Chapter 23 – Debut

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The debut as the monster Hemorrhagia was far more successful than I had anticipated.

No matter which search portal you used, typing my name would bring up an overwhelming flood of posts.

On top of that, even television networks and internet broadcasts were covering my story, so there was no need to explain how much attention I was getting.

And it made sense—what I did was quite unusual for a monster. I didn’t go around wrecking everything in sight, I attacked magical girls but also attacked other monsters.

A monster that confidently gave orders to the magical girl tracking them while crossing their arms? That wasn’t exactly common.

So, was I flustered? Not at all. In fact, I could say I was happy—no, thrilled. Everywhere, in both public and underground spaces, people were talking about me. How could I not be delighted?

I did all this to grab attention, and I succeeded perfectly. Just lying down and reading through the posts made my lips twitch in satisfaction.

…Of course, some of the attention was honestly quite disturbing.

These guys were already making stuff about real, legally protected magical girls that could get them arrested. So, it wasn’t surprising that they’d make that kind of content about a pretty female monster…

But it was just disgusting.

They didn’t know anything and just made whatever they wanted to get off on, but from my perspective as someone who used to be a man, all I could do was scoff in disbelief.

What? “Once you pin her down, she can’t move?” Ha, ridiculous. I had half a mind to personally pull them out by the roots and see if they could still spew that nonsense.

…Going after them directly and crushing them would be one way to handle it, but the thought of dealing with such trash one by one didn’t sit well with me.

So, I let it slide by simply reporting every single one of them to the authorities. Rotting in prison is a better fate than getting their necks snapped, right?

I wasn’t sure how many of them would actually get caught, but seeing this filth made me understand why veteran magical girls seemed so exhausted inside.

They must have known about this kind of content being made about them. But they couldn’t acknowledge it or even react to it. They just had to smile through it. No wonder they were losing their minds.

No matter how many of these guys get locked up, new perverts will crawl out faster than they can be caught.

I was starting to think maybe that’s what pushed Shining White over the edge.

I wouldn’t know the real cause until I got all my memories back.

I could always just surrender my body to Shining White entirely, but… yeah, no. Even if I ignored the fact that I don’t know how, something told me that would end terribly.

Considering what happened last time someone forcefully took control, she might do something even worse.

She had quite the sharp tongue, too.

“I have no idea what’s got you so giddy. You completely wrecked the city, your face is now known across the entire world, and yet you’re just lying there smirking like an idiot?”

Narae’s voice, full of irritation, rang out as she glared at me still sprawled on the couch.

I could understand why she was pissed. She wanted a quiet life, but I had turned the world upside down, sending her patience through the roof.

“I’m happy because my face is known across the world. And besides, no one even knows you’re my subordinate. So, what exactly are you so worried about?”

I had no intention of protecting Narae. After spending time with her, I realized she wasn’t that good of a person.

The only reason I kept her around was because she was useful. It wasn’t because I liked her.

Ironically, that meant she was safe. If something happened to me, she could just walk away like we had never even met.

If she was worried about getting exposed to the vampires, well… that was her problem to deal with.

Where was I going with this again? Oh, right. The news.

The whole world wasn’t just talking about me.

The special-rank monster organization, Zodiac, had made its official debut, and the story of the two brave and powerful magical girls who fought against them was also circulating.

But it wasn’t as big of a deal as the disappearance of Radiant White.

As Shining White’s younger sister—bearing not only the White name but even inheriting the same constellation—her disappearance was bound to be a major issue.

Though it wasn’t as explosive as my story, talk about her had spread far and wide after she was last seen heading to Incheon before losing contact.

Was she alive? Hopefully, she was safe. Going alone was reckless no matter how you looked at it. She was bound to get taken down eventually.

Opinions were all over the place, and arguments were breaking out. Whenever an interesting fight started, I added fuel to the fire just to make things more entertaining.

Every now and then, some “righteous-minded” users tried to break up the fights, saying this wasn’t the time for arguing. But I wasn’t worried at all.

I had sent her straight to Suhyeok’s place.

If there was anyone who would take care of someone without expecting anything in return, it was him. Even if a pure white magical girl fell from the sky, he’d obviously take her in and look after her.

By now, she was probably fully healed and sitting down for a heartfelt conversation with Suhyeok.

