Ch.297IF Side Story: From the Beginning (65)

I hadn’t done any infiltration work in the past few years.

Usually, we only started moving after the Combatants appeared first.

Conversely, even when we did move, the Combatants always followed us. I don’t know where they picked up that information.

Maybe it’s because our outfits stand out so much. …Well, my outfit had that issue too.

“So, what’s our plan?”

Gangnam.

Even in the middle of the night, people and cars were moving busily below us.

Were there still employees working in those buildings with lights still on? Thinking about it that way made the brilliant city lights seem somewhat gloomy and pale.

The convenience stores with their lights on, the bars—they all kept running because people were working there.

I’m still a high school student, so I can’t work in those places. But if I hadn’t become a Magical Girl, I might have been running around working various jobs regardless of the hours to make a living by college, trying to earn money for living expenses.

Just like Pang Pang had done.

…It seems Pang Pang wasn’t treated as a minor in this world either. It can’t be helped. In this country—no, on Earth—in nations where the Galactic Federation doesn’t have firm control, the treatment of aliens is often inconsistent.

Those who come with money as tourists might be fine, but those who come to make a living sometimes lie about their age, or even when they correctly identify themselves as minors, they’re treated essentially as adults due to errors.

“…”

Why hadn’t I thought of it sooner? If only I had known from the beginning—

—Known what?

Could I have helped Pang Pang somehow? Maybe I approached her with that intention from the start.

No matter how much I thought about it, I couldn’t find an answer.

I just hoped I could meet Pang Pang in this battle too.

“You’re still worried about it, aren’t you?”

Hayun asked.

“Well, yeah.”

I answered while standing on the rooftop of the adjacent building, looking down at our target.

“…Let’s go then.”

When I said that, the others nodded.

Everyone wore their circuits on their wrists.

My circuit kept spinning continuously. It wasn’t spinning as vigorously as before, but it was at least proof that I hadn’t lost hope yet.

I found it somewhat ironic.

It’s not that the circuit spins because I feel hope, but rather that I feel hope because I see the circuit spinning.

Light enveloped my body, and my clothes slowly transformed. Though the outfit exposed my skin, I didn’t feel cold.

What I held in my hand was the same hammer as always.

At the very least, there’s nothing better than this for blasting doors open to get inside.

“Let’s go.”

When I said that, everyone nodded.

The atmosphere was serious, unlike our usual somewhat lighthearted demeanor.

At some point, our fights had stopped being clean battles with clear endings and had turned into something like mud wrestling.

*

Bang!

Only after I smashed the door with my hammer and entered did the alarm go off inside the building.

A loud noise similar to a fire alarm.

Breaking one of the alarm speakers wouldn’t stop the alarm.

The moment we broke in, Combatants rushed up to the roof like in some gangster movie.

But when they actually saw us, they hesitated and stopped. Even though they all had guns in their hands.

Maybe they hadn’t expected Magical Girls to attack directly?

“…”

I examined those Combatants.

But among them, I couldn’t find that child I knew.

Even though the helmet had changed, I should have been able to see that distinctive, somewhat reckless but not entirely hateful appearance.

At least, she wasn’t the type to hesitate in front of me.

It wasn’t simply because she was my friend. She had been that kind of person even before I met Pang Pang.

“If you step aside quietly, you won’t get hurt or feel pain.”

I said, taking the lead.

Usually, when I glare and say something like that, all the Combatants scatter in panic. Because there’s nothing good about getting hurt. After all, it’s not a job with guaranteed tenure, and they still get paid even if they don’t fight well, so running away is the better option, isn’t it?

But the Combatants in front of us now didn’t back down at those words.

“Oh, quite brave, aren’t they?”

Seo-hee said that, but circuits were spinning vigorously on all the Combatants’ wrists.

They were all in despair.

But at the same time, they weren’t giving up. That’s why their Despair Circuits were spinning.

I see. Perhaps these were… full-time employees? Or headquarters staff?

Not the ones who get paid little, but those who get paid enough to make fighting worthwhile.

“I warned you.”

I said that and gripped my hammer.

I know that the people in front of me are ultimately ordinary people.

