Ch.4242. The Cause, A Simple Thing.

“Huh? Oh, are you finished with your business?”

The homeroom teacher who had been waiting for us with Ellis spoke up.

Well, I had told Ellis to act natural.

At least she should know that if we get caught here, it would be trouble for her too.

Still, covering the seal with a scarf—what thoughtful consideration.

“Hmm? Suyeon, what’s that scarf?”

“Ah, th-this…”

“It’s a gift I gave her for helping with Association business. Seoul is cold, after all.”

“Oh, is that so? How nice for our Suyeon! Going up to Seoul. I believe you’ll do well there, Suyeon.”

“Y-yes… Thank you…”

“We also think Suyeon’s friend will play a significant role there. Um, please contact the Association for any school-related matters. We need to take Suyeon urgently now. Would that be alright?”

“Yes, of course, if it’s for protecting citizens. We’ll take care of her attendance records.”

“Thank you, teacher. Suyeon, let’s go now.”

“Yes, yes! Blanc-nim!”

“Well then, we’ll be going. Thank you for making time for us!”

“The honor is mine. To think magical girls would come to a place like this. Please get back safely!”

And so we left the school with the homeroom teacher’s warm send-off.

We returned to the Association.

With one villain in tow.

Well, she must be hungry since she hasn’t eaten yet.

But there are more important things than such trivial matters.

“Here’s the Association. If you behave well from now on, you won’t have to go underground, right?”

“Um, well… I’m already in a state where I can’t resist when you give orders anyway…”

“Well, it’s not certain, so there’s no harm in telling you in advance, right?”

“Y-yes…”

“Where we’re going is just a little way up from here.”

“B-but… since I haven’t heard anything on the way here… what exactly am I supposed to do…?”

“You’ll see when we get there.”

“I-I’m… not very tough… and my abilities aren’t great either, so using me as a p-punching bag might be a bit… unreasonable, don’t you think?”

“If you want to be a punching bag, I can arrange that after we’re done. I was just about to make one anyway. A punching bag that runs away well and has good reactions would be nice, right?”

“Eek! I-I’m sorry! I don’t want to be a punching bag! P-please!”

“How can you take a joke so seriously? Sigh, nothing like that will happen, so just follow me.”

“Hic… y-yes…”

And so we arrived in front of a room with Ellis in tow.

A room where she lay, seemingly in peaceful sleep even after days of observation.

Her vital signs had improved, so the Association had set up this room just below the floor where the Association head was located.

Every day, Arin would come to care for her and check if her condition had worsened.

Carefully, carefully touching her hand, afraid that even the slightest touch might cause injury.

Even after school, she would always come to the Association to watch over her.

From what I could see, she was truly devoted to Bine.

Today was the same.

Perhaps she had come early after school ended.

I could sense Arin’s presence in the room.

After knocking, we heard Arin say we could enter.

Opening the door, we saw a bed.

A small child lying on it.

Ellis must have recognized who it was immediately.

“Bi-Bi… Bine? Why, why is she here… why? Bine! Bine!!”

“Ellis! Ah.”

I couldn’t stop Ellis as she lunged toward Bine the moment she saw her.

With almost superhuman strength, she pushed past us and rushed to the bed.

“W-who are you?!”

She was blocked by Arin, who was wary of a stranger approaching Bine.

“Who are you to stop me from going to our Bine? Get out of my way!”

“W-who are you to approach my sick sister like that? Yunseul unnie? Seohyun unnie? What’s going on here?! Bringing such a strange person to someone who’s sick…!”

“How am I a strange person?! You’re the one I’ve never seen before, so shouldn’t I be the one asking questions?!”

“Unnie! Is this person, no, this villain? That seal, that thing. How could you bring a villain into a room where my sick sister is?!”

Yes, the hospital room had turned into chaos.

They were meeting for the first time, and in the midst of it all, Ellis was trying to rush to Bine.

I could understand Ellis’s situation, but I could also understand Arin’s.

Seeing Bine’s face for the first time in years, but finding her unable to get up, lying in bed.

A girl watching over her.

Anyone would be angry if that girl prevented their reunion.

Arin saw a girl who suddenly barged in, trying to pounce on her precious sister.