That’s how it went in the original story, so it was bound to happen here too.

Man, I was jealous. One person calls a name to get attention and gets a gun pointed at their head. Another wrecks a house and still gets to have a peaceful conversation.

The world is seriously unfair.

I grumbled to myself as I imagined the protagonist and heroine’s romantic first meeting.

…

….

Hmm. Something just feels… off.

It wasn’t that I was worried Radiant White would start seducing Suhyeok from the very first meeting.

In the original story, she was the one who fell for him first, not the other way around.

My concerns lay elsewhere.

What if I had thrown her down too hard and completely wrecked Suhyeok’s house? What if, when I struck her down in the end, my attack actually penetrated her transformation and caused real damage?

Things like that.

Since it wasn’t just exhaustion that made her fall but my own powerful spike that sent her crashing down, the story might have deviated from the original plot.

For all I knew, I might have accidentally sent her plummeting straight onto Suhyeok’s bed, injuring him as well.

Once I started worrying about it, I couldn’t stop.

Were they really okay? I had roughed her up so much before dropping her that I was seriously concerned she’d try to fly up again despite needing rest.

Visiting in person felt a bit too much, but… just calling to check if they were okay shouldn’t be a problem, right?

Yeah, that much should be fine.

Though I couldn’t shake a nagging feeling, I convinced myself it was just guilt over disturbing their private moment and dialed his number.

As I anxiously listened to the ringing tone, waiting for him to pick up, his voice finally came through.

—You picked a rather bad time to call. What is it? Are you here to give me another request?

Hearing his voice, I felt relieved. At least he hadn’t been crushed under White when I sent her flying.

I steadied my thoughts for a moment before casually responding that it wasn’t about that, but I did plan to give him another request soon.

“You seem really eager to work, which is great, but not just yet. I’ll give you something soon, so don’t be too impatient.”

—If it’s not a request, then what is it? I doubt you’re calling just to chat.

Still as curt as ever.

“Well, you could call it small talk. I mean, it depends on how you take it. You know how my mother paid you a visit the other night? Just wondering if anything happened.”

Pretending to be a concerned daughter, I brought up the topic casually. He let out a small sigh before responding.

—There was certainly an issue… my house was destroyed.

Phew, what a relief. At least I got the location right. I’d been slightly anxious even as I threw her, but it seemed my memory hadn’t failed me.

“Your house?”

I prompted him to continue, secretly hoping he’d mention Radiant White.

He didn’t hesitate to explain everything.

Something had suddenly flashed in the sky, and then a glowing girl had come crashing down, destroying his house. He couldn’t just leave her there, so he took her to a temporary shelter nearby and had been taking care of her—but she still hadn’t woken up.

—That’s all. Nothing more to say.

It was a typically concise Suhyeok-style explanation, but that made it even more frustrating.

Wasn’t he leaving out quite a lot? Like the fact that she was a magical girl, or details about her condition?

“…You said she fell from the sky. That means she must be badly hurt. Can you even take care of her properly where you are?”

I wondered if he even realized she was a magical girl. I asked in a roundabout way if he knew who she was.

He replied that since she was a magical girl, she hadn’t suffered any major injuries.

…Phew. At least he wasn’t clueless. That was a relief. If he hadn’t even known she was a magical girl—no, I don’t even want to think about it.

“A magical girl… Oh, that reminds me, Radiant White was reported missing. Maybe it’s her? You said she wasn’t too injured, right? Can you tell me her exact condition?”

—Why do you want to know?

“Oh, come on. We’re practically family. It’s only natural to be concerned.”

He seemed to buy my casual response and answered without hesitation.

—Other than being unconscious, she’s fine. Occasionally, she mutters ‘sister’ in her sleep, though.

Sister, huh?

That part nagged at me a little, but since she wasn’t severely hurt, that was a relief.

“Well, as long as you two are safe, that’s all that matters. This shouldn’t turn into anything serious. Anyway… she’s your problem now. Catch you later!”

—Then I’ll hang up now.

She was still unconscious, but aside from that, there didn’t seem to be any major issues.

That lingering unease in my mind—I figured it was just guilt over launching White too hard.

With that, I decided to get back to doing a little trolling.

It wasn’t time to reveal myself again just yet, so I needed to stay in the shadows.

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