Chapter Index

    Light and Darkness (5)

    Light and Darkness (5)

    Light and Darkness (5)

    “Eun-seo… are you… really okay?”

    “I’m fine. But this is just the beginning. How do you plan to stop them now?”

    “That, well…”

    Oh Yun-seo, who had hurriedly approached Aria, flinched. She had no means to refute Aria’s words. Renée, a new type of magical girl different from Taquilas. With her power being difficult to estimate, there was no way to control her.

    “I’ve decided to take on an impossible task. As you said, it’s a magical girl’s ability to overturn the limits of reality.”

    “I know. The righteous judgment of the law… honestly, it sounds like a dream.”

    “You might say it’s meaningless and futile. But that doesn’t mean we can just sit still. So from now on, Director, no, the adults will have to do something more. Even if we can’t be perfect, at least we can create some room for improvement.”

    Aria watched as the perpetrators were handed over to the ambulance and police. Principal Kim Chan-seok, who had fainted after being hit in the solar plexus by Aria, showed no signs of remorse. It is the law and justice of this land that Aria sought to protect that will judge such individuals.

    But now she is no longer a child.

    She knows it’s impossible to face all the injustices and contradictions of this world alone.

    “…If you don’t cooperate, I’ll have no choice but to become an insignificant being and be forgotten, and the magical girls led by Rene will take my place. You don’t want to be under their rule, do you?”

    “Yes, I understand. I won’t let it go to waste.”

    Oh Yun-seo, whose eyes had been wavering, received instructions from Aria for the first time, when it was usually the other way around. In fact, this was just common sense.

    One thing Aria realized this time is that it’s not just her alone who needs to change.

    This rotten society as a whole needs to develop further. To the point where there’s no room for vigilante groups like magical girls to operate.

    “…It was wrong from the beginning.”

    Outsiders like magical girls should just focus on catching monsters. People’s issues should be resolved by people themselves. Aria sighed and left her seat.

    The work she had brought upon herself was piled up higher than a mountain.

    “Come on, does that make any sense? To say that the sacred law should be applied differently because of some kid’s words.”

    “Your Honor, that’s not…”

    The assistant was flustered. The commotion caused by the rookie magical girl Rene in broad daylight, broadcast not just nationwide but worldwide, was essentially a declaration of war.

    And the target of that declaration was none other than the corrupt and incompetent order and justice of this land. Naturally, those involved could only rage and fume.

    “The police and prosecutors are also a problem. The way they handle things, swayed by public opinion…”

    “B-but she’s a crazy woman who says she’ll do it like Taquilath. I’m worried you might get hurt. They say she’s even from the same organization as Taquilath.”

    “…!”

    The judge, who had been ranting, froze at the assistant’s words. More effective than talks of proper enforcement or law was that single name.

    A being beyond common sense, the worst of the worst, who could barge into one’s home without warning and brutally slaughter not just oneself but one’s family too. In the face of such a threat, meager personal protection was utterly useless.

    There was a slight misunderstanding, but nevertheless, he swallowed hard with trembling eyes.

    “…but, I did everything according to the law, so surely they won’t harm me. After all, I’m not the one who makes the laws.”

    “That’s right.”

    In the end, he quickly backed down. Not only that, but all those involved in this incident, which suddenly drew national attention, lowered their posture.

    And Aria, who had been watching the progress of events with the intention of intervening either by causing a disturbance or speaking to the media if necessary, bitterly shook her head.

    Although it seemed that things were being handled well without her needing to step in, it was not because of individuals’ righteous justice or beliefs, but due to overwhelming fear.

    ‘In the end, what’s important is having realistic means to realize ideals.’

    Aria clenched her fist. She was learning more and more.

    “I’m sorry. Are you angry at me for stopping Ren’s actions?”

    “No. Anyway, the punishment is proceeding properly, so I’m fine now.”

    Not long after the incident, Aria secretly sought out the victim, Kang Jin-woo. Kang Jin-woo shook his head at Aria’s words as she bowed her head.

    “But there are probably many people who don’t think like me. Just look at the internet…”

    “That means they were that disappointed.”

    He mentioned the internet with a troubled face. Aria’s actions weren’t supported by everyone.

    Just as there were Magical Girls who agreed with Ren’s intentions, supporters of Ren began to emerge among the general public as well. They cursed at Aria for stopping Ren’s ‘judgment’ and cursed at the existing order.

    As a result, the internet world was in chaos, split in half between those supporting the existing rule of law and those supporting Ren.

