“Are you all here?”
“Yes…”
“Good. Since you’re all gathered, I’ll speak. Who was the b*tch who posted that attack piece (TL Note: ‘Jeogyeokgeul,’ a post specifically targeting and criticizing someone, often with malicious intent.) about our senior on the gallery yesterday?”
Cloud, the Team Leader of Team 3 and the Magical Girl Disciplinary Captain, glared, her eyes wide.
“We also tried… to find them. But no one confessed…”
“No one confessed? Hey, are you playing games? Do you think that’s a valid excuse?”
‘Then what *is* a valid excuse? You f*cking b*tch.’ GoldRose of Team 4 thought, swallowing the curses that rose to her throat.
“Haven’t I told you countless times? I don’t care what you post on the gallery. Frankly, you could even curse me out by name, and I wouldn’t say a thing.”
Cloud, known for her strict personality, was a magical girl who often received a lot of criticism behind her back.
The Magical Girl Gallery was filled with posts openly disparaging Cloud.
‘She doesn’t not care; she just can’t catch them because it’s anonymous.’
Most of the magical girls gathered there shared this thought. They believed Cloudstar wasn’t lenient enough to tolerate insults against herself, but simply lacked the ability to track down the anonymous posters.
“Just one thing. I’ve told you repeatedly not to post anything related to our Team 1 seniors! You f*cking bitches! Is that so hard to follow?!”
“No, it’s not!”
“Then why aren’t you listening? You’re doing this on purpose, aren’t you? If this happened in my day, you’d all be dead!”
These were not empty words. Just twenty years prior, the hierarchy among magical girls had been far stricter. Cloud herself had been slapped for failing to properly greet a senior.
‘No, but why the hell are we being called for assembly over some internet post?’
Born into a wealthy family, GoldRose found herself utterly bewildered.
To be called for assembly just because someone posted something strange on an anonymous site? What kind of elementary school behavior was this?
She simply could not tolerate such absurdity.
“Hey, Team Leader of Team 4.”
“Yes…”
“You’ve gotten comfortable, haven’t you? Just because you’re a team leader, you think you can’t see anything?”
“Oh, no, ma’am!”
“What do you mean, ‘no’? Is this really the time for you to think you’ve gained seniority (TL Note: ‘Jjam,’ a slang term referring to accumulated experience, seniority, or a sense of entitlement that comes with it.)? You know everyone’s talking about you behind your back, right?”
“I apologize!”
“Does apologizing end your magical girl life? You’re Team 4 now, understand? You know your mistakes could get your entire team killed. So why aren’t you staying alert?”
The endless cycle of scolding (TL Note: ‘Galghum,’ a term referring to a continuous, often harsh, scolding or harassment, particularly from a superior to a subordinate.). GoldRose truly felt she was about to explode.
“Hmph… fine. It was my mistake to expect anything from you all, wasn’t it? All you team leaders, step forward.”
A chain of scolding (TL Note: ‘Naerigalghum,’ a hierarchical form of scolding where pressure from above is passed down to subordinates, often starting with those in charge.) always began by reprimanding those in charge.
At Cloud’s words, the three team leaders, each responsible for their respective teams, stepped forward.
“It’s your responsibility for failing to manage your team members. So, you’ll take the beating on their behalf.”
“…Understood.”
“Team 6, step back. You’re not even senior enough to get hit yet.”
With a gesture that was, in its own way, considerate, Cloud donned her signature weapon: a pair of silver knuckles.
“Just about three moderate hits…”
“Senior! We have a major problem!”
“The major problem is these bitches’ disciplinary status—”
“No, not that! A Titan has appeared in the nearby city!”
A Titan? The expected alarms shouldn’t have gone off.
How could the detection center have failed to sense such immense energy?
“…You lucky bitches. I’ll take care of it and then we’ll finish this.”
For someone of Team 3’s caliber, their physical abilities were bound to be superior.
Leaping without a running start, Cloud soared through the ceiling, ascending into the sky.
‘Is that it?’
Before long, Cloud spotted the Titan standing in the middle of the city.
‘Something feels off.’
The Titan was small, only about two meters tall, with massive wings sprouting from its back.
Its entire body was covered in black feathers, and its face brought to mind the masks worn by medieval plague doctors.
Garuda. The Titan remained completely still, as if waiting for someone. He simply stood blankly near the city.
‘Regardless, it’s a Titan.’
It had to be dealt with. Fortunately, his stillness had allowed nearby citizens to evacuate.
Cloud closed the distance in an instant.
“I’ll pluck out your feathers first.”
Garuda, the Titan, watched Cloud approach with a tearing sound through the air. Such was her speed that, upon impact, she would undoubtedly tear him to shreds.
Unlike Behemoth, Garuda possessed no strong defensive capabilities. He could sustain significant damage even from the physical impacts of an ordinary magical girl.
“Die—!”
Instead, he possessed the fastest speed among the five Great Titans.
Cloud’s attack, launched at supersonic speed, was evaded with remarkable ease. There was no grand movement; he simply tilted his body as if stepping aside.
