Chapter 7 : Is this real ? (3)

After a brief moment, Han yujin seemed to have calmed down.

She cleared her throat and apologized to me.

“I apologize. That was such an unexpected answer…”

“No, it’s fine. From the perspective of someone in your position, I can understand why my response might have been shocking.”

I mean, who would have ever guessed?

That someone refused a promotion simply because they didn’t want to be commissioned.

“So, can we get straight to the main topic?”

“Yes, of course.”

She nodded and began explaining about this unit and what exactly my role would be.

“The purpose of this unit is to train magical girls capable of handling high-tier creatures.”

As you know, Sergeant Min Hayul, South Korea currently relies far too heavily on you, which has been identified as the biggest issue in our national defense.

“Captain Kang had mentioned something similar before.”

This issue has been raised for years, but until now, there was no viable solution.

“She went on to explain that over time, more magical girls with exceptional talent had begun to emerge, making it finally feasible to implement this plan.”

In short, it was this:Right now, this unit consists of magical girls who scored B-rank or higher in aptitude tests.

There are only a few dozen of them, but the person in charge of training them is someone who, even if her rating had dropped from S-rank to A-rank due to age, was still evaluated as having S-rank capabilities.

And then…”There is also a special squad that you, Sergeant Min Hayul, will be responsible for. This squad consists entirely of S-rank magical girls—those with exceptional talent, even among magical girls.”

“So, you want me to train them.”

“Yes, that’s correct.”

Hah… well, damn.

“Uh, not to be rude, but I don’t think Hayul would be a great teacher.”

“Shut it.”

“Yes, ma’am.”

To be honest, I wasn’t confident in my teaching abilities, so the bear wasn’t exactly wrong.

But hearing that in front of someone else annoyed me, so I cut him off.”…You seem to get along well with your mascot.”

“Hm? You make it sound like you don’t get along with yours.”

“Oh… You don’t know?”

Know what?

I tilted my head in confusion, and the floating bear suddenly seemed to remember something.

“Ah, right.”

From what I recall, nowadays, magical girls don’t have mascots anymore.

Since they’re officially operating under the Ministry of National Defense, Fairy Tale Land decided mascots weren’t necessary and recalled all of them.

“Then why are you still here?”

“Oh, come on now~ We’ve been together for so long~”The bear floated onto my head and tried to act cute.

I really wanted to kill this guy.

Should I just do it?

“Uh… I just felt an overwhelming killing intent…”

“It’s just your imagination.”

“T-To be precise… Hayul and I already formed an independent contract as a magical girl and mascot, so… I don’t have to leave… or rather… I can’t leave…”

Not unless the contract is broken, huh?

That’s disappointing.

“Wait, what was our contract again?”

“Ahh… Talking about that in front of someone else is embarrassing…”

“Oh, hell no.”

That was so disgusting I nearly gagged.

“…That’s harsh.”

“…”

Han yujin suddenly chuckled while watching us, so I turned to her in confusion.

“Ah, my apologies.”

Your mascot is… quite entertaining.

“Oho! You see it too?

You’re looking at the top-tier mascot from Fairy Tale Land! Fur maintenance?

Top tier! Cuteness?

Top tier! Efficiency?

Top tier! I wasn’t just a mascot—I was the mascot of mascots! I was “”Ugyaaaaagh!!””Ha… I apologize for my bear.”

“W-Wait, my li—!”

Bang!I grabbed the floating bear and threw him straight outside, snapping my fingers to shut the door behind him.

So damn noisy.

“Anyway… I was just surprised since I’ve never actually seen a mascot before.”

“Oh, trust me, even if you had, they’re useless. This one doesn’t even do his job properly anymore—he doesn’t even tell me when creatures appear.”

What do you do with a mascot that has lost its only useful function?

A truly difficult problem.

“More importantly, I have a question. Would you be able to answer it?”

“Huh? Oh, of course. Ask away.”

“Do you know who’s in charge of personnel assignments?”

“…What?”

No, seriously, this is really important.

“They asked me if I’d take this job, but before I even gave an answer, they just went ahead and reassigned me here without my consent.”

