Ch.123Chapter 20. Love……? (3)

Even though I know I won’t die if I get shot, the sound of gunfire is still a bit frightening.

I’ve been shot before, and the sound itself is inherently threatening.

Besides, military weapons aren’t just rifles. Machine guns can have bullet diameters up to 30mm.

Even a 5.56mm round felt like it would tear my arm off. I’m not confident I could maintain consciousness if hit by a chunk of metal that size.

When I was in the military, I was just infantry, so I don’t know about artillery angles and such. But I’m worried that if I fly too high, they might fire at me anyway.

Actually, would it be friendly fire? Technically, I’m not even military. If I try to enter a military base, I should rightfully be arrested.

But I didn’t stop. I didn’t want to fly this Kaijin back to Seoul or a nearby city.

When I passed through the fence surrounding the military base and entered, the nearby soldiers were incredibly flustered.

This world also has mandatory military service, so most people here were civilians until recently. Except for officers and non-commissioned officers, even the longest-serving had only been here about a year and a half.

I haven’t been a Magical Girl for long, but they must have known about me from TV or smartphones because no one was openly hostile or pointing guns at me.

More likely, they thought I came to help after seeing them fighting.

“This person needs to be restrained,” I said.

“Do you have restraints like the police use? The circuit is broken, but when it wakes up, it probably won’t stay still.”

After my words, a corporal and a private who were nearby exchanged some words and quickly ran off. There were plenty of other people around, so it didn’t seem to be a problem.

Well, there’s no manual for dealing with a Magical Girl who suddenly enters a military base. Common sense would dictate they should arrest me as an intruder, but even that’s ambiguous in this situation.

Still, maybe because this was the front line, information spread quickly.

Even without me saying anything, people soon gathered. The person leading them wore a bulletproof helmet, but I could easily tell his hair was white and his face looked weathered, as if he’d spent too much time in direct sunlight.

The rank insignia on his digital-patterned bulletproof helmet showed two bamboo flowers. A lieutenant colonel.

Does that make him a battalion commander?

The battalion commander had a pistol on his hip, and the officers and soldiers nearby all held rifles, but they weren’t pointing them at me.

“I’ve heard the situation,” he said.

What situation had he heard?

“Thank you for your cooperation. We’ll take care of restraining the Kaijin.”

It felt strange receiving such formal speech from a man older than me, but I still had a job to do. If the Chairman really crosses the DMZ, things would get serious.

Frankly, could North Korea withstand Noir Corporation? Even in South Korea, the company has maintained its corporate role with headquarters here, but I’ve heard that in underdeveloped regions, corporations sometimes try to completely replace governments.

Of course, they usually leave the government structure intact. Otherwise, the Federation wouldn’t stand for it.

“Where’s the enemy’s main force?” I asked. “They wouldn’t have just sent Kaijin without backup.”

My tone sounded a bit rude due to the urgency of the situation.

But the battalion commander continued without showing any offense.

“Several aircraft have crashed, but we haven’t seen any other units yet.”

Whether that was due to a gap in the military’s surveillance or because there truly weren’t any, I couldn’t tell.

However, I couldn’t just do nothing in this situation.

I nodded.

“So we just need to deal with what we can see for now.”

“That’s correct.”

I immediately jumped into the sky.

Once again, my vision filled with dense green forest. The trees were so thick around here that I could barely see the ground except for some crash sites I’d heard about.

In that case.

I charged straight toward the nearest Kaijin I could see.

The gunfire around me diminished somewhat. They probably gave orders to avoid shooting in my direction.

“Hey!” I shouted.

“…!”

The Kaijin turned toward me when I called out.

“What are you looking at?”

I actually knew what it was looking at. A pink light flickered below—Hayun must be there.

If you wanted to meet her that badly, I could have helped.

Of course, you don’t get a say in the matter.

I brought my hammer down hard on the Kaijin’s chest.

As soon as the Kaijin’s back hit the ground, Hayun drove her knife into its solar plexus. Black smoke rose, and the Kaijin went limp as if unconscious.

