A Magical Girl Rehired: A Novel

In this charmingly chaotic follow-up to A Magical Girl Retires, our favorite millennial-turned-magical girl begrudgingly returns to the workforce to fight crime and the forces of evil.

Our protagonist from A Magical Girl Retires is done with the magical girl life . . . but the magical girl life isn't done with her. After her request to take early retirement is resoundingly rejected by the chairperson of the National Trade Union of Magical Girls, her trusted friend and guardian angel Ah Roa asks our mostly-over-it magical to protect the now vulnerable members of the union, whose magical powers were severely diminished after the climactic battle with the Magical Girl of Time. With no choice, our magical girl returns to work. But given what happened last time, this new union rep can't afford to be anything less than a model employee.

When a toxic substance leaks from a local factory, our protagonist must devise an impromptu rescue mission that puts her powers to the test and leads to a business retreat at the Far East Magical Girls Headquarters where she and Roa can rest and recharge. There they meet the secretive Na Dal and the suspiciously beautiful Ahn Jia. In fact, everyone at this HQ is a little sus . . . and cult-y. Which changes the mission of the retreat entirely. With everything so confusing and precarious, our protagonist puts a pause on relaxaing to protect the magical girl who matters to her most: Roa.

Park Seolyeon's witty, imaginative, and purely fun sequel to A Magical Girl Retires—the mega-charming magical girl manga riff that captured BookTok's heart—expands the Magical Girl world as it explores modern issues, including unemployment, the housing crisis, and snake oil pseudo-religions. Translated by award-winning Anton Hur, A Magical Girl Rehired finds light in the darkness and inspires us to fight for love, justice—and perhaps even overtime.