Ch.2Chapter 1. Discomfort (2)

2020.

Humanity was invaded by beings from beyond space.

Or rather, perhaps only the so-called “developed countries” on Earth would describe this action as an “invasion.”

After examining how this Earth functioned, the representatives of the Galactic Federation declared the superpowers that ruled this planet to be “unlawful.”

They determined that the various middle-income and developing countries crushed under the wealth of developed nations—not to mention the countries being exploited in places where even “development” hadn’t properly occurred—were being “abused on a global scale.”

They also took note of the Earth’s ecosystem, groaning under humanity’s environmental destruction.

And that groaning ecosystem included the human population as well.

To their eyes, humans appeared to be a species strangling itself to extinction.

The Galactic Federation took immediate action.

While one might think the Galactic Federation would accept members on a planetary basis, they actually respect the independence of each nation. In reality, their structure resembles a rather loose European Union, with membership open to individual countries or colonies from each planet.

This cosmic superpower began by inviting the nations that would rank last in Earth’s “wealth hierarchy” to join their alliance.

Ironically, this resulted in countries classified as “developed” on Earth not joining, while those that had been suffering almost unilaterally were the first to join the Galactic Federation.

And their rate of development became noticeably rapid.

The powerful nations naturally pushed back. The Galactic Federation’s “expansion policy” on Earth was significant enough to overturn the entire history of space development.

Warp Points connecting directly to Galactic Federation headquarters were established, a headquarters for the civic delegation was built, and shipyards for spacecraft to be used on Earth were constructed.

The plans of developed nations, who had been spending astronomical sums on space development, were all reduced to scraps of paper.

And naturally, seeing this behavior, the developed nations cried out—

“This is an invasion!”

Christmas evening, Gwanghwamun Square.

An unpleasant voice erupted from a crowd holding large picket signs.

“Aren’t they saying they’ll colonize Earth? Think about it! What will happen if they join hands with North Korea!”

That’s an extreme exaggeration. Even the Galactic Federation manages its image.

They entered Earth criticizing the developed nations as unlawful—why would they now join hands with a dictator?

Of course, they would “thoroughly” deal with them first as groundwork before accepting them as members.

They’re aliens, after all. That should be simple enough, right?

In truth, the countries the Galactic Federation most wants to recruit through such actions are precisely those “developed nations” they initially excluded. Even for aliens, nuclear-armed superpowers and the other developed nations that cluster around them must have seemed extremely dangerous.

If they mishandled the situation and Earth self-destructed through war, it would damage the Galactic Federation’s prestige as well.

Following this worldview cliché, humanity in this world perfectly fulfilled the requirements of a “hell Earth” where “technology is primitive but weapons are insanely advanced.”

So the Galactic Federation carefully avoided that trigger button and threatened in a slightly different way.

We have better technology than you. If you don’t cooperate with us willingly, we’ll make the countries beneath you more prosperous than you.

…Would that work?

The original work I was familiar with was a kind of absurdist comedy. A manga with a magical girl setting twisted by the author’s whims.

It wouldn’t be complete without lines like “These Earth creatures are absolutely terrible…!”

They want to transform the Horn of Africa into a megalopolis-class port city? When they can’t even handle Somali pirates? I can’t understand why Galactic Federation ships would be captured by Somali pirates arriving on rafts.

Their announcement that Earth’s religions were wrong and unscientific properly touched the sore spot of various religious groups on Earth. The carefully constructed Warp Points are regularly terrorized by homemade rockets from local insurgents.

They’ve stationed “peacekeeping forces,” so they can’t carry out large-scale massacres. But they haven’t brought lasting peace to the region either.

If uninformed people could have sorted things out in just a few years by barging in, the United States could have done it too.

…

Anyway.

To summarize, North Korea is somewhat removed from the continents where such chaos is unfolding, plus their image is already extremely evil.

And there are places they haven’t paid attention to because they’ve dragged things out too long.

The planet-scale mega-corporations extending their reach to Earth.

