What You Must Lose to Know – 3

She opened her eyes again in the afternoon, on her bed.

Her last memory was collapsing onto the floor, exhausted. She had wandered through a maze woven with dreams and solidified with reality for a long time, and somehow arrived in her room.

Her throat was scratchy, and her eyes were dry.

She tried to sit up. But as if heavy weights were stacked on her head, gravity pulled her back.

As if the window in her head responsible for ventilation was closed, her head felt stuffy and foggy.

“Ah….”

She made a sound on purpose, to see if her voice would come out.

She couldn’t easily sit up for several minutes. After struggling on the bed for a while, she barely managed to get up by turning to her side.

The nausea from dawn seemed to have subsided a lot.

“……..”

She observed her body.

Her whole body was soaked in sweat, leaving marks even on the blanket.

She took off her clammy top. With a refreshing sense of openness, her small breasts were revealed.

Putting her hands on her knees, she got up and staggered out of the room.

The cold air of the house caressed her body. She shivered, but thought it was refreshing.

Walking down the hallway to the bathroom, she put her hand on her head and diagnosed herself. Perhaps because she had sweated a lot, the fever seemed to have gone down a little.

She took off all her remaining clothes in front of the bathroom.

Her pure white naked body was revealed.

Entering the shower booth and turning on the water, cold water fell from the top of her head.

She shivered at the chilling temperature.

When the coolness became too much, she reached out and turned the lever to the warm water side, setting it to a lukewarm temperature.

Soon, water of a suitable temperature fell, and she stroked her shoulders with her hands.

The warm water heated her body warmly.

She washed away the clamminess through a shower, but it would take time to restore her body, which was already damaged.

She pressed her temples with her fingers, trying to calm her dizzy head.

Coming down to the first floor with a towel on her wet hair, she was greeted by a messy living room.

“This is serious….”

Since there was no one to clean up, yesterday’s carnage was displayed as if to be seen.

-Sigh

She sighed, with a deep annoyance rising from within.

‘Right, I made this mess.’

Her purple eyes turned to the kitchen.

The figure of the man who would be cooking familiarly was not to be seen.

“…Guess I have to make food, huh?”

She stands in his place.

She puts on the apron, which was too short and only hung around her neck.

Roughly discarded food waste was scattered messily in the sink, and gnats rose like heat haze.

It was too dirty to cook.

She puts on red rubber gloves and starts cleaning.

She scrubs off the dried rice grains with a scouring pad and puts the mushy spam chunks in the food waste bag.

The smell of half-rotten food tormented her nose.

“Good thing I threw up a lot yesterday.”

Even though her body was ruined, she joked.

After finishing the cleaning, she was exhausted and chose to prepare instead of cook.

She pours hot water into a small cup ramen and sits at the table, waiting for 3 minutes.

Steam rose from the slightly opened gap.

The smell of MSG-flavored broth stimulated her appetite.

“Looks like my body is getting a little better.”

They say you don’t even think about food when you’re really sick, but this body has been clamoring for food since earlier.

The long wait was over, and she opened the lid. The curly noodles and red broth were etched in her eyes.

“Thank you for the food.”

Just as the noodles were about to enter her mouth, she felt a chilling sensation and goosebumps began to rise.

And then, the disaster alert on her phone rang.

“Ah… Come on…!”

She threw the chopsticks down nervously and got up, throwing the head towel on the floor.

Clang, the chopsticks fell on the table, making a pathetic sound.

She hurried, but the city was already full of chaos.

When she arrived, part of the building had already been destroyed, and the streets were devastated.

Hundreds of crow-sized crows were circling in the sky, attacking the city.

“Rapid fire!”

There was no time to chant the spell. She recited the abbreviated spell and held out her staff.

If she had arrived earlier, she would have intercepted them in the air, she gritted her teeth.

A barrage of light beams shot out from the staff, piercing the crows’ chests.

They fluttered their black feathers and fell downwards, turning into particles of light and disappearing before they hit the ground.

She had killed many crows, but there were more left.

Her gaze turned to the ground below.

Fallen people and overturned cars were the first things she saw.

Gritting, she gritted her teeth.

“Rapid fire!”

“Rapid fire!”

“Rapid fire!”

Her pathetic cry spread across the city’s sky.

Ten minutes later, after intercepting all the crows, she landed on the ground, exhausted.

As always, with the appearance of a Magical Girl wielding mysterious powers, people flocked to her.

Some thanked her for saving their lives,

Some took pictures with their phones,

Some asked about her identity,

Various sounds rang in her ears.

Forcing a smile, she dealt with the people, half out of her mind. She desperately wanted people to leave.

“…!”

Amidst the crowd of people swarming like beggars, she caught a glimpse of a familiar person.

“Mister, Kang?”

It was a fleeting moment, seeing through the gap created by people.

Nevertheless, she was sure that Kang In-ho was beyond the wall created by the crowd.

“Excuse me, just a moment. Let me through.”

Still smiling, she tried to move forward, but the wall of people, surrounded in layers, was not easily broken through.

“Excuse me, let me through. I’m sorry.”

She tried to widen the gap with a little more force than before, but the people were unyielding.

In the meantime, a woman brought her child, stood him next to her, and started taking pictures.

“Look over here!”

The noise of the chattering people grew louder and louder, and she became more and more tired.

“Let me through….”

Her earnest request was buried and trampled on by the voices of the people.

After being swept away by the people for several tens of minutes.

“Mister….”

When the police arrived to mediate the commotion and the people scattered, Kang In-ho was already nowhere to be seen.

She was not in a good mood.

She wasn’t sure if it was because she was running around with a body that wasn’t fully healed, because the city was ruined because she arrived late, or because there were people blocking her attempt to catch him.