Ch.270IF Side Story. From the Beginning (38)

And, a little while later.

We received another mission.

Since everyone was being deployed this time, it seemed like it wouldn’t be an entirely easy task.

“Facility protection.”

Cherry said.

“That’s what we need to do this time.”

“Facility protection? What kind of place is it?”

“Well…”

Cherry thought for a moment before answering.

“A generator.”

“A generator?”

When I asked again, Cherry nodded and continued explaining.

“Think about the circuits you’re wearing. Even with individuals creating energy through emotions, you can accomplish quite a lot. And that energy is clearly extremely powerful. Perhaps enough that one of you alone could launch a spacecraft.”

We looked at each other.

The other girls had expressions that showed they knew nothing about this.

On the contrary, I actually knew something about it. I just hadn’t expected this mission to be related to that.

Basically, the generator is a device that produces energy from our emotions.

Until now, one hasn’t been successfully built.

The circuit is like attaching a crank to where a motor spins.

If you grab that crank and turn it with all your might, you can generate electricity, but normally you wouldn’t be able to create meaningful energy with that force.

And the power from the circuits we use is like a small light bulb attached to the end of a wire connected to that motor.

The force with which we turn the crank is much stronger than others. Perhaps strong enough to be considered “significant.” In numerical terms, we’re like people born with incredibly powerful muscles, at a level that’s almost non-existent among normal people.

The Federation creating magical girls, and other countries creating heroes and distributing circuits, isn’t just about protecting justice on Earth.

If they can create a generator that can properly handle this powerful energy while extracting maximum efficiency, Earth’s value becomes immeasurable.

…Of course, they actually needed magical girls’ power to develop this generator—and perhaps, if things go wrong, the Federation might force us into “forced labor.”

I know about this because it was described in the original work. Though after revealing the existence of such a device, they completely hid it and never showed it again, probably for the sake of the story’s progression.

At least as long as Cherry is with the Federation, they probably won’t make us do anything strange.

Well, I guess we’ll find out when the time comes.

“But we have circuits, right?”

Seo-hee asked.

“…Circuits let too much emotion flow through. Otherwise they’d break.”

Chaeyeon told Seo-hee.

“You can’t say they’re very efficient.”

“You’re saying we produce this much power even with low efficiency?”

“Look at Ju-a.”

I interjected.

“If she releases her full power, her gun breaks, right? That’s why we use fuses to direct and limit how much power is released. I regularly check my staff too.”

After explaining this, I looked at Ju-a, who nodded enthusiastically.

She still had the same hairstyle as me. Her face was much brighter—and most importantly, the staff Ju-a used didn’t fire “warp bullets” like in the webtoon. Instead, it had become much more straightforward, shooting energy directly at enemies in a straight line.

Of course, they’re still researching warp technology separately, but things had changed in many ways from what I knew.

“So, this time Noir Corporation is going to attack the facility where this generator is located, right?”

Hayun asked.

“Yes, that’s right. Whether they’re coming to destroy it or steal it, we need to stop them.”

Cherry said.

…Strictly speaking, it’s probably an “illegal facility” too. After all, it’s a generator. One that could emit massive amounts of energy if successfully built.

The government knows about it and turns a blind eye, but it’s essentially like building a nuclear fusion reactor under Seoul without any permits.

“Okay, got it.”

I nodded.

“Let’s go check it out.”

*

Although it’s a facility that will use magical girl energy, it doesn’t really show that prominently.

It’s not like it has various colors mixed together, or is extremely clean, or has that kind of atmosphere… Well, it is clean, but I mean it’s not dazzlingly brilliant like places often shown in comics.

And the generator was larger than we had imagined.

It was definitely too big to steal.

The generator wasn’t operating just because we were nearby. It wasn’t completed yet.

Boom.

“Did you hear that? Sounds like there’s quite an intense fight going on outside.”

Seo-hee said.

“Yeah. Seems like they’re using explosives.”

Hayun, who was standing by the door, nodded and replied.

“…But what does Noir Corporation want so badly that they’re doing this?”

