Each Person’s World: Kim Seong-a

Late autumn. Night. Rooftop. Cold wind.

Two women standing on a gray prairie gaze at each other.

“Tell me,”

The woman with a refined impression urged.

The question was directed at the woman sitting on the ground. Her heavy breathing indirectly indicated that there had been a fierce fight just moments before.

Lee Mina leaned down towards the girl with a youthful face adorned with star decorations.

“How do you know the Heavenly Demon’s face?”

“Heavenly Demon… Ah… that old man, the teacher.”

As Kim Sung-ah muttered, sorting through her jumbled memories, the shadow behind Lee Mina writhed.

“Old man?”

Lee Mina leaned in closer, examining Kim Sung-ah’s eyes.

Eyes of a mysterious purple hue, as if containing stars. A bright and cheerful energy could be felt from those lively eyes.

Kim Sung-ah looked up at Lee Mina, not avoiding her piercing gaze.

She felt as if she had entered the deep sea. Her body trembled from the pressure that constricted her entire being.

“You must be talking about Kang In-ho,”

Lee Mina said to herself as she straightened up, and the energy that had been constricting Kim Sung-ah vanished at once.

Kim Sung-ah caught her breath and stood up, steadying herself with her staff.

“…Did that woman Dimensional Shift first? No, it’s impossible to Dimensional Shift without Kkumul-yi.”

Lee Mina pressed her throbbing head and thought.

“Excuse me.”

Kim Sung-ah approached Lee Mina, who was muttering to herself.

“Or did she create someone who can Dimensional Shift besides me? No, this child belongs here…”

“Excuse me.”

“…?”

When the Magical Girl cautiously tapped her on the shoulder, Lee Mina flinched and stepped back.

She seemed to have been lost in her own world.

“…Who are you, I’m asking.”

An existence that made the Witch disappear in an instant, even though she was weakened.

Wielding an alien power and emitting a threatening aura, yet not exuding an evil energy.

‘I’ve never heard about someone like this from the old man.’

Kim Sung-ah’s head was spinning.

“I am…”

The woman in black paused for a moment and looked at Kim Sung-ah.

“Wait a minute… you didn’t answer my question.”

“What question was that?”

“The face from earlier. How do you know it?”

“Uh… um…”

Kim Sung-ah rolled her eyes. After weighing the pros and cons, she closed and opened her eyes as if she had made a decision.

“I knew it through magic. I’m a Magical Girl.”

“I see.”

“Uh… aren’t you surprised?”

“About what?”

“That I’m a Magical Girl? Me?”

She showed off her star-decorated appearance and spun around.

Lee Mina simply stared at her indifferently.

“So?”

“Huh? …I just wondered if you weren’t surprised.”

“…Well, it’s not that impressive.”

She had just seen a woman spewing Black flame from her hands, drying up all the moisture in the atmosphere, and a woman who could regenerate her body even after her neck was cut off and her arms were torn off, wielding a greatsword.

Besides, what about herself? She was Dimensional Shifting and leading shadows.

To Lee Mina, who was deeply immersed in the abnormal, the Magical Girl did not make a big impression.

“What, what did you say!”

Kim Sung-ah, who did not know the reason for the lukewarm reaction, took the meaning differently.

Kim Sung-ah raised her voice at Lee Mina, who looked her up and down and spoke nonchalantly.

“Shh. Quiet. My head is ringing.”

Regardless, Lee Mina put her index finger to her lips and asked her to lower her voice.

‘What is with this old lady.’

Kim Sung-ah, who had already changed her title to old lady, grumbled inwardly.

Just because she’s wrapped up in black clothes, does she think I’ll be scared? Well, I’m a little scared, but…

“Anyway, what’s your name, old lady?”

“Old lady…?”

Lee Mina’s eyes, which had been pressing on her temples, turned.

“…Sister.”

As Kim Sung-ah corrected her title, having grasped the atmosphere, Lee Mina frowned at the continuing headache and said her name.

“My name is Lee Mina.”

“Ah… Lee Mina. …Huh?”

“Do you know me?”

“…I know the name.”

“You know my name? How?”

“You know my name?”

