Reincarnated as the Narrow-Eyed Character in a Magical Girl Battle Story

[강은빛]

In the name tag with the logo of the Supernatural Ability Response Team, there was a hastily taken photo of me against the white wall at the back of the office.

In the picture, my face was edited just enough to barely show a mix of Eastern and Western features, creating a precarious balance.

Comparing the photo with the real thing, I thought, “Did I see that wrong?” It was quite a cunning edit.

“Eunbit, from now on, you’re a South Korean citizen who was born and raised in a rural foreign worker family in Gangwon Province and attended a small branch of a country school.”

“Since Eunbit’s original home was rural, it took a while to discover her as a Magical Girl, and she’s been adapting as an intern, living in the annex of the Supernatural Ability Response Team for a week now.”

“When regular staff ask, ‘Who are you following around?’ just show them a rough version of this.”

“Creating a full fake identity will take a while, so for now, just use it casually.”

Dorim and Sanghyuk quickly exchanged words to create an alibi for my existence.

“But is this really okay?”
I expected to just be a foreign volunteer or a high school exchange student, but now I had a pretty serious identity.

“How far can I go with this identity?”
“Well, I guess it depends on how much Eunbit decides to reveal her identity from now on?”

“Maybe if I go to Yeouido and shout, ‘Accept me as a citizen, you bastards!’ I can even get a same-day passport!”
“Becoming a naturalized citizen as a Blooming Magical Girl? Wow… Just with Dorim and Park Saebyeok, the country would be in an uproar; it would be quite the festival.”

If I really did that, my friends left in Japan would be calling for me in the garden with a frenzy like smashing a glass star, an emergency meeting of Walpurgis would be summoned, and all of Japan’s news would cover my naturalization (= return).

All the Magical Girls would be in shock saying, “Wait?! The faceless king was actually Korean?!”

“Hmm…”
I was tempted to record it as a hidden camera special, considering the hilarious potential, but I decided against it since I couldn’t handle the aftermath.

“Let’s keep a stateless, mystery concept when we’re active as [Start].”
With only eight months left until the [War] descends, I needed to soothe my current comrades as much as possible while also recruiting new ones. This kind of disruption was not good.

“Thank you, I’ll use this effectively.”
“What are you talking about? From now on…”

Tap

Sanghyuk connected his laptop, which he brought from the office, to the projector in our small meeting room and turned it on.

“Are you two going hiking?”

The laptop background showed Dorim, whose long black hair was styled in braids, and Sanghyuk in hiking clothes, awkwardly embracing on top of a mountain.

The photo was cut off and blurry, making Dorim look like a boiled vegetable, and Sanghyuk was even closing his eyes.

“We went to shake off all the bad memories together before Dorim became a Magical Girl…”
“Ah, stop with the useless talk and show the PPT, old man.”

Snap

As a gray laser shot out from Dorim’s hand, the background instantly changed to a clean monotone default wallpaper, and she found and opened the PPT file amidst the work-related security folders.

[Global Supernatural Ability Manifestation Situation Report (2011.9.22.)]

“It sounds grand, but it’s just a collection of oddities gathered through cyber swimming.”
“Most of the PPT content is mostly confirmed information from Japan, so what I want to point out is at the back.”

Click, click

The sound of the mouse wheel turning accompanied scenes of named Magical Girls from Japan (Sumire, Himari, etc.) and the Garden rolling by.

Because the media in Japan was so excited about the emergence of Magical Girls, they had pushed the overseas news aside, and when we moved to the accurate current situations of various countries worldwide, I was left speechless.

“This is…”
“In fact, the attitudes towards Magical Girls in Korea and Japan can be viewed as quite peculiar on a global scale.”
“People from other countries asking to borrow Magical Girls are just stunned all the time.”

Inside a grand building made of white marble somewhere in Europe, three girls wearing brilliantly white dresses made of dazzling fabric and adorned with golden belts were under a dome-shaped roof.

People who had been given a death sentence were regaining their health with just a wave of the girls’ hands and were shedding tears of joy. The immense crowd observing bowed their heads to the girls in reverence.

