Ch.101Chapter 17. Questions (4)

Jihye has been spending a lot more time on her smartphone lately.

Well, who doesn’t use smartphones these days? Whether watching videos, looking at photos, reading short posts from acquaintances—it’s been a long time since these devices became something people can’t separate from their hands.

However, that didn’t mean Jihye frequently read internet news.

Occasionally she’d read celebrity articles featured on the main page. Not because she was particularly interested, but because the headlines were provocative, or more often, because they mentioned Jieun’s “friend.”

Usually there wasn’t much to the stories.

So far, no magical girl had ever died. Nor had any been hospitalized with serious injuries. As far as Jihye knew, magical girls were practically invincible beings. They could heal wounds instantly, and thanks to the mana surrounding their bodies, they rarely got injured in the first place.

Additionally, their private lives were well protected, so even when reading articles with provocative headlines, there was usually nothing substantial in them.

If there were any articles with actual “content,” they were the dating rumors about Blossom.

Ironically, the photos in those articles featured Jieun, and naturally, the content was mostly fabricated, but at least the fact that they “really held hands” and “really were together” was true.

Thinking back, Jieun often talked about Blossom—or rather, “Lee Hayun”—in daily conversation.

According to her, Hayun was the only person she could call a friend, so perhaps it was natural.

And that Hayun had taken Jieun away.

No, perhaps that wasn’t entirely accurate. As Jihye understood it, Jieun was the one with the teleportation-like power.

So, if anything, it might be Jieun who was taking the other magical girls around.

And whenever Jihye recalled this fact, she felt some indescribable emotion.

Yes, it was Jihye who had refused to go with them. Because it was obvious she wouldn’t be of any help. She’d be lucky not to become a burden, but most likely she would just be in the way.

The last time they met, Jieun had given Jihye a tender look. Strangely, Jihye had felt reassured by that expression.

It was a look that conveyed how Jieun hadn’t forgotten Jihye, how the only person Jihye considered family still cherished her—

“…”

So naturally, Jihye had no reason to worry about Jieun, wherever she might be.

She shouldn’t have.

Yet today, like every day, Jihye was watching the news.

Normally she would have gone to school, but coincidentally, she was off today. Not for any special reason. The school anniversary was still far off, and if today had been a public holiday, government workers wouldn’t have been working either.

About a week ago, people in formal suits had visited the orphanage.

After showing some identification to the teacher, they came straight to Jihye.

What they told her was, “This day could be dangerous, so please stay inside and accept protection.”

Apparently, they had already sent an official notice to the school.

“Why… me?” Jihye had asked.

“Because there’s a high possibility that magical girls will be active that day.”

Perhaps to reduce intimidation, the person delivering this message was a relatively young woman. Still, she appeared to be at least ten years older than Jihye.

“They might come looking for you, Jeong Jihye.”

“Are you trying to arrest them again?”

Jihye asked in a voice she rarely used.

Typically, Jihye was careful to be agreeable and avoid conflicts with anyone, but that day she wasn’t in a good mood.

No, she’d been losing sleep ever since being separated from Jieun. If they had simply been apart, it wouldn’t have been so bad. If Jihye had known that Jieun would return safely after a few days, she could have slept without much worry.

But there was no guarantee of that.

A magical girl’s job is to fight kaijin.

Until now, she had believed they “don’t get injured,” but when she actually saw the footage, Jieun was wounded and suffering.

She had even requested food, as if they had run out of supplies.

Jihye had no idea where or how they were living. Since they couldn’t even go to supermarkets, they obviously couldn’t visit hospitals either. Could they bathe properly where they were staying? Were their sleeping arrangements comfortable? Probably not at all. They might even be somewhere without reliable electricity.

On top of that, with people chasing and targeting Jieun, she couldn’t possibly have peace of mind.

“No, that’s not it,” the woman replied, but Jihye couldn’t believe her at all.

Weren’t these the same people who had fired countless live rounds at Jieun? Moreover, they had previously taken Jihye to try to persuade Jieun.

After learning that Jihye wouldn’t cooperate, they had openly shown their disappointment. If they were trying to use her as bait again…

“We… currently have no plans to contact the magical girls. I can’t tell you much, but…”

“Then how can I trust you?”

“…I have nothing to offer except to ask for your trust.”

The other person looked quite troubled.

It must be difficult to persuade someone when your authority to speak is limited. Not that Jihye particularly cared.

“Even if I refuse, you’ll do whatever you want anyway, won’t you?”

Though a bit scared, she asked rebelliously.

The other person just made an embarrassed expression without answering.

“…”

It seemed that what adults considered important had nothing to do with Jihye’s school life.

