Ch.63Chapter 3. It’s Not Technology Leakage, It’s Advice! (4)

I was perplexed.

To be specific, I was perplexed by the sight of this foreign magical girl standing before me with her entire body shimmering in rainbow colors.

“Hmm, why are you turning your head away like that?”

“Obviously because of the state you’re in!”

“What’s wrong with this?”

Ymir pointed at her transformed self.

“Isn’t this a costume that embodies the beauty and spirit of Korea?”

“Aren’t you a bit too obsessed with Korea?”

“Shouldn’t a foreigner dress like this to receive less criticism from people?”

She had a point.

I was the one who had suggested it, and Ymir had faithfully designed her costume according to my proposal.

The problem was that she hadn’t commissioned it from a professional costume maker but created it herself.

And she hadn’t sewn it with thread, but made it with magical power.

“Are you wearing mana right now?”

“Yes!”

“Good heavens. What happens if the mana comes off?”

“I’ll be naked!”

“Hey!”

I let out a shout.

“Oh my, you startled me.”

“What are you planning to do if this comes off?”

“It’s fine. It absolutely won’t come off!”

“You can say whatever you want. No. Think of another method. And don’t you dare take it off now.”

“Ah, I was about to undo the transformation.”

“Are you trying to sexually harass me?”

“If I’m the one who’d be naked, wouldn’t I be the one getting harassed?”

“Seriously.”

I took a coat from the closet and threw it to Ymir, who merely caught it.

“Why are you just holding it when I gave it to you to wear?”

“Why should I wear this?”

“Hey. What’s visible might look like normal clothing, but you’re actually naked, right?”

“The material of the clothes might be different, but I’m still wearing clothes, aren’t I? Whether they’re made of silk thread, satin, or mana.”

“Sigh. How do you always have a comeback?”

“I can’t back down! I worked hard on this costume, and instead of praise, I’m getting scolded.”

Ymir put her hands on her waist and puffed her cheeks.

She was clearly saying “I’m not happy about this,” and I had no choice but to raise my hands in surrender.

“Fine. Just don’t take off that mana clothing.”

“Why would I take off my clothes in front of you, teacher?”

“You just changed suddenly!”

“I just went through a transformation process. From casual clothes to an extremely thin full-body rashguard, and then to this hanbok costume.”

“Transformation, you say?”

This was somewhat interesting.

“Wait. Then where did your clothes go?”

“My clothes?”

“Yes. Your clothes.”

“……Ah!”

Ymir clapped her hands in surprise.

“I should have undressed before transforming!”

“……”

I almost shouted “Hey!” but managed to hold back.

If I made a fuss here, it might suggest I knew about the side effects of transformation.

“What did you need to take off?”

“My clothes. Oh no. What should I do? If I undo this transformation now, I’ll be completely naked.”

“……”

As expected.

Just like Baek Seol-hee had “poofed,” Ymir had nearly done the same.

“Didn’t you practice in your room before coming?”

“I did practice, but I was only wearing underwear then.”

“Didn’t your roommate say anything? No, wait. You said your roommate wouldn’t be coming in. Ugh.”

“Yes. So I was alone when I confirmed it. This transformation makes underwear disappear through magical discharge.”

“Ugh….”

This was a bit troublesome.

Ymir, who seemed to have higher magical power than me as “Solar Platina,” was experiencing the same problem I had.

Clothes being stripped off by the magical power released from the body during transformation.

More precisely, clothes exploding because they couldn’t withstand the pressure of magical power.

Exploding into pieces so small it’s impossible to tell if they’re at the particle or molecular level.

I didn’t fully understand the principle yet, nor had I overcome it.

‘It’s not like there’s a law of naked transformation.’

The phenomenon of clothes tearing during transformation seems to be a natural law of this world, like the law of universal gravitation, as it happens to many people.

It wasn’t just me; everyone else who learned my technique experienced the same thing.

“Ymir. Is there no way to solve this? No way to restore your clothes?”

“I can’t restore the clothes, but there are about two solutions.”

Ymir casually sat on my bed and held up two fingers.

“One is to maintain this form and move to a changing room. Only undo this transformation in a safe place where I can quickly change from being naked.”

“You can’t keep losing clothes while attending the academy.”

“That’s why there’s another method: continuously supplying mana to keep these clothes maintained. Until the mana runs out.”

“Ymir, I hate to say this, but as an E-rank, wouldn’t your mana run out quickly?”

“…That might be true for an ordinary E-rank. Hmm.”

Ymir put her index finger to her lips and winked.

“I have a secret weapon.”

“What is it?”

“Come on, who shows their joker card so easily?”

“Sorry. Did I ask something too sensitive?”

“No, no, no, no!!”

Ymir jumped up and waved her hands at me in denial.

“The question is a bit sensitive, but it’s okay with you, teacher!”

“…Huh?”

Something felt strange just now.

“Why is it okay with me specifically?”

“Ah, well. Um… Teacher! Let me ask you something else first!”

Ymir approached me with clenched fists, as if she had made a decision.

“This is absolutely not about me!”

“Mm-hmm. So it’s about an acquaintance, or a friend you met on the internet?”

“Yes!”

Yeah, right.

