Congratulations on Your Magical Girl Duties

0 – Return

＜Last Time, Briefly:＞

After a fierce battle and a close victory in the final fight, I finally returned to the real world.

It was the moment marking the end of my otherworld sojourn.

*

I’m happy.

So damn happy.

How could I not be elated?

I finally escaped that godforsaken otherworld.

Everything felt so welcome. The thick air, a mixture of exhaust fumes and cigarette smoke, the cars honking on the tangled roads, the dusty neon signs, the faces of people passing by without a second glance.

“I’m back, damn it, I’m back!”

Who would have known?

That I’d return to reality.

Even I can barely believe it.

I longed for this day, but never dared dream it would actually arrive.

Shivering with emotion, I paused to reflect on the past.

The otherworld that suddenly appeared before my eyes the day after my military discharge, the instant I bought a used phone. How long I toiled in that place.

Yes. Ten years.

A full decade.

I slaved away for ten years in that otherworld.

As a hero, no less.

Literally a hero. The kind that strangles the Demon King by the neck. Which I somehow managed to do.

Lunar Hero, Kim Si-yul. That was me.

“Hero, my ass.”

Well, I was called a hero, anyway.

In reality, I was worse off than a slave.

A slave at least gets a roof over their head and a meal in exchange for their work, but I was lucky if I didn’t get stabbed after helping someone.

Naturally, I received zero proper support.

If I’d had a holy sword, maybe things would have been different. But discarded weapons and freshly broken branches were my main weapons. And often I had nothing, forced to fight with my bare fists.

Later on, I barely managed to acquire something I could call a weapon, but even that was completely destroyed in the final battle.

“Tch.”

Honestly, it’s a waste.

I doubted there could ever be another weapon like that.

Some might bring up the hero party. The absurd, unfair burdens usually thrust upon the hero could somehow be overcome with a hero party, after all.

But that wasn’t the case for me.

Hero party, my ass. I always went solo.

“No, hold on.”

Well, if I had to be precise, I wasn’t exactly alone.

Because people chased me day and night, there were always two or more individuals involved.

It was just a slight problem that every last one of those b*stards was trying to take my head.

Just what the hell were those sons of b*tches eating that they’d come up with the idea of putting a bounty on the hero’s head? It wasn’t the age of grand pirates; it was the age of grand heroes.

Looking back, it really was a shitty memory.

In a way, it’s kind of comical. Discharged from the military – a ‘soldier’ discharged, technically – and then dragged into another world to become a ‘hero’ in a different sense.

Anyway.

“Well, that’s all beside the point.”

The situation now was a bit confusing. To be honest, I couldn’t be sure if I was back from that other world.

The sharpened senses of my body, honed by years of experience.

The unkempt, shaggy hair.

Judging solely by these, I was definitely back from that other world. My appearance was far too disheveled to be considered fresh out of military service.

In other words, time had clearly passed.

However.

My reflection in the mirrors displayed around the area was a bit odd when I took a closer look.

“Is this right?”

I looked exactly the same as I did before being dragged into that other world.

A rumpled tracksuit, a phone with a dead battery.

A body completely devoid of the numerous wounds and scars.

A face without a trace of the fatigue of being freshly discharged.

And that’s not all. Especially my physical condition was too good. My bones, which had been overworked, weren’t creaking, and my body, which had been screaming with every movement, was now quiet.

It was practically like I had the powers of a hero without the powers. I was in better condition than I ever was in that other world.

As if the experience in that other world was just a dream.

“What the hell *is* this?”

It only added to the confusion.

My mind clearly held the memories of another world, yet my body was frustratingly, stubbornly normal.

Finally, I came to a conclusion.

“Screw it, I don’t know.”

Maybe the return from another world perk was that everything went back to how it was. I decided to just think of it that way.

Because what was important wasn’t this kind of thing anyway.

There were other, more pressing concerns.

Two of them, in fact.

First, I needed to find out how much time had passed in this world while I was spending ten years in that other one.

What year it even was.

And, while I was at it, what day of the week it was.

Lastly, where I was.

Figuring all of that out was the most important thing.

Just then, a woman walked past.

Perfect, I could ask her.

“Excuse me–”

“Don’t talk to me!”

“What the, what the, what the hell is her problem.”

A surge of anger flared, but I calmed myself.

