Chapter 65 : The Puppet Show on Frozen Land

January 17, 2012

“What… is this?!”

“What do you mean? It’s an airborne aircraft carrier.”

Kang Dorim, looking slightly haggard, answered my question nonchalantly, but undisguisable pride seeped through.

“It’s the demon countermeasure decisive battle ship… Sirius!”

A gray and silver castle floating above the Supernatural Ability Countermeasures Headquarters.

Like the airship that the magical girl of [Bombing] obtained upon full blooming, it was an enormous power that only magical girls connected to the world could possess. The sky castle that had boasted an elegant appearance like something out of a fairy tale until recently had transformed into a silver ship that could appear in a sci-fi movie.

An overwhelming size equivalent to a multi-story building laid horizontally.

An elegant silver body based on flowing curves with minimal protrusions.

Starlight emitted by magical girls endlessly sparkling as they came and went.

“This is… wow… incredible.”

“Is this where Korean magical girls go now?”

“Wow, amazing… even compared to the warp gates or the Garden…”

Even magical girls from other countries visiting for support or requests could only stare blankly, pressed against the headquarters’ windows, and exclaim in admiration.

Click click

Spectators gathered below the Supernatural Ability Countermeasures Headquarters after hearing rumors were all gaping and frantically taking photos.

I too felt my heart pounding at every word Dorim uttered.

Airborne.

Flying in the sky.

Aircraft.

It has carrier-based aircraft.

Carrier.

An incredibly large ship.

“You… Dorim, you… you’re really the best!”

“Hmph, I may be completely useless in combat, but there’s no limit to what I can create.”

It was truly, really cool enough to make my heart flutter.

As I looked at the silver ship floating majestically like a huge space battleship, I imagined a scene.

When a moment of crisis comes to a place difficult to reach with helping hands through warp gates.

The silver ship revealing itself in the sky, removing its illusion curtain.

Magical girls leaping out of the ship to subdue the attacking demons.

Magical girls who have honed their strength in preparation for destruction skillfully handle the demons.

Demons trying to attack the ship are intercepted by the White Wing 2nd Platoon specialized in aerial movement and emission-type magical girls riding silver small carrier-based aircraft.

Wow, that’s awesome.

“Thank you… Captain.”

I patted the shoulder of Kang Dorim, who might be operating perhaps the strongest magical girl fighting force, with trembling hands from excitement.

“Um… Eunbit Unnie… there’s a problem with that.”

“Hm?”

“I can’t pilot that thing.”

“Hm…?”

Dorim said, scratching her swaying silver hair slightly embarrassedly.

“There’s no limit to creating things with the cyberbrain world, but controlling it is another matter…”

Dorim succeeded in renovating the castle into a ship through major construction work over several weeks from the end of the year.

When she actually tried to control it, the ship wobbled and couldn’t reach the desired speed, so she gave up after circling the skies of Sejong City a few times, she says.

“I even asked some of the White Wing 2nd Platoon who bloomed towards piloting, but they said they couldn’t do it.”

“Couldn’t we find someone among the magical girls in the Garden?”

“I was about to put out a recruitment notice… while magical girls who ride summoned creatures are common, there aren’t many specialized in piloting. For now, it’s just a nice-looking camper van.”

“Oh my, what a waste.”

As I looked at the huge ship, a question suddenly came to mind.

It’s one thing for countries belonging to Korea where Kang Dorim is from or the Grand Council, but if a single magical girl creates an asymmetric force that could appear in science fiction movies in just a few weeks, other countries would be terrified.

“Dorim, didn’t America or other countries say anything about making this?”

“Hm? America? They didn’t say anything. They seemed to know about it though, from how they talked.”

“…”

Over the past month, the influence of magical girl society has grown explosively.

Traveling between Northeast Asia and Europe through warp gates and interacting, they have bestowed countless miracles and hopes.

The magical girl society, moving with its own value standards separate from existing national systems, and national governments chose cooperation instead of vigilance.

‘Even so, to let it grow this much without restraint?’

Just a few months.

In just a few months, magical girl society has developed into a group equivalent to an independent country, ignoring existing social order.

Even now, many magical girls have grown as strong as strategic weapons by honing their strength through friendly matches, and magical girls with entertainment and production specialties were influencing all kinds of cultural performances and market order.

‘Even without hunting demons, not a few magical girls are on the verge of 2-star awakening just from the starlight gathered from people’s dreams, like Yuki in the original work.’

A new country.

Magical girl society was forming a nation through the Garden, a physically non-existent space, beyond a simple interest group.

‘Even I, who guided this, didn’t expect this level of explosive power.’

Magical girls were stably growing their power and resources by entering the Garden, giving up a little of their freedom in exchange.

‘Yet still, no restraints or negotiations have come in…’

America appears as a truly abandoned land in the original work.

A land devastated by demon attacks that only attacks containing starlight can affect.

A land where not a single magical girl appears.

I was curious about why such America remains silent even in this changed history.

“Eunbit Unnie.”

“Yes?”

“About the Middle East and Russia.”

“Yes.”

“Isn’t something strange?”

