Ch.47Chapter 9. Things That Should Not Be Touched (1)

“Why?”

That was the first word to come out of Jihye’s mouth.

There were people in front of her.

Those who should protect citizens.

Of course, not everything could be perfect. There’s not a single country in the world where public safety is perfectly maintained with a crime rate of ‘0’.

But still.

Still, this shouldn’t have happened.

“Why did you do that?”

She asked without directing it at anyone in particular.

A few police officers around Jihye reached out to help her up, but Jihye just looked at their hands and said:

“She saved me. And she fought against the rampaging Kaijin. She did what you couldn’t do, so why?”

Because she broke the law?

She could understand that reasoning to some extent.

But even so, did they have to go that far?

Did they really think Jieun was responsible for all those incidents?

“Student, you seem to be in shock right now—”

“Why did you do it?”

Jihye shouted at a middle-aged man who approached as if to help her.

“She was helping you! Did you really have to do that?!”

She repeated the same words she had already said several times.

She jumped to her feet and grabbed the man’s clothes. The man was wearing a bulletproof vest. The clothes underneath were black.

Did they think Jieun might shoot a gun? Is that why they wore such clothes?

Police officers around them approached as if to pull Jihye away, but the man raised his hand to stop them and said:

“Just a moment.”

Then he looked at Jihye and spoke calmly.

“The person we’re dealing with isn’t an ordinary person, student. She was armed, and just until recently, fighting—”

“She was fighting for me!”

Jihye shouted.

“She was fighting for me! Getting hit and falling down like that!”

Her gaze was directed at the person in front of her. Naturally, her voice was too.

But the content of her words seemed to be directed at herself.

“It was a righteous act! Do you point guns at Magical Girls too?! Do you throw nets over their heads?!”

“Though the outfit is similar, I can’t say she’s a Magical Girl—”

“…May I speak instead?”

The police officer, who had been trying to calm Jihye down with his hands slightly raised, closed his mouth when he saw the Magical Girl addressing them.

And he lowered his hands as if this was for the best.

Jihye also let go of the man.

Her empty eyes were directed at Blossom.

“…Jihye.”

“Do you know each other?”

“Yes. …She’s Jieun’s friend.”

“Ah.”

The man’s expression became somewhat ambiguous at that explanation.

To the police officers here, the name “Jeong Jieun” wasn’t just an unfamiliar name. It was a name they had heard so much over the past month that they were sick of it.

Some would grind their teeth just hearing the name.

The face of this friend had appeared in the news, but it was usually blurred out. It seemed they had called her in to hear her side of the story, but the special task force rarely needed to hear such details. Usually, they only knew who they needed to subdue.

After all, they didn’t go around looking for work; they were deployed when situations arose. Information about people around the perpetrator was something they learned on the spot.

The officer stepped back because he knew that in the current situation, no matter what he said, Jihye wouldn’t be convinced.

“You…”

Jihye was about to say something to Hayun but closed her mouth.

“You, how could you do that?”

“…”

Hayun’s mind went blank for a moment when she heard those words.

Objectively speaking, Hayun hadn’t attacked Jieun today. Rather, they had fought together, and that’s why they could win.

If Jihye was blaming her for arriving late, it wouldn’t be completely unreasonable, but—

That probably wasn’t what she meant.

Rather:

“J-Jieun, like that…”

Her eyes were trembling.

It was immediately clear that what Jihye was saying wasn’t coming from a rational state. She was just in a state of panic, wanting to blame someone else.

“All this time, Jieun…”

As she spoke, Jihye’s legs gave out.

Hayun quickly caught her.

She thought about helping her stand, but Jihye was in no condition for that. Looking again, there was a dark bruise on the lower part of her neck.

Realizing it wasn’t just mental shock, Hayun quickly crouched down in front of Jihye.

“No, no…”

Jihye grabbed her head with both hands.

“I didn’t want this. Why did it turn out like this?”

Tears were falling from her eyes.

Hayun’s heart sank.

She had been thinking the same thing.

Why?

How?

Even without firing a gun, they could have ended this well. Because Hayun was there. The police must have known about their relationship.

It was a story that had been headlined in the news multiple times. As a terrorist who had deceived the Magical Girl and stayed by her side.

“…”

She bit her lip, trying to hold back tears.

Even now, she felt like she could hear Jieun’s voice.

The image of her rampaging and stomping on cars was vivid in her mind.

She must have wanted to do that for a long time.

And that probably wasn’t all she wanted to do.

She must have wanted to beat up the person who shot her. She might have wanted to end it all.

It was a voice Hayun had never heard before. Not just from Jieun, but from anyone she had ever met.

She didn’t know.

No, she must have known. She knew but pretended not to. She was just pretending not to know, lost in self-pity and only worried about herself.

“Jihye, first, first… let’s calm down, okay?”

“What about Jieun? What should we do? Can she never come back?”

But with Jihye’s continued questions, Hayun couldn’t hold back anymore.

Jihye grabbed Hayun’s arm tightly and looked up.

And desperately asked:

“What should we do? Does she have to go to prison if she’s caught? Why? Did Jieun really do it? No, right?”

