Ch.316IF Side Story: From the Beginning (84)

“…..”

In response to my question, the executive couldn’t answer for a moment.

Is he showing a bit of fear?

“…If I tell you where that person is, do you intend to rescue them?”

“Of course I would— Wait, what?”

I started to answer but stopped mid-sentence.

The honorific “that person” wasn’t particularly strange. There are characters who speak respectfully regardless of who they’re addressing.

But somehow, the tone of that question felt odd.

“I asked if you would rescue them.”

“Well, of course I would rescue them.”

I stared directly at James.

“I don’t understand why you’re asking so politely.”

“…I think you’ve already figured it out to some extent.”

“Figured what out?”

“That day, didn’t you say it right in front of me? That you couldn’t kill us, so you were just keeping us.”

That was true.

There was a reason I could cause such a scene even after seeing Pang Pang.

“What if those conditions have changed a bit?”

“How have they changed?”

I asked while sitting in my chair, resting my elbows on the armrests and propping my chin on my hands.

“…..”

James hesitated for a moment before carefully speaking again. His voice was submissive.

“To explain that, you first need to understand some background information.”

I stared at James for a moment before saying:

“Then summarize it for me.”

“There are factions within the company.”

James quickly explained in response to my answer.

“And I originally work under the company’s chairman.”

“And?”

“Pang Pang is the chairman’s granddaughter.”

The room suddenly became extremely quiet.

Even Cherry, who was near James, was staring at him with her mouth hanging open.

“Pang Pang left home a few years ago. Because she disappeared at such a young age, we actually thought for a while that she might have been kidnapped by a competing company. Or perhaps kidnapped for ransom.”

“But she was on Earth?”

“She was a clever person from childhood.”

The reason she ran away… I should probably hear it directly from Pang Pang, but I think I understand.

Even after running away, Pang Pang lived that way. So leaving home was truly sincere. She probably wanted to be independent forever.

…It’s something of a cliché that even if you come from a wealthy family, you might hate what goes on in that household…

“So?”

“So now we can’t be sure of Pang Pang’s safety. …That explosion was clearly the work of the opposition faction within the company.”

I stared at James.

I’m not going to say something like “he doesn’t seem to be lying.” I don’t pride myself on being able to perfectly read the expressions of a well-trained businessman.

Besides, he’s also an alien.

Instead, I looked at Cherry.

Cherry, who had been looking at James, turned her gaze toward me and shook her head while saying:

“This is completely new information to our side. …Still, I can’t say it’s completely made up. We haven’t had informants high enough to know the exact internal information of that company until now.”

“I see.”

I nodded.

To be honest, deep inside me, emotions were bubbling up again.

It wasn’t anger about Pang Pang not telling me. Everyone has things they want to keep secret.

Pang Pang, who had been so friendly with me, probably didn’t want to tell me that she was the granddaughter of that company’s chairman. After all, I’m always fighting against that company.

“Why did Pang Pang fight so desperately in that last mission?”

I still remember.

Pang Pang, whose helmet broke, looking at me in extreme shock.

Pang Pang, fleeing with all her might.

Why go to such lengths?

If she had taken off her helmet and come to me there. If she had come to me and said she wanted to stop fighting.

“…In the end, she made a condition.”

The executive answered readily.

“Pang Pang wanted to live normally with you. For the same reason she escaped from our company.”

“So…”

“So, yes, she made a condition. If she succeeded in that mission, we would never approach or look for her again.”

Of course, whether that condition would actually be honored is unknown. Businesspeople are famously unreliable when it comes to keeping their word.

Though in this case, money isn’t the issue.

“Jieun…”

Hayun, who had been listening beside me, called my name.

I’m not sure what my expression looks like. I don’t really want to know.

If, just if.

If Pang Pang had confessed everything to me and asked for forgiveness, would I have forgiven her?

…

There’s no question of me forgiving her or not. I understand why she made such choices.

To survive, obviously. The reason she didn’t reveal her face to the company and fought from the lowest position was clearly because of that.

Of course, even that could have all been an act.

The persona Pang Pang showed in front of me might have just been smiling to extract my personal information, and the video James showed might have been staged to convince me.

But so what?

That’s something I won’t know unless I hear it from her directly. Whether it’s true or not is all that matters.

If it’s not true, I can just cut ties. Well, it would hurt. It might irritate me for a long time.

But if it is true.

Then it’s not about whether I forgive her or not. I just accept it as it is.

So, well, the conclusion is this.

I’m going to rescue Pang Pang.

My left hand trembled slightly. Looking down, I saw the circuit spinning vigorously.

This is clearly a situation closer to despair than hope.

I don’t know if Pang Pang is safe, I don’t know what she’s thinking, but the circuit on my wrist was spinning powerfully.

Still, I might be able to save her. At least, I’ve caught someone who knows Pang Pang’s location.

The fact that I don’t know what answer Pang Pang will give me also means I might hear the answer I want.

I think I’m starting to understand the magical girl mindset.

*

“James” is probably just a randomly chosen name. Like Cherry. After all, when a Squeakean speaks, we can only hear it as “squeak” at best. And we can’t imitate that pronunciation either.

Whatever the reason, the executive’s name is James. So we decided to just call him that, as he said.

“It’s funny that you care so much about Pang Pang when you’re headed for prison anyway.”

“…..”

“Not going to answer? Well, it doesn’t matter.”

I let out a long sigh.

At least I knew Pang Pang’s location.

The problem was that the location wasn’t Earth.

The location was near Jupiter.

Earth technology can’t even imagine sending people there. As for getting a spaceship…

“The Federation will find out.”

Cherry answered.

Cherry is also an employee of the Federation, but since this Federation is a group spread widely across the galaxy, the loyalty of individuals seems to vary accordingly.

Cherry’s goal is to help Earth become technologically independent. If she were just part of a civic group, she couldn’t cooperate this actively, so she must have secured this position.

“Is it a problem if they find out?”

“Inside is technology the Federation couldn’t complete. Even I don’t know exactly what’s in there.”

“So, if the Federation occupies that place… they might willingly use it on Earthlings.”

The two Squeakeans answered my question.

James remained expressionless, but Cherry was bowing her head slightly as if apologetic.

Thinking about it again, Cherry has been working really hard in front of us. She shows clear expressions when speaking, makes big gestures, and puts emotion in her voice.

She must be being considerate to us. The difference in attitude was obvious compared to James beside her.

“Just because it’s the Federation doesn’t mean everyone is good.”

I wouldn’t be surprised if there were more bad people than good.

“That’s why it’s important that Pang Pang is safe.”

James spoke passionately.

“The best option is for the chairman to be there.”

“Or, blowing up the entire base could be an option too.”

I replied.

James closed his mouth without saying anything.

“I’ll try to procure a spaceship as quickly as possible. One that won’t be detected by the Federation.”

At Cherry’s words, I could only nod for now.

Right. This is all we can do at the moment.

“…You.”

I glared at James as I spoke. James jumped up slightly. He seems genuinely afraid of me.

“If there’s even one lie in what you’ve said, I might not be able to remain a magical girl then.”

“…At least, I haven’t told a single lie here, so rest assured.”

“Fix that way of speaking too.”

I said.

“Just the fact that you tried to set up a fake family for me makes me want to press down on you hard with my hand.”

James closed his mouth again.

Beside me, Hayun and Jihye put their hands on my arm.

That warmth made me feel a little better.