Congratulations on Your Magical Girl Duties

2 – Stranger From Another World (2)

In my memory, North Korea was a joke.

Always threatening to turn Seoul into a sea of fire, or sending balloons filled with crap to get attention.

But after I got dragged into this other world, North Korea actually set the world on fire. South Korea, and the rest of the world.

North Korean monsters.

Through beings called monsters, that is.

“What Mr. Siyul said isn’t exactly wrong, calling them North Korean monsters. It just means they came from the North.

I thought only Nopia had the Celestial Demon capable of burning the world, but who knew North Korea actually had one too?

Honestly, I still can’t believe it. If the records about me hadn’t disappeared, I’d probably still be in denial.

“However.”

At that moment, the police officer spoke with conviction.

“Even if they’re North Korean devils, they’re still people. Unlike defectors, those North Korean devils, they truly aren’t people.”

“Are you saying, Officer, that North Koreans who aren’t defectors aren’t people?”

“No, I mean they aren’t really people, they’re *fiends*!”

Ignoring the officer clutching his head, I tossed out a question that suddenly came to mind.

“But if South Korea was invaded directly by fiends, how did they invade other countries?”

“The method’s obvious. They strapped fiends to missiles instead of nukes.”

“Ah, rocket delivery.”

Looking at it now, if I hadn’t been dragged to that other world, I’d have been dragged right back into the army because of those fiends. Either way, it’s equally screwed up.

Anyway, based on this, I can deduce the following.

“So, that means my parents’ status wasn’t confirmed even after the crisis ended? That’s why there’s no record of them.”

“That’s most likely the case. Unless they or a direct family member reports it, the records will stay blank.”

“Hah.”

It was hollow.

Utterly hollow.

I barely made it back from another world, only to be left with the title of a 33-year-old high school graduate, unemployed, and with no experience. Now, the “orphan” label is added to that list.

There’s a slim chance my parents might be alive, but honestly, it’s hard to hold onto that hope.

My parents are ordinary people. They don’t have a ton of money, their connections aren’t that extensive, they’re just ordinary.

And…

Sadly, when disaster strikes, the people who die the most are those ordinary people.

I know this better than anyone.

I saw it way too much in the other world.

My heart is so worn down from that other world that not a single tear can even come out, but perhaps my heart isn’t completely broken after all.

I’m starting to feel a little unsettled.

I should have at least taken a picture.

“…Alright, I understand.”

“Well, nothing’s certain, to be precise.”

The officer, noticing my sudden gloom, carefully spoke up.

“Why’s that?”

“Because we’ve been absolutely swamped with people using this as an opportunity to apply for asylum in other countries.”

Thanks to the officer’s words, I could jot down a small goal in a corner of my mind.

Later, if circumstances allowed, I’d search for my parents.

Perhaps, they might still be alive.

If not, I’d at least need to find their remains.

Anyway.

Now was the time to focus on the conversation. Knowing so little as I did, I had to wring out every last piece of information.

Right now, I was nothing but a stranger here.

“Really? Why did they leave? If you have money, Korea should be one of the best places to live.”

“Back then, those who stayed in Korea had everything squeezed out of them, supposedly to rebuild the country.”

Typical Korea, alright.

Always treating people like dirt.

It had never been any different, historically speaking.

Honestly, considering that, it was almost inevitable that things fell apart.

“So, a lot of people torched government buildings, or just killed themselves. It was practically a daily occurrence. There are still incidents popping up pretty often, too.”

The officer added, then fell silent.

Only then did I somewhat understand his earlier, pessimistic attitude.

There must have been many like me. After all, who could easily accept their family vanishing overnight?

They would keep pushing and questioning, like I did a moment ago, never just letting it go.

Naturally, because of his role, the police must have suffered quite a bit from the problems caused by those who remained in Korea.

Like, suppressing terrorism, for example.

“It must have been tough during the terrorist attacks.”

“Yeah, it was really rough.”

The officer offered a weary smile, gazing vaguely into the distance. He was probably reliving the past for a moment.

Feeling a bit sorry for him, I offered a quick word of comfort.

“You went through a lot.”

“It was hard getting the fire to catch properly.”

“Oh, that kind of tough?”

Now that I thought about it, this b*stard wasn’t a cop back then, but one of those terrorists. One of those guys who torched government buildings, as he himself had said earlier.

Once a member of the Red Team, now a proper police officer.

“Still, being a cop is good.”

“Because they’ll hire criminals as long as they’re competent?”

“I can lob a Molotov from pretty damn close, you know.”

“Ah, Christ, didn’t see that one coming.”

Let me correct myself.

He was a policeman even back then.

“With every penny of my wage confiscated, you think law and order matters? We should burn it all down.”

Still.

“Such a waste. Might as well have fired a gun, while you were at it.”

“Already did that.”

“Good on you.”

Not exactly a crucial detail, so I decided to let it slide.

Someone might raise an eyebrow. A country where a cop throws Molotovs at the government and gets away with it—is that really normal?

But, consider this.

Since when has Korea ever been normal?

Can you even properly answer that question? No one can easily give a reply. I certainly can’t.

And, frankly, this is pretty mild.

Isn’t there that saying?

There are good bullies, and there are bad bullies.

This cop? He’s a good cop.

He doesn’t abandon civilians at crime scenes, he doesn’t shield criminals while surveilling informants, and he doesn’t suddenly frame innocent people.

Is he, perhaps, a pimp running a brothel?

Or did he once commit rape and flee?

Or maybe he concealed criminal activity?

No.

None of the above.

