Ch.65Chapter 12. Requirements (1)

I arrived, but honestly, I didn’t want to do anything anymore.

Until very recently, I’d been consumed with thoughts of revenge, and those feelings hadn’t changed—

But what was the point?

What meaning was there in continuing to do things that pleased those in power? Maybe it would be better to just smash everything and demand the chairman’s head.

…Though knowing my personality, I probably wouldn’t be able to go through with something like that anyway.

So here I was.

“It’s strange,” I muttered, looking down from the rooftop.

“Did they think we would come?”

The police were once again facing off against a Kaijin. At this point, it was predictable.

They were just buying time until the Magical Girls arrived to capture the Kaijin. What was the point in fighting when they’d only end up dead?

If it had been that crab-like Kaijin, it would have crushed them with its pincers or separated their upper and lower bodies. If they had rushed at the spitting Kaijin, they would have experienced something horrific even if they didn’t die. Just imagining parts of your body melting away is terrifying.

Actually, I thought the whole situation was strange.

No matter how capable they were, the Magical Girls were all minors.

Even considering the Federation’s influence, was it right for minors to step in and do the work that should be done by police or military? Was that really appropriate? People in this world didn’t seem to care about such things.

“Do they think we’ll come again and fight for them?”

“Jieun…” Hayun called out to me.

I didn’t turn to look at her.

Yes, I understood.

In the end, having someone capable fight against these threats would produce the best results.

A policeman’s life is valuable, and so is a soldier’s. It would be difficult to find anyone besides Magical Girls who could subdue a Kaijin without dying instantly or having to kill it.

The Federation knew this and used the Magical Girls to their advantage. The government knew this too, which is why they didn’t significantly restrict how Magical Girls operated.

And the company was able to move relatively freely and properly antagonize the Magical Girls because the government, which didn’t want Magical Girls running too wild, turned a blind eye.

“Aren’t you curious? What would happen to those people if we didn’t step in?”

“…”

At my words, the girls fell silent.

All eyes turned to me.

We had created a black hole to get here, but we hadn’t immediately jumped into action.

We had redistributed the circuits, so they would soon notice that Magical Girls had arrived on a nearby rooftop. Or perhaps they already knew?

There were no media helicopters flying overhead. Not even drones were visible. Perhaps they hadn’t received permission.

Leaning against the rooftop railing and looking down, the scene was spectacular.

The wide street was filled with black heads. I don’t mean hair color, of course. Defining race by hair color would be meaningless in this world.

I’m talking about the helmets the police were wearing.

Police officers in black combat gear from head to toe surrounded the Kaijin.

They seemed to have attempted an attack. There were ambulances outside the crowd surrounding the Kaijin, suggesting some people had been injured.

A few civilians were visible. Their numbers were gradually increasing. Perhaps there hadn’t been enough time to evacuate everyone from the building in the heart of Seoul, as it wasn’t completely deserted like at Chungmuro.

People in the building across from us had opened their windows and were looking down.

“What should we do?” I asked in a listless voice, watching those people.

“Should we go fight? Do we need to prove we’re righteous?”

“That’s—”

Iris began to speak but quickly fell silent when she met my gaze.

“What? If you started saying something, finish it.”

I was already in a bad mood… though it wasn’t Iris’s fault. Still, I couldn’t shake off that unpleasant feeling, so I spoke to her with a slightly irritated voice.

Isn’t that too harsh? A part of my mind asked, but honestly, I didn’t want to care that much.

“It’s not like you’re getting paid. You’re all fugitives too. If you go out there now, the Federation might try to capture you again.”

At my question, Iris thought for a moment before responding.

“Still, in a situation where people could die, we can’t just not act…”

Then she met my eyes and closed her mouth again.

Why?

It seemed excessive, even if she understood the situation.

Before, she would fight without considering any circumstances.

Well, just because Magical Girls show restraint doesn’t mean combatants will. Those people are desperate in their own way.

Just because they’re not being hit with a staff doesn’t mean they won’t throw punches at a Magical Girl.

It’s not a big issue for me since I’m the same age or younger than the Magical Girls, but just as I questioned the deployment of Magical Girls, there’s also a moral issue with adult combatants hitting underage Magical Girls.

Originally… these kinds of stories are resolved by making the villains simply and unquestionably evil. The problem in this world is that when you strip everything away, both sides are just ordinary humans.

“Fine, whatever.”

I decided not to think too deeply about it.

