Ch.37Chapter 7. Enemies in the Same Boat (6)

I feel terrible.

I showed my embarrassing side, and I’m filled with shame.

And the fact that I met Hayun again.

When there were no problems, I never felt uncomfortable around Hayun.

I’ve held grudges against other magical girls. Even though I chose this job, it’s difficult not to have any feelings about getting beaten up.

I’m an emotional human, and no matter how much I tried to fix that, it didn’t work well. Rationally thinking, I might be the bad one, but in the end, all I could see was my own perspective.

…That’s why I’m afraid of having negative feelings toward Hayun.

Rationally speaking, a person’s happiness isn’t determined by money.

But emotions are clearly influenced by money. At the very least, people with money don’t feel any of the pressure that comes from not having it.

Even though I saw firsthand how much pressure Hayun was under emotionally, how uncomfortable the job of a magical girl was, I still envied her.

I should be the one who feels wronged.

If I start acting out, the magical girls will probably come to subdue me. And I’ll be taken away somewhere.

With things this complicated, they might not be able to use me openly as an experiment subject. But I don’t want to be locked up for something I didn’t do. I don’t want to stand trial either. This should never have happened in the first place.

…Hayun probably won’t have to deal with any of that.

I don’t want Hayun to think of me as a villain.

But to prevent that, I’d have to explain everything about myself. In the end, I’d have to explain my feelings too.

I don’t want that.

I’d prefer if Hayun remained the best person in my memories. If we can’t restore our relationship, it’s better this way. Even knowing we can’t continue forever, that’s what I thought.

When I came to my senses, my surroundings had changed.

“It worked! It worked!”

James shouted from my shoulder.

“Shame is good material too! Next time when adjusting the circuit, I should check that properly. How about wearing slightly more embarrassing clothing? Since shame weakens with familiarity, we can’t use it too often, but if it helps in battle, there’s no reason to refuse.”

“…”

James next to me, saying unpleasant things with his unnecessarily good voice.

“…”

I stared at James, but he obliviously spoke again.

“Is it possible?”

“…”

I wonder what mouse meat tastes like. Considering nutria meat is surprisingly edible, hamster meat might be decent too.

Seeing me turn my head toward my shoulder, James shut his mouth.

“So, where are we?”

My mood has already hit rock bottom, so I want to finish this quickly before digging even deeper.

“This is… ah.”

James laughed.

Only then did I properly look around.

Despite it being the middle of the night, the lights inside the building were brightly lit. I guess that’s natural. It’s the Noir Corporation building.

It makes sense that a place with receivers that constantly monitor magical girls would need staff on duty 24 hours a day.

By now, the device must be pointing right here.

The surroundings were a mess.

The black hole wasn’t a “real” black hole, it seems. At least no one has died yet. I’ve heard black holes emit radiation, but I’m not sure if radiation from a black hole this size could kill people.

At least based on the previous incident where nothing was mentioned, this should be fine too.

As a black hole, its abilities seem limited to sucking things in and spitting them out, but that was enough to create chaos. Papers were flying everywhere, as if documents had been stacked somewhere. The desk and chair near where I emerged were in disarray.

With me at the center, everything nearby had been pushed away in a circle.

There weren’t any people rolling around, but—

“…Looks like someone was on duty.”

Far away, someone was standing up from their seat, mouth agape, staring in this direction.

They were holding a mug, looking as if they’d been struck by lightning.

Wait, do people actually get struck by lightning?

“Are there no troops here?”

“There are. But at least not on this floor. Finding the right floor before I could even tell you—you seem to have some talent.”

“…”

You were shouting so urgently that I couldn’t think straight.

To be honest, I just wanted to escape.

I only wished to be somewhere in this building, so it seems I ended up right in the middle.

“The server is five floors up from here.”

No sooner had he finished speaking than the alarm on the wall began to spin wildly.

At first glance it looked like a fire alarm, but its color was red.

[Emergency! Emergency! Enemy has infiltrated! Repeat! Enemy has infiltrated! Multiple magical girls! Location is— What? Where should we go? The roof? 25th floor?]

There seems to be confusion because magical girls happen to be on both sides.

“For your information, most of the troops are concentrated on the first floor and the top floor.”

Because if magical girls infiltrate, it would be from one of those two places.