    “But I don’t think I was wrong. If things start to change because of this opportunity, there’s a possibility.”

    “…Do you really think that’s possible? Even skilled politicians can’t do it.”

    “It can be done. It’s my duty to make it happen.”

    Aria’s determination was firm. She wasn’t without reason to believe.

    When she knelt down and pleaded, unlike Takilas who wouldn’t listen to those weaker than him, Ren had listened to her words.

    From that, Aria deduced that Rene was trying to do some kind of ‘politics’.

    “Rene and his group could become a justification. People will have no choice but to change according to my words, if only out of fear of the judgment they wield. That will be enough.”

    She had no intention of denying Rene. Rather, she thought she could use him.

    There was no need to uproot and replace the concepts of justice and morality entirely. It was enough to just regulate and correct the absurdities, corruption, and abnormalities to turn them into normalcy.

    Aria never thought that the standards of right justice and morality she had learned in modern Earth were inferior to the standards Rene held.

    “Their influence is stronger than I thought. Could it be that Taquilas, no, Rene was aiming for this?”

    “That can’t be. Surely not…”

    After meeting with Kang Jin-woo, Han Eun-seo, who had undone her transformation, walked absentmindedly on the street while listening to the rapidly progressing news updates through her mobile phone.

    In just a few months, Taquilas had made an enormous impact on this world since starting his activities. It seemed impossible for her to surpass Taquilas’s influence no matter how hard she tried, even though she had been active for three years.

    “But still, I have to move. Only then can true justice gain strength.”

    “This is…! Evil. Evil is moving nearby!”

    Soon, Lulu and her senses detected moving evil. Aria quickly transformed out of sight and started running, kicking off the ground.

    Now she no longer moves according to the Management Bureau’s instructions. Instead, from this moment on, she has become a true guardian who acts according to her own judgment and stands against evil.

    And that evil is different from the ones she used to catch just to build up achievements. All the corruption and abnormalities that exist in this land, hindering the growth of righteous justice.

    She doesn’t discriminate between the powerful or the socially weak. She intended to judge such people before Rene could step in.

    *

    “The world… no, the Earth is going crazy.”

    “That’s right. But is now the time for you to say such things?!”

    Around the time when Earth was in great turmoil, there was a place that was equally chaotic and noisy.

    “The number of magical girls who fall for sweet talk and act on their own, violating company policy, is increasing. They’re even forming their own groups and openly bypassing us. All of this started with the appearance of that new magical gi… no, Taquilas! That mutant! Say something if your mouth is open, Lana!”

    An old man with a long white beard started spewing words, his voice gradually getting louder. He paused the scenes of Earth flowing on the mana screen floating in the air, especially the news screen where an anchor had been talking until just a moment ago.

    “…That’s all I have to say.”

    This was a hearing. It was a hearing to interrogate the president, Lana.

    “I followed the regulations.”

    “This is absurd.”

    “Are you referring to the ancient grand law?”

    At the sight of Lana biting her lip, the gathered fairies sighed or shouted in anger. The reason they couldn’t directly sanction her, despite being able to intimidate and threaten her, was simple.

    The ‘real’ regulations specified in the grand law set by Yggdrasil, their progenitor, at the beginning of time, were not the rules that companies had to follow, which they had cluttered and modified.

    “I understand.”

    “…Chairman!”

    Amidst this, someone who had been quietly observing stepped forward. He was a middle-aged man with a sturdy build and a stern impression, who even managed a faint smile.

    “You must have been very frustrated with your company that hardly grew. I’ve heard about your reputation when you were a regular employee, Lana. Capable, decisive, and strong-willed. But things in this world aren’t that simple, are they?”

    “That, that’s…”

    “But no matter what, there’s a limit to everything. What’s the use of bringing in a few mutants to cheat when everyone else is working hard? You must know we can’t let this slide.”

    Although his words didn’t reflect it at all, he nodded as if he understood everything. Lana, who had been holding up until now, suddenly inhaled sharply, feeling a chill.

    ‘No, there won’t be any problems. They can’t touch me.’

    Perhaps because she had encountered all sorts of cruel crimes and incidents in the human world through magical girls, even though she knew it wasn’t possible under the fairy race’s grand law, the image of a dark torture chamber flashed through her mind.

    “Even without violating the grand law, there are ways to sanction you. You can just watch from there how the mutants you employed suffer and fall.”

    “Ah. Not me… but them?”

    The chairman uttered confidently. However, after taking a moment to understand the meaning of those words, she was desperately trying to hold back the snicker that was about to burst out.

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