Public Enemy (2)

Public Enemy (2)

“Look at that. They say Taquilas appeared again yesterday.”

“…Indeed.”

“But what exactly is an illegal entertainment establishment?”

The next morning, Kim Su-jung’s eyes sparkled as she watched TV while having breakfast. The TV was currently broadcasting interviews with people who survived my attack last night.

The prostitutes I spared for not meeting the criteria. Fortunately or unfortunately, Jeon So-hyeon wasn’t among them. Still, it was a bit ridiculous. Talking about sole survivors and whatnot. There are quite a few people who survived seeing me.

“They say Taquilas now wants to stand above the law. Is that strange?”

“To begin with, all magical girls are vigilantes.”

The news anchor, with an agitated voice, called me a demon disrupting social order. I couldn’t help but laugh at the absurdity of their framing.

As if there are any magical girls operating with official permission.

“Still, it’s cool…”

“Stop watching now and get up. We’ll be late.”

Clicking my tongue, I grabbed Kim Su-jung’s arm and pulled her. From today, our leisurely life would be a bit harder. We now had to go to school.

Today was our first day of transfer.

“Take these. Keep them safe!”

As we stood in our school uniforms with our bags, Lee Seon-yeong handed us something. They were mobile phones.

“Make sure to answer when I call. There’s a safety app installed so you can’t access weird sites anyway, but it shouldn’t be inconvenient to use.”

“Okay.”

“Thank you!”

Kim Su-jung happily accepted it. I took it too, for now. However, this was clearly going to be a bit of a headache.

Safety app? It might be called a safety app, but true to this country’s obsession with control and censorship, the built-in location tracking and information collection features were very annoying for someone like me who isn’t a good and obedient child.

“Think of a way.”

“What do you mean?”

“This phone, I’ll have to keep carrying it around anyway, so I can’t transform.”

I whispered to Ren while we were moving in the vehicle. Ren let out a frustrated sigh as if he couldn’t believe it.

“What? You can’t do it? Such incompetence…”

“No, there might be a way. Let’s talk about it later, just get in the car for now.”

Ren pointed to the van. With me being the last one, the van full of students headed towards the school.

“Aren’t you nervous?”

“Yeah.”

During the short drive on the road, Kim Su-jung, sitting next to me, spoke first with a somewhat stiff expression.

Of course, there was definitely a time when I felt excited and nervous about a new semester, new friends, and new teachers.

At least 110-115 years ago. So now, I felt nothing. Rather, I was more annoyed at having to be confined in such a childish space for half a day.

“What if I can’t adjust…”

“You just do it, that’s all.”

Of course, as an adult, I somewhat understood Kim Su-jung’s concerns, so I just responded normally.

“Hmph. It’ll be hard for you to adjust, I bet?”

But then, troublemakers always seem to appear one by one.

Clicking my tongue softly, I turned my head to look at the male student sitting in the back seat.

“You think I’m bluffing? It’s really…”

“Who are you?”

“What?”

The guy stammered in confusion when I snapped at him coldly. It was clear he was a student from the same school. Though seemingly growing, he still had a childish face typical of a middle schooler.

“My, my name is Kang Jin-soo.”

“Are you a senior? Your name tag is different from ours.”

“Se-senior? Uh… you guys are first years, right? I’m a second year.”

The guy glanced down at his own name tag and nodded.

Having completely brought him to my pace, I comfortably moved on to the next question.

“What do you mean it’ll be hard to adapt?”

“That’s…”

He was eager to talk earlier, but now that I was looking him straight in the eyes, he fumbled for words and avoided my gaze.

“Because of where we’re from.”

The one who answered my question wasn’t him, but a female student sitting in a single seat across the aisle.

“Just being from a facility makes people wary of us. But what if that facility is one where discarded test subjects, treated infectees, and half-breeds of monsters gather?”

“Hey, Hong Soo-young!”

“Did I say something wrong?”

Suddenly, an argument broke out between them. I reassured the bewildered Kim Su-jung and watched this interesting scene unfold.

“What’s going on back there?”

“…It’s nothing.”

They naturally brushed off the supervising teacher who sensed the commotion, and this second-year female student, who was called Hong Soo-young by senior Kang Jin-soo, raised her hand to show us.

Only then did I realize she was wearing gloves.

“I’m sorry for the new students. If you go to school with a monster like me, you’ll be pointed at too.”

On her sneering hands, dark blue scales were sprouting. The shape of her hands was slightly different from humans.