Just a fighter who stood with the citizens against the government.

How can you call someone like that a bad cop? You could even say he’s a good one.

Anyway.

“Is that answer sufficient? Shall we move on to the main point, Mr. Kim Siyul?”

“Just a moment.”

Separately, there was still one question lingering.

“If the records all disappeared, why is anything related to me still here?”

The Republic of Korea was supposed to be wiped clean, yet my desertion record remains intact? Even having such a thing is bizarre to begin with.

“Didn’t you say most of the records were lost?”

“Yes.”

“Kim Si-yul’s desertion record just didn’t fall into that ‘most’ category.”

“Ha, damn it. What a waste.”

No, I shouldn’t even say it’s a waste.

I completed my service before my term was even up, damn it.

“Well, it was bound to happen, I suppose. Your records were held by the Military Manpower Administration in the first place.”

That doesn’t make sense.

How could the Ministry of National Defense and the Military Manpower Administration survive an invasion by monstrous beings, something akin to a natural disaster? Shouldn’t they be the first to be swept away?

Naturally, there’s no way the records could be properly preserved.

“You mean they survived and are still around?”

“Of course they collapsed. It’s just that they held on the longest, so there was less data loss.”

“Oh.”

That’s genuinely welcome news.

That damn Military Manpower Administration finally bit the dust.

Which means the Ministry of National Defense must be screwed too, right?

“Good story.”

It was the honest truth, without an ounce of deceit. I was so happy that those b*stards, worse than cancer, were gone.

“Actually… it’s not really a good story at all.”

“Oh?”

“Holding out until the very, very end may seem impressive, but the reality was incredibly ugly.”

The officer, however, took my words in a different light, a look of bitterness washing over his face as he began to unravel the unseemly truth behind the non-heroic tale.

“There were a lot of incidents. Really.”

Superiors using subordinates as shields and running away.

Dying because supply lines were cut off due to defense procurement corruption.

Not receiving treatment in time because of incompetent personnel.

Commanders, blinded by a lust for glory even in the face of the monstrous beings, grabbing at each other, and then being annihilated together, happy as clams.

“And they still couldn’t come to their senses.”

If that kind of loss of life had occurred, one would think they’d adjust their operational guidelines, but it was said that it wasn’t the guidelines that changed, only the types of people they dragged in.

Reservists and civil defense forces, of course.

The elderly, the disabled, even minors.

“They even dragged the critically ill from their hospital beds. Said they’d use them as tactical makeshift defenses.”

“If it was that severe, surely they wouldn’t have discriminated based on gender.”

“No, it was still only men then. Apparently, there was influence from higher-ups.”

“Jesus Christ.”

It seemed those decrepit old b*stards were the ones raising hell back then too. There was no other reason to conduct that kind of divisive garbage during a national crisis.

Well, not *entirely* no reason, if you want to be precise.

Given the sheer number of soldiers who died, there would inevitably be more women than men.

Which meant women held more votes.

In the end, the assholes in charge made a dumb choice to feather their own nests. And then they passed the blame onto the innocent majority.

Then and now, the b*stards were the same.

“Don’t tell me those b*stards are still alive?”

“They died a long time ago. At the hands of various people. Thanks to them, the average age of South Korea dropped sharply.”

The only good thing was that those pricks got killed before they could even properly enjoy their gains.

What they call ‘pregging.’

“So, ‘pregging’ actually happened.”

“Ahem, not ‘pregging’, but a ‘ricochet’.”

“Ah, a guided missile.”

I nodded with a small sense of admiration.

But the policeman shook his head firmly.

“No, it was a ricochet. I’m sure of it.”

“Why?”

“I shot with my eyes closed.”

“Ah, then it was a ricochet for sure.”

That’s what’s so terrifying about ricochets.

There’s no safe place in the face of a ricochet.

It can fly anytime, anywhere, and in any way.

Anyway.

“That’s roughly the gist of it. Not exactly a feel-good story, is it?”

Even having heard only a fraction of the tale, my head was already throbbing. I figured a considerable number of people must have perished during that whole ordeal.

People who didn’t need to die.

Frankly, in my own estimation, more folks seemed to have died due to the greed of others than because of the monsters.

“Not many survivors, I imagine.”

“Not entirely wiped out, no, but statistically speaking, they took a serious hit. The s*x ratio got utterly decimated ages ago.”

A bit chilling, that.

If I hadn’t been dragged off to this other world, I’d have likely ended up just as dead.

Without even realizing it, I’d escaped the Grim Reaper’s grasp. Looking at it that way, this whole other-world business wasn’t so terrible after all.

Still, I wouldn’t exactly call it a blessing.

This other world still sucks donkey balls.

Then, a peculiar detail suddenly struck me.

“But why mention the Magical Girls?”

The monsters were, after all, North Korean infiltrators.

In other words, South Korea was driven to the brink of annihilation due to a North Korean invasion.

So why bring up Magical Girls in the first place?

“Who else is going to deal with monsters that even the military draft board and whatnot can’t handle?”

“Ah.”

Only then did I begin to grasp the situation.

In most media, humans are merely powerless beings, fodder for monsters.

Beings who naturally cannot win.

You could consider it a law of nature, almost.

So then…

Who on earth would stand against those monsters?

“Magical Girls.”

A solution slipped out of my mouth before I even realized it.

The officer nodded.

“Yes, that’s right. Around the time the soldiers were getting slaughtered after the monster invasion, Magical Girls started appearing en masse.”

Magical Girls, something I’d only ever seen in novels and various other forms of media.

That meant it was all actually real.