A chilling silence, eerie enough to truly be called tense, swirled through the living room.
The two of them were frozen solid like plaster statues, locked in the pose where they gripped each other's hands.
In the creepy tension where not even a breath could be heard, their gazes blankly wandered lost in the air.
'What did I just hear?'
Kang Ihyeon forcibly cranked his mind, which turned like gears without oil, dragging out the definition of the word "husband."
Husband.
A man who marries and becomes a woman's partner.
One half of a lifelong companion, someone you love mutually, legally marry, live with, rub skin against skin, and spend life with.
"Hus...band...?"
"Ah, uh, aaaah... Th-that... that's..."
Yoon Se-ah started stammering with a voice thick with moisture, as if she might burst into tears any second.
Clearly, her head hadn't sorted out the topic, and it had run wild on its own, spitting out the conclusion first.
'Wait, conclusion?'
Even if the conclusion came first, there was only one thing that could lead to a relationship like "husband."
A confession.
Kang Ihyeon's heart began pounding like mad.
Hot blood surged from his heart, racing through his body, while cold sweat poured from him, spreading dampness everywhere.
The sweltering heat radiating from his body gradually warmed the air in the living room.
Their touching hands grew feverishly hot, competing to see who could win, and soaked in sticky moisture.
'So that's why she dressed up like this?!'
Kang Ihyeon's trembling gaze turned to his sis.
It made sense if she'd come wearing that flashy city dress she'd sworn she'd never wear just to look a little prettier.
He knew the feeling well—if he were confessing to Se-ah sis, he'd want to dress sharp too, set the mood perfectly.
Just as Kang Ihyeon was jumping to his own conclusion in his head, Yoon Se-ah desperately poured out excuses like a scream.
"N-no, Ihyeon! It's not that! W-wait... just listen to me... hear me out! I-I said husband! But not like that! No, it is, but... Ugh, ughhh!!!"
Seeing Yoon Se-ah like she might foam at the mouth and pass out from high blood pressure actually calmed his surging excitement a bit.
Worried she'd faint from the pressure, he patted the back of her hand to signal her to calm down.
"Kuh, kuhhh... kuhhhh...!!!"
At his soothing pats, she regained some rationality and buried her face in the sofa, trembling with shame.
Her pose—ass up perfectly for doggy style, body curled into a ball—was so provocative he had nowhere to look.
Inappropriate lewd thoughts kept creeping in despite the situation, so he cleared his throat to refocus.
"Ahem! Sis. Wh-what was that."
Kang Ihyeon, snap out of it!
What if you start stuttering too?!
Ignoring his own patheticness, he pressed on.
"Sis. Calm down and tell me from the beginning, step by step."
"Y-yeah..."
Yoon Se-ah straightened up with a hollow expression, like the world had ended and she'd given up on everything.
Then she pulled something from her bosom and set it on the table.
"..."
Kang Ihyeon blinked in even greater shock at the object on the table.
"Sis, this is...?"
"Yeah. It's real."
"...A real gun?"
The item on the table was a handgun.
One shock on top of another flipped his mind 180 degrees, suddenly cooling him off completely.
As he carefully lifted the gun, its heavy weight and rough metal texture transmitted vividly through his hands.
'It-it's real...'
It had a simple design like any common gun, but customized with patterns for personal use.
"I took the bullets out on purpose, so no worries about accidental fire."
At Yoon Se-ah's calm warning, Kang Ihyeon finally realized what he held and hurriedly set it down.
Sis placed two magazines next to the gun on the table.
The bullets loaded in them looked normal but had some special treatment—the tips glowed faintly.
The two magazines' bullets shone in different colors, strikingly beautiful yet sending chills down his spine with their sharp coldness.
"What the hell is this..."
"It's the gun your father used."
What the hell was this now?
He felt an indescribable emotion welling up from deep in his chest—he'd want to see his face in a mirror right then.
"No, wait... wait, wait, wait. Huh? What... Dad...? Why Dad all of a sudden? No, the gun Dad used...?"
For once, it felt like their personalities had swapped—he was stammering wildly.
He was that flustered, unable to grasp the situation.
"Ihyeon. Do you know what your father did for work?"
"Uh, well... I knew he worked for the government, but not the details..."