No. It definitely wasn’t her.

But right now, she couldn’t say that.

If a Magical Girl made such claims without proper evidence, it would cause significant trouble for her superiors—

“…”

Disgusting.

Someone inside whispered softly.

Still making excuses.

The one whispering was Hayun.

The Hayun deep inside, whom she had repeatedly turned away from.

Always making excuses, just crying with your head on the desk won’t solve anything.

She couldn’t say anything.

So? Then Jieun should go to prison? She should be treated as a terrorist for something she didn’t do?

…No. I never thought that.

Even if you didn’t think it, it’s as good as thinking it.

Because saying you’ll follow the rules is as good as saying you’ll let that happen to Jieun.

“…”

In the end, Hayun couldn’t calm Jihye down.

Only when colleagues rushed over and separated Jihye, who was tightly holding onto Hayun and asking questions repeatedly, could that one-sided conversation end.

But the thought that had bloomed inside Hayun wouldn’t easily disappear.

*

News about the new Magical Girl showed no signs of cooling down.

In a way, it was natural.

The existence of “Magical Girls” itself was so rare in the Republic of Korea that they could be counted on one hand. Just adding a new member would be headline news, but the “Magical Girl” currently circulating in public wasn’t even that kind of Magical Girl.

A Magical Girl who opposes Magical Girls.

That’s what people were saying.

When she was first reported as a “terrorist,” testimonies from the same school were unanimously “I knew it.”

She had such an ordinary, common impression that no one expected it. There weren’t even clichéd testimonies like “She was diligent and kind, so I didn’t expect it.”

But now, when reporters went to ask for testimonies, the students’ reactions were somewhat different.

They didn’t say she was good. They didn’t say she was ordinary.

They just refused to testify.

Students who were so excited to talk initially suddenly went quiet.

And the reason for this change was clear.

Fear.

Detailed information wasn’t disclosed to the media.

The information that was released was somewhat censored, so the public didn’t know exactly what had happened inside.

They didn’t know that she had warned people to avoid injuries, or that she had tried to carry unconscious people to safety.

They didn’t know that the reason she first attacked the Kaijin was to save the hostage it had captured.

But even within this controlled information, there was one thing that could be understood:

That “terrorist” is a “Magical Girl.”

A Magical Girl who can’t be called righteous, who rampages as she pleases.

And that Magical Girl has never lost in a fight against the “Federation’s Magical Girls.”

Even when she caused terror, she walked away confidently. Many police officers chased after her, but she disappeared after leaving a huge scar in the heart of Seoul.

She stole something important from the heart of the largest corporation in this country and escaped without a hitch.

She escaped solely by her own power from a place where there were Kaijin, Magical Girls, and numerous police officers. She even crumpled an armored police vehicle like a piece of paper.

Combining all these stories, the conclusion is just one:

A being who can crush an armored vehicle like paper with her own power is now roaming the world.

A being who has the power to tear and kill people if she wants to is hiding somewhere unknown.

Those who had testified about the “terrorist” had no choice but to keep quiet. If she ever came looking, they would be the next to be crushed.

On the other hand, there were those who cheered.

Some thought of her as a being who rebelled against the system that was changing this world. People who were dissatisfied with the world in some way, those who judged the government or entities under it, or corporations as evil, cheered.

“…Damn it!”

And the one who was most anxious in this situation—

“You couldn’t find James? How hard is it to find one rat…!”

—was naturally the one who created this situation.

The current chairwoman of Noir Corporation.

The “former chairman,” who is now treated as missing, had a much younger sister who was a red-skinned alien.

Her appearance as a middle-aged woman with antennae might seem somewhat comical to Earthlings, but right now, no one would dare laugh in front of her.

Right now.

If they couldn’t catch the entity that was currently tarnishing the company’s reputation, soon they would be facing a hearing rather than just being laughed at.

It’s easy to disobey this country’s orders and flee.

But then they would immediately be pursued by the Federation. The reason she could remain safe was solely because she was in hiding in this country.

The deal is only valid on this planet. For it to be valid outside of space, she needed to complete the plan to the end from right here.

Completing both circuits.

That’s what the Federation wanted. Not completing it and leaving Earth would literally be perceived as “fleeing.”

Moreover—

“Can’t find the chairman, can’t find the rat. What can those Federation guys do…!”

Yes. They couldn’t find the “former chairman” either.

It’s not just the Federation’s pursuit that’s the problem. The chairman is probably watching this situation from afar, contemplating.

He’s probably planning to reappear and cut out the “current chairwoman.”

That’s why she had sought the Federation’s help.

“The Squeakeans are quite passive when it comes to finding their own people—”

“Do you think I don’t know that?!”

Bang!

The chairwoman hit the desk hard.

The man in front of her, who had styled his hair upwards in a “mohawk” style, flinched and trembled.

“That’s why I tried to handle it properly in the first place! What can you do right while getting paid so much? If you had handled it properly from the beginning, this wouldn’t have happened!”

If nothing else, that rat was with the “black Magical Girl.”