I noticed a brightness in the corner of my vision and turned to see a light orb larger than my height slowly rising into the sky.

Then a light orb about the size of a soccer ball quickly collided with it.

The two lights briefly became one, then burst like a water balloon, spraying light in all directions. It wasn’t random scattering.

Each droplet of light seemed to swim through the sky with its own intelligence. Like fireworks spreading and falling, the light clusters flew toward the black dots similarly flying through the sky.

“…It really does sound like fireworks going off.”

I muttered as I watched the magic hit the Kaijins’ bodies.

It seemed to be a collaboration between Delphinium and Dalia. Can magical power achieve such effects when combined?

While I was momentarily distracted, a purple beam of light passed in front of me.

“…!”

And a scream came from the end of that light beam.

I hit a Kaijin that was falling from the air, knocking it upward like returning a tennis ball.

“Hup!”

And Rose, who was floating higher than me, brought both hands down hard on the Kaijin’s solar plexus.

Boom!

Not only did the circuit break, but since the Kaijin was already falling and Rose pushed it down with even greater force, the sound was incredibly loud.

The Kaijins that had been attacking the military base or the fence turned their heads toward us.

Kaijins basically can’t understand complex commands. But that doesn’t mean they can’t prioritize threats.

Though consumed by destructive impulses that make them smash everything in sight, they still have the ability to determine what to destroy first.

“That’s right,” I muttered as I looked at the Kaijin glaring at me.

“I want to finish this quickly and go home.”

Slowly, Magical Girls gathered around me.

We flew side by side in the sky, facing the enemy.

Hayun, who was beside me, gave me a slight smile.

…I used to watch scenes like this from below.

How many times had I trembled in fear looking up at the Magical Girls?

“…”

Now I’m standing on the Magical Girls’ side.

The world really is unpredictable.

Well, I don’t think these enemies will feel the same fear looking at us that I used to feel.

I gripped my hammer tightly.

And charged forward with all my might.

*

“Haa… haa…”

We can’t defeat Kaijins one-sidedly. Plus, Earth Kaijins with circuits attached to their bodies are even stronger.

And this time, they really seemed to be giving it their all, scattering an incredible number of enemies, making them truly exhausting to deal with.

But still, we managed to capture all the Kaijins.

The Kaijins.

“…What about the Chairman?”

When I caught my breath and looked around to ask, everyone shook their heads.

“He wasn’t here. We lost the truck last time, but I thought he’d at least have minimal equipment ready for escape,” Rose said.

She meant she expected him to appear in some large vehicle again.

But the roads where such vehicles could move were controlled by the military, and if such a truck had approached to cross the DMZ, there would have been some signal.

We hadn’t confirmed the aircraft wreckage yet, but I doubted he would have sent important things by plane. They’d be useless if they crashed. Above all, if he thought there was a chance of success, he would have come himself.

“But seriously, where are all these Kaijins coming from?” Rose asked.

“It seems the theory that they’re being manufactured is correct,” Ju-a replied calmly.

“…He couldn’t have recruited new people this quickly. If he had kidnapped people, it would have definitely shown.”

Anyone can be kidnapped and modified. But that would definitely leave traces, especially in this country.

Even though every citizen receives a resident registration number, makes an ID card, and registers fingerprints, there are still people whose disappearance might go unnoticed.

But I don’t think the current Chairman is in a position to selectively secure such individuals.

“…”

Thinking about Ju-a’s muttering again, we all fell silent for a moment.

No matter how much we learn in school that humans are no different from other organisms biologically, it’s difficult to truly internalize that fact emotionally.

In an era of cultured meat and genetically modified plants and animals, anyone could imagine this being applied to humans.

But emotionally, it’s not something easy to accept. The fact that beings like ourselves could be produced in factories isn’t particularly pleasant.

“They could also be people who were already kidnapped,” Dalia said.

Either option was simply tragic. Dalia herself seemed to decide not to say anything more, knowing that whatever direction the conversation went, it would remain depressing.

“Then, the reason they attacked here—”

I was about to bring up a slightly better and more productive topic when our communicator rang.

