Chapter 46 : Change #5

October 27th

The weather, which had been quite chilly until yesterday, cleared up as if it were a lie and returned to a relatively warm temperature.

Actually, although it’s been almost 3 years since I changed into this body, it’s still hard to get used to the gazes that all converge on my chest area when I wear even slightly thinner clothes, so I felt more comfortable in slightly chilly weather. Because when I covered up with thick sweaters or knits, the gazes reduced by at least 50%.

Ding

I’ve tried almost all the restaurants around the Supernatural Ability Countermeasures Headquarters during the 2 weeks since the incident, but in the end, this beef bone soup restaurant was the only place I liked, so I came here again.

Inside the beef bone soup restaurant, it was a bit crowded with people, but there were still some seats left.

Some people glanced at me with my noticeable appearance, then nodded and gave a thumbs up when they saw the Supernatural Ability Countermeasures Team affiliation logo on my nameplate.

I also gave a thumbs up in response.

The public opinion about magical girls in Korea, which had been favorable before, was now explosive beyond enthusiasm.

“One regular beef bone soup, please~”

“Student Dorim didn’t come today?”

I quietly pointed to the sky at the restaurant owner’s words.

“She seems busy because of the launching ceremony.”

“Ah~”

I took off the knit I had been regretting wearing since leaving my lodgings because it was too hot, hung it on the chair, sat down properly, and watched the TV in the beef bone soup restaurant. After acting as a civil servant (fake) for a whole month, walking around Sejong City at lunchtime in a suit skirt with a nameplate dangling, I was reaching the point where a suit felt more comfortable than casual clothes.

‘Last weekend when I went to the movies with Dorim wearing a suit, she looked at me with strange eyes…’

Because the soul of a 27-year-old shy and lonely mister still lives inside me, the cold eyes of an active middle school student felt like too great a wound.

[As the launching ceremony of the Asian Supernatural Ability Alliance is scheduled, now respecting the autonomy of magical girls…]

[President Yang said that since this terrorist incident, the contribution of magical girls to society…]

On the screen appeared a photo of President Yang shaking hands with Team Leader Oh Sanghyuk, sweating slightly and pulling up the corners of his mouth to make an artificial smile, while Sanghyuk looked at him with cold eyes and a crooked smile.

The crisis of Seoul’s extinction.

Because that was a crisis equivalent to being stabbed in the heart for Korea and meant the end of the nation, the impact left by the incident that lasted just over an hour was enormous.

[Seoul Invasion, Crisis of Korea’s Destruction!]

[Tragedy Caused by a Single Terrorist!]

The military was powerless, the state was paralyzed, and the rulers hid.

If the situation had lasted a little longer, there might have been a ruler who would have awakened the latent courage and leadership in their unconscious and risen up. But at least at the moment when the villain magical girl invaded, citizens were paralyzed with helpless fear, seeing examples of other countries that had been hit first.

There, the girls stood and fought.

[Captain Park Saebyeok “No special treatment, I just did what was natural”]

[All White Wing unit members “We express gratitude to the military, police, and citizens who fought together.”]

[Miracle Han River Escape Operation, All White Wing unit members to be awarded medals.]

[Special law under discussion for smooth social service activities of supernatural ability users.]

[Proposal of ‘Park Saebyeok Special Law’ allowing activity based on ability alone, regardless of age and status of supernatural ability users.]

To someone who didn’t know about my cause and effect reversal, Park Saebyeok’s desperate activity, which was almost at the level of taking down [Bombing] single-handedly, was recorded by the camera in Seoul Plaza and was being treated as a legendary hero.

Especially in cases like the European Union, which had suffered great damage from [Bombing], they even sent a letter to the Ministry of National Defense to invite Captain Park Saebyeok to the joint memorial service for victims to be held next week.

‘That Minister Jang Iksu, he couldn’t say a word because Dorim and I knew everything.’

Of course, from the perspective of the ministers, members of parliament, and the president who were in the bunker, these were discussions that could be had because it was an incident equivalent to a terrorist attack occurring in a nearby country.

