The Strongest, but the Genre Is Magical Girl

---

That bear cub, Gomteng, is quick to switch gears.

Quick to face reality, we each get one set, with a bit of mercy adding two extra items.

By the way, these two are not for us humans but for the mascots.

A fragile high school girl’s stomach would be full with just one set.

‘46,600 won… plus 3,000 won delivery fee.’

Adding up the food cost and delivery fee, it hovers around 50,000 won.

They say Korean bread prices are higher than in the heart of New York, and it seems it wasn’t an exaggeration.

After ordering with the smartphone Gomteng kindly brought, I stretch out and stare blankly at the ceiling.

I don’t feel like doing anything.

I’m already doing nothing, but I want to do nothing even more intensely.

“Ughhh!”

Lying face down, stretching my sluggish body, I keep making strange noises.

Although it’s to loosen up my body, the sight of me twisting and turning on the floor must have been too bizarre, as Siyeon couldn’t help but comment.

“Are you really tired?”

“Seems like it.”

Answering while letting my trembling limbs droop after stretching to the limit.

Even I think I’m being lazier than necessary today.

Rolling around on the unmopped floor.

Just as I thought I might fall asleep like this.

Perhaps because it’s dinner time, Junie strolls out of the master bedroom.

“Ugh.”

Naturally coming near where I’m lying, sitting on my stomach, baking bread.

The weight on my stomach is subtly burdensome.

But since he’s here, I touch Junie’s body with my free hand.

A cat-dog that doesn’t refuse whether I touch its face or back.

Enjoying the soft touch for a while, the intercom breaks the silence, echoing loudly through the house.

“They’re here.”

“I’ll get it.”

As I bend my arm to get up, Siyeon jumps up from the room and walks to the intercom with loud steps.

Following her lead, I stick my arm and cheek back to the floor.

Shortly after, the doorbell rings at the front door after the common entrance.

Siyeon, who had gone outside briefly, rustles a bag and brings the hamburger bag to the kitchen.

“Hamburgers! Fancy hamburgers!”

The two mascots seem delighted that the hamburgers have arrived.

Thinking I should get up, but still lying face down.

Siyeon approaches me, bends slightly, and pokes me with her finger.

“Mari? Get up, let’s eat.”

“Help me up.”

Flipping over from lying face down, stretching both arms towards the ceiling.

“Up we go!”

Grabbing my flailing arms, Siyeon pulls me up, and with her effort, I manage to stand on both feet.

The overwhelming lethargy covering my body.

With Siyeon’s help, I manage to get up, and the gloomy mood subsides a bit.

Two people at the dining table, two beasts on the table.

Gathering around for the first time in a while, we unwrap the delivery food.

Peeling off the neatly wrapped hamburger packaging, I quickly bite the edge.

The crisp onion and lettuce, the moist sauce making the dry meat patty juicy.

The richness of the hamburger felt with every chew.

Picking up fries with thumb and forefinger, dipping them in ketchup, and sipping cola through a straw.

“It’s delicious.”

The holy trinity of fast food addiction, the words “it’s delicious” naturally escape my mouth.

Of course, it couldn’t not be delicious.

After finishing one set, I feel appropriately full and finish the meal.

In contrast, the two mascots take relatively longer to eat due to their small mouths.

One nibbles from the outside like a mealworm…

The other greedily tears from the edges…

‘Wow…’

Their table manners, resembling bugs or beasts, make me cringe inwardly as I subtly back away.

With food as big as their bodies, they have no choice but to eat like that, but honestly, it’s a bit shocking every time.

Even though they say they’ll wash themselves, it feels like watching a rat nibbling on soap.

“Clean up after yourselves when you’re done.”

“Yes.”

“Got it!”

Responding while busily eating their hamburgers, the two mascots.

What Siyeon and I ate can just be crumpled and thrown in the trash, taking only 5 seconds to clean up.

After the meal, the overwhelming lethargy subsides a bit, and I start on the piled-up housework.

The floor I was rolling around on just moments ago.

Starting the vacuum cleaner with a loud noise, Junie quickly runs back into the master bedroom.

The vacuum cleaner noise must be really uncomfortable.

After sweeping the floor once, a damp mop quickly finishes the mopping.

Strangely, only during this time does Junie wander near the mopping area.

Disliking the vacuum cleaner noise but finding the mopping interesting.

Shaking the piled-up towels into the washing machine, I press the buttons with familiar movements and start the machine.

Then, ignoring the rustling hamburger wrappers, I go to the room and turn on the computer to digest.

After eating, lying down on the bed right away isn’t good.

“Ugh, that was good.”

Like a 50-year-old uncle who just enjoyed a bowl of hot soup, Gomteng flies into the room with a hearty voice.

Since I said it was good, it felt good from the giver’s perspective.

It would have been nice if the day ended uneventfully…

“Miss Mari.”

“Yes?”

“Good news and bad news, which do you want to hear first?”

A mascot presenting a choice from a corner of the room.

Pausing the bizarre folk game strategy video I was watching, I swivel the chair to face the mascot.

Bobbing up into the air, Gomteng.

Suddenly talking about good news and bad news, did something go wrong?

“What nonsense are you spouting now?”

“Just choose quickly.”

“Say whatever you want in the order you want.”

Since the order of speaking was clearly intentional, I just let it say what it wanted while crossing my legs.

The authoritative, oppressive attitude of the head of the household.

“Uh, then the good news first…”

Tapping its head as if recalling something forgotten, Gomteng continues with difficulty.

As expected, starting with the good news.

“The next gathering is in Siheung.”

Siheung is a neighborhood almost right next to Incheon.

No need to spend hours on public transport for a gathering.

Having heard the good news, I ask about the bad news.

“That’s close, so what’s the bad news?”

“Looks like a monster will appear.”

A faint alarm sound rings outside as soon as Gomteng finishes speaking.

Staring blankly at the computer screen, adrenaline surges to the top of my head.

The slight lethargy after eating the burger completely disappears.

Startled, I jump up and hastily grab my outdoor clothes.

Putting on thin outdoor clothes and shorts, I mutter a few usual complaints along with some curses.

“Ah, damn it… you should have said that first.”

“I also thought it was a false alarm…”

Scratching the back of its head awkwardly, Gomteng admits it was mistaken.

This guy, really.

Balancing on one leg while putting a sock on the other, I hurriedly prepare to go outside.

Seeing no sign of me leaving, Siyeon calls from inside the room.

“Mari-! Aren’t you going? Should I go instead?”

“No, I’m going-”

Knowing I was quite tired today, Siyeon offers to go instead.

Breaking the strict rules I set for myself, I quickly say no and rush to the front door.

“I’ll be back-”

“Okay-”

Hearing Siyeon’s response, I step out into the hallway, to the elevator.

From the elevator to the common entrance, past the apartment parking lot, and outside.

With the alarm sounding from far away, all the residents, including those in the apartment, continue their daily lives.

Unless the alarm is very close, this is how it feels anywhere in Korea.

Arriving at the scene, it’s inside a construction site that makes you wonder if such a place existed.

It seemed like a place where a building was being constructed, but now it looks like a ruin, unused for months.

Surrounded by gray barriers, giving a strong sense of closure, a desolate construction site.

“Monster… no, please help save people just this once!”

In the depths of the construction site, perfect for a fight, I receive an unexpected proposal from a familiar-looking monster.

“…Huh?”

 

---