They won’t share technology with developed nations?

So those developed nations chose:

To buy outdated technology cheaply from those planet-scale mega-corporations.

The Galactic Federation belatedly tried to regulate those corporations, but oops, some had already built numerous subsidiaries on Earth. Some had even relocated their headquarters.

Under the loose galaxy-scale international law, these corporations were already “Earth-based companies,” so they couldn’t be regulated unless the developed Earth nations where they were based joined the Galactic Federation.

Yes. The reason numerous galactic corporations took interest in this Earth—with few resources, not that many people, and a market flooded with deeply rooted indigenous cultural content—was there.

An excellent tax haven and money laundering location. In their eyes, a different kind of gold mine had opened on the third planet of the solar system.

And 2025, five years after that, was the time period of the story.

For reference, apart from the statement at the very beginning about being invaded in 2020 and the very end about five years passing, the rest of this setting doesn’t appear directly in the webtoon. It’s what I’ve learned from living in this world for 16 years.

…Probably, the dialogue and situations shown fragmentarily in the webtoon for comedic effect were fitted into this world’s history.

“They will take our land! They will take our jobs! And finally, they will take the gods we believe in! If that’s not invasion, what is?”

“…”

Ignoring the group of older people gathered there, I walked briskly, clutching a paper bag tightly.

Inside was an OST album from an animation I’d recently seen in theaters. Nothing special like a limited edition, just a regular CD in a plastic case.

In today’s age, it might be an excessive luxury for someone like me who doesn’t have much money for hobbies. After all, we live in a world where you can pay a monthly fee for unlimited streaming.

But… isn’t the realm of hobbies about emotion rather than reason or efficiency?

A physical playlist carefully arranged by the people who created the music. The concept of a “collection” touches my heart.

…Even in a tight life, don’t we need some healing?

I don’t have a girlfriend anyway. I’d appreciate some understanding for wanting to heal with a secondhand record player I picked up off the street.

Beep beep beep.

“Ah, come on.”

I looked at the smartwatch on my left wrist with annoyance.

A summons.

All combatants are to change into battle uniforms and gather at Dongmyo Station. Within 30 minutes.

I frowned deeply.

Seriously, if you’re going to summon us, give us ample time.

What’s with 30 minutes? If I had been at the orphanage, I would never have made it in time.

And then the supervisor will throw a fit if I’m late.

I sighed heavily as I changed direction.

…Well, it is Christmas.

It wouldn’t be complete without a battle between an evil organization and magical girls.

*

The Galactic Federation, planet-scale multinational corporations.

Such settings were probably initially created for “humor.”

But you know, such settings are inherently destined to eventually become serious.

Third-rate combatants rolling around at Black Corp. That oddly realistic setting is funny at first glance.

If there’s a character who’s a family man with a pretty daughter at home, the irony is doubled.

But what happens when such characters repeatedly get beaten up by the protagonist who stands for justice?

What if a combatant dies?

For irony to be funny, it should end as a one-time short story. If it goes overboard and becomes a serial, that setting will turn into an episode about the struggle for corporate employees’ rights.

That’s why I commented “this was much better” on the original blog after the webtoon “Magical Girl Happy Cherry Blossom” was officially promoted, and probably why I was reincarnated into this world.

“Oh my, student. You’re here again today.”

Surprisingly, all of Noir Corporation’s combatants are non-regular employees.

Including me.

They’re not all Earth people either. Once inside the battle uniform, you can’t tell who’s from Earth and who’s a Proksuyan from Planet Proksuyan.

For reference, the pleasant-looking middle-aged man in front of me is a Proksuyan person. From a planet… um, how far away was it? Anyway, a very distant planet, who immigrated with his family.

Apparently, he followed when the company relocated its headquarters because this was all he knew how to do.

“I wonder if a young friend like you should keep doing this work. Are you holding up okay?”