When she looked at her with a ‘how do you know?’ expression, Kim Sung-ah shrugged her shoulders.

“The old man told me.”

“You mean In-ho.”

“Yes, the old man.”

Lee Mina corrected the title, but Kim Sung-ah did not back down.

Each of them called Kang In-ho by their own title. A subtle war of nerves unfolded between the two women.

The one who is curious loses, so Lee Mina stopped the meaningless war of nerves and waited for Kim Sung-ah’s next words.

“The old man told me. That he’s under the Divine Doctor’s curse, and every time he dies, he’s possessed by a different being in a different world.”

“…In-ho told you that?”

Kim Sung-ah tasted a strange sense of victory at the sight of disbelief on her face, a ripple on her face like a calm lake.

Kim Sung-ah knew instinctively. That the same person was in the hearts of herself and the woman in front of her. Surely the other person must be guessing that as well.

A slender and cool beauty like a city career woman.

Compared to herself, she had better proportions, and she was subtly intimidated by Lee Mina, who was full of adult charm.

But she was the one who knew Kang In-ho’s secret.

Kang In-ho had told her that important secret only to her.

She wanted to jump up and down, but she maintained her composure on the outside.

“Y-yes, that’s right. The old man told me everything. Spec. ial. ly. to me.”

She decided to keep it a secret that the information was obtained by threatening him with her staff while he was sleeping.

“Why… why…”

Lee Mina pressed her temples and tried to calm her unpleasant feelings.

But a thick and rough emotion was boiling in her chest.

“I wonder? Maybe he thought I was prettier, m-maybe?”

Feeling a sense of superiority, Kim Sung-ah tea-bagged.

“Hoo… so what did he say?”

“Yes?”

“Did he tell you everything about the people he met while Dimensional Shifting?”

“Y-yes, he did.”

“Then let’s hear it. What did In-ho say about me?”

“Wh-why should I tell you that?”

“You don’t have to if you don’t want to. But it’ll be beneficial for you to tell me.”

The shadow behind Lee Mina began to stir.

Kim Sung-ah thought of the Witch’s last moments, being torn to shreds, and opened her mouth.

“O-okay, I’ll tell you. So, get rid of that thing behind you.”

The woman in front of her was soon to be her rival. Kim Sung-ah had no intention of conveying Kang In-ho’s words straight.

[He was a good person.] “He said your personality wasn’t bad.”

[Enthusiastic about his work.] “He said you only knew about work.”

[He also had a sense of responsibility.] “He said you were persistently clinging to everything.”

[Me? Well, we ate and watched movies.] “We did this and that together, but.”

[If we had met a little more, would we have dated?] “He said we weren’t lovers.”

The wind blew on the rooftop.

The wind blowing in late autumn was quite chilly.

“Those words… better be true.”

Lee Mina, who had been silent, said.

“O-of course. It’s true.”

“I’m going to confirm it with him.”

“Yes?”

“Don’t you understand the situation? How I’m in this place?”

The shadow spread from behind Lee Mina.

The shadow grabbed something in the air and pulled with force, causing the space to twist and cracks to form.

“I can Dimensional Shift.”

“W-wait a minute…”

“When I meet In-ho, I have one thing to confirm. Whether he really said those things about me. Why he told his secret to someone other than me.”

The eyes containing the deep sea turn even darker.

“Sister… um… if I go with you…”

Where did her confident appearance from earlier go? Kim Sung-ah hesitantly tried to approach Lee Mina.

“You can’t pass through this passage. Only chosen people can pass through.”

Lee Mina reached out her hand to block her approach.

An alien landscape can be seen beyond the crack.

Whether it’s a desert or a wasteland, barren land can be seen.

“Then take care. ‘Magical Girl’. I’ll give my regards to Young Master Kang.”

“Yes?”

Kim Sung-ah tilted her head at the suddenly changed title.

“I misspoke. I’ll go to my father, so…”

Lee Mina pressed her temples and corrected her words.

“Father?”

Kim Sung-ah tilted her head in the opposite direction.

Lee Mina’s eyes wavered.

……

……

……

“What did I just call In-ho?”

Lee Mina muttered blankly.

The headache was getting worse and worse.