Ch.325IF Side Story: From the Beginning (93)

Hope is a shining emotion.

Perhaps it symbolically represents that small white light that guides us from far away.

If the god of this world thought so and expressed hope this way… well, I can certainly compliment them on choosing that one color well.

I have goals but no dreams. I’ve never thought about becoming something in this world.

Maybe it’s because I entered this world around the time I was starting to forget about dreams and being pushed into reality.

That’s probably why my hope has no color.

I have no dreams, but I do have goals.

Becoming a Magical Girl wasn’t my dream, but since I’ve become one, I continue being a Magical Girl.

I have no idea why I came to this world, but because I met Hayun, because I met Jihye, because I met Seo-hee, Yeon-woo, Ju-a, and Chae-yeon, I live another day just to see them.

Some might laugh at my unimpressive goals, but that’s what I sincerely believe.

Hope shining white.

My hammer could destroy everything because it shone that way. Hope was not only the power for me to move forward but also the force pushing me from behind.

With each goal I achieved, with each reminder that I had such goals, that power pushed me from behind.

To keep me from stopping. To somehow keep moving forward.

The reason I could meet the Magical Girls for the first time and fearlessly confront them was because Hayun was by my side.

The reason I could continue living despite my despair in childhood was because Jihye, the other orphanage children, and the teacher were beside me.

Taking one step at a time, I’ve come this far.

I have no intention of going back.

A loud noise rang out. A sound so loud it was hard to believe it was metal striking metal.

It was the sound of the ball of light that had swallowed my hammer colliding with the giant Kaijin’s circuit.

My power isn’t mine alone. My hope has always come from other children.

A fleeting hope that can be painted over with any color.

But because of that, it’s a hope that somehow adapts and stubbornly rises again.

That’s how I decided to define my white color.

Crack! I heard something breaking. The circuit was cracking. Not my circuit, but the one they had prepared.

And after that, my body was flying backward.

All the other girls flew toward me at once, their voices calling my name in harmony.

Why do they all like me so much?

This is something I probably won’t understand until the day I die.

“The Kaijin?!”

I shouted, gathering my scattered thoughts. The worried gazes of the girls, which had been fixed on me, immediately turned around. No, I wish they would look at the enemy rather than me during a fight… Well, they weren’t the type to listen to what I say.

If they were the type to listen to me, I wouldn’t have even thought about following them.

Well, I’ve become quite twisted myself.

I couldn’t blame the girls. The surroundings were hazy with what might have been dust or smoke, severely limiting visibility.

“Haha.”

I heard laughter. Not from our side.

Laughter from beyond the smoke.

That brief laugh gradually grew louder until it became maniacal. A sound mocking us loudly, as if having seen something extremely funny.

I staggered to my feet. The explosion from earlier had left me aching all over.

I picked up my hammer. The girls looked at me with worried eyes before spreading out a bit and getting into battle positions.

As the thick smoke settled, slowly, what lay beyond became visible.

“I told you, didn’t I?” said Pungpung.

“That I had prepared a gift.”

I frowned.

As the smoke gradually cleared, what appeared was… the red-skinned Pungpung.

Armor encircled her arms. Armor very similar to what the Kaijin used.

But that didn’t mean Pungpung’s appearance had become distorted like a Kaijin’s. She looked exactly as we had seen her before. She just wasn’t wearing a helmet, so her face was fully visible.

“Ah, this isn’t the gift. This is the gift you prepared for me. …A weapon that utilizes energy created by Earthlings. Thanks to you all, the demonstration seems to have been successful.”

Was she excited about the prospect of selling that energy?

Of all things, the weapon that woman was holding was a hammer. Very similar to mine. Was this also a “gift” we had given her?

If so, then the gift they had prepared—

As I looked around searching for the “gift,” I froze when I saw something sprawled on the floor.

“Looks like you’ve finally noticed. Well, if we can use the energy, the subject doesn’t necessarily have to be a modified Kaijin.”