He supposedly has a daughter my age, but honestly, I can’t really imagine it. Earth people seem to be quite famous in the Galactic Federation, so methods of distinguishing gender and age are fairly widespread, but honestly, to my eyes, Proksuyans just look like blue boulders.

They don’t even have mouths, so how do they speak so clearly? I wonder about this quite seriously whenever we talk, but it seems impolite to ask.

Ah, is even this thinking too Earth-centric? I’ve never been outside Earth, but maybe out there in space, this is more common—

“Don’t worry, mister! She’s a high school student! A teenager! Earth teenagers are amazing! She’ll probably go straight home after work and go on a date with her boyfriend!”

—Maybe not?

At least this one looks very similar to Earth people except for blue skin and two antennae on the head.

And looking just at the face, quite attractive. Appears female by Earth standards. Seems about my age, but I can’t let my guard down until I hear the details. They might actually be around thirty and male.

Or maybe they’re from a place without the concept of gender. Who knows?

But one thing I can tell from this person’s words and actions is that they’re an “Earthaboo.”

To explain “Earthaboo” simply: just as some Koreans are extremely fascinated with Japan and find joy in living and working there, or conversely, Japanese or Western people sometimes get into K-pop, this person is obsessed with Earth culture.

Tracing this back would take us to a few years before 2020 when the Galactic Federation began making contact in earnest—but let’s talk about that later.

“Hey, what are you doing? Hurry up and put your helmets on!”

Ah, the team leader is making a fuss again.

I’ve never seen what the team leader looks like. Whenever he comes to the site, he’s always wearing his helmet.

Our battle uniforms are… well, skintight. Like the minion outfits often seen in Japanese special effects shows, with what looks like black motorcycle helmets on our heads.

At least the female uniforms have skirt-like structures at the waist, which is some consolation.

The others don’t have that, so I assume they’re male.

We all hurriedly put on our helmets.

A simple UI is displayed in the eye area of the helmet. A heads-up display… is that what it’s called? It only shows percentages in the corner of my vision, really just indicating the energy needed for the “circuit” to operate.

Beep.

I checked the “circuit” on my wrist.

50 percent. Right. The energy in this circuit always starts at 50 percent. If you’re in particularly bad condition or something unpleasant happened, it might start at a precarious 60 percent.

This “circuit” is why Noir Corporation expanded to Earth.

Only Earth-born humans like me wear these circuits. The work supervisor doesn’t wear one, so I naturally assume he’s not from Earth.

“Ready? Good! Prepare the slogan!”

“Hey!”

“Helmets, good!”

“Good, good, good!”

“Circuits, good!”

“Good, good, good!”

“Good, let’s go!”

The supervisor got into the back of the truck first, and all the “combatants” piled in after him.

…Couldn’t they just call us to the destination directly? Is there a reason for picking us up at an intermediate point with a truck? Especially when they told us to wear our battle uniforms in advance.

Well, it doesn’t matter.

As long as I get paid properly. At least this company pays well.

Vrooom, the old truck started with a loud engine noise.

*

“Kehehehe! You filthy Galactic Federation people! You enemies of cosmic capitalism!”

The one shouting was an “executive” in a black suit.

A figure who stands at the forefront of battle to boost morale and use force if necessary.

Of course, the actual fighting falls to combatants like us.

Beep.

A sound came from the circuit.

The percentage displayed on my helmet showed 55 percent.

…I must be getting used to this.

The second time I went out, it was already at 80 percent by this point.

…Not good.

The reason they mix powerless Earth people among the combatants is because of this circuit.

Looking at my watch, I could see the middle hand slowly turning counterclockwise.

I tapped the watch a few times, and the circuit’s rotation speed increased slightly.

57 percent.

Good.

I thought I’d be fired, but it went up a little more.

“Phew.”

I exhaled.

“People can’t live on money alone!”

The magical girl facing the executive shouted.

“When people like you start driving out individual business owners, the world will surely fall into corporate hands.”

“Kehehehe, what does that matter? Can’t everyone just become corporate employees? Hmm? We treat people much better than convenience store owners do!”

