Living with a Magical Girl, but I'm a Monster Executive — Chapter 2

Cong Yu said this as he washed his grimy face in the kitchen sink after the unexpected incident.

Ah, such an adult topic.

The golden-themed magical girl thought this as she frantically began apologizing again. "Sorry, sorry! I'll compensate you... huh?"

The magical girl named Shine☆-chan looked at Cong Yu after he had wiped his face and felt a little puzzled... He was actually so young?

Seeing Cong Yu's calm, unruffled attitude, she'd thought he was an office worker who had struggled for over thirty years, accomplished nothing, and become completely disheartened...

Office workers: Was that really necessary?

What was this? He was completely a handsome guy her own age!

"Compensation... you said you'd compensate me?"

Cong Yu asked in return as he casually poured two cups of tea in the dining room and placed one in front of the girl.

Although Cong Yu's words were a little strange, Shine☆-chan blinked and confirmed, "Yeah, I'll compensate you. For example..."

The magical girl thought for a moment, then winked at Cong Yu. "For example, magical girl Shine☆-chan's phone number?"

As she said this, the girl saw that Cong Yu remained completely unmoved and added, "If you run into danger, I can come save you anytime—"

In response, Cong Yu took a sip of tea and spoke simply. "Then I'll be direct... I need financial compensation."

"..."

"..." For some reason, the air fell silent as well.

"Is there a problem? It's only compensation for the damaged parts."

Faced with Cong Yu's question, the magical girl looked very hesitant. "Um, can my Lixe account offset the compensation?"

Lixe was a social media app in this world, similar to QX from Cong Yu's previous life.

So, clearly, she didn't have money to compensate him either.

"..." Seeing Cong Yu's silence, the magical girl, who had smashed someone else's home for the first time, became a little dejected. "Actually, my operating funds also..."

It seemed like nobody had it easy.

Thinking this, Cong Yu helplessly looked at his utterly wrecked window. "Forget it. You don't need to pay."

At that, the magical girl immediately looked pleasantly surprised. "Huh? Is that okay?"

"..." To be honest, Cong Yu's mood improved a little. He had once been a monster executive, after all, and had seen quite a few magical girls.

The magical girl from Wind City standing before him was actually fairly close to a normal person in terms of personality. She had probably only become a magical girl recently.

Many magical girls had already... left the realm of humanity.

And toward a magical girl like Shine☆-chan, it was hard for Cong Yu to feel much disgust.

"Let's leave it at that. I'll just consider myself unlucky..."

As he spoke, Cong Yu ignored the magical girl who seemed to have made up her mind and casually said, "Just give me your Lixe account. If I sell it online, it'll probably be enough to cover my losses... I might even make a little extra."

In an instant, the determination vanished from the magical girl's face. She looked fearfully at the handsome boy. "Y-you... are you a devil?"

Cong Yu said, "Ah, just kidding."

That was a relief!

Cong Yu said, "Probably."

"..."

"Damn it, you're completely untrustworthy! Don't say scary things with such a calm face!"

Magical girl Shine☆-chan looked at Cong Yu, who was glancing sideways at her, and felt that she had accidentally run into a troublesome person.

"You and Blue Sky☆-chan would definitely have plenty to talk about... No, you jerk, are you actually making fun of me?"

Muttering this, the girl abruptly stood up and confidently pointed at Cong Yu. "No matter what, I'll definitely find a way to compensate you!"

Cong Yu smiled at that. He felt the girl was quite perceptive and asked with interest, "Haha, how will you compensate me?"

So he really was that kind of awful person!

Shine☆-chan made that judgment, then racked her brains over how to compensate him before suddenly seeming to think of something.

"Oh no, it's getting late. I need to go home."

As the magical girl said this, she looked at Cong Yu, who was watching her suspiciously, and gritted her teeth. "It's true. I'm not making an excuse to run away."

Cong Yu pondered for a moment, then nodded. "I know. I believe you... Dear magical girl Shine☆-chan surely won't forget her promise, right? If that happens, then this ordinary citizen will spend the rest of his miserable, despairing life drowning in disappointment and distrust of magical girls. Boohoohoo—"

Wasn't that going way too far?!

Watching Cong Yu fake-cry with a blank expression, the magical girl messed up her golden hair. "Aaaah, honestly... I'll come tomorrow!"

"I'll bring people from the agency tomorrow to discuss compensation! I'll definitely come... What's your name?"

At the magical girl's promise, Cong Yu smiled. "I'm Cong Yu. Make sure you come... Otherwise, I'll take pictures of the miserable state of my house, add some words condemning you, and post them on Twitter."

This boy was seriously too much, but she really was at fault...

Magical girl Shine☆-chan felt a little exhausted. The ahoge on her head drooped. "Yes, yes, yes! I'm telling you, I'll definitely come tomorrow!"

"..."

"Bang!!!"

Why did she leave through the window again?!

"..." In silence, Cong Yu looked at the window that had suffered a second round of damage. His hand, which had been about to open the door for her, stopped in midair.

Sure enough, a good day's mood ended when you encountered a magical girl.

