As Lin waved her hand, a shield appeared in front of Baek Sihyeon, blocking the arrow, and the duel ended.

“Aaah, I’m sure I confirmed it was right there with my future sight and shot!”

As soon as the duel ended, what Baek Sihyeon did was cause ruckus, yelling that she couldn’t accept her loss.

She threw her hammer aside and flailed about on the mat in a ridiculous way.

“Sihyeon, wait a moment; you’re opening your wounds.”

Han Abin looked taken aback by Sihyeon’s ridiculous behavior, approaching her while emanating pink mana.

At the same time, Baek Sihyeon’s white skin began to flush red.

Internal bleeding?

It seems she also hasn’t completely overcome this yet. Being electrified for less than 0.1 seconds shouldn’t have made her body such a mess.

As it turns out, while undergoing that pain, it seems Baek Sihyeon was more concerned about her wounds than the actual pain, constantly flailing around.

Well, maybe I should jump in here.

“You were doing well even without me.”

As soon as the casually dropped words echoed in the training area,

Both students turned their heads toward me with a swish.

A brief silence passed as I received their gazes and got closer, before…

“Senpai! Where have you been? You just came back now!”

Han Abin charged towards me.

“Master! Did you see that just now?”

Baek Sihyeon flew at me as well.

She seemed to have forgotten about her earlier tantrum, replacing the annoyed expression on her face with a bright smile.

“Okay, okay.”

Han Abin, maintaining a moderate distance while speaking, was fine, but Baek Sihyeon attempted to pull me in for a hug, so I gently pushed her away and continued,

“Let’s talk about that later; for now, let’s review what you’ve both done.”

Her voice was still booming.

“First, Sihyeon. You decided to use electric magic for precise control, didn’t you?”

“Yes! That’s the only way I could think of to minimize the side effects while using it well!”

“What about the area control technique you used in Hokkaido?”

That wasn’t a bad technique either.

“Well, about that! There was a critical issue. I found out while fighting the Black Marauder that while I was deploying it, I got punched in the head, which neutralized me!”

… Well, isn’t that obvious?

Did she seriously just stand still trying to control it during a fight?

As I stood there speechless, Baek Sihyeon shot out her words like a machine gun.

“So, I found a different way to use it! Honestly, shooting lightning was weak and slower than me, so… I tried using it for stance control!”

Her bright eyes were saying, “Did I do well? Praise me!”

It was great that she came up with new ideas and executed them to cover her shortcomings, but I still had more questions before I could praise her.

“What about the area control technique?”

“No! I’m gradually increasing the processing speed! At first, it was 80 seconds, but now I’ve reduced it to 70 seconds!”

70 seconds, huh? Macbeth’s Great Magic could probably be used faster than that.

But still, the effort is noticeable.

“Well done, Baek Sihyeon.”

There might be more changes that I didn’t see, but I decided to wait until later to find out.

“Abin, while I was gone, did you practice with Lin?”

“Yes. Lin suggested it first. This side should achieve a balance of power…”

“Is that so? Lin.”

“Indeed. I judged that this would benefit Baek Sihyeon’s growth, but don’t worry; I didn’t neglect to practice the combo play with Sihyeon as well.”

“I see.”

I thought she was just hovering around Sihyeon without doing anything, but it seems she has her own thoughts as Baek Sihyeon’s mascot.

“Then, I have one more question, Han Abin. Did you use telepathy with Lin?”

“Yes. Lin was able to withstand my telepathy. So I conveyed the plan. Since it had high resistance, it worked as a practice opponent too.”

“It’s still quite loud, but it’s much better compared to the beginning.

Abin seems to have managed to adjust, albeit slightly, and it seems she also developed a trick to convey her telepathy through Lin.

And let’s think a little more…

“Baek Sihyeon, did you see Han Abin’s move with your future sight?”

“Yes! I saw the hammer going for Han Abin! Since it was said Lin would block if a valid hit occurs, I put all my strength into it!”

“That means you didn’t see the outcome, right?”

Hmm. Quite interesting.

“Baek Sihyeon, do you know how many seconds ahead your future sight can predict?”

“I don’t know!”

I expected that; I asked someone who should know.

“Abin, do you know?”

“Did you figure it out just from that recent battle? …That was my trump card… yes, it’s typically between 5 to 5.5 seconds.”

“And I anticipated from the start that Baek Sihyeon would use future sight, so I calculated all the timings backwards, didn’t I…”

…That’s right. I didn’t exactly calculate it precisely. Just a rough guess that Sihyeon would foresee approximately this much…

Anyhow, it was successful.

Perhaps I just happened to see a good scene.

“Baek Sihyeon, this is your loss from overestimating your future sight. I’ve said it many times, but you still haven’t corrected it.”

Even the Black Marauder said the same thing.

Baek Sihyeon fidgeted, embarrassed by such comments, and she glanced around nervously.

Seeing that expression was rather cute, I couldn’t help but chuckle as the two students shared their thoughts.

“Anyway, you both did well.”

I may have run away after handing in my assignments alone, but both students showed me a pretty decent scene while believing in my guidance.

“I was worried you wouldn’t improve at all while I was gone, but you exceeded my expectations.”

Their faces began to brighten.

Maybe it was because of the unexpected praise. They started offering words of encouragement towards each other.

What cute kids.

“Let’s shower quickly and come up; I brought pizza.”

The two cheered loudly and dashed towards the shower.

It seems they figured out new ways to use their powers while I was away; did it all go well?

I chuckled at the thought and leaned against the wall.

“I have something to discuss.”

Lin flew over and spoke to me.

I responded with a cold attitude.

“It’s about what Baek Sihyeon did while you weren’t around. After all, you are Baek Sihyeon’s teacher.”

She spoke calmly, as if she had no interest in my attitude.

That’s natural. Since our first encounter, we’ve been acting like we don’t exist to each other. But in this conversation, what bothered me wasn’t that.

…Baek Sihyeon did something?

“Did she cause trouble again?”

“It’s about the area control technique I mentioned earlier, but she failed to control it while facing off against the Black Marauder, and electronic waves spread in the surrounding area.”

I could guess what the next part would be.

“The energy wasn’t much, but it just so happened to spread to a large residential area… what was it called? An apartment? They experienced quite a bit of damage because of it.”

“…What’s the compensation?”

“The management office said it’s 1.5%.”

Hahaha. An EMP hit an entire apartment, and they’re only charging 1.5% of the electronics?

That’s not a big deal at all.

I can imagine it costing in the tens of millions.

“Baek! Sihyeon!”

Why does she always cause trouble the moment I turn my back?

---