“They can fly, so couldn’t they infiltrate from the middle?”

“This building is thoroughly defended in many ways. They can’t break through the glass with bare hands. Without extremely violent methods, it would be difficult to penetrate that thick glass. Besides, doing so could cause serious harm to civilians passing below.”

Is he saying they deliberately built it downtown with all that in mind?

I have a feeling James had a hand in designing this building, but I decided not to press the issue.

“Where do I need to go?”

I started running as I saw barriers beginning to lower.

“Just eight more floors up. The interior of this building is… quite uniquely structured.”

At those words, I threw myself under the barrier.

Thud.

Despite someone being inside, the barrier closed completely.

“No need to worry. The ventilation system is perfectly equipped to handle long-term sieges.”

Did they build a fortress in the middle of the city?

I swallowed those words as I ran down the corridor.

*

The higher I went, the more anxious I felt.

At first, I considered creating another black hole or breaking through the ceiling, but I didn’t want to go outside and face Hayun again.

Besides, according to James, this building has perfect earthquake-resistant design.

That means it has an enormous amount of reinforcing steel. A single magical attack won’t collapse a floor.

As a result, I ended up climbing via the stairs.

Bang!

And predictably, troops soon rushed up to where I was.

There’s no point in destroying CCTVs. My appearance here was already detected when the alarm went off.

And the people here seem to have guessed “why” I entered this building. Well, James was sitting on my shoulder.

“You didn’t need to come along!”

After taking down a group of heavily armed guards and catching my breath, James raised his nose high as if snorting and said:

“They need to know I’m alive so they’ll be on guard.”

“Is being on guard the problem right now?!”

Having people chase us is a headache!

“There’s already a mountain of people after you anyway. My importance is much lower than yours. So what’s the problem if the enemy gets a little annoyed? Besides, even if you came alone, you would have gotten lost.”

Annoyingly, that was true.

The elevator was completely blocked from my floor upward. James had already told me shortly after I started running. Pressing the button wouldn’t make it come.

But the elevator does come to transport troops to certain floors. That’s how they’re controlling it from the center.

In other words, for every floor I climb, troops can also come up one floor by elevator.

Of course, this large building doesn’t have just one elevator, so some are probably busy transporting troops to the roof. Naturally, pressing the button here wouldn’t make them stop.

“By the way, the doors are as thick as bomb shelters. It would be faster to run than to break through them. You can’t fully utilize your power right now anyway.”

…That’s what James said.

True to his words, the blades I created couldn’t cut through walls as perfectly as Hayun’s staff.

Thanks to that, I had to climb each floor of this maze-like building one by one. What was really infuriating was that the stairs weren’t all placed on one side for easy access—they seemed deliberately scattered randomly throughout each floor.

According to James, up to a certain floor, it’s just an ordinary building. This is literally a measure to protect important facilities.

“…I definitely cut all the wires covering me…!”

“The government rarely has to deal with magical girls.”

As I ran while muttering indignantly, James explained.

“They’ve captured Kaijin before, but never a magical girl. After all, becoming a magical girl requires that hope circuit.”

“…”

“So, they’re generally vulnerable to attacks using ‘circuits.’ You or some combatants might be able to open the thick doors of Federation facilities, but you’d eventually be caught when magical girls arrive. So you can see how disconcerting your existence is to the Federation.”

Because my mere existence can break through most of the Federation’s facilities.

“Then, today…?”

“Conversely, if you can break through the company’s facilities, they might not remain hostile forever. Who knows? They might extend a hand to negotiate at some point.”

He’s really irritatingly clever in these matters.

“About three floors left. By the way, don’t you have any weapons? All magical girls handle some kind of weapon.”

“You didn’t make any for me, so what are you talking about?”

“Don’t magical girls all hold weapons when they transform?”

“…”

I was speechless at that.

Indeed, unless they’re designed weapons like Iris, they’re all objects made purely of magic. The magic book, gauntlet, staff—all the same.

Becoming the being you dreamed of as a child.

It was a webtoon that mocked that premise, but it’s a bit ridiculous that it still follows the basic settings even to mock them.

As for me…

Yeah. What kind of thoughts should I have to transform like this?

Did I just vaguely want to be a magical girl and ended up looking like this? That’s absurd.

