Public Enemy (5)

Public Enemy (5)

“Was there really nothing at all?”

“What that guy wants is nothing more than childish pranks.”

“T-then what are you trying to gain by hanging out with them?”

“Various things that we can’t obtain while trapped here?”

Late evening. Kim Su-jung, sitting next to me as I lay looking at my phone, couldn’t shake her gloomy expression.

Whenever I saw her like this, I had no choice but to draw the line even more. Just being friends wouldn’t be a problem, but I was against her depending on me.

“Good… night.”

Eventually, she climbed up to the top bunk with a somewhat dejected voice.

Even if the head understands, does the heart not know? Clicking my tongue, I used my magic to help her sleep soundly once she fell asleep.

“If we get too deeply involved, both of us will get tired.”

“Is that really the reason? Isn’t it just that you want to misbehave… ack!”

“Do you think I’d do such childish delinquent games?”

I grabbed Ren, who was talking nonsense, and squeezed him tightly. To begin with, Park Tae-jun and his gang of kids don’t see me as their equal.

I’m just Park Tae-jun’s trophy, nothing more than a tool meant to move according to his will.

They say it’s just kids’ play, but kids these days are scary. Perhaps they’re even more political and cunning than some old fools who try to play politics without any ability.

“It’s not like it’ll wear out. I’ll play along for a while and then crush them someday.”

It was clearly crossing the line. It’s just a matter of when and how to cross it.

That night passed quietly like that.

I didn’t bother transforming to go outside. Partly because time flew by while I was on my phone, and also because I had drawn too much attention yesterday, so I didn’t want to show my face unnecessarily.

“What’s this?”

“A gift?”

The next day at school, as soon as I entered the classroom when not even half the students had arrived, Park Tae-jun approached me with a smirk.

The so-called gift was a bracelet. The problem was that this bracelet wasn’t a children’s toy, but actually quite an expensive item.

For a moment, I recalled this guy’s background that I had previously dismissed. But even if his family is rich, he’s still just a kid.

“Looks expensive?”

“I bought it a long time ago, and I actually received it as a gift. I’m just giving it to someone it suits.”

“Well, alright.”

I smirked as I accepted the bracelet. There was no particular reason to refuse when someone was willing to spend money on me.

I knew the meaning of this gift, intended as a shackle, but I had no reason to care about such things. He seemed a bit surprised that I accepted the expensive item without hesitation.

“Do you like it?”

“A jewel is just a jewel. It’s enough to appreciate it for its inherent beauty. It’s pretty.”

“Umm..?”

“But you know.”

I put on the bracelet right there and smiled at him, who was momentarily confused, not understanding my words.

‘Where and what did you do to bring along such a gloomy and wicked thing?’

“Never mind. It’s nothing.”

I swallowed the last words in my heart. But a strange entity, unnoticed by Park Tae-jun and the other children, invisible to ordinary human eyes, was caught in my momentarily twisted shadow.

An evil spirit.

Surely, ordinary humans would call this thing an evil spirit. The thing that had been clinging to Park Tae-jun’s body was dragged right into my shadow.

“I’ve prepared what you said you wanted.”

“Oh, really?”

“You said you wanted beer… I just took something from my father’s display cabinet. He said it was good alcohol.”

Having regained his composure, he smiled and pointed outside. I had to admit his drive and ability were commendable.

To be precise, it wasn’t that I particularly wanted to drink alcohol, but I just wanted to feel intoxicated after a long time. Originally, even when I was human, I wasn’t particularly fond of drinking.

“…Where to?”

“It might sound strange.”

However, I slowly passed by him and headed towards the window.

“I think it would be better to be careful for a while.”

I clicked my tongue while looking outside. The evil spirit that was just sucked into my shadow? Similar creatures were crossing the sky in groups.

“Th-this can’t be. Emergency! Emergeeeency!!”

It was then that Ren suddenly started to throw a fit. I grabbed the creature that was clutching and shaking my hair violently and threw it towards the wall.

“Are you… are you okay…”

“Huff, now go sit down.”

I gave a sincere glare to Park Tae-jun, who I didn’t have time to deal with. The guy who quickly stiffened slunk back to his seat, and I retrieved Ren, who was trembling on the floor.

[Why the sudden outburst?]

“The monster Mammoth. News of its appearance has been shared among the fairy companies.”

During class, with my eyes fixed on the blackboard, I conversed with Ren.

[What does that guy do?]

“It’s a disaster-level monster estimated to be SS-class. Its ability is to command evil spirits that corrupt humans. What you just annihilated was one of those evil spirits.”

[There sure are all sorts of weirdos out there, huh?]

“…Creatures like Mammoth are remnants of the world we failed to care for.”

Ren muttered in a dark voice.

They certainly said that the fight between fairies and primordial monsters was the origin of magical girls.