“Isn’t it obvious what they’re after? They’re in this country for various benefits, and their ultimate goal is to make money. If they had a generator like this, they could obviously make even more money.”

Yeonwoo said, looking up at the generator again.

“No, but… why, they use circuits too, right? Whatever the source of their emotions is.”

“That’s exactly why they’re coming after it. If they could find the generator’s blueprints, it would be an enormous help to their company.”

“Hmm.”

Seo-hee tilted her head.

“…Well,”

I, who knew something about the story, cut in.

“Whatever the case, we can’t let Noir Corporation do as they please. We just need to wait a bit longer, then fight and win in the next room or so.”

The power Noir Corporation uses to generate energy is despair.

Publicly, they advertise it as “courage.” It’s actually quite a plausible story.

The more you endure while being afraid, the more energy they can obtain. Although it’s called despair energy, they can’t actually get it from someone who’s completely given up. People who give up stop struggling and just quietly wait for the outcome.

It’s more like finding peace of mind.

…I almost ended up like that once.

Boom.

Once again, a fairly loud noise was heard.

“Alright, let’s go.”

I said.

The door slowly opened.

There wasn’t anyone in the corridor beyond yet.

We all went out and stood in the hallway.

“…”

“Hayun?”

Feeling like someone was missing, I turned around to see Hayun looking up at the generator with a complicated expression.

“Ah, yes.”

Hayun quickly came out at my question.

“What’s wrong? Is there something strange about the generator?”

“No, it’s not that.”

Hayun thought for a moment, then whispered to me quietly.

“I’ll tell you after this is all over.”

“Hm? Well, okay.”

I was puzzled by Hayun’s words, but I decided to accept it.

After all, Hayun is quite sharp-minded. It’s probably something quite important.

Thinking that, I gripped my staff tightly with both hands.

*

As always, it was our victory.

However, we didn’t win as easily as usual.

“…What on earth is this?”

Yeonwoo said, looking down at the enemy’s shattered equipment.

“It seems to be equipment powered by circuits. Look at this.”

Hayun showed us the inside of the broken wrist part of the equipment.

It looked like a thick metal rod from the outside, but inside was a space for a human hand. Unlike its simple exterior, the interior was quite complex with various circuits intertwined.

Near the wrist was a space suitable for something like a wristwatch.

There’s a famous old movie about people dying after encountering alien monsters. Set in space.

In that movie, the protagonist wore something like an industrial powered suit, and this equipment looked similar to that.

It was more robust with armor on the torso section, and since they probably couldn’t incorporate complex hydraulic systems, the ends of the hands were just in the form of metal clubs, but it was a much more threatening presence than the combatants we had seen so far.

It’s almost impossible to injure us, but it can knock us around and buy time. Seeing how it withstood a collision with my hammer, they must have put considerable effort into making it.

…

It seems like equipment specifically designed to counter me.

“…”

Nevertheless, there were far more combatants who came without any equipment.

As always, that alien combatant who stays until the end was still there.

Even though he has a body that can’t rely on suits.

I don’t understand why he consistently stays until the end. If he’s just fighting for money, he could just run away instead of holding out until the end.

Since they know they’ll lose anyway, Noir Corporation would still pay them without cutting their pay.

“Jieun.”

Hayun tapped me while I was lost in thought.

“Yes?”

“About that generator from earlier.”

Hayun glanced at the other girls.

After confirming they were busy examining the unfamiliar equipment some distance away and not paying attention to us, she spoke to me quietly.

“That generator… does that mean we’ll have to power it?”

“…”

Well.

It ‘could’ happen, according to the webtoon.

Actually, I thought it wouldn’t be an easy task. Our power is “hope,” isn’t it?

How could they make us feel “hope” while being trapped beside a generator for our entire lives? How would that even be possible?

Logically thinking, we’d probably just have jobs where we spend time charging it, but… I don’t know.

If it were that simple, it wouldn’t have been portrayed so uncomfortably in the webtoon.

“Don’t worry too much.”

I said.

“We have Cherry too.”

Right.

If something like that were to happen—

Well, I could just smash it to pieces.

“…Okay.”

Hayun nodded, smiling back at my smile.