BXBX NOVEL Chapter 25 - Magical (Physical) Girl
I finished the final report and handed it to the chief.
"Okay, good job. Thank you for your hard work."
It’s finally over. I’m finally out of this damn paperwork hell.
The realization washed over me, and I sighed, flopping down on the couch in the chief’s office.
"I know you’re tired, but you should go to your office if you’re going to rest."
"The couch is comfortable here. Why don’t you rest too?"
"I still have work to do."
The chief rubbed his forehead, his eyes bleary with fatigue. Fortunately, he’ll also be done by the end of today.
"I guess I can actually go home today."
"Yes. It’s been a long day for both you and me."
He smiled bitterly and handed me the coffee he’d brought.
"But at least our hard work saved people from dying, so it’s a small price to pay."
"That’s true."
It’s our job to stop the villains’ terrorist attacks, like this one.
In the original manga, thousands of citizens were killed in the attack. I always disliked the terrorist attack in Episode 1. I didn’t want to see so many innocent people die with my own two eyes.
In the end, I stopped it.
"That’s right, Hye-Rim. From what I\'ve heard from above, they’re going to give you a commendation."
"What? For me?"
"Yes. Because you did a great job on this one."
As I sipped my coffee and wondered if I should have a couch like this at home, the chief continued, "Right now, even the citizens know that it was you who stopped this attack. If it wasn’t for you, Seoul would have been covered in human blood. I think it’s pretty much a done deal."
"...That’s so bothersome."
They’re giving me an award, which is nice. The problem is that the award is given at a ceremony.
An award is fine, but I don’t want to go to the ceremony to receive it, not that I really want it to begin with. In fact, I don’t even want to go to the ceremony.
There are a lot of other government employees there, too. Maybe my request will work if I put a big smile on my face.
"Can you just give me the money instead of an award?"
"Say something that makes sense. The citizens would be pissed if I didn’t give you the award in the first place. You know what the public opinion of you is right now."
"...No, I don’t."
I’ve done nothing but work in front of my computer for the past few days. Not even having time to browse the Internet, I just literally worked myself to the bone nonstop, so I didn’t see any news.
"You’re more popular than Alice right now."
"...That much?"
Being more popular than a star idol seemed pretty bizarre, no matter how you sliced it.
Alice did a great job in this terrorist attack, too, so I thought she should be more popular.
"You can look up your news when you get home tonight. You should go home now. You haven\'t been home in days."
"Oh, you mean right now? I won\'t decline, then."
I was just happy to be going home today, and now I could go early, too? I felt like doing a backflip and a dogeza, but I knew he\'d yell at me for doing weird things, so I stopped myself.
I immediately grabbed my stuff and ran to my Team 5 office to leave.
"Guys, I\'ll go first."
"You\'re leaving?"
I nodded immediately.
"Yeah. After all this hard work, I deserve a break. See you tomorrow."
"Okay, thanks for your hard work."
"Thank you for your hard work."
"Get some rest."
Normally, they\'d whine about how envious they were of me, but they sent me warm wishes because they saw what I was doing.
I walked out of the office, waving goodbye to my teammates. At least for today, I was the one who escaped the prison.
"Oh, Hye-Rim, are you leaving?"
On my way out of the Association, I ran into Team Leader 1. The team leader\'s normally cheerful face was now filled with dark circles.
Although not as much as me, the other team leaders had also suffered a lot.
"Yes, I\'m about to leave now."
"Congratulations! You\'re finally going home."
Team Leader 1 had been coming to see me every day after work for the past few days, offering encouragement. She wanted to help me, but she couldn\'t because I was the only one who could write these reports.
"Let\'s have a drink next time to celebrate the destruction of the Monster Association."
"Okay. Why don\'t we do it on Friday?"
"Sure, let\'s do that."
After promising to go drinking with Team Leader 1, I left the Association.
Home, sweet home. Here I come.
As I walked home, I felt many eyes on me. Normally, a few people would recognize me, glance my way, or talk to me.
But today, it was different.
"Hey, are you Team Leader 5 of the Awakened Crime Division?"
"Can you take a picture with me?!"
"You\'re Team Leader 5, right? T-thank you! If it wasn\'t for Team 5, I would have gone to the amusement park on the day of the attack."
More people than usual recognized me and stopped to talk. Many thanked me for stopping the attack.