“All those kneeling are among the high-ranking elite, ranking among the world’s wealthy.”
“That bald guy in a suit at the very front is a director at a prominent PMC company.”
“….”
“Many nations have insisted that the Red Broadcast is a ‘prophecy to bring forth the avatars of gods’ and that we need to wage war to steal stars from other countries’ Magical Girls.”

Desire.

“While the debutante in Japan was a hot topic because of the high percentage of Japanese Magical Girls, globally, people are still deeply absorbing the phrase ‘Rob the stars of the Red Broadcast.’”
“It’s ironic that Japan, where most of the Magical Girls are located, remains calm.”

Plunder.

“Japan, where Magical Girls are protected by the faceless king, and countries like Korea, China, and Russia quickly integrate them as human resources, have a strongly religious atmosphere dominating outside of that.”
“It might be easy to forget because of Captain Park Saebyeok, who goes around healing people, but the miracle of healing the ill can practically be seen as a divine miracle in itself.”
“Was it a certain country? In the Middle East? I heard a 2-Star Magical Girl successfully carried out a coup alone.”
“There are rumors that the USA will soon launch operations to recruit Magical Girls worldwide.”
“Since they don’t even understand the operating principles of Magical Girls, they’re extremely cautious around Eunbit’s words.”

Listening to Dorim and Sanghyuk’s exchange, I felt a sense of dizziness.

The debutante, which was like a cheat for future knowledge, had suddenly raised the level of the Magical Girls, and I thought that I had avoided the Fujimoto-style Magical Girl bibimbap.

‘At least in regions where most Magical Girls are located, they barely maintain peace, but this is clearly…’

A powder keg.
It was the scene just before desire overflowed and exploded.

The madness that dominated Japan right before the Fujimoto Disturbance broke out.
“Wow… this is worse than I thought.”
“Eunbit, the countries trying to pry into Japan are just cautiously watching, so you didn’t notice. They’re probably desperate to sneak a peek since it’s the biggest honey pot.”
“Kind of like how Dorim is hesitant about foreigners coming over to scout because of the attention.”
“Well, my abilities seem to serve as a kind of cheat key in modern society.”

After flaunting her own skills, Dorim spun around in her swivel chair.

“Was it these kinds of things that made you feel anxious and need to ask me?”
“……”
As a Magical Girl of [Cyber Brain], encountering this kind of information made the concept of [Magical Girl HAZARD] feel like a literal powder keg.

It was a landscape where it wouldn’t be surprising if at any moment a war broke out to steal stars, and 2-Star girls filled with hatred for society rampaged amidst the fighting.

“Umm… this is just my instinct, so I didn’t include it in the PPT to show others.”
“Yeah.”
“The woman who gave us the glass star during the first Red Broadcast… God? Devil? Whatever.”

Dorim said to me with a slightly pale and terrified expression for the first time.

“I don’t know if my ability felt this before I bloomed, but I sensed from that voice that everything was destined to fail.”

The will of the Evil God.
“Since it’s bound to fail anyway, it’s like they’re saying we should fight quickly and show our true selves? Resignation? Ah shoot, even as I say it, it’s confusing.”
“…So the Supernatural Ability Response Team is trying to maintain Korean society in its original form? By showing the power of the Magical Girls while protecting themselves?”

Instinctively resisting the will of the Evil God.

“Well, there’s that, and…”
“I just went along with it because I became the team leader so quickly thanks to this little chick bringing me along.”

Sanghyuk shrugged with a goofy smile, and Dorim looked at him, about to say something, but then chuckled instead.

Before long, the two began giggling as if they had the same thought.

“…We shouldn’t have gone to the mountains together that time.”
“Why? That’s heroic and nice.”
“Heroes are bullshit; they’re probably just planning to dump us on a deserted island.”
“Dorim’s right.”
“Yeah?”
“Huh?”
“The human race in this world is headed for extinction by next year if we continue like this.”

Upon hearing that, Dorim and Sanghyuk stared at me with surprised eyes.
I was strongly impressed by the two, who leaned on each other in uncertainty.

“I came to Korea to prevent that.”
“……”
“……”
Sanghyuk and Dorim began to focus on my words.