Congratulations on Your Magical Girl Duties

94 – Between Reality and a Fairy Tale.

“Help her with what?”

“Hmm, where should I start?”

Sora hummed, thinking for a moment, before speaking again.

“My sister has a bad habit.”

“What habit?”

I tilted my head, questioning.

Sora began to explain, slowly.

“It’s not always like this, but whenever she feels like something is about to blow up, she takes it all on herself and just endures it. She calls it Magical Collectivism, of sorts.”

Then, she gave a bitter smile.

“Of course, actual Magical Collectivism isn’t like that, but that’s what she calls it, anyway.”

In my opinion, it’s totally wrong. Sora added, clenching her fist tightly.

And, she showed me that fist.

“Well, if it gets too hard to bear, she clenches her fist like this. But she still won’t say anything. She’s stubborn in the strangest ways.”

Sora relaxed her fist and shook her hand.

“She probably did it again this time, too. She’s definitely forcing herself to endure it, I can tell.”

She had only clenched her fist for a moment, but nail marks were already etched into Sora’s palm.

As deep and clear as her bitter smile.

Sora caught her breath for a moment, then launched into a string of explanations.

“Actually, for this vacation, my sister and I were supposed to meet outside, because of our dad’s surgery. We even made the reservation to coincide with it.”

First, the reason for Hwidung’s vacation.

“My sister needed the time off specifically for this. Unlike me, her Magical leave schedule doesn’t match up, so she had to have a vacation.”

The reason Hwidung had been so obsessed with getting time off before.

“But that goddamn turtle b*tch – I mean, Magical Girl Mint Turtle – suddenly pushed my sister’s vacation aside and said she was going to use it. I only overheard it a few days ago, by chance.”

Next, the culprit who stole Hwidung’s vacation.

“She says she’s going to see her mom, but that’s probably not true. Last time, she used her mom’s funeral as an excuse to sneak off to a Magical Vocaloid concert and got caught. I bet it’s something similar this time, too.”

Sora’s own speculation as to why the culprit was suddenly taking a vacation.

“That’s why I rushed here to see you, Senior. My sister’s just going to try and bear it. Please, just help my sister out, just this once.”

Finally, a desperate plea directed at me.

There were other details as well. The surgery date, the current state of their father’s illness.

At that moment, Sora leaned in closer.

“Senior, are you even listening?”

“Ah, sorry. There was so much information, I kind of stopped paying attention after the first part.”

“If someone’s talking, you should at least try! Haa… No, it’s fine. It was a lot to take in, so I guess it’s okay…”

Sora almost burst out, but regained her composure.

“Alright, Senior. We don’t have a lot of time, but I’ll explain again. Where did you stop listening?”

“So, Hwidung has some kind of habit?”

“You just weren’t listening from the beginning, were you?!”

Well, her composure didn’t last long.

I waved my hand dismissively, trying to lighten the mood, and calmed down the fuming Sora.

Anyway, to summarize.

Hwidung took vacation because of her father’s surgery, but that turtle took her vacation instead.

But the victim, Hwidung, isn’t doing anything about it and is just silently enduring, so Sora’s trying to do something.

Hwidung’s enduring because she doesn’t want us to get involved. She probably thought everything would be alright if she just put up with it.

That’s probably right. I don’t think she was going to tell us at all, but we kept pressing her.

But, one question arises.

“Why me, though?”

If the goal is to persuade Hwidung, it would be better to meet with Hwidung directly. Wouldn’t a family member’s words carry more weight than a stranger’s?

But why ask *me*, of all people?

What do I even have to offer?

Sora hesitated a moment before speaking.

“I was hoping senior would speak to Purple Snake, the magical girl.”

It clicked then.

Sora wasn’t after anything grand. The purple magical girl treasured me, so she was trying to exploit that connection somehow.

To put it plainly, she wanted to leverage my network.

And coincidentally, the purple magical girl held considerable power.