I knew what I did was publicized, but the reaction seemed excessive.
When I got home, I Googled my name. How could people see me so positively that even the section chief would point it out?
"Ugh, shit!"
And then I got dizzy looking at all the posts.
[I love you, GOAT.]
[Shin Hye-Rim, if it weren\'t for you, I would have been killed by a monster while taking a walk in the park that day. You saved my life. I don\'t know where you are, so I bow to you every morning, east, west, north, and south. I promise to love only you from this day forward.
[For real, I wonder what would have happened to Seoul if it weren\'t for Shin Hye-Rim. They say thousands would have died.]
[There were thousands of monsters, so at least ten thousand people would\'ve died.]
[I was in Hongdae that morning, and suddenly some people told me to evacuate, and they were all heroes that Shin Hye-Rim had prepared in advance. If it wasn\'t for her, I would have died on the spot...]
[A true hero, Shin Hye-Rim. From today on, I vow to look only at her and love her.]
[I wonder what Shin Hye-Rim would think if she saw this lolol.]
[It would be scary as hell to read that some weird psycho loves her.]
There were countless posts from people claiming they would have died if I hadn\'t stopped the attack...
[Upvote this comment if you think she\'s a god.]
(Photo of Shin Hye-Rim transformed into a magical girl.)
[I\'ll be the first to upvote. lol]
[The photo is glowing, so I can\'t see anything.]
[For real, lol, I can only see a white screen.]
[The only god I believe in.]
[She\'s a goddess for real.]
[Ahhh... Goddess. You are so beautiful.]
[Shin Hye Rim, the real \'god\' who saves humanity.]
[God Hye Rim! God Hye Rim! God Hye Rim! God Hye Rim! God Hye Rim! God Hye Rim!]
The praise was overwhelming and even fanatical.
I knew I had done something big, and while I appreciated the gratitude.
"But this is a bit much."
The praise bordered on religious fervor. My popularity had skyrocketed, which was both flattering and intimidating.
It\'s a little—no, really scary.
"No, what is this?"
Then, a YouTube video caught my eye.
[Video of Shin Hye-Rim killing 1,000 monsters]
It was CCTV footage of me slaughtering monsters on the streets of Jamsil.
With just one swing of my arm, I killed over a thousand monsters. Naturally, the comment section of the video went wild.
[Magical★Bloodsword! Magical★Bloodsword! Magical★Bloodsword! Magical★Bloodsword! Magical★Bloodsword! Magical★Bloodsword! Magical★Bloodsword! Magical★Bloodsword! Magical★Bloodsword! Magical★Bloodsword!]
[And...a bloodbath of monsters with a single slash...]
[Magical★Bloodbath! Magical★Bloodbath! Magical★Bloodbath! Magical★Bloodbath! Magical★Bloodbath!]
[From now on, her nickname will be neither Magical Bloodfist nor Magical Punch. It\'s Magical Bloodsword and Magical Bloodbath. That\'s what you\'ll call her from now on.]
[Is she really a magical girl? Isn\'t that a magical staff that other magical girls use? Why is she using a sword?]
[A weapon that can kill 1,000 monsters with a single swipe is a magic staff, lol.]
[Oh, lol, if that\'s not magic, then what is it? Magical (physical) girl for sure, lol.]
[S-ranked heroes look like children. A magical girl who throws away her staff and slaughters them with her sword. What on earth is she......?]
"Oh, my head hurts."
The video already had over 10 million views.
Now I understood why the section chief said I was more popular than Alice. It wasn’t just that I had stopped the attack; it was the public release of this video.
It was the first time anyone had seen me wielding a sword and slaughtering monsters like that. No wonder it became a hot topic.
The reason I don\'t normally use a sword is simple. The moment I use a sword, I can\'t guarantee the criminal\'s life. So I\'ve always fought with my bare hands to better control my strength.
If I were to just kill the criminal instead of capturing them, I might not remain a government employee for long.
Of course, it\'s not the first time I\'ve used that sword. In high school, I used it whenever I went on monster hunts. It’s just that this is the first time I\'ve been seen using it in public.
"...It\'ll die down in a month."
This popularity will die down in time. The reason I\'m being talked about so much right now is because I just stopped a terrorist attack.
Like a fad, it\'ll come and go.