Off Work, Then I Become a Magical Girl
Chapter 129: Clues

“Mm, I’m back.”

Lin Yun tried to keep his expression friendly as he lifted the corners of his mouth, pretending it was his first time seeing Bai Jingxuan. “I’ve already met the classmate on the left. What about the one on the right? Is she your friend too?”

He ignored Xia Liang’s little gestures. He had no interest in trying to decipher what this troublesome girl was up to now—or rather, he could probably guess what she was muttering under her breath anyway.

And with Bai Jingxuan and Lin Xiaolu both watching from the side, he still needed to maintain his identity in front of them. Putting on the serious demeanor of an elder was definitely the safest move.

As for Bai Jingxuan’s identity as a Magical Girl, he had no plans to expose it. Even from Lin Yun’s perspective, he had every reason to have figured it out, but playing dumb was also reasonable.

“...Don’t try to fish around like that,”

Lin Xiaolu clearly didn’t get Lin Yun’s intentions. She wiped her hands with a rag, looked up at her father, and stated plainly, “She’s a teammate from when I was working as a Magical Girl, same as Xia Liang.”

To her, since she’d brought an outsider home for the holiday, the best course of action was to explain clearly who the guest was, to avoid unnecessary misunderstandings.

Besides, even though this was technically the first time her dad had met Bai Jingxuan, everyone else present—Xia Liang and Hong Siyu—were connected to the world of Magical Girls. There was no way he hadn’t already guessed.

She had long since given up trying to hide her Magical Girl identity from her father, so she spoke openly, without any mental burden.

“I’m Bai Jingxuan,” the girl quickly followed up, introducing herself.

“Oh, so she’s a Magical Girl too? At such a young age, that’s really impressive.”

Lin Yun was only briefly surprised by Lin Xiaolu’s sudden reveal. He quickly adapted, putting on a look of realization and acting completely like an ordinary, uninformed parent. “Nice to meet you. Thank you for always looking out for Lulu.”

“No, it’s actually Xiaolu who takes care of me...”

They quickly exchanged a few pleasantries—him, warm and kind; her, polite and a little shy. To an outsider, it all looked perfectly harmonious. No one would suspect there was anything unusual going on.

But for those who did know the truth, both Xia Liang and Hong Siyu had subtle expressions on their faces, half amused, half bemused. Lin Xiaolu noticed their looks and glanced at them curiously.

While those two went through the motions with pointless formalities, the others were all caught up in their own thoughts. The only one still focused on the stove was a certain fairy.

When Moko ignored the boring small talk between Lin Yun and Bai Jingxuan and turned her gaze to the nearby wok, she immediately blew up, shouting, “You bunch! The food’s burning!”

Only then did the rest realize the burnt smell had filled the entire kitchen. The girls, who had put down what they were doing earlier, now saw smoke pouring out of the wok and rushed over in a panic.

But because it all happened so suddenly, they hadn’t made any preparations. In their flustered scramble to the stove, they just made more trouble.

“Waaah! It’s catching fire!”

“The spatula—hot, hot, it’s too hot!”

“I-I’ll go get water!”

Bai Jingxuan grabbed an empty bowl and moved toward the sink, but she was too short and didn’t watch her footing. After taking just two steps, she tripped over Lin Xiaolu’s foot and lost her balance.

Just as the bowl flew from her hand and she was about to fall, Lin Yun reacted quickly—he grabbed the back of her collar and caught the airborne bowl, preventing what could’ve been a full-blown kitchen disaster.

“Sorry...” Dangling in his grip, Bai Jingxuan looked dazedly at the floor, then up at the bowl in his hand, and mumbled an apology.

“It’s okay. As long as you’re not hurt.”

Lin Yun let go of her collar and placed the bowl back into her hands. “No rush. Just be careful.”

He didn’t ask Bai Jingxuan to go back to cooking. One look at the chaotic kitchen told him it was time for him to step in and take over. Since he was home now, there was no reason to let a bunch of kids be in charge of dinner. That’d be undignified for an adult—not to mention, unsafe.

“But what about you?” he asked, glancing at Hong Siyu before stepping up to the stove. “Letting the kids handle the cooking is one thing. But now you’re just standing there doing nothing? Is this how you usually look after people?”