‘He dodged my attack?’
Considerably agitated by her missed punch, she gritted her teeth and landed on the ground. *Shhhhk!* Her shoes scraped against the asphalt, creating friction.
‘So that’s Cloud. Hitting a magical girl feels a bit wrong, but she seems like she’ll be fine.’
Even Park Hyunseong was well aware of her reputation as the disciplinary officer. Of course, he knew she didn’t want to be that way.
‘I’ll stop after a moderate hit.’
Cloud immediately charged forward. With each stride, the innocent concrete ground beneath her exploded.
Watching her run was like witnessing someone with explosions trailing behind them. Garuda felt a slight tremor from her boisterous advance but quickly composed himself.
Adhering to the absolute law of physics that speed equals power, Garuda plunged his fist into Cloud’s abdomen as she rushed towards him. It was akin to landing a counter-punch in boxing.
*Crack!* Something snapped. It was Garuda’s finger bones. The sheer force of his own speed had, paradoxically, broken his fingers.
‘It doesn’t hurt.’
There was no pain, thanks to his regeneration before the signals could reach his brain. Cloud, however, was a different story. She was an ordinary magical girl, devoid of any regenerative abilities.
“Ugh…”
Having absorbed the full impact of his speed combined with her own momentum, Cloud lost consciousness.
Thus, a magical girl from Team 3 had been defeated, and a team leader at that.
‘Perhaps one needs to be from Team 2 to truly contend with him.’
Experiencing this unexpected reality, Garuda watched Cloud fly back several hundred meters.
*Bang! Bang! Crash!* Her body finally came to a halt after tearing through several buildings.
Fortunately, she hadn’t died, but she would likely require several months of recovery.
‘I can fill Cloud’s void myself.’
The next day, the news of a team leader-level magical girl being defeated and hospitalized became a massive talking point.
****
[Anon (12.11): Following Jara-jwa (TL Note: ‘Jara-jwa,’ a nickname for a Titan, combining ‘Jara’ (turtle) with ‘-jwa’ (a respectful or humorous suffix for a master/boss).) comes Kkoko-jwa (TL Note: ‘Kkoko-jwa,’ a nickname for a Titan, combining ‘Kkoko’ (onomatopoeia for chicken/bird) with ‘-jwa’ (a respectful or humorous suffix for a master/boss).)! lol]
[Anon (23.11): Kkoko-jwa, you’re awesome!!!!]
[YouDoIt: Kkoko-jwa, is he a god?]
[HmmIsThatSo: Seriously, Kkoko-jwa saved us lol]
The news of Disciplinary Captain Cloud’s defeat shook the entire gallery.
‘Why do they keep coming up with these nicknames?’
Aren’t Titans the sworn enemies of magical girls? Attaching ‘jwa’ (TL Note: A respectful or humorous suffix for a master/boss.) to them felt a bit off.
Regardless, the attack pieces that had been burning fiercely until yesterday were instantly buried.
[Tuttat: But Kkoko-jwa << seems incredibly strong;] Isn’t he one of the few magical girls who can single-handedly subjugate a top-tier Titan? Someone said he was knocked out in one hit, though. Comments –YouDoIt: That’s true, I guess Team 2 will have to step up next time. –Anon (13.11): They say he didn’t do anything in the city? –YouDoIt: What do you mean? This is the first I’m hearing of it. –Anon (13.11): I heard he just knocked out the team leader and then disappeared again? As if his target was only the magical girl, lol. –YouDoIt: Just like Jara-jwa, lol. Is he some kind of experimental subject released by the association? ‘Of course. Why would I attack civilians? That’s what Titans do.’ [Scarlet: Ah~~~~ I want to bite the mascot’s xx hehehe] (For reference, xx means candy) Comments –Anon (23.11): How vulgar. –Scarlet: Why is candy vulgar? –Anon (23.11): If this wasn’t the Magical Girl Gallery, you’d probably be sued someday. Meanwhile, Scarlet was posting strange things. For now, I’d let it be… As much as I wanted to find some flaw and expose her publicly, I couldn’t call another assembly for the magical girls. ‘Hmm? What’s this? A user alert popped up.’ As I quietly watched Scarlet’s strange antics, a post appeared. I had expected her to delete her account right away. Was she perhaps posting threats? As if possessed, I clicked on Pink Star’s post. And I felt a profound sense of regret. [ShyS2: Hii! Unnies (TL Note: ‘Unnie,’ a Korean term used by a female to address an older female friend or sister.), >< Baby is here again today!] Your super-duper-duper-duper-duper-duper cute wa.ta.shi (TL Note: ‘Watashi,’ a Japanese first-person pronoun, often used by characters in Korean web novels to convey a cute, quirky, or self-consciously adorable persona.) will melt your hearts with a *thump-thump*! Wow. How can someone have such a thick skin (TL Note: Literally ‘lay an iron plate on their face,’ meaning to be brazen or shameless.)? The Magical Girl Gallery immediately needed to provide this person with the best medical technology.
