Is a Kiss Cliché?

[Everyone gather at Shin Hyun’s house. Snacks and drinks welcome.]

“…What on earth does this mean?”

Yul looked at the text message with a puzzled expression.

A sudden summons—what could this be about? Wait, shouldn’t that person be in the hospital? Why is she there?

“And what’s with the snacks and drinks…”

She thought Noah would be depressed, but is she doing better than expected? Maybe she’s come to terms with her feelings for him.

‘That’s a bit disappointing.’

They had made such a nice couple. Well, it can’t be helped.

Hero and villain. Champion and evil-doer.

There’s an unbridgeable gap between these two words.

I should go quickly and offer some comfort.

With that thought, Yul grabbed a bag of snacks and headed to his house. His basement apartment appears when you go through the winding alleyway.

She’d been there a few times before, invited by Noah and him.

Yul opened the door and looked inside. It seemed she was the last to arrive.

“Is that Yul?”

“Yes, I’m here.”

“You’re late?”

“I had to prepare dinner for my siblings before coming.”

Noah welcomed Yul with a smile. Lee Taehwa and Seo Jin-ah, who had arrived earlier, also exchanged glances indicating they didn’t understand what was going on.

What was she so excited about?

Yul carefully observed Noah.

For someone who had just gotten out of a hospital bed, for someone who had received sad news, Noah’s face looked too relaxed.

“Unni, did something happen?”

She couldn’t help but ask the obvious question.

Upon hearing Yul’s question, Noah went to the freezer and casually began speaking.

“Let’s eat cake together.”

“Cake…?”

“Yes. The mister bought me an ice cream cake before, for my birthday. It’s a waste to just leave it, so let’s all eat it now.”

Ice cream cake?

Yul stared at the large box in Noah’s hand. When she opened the lid with a bright smile, colorful ice cream popped out.

“It looks delicious, right?”

“Unni… that’s…”

“I know what you want to say. Let’s eat first. It would be too wasteful to throw it away.”

Yul was bewildered. So were the other magical girls present. However, they found it difficult to refuse Noah’s suggestion and began eating the ice cream with spoons.

Nom nom, Noah was enjoying the cake.

Watching her, Taehwa twirled her spoon.

“Noah.”

“Yes?”

“Why do you look so happy? You seemed completely devastated at the hospital earlier.”

“Did I?”

“You did. Tell me. What happened?”

Noah smiled slyly and nodded.

“Well, I’ve trusted the mister from the beginning.”

“Mister… Noah, no matter what, the fact that he’s a villain—”

“That’s just it. There were circumstances.”

Circumstances?

What circumstances?

Taehwa asked with a question mark on her face.

“What happened?”

“Whew… listen.”

Noah’s mouth corners turned up as she held up the letter.

“I’m going to tell you an incredible story now.”

+++++

“Do you understand?”

“So… Noah, according to you, the mister took on the role of a villain for your sake and ours?”

“Yes. He went through a lot of hardship.”

“Is that really true…?”

Taehwa’s gaze turned to Kyukyu.

Noah is so infatuated with that man that she might fall for a simple fake.

But even Kyukyu—

“Yes. It’s true. Furthermore, I spoke directly with him. Everything was for Lady Noah’s sake.”

“Is that really true?”

“Yes. If he had bad intentions, he wouldn’t have just left her alone for a month after hypnotizing her.”

He almost got eaten by Lady Noah.

Kyukyu swallowed those words and said something else.

“He is a trustworthy person. Though his methods were somewhat rough and illegal, his heart was sincere.”

“If even Kyukyu says so…”

Seo Jin-ah interrupted.

“So what are you planning to do now? You said he’s under a curse.”

A question befitting a healer.

At Jin-ah’s question, Noah took out another letter.

It was the letter that said [Now the walkthrough begins.]

“Noah? What’s that?”

“It’s supposedly methods to deal with future enemies and how to break the curse.”

“What is that!? That’s a cheat!”

“The mister said so too. The fact that we’re this strong now is almost like a cheat.”

Originally, they should have been much weaker than they are now.

But with Kraken’s intervention, they had grown much stronger, making them stronger than in the original story.

In fact, Kraken is their benefactor.

“…Haah… I wish there was a way to deal with the Demon King too.”

“There isn’t one. The mister said that was the only content he couldn’t see.”

“What is it?”

“An ending where everyone is happy.”

