Lord of Despair and Hatred (7)

Lord of Despair and Hatred (7)

“What’s wrong?”

“I have a strangely bad feeling.”

After school, it’s time when school ends and we can play.

While waiting for the other kids in front of the school gate, I looked up at the sky and frowned. Park Tae-jun’s face suddenly turned serious.

“Is something big going to happen?”

“It’s just a hunch. Why are you overreacting?”

“But we’ve already almost had something big happen once before.”

I didn’t think much of it, but Park Tae-jun was adamant.

Come to think of it, including what happened just a few days ago, this guy has already been involved in more than one or two incidents.

Each one was a life-threatening event.

At such a young age, he had experienced things that others would find difficult to go through even once, one after another.

“I understand how you feel, but there’s no need to worry too much.”

“I’m not worried. Because you’re here.”

“…You have good judgment.”

Park Tae-jun smiled and answered without hesitation.

It was absurd, and although I knew what he meant, I didn’t particularly refute it, worried that he might become sulky.

“However you think of me, it’s better to graduate from relying on me quickly.”

“That’s…”

“For your sake too.”

However, I drew the line. For me, this life was ultimately close to a game, and I wasn’t seriously role-playing like the dragons’ play, growing old, leaving offspring, and pretending to die.

I hoped that when the moment of farewell eventually came, Park Tae-jun, with whom I had formed a bond, would achieve growth rather than loss.

“I’ll think about that when the time comes.”

Of course, he didn’t comply easily.

Clicking my tongue, I turned my head to avoid the burdensome gaze. Kim Su-jung and three other girls were coming towards us.

“Originally, I was thinking of going somewhere else…”

“Let’s go to the karaoke! Karaoke!”

The more the kids gathered, the more they acted their age. Among the children chattering noisily, I deliberately walked a step apart.

Perhaps due to his recently changed attitude, Park Tae-jun surprisingly conversed well with the other kids too.

“I clearly remember when you used to clamor for alcohol. Now, don’t you need alcohol, adult entertainment anymore?”

“That’s right. Back then, that was the goal and this was just a means. But now, this is the entertainment.”

Ren spoke above my head, as if finding it amusing. I didn’t bother to deny Ren’s words.

Perhaps what I wanted so desperately in the past was not simply the entertainment and pleasure that could be enjoyed on Earth, but the unforgettable memories of my previous life.

“Great King, but this world is in crisis now. Shouldn’t you take a more active role to protect the things you love?”

“You’re still as mischievous as ever, Ren. No matter how much you try to provoke me, it’s useless. And even when I became a ruler, I never spoon-fed my subjects.”

I pulled Ren down and grabbed his large ears, stretching them out. I smirked as I heard his screams.

“If anything, I was closer to using my subjects. My ideology is firm. In this nature, those who are eliminated have no value in living. That’s how it actually happens. So this world must also strive on its own. To develop and grow further.”

Trials are absolutely necessary for development and growth. Monsters, internal conflicts among themselves, and me.

All of those will become trials.

Therefore, paradoxically, I couldn’t intervene. Rather, because I loved and wanted to protect this world.

“Ugh, but there are cases where they destroy each other while competing like that. Competition isn’t always the answer, you know…”

“You can say that after you’ve actually competed properly.”

I blankly stared at the children walking ahead.

Those kids will continue to compete in the process of becoming adults, and even after that.

I saw Kim Su-jung’s face, brightly laughing and chatting with her friends. Compared to when we first met, when she was timid and scared, she had changed dramatically.

It seemed like she had just properly reached the starting line now. I wondered what would have happened if she hadn’t met me. My role was sufficient in rescuing her to this extent, when she would have been eliminated before even competing.

“Jina, you look happy.”

“…Me?”

At some point, my eyes met with Kim Su-jung’s. She smiled and came over to hold my hand.

“You’re smiling. It’s different from your usual smirk. You look like a different person.”

“I guess so.”

I touched my own face. This is indeed healing.

However, the world hasn’t been peaceful lately. I frowned as I saw the blue foxfire flickering in the distant sky.

***

“A sudden real battle? Is this right?”

“Practicing for days and months won’t really improve your skills. Now’s the perfect time, with so much prey on the streets lately.”

It was the time when students were leaving school. Jeon So-hyeon had just left school as well. Unlike other students who were going out to play or heading to academies, she was reluctantly out on the streets against her will.

“Then, please, can’t you hide your appearance? You know, turn into that small invisible fox.”

“Why should I do that?”

Gabi, who was walking beside her, snorted and turned to look at her. Jeon So-hyeon couldn’t hide her disbelief.