“You’re blaming me?”

Hong Siyu blinked innocently. “Now that’s just unfair. It’s not that I don’t want to help, it’s just... complicated.”

“Keep it short,” Lin Yun cut her off.

Hong Siyu grinned and pointed a thumb at herself. “I’ve been banned from entering the kitchen.”

Lin Yun didn’t say anything, but he couldn’t help rolling his eyes at her.

With one of the adults basically useless, he wasn’t going to waste time arguing. He stepped in, took over the girls’ tasks, and grabbed the utensils himself.

“All right, I’ll cook. You girls go have fun.”

He said this as he shooed the girls out of the kitchen.

He’d cooked plenty back at the secret base, so despite having been away on business for a while, getting back into the rhythm came easily. Unlike Veronica’s tall frame, his usual height made things much more manageable.

Still, he was careful to adjust the seasoning and heat slightly—just enough to avoid making the dishes taste too similar to Veronica’s style.

After all, if the flavors matched too closely, Lin Xiaolu might start getting suspicious.

The girls had already prepped a few dishes before he returned, so he didn’t have much heavy lifting to do. All he needed was to finish off the remaining ingredients.

Before long, the holiday dinner was ready. What had originally been planned as a quiet celebration for just two people became lively with the addition of the others.

Lin Yun had considered inviting the rest of the Magical Girl Squad to spend the festival at his place. After all, if it were just him and Lin Xiaolu, the atmosphere might’ve turned awkward.

Repairing their relationship didn’t mean they suddenly had a ton to talk about. Without the Magical Girl connection, they honestly didn’t have much in common.

Hobbies? They didn’t share any. And Lin Yun could hardly say he had hobbies at all.

School? Maybe if he asked about it as Veronica. But as her dad? That’d only make the conversation stiffer.

Besides, after spending months together, the girls in the Fangting City Squad had become good friends. Splitting them up on a day like this didn’t seem right.

If he invited Xia Liang and Bai Jingxuan over, the younger ones could just chat amongst themselves, and that’d take the pressure off him.

The only problem was how to phrase the invite—if he asked as Lin Yun, it might come off weird; as Veronica, it’d be abrupt.

He hadn’t expected that before he could make a decision, Hong Siyu had already brought the whole squad over. And that led to the current scene.

In a way, he owed her. Whether on impulse or not, she had helped him solve a not-so-small problem.

From a security standpoint too, having the whole squad under his roof was definitely the safest option.

That strange phone call earlier in the evening still gnawed at him. The other person had told him to “be careful,” but hadn’t said what exactly to watch out for.

Was it like the night Lin Xiaolu was attacked? A trap? Or was a powerful Ravager going to hit Fangting City soon?

Even in the midst of all this cheerful celebration, Lin Yun couldn’t shake his unease.

So, after a while, he found an excuse to slip away to his room. There, he pulled out the magic mirror he used to contact the Investigation Bureau and submitted his recent findings from Bo’an City, along with details of the strange call.

Only after that did he return to join everyone for dinner.

After thinking things through calmly, he came to one conclusion: the best thing he could do right now was stay alert. Keep watch for potential threats—and keep the rookie Magical Girls close.

No matter what enemies might be planning, as long as these kids were under his roof, nothing would go wrong.

Time passed quietly, tension humming just beneath Lin Yun’s calm surface.

No one else seemed to notice. Except for Xia Liang—she sensed something was off with him.

She shot him a discreet look and even messaged Veronica’s phone, asking if something had happened.

Lin Yun didn’t respond.

Instead, he logged into the Fangting City squad’s group chat through Veronica’s account, sent out some holiday greetings, and reminded them to stay safe—things might get rough in Donghua Province.

But the girls only seemed to care about one thing: the fact that Veronica hadn’t come home for the festival. “Be careful” didn’t mean much to them.

So Lin Yun had to send a few more follow-up messages, emphasizing “there might be danger” before they finally took him seriously.

Dinner eventually ended, and after the girls piled into the living room to watch TV, Hong Siyu said she’d head out.

“It’s the holidays, so I might as well catch up on some sleep. That recruitment exam wore me out,” she said.

Lin Yun didn’t try to make her stay. He walked her to the door and watched as she slipped off her shoe covers and put on her coat.