If that’s the case, they could have at least given me a “typical” magical girl staff.

“Over there!”

This time, I heard voices from ahead.

I created blades in both hands.

They look a bit strange. Previously, when I made blades, they seemed to leak out from the wide holes in my suit sleeves, but now they were just floating in the air.

Not that they were moving in strange directions or anything.

The gunfire is loud.

Those people have been firing live ammunition since earlier. Whether they’re special bullets or not, they shatter without leaving traces after hitting and bouncing off.

Maybe it’s because they’d kill each other if bullets ricocheted indoors.

But just because the bullets shatter doesn’t mean they don’t hurt.

I raised one arm to transform the blade into a shield-like shape, then charged forward.

Strangely, it doesn’t resist air but definitely blocks incoming bullets—truly magical.

“Ahhh!”

As I rapidly charged toward him, the officer who had been aiming shots fairly well at first pulled the trigger hard.

Ratatata!

A series of noises hit my ears. There was a slight ringing sound.

I swung the blade in my right hand roughly.

The gun the officer was holding, and the gun the officer next to him was holding.

The helmet on his head. And what looked like a military headset.

All of them were cut in a straight line and fell down.

Bang!

Then I brought down the hand I had raised and struck the officer’s head. Hit by my fist, the officer staggered and fell sideways.

A gun stock flew toward my face, and I grabbed it with my hand.

When I glared at the officer who had swung the gun with wide eyes, his face turned pale. There are no wounds on his face. I had lowered the power of the blade. It was probably offset by the energy in the suit. The same reason why being cut by Hayun’s sword doesn’t kill.

I gave his head a moderate knock too.

He didn’t pass out, but he fell down clutching his head. I jumped over his body before he could get up.

“…”

I felt a bit guilty.

Well, they did shoot at me, but these people are combatants too. People who had the same job as me.

The Earthaboo isn’t here, but if he had been nearby, he might have been called too.

No, maybe not. The people here are above ordinary combatants.

The Earthaboo wore just a bodysuit. Since he’s not an Earthling, he doesn’t wear circuits. There would be no point.

But everyone here was an Earthling.

They wore circuits on their hands and tight bodysuits, but with leather jackets on top.

The same clothes I wore after receiving new circuits from James.

But none of them wielded blades. Did they think it wouldn’t work against me?

I pushed the officer in front of me aside forcefully and ran straight ahead.

It’s ironic that I’m doing exactly what the magical girls did while feeling angry at them.

If you asked if there’s another way, I don’t have much to say.

“Everyone move!”

I shouted.

“If you block me, this won’t end peacefully! If you don’t block my way, I won’t touch you!”

Those words seemed to have some effect, as some moved aside in alarm. Many still came at me, but their resolve weakened each time my blade swept across their bodies, cutting their equipment in two.

That makes sense. Real battles with magical girls were like this too.

No matter how good the equipment, no matter how many Earthling combatants they gather, it’s the same.

The emotion of despair is precarious. Cross the line just a little, and it becomes “giving up.”

No matter how thick the doors or how elaborate the facilities, completely blocking magical girls is impossible. Even a little hope creates energy to get things done.

“If we don’t hurry, the problem will get bigger.”

James said.

“Our goal is to destroy the equipment, not to have it taken away, right?”

How irritating.

You’re hanging on my shoulder and following along, yet you say such things.

By the way, you’re hanging on quite well.

“People from our planet only began serious development just over 10,000 years ago. Before that, we were climbing trees, so as descendants, we’re good at hanging on. Yes, this way. Let’s go straight ahead. We need to go through that door over there.”

“…”

Seeing James preemptively respond as if he knew what I was thinking, I decided to just keep my mouth shut.

Thud.

After lightly punching someone who was firing at me in the solar plexus to put them in a groggy state, I broke through the door behind them by ramming into it.

I grumbled that escape would be impossible in case of fire in a place like this. Probably one of the many illegal acts committed by Noir Corporation—

—as I was grumbling to myself, I looked up with my mouth slightly open at the sight before me.

It was an enormous hall.

There are plenty of 50-story buildings in Seoul. In fact, there are many. Even luxury apartments exceed 50 floors. Especially in this world, after meeting aliens, there are even more buildings raised with their overwhelming technology. Gangnam was full of buildings erected by companies from outside Earth.