The hammer the Magical Girl was holding was clearly Squeakean technology. Combined with the circuit’s unique output, it produced an “impossible” firepower.

“…That Magical Girl. The Combatant. Her name was Jeong Jieun, right?”

“Yes!”

The mohawk-haired man stood at attention and answered the chairwoman’s question.

“Find someone useful around her. Someone who could be taken hostage to make her appear. I think there was one last time.”

“…Chairwoman. No matter what, targeting an Earthling is—”

“What do you think this company has been doing all along?”

The chairwoman asked with a frown.

“This company extracts energy by exploiting Earthlings. This country on Earth agreed to it, and most large corporations in other countries are doing similar things. Earthlings possess overwhelmingly more mana than humans from other planets, and all Earthlings have it, right?”

The chairwoman leaned back in her chair as if burying herself in it and said:

“Those fools agreed because they thought it was good that only they were exempt. Do you think they’ll even blink if one or two people are sacrificed?”

“…”

The mohawk-haired man had a somewhat dazed expression at the chairwoman’s words.

“So, let’s do this properly. It’s a company, right? We need to meet our customers’ requirements.”

The chairwoman said with a somewhat tired expression.

“First, let’s call out that Magical Girl and get the company’s assets back. And if we can handle her along the way, let’s do that too.”

The chairwoman stared at the man and said:

“Ask the Galactic Federation for help too. She might be classified as the first Earthling Kaijin. If one becomes a Kaijin by being affected by energy, there’s no reason to say that the source of that energy isn’t a Kaijin, right?”

“If you receive more help in the current situation…”

“What? Do you think the weight will shift to their side and we’ll be at a disadvantage?”

The chairwoman snorted and said:

“We’re a company. Part of our job is to probe around and find better customers. Do you think the concept of ‘your side’ and ‘my side’ has meaning where money flows?”

“No, that’s not it… But if core technology is transferred—”

“The government can’t directly create a production process. Someone has to take on the business, and the company that handles that technology best has the advantage.”

“…”

“Don’t you think it’s strange to waste such an opportunity just for tax evasion? It would be better if we took on the government’s Hope Circuit project as well.”

Companies based in other countries must know this and choose not to do it for a reason.

Such thoughts seemed to rise to his throat, but the man remained silent.

“Monopolize technology and create a new world? Do you think such a far-fetched thing is possible? Even if it were possible, it wouldn’t make money. Resources would just get cheaper if they increased indefinitely.”

The chairwoman turned her chair to look down at the building below.

There were numerous lights there. Each one, a massive energy source, was busily moving around.

To the chairwoman’s eyes, they looked like jewels.

How efficient an energy source would they be if each person was equipped with an efficient circuit and loaded onto a spaceship?

How expensive could they be sold for? If supply could be restricted, it would be an even more efficient money-maker.

“A company is not a religious organization. Looking at things billions of years in the future is absurd.”

The chairwoman said this and frowned again.

“That woman’s granddaughter is on this Earth, right? Find her location too. If she’s not an Earthling, it should be easy to find her.”

“…Understood.”

In the end, the mohawk-haired man nodded.

*

“By the way, are you okay?”

At my question, the Earthaboo’s antennae twitched upward.

“Huh?”

“I mean… you’re not working at the company. You said that was where you could earn the most.”

“Ah.”

The Earthaboo slurped up some ramen and answered.

“Well, it’s not like I can’t survive. We’re splitting the rent. If anything, living expenses seem a bit better.”

It didn’t seem like an empty statement. With her gaze lifted to the air as she thought, she seemed to be seriously calculating her living expenses.

Soon, as if the calculation was complete, the Earthaboo nodded with a quite serious expression.

“Having the rent halved is quite significant. I can divert that to food expenses. Well, actually, the number of days I work has increased.”

So it seems that before, she would work once, earn money, and then just loaf around for a few days.

Rather, now that she’s going to work more often, her finances are more stable.

“…Really?”

I looked at her with a somewhat doubtful expression, but the Earthaboo just shrugged.

I could only nod.

What else could I have done?

About two weeks had passed since the incident at Chungmuro.

My body recovered much faster than expected, so I was able to go back to work quickly.

As February was coming to an end, we were able to live quite peacefully. Days went by where I would go out in the morning for part-time jobs, receive daily wages, and return.

During that time, James had been sitting in the corner of the room, continuously making something.

Even when I asked, he only gave theoretical explanations that made my head spin, so I gave up asking what he was making.

He seemed to enjoy seeing me troubled, the twisted guy.

“…”

Well, it doesn’t matter.

Even if I stay still, he’ll come forward and tell me to do this and that.

I just lay back down on the floor.

And blankly looked up at the stained ceiling.

Will both of them be okay?

Honestly, I was worried sick. I wanted to go and ask if they were okay, but the fact that I couldn’t made me feel even worse.

“…”

What ultimately rose was a desire for revenge.

To think I was driven to this point just because of internal corporate strife.

It’s not because of what James said anymore.

I, too, want to smash those trash’s heads.

I vowed not to stop until I found them and crushed their skulls with my hammer.

Because if I thought about anything else right now, I felt like I would go crazy.