I immediately knew something was wrong.

[Everyone!]

Without anyone needing to go first, we pressed the communicator, and an urgent voice came through.

[It’s terrible! Over here too—]

Cherry’s voice cut off mid-sentence.

…Come to think of it, we hadn’t received any transmissions for a while.

As that thought occurred to me, I felt a chill run down my spine.

The Chairman wasn’t here. Obviously, that means he’s “somewhere else.”

So where?

Where Jihye or Pang Pang are.

Which would the Chairman choose? Would he look for Pang Pang to find something the former Chairman had hidden? Or would he give up everything and try to get revenge on me?

Or perhaps take Jihye hostage?

“Jieun.”

The person who calmed my thoughts was Hayun.

“Let’s head to the orphanage first. We can think after we get there. From there, it won’t take long to go in any direction.”

“Right. We can split into two groups. The three of us will go to the hospital.”

Hearing that made me feel a bit calmer.

Certainly, Jihye won’t go down easily this time either. Among the “equipment,” there were things to protect the orphanage, and above all, James and Cherry were there too.

I closed my eyes.

And thought of hope.

At least this time, I hoped both Jihye and Pang Pang would be safe.

*

The commotion started right after Jihye arrived at the orphanage.

Jihye had never experienced the ground shaking like this a few times in her life. Seoul wasn’t an area where earthquakes frequently occurred.

Without anyone telling her to, Jihye was already running through the orphanage calling for the children.

“Teacher!”

“Jihye.”

When Jihye brought the children she had gathered to the center of the orphanage building, other teachers were already there with their own groups of children.

Watching the children and teachers enter the room in the corridor, Jihye remained outside the door.

“You need to wait here,” Jihye said.

They had agreed to wait inside if bad people came from outside. She had also been told that after all the equipment was installed, this place would be the safest.

Cherry had also said that the equipment would be charged and operated by the energy from the circuits that Magical Girls normally use.

“I’ll go to my room.”

“Jihye…”

“It’s okay. It’s still inside the orphanage. It should be safe. It’s an important place.”

And Jihye smiled and showed her wrist.

There was the circuit she had received from Jieun.

“…Be careful.”

Like Jieun, Jihye can be quite stubborn. Recognizing that she couldn’t be persuaded with words right now, the teacher just said that.

Jihye nodded and closed the door.

Then she ran back toward her room.

She looked at the circuit on her wrist. It didn’t shine like the circuits of other children, but it wasn’t completely unresponsive either.

Was it because of the energy inside? Or because of some feeling Jihye had?

She didn’t know the reason.

But at least this time, she wanted to help Jieun somehow.

When she flung open the door, Cherry and James were already on the desk, holding onto the equipment.

“Everyone, everyone!” Cherry cried, stomping her feet, but there was no answer from the other end.

“Is the communication cut off?”

“It was cut off right after the kids went that way! It’s not just the radio—it seems like all communication in the area is cut off!”

“We’re still determining the cause, but it seems there’s something jamming communications, either from their side or ours.”

“…That means.”

“Yes. It means it’s a trap.”

James said.

“They deliberately moved to lure the Magical Girls there. It was too rushed, but… unavoidable. Even so, I thought that persistent human would try to escape one more time.”

Hearing this, Jihye’s heart pounded.

“Tell me what I can do,” Jihye said.

Cherry and James exchanged glances. James nodded, but Cherry shook her head.

“Jihye is still—”

“But we have no choice, do we? We need to stay here. We must be ready to respond immediately if communications are restored. Above all, a human body would be much more helpful right now than us arguing or carrying equipment ourselves.”

“You need the equipment moved? Got it.”

“Good. There’s a portable antenna I made in advance in the desk drawer. I didn’t make it for this situation, but it’s fortunate I didn’t throw it away thinking it was useless.”

Following James’s instructions, Jihye searched the desk drawer and found something like an antenna.

But as James said, it wasn’t exactly a light object. It looked like a backpack, and the antenna could be extended and retracted like a radio antenna on a record player Jihye had bought.