Pungpung kicked away the Kaijin armor lying on the floor, its chest part wide open.

Inside that armor, a woman was unconscious with only her upper body exposed.

Strange tubes were inserted all over her body. She looked like someone who had IVs in every vein.

That appearance belonged to the woman who, despite not sharing a drop of blood with me, had come to see me several times just because she once mistakenly thought I was her daughter.

“…Oh my god.”

Hayun murmured.

“…Jieun?”

Jihye looked at me with trembling eyes.

Jihye hadn’t realized it yet. I didn’t know if the other girls had noticed or not. The only way to tell was by comparing Jihye’s face with this person’s face.

And truthfully, I had no evidence either.

But, but still.

“The condition of never giving up despite despairing over and over again. Yes, we know that too. We just hadn’t found the right specimen until then. That’s why we tried to create one ourselves. …The chairman, no, the former chairman opposed it, saying such methods wouldn’t work, but look. I did it, didn’t I? I even found a substitute. Though it was only half-successful.”

The woman taunted me.

“Because there was hope right in front of her.”

I gripped my hammer tightly.

But before I could lunge forward and swing my hammer at her face, the woman was already running her mouth.

“Not even knowing who her real daughter was. I should have told her. Then she wouldn’t have learned hope by looking at you.”

I stomped the ground.

“Jieun!”

Hayun quickly followed after me—but my hammer was slicing through empty air.

“She didn’t recognize her even when she saw her face? Isn’t that strange? Even I, coming from another planet, can see how similar you look.”

“Shut up!”

“Your circuit, I can see the rotation speed dropping. It’s not the generator’s fault. Ah, I see.”

Pungpung grinned and suddenly moved closer to me. I hurriedly tilted my hammer sideways to block the attack, but I was sent flying backward.

I grew anxious. This was not a good sign.

Hope is strongest when no other emotions are felt. Believing there’s no reason to give up, no reason to fail. The strength to believe we can win even if we fail.

But words that shattered such thoughts were coming from that woman.

Was it the generator’s fault? Should I not have brought the generator? If so, perhaps that armor wouldn’t have been able to exert its power.

“Did you despair? Afraid your close friend would get hurt?”

“No!”

I shouted urgently, but the woman, who had easily dodged my attack, was already speaking to Jihye.

“Doesn’t she resemble someone? Even I can see the resemblance. You, I mean.”

“Huh?”

Jihye murmured blankly.

“Can’t you figure it out?”

Pungpung cackled. Now the other girls also realized what the woman was thinking, and they were rushing toward Pungpung.

But we had already used a lot of our power. The generator wasn’t working properly, so the power we were receiving from it was slowly diminishing.

In contrast, Pungpung, who had accumulated the generator’s power in her armor while we were fighting, was not in the same situation.

As if showing off, she performed aerobatic maneuvers to avoid our attacks, and shouted without much difficulty:

“You were abandoned in the same place, right? Then, if one of the abandoned children isn’t the biological child, who would the real one be?!”

“…”

Jihye’s mouth, having finally caught up with the story, slowly opened.

Her expression was blank.

“Jihye, wait…”

“…Mother, you say?”

But before I could say anything, Jihye’s demeanor seemed a bit strange.

“…?”

Such a question mark appeared in my head. The other girls too. And even Pungpung paused momentarily.

Jihye’s eyes were brimming with tears.

That was a natural reaction. It was definitely a natural reaction.

But what Jihye said next was a bit different from what I expected.

“I had… a mother?”

“…”

Ah.

A bit belatedly, I remembered.

Jihye was a child with a different mindset than mine.

Unlike me, who always twisted thoughts toward the gloomy side, she was a child who always tried to stay positive.

A child who tried not to be defeated by reality.

And—

And, if it’s Jihye.

She wouldn’t “despair” at the fact that she had a mother.

For now—yes.

She would try to protect it.

With that large, sturdy shield in Jihye’s hands.

The green shield was slowly growing brighter.