Asking if I wanted to take the position and then forcibly reassigning me is basically the same as saying, “Don’t want to work? Then die.”

Of course, I had to find out who was responsible for this.

So I could kill—no, talk to them.

“Um… I’m sorry, but I don’t know. I can try contacting the personnel office, though.”

What a shame.

“Yeah, that’d be great. Thanks.”

“So… does that mean you’re accepting this assignment?”

“Yeah, well… I was thinking that I couldn’t keep going like this forever anyway.”

I wasn’t mad about the assignment itself—I was just pissed that they made it sound like a request and then forced it on me.

Training recruits, huh…I couldn’t think of a job that suited me less.

But if my recruits turned out to be competent enough, they’d be able to handle most threats, as long as some insanely powerful creature didn’t appear.

That meant less work for me.

Thinking about it that way, it wasn’t the worst deal.

“Alright… I guess I should get going. Since I’ve accepted the job and all.”

“Huh?”

“Not like there’s anything else for me to do here.”

At my words, Han yujin’s expression turned strange.

“But… isn’t it still work hours…?”

She looked at me like she couldn’t comprehend what I was saying.

I smirked.

“I’m allowed to stay off-base unless it’s during dimensional distortion periods.”

With a sarcastic tone, I stood up from my seat.

Since we were done talking, I was heading home.

“W-Wait a moment!””Hm?”

“Why don’t you at least meet the squad you’ll be in charge of before you leave?”

Oh.

Right.

Hmm.

“I’ll see them tomorrow anyway. What’s the point—””N-No! I’m sure they’re waiting to meet you!”What’s with this person?

Her strange persistence made me narrow my eyes at her, but in the end, I reluctantly agreed.

“Fine…”Might as well go see them.

Word of my arrival had apparently spread beyond just Lieutenant Colonel Han yujin—it had already reached the entire unit.

I mean, it would, wouldn’t it?

The person that most magical girls in their twenties supposedly admired had shown up at their base.

And not just that, but she hadn’t even walked in she’d arrived half-asleep, being carried on her mother’s back.

And that rumor…

That rumor…

That…

Oh, hell.

Rumors…

“Ah.”

I suddenly really didn’t want to go.

***

Apparently, I would be in charge of three recruits.

Well, considering that an S-rank aptitude is incredibly rare, it wasn’t surprising that there were only three of them.

Magical girls had only become common over the past ten years.

The fact that three women in their twenties had already emerged with such high aptitude was impressive in itself.

If it was just three of them, I guess meeting them wouldn’t be too bad.

‘What kind of kids are they?’

Judging by how young everyone around here looked, they must have just turned twenty.

If they had an S-rank aptitude, they were probably tested and recruited the moment they became legal adults.

“Human rights sure are a complicated issue.”

“To be honest, it’s a cultural difference that Fairyland doesn’t quite understand.”

“No, you guys should understand.”

I shot the floating bear an incredulous look, and he awkwardly scratched his head.

“So this is the place yujin mentioned.”

The Special Squad, or whatever it was called.

Inside, it looked like a standard four-person barracks room.

There were only three beds, though.

‘Wait… aren’t they all officers?’

Officers were usually allowed to live off-base.

Was it different for them?

“Attention! Loyalty!”

“Uh, I’m not an officer, though.”

I waved my hand dismissively, and the girls exchanged uncertain glances.

Yep, just three of them.

All of them were staring at me like I was some kind of rare animal.

I fell silent for a moment and glanced around the room.

‘Did they… transform?’

They were all in their magical forms.

One girl had white hair and a sharp, expressionless face.

Another had light green hair and a relaxed, almost sleepy demeanor.

The last one had bright red hair and an incredibly rigid, disciplined posture—she was the first to salute the moment she saw me.

‘Ah, I see.’

They were non-commissioned officer candidates.

I noticed the insignia on their arms.

Looked like they had just enlisted.

“Hello. As you’ve probably already heard, I’m Sergeant Min Hayul, and I’ll be in charge of you all.”

I could tell just by looking at them each one of them had a lot of personality.

I was doomed.