Things I Tried Hard Not to Face – 1

He went out into the yard and watched the setting sun.

As the days passed, the sun seemed to set earlier and earlier.

The sight of the sun, painting the clouds a fiery red as it retreated, was quite beautiful.

It was one of the few natural spectacles one could witness in the city.

Though it was the same sun, the sight of it disappearing into the night was more touching than its rising to greet the morning.

Perhaps it was because it felt like he was burning away the bad memories of the day along with the setting sun.

“Hoo…”

But today, he couldn’t send his complicated feelings away with the sunset.

It was stuck to his heart like a piece of gum on asphalt, tormenting him.

He looked up at the sky, which was gradually darkening.

Then he opened his phone.

[Emergency Alert: Unidentified creatures have appeared. Evacuate to the nearest shelter immediately.]

The alert had arrived at 6:32 PM.

This shattered his assumption that there might have been an attack on the way to school or during class.

He slowly circled the yard before stopping.

He aimlessly poked the toe of his shoe into the ground.

A conversation he had with a senior colleague at work came to mind.

[How many cigarettes do you smoke a day?]

[I think I smoke about five?]

[What changes when you smoke?]

[It just makes me feel a little better when I feel like shit.]

[That’s amazing, that smoking makes you feel better.]

[If it didn’t have that effect, who would pay good money to ruin their body by smoking?]

[I guess so.]

“Should I smoke a cigarette?”

He muttered absentmindedly, then chuckled with a sigh.

[Don’t you ever do this.]

His senior colleague’s voice immediately followed.

Kim Sung-ah opened the gate. As the gate opened with a metallic clang, Kang In-ho, who should have been inside, greeted her.

“Oh, Mister.”

She was about to raise her voice to express her joy, but she lowered her tone.

Along with the joy, awkwardness and an inexplicable discomfort suddenly reared their heads.

“You worked hard.”

He greeted her with his arms crossed.

“Yeah, thanks.”

Kim Sung-ah passed him and entered the house.

He followed her inside.

“Is dinner ready?”

She took off her shoes and left them scattered in the entryway, then abruptly asked.

“It’s all ready. Just need to set the table.”

“It smells good.”

She was exhausted, both physically and mentally, from the battle with the forces of evil she had encountered on her way home from school.

The delicious smell made her mouth water, and her empty stomach rumbled even more.

She scurried to the table, quickly pulled out a chair, and sat down, waiting for him.

He, as if accustomed to it, took out a spoon and chopsticks from the utensil holder and placed them in front of her.

Dinner was a very simple side dish: spam coated in egg batter and fried.

“Delicious.”

The method and appearance were simple, but it was already a proven dish, so a good reaction was inevitable.

Watching her express her appreciation for the taste more than before, he moved his lips.

Should I say it while eating? Or before eating?

“Aren’t you eating, Mister?”

She asked, chewing on her second piece of spam.

He smiled bitterly and put a spoonful of rice in his mouth.

He savored the bland taste of the rice before swallowing.

“An emergency alert came. Did they attack?”

“They were just small fries, so it wasn’t too hard,” she said, picking up some seasoned vegetables and placing them on top of her rice.

“Going to school, doing Magical Girl activities… you must have been busy today.”

“Yeah. But luckily, the kids came during dismissal. Thankfully, I got to attend all my classes.”

“Are you going to lie?”

Kang In-ho cut her off, unfazed by her lie.

“…Huh?”

Kim Sung-ah blinked, unable to grasp the situation due to his heavy tone.

“You didn’t go to school from Monday to Thursday, did you?”

“……..”

Seong-a pleaded the fifth.

Well, she wouldn’t have anything to say anyway.

“You’re short-sighted. The teacher and I have already exchanged numbers, did you think this could be hidden?”

I threw my stiff words at her.

A lowered voice, a cold tone. It would definitely hurt.

But, I threw it so it would hurt.

“I told you not to say anything.”

Her voice was very small.

In an instant, a small annoyance crept up my neck.

What teacher in the world wouldn’t tell a guardian that their student was absent?

Did she think that the teacher would listen if the student asked them not to tell the guardian?

Beyond being short-sighted, she was even foolish.

Pressing my head to relieve the oncoming headache, I asked her.

It was a question and answer with an obvious answer, but I still had to proceed with the procedure.

“Were you sick enough to be absent?”

“No.”

“Was there an attack on the way to school?”

Even if people’s memories are erased by the magic of the stars, that’s only for the next day.

I can see the emergency alerts and news that are sent out on the same day.

And, from Monday to today, there was only one piece of news related to the forces of evil.

One that happened around 6 PM today.

“…No.”

Unlike what she thought, that she could get away with the situation with an obvious lie, Seong-a answered honestly.

“Then why didn’t you go?”

Now I bring up the main point.

“……..”

She closed her mouth again.

“You have to go to school, take the college entrance exam, and go to college.”

“…Can’t I just not graduate?”

“What?”

It’s not that she doesn’t want to take the college entrance exam, but she says she doesn’t want to graduate.

She gritted her teeth and looked straight at me.

Is it anger? Or is it annoyance? An indescribable negative emotion rushes straight at me.

“I’m a Magical Girl anyway. What will change if I go to college? Can’t I just live like this?”

“……..”

This time, I have nothing to say.

Kim Sung-ah, riding the momentum, continued to pour out words.

The words were loosely connected, it was sophistry, but the meaning of what Seong-a was trying to convey to me was easy to understand.

“When I think about it, the life of a Magical Girl who protects people’s dreams and hopes is more…”

“Seong-a, you.”

I cut her off.

I felt like I had found the last piece that could bring together the vaguely fragmented puzzles.

Magical Girl since a young age.

Last year, sudden consecutive absences before graduation.

She studies, but has no desire to go to college.

This week’s absence for no particular reason.

“Seong-a, you.”

I look at her.

Her mysterious eyes are directed at my lips.

I slowly open my mouth and convey the sentence I made in my head to my vocal cords.

The words created in the vocal cords pass through the uvula and tongue and escape through the lips.

“Do you want to stay a high school student forever?”

“……”

There is a Magical Girl in front of me who doesn’t want to become an adult.