As a result—Jihye ended up staying in the orphanage today instead of going to school.

Not going to school itself was physically comfortable, but she still felt anxious.

Were there really people trying to attack her? Would someone try to kidnap her again like last time?

Would Jieun come to see her?

While pondering these concerns, she found herself looking for information about “places where Jieun might appear,” as those people had suggested.

And that led her to the news she saw this morning.

[From today, please call me Happy Lily!]

And in that news, “Blossom,” who appeared next to Jieun, had exclaimed.

Her face was radiant.

Jieun, wearing the white magical girl outfit Jihye had seen before, was just blushing and saying nothing.

And beside Jieun, Jihye could see another magical girl attached to her.

“Magical… girl…”

Had Jieun wanted to become a magical girl?

At least every time Jihye had seen her, Jieun had always looked exhausted. Jihye couldn’t recall Jieun ever looking so happy in her magical girl outfit.

Yet, Jieun didn’t deny those words at all.

As if they had already discussed everything where Jihye couldn’t see, Jieun just stood there with a flushed face.

“…”

Yes, Blossom was one of Jieun’s few friends. Perhaps it would have been stranger if they hadn’t reconciled. If there was friendship between them, it wouldn’t easily break over minor conflicts.

But, the girl beside her…

What was this strange sense of deprivation?

Jihye knew it was very strange to feel this way. Even in family-like relationships, people don’t completely share everything, and friends don’t always completely overlap.

Just as Jihye didn’t know much about Jieun’s friends, Jieun didn’t know much about Jihye’s.

But still, Jihye felt her heart tightening somehow.

She should have felt relieved seeing that Jieun was doing well, after worrying so much.

This emotion—what exactly should she call it?

*

“Jieun!”

And that emotion melted away like snow when she actually saw Jieun.

She bumped her shoulder against the corridor wall as she rushed out of her room, but without even feeling the pain, Jihye ran straight to Jieun.

And threw herself into her arms.

Jieun silently wrapped her arms around Jihye’s back.

Was it just Jihye’s imagination that those arms seemed somewhat firmer?

“…Have you been well?”

Jieun asked in a small, almost whispered voice as she embraced Jihye’s back. At those words, Jihye felt tears about to pour from her eyes.

Afraid she would only make choking sounds if she opened her mouth, she just quietly nodded.

Already, Jieun’s shoulder was getting wet with Jihye’s tears.

As she hugged Jieun with all her might, she finally noticed.

Jieun’s body had a faint smell of oil. Blinking away tears, she could see black oil stains on the white outfit.

Her hair was the same. Black and yellowish oil was stickily attached here and there.

Jihye pulled her upper body back slightly to look at Jieun.

She was a mess.

There were small scratches all over, and some areas were already turning bluish with bruises.

The outfit, which didn’t seem very suitable for fighting with its considerable skin exposure, made those injuries stand out even more.

“What happened to your face…”

Jihye tried to hold back another flood of tears as she placed her hand on Jieun’s face.

Every time they met, she tried not to cry, but it wasn’t easy. It hurt to see her only family injured and suffering.

Moreover, all that suffering was because Jieun had worked hard to somehow maintain this orphanage.

Though subsidies came in and barely kept things running, there were many areas where they had to economize. They wore hand-me-down clothes, couldn’t dream of pocket money, and found it difficult to repair broken things.

Jieun had continued fighting for such an orphanage.

Naturally, Jihye, living in that orphanage, had greatly benefited from it. Though she hadn’t known until now.

That made it even more upsetting.

The best thing would be for Jieun not to do such work at all. Living with nothing would be far better than having a precious family member getting injured and risking death. They could have just graduated together and somehow supported each other while living together.

If she had to do such work, she could at least have boasted about it.

She could have said she was supporting everyone here, that they should be grateful, that she was working so hard.

But Jieun wouldn’t have done that.

That’s the kind of person she was.

When Jihye touched her face with trembling hands, Jieun smiled bitterly and took those hands in hers.

“I’m fine.”

“No, you’re not.”

At Jihye’s words, Jieun’s face darkened a little.

Was this also unnecessary meddling? Was it just interfering with what Jieun wanted to do?

She grew anxious. Though she didn’t think Jieun would hate her for this, she didn’t want to be someone who tripped her up.

“I’m fine,” Jieun said.

And placing her hand on Jihye’s face, she asked, “Are you okay?”

“I’m… okay.”

Of course she was. Of course she had to be okay. Because Jieun was working so hard.

Since Jihye was among the people Jieun was trying to protect, naturally she had to be okay—

“…”

Jieun quietly looked at Jihye. As if trying to read what she was thinking.

That expression was so serious that Jihye could only stare back at her face.