And beneath the scarf that had come off was a seal that could be seen as the symbol of a captured villain.

I needed to resolve this situation where misunderstandings were deepening.

“Both of you, stop. Ellis, step back.”

“Eek, yes… B-but! Blanc-nim, you need to explain too! Why is Bine lying there like that?! And who is this little kid?!”

“Little kid? You look more like a little kid to me! What do you think you’re doing right now?!”

“Both of you, stop fighting. Calm down.”

“Yes…”

Standing beside Ellis, I introduced her to Arin.

“This is Ellis. She was Bine’s closest friend when she was in Eden. I brought the child that Bine risked her life to help escape during Ragnarok.”

“Yunseul unnie. She’s a villain. How could you bring her to Bine unnie…”

“I thought she might be able to wake Bine up again.”

“What…? That’s the role I was brought here for? If that was the case, you should have told me earlier…!”

“And what would you have done if I had told you?”

“Bine, Bine is lying there unable to get up! Why, no, but why is Bine with you, Blanc-nim? She was clearly in Marina…”

“You’ll hear that directly from Bine when she wakes up. For now, see why she collapsed. Arin, come out too, it’s okay.”

“Unnie, how can you be so sure it’s okay?? What if the villain makes Bine unnie worse…!”

“Arin. She might know more about Bine than we do. So hurry.”

“Haa, really. I can’t trust this. She feels completely different from Bine unnie. Completely…”

“It’s fine, I tell you. That child also cares deeply for Bine. At the very least, she won’t hurt Bine.”

So Ellis went to Bine’s side and examined her.

Hoping it would help Ellis examine her, I also explained Bine’s current condition.

That her magic generation seemed blocked somewhere, but her life activities continued, yet she wasn’t recovering.

That her body was fine, but her consciousness wasn’t returning.

How much lower her magic output was compared to normal.

Almost all the information, everything I knew.

After hearing it all, Ellis sighed with an expression that suggested she had figured something out.

“So that’s what it was? I thought…”

“Hmm? Do you have an idea?”

“This is, as I suspected, an energy deficiency from another aspect.”

“Another aspect?”

“The explanation is a bit complicated, but I’ll explain it simply.”

With those words, Ellis began to explain the fundamental cause of why Bine had collapsed.

“First, we need an accurate understanding of us monsters. For us monsters, that… magic core you saw earlier is a truly vital organ.”

“We need the magic core to maintain life, and we need the magic core to handle magic.”

“Moreover, if someone gains control over the magic core, they can do anything to that person. Like the contract magic just now.”

“Haa, to have such an organ taken by a magical girl…”

After catching her breath for a moment, she glared at me.

So she’s annoyed that I took control of her precious magic core, is that it?

“So. You don’t want to do it?”

“N-no! This is just the beginning of the explanation about the magic core!”

“The way this magic core works is divided into two stages. One is the stage of condensing energy. Food or surrounding magic particles, invisible magic called ‘maripja’ that are absorbed through the skin, and all that magic is condensed in the core. And then, the processing stage for release. Bine is blocked at this stage.”

“Why? There’s no reason for that part to be blocked…”

“Because Bine had set a lock in Eden.”

“W-what…?”

“In Eden, such a powerful force couldn’t be allowed to turn to the side of justice. So they put double, triple locks on it.”

“What does that…”

“Isn’t it obvious? Such locks are locks that all monsters in Eden have. Well, if she hadn’t been using magic to live until now, she wouldn’t have depleted it and wouldn’t have collapsed.”

“No, how do you know about this…?”

“I almost died because of this lock too. I nearly lost consciousness while fighting wild animals in the mountains. It’s an experience I never want to have again.”

“Really? How can you be so sure?”

“It happened suddenly without any warning, just due to a decrease in magic, right? And you said her magic output is lower than usual. Then there’s only one thing to suspect…”

“So, how do we solve it?”

“It’s simple. She needs to do something bad.”

Do something… bad?

“What do you mean…?”

“If she commits an evil act, this lock will be released, and magic production will start from the magic core. According to the scale of the evil act.”

“What’s the standard for an evil act…?”

“Only Bine would know that. The key to the lock is the wavelength of thought that she considers to be an evil act.”

To make Bine commit evil acts, evil deeds again. That can’t be…

possible.