As I headed to the battalion commander’s office, I received a brief explanation about the officer in charge of this unit.
She wasn’t as powerful as I was, but she possessed exceptional magical talent and had honed it to achieve an impressive track record.
Considering that magical girls couldn’t attack humans, making them unsuitable for direct military operations, she was probably the one who had defeated the most monsters among South Korea’s magical girls.
No matter how strong I was, covering the entire country alone wasn’t easy.
This was a much better setup.
Even if she wasn’t as powerful as me, having another strong magical girl to help protect people was reassuring.
More importantly…
“A lieutenant colonel, huh.”
I heard she was in her early 30s.
For someone that young to have reached lieutenant colonel, she must be incredibly strong.
Wouldn’t someone like that be more than capable of training these recruits?
“Are they really planning to make such a busy person take on a teaching role too?”
That thought suddenly crossed my mind.
I mean, even though I could technically handle all the monsters myself, it wasn’t exactly a long, drawn-out task.
But still, who actually wants more work?
Unless they’re a total workaholic.
“Honestly, Hayul, I think you are a workaholic.”
“What the hell are you on about now?”
“Come on, admit it. Fighting monsters is fun, isn’t it?”
I gave the bear an exasperated look.
He wasn’t always like this.
Back in the day, he used to be all hopeful and inspiring, like a proper mascot.
But as I got older, became an adult, and stayed in this form, he changed too.
This damn bear… had been completely corrupted by society.
“Sigh… What part of that would be fun?”
“…’’
I had my suspicions after watching you beat monsters to a pulp when you were stressed.
Was I wrong?
“To be fair, I had taken my frustrations out on a few monsters before.But even then… I wouldn’t say I enjoyed it.At least… I think I didn’t.”
So, what do you think?
“About what?”
“Working here. Seems like you’ll have to teach those girls if you stay.”
That was something I needed to think about more.
‘This is really starting to piss me off.’
What kind of ridiculous request was this?
They seriously expected me someone who had only ever fought monsters to suddenly become an instructor?
The higher-ups must have lost their damn minds.
They must’ve done a complete 180.
Of course, I had argued before that if I kept taking down monsters alone, the country would be in serious trouble, so we needed some kind of backup plan.
But I didn’t expect this half-assed excuse of a plan.
Did they think that just because I trained them, everything would magically fall into place?
They had gotten so complacent with peace that they failed to realize I was an outlier.
I had been doing this since I was nine before the world even knew about these monsters.
I made a contract and fought in secret.
At this point, they should just be developing magical weapons like the U.S. did.
Unlike South Korea, the U.S. military could handle D-rank monsters with ease.
Meanwhile, South Korea was stuck in limbo, and honestly, it was frustrating as hell.
But what could I do?
This was my country, and if I wasn’t here, it would fall apart.
So for now, I just had to wait and see.
“W-We’ve arrived!”
As I was mentally cursing the Counter-Monster Operations Commander who had given me this ridiculous order, we finally reached our destination.
A squad leader, a magical girl with a sergeant rank, spoke in a trembling voice.
“Oh, thanks. You can go now.”
“Yes! Loyalty!”
“Ah, no need to salute…”
A commissioned officer saluting an enlisted soldier?
What kind of nonsense was that?
I waved my hand dismissively, and the woman suddenly bowed deeply.
“T-Thank you for protecting our country…! I really respect you, Sergeant Min Hayul!”
“Uh… What?”
Where did this come from?
What kind of surprise attack was this?
I blinked in confusion, but she had already taken off as if her job was done.
I stood there, staring at the spot where she had been, still trying to process what had just happened.
Next to me, the bear had a pleased smile on his face.
“There are people who truly appreciate your sacrifices, Hayul.”
“I guess so.”
The world saw me as an extraordinary magical girl.
But that was only because those people didn’t have me.
Before monsters fully revealed themselves to the world before Fairyland officially announced its support for magical girls I had been protecting South Korea.
For twenty long years.
And because I had done so for so long, this country had come to take my protection for granted.