Was that why? Sora hastily rattled off this and that, desperate to win me over.

“Should I order you more? Or maybe I can just give you money? Things are tight right now with my dad’s surgery, but I’ll definitely pay you back later.”

Offerings of more food, maybe.

Or money.

“Or is there something you want? Anything else you desire, just name it. I’ll try my best to get it for you.”

Promises to bring me whatever I wished.

“Or even my body—”

“Hey, stop. Enough.”

That, though, crossed the line.

“…Yes, I’m sorry.”

“Don’t go around saying things like that to just anyone.”

“It’s not like I say it to just anyone…”

Lightly dismissing Sora’s mumbled words, I spoke.

“So, what you’re saying is, you want me to talk to the purple magical girl… Purple Snake, about this?”

“Yes, senior. Please, just this one time.”

Gazing into amber eyes shimmering with desperation, I casually delivered my reply.

“I don’t think so.”

“No, but… why not?!”

To be sure, Sora’s idea wasn’t bad.

If the other side used rank to pressure us, we could simply use rank to pressure them right back.

From the start, life as a magical girl was just like the military.

You could push through almost anything with rank.

So that was why Sora was trying so hard to impress me, even pushing herself like this.

But, I felt it was difficult.

“I have no way of contacting that person.”

To start with, I didn’t have a good way to meet the Violet Magical Girl.

“Can’t you just contact them?”

“I don’t have their contact info?”

Sora was shocked by my words.

“Really? I thought you two were acquainted? There were even rumors that you had the senior’s ‘magical backing’.”

“I’ve only seen her face twice. One of those times was by chance. Of course, I don’t have her number or anything.”

“That’s impossible…”

And more than anything else.

“She’s from a different unit in the first place.”

“Ah, right.”

Different affiliations.

No matter how influential the Violet Magical Girl might be, this would just be a third-party intrusion.

A kind of internal meddling, in a way.

It might be different if the Magical Girl in charge of the unit had a lower rank. But the White Magical Girl’s rank is Lieutenant Colonel, the same as the Violet Magical Girl.

It’s impossible to just override her with rank.

Not that they would do that to a friend in the first place.

Furthermore, asking through the Violet Magical Girl instead of speaking directly to the White Magical Girl… wouldn’t that seem a bit strange?

If it were the usual, acerbic Sora, she would have noticed that, but she seemed too flustered to catch this point.

Sora made an expression of realization, then hesitated slightly before opening her mouth.

“Then… what if you met White Phoenix-nim directly and made the request…”

“That’s difficult too.”

“Why? She’s our magical direct superior!”

Well, that’s not wrong.

The only problem is.

“She’s not someone you can just meet whenever you want.”

“Ah, that’s true…”

A General is harder to meet than you think.

Even back in my army days, it was like this. Just thinking about how long I had to wait to meet the division commander one-on-one, just to lodge a complaint.

It was only by sheer luck I’d managed to grab a rifle and a kitchen knife, catching him unawares from behind. Even someone like me, an A-lister, wouldn’t easily get an audience with a general.

So, a White Magical Girl would be even harder to reach, wouldn’t she?

Before, those Magical Lantern events, everyone rushed to them together, with the officers guiding the way. That made it possible.

If I were on my own, even meeting one would be difficult. Truthfully, I don’t even know where to start looking.

And, even if I did manage to meet her…

“Should I just settle this for you, then and there?”

“…I can’t say for sure. White Phoenix is… well, she’s a bit of a Magical stickler for the rules.”

To a general, a soldier’s leave is a trifle. Just the weight of a piece of paper with a few words scribbled on it.

If a soldier appeals about an injustice stemming from that insignificant leave, how likely is the general to listen?

Not likely at all.

He’d just offer some empty promise about preventing it from happening again, trying to brush it off.

A magical girl probably wouldn’t be any different.

Wherever people live, it’s all the same, isn’t it?

And even assuming the White Magical Girl took it seriously, the outlook isn’t bright.