When the monsters fled to other worlds to escape the fairies, the fairies created pure girls as warriors who could fight by converting the potential of the locals into real power, they said.

“Anyway, that guy is strong. Not only strong, but also tricky. All the magical girls in this area must already be on high alert. Until he reveals his true form!”

[So?]

“You, you should be on your guard too. He’s a crazy monster who enjoys capturing and torturing magical girls!”

Ren was trembling, particularly terrified. I, on the other hand, didn’t feel much of a response. From what I heard, it seemed like I didn’t need to get involved.

“What are you saying! If you, our company’s strongest, don’t step in…”

[Think about my image. No one will welcome me, and no one will expect help from me. Instead, wouldn’t they try to eliminate me too while they’re at it? It’s better to just stay quiet in situations like this]

I had already accumulated enough performance records and wasn’t interested anyway.

Ren was at a loss for words, realizing that what I said made perfect sense. For me now, stepping in would actually be disadvantageous.

That’s what I was hoping for in the first place.

“…Then just be careful. Evil spirits target those with darkness inside, or those with many internal wounds. They provoke desires, dig into wounds, and ultimately drive people mad by making them fall into pleasure.”

[Why are there only such kids around me?]

I quietly clicked my tongue. Wounds, loneliness, desires, and so on.

To be honest, I felt a bit stung. It seemed to apply to me in part too. Especially the part about desires. Surely it wouldn’t come after me, right?

*

“…”

“Taejun… he seems to be totally into Jina?”

“Did you see Suhan’s face? He looked really scary.”

During break time. Friends gathered around Kim Su-jung again. They naturally brought up Jina as a topic of conversation.

Kim Su-jung couldn’t say anything. After all, Jina, who had been frowning throughout the class, left the classroom with Park Taejun as soon as the break started.

‘She definitely has something in mind. She said she’s doing it on purpose.’

She tried to calm herself down. Anyway, when school ends, she can talk to her alone, by her side again.

Because they’re together even when sleeping.

‘But what if it’s not?’

However, her face quickly turned pale. The image of Jin-ah wearing the bracelet given by Park Tae-jun flashed through her mind.

“Ugh…”

Her chest ached. This emotion was all too familiar to her.

When her mother passed away, when she was abused by her father, when she was bullied in elementary school, when she was abused in the runaway family, and so on.

The fear and terror of being alone. At that moment, something like black smoke began to seep into her body, creeping in stealthily.

Without anyone around her noticing.

“Su-jung, are you okay…”

“Kyaaak! Blood! It’s blood!”

“Hey, Kim Chan-sung!”

Thanks to that, just as a friend who was surprised to see her pale face was about to ask how she was, a piercing scream echoed through the hallway.

“What’s going on?”

“Let’s go check it out!”

“I-I’m scared…”

Friends’ opinions were divided. But Kim Su-jung, who stood up abruptly, ran out of the classroom and down the hallway with a few other friends.

The hallway was already crowded with people.

“Damn… damn monster… how dare you…”

She took in the scene of people being hurt.

A second-year male student had collapsed, his white uniform splattered with blood.

The perpetrator was a third-year senior above the second year. The assailant, with a face red as if about to burst and veins popping out, was trembling with a cutter knife in hand, looking extremely angry.

‘Senior. Senior Kang Jin-soo.’

Kim Su-jung frowned as she recognized the face of the fallen victim.

It was her senior Kang Jin-soo from the same facility, with whom she had commuted just this morning.

She flinched when she first saw the horn protruding from Kang Jin-soo’s forehead.

“Hey! Are you crazy!”

At that moment, someone forcefully pushed through the crowd and rushed in. It was Hong Su-young, also from the same facility.

Sharp claws emerged from her gloved hands, and she grabbed the attacker’s hand holding the knife and slammed him to the ground.

“What’s going on! How dare you in this sacred school…”

The head of the student affairs department finally arrived, walking leisurely with his belly swaying.

“Kyaaak!”

“Aack!”

But at that moment, Hong Su-young’s body flew through the air, past the department head, breaking through the glass window and falling into the classroom across.

The attacker who had thrown Hong Su-young with one hand stood up, twisting his body violently.

His mouth spewed black vapor invisible to them, and his eyes were bloodshot and rolled back.

“Kill… kill. Kill. Kill…”

The sight of him grinding his teeth with foam in his mouth was like watching a zombie from a zombie movie.

While the department head had already fled, leaving everything behind, the gathered students finally realized the gravity of the situation and began to back away.

“What are you doing! C-come on, let’s go! Why did Jong-soo suddenly…”

Among them were Park Tae-jun and Lee Jin-a, who were passing by.

Park Tae-jun, who was trying to pull Lee Jin-a’s hand, was surprised by her immovable strength and let go.

“…you spilled it all. I haven’t even taken a bite yet.”

The corners of Lee Jin-ah’s mouth twitched as she looked at the bread that had fallen on the floor.