“No one knows yet what you’re doing behind the scenes.”

“My, my, a mere illegal vigilante trying to punish an innocent businessman.”

The person dressed like a high-ranking company official said, taking off his tall silk hat.

“Then… we’ll have to use force. ‘Legally,’ of course, young lady!”

“That’s what I was hoping for! Happy Cherry Blossom will vanquish you in the name of justice!”

What corporations typically do is buy land and harass the people working there.

The government usually turns a blind eye. In fact, this is planned behind the scenes for “certain purposes.”

And those plans benefit the government too.

The executive called Blossom illegal or whatever, but she’s also precariously legal. Again, because the government turns a blind eye.

If corporations run too wild, wouldn’t the blame fall on the nation that granted them permission?

They pretend to unleash the righteous side while testing the waters.

Is it better to keep buying corporate technology?

Or is it better to side with the Galactic Federation?

This “show” was also meant to gauge that scale.

“Let’s go!”

The work supervisor shouted, and the back doors of the truck opened.

We all rushed out.

We’re somewhat trained and not exactly weak, but—

“Aha.”

“…!”

We all raised our heads simultaneously at the sound from in front of where we had disembarked.

Beep beep beep!

70 percent.

The circuit was spinning so fast now that I could feel the vibration on my wrist without even looking.

Ah, damn, we’re in trouble.

“Isn’t it boring to use the same diversion tactic three times?”

Step, step.

Slowly emerging from the darkness beyond the streetlight was a girl wearing a purple off-shoulder dress despite the weather.

She looked about my age.

Her very light lavender ponytail sparkled in the streetlight, and somehow her skin also glowed in the light. Like looking through a camera lens with a mist filter.

Click.

In her hand was a long rifle. It looked like an outdated bolt-action rifle from World War II, but instead of gunpowder, it used mana generated by a “circuit.”

A circuit that moved in the completely opposite direction from the ones we use.

What it contained wasn’t ammunition, but a disposable fuse to prevent the gun from overloading and exploding when fired.

“None of you will ever reach Blossom. I, ‘Iris,’ will send you all to a comfortable place.”

Beep beep beep—!

85 percent.

But against that “Happy Iris,” there’s no hope.

She’s not one to show mercy for personal circumstances.

“Damn it, everyone scatter—”

Before the team leader could finish.

Phsst.

That sound came from Iris’s gun barrel.

The sound of a silenced rifle often heard in movies.

But.

BOOM—!

Shudder.

Where the older man had been standing just moments ago, only a long crater remained.

For a moment, everything was so bright that I couldn’t properly see the dim surroundings.

I immediately turned and ran.

Bang!

I probably wouldn’t die even if hit.

Magical girls aren’t killers, after all.

But I’d likely break a few bones. And be found somewhere far away.

That was the nature of Iris’s “magic.”

“Oh my.”

Iris smiled.

“You can’t escape so easily★”

After a chuckling sound, I heard a tap-tap of someone jumping up.

But I didn’t hear the sound of landing.

From above…!

“Ah—”

Bang!

The “Earthaboo” disappeared before finishing his scream.

“Eek!”

95 percent.

The circuit was spinning wildly.

There’s no point in running away like this.

I stopped in my tracks.

I could see better through the helmet than before.

Already about half the combatants had disappeared. The ground around me was pockmarked with craters.

“Oh my?”

Iris’s eyes narrowed.

“Ah, yes, I remember. The scratch on that helmet. You— you’re an Earth person, aren’t you?”

Iris said.

While standing on thin air.

“With a circuit.”

I swung my arm.

A black blade shot out from the circuit on my left wrist.

…Well, a weapon that looks overwhelmingly weaker than Iris’s circuit weapon.

“Good. Should I capture you alive? I’ll adjust the output so you won’t fly too far.”

Iris said, aiming her gun at me.

“I’m interested in your circuits.”

Ah, damn, I should have just run away.

…I shouldn’t have come out at all.

What am I even doing on Christmas?