In other words—

“A happy ending.”

Everyone swallowed hard at Noah’s words.

A person who is practically a prophet having observed most of the world’s events. And the only thing he couldn’t see was a happy ending.

“The mister said he’s doing his best to see a happy ending. That’s why he did his best for us.”

Noah clenched her fist.

“So now it’s our turn to help the mister.”

“…Haah, alright. So? What do we do now?”

“Various monsters will appear from now on. I’ll upload their types and how to deal with them to our group chat, so please check. And make sure to collect essence from certain monsters.”

The paper had various types written on it.

For example, which essence suits each of them, which monsters have that essence, how to deal with those monsters, and what abilities come from those essences.

“And about how to break the curse.”

“Using the Grey Witch’s cauldron, burn the branches of the Giant Ent as fuel, and with the flame of the fire elemental Ragnarok, gather the essences and boil them together.”

“Then a candy-like essence will remain. If you feed it to him, the curse will be lifted with a poof!”

“…That’s tough.”

“But we have to do it. For the mister’s sake.”

“…Of course. Hey, Na Noah.”

“Yes?”

“When all this is over, you should definitely propose to the mister.”

Noah’s cheeks reddened at Taehwa’s joke.

“H-hmph! Don’t worry about it! I’ll handle it well myself!”

“Sure, sure. Anyway, if what the mister said is true, we’re going to be quite busy from now on.”

“Let’s all get stronger. Even to defeat the Demon King.”

The magical girls nodded.

Flames ignited in each of their eyes. Their thoughts might differ slightly, but their goal is one.

To save that man and seal the Demon King to save the world.

“”””Fighting!!””””

United in purpose, they brought their hands together and raised them high.

That’s when it happened.

Thud.

Another piece of paper fell from the envelope.

“Huh? Noah, a paper fell.”

“There were three sheets? I must have missed one.”

Noah picked up the fallen piece of paper. It seemed to be another part of the walkthrough.

“I should check everything thoroughly.”

Noah began reading the remaining sheet carefully.

And soon—

“Uh… uwa…”

Is… is this real…?

Noah’s face turned into a ripe strawberry. She hadn’t expected to have to use such a method.

“Noah? What’s wrong?”

“Ta… Taehwa… it’s…”

“What on earth is it?”

“I… I absolutely can’t show you! No… if we’re going to follow the plan, should I show it? Ugh… uugh…”

“What on earth is it?”

Noah’s small moans echoed in the room.

“Uugh…”

Noah’s lips quivered as she continued to make pained sounds.

Then soon, as if she had no choice, she held out the paper.

“Read it…”

Taehwa took the paper and began reading.

Her first impression was that it was long.

It seemed longer than the first and second pieces of paper, as if there was something important.

[Note that this is not a dirty trick or anything with lecherous intentions. This is just an explanation of the method as someone who has glimpsed a bit of the world’s story.]

…No, it might just be an excuse.

There was a lot of his explanatory text that hadn’t been in the first two pages.

“So where’s the main point here?”

Taehwa, lost in the forest of text, soon found the important content.

Indeed, with such a method, it’s no wonder Noah is malfunctioning.

“Wh-what should I do… this…”

“Well, it’s quite a romantic situation.”

No, thinking about it, it’s strange.

“You said you’d even propose to him! Why are you hemming and hawing over something like this!?”

“Th-that’s different! This is this!”

Yul intervened between the bickering girls.

Yul took the paper from Taehwa and slowly read through it, then…

“Unni… can you really do this?”

“I don’t know! I don’t know either! Uugh… uwaaaaaa!!!”

Her gaze stopped at one spot.

[Perhaps Noah could have been the one cursed. And to solve this curse… uh… ha… a comrade, the comrade with the highest intimacy with Noah… that is, one of you would have to hold the essence in your mouth and pass it through your mouth, such a ritual. So… like a candy kiss. Yes, it’s hard to believe, but.]

Yul’s face reddened as she held the letter.

And at the same time, she understood. Why her unni was reacting like that.

Perhaps the sentence written at the very bottom of this paper drove her crazy.

[PS. I’m sorry, Noah. And please help me. My favorite magical girl.]

“What should I do now… I…”

“What can you do? You’ll just have to accept the kiss obediently.”

“Ugh… uugh… uugh… uwaaaaaaaa!!!”

Noah could only blush like a ripe apple.