Think about it. In the ten years that rivers and mountains could change, how many b*tches had I met in that other world?

There were women who would shoot arrows at me the moment they saw my face, swearing I had to be killed. Others would be all smiles and sweet talk, then stab me in the back while calling me a demon.

In comparison, this woman was just being rude. She didn’t even curse.

Wasn’t she practically a saint?

A civilized person, indeed.

The way she snapped at me must mean I look like shit to these-world people. Probably what the other-world b*stards would say. I decided to let it slide.

Anyway, after a few attempts, I finally managed to get some answers.

First, today was Sunday. That explained why there were so many people out and about in the middle of the day.

And the second piece of information: I was somewhere in the Seoul area.

I didn’t know exactly where.

I only caught the word Seoul, and thought no more of it.

Truth be told, even if I knew exactly where this was, I wouldn’t have believed it anyway.

The sights unfolding before me defied belief entirely.

Could it be that the superconductor, once only a rumor, had truly been commercialized? Flying cars were the only thing missing; it was as if I’d stepped into a city of the future, advanced beyond imagining.

And then there were the people around me, specifically the women, their hair a kaleidoscope of colors.

Black hair wasn’t entirely absent, but it mainly appeared as highlights or two-tone dyes. Pure black hair seemed to be the exclusive domain of the men, myself included.

If not for the signs written in Hangeul, I might have succumbed to a panic, convinced I’d crossed over into another world.

However, the truly crucial thing was something else entirely.

The passage of time in this other world… it mirrored the flow of time in the original.

In other words, a clean ten years had passed back home as well.

That, I could vaguely accept. A decade was enough to radically alter the landscape; such a level of development wasn’t entirely implausible.

As for the hair colors… probably just a fashionable trend. I decided to simply gloss over it.

Whatever the reason, my current situation was what truly mattered.

One year of part-time work after graduating high school, a little under two years of military service, and then ten years spent in that other world.

Adding all that together…

That put me at roughly thirty-two or thirty-three years old.

Probably thirty-three, if I had to guess.

Not bad.

“That’s fortunate.”

No, exceptionally fortunate.

Some might find that perplexing. What’s so good about being a thirty-three-year-old jobless high school graduate with no experience? Isn’t that a life utterly ruined? Wouldn’t simply staying in that other world have been the better option?

I wouldn’t deny it. Not only had I squandered my entire youth in that other world, but I had also returned from it empty-handed.

I returned with all my limbs intact but lost all the strength and weapons I possessed as a hero.

But it’s alright.

Of the two crucial things I mentioned earlier, I’d confirmed the time aspect. Now, the remaining thing to be verified would determine the course of my life.

A complete failure.

Or a roaring success.

*

“YES, GODDAMMIT!!!”

The sudden shout caused people to stare at me like a madman. A few even muttered small curses.

But I paid it no mind.

Those petty gazes, they meant nothing compared to the figures blazing on my phone.

『Stock: (Corp.) Top□ Media』

『Return: +3921%』

『Stock: (Corp.) Meta□Craft』

『Return: +28507%』

A scrub, they called me?

Nay, a life reborn.

“I GO GO DUN!!!!!!”

There’s a saying that when a person returns from another world, the stocks they held before welcome them back, already soaring.

I find this tale utterly delightful.

“Heh.”

I can’t stop grinning, no matter how many times I look.

Did they say I lost the Hero’s power?

What of it? What did that even matter?

*This* is the true power of a Hero.

“I missed you, my beautiful stocks.”

Of course, it wasn’t gambling. I’d merely glimpsed a certain future a little sooner than everyone else.

In essence, I knew the ending, the way things were destined to be.

Only I knew the conclusion of these shares.

Frankly, Top□ Media, or Top□ for short, was something I’d always considered within reach. It was a large corporation to begin with, a safe bet.

It was just that Meta□Craft, or No□pia for short, having broken free from the Top patriarch’s embrace, experienced a growth rate far beyond my wildest dreams.

Investing in that promising company was the best decision I ever made. All those part-time jobs from middle school until right before my enlistment were finally paying off.

Convenience store, construction site, restaurant, gallery attendant…

“Yeah, *this* is the real isekai.”

Even after more than ten years, the memory remains vivid. The moment I poured my entire fortune into Nobelpia the instant it went public.

