The Strongest, but the Genre Is Magical Girl

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Reflecting on my defeat, I invested all my remaining time at the sports center into the shooting range.

Enjoying it or not, laughing or crying, I threw myself into the game, determined to score somehow.

With each round, I found solace in the gradually improving scores, and just like that, the last schedule of our school trip came to an end.

After the sports center experience, it was time for a meal on another floor of that very building.

Once I boarded the bus heading back to school, an indescribable sense of emptiness and lethargy enveloped me.

Blinking my heavy eyelids, I exchanged a few words with Siyeon, who had naturally settled beside me.

“Did you have fun?”

“Yeah… Huuuuuh.”

In response to my question about whether she had fun, Siyeon covered her mouth and yawned loudly.

Her mouth widened as her body trembled slightly.

It looked like she was about to fall asleep, and as I watched her eyelids lazily flutter open and shut, I continued speaking.

“Make sure to take out all your clothes from your bag as soon as we get home.”

“Okay…”

Siyeon replied while placing her bag on the floor between her legs, just like the first day of the trip.

For ordinary students, it would be time to head home and take a nap, but unfortunately, that wasn’t the case for us.

I still had to do the dishes that I hadn’t finished on the first day of the trip, wash the clothes worn during the school trip, and beat the Gomteng bear cub into submission…

Anyway, just because the trip was over didn’t mean everything was wrapped up.

Those brief three days felt oh so short, leaving the students utterly exhausted.

Where had the enthusiastic, lively friends from the first day gone? The bus now held nothing but a solemn silence.

Unless it was absolutely necessary, I didn’t even want to part my lips.

I pressed my back against the seat and squeezed my eyes shut, hoping to fall asleep somehow.

In the darkness, I heard the distant sound of a smartphone camera shutter clicking away.

“Hey, don’t take pictures of me sleeping!”

“Chwap-chyul malraeok~”

Amidst the chatter and commotion, after three long hours, the bus finally came to a stop in the schoolyard.

My bag felt heavy, like it was shackled to my arms and legs.

“Thank you for your hard work-”

I thanked the driver uncle for the three days of hard work, and at the teacher’s direction, we stepped off the bus one by one.

I had only been sitting on the bus, yet I felt as if I didn’t want to move even an inch.

With legs weak enough to twist my ankle if I wasn’t careful, I trudged slowly, waiting momentarily in the schoolyard.

An overwhelming desire to call a taxi from the schoolyard to get home engulfed my entire body, an unbearable fatigue.

“Everyone had a tough time enjoying the school trip for three days, so don’t stray off the path and head straight home, okay?”

“Yes-”

We all responded in unison to the homeroom teacher’s brief words before we began our walk home.

I wanted to lie down immediately, but I couldn’t just collapse onto the dirt ground of the schoolyard.

With drowsy eyes blinking, I hurried along with Siyeon towards home.

While Siyeon could just come home, take off her clothes, wash up, and go to sleep, I had a mountain of chores waiting for me.

“Bye.”

“Bye-bye.”

I parted ways with Taehyun in the elevator on the fourth floor.

With one hand fiddling while I entered the password for the front door, I pondered how to deal with this little Gomteng bear cub, even with my drowsy eyes.

As expected, behind the swung-open door, none other than—

“Welcome back!!!”

The Gomteng had pressed its face against the floor, eagerly greeting us (or rather, specifically greeting me) in a most formal manner, hoping to mitigate its sins.

“I’ve finished the dishes that were left while you were away! Vacuuming! Mopping! Everything is done!”

Did it really know what I was thinking? The Gomteng was rambling about its achievements without me even asking.

However, considering the big trouble it caused by neglecting its tasks related to the monster alarms, I reached out my hand menacingly towards its face.

“And, um… I’ll wash and hang up the clothes you wore during the trip, too!!!”

I halted, intrigued by this offer, and my hand, poised to squish its head, froze in place.

The chores that had to be done upon returning home now included the Gomteng’s youthful exuberance and the laundry piled up in the bag.

If both could be sorted out at once, it would really make things easier; I could just wash up and crash instead.