“Thanks for taking care of them at the base these past few days. And... really, thanks for bringing them over today.”

Outside the entryway, he chose his words carefully.

“All this just for that?” Hong Siyu slung her bag over her shoulder and smiled at him. “Then there’s no need to thank me—given our relationship, right?”

“I don’t recall us having any weird kind of relationship,” Lin Yun calmly denied.

“Weird relationship? No way. Is the bond between a senior and junior really that strange?”

Hong Siyu widened her eyes. “What I meant was, ‘it’s only natural for senior and junior Magical Girls to help each other,’ but what are you talking about? I have no idea what you mean.”

“...Is that so.”

“That’s your reaction? So bland? I literally turned the tables on you just now—you could at least give me some kind of response!”

“No, you’re right,” Lin Yun replied, walking alongside her down the hallway. “Helping each other is only natural. I apologize.”

“Ugh, there you go again—suddenly all serious in moments like this! I mean, seriously...”

Hong Siyu started grumbling, but halfway through, her words suddenly cut off.

Her gaze drifted past Lin Yun’s shoulder, toward something behind him. She pursed her lips like she’d just spotted something.

“What is it?”

Lin Yun turned to look in the direction she was staring, but all he saw was an empty corridor and a few black trash bags sitting by a public bin.

“Mm... Nah, it’s nothing.”

Her eyes seemed a bit glazed over, but after a moment she smiled broadly and brushed it off. “Just felt like sneezing all of a sudden—but I held it in.”

“...Don’t be so creepy over something like that,” Lin Yun said, half-lidded. “And why hold it in anyway? It’s not like sneezing is embarrassing.”

“It is for a woman! It totally ruins the image!”

Hong Siyu wagged a finger at him. “You should be more mindful. If you keep saying stuff like that to women your age, how are you ever going to find Xiaolu a stepmom?”

“I’m too old for that kind of thing. Don’t need it.”

Lin Yun replied indifferently. “I’m not looking, and Xiaolu doesn’t seem interested either. This setup’s fine.”

“So you’re just staying single like this?” she tilted her head.

“What else would I do?” Lin Yun looked puzzled.

“No, I was just thinking... ah, forget it. It’s fine. Staying single isn’t so bad. I’ve been single this whole time too.”

“Then go get married,” Lin Yun glanced at her. “You’ve got the retirement benefits from being a Magical Girl, a solid job at the Countermeasure Bureau, and honestly you count as attractive. You really think you couldn’t find someone if you tried?”

Silence.

“What?”

“Senior... you think I’m attractive?”

“Why wouldn’t I? I’m not about to deny an objective fact.”

“That’s exactly why it’s weird! I always felt like you never even saw me as a woman!”

“...”

“Why are you quiet now?”

“I’m just thinking how to phrase this without sounding mean.”

“The fact that you’re thinking that already makes it mean!”

“Then... yeah, sorry. You’re right.”

“Huh?! Say that again and I’ll fake cry in the hallway and tell everyone you’re a heartless jerk!”

“What are you, some kind of scam artist?”

“Scam artists want money. I’m free. Wanna give it a try?”

“Stop with the trashy jokes.”

Letting out a helpless sigh, Lin Yun walked her to the elevator. But just before she left, he suddenly said, “You sure you want to go? Honestly, I think you should stay the night.”

“Huh? What’s this? You want me to stay over?” Hong Siyu covered her mouth in fake shock.

“I’m just a little concerned. Things might get... unsafe.”

“Unsafe? Why?”

“Remember that unknown number I told you about?”

Lin Yun glanced around to make sure no one else was nearby, then lowered his voice and said expressionlessly, “I got another call this afternoon.”

“That weird number again? Seriously?”

Hong Siyu’s eyes widened in surprise. “Did they say something dangerous might happen again?”

“Exactly.”

Lin Yun’s expression turned a bit grim. “It was almost identical to the last one.”

“You mean... like the Wetland Park incident?”

“Yeah.”

He nodded. “So, I’d rather you alert the Countermeasure Bureau... and honestly, stay here if you can.”

Ding—

The sound of the elevator arriving cut him off. The doors slid open between them.

For a moment, neither of them said a word.