Thanks to that, I couldn’t afford clothes, let alone decent meals, for quite some time. It was miserable back then.

But that didn’t stop me from buying. I continued to buy, living a meager existence.

Well, others probably saw it as madness. In fact, the moment I posted a screenshot of my stock account online, I was met with a torrent of ridicule.

Even the so-called titans of the stock market tore me apart, immortalizing my folly in videos.

But still.

Weren’t they just common folk who hadn’t bought into No□pia before its surge?

“Stock trading’s a cakewalk.”

Anyway, the plan moving forward is simple.

Sell off just a sliver of No□pia stock, enough to buy a couple of buildings.

Of course, I know.

That No□pia stock will keep climbing.

But even No□pia’s major shareholder has to eat, right? An unavoidable expense.

Since it’s Sunday, I can’t sell yet, but just dreaming of a brighter future was enough to bring happiness.

“Huh?”

Suddenly, a rough hand seized my wrist.

And.

Before the clink and snap of thin, but sturdy, metal cuffs closing around it.

I shifted my gaze to the uninvited guest.

“Who…”

The figure was none other than a police officer.

“…are you?”

His eyes held a mixture of emotions.

The weary, lingering fatigue common to all civil servants.

A sharp disgust, as if looking at something repulsive.

And.

A slight thrill at finally catching a break.

“Why, what’s this about?”

“Are you Kim Si-yul?”

Ignoring my question, the officer spoke in a monotone.

“No, seriously, why?”

Honestly, it was outrageous.

I hadn’t lived a completely virtuous life, but any heinous acts were committed only in that other world. And even then, it was only to survive, to keep from dying.

Meaning, in this reality, I hadn’t done anything wrong, there wasn’t even a way for me to *do* anything wrong.

So, why?

“I’ll ask again. Are you Kim Si-yul?”

“Yeah, so what?”

Even honorifics felt wasted now.

Frankly, I’d never had much of an impression of police officers, but now that impression had plummeted straight to hell.

“Hey, take off the cuffs. While I’m being nice about it.”

I’m lodging a complaint against you, no matter what.

Twice a day. No, three times a day.

You’re screwed. For real.

“Mr. Kim Si-yul, you’ll have to come with us.”

However, the other man didn’t budge an inch.

“I, too, am telling you nicely.”

No, far from backing down, he even cuffed my other hand. As if it were the most natural thing in the world.

“Tch, damn it.”

I didn’t care anymore if he was a cop or whatever. I just wanted to punch that son of a b*tch in the face.

“What the hell is this, you goddamn b*stard!”

And I was actually about to do it.

So what if the charge of obstructing an officer in the performance of his duties would make my crime that much worse? I was about to be arrested anyway.

But the attempt was futile.

Other officers had appeared before I knew it, and were now restraining me. One for each arm and leg.

There’s so many of you, you sons of b*tches.

How many does it take to arrest one person?

“What the hell is going on, you pigs!!!”

In the end, the only thing I could do was vent my frustration while kneeling on the ground.

“Why are you messing with me! What did I even do!”

This is too much. For these cop b*stards to be so blinded by their quota that they’re treating an innocent person like a criminal—is this even allowed?

“You’re a deserter, aren’t you?”

“Huh?”

For a moment, my thoughts froze.

Me, a deserter? What the hell was he talking about?

I’d clearly finished my mandatory service and been discharged.

Of course, I committed a *slight* infraction back in the army. I won’t deny that.

But I wasn’t some burnout; I was explicitly rated A.

Naturally, I never deserted. I merely threatened to kill everyone and then desert, shouting it a few times in front of the division commander while holding my rifle.

That’s all it was.

So, why, pray tell, am I labeled a deserter?

“Watashi ga… desert…? Why…?”

I was so wronged, words wouldn’t even form. I wasn’t even conscious of what I was saying.

“Hah.”

The officer sighed and, in a level voice, began reciting the timeline of my supposed actions, actions utterly unknown to me.

“Kim Si-yul. Attempted and successfully deserted the day after being assigned to your unit. Remained a fugitive from the law for the subsequent twelve years.”

He merely listed the facts in a toneless voice, but it felt like he was saying this to me:

“And.”

Here is irrefutable proof.

Stop denying it and come quietly.

“As of this moment, the subject is successfully apprehended.”

Something, something was terribly wrong.