BXBX NOVEL Chapter 42 - Hello. It's nice to see you.
"Ms. Ha-Yeon, I\'ll go look for him again."
As soon as I realized I had lost the boy, I immediately started searching for him.
"I\'ll go look for him with you!"
"Then, Ms. Ha-Yeon, please go to the other side and look for him there."
"Okay!"
Jung Ha-Yeon ran to the other side and began her search.
It wasn\'t confirmed that he was a monster, but the possibility was strong, and I couldn\'t let it go.
I summoned my magic power and focused it into my eyes. In an instant, my vision widened, allowing me to make out faces in the distance.
I ran around the academy, and it wasn\'t long before I found the one I was looking for.
However, he wasn\'t alone.
"Hey, what\'s for dinner tonight?"
"It doesn\'t look very good; let\'s just get something from the store."
"I don\'t have any money; can you lend me some?"
"You borrowed money last time and didn\'t pay it back. Pay me back first, bastard."
The boy was walking along with his two friends.
What? He has friends? That doesn\'t make sense.
If the boy was really a monster, he shouldn\'t be mingling with the other students. He can\'t. A monster can only change its appearance, not its identity.
"......"
An uneasy feeling crept up on me. Suspicion was about to turn into conviction.
To clarify my suspicions, I approached the boy.
"Hey, I\'ve been looking for you for a while."
"Huh? Who are you?"
The boy frowned as I greeted him. His hair was dyed in bright tones, and he wore a sarcastic expression. This was the delinquent I was looking for.
But the boy in the middle of the group of friends looked at me with a confused look.
"Don\'t you remember me? We met yesterday."
"...What are you talking about? I don\'t remember seeing anyone like you."
He acted like we were meeting for the first time.
It can\'t be. I\'ve seen you yesterday and today all day long; it makes no sense that you don\'t recognize me.
I asked him once more, just in case.
"Really? You don\'t have a twin, do you?"
"I\'m an only child, though?"
I thought maybe he had a twin, but that wasn\'t the case either.
That would mean the bastard I suspected was a monster.
Dammit.
"I don\'t know what\'s going on, but aren\'t you looking for the wrong person?"
"......Yes, I think so. I\'m sorry; I must have been mistaken. Oh, but can you tell me your name?"
"My name is Oh Seok-Min...... By the way, you\'re kind of cute, and since we met, why don\'t you go to the store with us......?"
I left the boys behind and ran immediately. That guy was a monster. We need to find him right now.
I should\'ve been convinced from the moment he didn\'t give me his name. If I\'d known this was going to happen, I should\'ve just punched him in the face when we met on the roof earlier.
"Sigh, dammit. I really wish I had a monster-finding spell."
Then I wouldn\'t have to go through all this trouble. Why the hell don\'t I have that kind of spell?
I hurried on, looking for the monster. I saw Shin Chul-Min walking in front of me.
This is good. I should let him know about this.
"Mr. Chul-Min, may I speak with you for a moment?"
I told him I had something to say and led him to the back of the academy. I didn’t want any other students to overhear that we were searching for a monster.
"I think we can stay here; no one will see us."
Only after I confirmed that no one was nearby did I open my mouth again.
Before I told Shin Chul-Min that we had found the monster, I first took off my heavy wig. My head was feverish and sweaty from running around and worrying that I was in trouble.
"Mr. Chul-Min, you can take off your wig too. Don’t you feel uncomfortable?"
"...Uh, ah, no. I..."
I suggested that Shin Chul-Min take off his wig for a while, but for some reason, he stuttered in embarrassment.
What is it? Why are you so flustered?
Anyway, I decided not to pay attention. I have more important things to talk about right now.
"If you don’t mind it as it is, just listen to this. We found the monster."
"......!"
Shin Chul-Min looked quite surprised when I told him that I had found the monster. He must be surprised, because we\'ve already found it. I didn’t expect to find it this way, either.
I didn’t expect to lose it either.
"This is him. The monster transformed into a delinquent schoolboy."
I showed Shin Chul-Min the photo of the delinquent boy I had taken earlier, just in case I lost sight of him again.
"The monster\'s disguised as a student named Oh Seok-Min, and we need to find and catch him before he disguises himself as another student."
"......"