“...Well then, I’m off.”

Eventually, Hong Siyu spoke first, stepping into the elevator. She turned back and gave him a little wave. “I got it. Message received.”

“You sure?”

Lin Yun frowned. “What if you run into a dangerous Ravager on the way...”

“I’ll be fine.”

As the doors began to close, she shook her head and looked up at him. “Doesn’t matter what kind of Ravager shows up—you’ll defeat them anyway, right?”

“I’ll do my best,” Lin Yun said from the hallway, nodding.

“Good. Then I won’t worry.”

She smiled, her voice softening as she looked at him:

—“I’m counting on you, Senior.”

Her words echoed out of the elevator and were cut off with a soft ding as the doors shut.

Lin Yun stood there in the empty corridor, staring at the closed elevator, silent in thought.

He wasn’t clueless. In fact, he understood perfectly well what Hong Siyu felt. But those feelings... weren’t really appropriate for the two of them right now.

Even setting aside the fact that he didn’t feel the same way, there were simply too many unsolvable real-world problems between them.

And Hong Siyu knew that too. That’s why, despite all her teasing, she never came out and said anything directly.

That was the unspoken understanding between them.

They were former comrades. A senior and junior among Magical Girls. That’s all they could be, and that’s all they should be.

Anything more could ruin everything—turn their connection into something neither of them would want to see.

He used to not care. He’d even tried to reject her outright before. But since she never admitted it or pushed the issue, he’d stopped bringing it up too.

They weren’t kids anymore. Adult relationships were like this—carefully maintaining boundaries. Everyone had truths they’d never speak aloud, and there was no need to dig too deep. Trying to strip everything bare was unrealistic.

At the end of the day, so long as the roles each of them played could be acted to the end, what they truly felt didn’t matter. Pushing for more would only destroy the balance.

And this—this—was enough.

That was the silent consensus they both shared.

After watching the floor indicator show the elevator heading to the ground floor, Lin Yun turned and quietly made his way back home.

Hong Siyu didn’t want to stay, but he couldn’t linger. That anonymous call still echoed in his mind, and he needed to stay vigilant—he had to keep the new girls under his protection.

Fortunately, nothing happened afterward. No accidents, no crises.

The three rookie Magical Girls and the fairy all stayed safe at home, chatting and goofing off. Outside, a full moon hung in the sky, bright and clear, its silver light bathing the city. Fireworks occasionally sparkled in the night, adding a festive warmth to the holiday—everything felt peaceful.

Just like any ordinary Moon Festival, nothing seemed amiss.

Time passed little by little, until it was nearly 10 PM. The girls were still curled up in the living room watching some movie they’d found who-knows-where. Even Moko had joined in, sitting with them, fully engaged.

Lin Yun came out of the kitchen carrying a plate of freshly washed fruit, planning to take it over to them. Hearing all the noise from the living room, he was just thinking about when he should send them to bed—when a certain conversation caught his attention.

“Don’t try to weasel out! It’s your turn to take the trash out tomorrow!”

“Nooo! I’ve already done it three days in a row! I’m on strike, meow, strike! Making a fairy do chores is straight-up abuse!”

That was Lin Xiaolu and Moko.

“You agreed to that punishment yourself after sneaking food last time! You said you’d take the trash out for a week!”

“I think you're being unreasonable now! I take it back!”

The two of them kept bickering like elementary schoolers. Their words were completely pointless, but Lin Yun, standing nearby, suddenly let go of his hand the moment he heard their exchange.

Thud.

He quickly reached out and caught the fruit tray, managing to save most of the fruit, but a few tangerines and pears still scattered across the floor.

The fallen fruit rolled uncontrollably in all directions, bouncing around everywhere. But Lin Yun remained frozen in place, making no move to chase after them.

“The fruit fell!”

Moko was the first to snap out of the argument and notice what had happened. A few of the girls gathered around, trying to help pick up the fallen fruit.

“It’s fine, I can just wash them again…”

Lin Yun offered a dry explanation as he picked up a few tangerines from the floor and looked at the girls in front of him. “What were you talking about earlier… throwing out the trash?”

“Throwing out the trash?”

Lin Xiaolu blinked, then answered, “It’s nothing serious. We just have a chore schedule between us, and the order is usually decided by rock-paper-scissors.”