‘That one hour changed everything.’

The moment one question was raised in a current affairs talk show about why the emergency countermeasures committee, including the president, was not convened and why the control tower, except for the working-level officials in charge of Seoul’s defense, did not show up during the one-hour crisis of Seoul’s extinction.

The space-time in the studio froze.

‘…’

‘…’

Along with the chilling silence, recalling numerous historical cases, the question ‘Could it be…?’ arose in the minds of all Seoul citizens.

To calm all Korean citizens who were quietly sharing that chilling silence and slowly turning their heads toward the Blue House and Yeouido, high-ranking public officials related to national security all praised the achievements of Korean magical girls as if sparks had fallen on them.

“Isn’t it really amazing!!”

“They are the pride of the country!!”

Kang Dorim, who single-handedly stopped a bomb of tremendous power that made buildings near Seoul City Hall collapse even though it exploded in the sky completely outside the 5-kilometer blast radius.

Park Saebyeok, who stopped the magical girl of [Bombing], the vicious terrorist who had caused thousands of casualties and whom the European Union couldn’t even touch, with her two fists.

The girls who had been the pride of the nation, shining with achievements of treating critically ill patients and dramatically lowering all crime rates via the internet, rose to the rank of heroes with this incident.

Ironically, the girls they had tried to put into the state system instead created an opportunity to actively go outside the state system, using public opinion as support.

-Mister, are you just going to let this go?

-Now we’re the ones holding the leash.

-If we reveal that you tried to deal with the two of us and send Park Saebyeok to America, it’s completely over, right?

-If it starts to feel like a rope instead of a leash, they might really struggle, we need tomorrow.

Silence.

The Supernatural Ability Countermeasures Team gained justification and freedom at the cost of silence.

‘In the first place, they can’t ignore us because of Dorim’s current position.’

There were also media outlets that started to present hard-line arguments saying that if it weren’t for magical girls, this wouldn’t have happened, but they couldn’t have much influence due to the defense of those who had benefited from the achievements Park Saebyeok and Kang Dorim had built up before.

America’s reaction was surprisingly moderate.

[We express gratitude to our ally Korea for stopping the terrorist who caused the tragedy across Europe.]

As they were aiming for a windfall by just launching one transport plane from the beginning, they changed their line to maintain silence in accordance with the changed situation.

Russia had not shown any action since the day of the incident and was taking an extremely closed stance, still maintaining silence.

Meanwhile, to summarize the attitude of China, where the magical girl of [Sword] is presumed to have completely left after checking the girls who escaped into the domain after overcoming the moment of crisis…

“[Beginning], please stop paying attention to us now.”

“Okay…”

“…Does that mean you’re not interested in the safety of China’s magical girls?”

“Huh?”

“Why don’t you understand our feelings!”

“…”

…After a series of questions full of all sorts of modifiers, diplomatic rhetoric, and tedious justifications, they put forward demands not for the removal of the domain, but for ‘establish a self-governing body run only by our own people like Korea.’

The world was gradually focusing on the domain in East Asia where magical girls, who had become even rarer human resources due to the rampage of the Scavengers that instantly reduced the number of magical girls by close to 10% of the total, could be safe.

[Existing state systems are powerless in the fight of supernatural ability users!]

This was a fact realized from the commotion that had occurred over several days.

Because the scene of a single magical girl miserably neutralizing the state system came as an unforgettable shock.

[Magical girls are safe in magical girls’ society.]

This concept, completely rejecting the existing social order, was forcibly injected into people all over the world.

If there’s one thing that’s a problem, it’s that the owner of that domain is known to the outside world as ‘me’, a Japanese person, but even that now…

Slurp

I finished the beef bone soup seasoned with radish kimchi juice and was about to leave the restaurant.

“Oh right, Miss Eunbit!”

“Yes?”

The kind-hearted grandmother who was the owner of the beef bone soup restaurant urgently called me as I approached to pay.

“This is packed, please give it to student Dorim to eat.”

