Chapter 63: It’s Not A Technology Leak, It’s Advice! (4)
I was taken aback.
What I meant by taken aback was that I was taken aback by the sight of this foreign magical girl standing in front of me, her entire body sparkling in a rainbow of colors.
“Hehe, why are you looking away?”
“Of course, it’s because of your current state!”
“What is this?”
Yumir pointed to herself in her transformed state.
“It’s a costume that captures the style and spirit of Korea, isn’t it?”
“Isn’t this too much of a deep dive into Korean culture?”
“As a foreigner, I need to dress like this to avoid criticism from the people, don’t I?”
She was right.
It was me who suggested that first, and Yumir faithfully brought a costume in accordance with my suggestion.
The problem was that she didn’t have it made by a professional costume maker but made it herself.
And instead of using thread and needle, she created it using magic.
“Are you wearing mana right now?”
“Yes!”
“Oh, my. So what happens if the mana is peeled off?”
“I’ll be naked!”
“Hey!”
I let out a scream of surprise first.
“Ah, you startled me.”
“What do you plan to do if it comes off?”
“It’s okay. It won’t come off!”
“No matter what you say, you can’t do that. No. Find another way. And definitely don’t take it off right now.”
“Ah, I was about to un-transform.”
“So you’re sexually harassing me now?”
“I’m the one who’s naked. Isn’t it more like I’m the one being sexually harassed?”
“Good grief.”
I threw a coat from the wardrobe to Yumir, and she simply caught it.
“What will you do if you just hold the coat I gave you to wear?”
“Why should I wear this?”
“Hey. It might look like ordinary clothing to the eye, but in reality, you’re naked, right?”
“The material of the clothes is different, but it’s the same as wearing clothes, whether they’re made of silk, satin, or mana.”
“Sigh. How do you never lose an argument?”
“I can’t lose! Instead of getting praise for the costume, I worked so hard to create, I’m getting scolded.”
Yumir put her hands on her hips and puffed up her cheeks.
She openly expressed her displeasure, and in the end, I had no choice but to raise my hands in surrender.
“Alright. But don’t take off that mana outfit.”
“Why would I undress in front of you?”
“You just changed your clothes out of the blue!”
“I just went through a transition process. From my casual clothes to an extremely thin full-body rash guard, and from there to this hanbok costume.”
“A transition?”
This was a bit intriguing.
“Wait a minute. So where did your clothes go?”
“My clothes?”
“Yes. Your clothes.”
“……Ah!”
Yumir clapped her hands and looked surprised.
“I should have undressed before transforming!”
“…….”
At that moment, I was about to yell, ‘Hey!’ but I managed to hold back. Yelling for no reason would give off the impression that I knew about the side effects of transformations.
“What did you have to undress for?”
“My clothes. Oh no. If I just cancel this transformation, I’ll be naked immediately.”
“…….”
As expected.
Just like when Baek Seol-hee ‘popped’, Yumir could have ‘popped’ as well if she had made a wrong move.
“Weren’t you practicing in your room?”
“I did practice, but I only wore my underwear.”
“Didn’t your roommate say anything? Oh, right. You said your roommate wasn’t home at that time. Grr.”
“Yes. So I checked while I was alone. This… my underwear disappeared due to the release of magical power.”
“Grr….”
This was a bit of a problem.
‘Solar Platina’ Yumir, who seemed to have more magical power than me, faced the same problem.
Our clothes were stripped off when transforming due to the sudden release of magic from the body.
To be exact, our clothes could not withstand the pressure of the magic and exploded.
They exploded as if they were torn apart to the extent that it was uncertain whether it was on a particle or molecular level.
I still hadn’t fully understood the principle, nor had I overcome it.
‘It’s not even the law of nakedness in transformations.’
The phenomenon of clothes tearing during the transformation process appeared in many forms of media, almost as if it was a natural law of this world, like the law of universal gravitation.
Not only was I experiencing this, but everyone else who had learned my skills was also in the same predicament.
“Student Yumir. So, is there no solution? How can we reverse the clothing’s destruction?”
“We can’t restore the clothes, but there are two possible solutions.”
Yumir casually sat on my bed and held up two fingers.
“One is to maintain the clothes as they are and move to a changing room. This means you can quickly change into other clothes from being naked, but you can only undo the transformation in a safe place.”
“You can’t keep blasting your clothes off while attending the academy.”
“That’s why there’s another way: to keep supplying mana so that these clothes can be maintained. Until the mana runs out.”
“Student Yumir, I hate to say this, but as an E-rank, won’t your mana deplete quickly?”
“…For an average E-rank, yes. Hehe.”
Yumir pressed her lips to her index finger and winked.
“I have a secret weapon, you know?”
“What is it?”
“Hey, who just shows off their trump card?”
“Sorry, did I ask a sensitive question?”
“No, no, no, no!!”
Yumir quickly got up, waving her hands at me in denial.
“The question is a bit sensitive, but it’s okay if it’s with you, teacher!”
“…Huh?”
Something felt odd just now.
“Why is it okay with me?”
“Oh, well… Teacher! I’ll ask you something else first!”
As if she had made up her mind, Yumir approached me, clenching both her fists.
“This is absolutely not about me!”
“Mmhm. It’s not about Student Yumir, but a friend you know or someone you met on the internet, right?”
“Yes!”
As if.