After pondering for three seconds between strict punishment and a benevolent forgiveness,

“Then, make sure to organize the bag, too.”

“Understood!”

Given the fatigue accumulated over the past three days, I decided to extend my forgiveness.

As soon as I set the heavy bag down in the empty space between the living room and kitchen, the Gomteng eagerly began to unzip it and pull out the clothes.

After changing into a fluffy set of indoor clothes and hastily washing up in the bathroom,

I threw myself face-first onto the unlit bed.

Siyeon must have been terribly drowsy too, as she entered the bathroom right after I came out.

Indeed, the bed was the best compared to the dozing off I had done on the bus.

After the day squandered on the last day of our trip…

“Alright, don’t get lazy just because the school trip ended!”

Immediately after the trip ended, the second semester exams swooped in.

In other words, it was the period for the final exams.

However, it hardly mattered to either Siyeon or me, nor did it make us anxious.

We didn’t have any specific goals set for high school.

Therefore, we didn’t particularly study, just doing our best within reasonable limits.

We regarded the final exam period as merely a bell signaling the approach of vacation.

Neither Siyeon nor I was a genius, so even with active studying, our grades barely held steady before steadily declining.

In return for my grades slipping, Siyeon’s drawing skills rose proportionally.

Isn’t it said that if you lose something, you gain something in exchange?

In Siyeon’s case, she lost grades but gained drawing talent.

It seemed she was frequently turning out results that satisfied her, as she continued to show me her drawings without ever telling me which site she uploaded them to.

By the end of the first semester right before summer vacation, she sometimes produced results comparable to a proper illustrator.

Similarly, despite my declining grades, there were some things I gained…

If I had to name them, maybe my height like everyone else growing?

Or perhaps a higher rank in game competitive matches?

Yeah. To put it bluntly, I really didn’t gain much at all.

‘I shouldn’t be like this.’

I felt a mounting sense of seriousness regarding my future in this life.

Though it might be a stale catchphrase, aside from monster extermination, here I was, traveling down the ‘M-Life life’ express route frequently seen in communities.

Indeed, money was coming in, and I was somehow working…

But could it be because I was right beside Siyeon, making incredible strides toward her future?

I felt like I was the only one stuck in place.

Certainly, even if I stopped this job as a magical clown, I had a guaranteed future as a public official…

But shouldn’t I also have a productive hobby that brings me joy…? That feeling lingered.

Even while thinking this, my computer booted up as usual.

Amidst the hum of the operating system’s starting up, a strange vibration sounded.

It was the buzz of my smartphone, indicating an incoming call.

Glancing at the smartphone screen absentmindedly, the caller ID was restricted.

No need to ponder who it was, I instantly sensed it was something related to the magical girl stuff.

After all, even voice phishing these days doesn’t use restricted caller IDs.

‘What could it be?’

Tilting my head, I casually swiped away the green phone icon on my screen.

It was quite unusual for someone who usually called for group meetings to ring me privately.

With that curiosity in mind, I spoke informally across the smartphone.

“Hello.”

“Yes, hello. Is this Kim Mari?”

It was a familiar voice from the video conference.

Instead of calling me a magical girl, the minister addressed me by my name and as ‘student.’

I replied without certainty, lacking absolute confidence that it was the magical girl on the other end of the line.

In a way, it seemed like a reflection of their commitment to confidentiality, so I responded casually as if speaking with a stranger.

“Yes, that’s me, but what’s up?”

“Yeah, I have a question regarding recent extermination activities; could you please check the webpage link I will send you after this call?”

‘Recent extermination activities? A link?’

After the request to check the link, I heard a quick sound signaling the end of the call.

As I stared blankly at my smartphone screen, a small message notification popped up, descending from the top.

At the bottom of the screen, a small white number enclosed in a red circle appeared on the message icon.

It was a single line of a link sent without any specific text.

Upon seeing the link that seemed familiar to me, clicking on it led me to the title of a post on some gallery…

[Chilling Incheon Monster Appearance Time Slots.jpg]

A post that began in the monster gallery.

This post listed the timeframes of monster appearances in Incheon over recent years, pointing out patterns of monsters appearing only during specific times and highlighting any unnatural occurrences.