“It won’t work right away. It might take time to operate. It needs to synchronize with the equipment here.”

“That’s fine. Where should I go? The roof?”

“Yes, that would be appreciated. The controller is here.”

James got up and approached his drone on the desk.

“You and I will be able to communicate. Please adjust the antenna angle according to my instructions.”

“Got it!”

Jihye ran up to the roof.

*

As James had said, it took some time to adjust the antenna angle.

How long did it take—

Boom!

…Yes, until the bad guys found the orphanage.

The police had gathered, but there were too many enemies. Jihye flinched at the sound of gunfire she’d never heard before in her life. It was incomparable to anything she’d heard in movies.

But still, Jihye didn’t stop what she was doing.

To be honest, she was scared, but she couldn’t just do nothing.

Boom!

There was a cracking sound, and a crack appeared in the air where the grotesquely distorted people were striking.

I don’t know what principle it worked on, but the energy protecting this area had started to diminish.

[Everyone!]

When Jihye moved the antenna one last time, she heard that voice.

[It’s terrible! Over here too—]

And then the communication was cut off again. There was only static, and Jieun couldn’t even respond.

[That’s enough.]

The next voice was James’s.

[This seems to be the limit with this equipment. Come down. If they heard us, you’ve done your part.]

Jihye quickly got up.

Boom!

Simultaneously, that sound came from the air again.

And this time, the following sound didn’t end with a cracking noise.

It was like thick glass breaking.

Jihye instinctively looked up.

Though invisible, she could tell something up there had broken. Because she could see the change in the eyes of those Kaijins looking down from the sky.

Jihye gritted her teeth and ran, but it was almost impossible to avoid beings flying through the sky with just her bare body.

Thud.

A Kaijin landed in front of Jihye.

And beside her. And behind her.

Will I be a burden to Jieun again this time?

The memory of when she fainted came back. Jihye doesn’t know what happened that day. How terrible things were, or weren’t.

As the trauma was about to surface, Jieun’s face suddenly came to mind.

“No,” Jihye said.

“I can’t let that happen.”

Even knowing there was no possibility, Jihye didn’t despair.

There was no chance of winning.

But, yes. At least.

She looked down at her wrist. The circuit was glowing a little.

Was the energy moving elsewhere as the barrier broke? She wasn’t sure.

Jihye ran with all her might.

Her target was the space between the Kaijins. She planned to escape somehow and get away from the orphanage.

The power of the circuit was more intense than she expected. Just once, she managed to jump past the Kaijins.

She could clearly feel rough hands moving toward her. If her hair had been just a little longer, Jihye would have been caught.

Where, where should I go?

On the building’s roof, there were stairs leading down into the building and stairs that went around the outside of the building wall. Jihye chose the outside stairs to prevent the Kaijins from entering the building.

“…Ah!”

But perhaps her luck was limited to just that one moment.

Jihye felt something heavy hit her back. A Kaijin had struck her back at almost the same speed as those falling onto the roof.

She didn’t realize she felt pain.

But she did feel her body being pushed over the stair railing.

Ah, I’m going to…

If Jihye gets hurt, Jieun will despair. Since Jieun cares for Jihye, she would probably come for her even if there were more important matters.

See, even now.

Thump.

As Jihye was pushed out and falling, she suddenly found herself in Jieun’s arms.

Almost like being carried like a princess.

“…Idiot,” Jieun said. Her brow was furrowed. Judging by her heavy breathing, she must have flown here in a hurry.

“You should have hidden inside.”

But Jihye blankly looked up at Jieun, who was also smiling with relief.

“I’ll put you down now— Wait, Jihye?”

Jihye had already placed her hands on both of Jieun’s cheeks.

Her heart was pounding.

Until just now, it had been racing from running hard. From fear. But now, it was racing because of Jieun.

Jieun seemed flustered by Jihye’s action and was about to say something more, but those words were cut off.

Something soft touched her lips.

Jihye had closed her eyes and placed her lips on Jieun’s.

Somehow, even with her eyes closed, she thought she could see a white light shining in front of her.