She had no intention of hiding that she was Solar Platina.
She was trying to appeal to me, Do Ji-Hwan, that she was actually an incredible ability user.
“Suppose a person has to hide their ability from the entire country and the world for some reason, and you find out about that person’s secret. What would you do?”
“I would keep the secret.”
“Even if you could use that person’s abilities to gain enormous wealth, fame, and power?”
“I’m not particularly interested in that.”
I already had some wealth, a notorious reputation, and power as the leader of a dedicated legion.
“Oh, that would be a bit tempting.”
“What would be?”
“Stories I haven’t seen yet.”
“…Stories?”
“Yes.”
I pointed to the paper books I had borrowed from the library on my desk.
“I’m a person who likes novels. I enjoy seeing diverse stories that I haven’t yet seen. This is not only about novels. It includes movies, animations, musicals, and even ‘reality’.”
“That reality, is it about heroes and villains?”
“It includes such stories too.”
But that was a story for later.
“I’m thinking of compiling the stories of those who are now praised as heroes and those who are condemned as villains in the future.”
“Like a wiki?”
“Hmm… rather than that, it’s about transforming them more ‘into novels’.”
Someone once said,
Every reader was a potential aspiring novelist.
There must be those who start dreaming of becoming a novelist after being moved by a well-written novel -
[Wow, who writes such a crude piece?]
[I could write better than this?]
[Wow, should I fall into being an author too? Instead of a reader’s life, how about trying a writer’s life?]
I had heard of cases where people thought like this.
I was no different.
“It’s just one of my goals. And suppose the protagonist of that story is a protagonist who has to hide their identity. In that case, I want to tell the story like this.”
“How so?”
“All the ability users who tried not to be exposed have been exposed at least once, so make it certain. Either not being exposed until the end or being in a position where it doesn’t matter if they’re exposed.”
“… That’s an interesting perspective.”
Yumir showed interest with her eyes sparkling.
“I would strive not to be exposed until the end, but what does it mean to be in a position where it doesn’t matter if exposed? Are you suggesting I become a villain?”
“No. I mean to thoroughly distinguish between when you act as an ability user and when you are an ordinary person.”
Like me.
“For example, let’s suppose that Student Yumir is an S-rank ability user, no, even more powerful than that in the world.”
“Me?! Me?”
“What are you so surprised about? It’s just a hypothetical situation.”
“Oh, ahahaha. Right. Hypothetical. IF. Suppose.”
“…….”
This kid.
She might accidentally reveal her identity because of her clumsiness.
‘She doesn’t seem like she’ll break down if exposed, but if that happens, I’ll have to earnestly comfort her.’
If she had the talent to transform herself, she could aim for an executive position or even higher. Not to the level of a boss, though.
“So, if I’m the most powerful ability user in the world?”
“Hmm… What if you could create something like a clone?”
“……Ho?”
Yumir’s eyes twinkled.
“A clone?”
“Yes. Like another me that moves remotely. There can be various ways. For example, putting your energy into a remotely controlled robot to make it move, making something like a mannequin move with your energy, or transforming into a different appearance than Student Yumir.”
“All those sound difficult.”
“If you’re the strongest in the world, wouldn’t you be able to do that much?”
“It would certainly be useful if I succeed, but isn’t there a simpler solution?”
“A simpler solution.”
There was one.
Just as Baek Seol-hee did, it could be done by overlaying energy on your clothing, creating an external armor of sorts.
Having thought of another way to transform after meeting with Baek Seol-hee and referencing related materials, if I told her the method of ‘overlaying energy onto your current clothing,’ Yumir would surely find her own answer right away.
However…
‘I have a bond with Baek Seol-hee.’
I couldn’t easily share that.
Instead, I had no choice but to subtly suggest another method.
“If there’s a way to not care about being exposed in Korea, it would be that, right?”
“What is that?”
“This.”
I turned on my smartphone and pulled up a piece of data.
“…Preserving our tradition, transforming into a form that has an unspoken acknowledgment that no one should easily reveal their identity. At the same time, it doesn’t matter if you show your face directly.”
“This is… a scholar?”
“No, it’s not just a scholar.”
In the data on the screen, a scholar was standing with a round object held out in front of him, shouting something loudly.
“It’s a secret royal inspector.”
“…Are you saying I should become a secret royal inspector?”
“It’s just a hypothetical, a hypothetical. And with the current situation, you only need to add two things.”
I swept my hand over my face.
“All you need is a spell for the transformation gimmick. You don’t need to hide your face. Instead,”
I pointed at Yumir’s hair and eyes.
“What if you walked around looking like a completely different person?”
“…My face?”
“Yes. The before and after of the transformation would be completely different.”
It was a simple solution.
“Frankly, if Student Yumir were to transform into, say, the President’s granddaughter and go around shouting ‘The magical girl has arrived!’, who would think that’s you?”
Face change.
Voice change.
And deepfake [magic].
“Whether as a hero or villain, ability users always receive someone’s attention, but since they’re not Yumir, it doesn’t matter, right?”
“…I see.”
Yumir brought her hands to her cheeks.
“So I first transform into a completely different person, and then transform again into a secret royal inspector magical girl from that state!”
That was correct.
“Not as Yumir, but in the state of being a completely different person!”
A magical girl.
The source of this c𝐨ntent is fre𝒆w(e)bn(o)vel