Chapter 20: The Kick Heard ‘Round the Other World

Kim Si-yool, still reeling from his forced transformation into a magical girl, found himself in yet another absurd situation. After being pushed to fight a Kaijin with only a magical staff, and then ordered to let others take the final blow, he now faced the wrath of a mint-green-haired, bob-cut magical girl.

“Hey, hand it over,” the girl demanded.

Si-yool was dumbfounded. He’d heard Kaijin kills were linked to promotions. The stronger the Kaijin, the better the chances of advancement. This Kaijin must be important if they were this insistent.

“I’m being nice here. Got it?” the girl snapped.

Si-yool thought, ‘Does this b*tch think I owe her something?’ He found her bob cut incredibly annoying, making her head look like, well, you get the idea.

Sora, sensing Si-yool’s frustration, stepped in.

“Why should we?” she retorted.

The mint-haired girl scoffed.

“You’ve already killed plenty. Can’t you just give us this one?”

“If you’d held the front line properly, we wouldn’t have so many Kaijin to deal with in the first place!” Sora argued.

“We were working hard, weren’t we, girls?” the mint-haired girl said, shrugging at her companions, who nodded in agreement.

Si-yool observed them. They showed no signs of exertion. No sweat, no heavy breathing, just ramen stains and cookie crumbs on their magical girl outfits. ‘These a**holes were eating and playing while everyone else was fighting,’ he realized.

The mint-haired girl suddenly turned serious.

“Hey, by the way,” she said, poking Sora’s shoulder.

“What’s with the ‘you’ and ‘your side’? At least on the battlefield, you should use magical girl names. Am I wrong? Tell me, Magical Girl Blue Fox.”

Sora, momentarily stunned, quietly conceded.

“You’re right, Magical Girl Mint Turtle.”

Si-yool stared, surprised. The mint-haired girl turned to him.

“What? Why are you so shocked?”

“No, it’s just…a perfect fit,” Si-yool replied.

“What is?” she asked.

‘Oh, she doesn’t even get it?’ Si-yool thought. He decided to enlighten her.

“Magical Girl Turtle, you say?”

“Yeah, so?”

“You look like a d*ck, and now you even have the head to match.” He was referring to how a turtle’s head could resemble, well, that. The bob cut, combined with her mint-green hair, only amplified the image in his mind.

The girl finally understood.

“Hey! You little sht!” she shrieked. “This is a bob cut! Not some…dck cut!”

“Why so angry? Need to relieve some tension? Go take a hike,” Si-yool taunted.

“Seriously, who is this guy?!”

“A Warrior.”

“Warrior…?” The girl’s expression shifted from confusion to mockery. “Oh, you’re the famous Warrior? The one from another world?”

“But why is a ‘Warrior’ so disrespectful? You’re just a Magical Private now. Don’t they teach you how to address superiors in that other world?” she sneered. Si-yool noticed the four stripes on her armband – a Magical Sergeant.

‘This world is messed up,’ he thought. ‘If these idiots can become Sergeants, so can I.’

Ray nudged him.

“Hey, Darky, you should talk differently to High-Class Magical Girls. You know, like that,” she whispered.

“You mean, suck up?”

“Yeah! Wow, Darky, you’re surprisingly smart!”

“This is common sense for a Warrior.”

“No, idiots! Use honorifics!” the mint-haired girl yelled.

Si-yool ignored her.

“Anyway, we caught this one, so we’re taking it. Got it?” the girl said.

“Try it,” Si-yool challenged.

To his surprise, she backed down, but her eyes held a glint of defiance.

“There’s a thief here who steals everything, right? I’ve robbed companies and banks. This will be easy,” she declared, openly admitting to her plan to steal the credit.

“That’s all you got?” Si-yool asked, unimpressed.

“What?”

“I stole every day in my world and back in school. A couple of heists don’t impress me.”

“That’s impossible!”

“It’s not. I just had to say a few words, and it was done.”

“Bullsh*t.”

“I made girls cry every time I confessed my feelings back in school.”

“How…?”

“I stole their tears. I even had to read my love letters aloud in class. One even ended up as an exam question.”

“Oh…”

“They posted my messages in group chats and never took them down.”

“Stop, please!”

“Eventually, I didn’t even need to confess. Just sitting next to someone was enough.”

The girls who had been laughing were now somber.

“Um…”

“Er…”

“Sorry…”

Si-yool’s mood darkened. Ray and Sora tried to comfort him, but their eyes darted nervously. The mint-haired girl spoke up, trying to regain control.

“Well, that’s…sad. But even a ‘Warrior’ isn’t that impressive. We’re real villains.”

“Really?” Si-yool replied flatly.

“Hey, was there really nothing else?” Sora whispered.

“Why?”

“I really hate her. I want to get back at her somehow.”

Si-yool understood. Even magical girls had their conflicts.

“She and her friends bullied me and my sister from the moment we arrived. If she wasn’t a superior, I would have done something already,” Sora confessed.

Si-yool felt a flicker of interest.

“So?” the mint-haired girl prodded. “Tell us what terrible deeds you committed in that other world.”

“Well…” Si-yool hesitated. He had too many options.

“Come on! Just tell us what you did on your first day!” Sora urged.

“First day…” Si-yool recalled the day his illusions about the other world shattered.

“Fine.”

“Well? Don’t keep us waiting!” the mint-haired girl said.

“It wasn’t anything special, really. I just…” he paused, then said in a calm, almost relieved tone, “kicked an old lady selling vegetables.”