Ch.329IF Side Story: From the Beginning (97)

I don’t understand how aliens can so casually travel around in spaceships.

Space truly is a place of absolute nothingness. Even Jupiter, the closest planet to us right now, is actually incredibly far away.

There have been cases of people surviving brief exposure to space from a space station, but that was only possible because it was near Earth. Jupiter constantly emits massive amounts of radiation. If we step outside even briefly, forget about circuits—we might just get completely fried by radiation.

Taking everyone aboard the ship and escaping as far as possible could be an option.

But will we have enough time to get there?

“What about the others?”

“…At least, we’re the only ones shown here. It doesn’t seem like they were researching Kaijin here. They probably didn’t have the resources for that.”

There hasn’t been much time since the coup. If we assume there were people in the company who weren’t interested in the coup or weren’t cooperative, it makes sense that they failed to completely take over the company.

“…”

But.

Can we escape with the chairman?

Actually, I’m not sure. I don’t mean I’m unsure whether we can escape or not.

Do I really want to save the chairman?

I haven’t heard about the chairman’s true purpose yet. Of course, I might be able to hear it from James. If we manage to escape, that is.

Can we escape with the chairman?

My body is too exhausted. For the first time, we’ve hit our physical limits. Usually, as long as our circuits were running, we could somehow move no matter how tired we were, but now, even with our circuits running, we couldn’t even transform properly. The kids couldn’t create weapons, and I couldn’t take flight.

In that situation, we somehow had to carry Pang Pang and the chairman all the way to the ship.

It’s far from here to the ship. Even if we reach it and board, can we escape far enough to avoid being caught in the explosion of this station?

We won’t know unless we try.

Right.

We’re still alive. We don’t know how much of the facility Puing-Puing has actually taken over. We don’t know how many safety measures this facility has either.

Boom.

Something exploded, making the floor shake. It wasn’t extremely loud. It seems like something exploded somewhere far from here.

Ignoring the deafening noise, I said:

“Let’s run.”

I should be able to carry the chairman on my back and run. We’d have to abandon all those life support devices attached to him, though. …Still, I don’t know if he’ll survive or not.

As I was about to turn around to dash out, someone grabbed my wrist.

“Hayun?”

I looked at Hayun who had suddenly stopped me.

Hayun looked up at me with a determined expression.

“I’m not sure if this is the right time to say this.”

Hayun was saying something a bit disconnected from our current situation, somewhat out of the blue.

“But still. Considering our relationship and actions up until now.”

Hayun’s straightforward eyes looked up at me.

In my past life, a color that couldn’t exist among normal people’s eye colors—the color of cherry blossoms.

“I think this might help a little.”

“Um, hey, Hayun?”

Suddenly, for some reason, I felt scared.

I mean, it’s strange to say this.

But somehow, I felt more afraid of what Hayun was about to do than our current situation where we might get caught in a massive explosion.

I don’t know why. I don’t even know what she’s about to do.

The floor shook again.

Strangely enough, despite the situation, no one was saying anything about us standing still. Instead, the kids were just staring at us with their mouths slightly open.

Magical Girls fight with hope.

And that hope is, in a sense, connected to “dreams.”

Only those who dream of the future can hold hope.

Maybe that’s why these kids…

“Still, even if I fail, this might be our last moment.”

Hayun’s eyes shone.

“So I really wanted to say this.”

Hayun said.

“I like you, Jieun. Not as a friend, but as something more.”

My feet were definitely touching the ground. The floor beneath us hadn’t exploded yet. But somehow, I strangely felt like I was floating a little in the air.

Hayun slightly raised her heels.

And both of us, Hayun and I.

For a moment, touched hope.

Something soft brushed against my lips, and for a very brief moment, my body lost all sensation. I thought it might be because I had died. Either I had died instantly from the explosion without feeling any pain, or… well.

Maybe I died of a heart attack from the shock of my first kiss.

But thinking about it, that doesn’t seem right either.

Because the next sensation I felt was arms wrapping around my waist.

Her lips were soft. And warm too. So was Hayun’s body, pressed completely against mine.

I don’t know what to say.

No, I mean, yes.

Really, I couldn’t think of anything.

The only thing I knew was that the circuit on my wrist was spinning like crazy.

“…”

We separated from each other. When we did, it was a bit hasty. Hayun was the first to pull away, almost like she was running away.

Only after looking at my outfit did I understand why Hayun had done that.

My outfit had transformed into my usual Magical Girl outfit. The same was true for Hayun.

…No, it was a bit different from “usual.” Our outfits were, how should I put it, much more elaborate than usual. I looked similar to when that generator was dismantled, and Hayun’s skirt had lengthened as if it were a wedding dress. Looking at it now, I guess pink wedding dresses could exist too.

“…This time, I was the first.”

Hehe, Hayun scratched her cheek. In this situation.

“I mean, I wasn’t the first to get your signature before.”

No, I mean, in this situation?

But the effect was too good to complain. If transformation could be this easy, we could just kiss every time we need to transform, right?

“Jieun.”

Hearing someone call my name, I turned my head, and unlike Hayun, I felt someone pull my neck in for an embrace.

And then, lips met lips.

Hey, Jihye.

That’s where Hayun’s lips just touched, are you okay with that?

But looking at Jihye’s expression as she pulled away, she seemed fine with it. Well, if she doesn’t mind, who am I to say anything?

Jihye’s clothes had also transformed into her Magical Girl outfit. Like Hayun’s, it was… ah.

This one too had changed into something like a puffy wedding dress.

And before I could think about it in detail.

All the kids rushed toward me.

I didn’t have time to react. Since I was already in a daze from when Hayun first kissed me, unable to properly process the situation, I couldn’t resist.

No, would I have resisted?

Even if I had known all of this beforehand, would I have tried to resist? I’m not sure.

But.

I looked at the kids who were looking at me.

They all had excited faces. While looking at me with flushed cheeks, they all had completely different expressions.

Jihye was covering her face that looked like it might burst at any moment.

Seo-hee had an expression that couldn’t decide whether to smile or get angry.

Yeonwoo looked a bit sulky, but she couldn’t hide her rising corners of her mouth.

Chaeyeon was expressionless, but her cheeks were subtly flushed.

Ju-a had a grinning face, just like when I first met her—a face that couldn’t be imagined on Iris from that webtoon.

“…”

They all looked like they weren’t at all displeased about pressing their lips against mine, which left me feeling rather dumbfounded.

But there was a sound that definitely broke that moment.

Boom.

The sound of another explosion was heard. The frequency of explosions was increasing. Judging by the louder sound, explosions were happening closer to us as time passed.

“…Alright.”

I said.

“Well, everyone’s got their strength back now.”

For now, let’s focus on solving what we can solve.

At my words, the kids nodded.

Seeing Pang Pang standing blankly in the distance, she startled and quickly nodded.

“Alright, Pang Pang. I’ll carry you first.”

I said that as I approached Pang Pang—

My vision was suddenly filled with blue.

Pang Pang, the only one in this room who hadn’t kissed me, had seized the opportunity as I approached and stole my lips.

“…”

“Ah, um, sorry.”

“…No, there was no need for that.”

I had no idea what to say, so I just said,

“For now, let’s all survive first. Then we can have a deep conversation about this.”

That’s right.

We need a very deep conversation.

About where things went wrong, and why I didn’t know about it. That’s what’s important.

Don’t you think?