It was beef bone soup with wheat flour noodles, radish kimchi, and warm rice carefully packed in a thermal lunchbox.

“Last time when student Dorim took the bomb, I texted her to come eat beef bone soup safely no matter what.”

“Ah… Dorim’s been too busy lately…”

“Hoho, that’s why I bought an expensive lunchbox with a big heart so she could eat when she’s hungry.”

“Ah, then I’ll pay for one more serving.”

A wrinkled hand gently stopped my hand as I was about to take out my wallet.

“My son works in Jongno~”

“…”

“He said he went around places like nursing homes as a social worker, unable to evacuate when the incident happened last time.”

“Is… that so.”

“Can you tell student Dorim thank you?”

Squeeze

“Really… really thank you…”

“Yes, I’ll definitely tell her.”

The beef bone soup restaurant owner smiled brightly and then went back into the kitchen.

“If you bring that lunchbox, I’ll always fill it with our house beef bone soup for free!”

“Yes, thank you.”

Ding

The sky was clear when I came out after finishing my meal.

The silver and ash-gray of the castle boasting its presence above the Supernatural Ability Countermeasures Headquarters building was also very visible.

“Dorim unnie~ Let me ride the flying airplane again~”

“Ah, again? At this rate, I’ll bankrupt all the amusement parks in the country.”

Dorim’s avatar in a shining silver dress clapped her hands.

Clap!

Numerous 0s and 1s appeared in the air and created a silver airplane that one child could ride. The airplane floated about 1 meter in the air and flew leisurely.

“Wow! Dorim unnie! Thank you!”

Whoosh

“Hey! You should only ride it inside the playground! And my name is Eunseol now!!”

I approached Dorim’s avatar waving her hands and patted her head.

“It’s still amazing, that wide-area summoned avatars and summons have substance.”

It felt so amazing that a magical girl from a completely different domain was using unlimited substantial summoning and avatars that were allowed only to [War] based on the original work. Although they can’t be compared in terms of destructive power and physical force.

“Hm? Did Eunbit unnie eat beef bone soup?”

I felt good that Dorim’s hair, which had been fluffy like a stray dog, was now really shimmering silver like a princess.

“Beef bone soup, the owner gave it for free saying thank you.”

“Ah~ I hadn’t eaten yet.”

“Are you very busy?”

“Yeah, because some faceless king living somewhere threw her crown and ran away.”

Fully bloomed 3-star who bloomed with a dream.

Because it was a realm pioneered only by the protagonist Shikishima Yuki in the original work, there was one role I didn’t know about.

One who connects the world.

Dorim was recognized as qualified to receive part of the domain as a fief and was able to operate it by receiving a transfer of part of my domain.

The Korean domain that changed like that no longer had the glass-colored light of my unique magical power, but had a color of ash-gray tinged with silver.

However, since it could be transferred like a vassal of a born 3-star, it was still my domain if you had to specify.

“Let’s just announce that it’s Dorim’s land because it’s annoying.”

For various reasons, Korea was known to the outside world not as [Beginning]’s domain but as [Cyberbrain]’s domain.

I roughly informed Sumire about this matter, and Sumire seemed to have understood in her own way, saying something about feudal rule.

‘Honestly, Sumire’s old-fashioned vocabulary is still burdensome.’

Dorim’s avatar poked me and said.

“So now you can declare domains in other places?”

“Yeah, it seems the structure was that if you transfer a domain to someone, you can expand your domain by that much again.”

“What is this, Three Kingdoms? The domain expands if you farm talents?”

“Because not just anyone can become a fully bloomed 3-star.”

“Anyway, come to the castle, I’m hungry!”

I answered loudly, bending my waist completely in a playful manner.

“Yes! ‘Silver Princess’!”

“Oh really! You’re the ‘Faceless King’ yourself!”

We walked down the street for a while, exchanging cringeworthy nicknames given to each other.

Here and there on the streets, Dorim’s other avatars were flying around, grumbling while making virtual world toys for young children.