This was the first time Lin Yun had heard about it. Clearly, after he left Fangting City, the three girls had come up with all kinds of routines in their secret base.

“You play rock-paper-scissors to decide who takes out the trash?”

Lin Yun looked at Lin Xiaolu with some confusion. “Then… who were you talking to just now?”

“…If you mean that, it was with her.”

Lin Xiaolu pointed at Moko, who was floating nearby. “The fairy who made us Magical Girls. She’s usually called a Seeder.”

“There’s nothing there.” Lin Yun ignored the teasing grin from Xia Liang, staying firmly in his role as an ordinary person.

“Yeah, because normal people can’t see fairies.”

Lin Xiaolu didn’t question it and explained earnestly, “But they really do exist. If you reach out your hand, you can touch them.”

“Can’t see but can touch?”

Committed to the act, Lin Yun reached out and made contact with Moko again. After expressing a suitable level of surprise, he asked again:

“So you’re saying… you guys were asking the fairy to take out the trash?”

“Mm-hmm.” Lin Xiaolu nodded. “It’s really not a big deal. She already took it out once earlier.”

“I-Is that so…”

Lin Yun felt like he couldn’t even form a full sentence. He could only respond mechanically.

Ever since returning as a Magical Girl, except for the night when Lin Xiaolu was in danger, he hadn’t felt this kind of chill in his heart.

His brain felt like it had been hit with a sledgehammer, leaving behind only a loud hum that dulled his thoughts.

The phrase “normal people can’t see fairies” was actually a broad generalization.

It wasn’t an absolute rule. In truth, the reason ordinary people couldn’t see fairies was because they didn’t have enough magic power.

Generally, to see a fairy, you needed to at least be a novice-level magician—someone who had just stepped into the world of magic and possessed enough magic to perceive them.

As for Magical Girls, even the uncontracted candidates usually had magic levels approaching those of novice magicians, which made it easy for them to see fairies.

However, retired Magical Girls didn’t have that ability.

To prevent retired Magical Girls from misusing their powers after leaving The Kingdom, their magic was taken back and sealed, reducing it to the level of an ordinary person.

In other words, a retired Magical Girl wouldn’t have much more magic than a regular person. Naturally, she wouldn’t be able to see fairies.

As someone who went through the standard retirement process, Hong Siyu was no exception. In fact, according to what she herself had said—and everything she’d shown before—she had already lost her magic and could no longer see fairies.

But just now, through Lin Xiaolu and Moko’s conversation, Lin Yun finally realized what Hong Siyu had been looking at when she stood at the door earlier.

She had been looking behind him—at the trash bin, at the trash bags beside it, and at…

…the Moko who had been flying over, struggling to carry a bag of trash.

Impossible.

That was Lin Yun’s first instinct.

His rational mind told him it was impossible—there was no explanation, no way to understand it.

A sealed magic source couldn’t provide power to a Magical Girl again. It was like a car with no fuel tank—without a power source, a Magical Girl’s magic wouldn’t be any stronger than an ordinary person’s.

And this kind of change was almost irreversible. He had never heard of a retired Magical Girl being allowed to regain the ability to use her powers.

So if that’s the case… how did Hong Siyu see Moko?

Lin Yun picked up the remaining fruit from the ground like a robot and brought it back to the kitchen. He stood at the sink, looking calm on the outside, but his mind was in complete turmoil.

And then—his phone suddenly rang again.

Pulling it from his pocket, he looked at the screen. His eyes narrowed at the number displayed—it was the same unknown number that had contacted him earlier that afternoon.

He instantly pressed to answer and brought the phone to his ear. Lin Yun took a breath and tried to sound calm.

“Hello?”

“…sszzzz…”

The same static came through again.

“Hurry… go…”

This time, the voice that followed was even weaker than before.

“What?”

“Go find her…”

“Who?”

“Go find… go find…”

The interference got louder and louder, drowning out the already faint voice. Just when Lin Yun thought this call would end in nothing—again—the signal suddenly cleared.

At that very instant, a crystal-clear but extremely weak voice came through from the other end.

—“Lord Veronica, hurry and find Morning Glory. There’s not much time left!”