Currently, Gabi’s black women’s suit was relatively normal compared to what she usually wore.

However, her tall and slender figure, beautiful face, chest, long shimmering silver hair, and above all, the fox ears that kept twitching on top of her head were attracting everyone’s attention.

“At least change your hair color… and put away those ears first. People might think they’re just a headband for now, but we’ll get caught!”

“But if I don’t use my ears, I have to use my nose… and you said that was absolutely not allowed. You said it didn’t make sense to be sniffing around on the ground.”

“This is driving me crazy, really.”

Gabi tilted her head as if she couldn’t understand, and Jeon So-hyeon pounded her chest in frustration.

In the end, the method Jeon So-hyeon chose was to cover her own face. She took out a mask and put it on, and even removed the name tag from her school uniform.

“Stop whining and start getting tense.”

“Don’t tell me the enemy has really appeared?”

“…I can hear everything. It’s coming.”

But the light-hearted atmosphere ended there. As soon as they entered a busier area after passing through a residential district, Gabi turned her head in the direction her ears were twitching.

“Where, where is it? More importantly, what kind of enemy am I supposed to fight?”

“Wait. This is a variable, she’s nearby right now… that person.”

“That person? You don’t mean…”

Jeon So-hyeon was shocked at the words “that person.” There was only one being that Gabi referred to with such extreme honorifics and was reluctant to even mention.

“Then, shouldn’t Takil… that person handle it?”

“I’m asking about that right now.”

Gabi summoned a fox fire invisible to others and sent her intentions through it. Soon, the fox fire was delivered to Takilas, who was nearby, and brought back a reply.

“That person won’t get involved. So don’t worry about it and focus on your own work.”

“What on earth are they doing here…”

While Gabi refocused on her work, Jeon So-hyeon, who didn’t have much to do at the moment, swallowed hard at the mention of Takilas being in the vicinity.

From her perspective, it was hard to imagine. What would the strongest and most notorious magical girl, that arrogant and rough girl, look like in her everyday form without transforming?

‘With that crazy personality, I doubt she’d be normal at all. Is she really attending cram school like a regular middle school student, going to cafes with friends, and singing at karaoke in a place like this?’

Although she didn’t speak up, Jeon So-hyeon kept looking around diligently afterward.

Knowing Takilas’s estimated age, she found herself suspecting every young teenage girl she saw on the street who looked younger than her.

“Huh?”

That’s when she spotted them.

A group of middle school students with a familiar face among them. Those kids were quite close to her. Especially one of them with short black hair, who was someone she never expected to see in a place like this.

‘Are they going to karaoke?’

The group entered a building with a karaoke place inside.

While Gabi stood still, perking up her ears intently, Jeon So-hyeon, who had been trying to stay out of the way, took a few steps closer but decided not to make her presence known. It would surely be an inconvenience.

However, contrary to her consideration, one of the girls quickly came back up, leaving her friends in the basement, and spotted her directly.

“This is surprising.”

“You too? Me too.”

“Why are you here?”

“You seem to have come here with your friends.”

Jeon So-hyeon awkwardly smiled as she looked down at the pretty young girl who approached her with a grin.

‘Strangely, I can never figure out what this kid is thinking.’

Despite their eventful and rather deep connection, Jeon So-hyeon couldn’t understand why she always felt intimidated when standing in front of Lee Jin-ah, even though she was taller and older.

Especially since Lee Jin-ah, wearing a school uniform shortened by Park Tae-jun in the past, might look delinquent, but So-hyeon herself had never been called weak-willed anywhere.

“That’s right. This isn’t a place to come alone. You don’t go to academy, after all.”

“I just had some business to take care of alone. Go have fun. I only wanted to say hello.”

Unable to tell the truth, she waved her hand dismissively and mumbled. But because of this, she failed to notice that Lee Jin-ah wasn’t paying any attention to Gabi, who was standing there receiving people’s stares.

“Is there a problem?”

“No. Nothing at all.”

“Then it doesn’t matter. Move. An incident just occurred in this area.”

As Lee Jin-ah turned to leave, Gabi, who had returned to So-hyeon as she blankly watched Jin-ah’s retreating figure, pointed in a direction and spoke.

Immediately, So-hyeon’s face hardened.

“Your expression has changed. Is there a reason for your change of heart?”

“Not here. Here, there are people I need to protect now.”

“…That’s a good mindset. It’s up to you. From what I can see, both the Special Forces and the Magical Girls are overwhelmed, so it would be good if you helped them.”

Gabi smiled slightly and gave her the exact location. Jeon So-hyeon started running towards that place without hesitation.