“How is it here? Have any strange people come since then?” Jieun asked, removing her hand.

Jihye exhaled and nodded.

“There haven’t been any since then.”

“…I see.”

Jieun made a pained expression.

Was she blaming herself again?

Was she blaming herself for those strange people coming that day?

Jihye didn’t know anything about what happened that day anyway.

She didn’t want to know either.

She only knew that the person who saved her that day was Jieun.

And Jieun’s visit today was probably because of Jihye too.

Thinking about this made her feel strange again. Various emotions mixed chaotically until she couldn’t tell what was what.

Was it happiness? Was her heart pounding because she was happy that Jieun thought of her first even in such a situation? Happy that Jieun had rushed to protect her?

Or was it disappointment in herself?

Was she feeling this way because she had become an obstacle again, because she felt sorry that Jieun couldn’t go somewhere more important and had to come here instead?

“I, I’m fine. This place will probably be fine too. Look outside. There are so many police officers.”

“They won’t be there every day.”

“Still.”

“…This place became dangerous because of me.”

“No!”

Jihye shouted urgently at Jieun’s words, then quickly covered her mouth. Jieun’s eyes had widened slightly.

“I mean, well,” Jihye stammered in a smaller voice.

“…I wanted to say that it’s the people trying to do bad things here who are bad, not you. You were just caught up in it. You didn’t do anything wrong.”

“What I did wrong—”

Jieun started to say something in response to Jihye’s words but closed her mouth.

Her face had hardened.

Had Jihye said something she shouldn’t have? Had she said something Jieun disliked?

Now she really didn’t know anything anymore. Ever since last time, her mind had been a mess whenever she met Jieun. Various matters were so entangled and mixed up that she couldn’t tell who was on whose side, or what was right and wrong.

She only wished for Jieun in the middle of it all to somehow be safe. She just wanted to continue living as family, as best friends, meeting each other for a long time to come.

Wasn’t it too much to see a precious friend who shared all her childhood memories being threatened like this?

“…”

Jieun stood there with that hardened face, quietly looking at Jihye, then slightly bowed her head.

And stepped back a little.

“…I’m sorry.”

“Huh?”

It took a moment to understand the words that came from Jieun’s mouth.

*

Seeing Jihye worry this much, what should I say?

When a person living a normal life is suddenly exposed to such great danger, how do they react afterward?

I think I may have taken it too lightly.

Jihye’s life was threatened last time. I don’t know exactly what those people intended to do to her. Fortunately, they didn’t succeed, but—

Someone who has seen another person chasing them with a knife will likely suffer severe psychological trauma. They might have to live with unforgettable trauma for the rest of their life, even if they weren’t directly stabbed.

Jihye might be living in such fear.

And the person who pushed Jihye into that fear was none other than me.

“…I’m sorry.”

So, I should have done this much earlier.

Jihye was staring at me blankly, not seeming to understand exactly what I was saying.

“I… I made the situation this bad.”

To be honest, it was a confession that impulsively burst out of my mouth.

It was the same with Hayun. The magical girls being driven into this situation was entirely my fault. Since the chairman wasn’t ousted in the original work, perhaps even that was because of me. Though I don’t fully understand the reason yet, maybe the current chairman tried to take over the company before the former chairman could show results, seeing things going too well.

I’m not exactly sure why the webtoon creator sent me here either—but in the end, it might have been to inflict this pain on me.

I felt the vibration from the circuit on my wrist weakening slightly.

“It’s because I did such things from the beginning. If I hadn’t joined the company, if I hadn’t become a combatant, this might never have happened.”

I think I should apologize to everyone, but ultimately, the person in most danger is—Jihye, who had nothing to do with the original work.

An ordinary person who can’t even transform into a magical girl. Yet because she is “the only person I could lose,” she’s being harassed by all sorts of people.

“I… that is—”

But my words couldn’t continue to the end.

Before I could say more, I felt a rather strong impact on my body.

Jihye had rushed to me again and hugged me tightly.

“How is that your fault?”

Jihye said.

Her voice was clearly tinged with sadness.

“None of this is your fault…”

Jihye said through gritted teeth, as if holding back tears.

“…”

Ah, really.

You’ve always been… too kind.

I stood there blankly, unable to hug her back or do anything else.

Jihye hugged my waist even tighter.

As if trying to stop me from saying anything more.

As if trying to prevent me from leaving.

What should I do?

Under the pretext of protecting Jihye, I came all this way with selfish intentions, but am I actually hurting her more?

With that thought, my heart felt like it was being squeezed.

But even so, my hopeless mind was happy that Jihye had accepted my apology so easily.

…I resented my circuitry a little.