But at the same time, I felt intense antipathy toward Noir Corporation.

In truth, I’m not sure who invaded whom first.

Whether I started attacking Noir Corporation, which had been doing fine on its own, when I became a Magical Girl.

Or whether Noir Corporation started harassing me while I was just living my life, doing what I needed to do.

…But amid all that, there’s one thing I can say for certain.

Those bastards are underestimating me.

They’ve been harassing me in ways they wouldn’t dare try with other Magical Girls.

So—

“If you think about running away midway, it’s better to just flee without looking back.”

I said that and raised my hammer.

*

Bang!

The sound of breaking something can’t be exhilarating.

Rather, it hurts your ears, sounds like something scratching that’s irritating, makes people scream in terror which is annoying—all in all, it’s not a pleasant sound to hear in reality.

The gunshots in special effects-heavy movies sound clean and crisp, but real gunshots are unpleasant noises that seem to dig into your eardrums and tear them apart.

Thud!

The door fell forward with an ear-grating sound.

It was so thick and well-made that it was dented all over. Only after being hit by my hammer, struck by Yeon-woo’s magic, and even hit by Chae-yeon’s powerful spell did it finally break off its hinges.

Fortunately, there was no one on the other side. Thankfully, they were all people who valued their lives.

Crack.

I rotated my shoulder and entered with the hammer in one hand. Whether our movements were being broadcast, or because of the desperate screams of their colleagues coming through their radios.

Or perhaps because of us—covered in dust but completely unharmed—the Combatants retreated step by step.

Especially in my case, despite wearing an outfit that exposed most of my back, I didn’t have a single injury.

It’s not that we weren’t getting tired at all. The bullets definitely hurt. Not enough to fatally wound me, but still. However, that wasn’t enough to take down those of us who had already faced several Kaijin.

With each step I took, the floor tiles cracked. I ran forward with the hammer head embedded in the wall, creating gashes, sending Combatants flying, and generating gusts of wind.

Literally, I moved wildly according to my emotions.

Had more accumulated in my heart than I thought? Not only the opponents but also the kids following behind me fell silent.

But they didn’t abandon their positions beside me.

They all stood by my side.

Perhaps my hope came from these kids.

“…”

As I moved forward, I suddenly stopped.

A structure with a hollow middle that didn’t match the high-rise building.

From the outside, it looked like an ordinary building, but it seemed that from about ten floors up, they had hollowed out a large space to hide one massive structure.

What occupied that enormous space was a U-shaped… antenna?

That tuning fork-shaped thing was—

“…A generator?”

I heard that from behind.

We all turned our gaze toward the voice.

The person who had mumbled while blankly staring up at the massive structure was Ju-a.

Ju-a, who had been at the rear for cover, walked slowly forward with a somewhat dazed expression.

Ju-a’s outfit looked like a refined version of mine. Among the Magical Girls, she was the one who had been most influenced by me.

She was also the one who had made the hammer I wielded.

Among us, she had the most knowledge about engineering.

Hearing Ju-a’s mumbling, we couldn’t help but be shocked.

“So, that’s…”

“Yes, it’s a generator made by enlarging the circuits on our wrists. …Similar to what the Federation was trying to create.”

“But, the size.”

“…Yes, it’s big.”

Ju-a mumbled.

“Something so important, in the middle of Seoul.”

“…No, Ji-eun. Because it’s important, they hid it in the middle of Seoul. Inside a building like this, no one could easily recognize it.”

Then, how did the Federation find such a preciously hidden generator?

No, that wasn’t important right now.

“Could there be more of these?”

“No.”

Ju-a was definitive.

“There couldn’t possibly be more. If they could mass-produce them, they would have made many by now.”

“Then, the answer is simple.”

Seo-hee said, hitting her palm with her fist.

“Either we destroy it, or… we take the important parts. Right?”

“Yes, that’s the only way.”

Yeon-woo also said.

“Since they tried to screw us over, let’s give them a taste of their own medicine.”

I’m not really sure who screwed over whom first at this point.

I swallowed those words.

Well, it wasn’t something I should say, being the person who had been most enthusiastically destroying this place.