“…”

The small Middle Eastern countries whose key national facilities were completely taken over and cut off from contact by the magical girl called ‘Doctor’ during the Scavengers’ rampage.

They reappeared in international society, calling for normalization of their countries.

-What on earth happened?

-Only a very minor local disturbance occurred, everything has been normalized.

No one believed it, but they remained silent while locking their borders and only discreetly sending out diplomats.

“I looked through various investigations, and they’re smuggling a lot of weapons and tanks and such.”

“…”

Russia too locked its borders after the Scavenger incident and did not announce any progress reports or countermeasures regarding magical girls.

‘Large-scale military activities were detected a few times, but their traces always disappeared somewhere in Siberia…’

I was afraid of these silences.

It was possible to defeat Alex, who attacked Korea, by quickly destroying her main airship and suppressing her through cause and effect reversal to seal her resurrection.

Now that the abilities and purposes of the remaining 3 Scavengers – [Sword], [Revenge], and Doctor – are unknown.

This silence felt like a precursor to something big happening.

‘The remaining Scavengers didn’t seem to be releasing destructive urges regardless of the target like Alex.’

At least for [Sword], I was certain that if she appeared again, it would definitely be Beijing, China.

“Dorim.”

“Yes, Eunbit Unnie.”

“Let’s convene the Grand Council.”

* * *

“Even if you give me this…”

A girl with striking blue two-tone short hair was looking at a business card in front of the Busan seaside.

[Supernatural Ability Countermeasures Team]

Since her parents went missing at sea after going out fishing, Hong Nayeon had always wandered the beach waiting for her parents to return.

3 years ago.

Her parents, whose contact was cut off after a radio message saying they found some strange island, were eventually declared missing.

“That’s not true! Mom and Dad said they found something at sea! Please look for them again!”

“Nayeon! Please face reality and live!”

Nayeon’s desperate cries did not reach the adults.

And people gathered like clouds to make entertainment out of what she had experienced.

“I’m an internet broadcaster, and I introduce missing persons related to spiritual incidents or occult…”

Those trying to plunder what her parents had collected.

“What? What theft are you talking about! This is fair compensation! They’re just dead people’s things anyway, tsk.”

It was sickening.

She truly hated outsiders now to the point of nausea.

From the day Hong Nayeon received the blue Glass Star, disgusting outsiders increased even more.

Foreigners promising lots of money and status if she emigrated abroad knocked on her door all night.

There were often people who tried to take her away, almost to the point of kidnapping, in front of restaurants and convenience stores she frequented.

‘I pushed them away forcefully though.’

It was sickening.

That’s why she, who had locked her heart from all outsiders, ran away to the seaside.

…Amidst all that, the girl who said she came from Korea’s Supernatural Ability Countermeasures Team was somewhat impressive.

“Hello~ Is Hong Nayeon student here?”

Silver hair.

Narrow eyes.

The girl with a suspicious appearance that anyone would see as Western spoke eerily fluent Korean while trying to persuade Nayeon.

‘It doesn’t make sense for a Korean agency to use such a suspicious foreigner…’

And the words that the narrow-eyed girl conveyed when they met for the second time in a slightly calmer state still remained in Nayeon’s mind.

-If you want to help someone but can’t think of a way, please contact the Supernatural Ability Countermeasures Team.

Snicker

That statement was the most appealing among all the words uttered by outsiders who had come looking for her over time.

“Hm?”

As Nayeon was sitting blankly on the beach, looking at the business card for a long time and recalling those memories, an old ship approached before her eyes.

‘No, not old but…’

A navy blue ship with brutal wounds as if it had passed through the middle of a battlefield entered the port.

“H-hey… there! Hey!!”

Hong Nayeon suddenly felt hot.

Because that was the place where her parents’ ship used to dock, which she had guarded for 3 years.

The corner space that the union people agreed to leave empty in exchange for taking her parents’ property and belongings.

Her last hope.

“Hey!! Where are you docking that ship!!”

Hong Nayeon’s unbloomed blue star shook with anger.

“That spot has an owner!!”

Hong Nayeon, who had approached the navy blue ship with big strides, was taken aback.

“⋯⋯! ⋯⋯⋯⋯!”

“Huh? What? What are you saying?”

“⋯⋯⋯⋯! ⋯⋯⋯⋯⋯!”

A Western girl with blonde hair and blue eyes wearing a navy captain’s hat jumped off the ship and desperately shouted something incomprehensible in a foreign language while grasping Nayeon’s hands.

‘I can’t understand a word she’s saying!’

“⋯⋯⋯⋯! Danger! Attack!”

As the girl wearing the navy captain’s hat desperately shouted while gradually mixing in ominous English words, Hong Nayeon looked inside the ship.

“Ahh…?!”

There, six girls with fluorescent green veins glowing on their faces were lying on the deck drooling.

‘What…?! Smuggling? Human trafficking?’

Hong Nayeon froze, her hands trembling with confusion. Seeing this, the girl wearing the navy captain’s hat took out a navy Glass Star from her bosom and said:

“Help!!”

“⋯⋯!!”

Magical girl.

Hong Nayeon looked at the business card in her hand.

[Supernatural Ability Countermeasures Team]