“Honestly, we don’t have much time left, do we? Right?”

“That’s right…”

There’s no guarantee it’ll be resolved quickly.

If, as Sora says, the White Magical Girl is a stickler for the rules, she’ll try to follow every procedure to the letter.

Meaningless for Whitedog, who needs his leave now. Before those blasted procedures are all done, his leave will have already passed him by.

It’s cruel to say, but, strictly speaking, this situation isn’t entirely wrong. Morally reprehensible, sure, but…

Even if we tried to get the media involved, it would probably be buried. At best, the leave schedule would be long gone before the story even got any traction.

Practically a stalemate, really.

“So, in conclusion, it doesn’t look promising.”

Of course, all of this could be my imagination.

The White Magical Girl might be someone who, contrary to appearances, can’t stand injustice and immediately jumps into action.

But, being realistic, I had to bet on the tougher odds.

“So, what can we do then?”

Sora’s expression became noticeably gloomy, but only for a moment. Then, with desperate eyes, she looked at me.

“Don’t you have any other Magical advice, *sunbae*?”

“Advice, eh…”

I hummed for a moment, then opened my mouth.

“If I were to offer advice, based on my own experiences…”

“Yes, tell me.”

Sora’s amber eyes sparkled.

“But thinking about it, compared to your sister’s situation, my life has been smooth sailing. If I were your sister, I’d have just given up.”

“Ugh, seriously! Are you trying to annoy me on purpose?!”

Sadly, the light faded from her eyes almost immediately.

But honestly, it can’t be helped. To give advice, my life has been relatively better than Heundung’s.

Simple, to be precise.

Before being dragged to another world, I was just recklessly earning money to pour into stocks, and in that world, I just killed everything to solve problems, so there’s no way I’d have any worthwhile advice.

“Then what should I do?”

Sora drooped, hanging her head low.

“Why are you worrying so much?”

“How can I not worry?”

“Your sister, even though she’s a screw-up, hasn’t really done anything wrong this time, right? Isn’t that so?”

“I guess so.”

“Then, even with twists and turns, your sister will safely go on her vacation, right? That dickhead deserves to pay the price for what she did—”

“Don’t be ridiculous!!!”

In that instant, Sora slammed her hand on the table.

The food on top momentarily floated before settling back down. Some even fell to the floor.

But Sora didn’t look anywhere else, staring only at me.

“Good deeds are rewarded, bad deeds are punished? Do you really think that will happen?!”

Her amber eyes welled up with tears.

With a gaze full of desperation, frustration, and earnestness.

“Those sugar-coated stories like in fairytales don’t exist in reality!!! They just don’t!!!”

Soon, Sora’s head slowly lowered.

“That kind of thing…”

In accordance, Sora’s voice, which had been raised, gradually subsided, becoming tinged with moisture.

“There’s no way it exists…”

Presently, Sora could bear it no longer, and she buried her face. Sora’s shoulders trembled, little by little.

Well, it wasn’t exactly an incomprehensible reaction.

In reality, even if the strong commit atrocities against the weak, they only receive a meager punishment. And even that barely happens at all.

*Kwonseonjingak* (Reward good, punish evil).

*Sapilgwijeong* (Justice will prevail).

*Ingwaeungbo* (Karma).

All that stuff is meaningless in the real world. It’s just the empty cry of the weak, wailing against the strong.

Light, insignificant words that only exist in fairy tales.

That’s all they are, at best.

Reality is different from fairy tales.

“Well, anyhow.”

I’d heard pretty much all the story I needed to hear, so there was no reason to stay here any longer.

“Nice meeting you. I’m leaving now.”

“Senior, wait! I’m not finished talking yet!”

Only then did Sora raise her head and try to grab me, but I ignored her and kept walking.

“Senior, where are you going!”

I didn’t stop at Sora’s shout.

Instead, I only turned my head and gave a faint smile.

“Where am I going, you ask?”

Off to write a fairy tale, of course.