Just like before, their positions had flipped—sis was deadly serious now, and he was shrinking back.
As he'd told sis, he knew Dad worked for the government on something, but he never explained details due to security.
As a kid, he'd resented Dad's secrets, but as he grew up, he vaguely realized there were reasons and didn't pry.
Dad never came home injured like he did manual labor, and his commute was regular like any office worker.
'He'd sometimes come home late from overtime or rush out for sudden work, but everyone has that.'
The truth he'd ignored, thinking it'd come out in time, crashed over him like a wave.
Sis waited patiently, giving him time to absorb the shock, then spoke again when she sensed he'd sorted his thoughts.
"Ihyeon. How much do you know about Magical Girls?"
The term from sis's mouth was another out-of-context bomb.
Her serious demeanor made him stammer out what he knew like spitting data.
"Magical Girls? Superhumans who fight Monsters. Still lots unknown, irreplaceable, so they're celebrities with special treatment, right?"
Magical Girls and Monsters.
In modern times, no one didn't know these alien words.
Magical Girls were the special forces against Monsters—their origins and principles still mostly secret, so the government treated them like strategic weapons and celebrities.
"Dad worked in that field?"
Magical Girls were so vital the nation guarded their security fiercely—you couldn't miss that.
As if confirming his guess, Se-ah sis nodded slightly in affirmation.
"You know Magical Girls have supporters, right? Your father was a Care Supporter."
"Wha, what...?"
Kang Ihyeon had seen media coverage on supporters the government assigned to assist Magical Girls' lives and comforts.
They required as much security as the girls, so info was sparse—but Dad as a Magical Girl's supporter...?
"D-Dad was a Magical Girl's supporter...? Th-that explains it."
The outline of Dad's job was finally taking shape.
"No, like I said earlier, precisely a 'Care' Supporter. When the Magical Girl they handle retires, the supporter switches to Care Supporter, assisting her daily life."
"Different from regular supporter?"
"Once a Magical Girl retires, she doesn't fight anymore—she's back to normal life. Things get a lot quieter."
When Magical Girls reached adulthood and retired, they vanished like mist.
Like a helper for that?
Questions piled up, but first, peeking at the world's hidden side thrilled him a bit.
His heart raced like a boy seeing a robot or dinosaur for the first time, but then déjà vu hit.
"Sis..."
"Yeah."
"How do you know about Dad or these obscure Magical Girl facts?"
Kang Ihyeon spat out the doubt choking him.
He shot a confused gaze at the woman across from him.
The usually hunched, gloomy neighbor sis suddenly looked like she carried the world's fatigue.
As if she'd waited for him to ask, her messy hair started shifting from the crown in a violet like a bird's-foot violet.
"Because your father was the supporter assigned to me."
Her always hollow, confidence-lacking violet eyes filled with mana, shining fiercer than the noon sun.
Guilty for hiding it this long, sis slightly bowed her head.
Mana trailed from her violet eyes like light scattering sparkles in the air before vanishing.
An unbelievable sight right before his eyes.
Mana-charged pupils, hair color shifting like ink spilled over—undeniable proof of a Magical Girl.
"Sis was a Magical Girl?"
"Yeah. Retired now."
Sis bowed her head more, reverting her hair to black.
But strands inside faintly glowed violet like mana afterglow, fading like embers.
So the secret of her two-tone hair he'd thought was just style...
"Ha, haha... haha...?"
Hollow laughter escaped.
Impossible to believe someone living like a shut-in otaku next door was a Monster-slaying Magical Girl.
"...Wait. Violet?"
Kang Ihyeon naturally recalled the mid-20s retired Magical Girl with violet hair and eyes.
Purple Rose.
The benefactor who'd saved him from death by a small Monster in his school days like lightning—his favorite Magical Girl.
Sis started curling into a ball, like she'd shrink between her legs and vanish.
"S-Sis...? Wait. I-I mean, j-just wondering, b-but... a-are you... Purple Rose...?"
"Hic!"
At "Purple Rose" from his mouth, sis hiccuped like something caught in her throat.
Her reaction screamed "bullseye."
Kang Ihyeon's face—no, whole body—flushed hot, hands and feet shaking.
Posters, figures, Purple Rose merch in his room flashed in his mind.