This building, from the outside, looks like that too. It’s actually somewhat low-looking because the building next to it is taller.

From the outside, it looked like a rectangular matchbox standing upright, but here, from the 33rd floor up, it was completely open.

It was as if they had carved out space inside a giant rectangular pillar.

And in the middle stood a massive spire. A huge spire about the size of a 10-story building.

It was completely different from the dish-shaped antenna I had imagined—a sleek, sci-fi movie-like design.

“How would you like to handle the door?”

At James’s voice, I came to my senses and turned back to the door I had broken through, closing it despite its broken doorknob.

I could hear knocking from the other side.

I extended my blade and stabbed the wall around the door repeatedly.

As James said, the inside was packed with thick reinforcing bars, so the wall didn’t collapse entirely, but at least the thick concrete coating and the marble finishing material fell off.

As those large stone debris piled up under the door, it could hold somewhat even without my support.

I made the surroundings even messier to pile up more debris, then turned back to look at that structure.

“…How do I deal with this?”

“I have an idea. Unfortunately, your weapon is in blade form, but we’ll have to make do. While the magical girls keep the officers busy upstairs, we can solve this step by step.”

I exhaled deeply.

And with my aching body, I walked toward that structure—the satellite receiver.

*

Thud!

Crack.

I just swung my hand as usual.

The combatant’s arm bent in an unnatural direction.

Then came a scream. The scream through the helmet was distorted strangely, making Blossom flinch.

The sensation of hitting a human body.

The feeling of something solid breaking underneath.

It could surely be healed. Magic was excellent, and going to a treatment center and paying a not-so-expensive fee could easily treat injuries like fractures.

But that didn’t mean it didn’t hurt.

Blossom’s heart beat violently.

Her breathing became rough.

It wasn’t much different from usual—

All around were screams.

Surely, those screams had been present in the “usual” times too.

Among those muffled voices, Jieun’s voice must have been mixed in.

Until now, unconsciously, how many times.

If Hayun hadn’t transformed into a magical girl, could she have hit an ordinary person’s body like this? If she could have seen the other person’s expression, would she have been this indifferent until now?

If she met Jieun today, would she—

“Blossom!”

Rose’s voice was heard.

“Snap out of it!”

At those words, she barely moved her body, avoiding a blade swung toward her head.

But the fear still hadn’t subsided.

Only now.

…Only now, it was like that.

Blossom raised her gaze to see the officers rushing in like a tide.

The officers who had been charging toward them—

Suddenly, as if confused, they stopped.

Before the magical girls could react, those combatants looked around. As if making eye contact with each other.

Then they hurriedly turned and started running toward the building.

“What’s going on?”

Iris muttered.

The reason magical girls fight here without warping is that the energy used for warping is not insignificant.

Iris has a lot of magical power, but there’s a limit to how many times she can use it, and more energy is required to go to a more precise location.

If the circuit was “charged” as usual, they could try—but there was a reason they couldn’t.

…Because they couldn’t receive Hayun’s energy as usual.

This was the same for the other magical girls.

“Let’s go!”

Hayun, who was about to sink into contemplation, heard Rose shout and started running.

She didn’t know exactly where they were heading.

But clearly something was happening inside that caused this situation.

And the cause was likely Jieun.

A little while ago, when she met Jieun, it felt good.

She thought they could talk again.

But the expression Jieun made when she saw Hayun was one of fear.

And the expression that followed was shame.

It wasn’t like the usual Jieun.

Because of the sound of Jieun’s magic power swirling and the distinctive sound of that circuit running, she couldn’t hear, but on Jieun’s shoulder was an alien that seemed to come from the same planet as Cherry. A Squeakean with black fur.

It was shouting something at Jieun with a grim expression.

“…”

Many thoughts came to mind. It was full of things she couldn’t be certain about yet.

But among those thoughts, one thing was clear.

That Jieun didn’t particularly welcome seeing her.

No, in fact, it might be… more than that.

She knew she shouldn’t be thinking about this in the current situation.

But she just couldn’t shake it off.

…If she met Jieun—if they had to fight, what should she do?

With her heart beating so fast she felt like she might suffocate, Hayun had no choice but to run, even though she didn’t want to.