Thinking this, Cong Yu silently found a familiar number on his phone and lightly tapped call.

Then, the instant it connected, he spoke before the other party could. "That mosquito monster was one of ours, right?"

In response to Cong Yu's complete lack of manners, a woman's voice came from the other end of the line. "Hey, long time no see, you—"

But before she could say anything else, Cong Yu spoke first. "He left his belongings at my residence. Out of moral obligation, I helped him hide them."

As he said this, Cong Yu pulled a package out from beneath the dining table mat and tossed it up and down. "When are you coming to get it?"

"..."

"It's nothing important. Leave it with you for now."

The mature-sounding female voice said this, then after a brief silence, tried to persuade Cong Yu. "You're really not doing it anymore? Let me tell you, ever since you quit, BOSS has been depressed every day. Hurry up and come see her one last time."

"..."

"Beep beep beep—"

However, the busy tone on the phone proved that Cong Yu had already hung up. Perhaps that was enough to show his determination.

He hadn't had a choice before. Now, he wanted to be a good person.

For the time being.

Free Housing

"Hello, here's the list of compensable items. Please have a look... Once you've confirmed everything is correct, please sign here."

"..."

"..." The staff member in a baseball cap watched Cong Yu spin a pen as he checked the amounts, then gave him a deep bow. "Thank you for your trouble."

"This is already the maximum amount we can offer. We have our own difficulties too. We're terribly sorry! Terribly sorry!"

As the insurance company employee bowed and apologized, the other employees around him immediately gave ninety-degree bows as well.

"We're terribly sorry!"

"..." That was why Cong Yu found this difficult to deal with...

If he continued arguing for the rights he deserved, wouldn't that make him seem like he was being unreasonable?

It was too awkward.

"Alright, I understand... You've worked hard too."

Cong Yu said this as he simply signed his name, then watched the staff leave by car after thanking him, until they turned the corner.

In the end, the compensation he received was roughly enough to repair the window, the surrounding section of wall, and repaint it.

The kitchen utensils in the dining room only received a small amount of compensation, and there was absolutely no money left to replace the dining table and chairs.

After calling to notify the landlord, the other party hadn't flown into a rage, but neither had they mentioned buying Cong Yu new furniture.

If he wanted furniture, Cong Yu would have to pay for it himself.

"Money... I really want money."

As Cong Yu complained, he didn't expect Shine☆-chan to come compensate him, because that wasn't a magical girl's responsibility.

Yesterday, she'd said she would come with people from her agency... Then the people from the agency would tell her that magical girls had no obligation to compensate for this.

Still, she wasn't an independent magical girl but belonged to an agency... Though that was normal.

Joining an agency made it easier to receive commissions.

The agency would film magical girls fighting and upload the footage, or make merchandise for profit, then give the magical girls a share.

From that perspective, Shine☆-chan actually wasn't short on money. Yesterday, she had only been brushing him off.

Damn magical girl.

Thinking this, Cong Yu propped up his chin and looked down at the computer screen, which was paused on a blank drawing page.

Yet he needed to rely on drawing magical-girl-themed manga to make ends meet. Wasn't that a kind of dark humor?

After all, among manga genres in this world, magical girl stories were practically in a league of their own in terms of popularity.

Recently, Cong Yu had been stuck in a creative rut, so he hadn't uploaded a new manga chapter and consequently had no income.

It was urgent. Extremely urgent...

But even so, it wasn't as if he could simply draw whenever he wanted to.

"Ding-dong—"

"..."

"Ding-dong—"

And the doorbell was disrupting Cong Yu's train of thought too. He sighed, walked through the entryway, and went to the door. "Coming, please wait a moment."

After opening the door, Cong Yu saw an ordinary girl with golden hair, with a man in a black suit standing behind her.

Cong Yu looked at the two of them...

"Bang!"

Then he shut the door.

"Don't close it! Don't close the door, Mr. Cong Yu! I'm yesterday's magical girl! I'm magical girl Shine☆-chan, who came as promised!"

Cong Yu knew that. He recognized at a glance that the person outside was yesterday's magical girl. That was something special about the boy named Cong Yu.

No, it couldn't exactly be called special...

Because the strange thing was this world. People in this world seemed to have some kind of face blindness. Their hair color, facial features, and builds were clearly the same, yet they simply couldn't recognize magical girls and monsters after they transformed.

Sometimes Cong Yu even wondered whether they were doing it deliberately, or whether it was some underlying logic written into the world's rules.

"I was wrong! I came late! Please don't post about us on Twitter, or my reputation will be ruined!"

If the girl's shouting outside were interpreted in a twisted way, it could carry a rather terrible implication... so it drew the attention of nearby people.

They all stopped walking, ready to enjoy the show.

Realizing this, Cong Yu could only helplessly open the door again and invite Shine☆-chan and the two suited men in sunglasses into his room.

Then, with a calm gaze, he swept his eyes over the bystanders who had stopped to watch.

Under Cong Yu's gaze, the passersby inexplicably felt a kind of... pressure from something higher up the food chain.

So they all pretended that nothing had happened and left.