Me fighting monsters wasn’t even newsworthy anymore.
Sure, a peaceful world was much better than a world constantly living in fear of danger.
But somewhere deep inside, I still felt… empty.
“Well, that wasn’t so bad.”
It felt nice, actually.
“Not bad? Your smile’s about to reach your ears. If you walk in like that, the battalion commander might just give you the same look! Puhaha—AGH!?”
“Shut up.”
Seriously, this bear talks too much.
Clunk.
Clatter.
“Ah.”
“Ack…!”
“…Sergeant Min Hayul…?”
A woman, likely around the mid-170 cm range, looked down at me with a curious expression.
“Wow…”
No, I can’t just blurt out “Wow, bread.”
That’d be weird.”
I should have come out to greet you first.
“My apologies.”
***
The woman, who introduced herself as Han Yujin, bowed her head sincerely.
“Uh, I think everyone keeps forgetting, but I’m just a sergeant. A soldier. You don’t have to bow to me.”
“Pfft… And yet, you’re speaking casually to me, aren’t you?”
“Well, you’re not wrong.”
What kind of soldier even uses honorific speech?
I used to try to keep up with proper military speech, but I gave up on that ages ago.
And what’s anyone gonna do about it?
“Besides… I doubt anyone actually sees you as just a sergeant. No one would treat a legendary magical girl like that.”
Han yujin gave a wry smile.
“Well, I mean…”
“Seriously…” Sometimes, I wonder if this country even knows how to think.
It’s no exaggeration to say that South Korea’s peace exists because of you, Sergeant Min Hayul.
And yet, they still refuse to promote you?
Their treatment of you is absurdly stingy.
“Uh.What?Why is she getting all fired up all of a sudden?”
“Oh, well, that’s…”
“I’m furious at this country’s incompetence! Their sheer stupidity is downright repulsive! If another nation swooped in and took you, they’d have no one to blame but themselves!”
Okay, can I get a chance to speak, maybe?
“Sergeant Min Hayul, just wait a little longer. I will ” “Okay, seriously, will you let me talk for a second?”
This woman was jumping to some major conclusions.
“First off, I get paid plenty. Sure, it’s less than what I’d get overseas, but I don’t really need that much money. I get anywhere from tens of millions to billions of won per mission, and that’s more than enough for me. And as for the promotion…”
I scratched my head.
“I… turned it down.”
“…What?”
Han yujin’s eyes widened.
She looked completely baffled.
“I just don’t want to be commissioned, so I refused.”
I added an awkward smile as I explained, and Han yujin just stared at me in a daze.
“So… the reason you’re still a sergeant is…”
“Yeah…” The Ministry of National Defense keeps begging me to accept a commission, but I don’t want to.
If I get commissioned, I’ll feel like I belong to the government, and I never wanted to be a soldier in the first place.
So I said no, and now they’re just keeping me as a sergeant.
Something about constitutional restrictions, or whatever.
I laughed casually.
This whole thing had caused a lot of rumors.
People kept asking why I was still a sergeant while other magical girls got promoted just fine.
There were even conspiracy theories floating around claims that the Ministry of National Defense was deliberately keeping me from advancing because they feared I’d gain too much influence over the country.
But seriously, who would believe something like that?
Would a magical girl so dedicated to the job that she made it to lieutenant colonel at her age really buy into those kinds of theories?
“So don’t worry about it.”
Han yujin still looked like she couldn’t wrap her head around it.“…”
Understandable.
She wasn’t even a non-commissioned officer she went straight to being an officer and climbed all the way to lieutenant colonel at her age.
That meant she was serious about the magical girl business.
And yet, the strongest magical girl in the country the absolute peak of their field was just refusing to get promoted, all because she didn’t feel like it?
That had to be incomprehensible.
Not that I particularly cared.
Watching from the side, the floating bear drifted closer and whispered in my ear.
“This must feel like the world just ended for her…”
“Shut it.”
No “my world just crumbled” nonsense.
That’d be rude to the person actually experiencing it.