If that was all, it wouldn't be so embarrassing.
'Y-you idiot! You shoved your merch at the actual Magical Girl and blabbed about it?!'
Like a montage, he recalled bragging to Se-ah sis about snagging a limited Purple Rose figure.
'Wh-what did I say?! What did I babble to sis?!'
Magical Girls wore masks hiding faces, so he hadn't cared, but the face sculpt was perfect.
The skin-tight spandex costume and fluttering cape were spot-on.
Above all, Purple Rose's voluptuous curves were captured so well...
Pow!
Recalling the past, drowning in shame like biting his tongue, Kang Ihyeon punched his cheek to snap out of it.
Otherwise, it'd really turn into a deathbed flashback.
"I-Ihyeon?!"
Seeing her freaked-out little bro suddenly punch himself, sis must've been shocked.
Kang Ihyeon flashed a bright smile like nothing happened, signaling to drop it.
"Hoo, hoo... It's nothing. J-just felt dizzy, snapped myself alert."
"Y-yeah..."
With that, awkward silence enveloped them again.
The pair, bowed like bowing to each other, clutching heads—it was downright bizarre.
Both gripped their hair like they'd yank it all out.
Kang Ihyeon couldn't take the weird air anymore and changed the subject.
"So you came to tell me you're a M-Magical Girl and about Dad's job?"
The term stuck awkwardly to his tongue, making him stutter.
As if waiting for the pivot, Se-ah sis lifted her head, back to her usual timid self, wringing her hands.
"Ah, y-yeah... th-that too, but also a proposal."
"What?"
"Count it as saving one life... Ihyeon. Won't you be my Care Supporter?"
Was her mouth some natural disaster?
Purple Rose specialized in close combat, but maybe she had speech magic?
Every time she opened it, his mind blanked.
"M-me?"
"Y-yeah... Has to be you. No one else, really... Hoo, hoo... hoo..."
"S-Sis?"
The woman across panted like excited.
"Ihyeon."
"Y-yeah."
Was the stuttering contagious?
Why did he keep fumbling words?
He swallowed dryly from tension, staring at the neighbor sis— no, retired Magical Girl—radiating stuffy heat from her body.
"I-I'm at my limit. Can't hold out much longer. S-so? Yeah? Be my Care Supporter."
What the hell did Care Supporters even do to make sis like this?
She bucked her hips like she'd pounce, huffing sticky heat.
"You will, right? Yeah? Say yes. If not, I-I really don't know what to do..."
Sis tilted her head, hands trembling like withdrawal symptoms from drugs.
Overwhelmed by her bizarre intensity, Kang Ihyeon nodded faintly.
"O-okay. What do I do?"
He unconsciously went defensive against her pounce-ready vibe.
At his okay, her violet eyes flashed through messy hair.
Like a beast spotting prey in the brush.
Her gaze slowly rolled from his face to chest, then lower body.
"..."
"..."
Chilling silence descended.
Kang Ihyeon followed her gaze down.
Between his legs.
His second self, so assertive and uncontrollable.
"Sis?"
"Hoo, hoo, hoo."
No response to his call.
No, the beast panted roughly, staring fixedly at his crotch like drooling.
No blinking—more eerie, scarier.
"S-Sis?! Sis! Hear me?"
Scary!
Really scary!
Like encountering a flasher or creep on the street?
Her gloomy, disheveled look made it more dangerous.
Ignoring him, Se-ah sis twitched her ass like a cat before pouncing.
'She's coming!'
Instinctual danger sense blared.
To brace, he thrust hands forward, blinked—and the beast across was already lunging.
"Eek?!"
Mass plus speed equals force.
A full-force adult woman tackle floors a seated man instantly.
His view tilted back sharply, chair crashing loudly through the house.
"Ugh...!"
Pain throbbed in his occiput; forcing eyes open, there was a bitch in heat.
"Haa! Haaa! Haa!"
"S-Sis, what... Mmph?!"
A moist, soft sensation on his lips.
A beat late, he realized it was the lips of his neighbor sis—the retired Magical Girl—straddling his belly.
Kang Ihyeon's eyes bulged round like full moons in horror, but Yoon Se-ah bestowed her first kiss on the prey she'd eyed her whole life.