"The monster doesn’t know that we\'ve come to the academy to catch him yet, so rest assured, he\'s still in the form of a student named Oh Seok-Min."
"......"
"I\'ll post this picture and the student’s name in our chat room, and Baek Shin-Hwa and Ha-Yeon will start looking for the monster right away."
I looked at Shin Chul-Min’s face and said, "So you can find this student too."
He hadn’t said anything since earlier, so I wondered what he was thinking so seriously about.
"...Mr. Chul-Min?"
However, it wasn’t merely a serious expression; his face was completely pale. Was he shocked to hear that we had found the monster?
It\'s strange. The Shin Chul-Min I know is the kind of person who would run off to find a monster as soon as he heard that we\'d found one.
"Are you okay? You don’t look well. Is something wrong?"
"What? Oh, no, I’m fine, Ms. Hye-Yung."
"......Really?"
I felt uncomfortable with Shin Chul-Min’s words. I wonder why. It seems it was because he called me Lee Hye-Yung, not Shin Hye-Rim.
Even though I’m using the name Lee Hye-Yung now, he always called me by my real name when we were together. So why would he answer me with a pseudonym?
"You mean this guy is a monster? Okay, I\'ll go get him right now..."
"Wait a minute."
I called out to Shin Chul-Min, who was about to turn around and leave.
Just in case. I asked him again, just to be sure.
"Mr. Chul-Min, can you call me by my name?"
"...What?"
"I want you to call me by my name."
"......"
Beads of sweat trickled down Shin Chul-Min’s cheeks.
Something was wrong from the start. Why is he so nervous? Is it really that? It doesn’t make any sense, even to myself.
Could it be that the monster transformed into Shin Chul-Min, and I found it?
Could such an incredible stroke of luck have happened?
"W-what’s wrong, Ms. Lee Hye-Yung? Suddenly asking me to call you by your name."
Just now, Shin Chul-Min called me by my name, Lee Hye-Yung.
Oops. The corner of my mouth twitched up. But I supressed it and asked the question again.
"No, it’s nothing, Mr. Chul-Min. Do you know which association I belong to?"
"A-association?"
"Yes. Do you remember who I am?"
".......Gulp."
Shin Chul-Min swallowed, his throat burning.
Step.
I took a step toward him.
"Y-you\'re a Hero, no?"
Step.
Shin Chul-Min took a step back.
"That\'s right, I\'m a hero. Then, Mr. Chul-Min. Who are you?"
Step.
I took another step forward.
"I\'m a hero, too! I\'m here to catch the monster!"
Step. step.
Shin Chul-Min took two steps back.
"No."
I shook my head. My mouth was already curled into a genuine smile.
"You\'re a monster, bastard."
"......!"
Thud!
Before Shin Chul-Min, no, the monster could react, I quickly reached out and grabbed it by the back of the head.
Crash!
And slammed its face into the ground.
"Guh?!"
"Hmm? Don\'t resist. Stay down, and you won\'t get hurt."
Face down on the ground, the monster struggled violently. I let it stay like that for a moment, then tugged on its hair and pulled its face up.
It was real hair, not a wig. It was the monster, not Shin Chul-Min.
"What the hell is going o—eh, magical girl?"
The monster glared at me with a ferocious glare, and only then did it realize what I looked like now.
The school uniform I was wearing had turned into a flowing dress. I had already transformed into a magical girl.
"Since we can\'t cause a bloodbath in the middle of class, why don\'t we change our location?"
"Guh?!"
I grabbed the monster\'s shoulder and lifted it up. I leapt into the air and quickly flew to a nearby mountain.
"Ughhhhhh!!!"
I dragged the monster by the throat. Arriving at the mountain, I threw the monster to the ground.
Crash!
The monster\'s fall from the sky to the ground kicked up a cloud of dust. It was a bit of a high fall, but this shouldn\'t kill it.
"You son of a bitch!"
The dust cleared, and the monster was revealed.
There was no more Shin Chul-Min. The monster had shed its human form.
It had long, jet-black hair, with horns resembling those of mountain goats protruding from either side of its head. Its eyes were long and slit like those of a reptile. It appeared to be a hybrid between a monster and a woman.
Just like the monster I saw in the original manga.
"You finally revealed your true form, huh?"
Landing in front of the creature, I unclasped my hands. It was time to put an end to this stupid student game.