She doesn’t seem to have any intention of hiding that she’s Solar Platina.

What is she trying to achieve by hinting to me, Do Ji-hwan, that she’s actually an incredible ability user?

“If there’s someone who needs to hide their ability from the entire country and the world for some reason, and you discovered their secret, what would you do?”

“I tend to keep secrets.”

“Even if you could gain enormous wealth, honor, and power by using that person’s ability?”

“I’m not particularly interested in those things.”

I already have a fair amount of wealth, I’m notorious enough for honor, and I have sufficient power as a one-man army in the Syndicate.

“Ah, that might be tempting though.”

“What is it?”

“Stories I haven’t seen yet.”

“…Stories?”

“Yes.”

I pointed to the paper books on my desk that I had borrowed from the library.

“I’m someone who loves novels. I enjoy seeing various stories I haven’t experienced before. This isn’t limited to novels. It includes movies, anime, musicals, and… ‘reality’ too.”

“By reality, do you mean stories of heroes or villains?”

“That’s part of it.”

But that’s for later.

“I’m thinking of compiling stories about those who are praised as heroes and those who are condemned as villains.”

“Like a wiki?”

“Hmm… more like turning them into ‘novels’.”

Someone once said that all readers are potential aspiring novelists.

Some might be inspired to dream of becoming novelists after being moved by well-written novels—

—Wow, how could someone write such crude text?

—I could write better than this trash.

—Damn, should I try becoming a writer? Huh? Live the life of a writer instead of a reader?

That’s what they say happens sometimes.

I’m the same.

“It’s just one of my goals. And if the protagonist of that story needs to hide their identity, I’d like to tell them this.”

“What would you say?”

“Since all ability users who tried to hide their identities have had them exposed at least once, they should be thorough. Either never let your identity be discovered, or be in a position where it doesn’t matter if it is.”

“…That’s an interesting perspective.”

Ymir’s eyes lit up with interest.

“I’d try my best not to be discovered, but what does it mean to be in a position where it doesn’t matter? Are you saying I should become a villain?”

“No. I mean you should strictly separate your time as an ability user from your time as an ordinary person.”

Like me.

“Let’s say, hypothetically, that Ymir is the strongest S-rank ability user in the world, or even beyond that.”

“What?! Me?”

“Why are you so surprised? It’s just a hypothesis, a hypothesis.”

“Ah, haha. Right. A hypothesis. IF. Supposing.”

“……”

This kid.

She’s going to blow her cover at this rate.

How can she be so careless?

‘If her cover is blown, I don’t think she’ll have a mental breakdown, but if she does, I should try to recruit her for the Syndicate.’

With talent enough to transform herself, she could aim for an executive position, or even higher.

Though not the top position.

“So if I were the world’s strongest ability user?”

“Hmm… if you could create something like a doppelgänger?”

“……Oh?”

Ymir’s eyes sparkled.

“A doppelgänger?”

“Yes. Like another you that moves remotely. There could be various methods. Putting magical power into a remote-controlled robot to make it move, animating a mannequin with magical power, or even transforming into a completely different appearance from Ymir.”

“Those all sound difficult.”

“If you’re the world’s strongest, shouldn’t you be able to do at least that much?”

“It would certainly be useful if successful, but isn’t there an easier solution?”

“An easier solution, huh.”

There is one.

Like Baek Seol-hee did, you could overlay magical power on top of clothing to create an external layer.

After meeting Baek Seol-hee, I also researched and came up with another transformation method. If I told her about “overlaying magical power on top of current clothing,” Ymir would surely find her own answer immediately.

But.

‘I have loyalty to Baek Seol-hee.’

I can’t just reveal that.

Instead, I’ll have to subtly suggest another method.

“If there’s a way to make it okay for your identity to be exposed in Korea, it would be this.”

“What is it?”

“This.”

I turned on my smartphone and pulled up a document.

“…Transforming into a form that preserves our traditions, where there’s an implicit understanding that no one should reveal your identity. At the same time, it’s okay to show yourself directly.”

“Is this… a scholar?”

“No, not just any scholar.”

In the image, a scholar was holding out a round object and shouting something loudly.

“It’s a secret royal inspector.”

“…Are you telling me to become a secret royal inspector?”

“It’s hypothetical, remember? And from your current state, you just need to add two things.”

I ran my hand over my face.

“You just need a mapae for the transformation gimmick. You don’t even need to hide your face. But instead.”

I pointed to Ymir’s hair and eyes.

“What if you went around looking like a completely different person?”

“…My face?”

“Yes. Make your pre-transformation and post-transformation appearances completely different.”

It’s a simple method.

“To be blunt, if Ymir transformed into, say, the president’s granddaughter’s face and went around saying ‘Magical Girl has arrived!’ who would think it was actually Ymir?”

Face change.

Voice change.

And deepfake [magical].

“Whether you act as a hero or villain, an ability user will always be in someone’s sight, but it wouldn’t matter because it wouldn’t be Ymir, right?”

“…I see.”

Ymir put her hands on her cheeks.

“First transform into a completely different person, then transform again into a secret royal inspector magical girl from that transformed state!”

Correct.

“As someone completely different, not as Ymir!”

Magical girl.