Chapter 2: Magical Girls and Missing Memories

“Mr. Kim Si-yool, please stop this,” the officer pleaded, exhaustion evident in his voice.

“Please, just check one more time,” Si-yool begged, his pleas growing increasingly desperate.

The officer’s expression hardened. “How many times do I have to show you? We’ve been over this five times already.”

Si-yool, however, remained unconvinced. “It doesn’t make sense!”

Everything he’d heard so far defied logic. The official document stating his desertion from the military was unbelievable enough, but there was something even more baffling.

“Why isn’t there any record of anything?” he asked.

He meant it literally. His schools, his former workplaces, his tiny apartment, his military base—all gone. Even records of his parents were nonexistent.

“How can everything be gone?” he demanded. It wasn’t just that these places were gone, there was no trace they ever existed.

The absence of his parents’ records was particularly disturbing. In a country like South Korea, known for meticulous record-keeping, this was impossible. There should at least be something, a missing person report, a death certificate, anything. But there was nothing. It was as if they’d never existed.

“It’s impossible!” Si-yool exclaimed.

“Why is it impossible?” the officer retorted, his tone laced with weariness. “It’s not like you’re the only one.” He sighed, as if dealing with a particularly difficult customer.

Si-yool seized the opportunity. “How dare you say I’m parentless! And imply that I deserve it!” he wailed, loud enough to attract the attention of everyone in the police station.

“Wait! I never said that!” the officer sputtered.

“And you call yourself a police officer! You shouldn’t be bringing up people’s parents! Is that in the police manual?!” Si-yool continued, his voice dripping with faux anguish.

His performance had the desired effect. The other officers in the station exchanged disapproving glances. A higher-ranking officer began taking notes, presumably for the unfortunate officer’s performance review. Si-yool watched with satisfaction as the officer’s face paled.

“No, it’s not like that!” the officer stammered.

“Then what is it like?!” Si-yool pressed, his eyes dry despite his tearful voice. His goal was singular: to ruin this officer’s reputation—

“You know what happened, Mr. Kim! Most of the records in South Korea were wiped out!”

Si-yool’s mind ground to a halt. He’d forgotten what he was even talking about. Something far more important had just been revealed.

“Records…wiped out? Why?”

“You don’t know?” the officer asked incredulously.

“If I knew, would I be asking?” Si-yool thought, biting back his frustration. He stared intently at the officer, who looked back with a mixture of disbelief and suspicion.

“You seriously don’t know? The whole world almost ended back then,” the officer said.

“I don’t know,” Si-yool admitted.

“It was global news! How could you not know? Where have you been all this time?”

“Another world,” Si-yool replied.

“What?”

“I was dragged off to another world for ten years,” he elaborated.

“What the…” the officer trailed off, rubbing his face in exasperation. “I can’t do this anymore. This is insane…”

Si-yool felt a surge of frustration. It was the truth! He really had been in another world, even if all the evidence was gone.

“I’m going to quit,” the officer muttered. He then looked at Si-yool with resignation. “Okay, let’s say you were in another world. That means you don’t know what happened here, right?”

Si-yool decided to correct one minor detail. “No, I really was in another world. Are you even listening? Are you feeling okay?”

“Just! Let’s! Move on! Please!” the officer begged.

He seemed genuinely distressed, which Si-yool found almost pitiful. He decided to offer some words of encouragement.

“Chin up! I’ve been a warrior, and trust me, being a public servant is the best. Job security, pension…”

“Oh my god! Just! Shut up! I can’t explain this to you!”

He clearly wasn’t receptive to consolation. Si-yool sighed. He supposed he’d have to be the understanding one. He was a warrior, after all.

“So, what happened?” he asked.

“Do you know what a magical girl is?”

Si-yool nodded. It wasn’t an unfamiliar concept, even after a decade in another world. He was a major shareholder of Top and Novelpia; he knew all about magical girls. But why was the officer bringing this up?

“And who are their enemies?” the officer continued.

“Monsters,” Si-yool replied. More specifically, humanoid monsters known as kaijin.

“Yes, monsters,” the officer confirmed. He sighed again and continued. “Those monsters invaded. They nearly destroyed South Korea. It was the same all over the world.”

Si-yool struggled to process the information. While he was in another world, South Korea had been attacked… by monsters… the enemies of magical girls.

“So, those monsters destroyed all the records?”

“Most of them, yes,” the officer clarified, adding, “but it’s not much different.”

Si-yool could imagine the devastation. If the country had been on the brink of collapse, it was no wonder the records were gone. He was just grateful Top□ and Novelpia, and, crucially, his stock portfolio, had survived.

Two questions remained.

“Where did these monsters come from?”

“The North,” the officer replied.

“North Korea?”

Si-yool pieced it together. Magical girls, monsters, missing records—it all boiled down to this: North Korea had attacked South Korea, and the world, and nearly destroyed everything.