I noticed the magical power residing in those hands.

“Thanks for the advice.”

“What..?”

“But, at least we won’t be pointed at to our faces.”

Those who dare to look down on and ignore the king of the Demon Realm are insulting the Demon Realm itself. I assure you, if such a thing were to happen, I had no intention of letting it slide.

Perhaps she noticed the sincerity in my eyes, despite my young age.

Hong Su-young unknowingly closed her mouth and swallowed dry.

“Kids, we’ve arrived.”

At that moment, the van stopped on the road next to the school.

*

“Let’s go to the faculty office.”

“Huh? Okay..”

At the time when students were just starting to arrive at school, we, having arrived a bit earlier, crossed the school grounds.

“…”

“So, where’s the faculty office, senior?”

“Why me of all people…”

I smirked and urged Hong Su-young on. It was because we had been asked by the teacher in charge to guide us, the transfer students who arrived today.

“It’s here. Go in.”

“Won’t you come in with us?”

“…I told you earlier. It’s not just the students who dislike monsters.”

She led us to the entrance of the faculty office and trudged away.

Now that I look at it, those small shoulders seemed quite heavy.

“What should we do…?”

“What do you mean? Let’s go in first.”

I took Kim Su-jung, who was looking at her back with pity, and entered the faculty office. Perhaps because it was still early morning, there were quite a few empty seats in the office.

“You are…”

“We just transferred today.”

The first person to appear before us was a middle-aged man with a half-bald head and a protruding belly.

As soon as he saw us, attention was drawn to us.

“Ah! Those kids from the Management Bureau facility!”

Then this crazy bastard spoke in a loud voice without any restraint.

I instinctively measured this bastard’s malice.

As a teacher, he was above the threshold, even similar to the guy who enjoyed underage prostitution while claiming to be an inspector.

In other words, if I wanted to, I could snap his neck right now.

“Hey, Teacher Yoon!”

While I was contemplating whether to kill this bastard or not, he called out to another teacher in a loud voice.

“Yes, Department Head.”

“These kids here seem to be going to Teacher Yoon’s class.”

“Oh, these kids?”

“They’re facility kids, so take good care of them, hahaha!”

The summoned Teacher Yun was a young male teacher. He then sipped his coffee and quickly left.

Of course, it doesn’t matter. I remembered his face clearly.

“Hello? I’m Yun Seon-ho. Your names are…Kim Su-jung and Lee Jin-ah.”

“Hello.”

I greeted him as he gently greeted us, and I also measured his inner self. Then I nodded slightly. Yes, how would the world function if there were only stupid and evil people in it?

Sometimes, there should be clean and pure people like Director Oh Yun-seo of the Management Bureau.

This Yun Seon-ho, who would become our homeroom teacher, was also a good person with almost no malice.

“Um, would you like to sit down for a moment? Let’s go to the classroom together later. I’ll help introduce you to your classmates.”

He gave us drinks and offered us seats.

Kim Su-jung gave me a look. This perceptive kid seemed to have noticed that Teacher Yun was a good person, and looked a bit more comfortable.

He seemed to have some work to do, as he kept busy moving around and doing things even after seating us.

“Hey, can I ask for one favor? At school, please…”

[Suddenly?]

At that moment, Ren suddenly climbed onto the table in front of me, looked up at me, and said with a sigh.

‘I absolutely can’t speak, but I need to persuade this guy.’

Ren, the veteran mascot of Lana Land.

Originally, a mascot’s duty is to guide and lead magical girls, but Tequilas, the rookie magical girl he was in charge of now, was different.

She was the embodiment of overwhelming violence and arrogance. She acted without hesitation and showed the appearance of a bloodthirsty murderer.

Humans analyzed that her mental state might be abnormal. Something like a psychopath.

But Ren knew. Magical Girl Tequilas was neither insane nor evil.

“The reason is simple. It’s where your true self will be rooted. It’s safer to endure a bit.”

[What does Taquilas killing have to do with Lee Jin-ah, a first-year middle school girl?]

“Well, doesn’t it disrupt the studying atmosphere?”

‘What the hell. What nonsense am I spouting right now.’

Ren barely resisted the urge to slap his own mouth.

But the reason for this nonsense was obvious. Because he couldn’t tell the real reason.

‘I want you to grow up normally, happily. Until adulthood. And beyond…’

This was Ren’s true feelings after recalling the trauma of the recent past.

And the basic condition for that was a pleasant and ordinary school life. Because he knew how important this was in human social life.