“Let’s fight for now.”

At my words, the Magical Girls looked a bit uneasy.

Why?

Do they not trust me? Or is there some other reason?

It doesn’t seem worth considering at this point.

“Just don’t rush in before I finish speaking.”

“Okay.”

Hayun responded to my words.

The other Magical Girls seemed to accept her response as representative, showing no objections.

Maybe they couldn’t predict what I might do next. Well, if I were in Hayun’s or the others’ position, I’d probably be a little scared too, wondering what I might say.

I leaped off the building.

Using the propulsion device in my hammer to release energy and reduce my falling speed, my body suffered no damage, but—

Thud!

I couldn’t completely eliminate the sound.

The spot where I landed wasn’t exactly near the Kaijin.

Even though the police filled the wide street, it wasn’t so packed that there wasn’t a single place to step. The area around the Kaijin was densest, but further back, there was enough space for one or two people to stand.

Of course, even if I had landed in those spaces, I was using a booster that could melt iron in real-time, so people could have been hurt.

So I landed on the roof of a police bus.

The spot where I landed dented slightly, but it didn’t completely crumple like I’d done to other police equipment.

With all eyes on the bus, I jumped down, and the police officers hurriedly moved out of the way.

I had no intention of killing them, but they seemed to think differently.

Well, considering how I’d acted until now, I certainly hadn’t been friendly to the police.

Who had made the call anyway?

Warning news could be broadcast on radio. Journalists who noticed police mobilizing could write articles. But the Magical Girl pager only rings when someone calls, right?

Maybe it was the Magical Girls’ mascot? Cherry was her name? She seemed quite kind in the webtoon, so it might be her.

As the police moved aside, the Magical Girls descended a bit later.

There was probably no special reason for the delay; they likely floated down gracefully from the sky.

I looked around.

Whether they wore helmets or not, whether their faces were visible or not, everyone seemed startled by my presence and tried to keep their distance.

Some were even pointing guns at me.

Ignoring that, I continued looking around until I finally found what I wanted.

“Hey, give me that—”

When I moved instantly to grab what I wanted, the police officer let out a shrill scream. He quickly removed the strap from his shoulder, threw it away, and backed up. There were so many people behind him that he couldn’t completely escape.

“…”

I stared at the officer in disbelief, then sighed deeply.

Then I raised the megaphone to my mouth.

“Ah, ah.”

I know how to use a megaphone.

Why waste energy shouting at the top of my lungs before a fight? I didn’t want to do that.

After confirming my voice was coming through properly, I spoke.

“It seems fighting is difficult for all of you.”

In a thoroughly mocking tone.

“What’s wrong? Bullets don’t work? Wires don’t catch properly?”

They do work on some Kaijin.

Before—that is, when Kaijin first started appearing and Magical Girls didn’t exist yet—the police did fight. They properly dealt with Kaijin even while taking casualties.

But not anymore. Why bother taking damage when someone else will fight for you?

Even the Magical Girls who had run away had all returned now.

Even me.

Even me, who had been beaten by the police.

Yes, let’s acknowledge what needs to be acknowledged.

This was a job for Magical Girls. No matter what, if someone died because I didn’t show up, my fragile mental state would have me muttering “It’s my fault” over and over.

Whether I could truly be called a Magical Girl or not, the absence of Magical Girls was definitely because of me.

But even so, I didn’t want to just help them.

“Fine. This is our specialty anyway.”

“Our,” huh?

It’s funny to say that now. I said it earlier on the rooftop without realizing it.

Well, they did agree to follow my lead for now. So for the moment, saying “our” shouldn’t be a big problem.

“We’ll fight for you instead! No one wants to die. We can fight without dying, and we won’t waste money on unnecessary equipment. That’s all tax money, isn’t it?”

Some of that expensive tax-funded equipment was destroyed by me, but anyway.

As I started walking forward, the police officers parted to the sides.

“But there’s one condition,” I said.

“Give us something. Ah, I’m not even asking for money.”

It’s not like I need it anyway. It’s not like I’m going to take it to a nearby convenience store.

If I could have done that, I would have done it long ago.

“Food is fine, clothes are fine. Just give us something. Based on the value of our fighting. Actually, we’re running low on food while constantly on the run, and our clothes are getting worn out.”

I wondered briefly if I should say this, but decided to go ahead.

Once I asked for something, they would understand our situation. If they tried to use that against us, there’s nothing we could do. Let them.

It was a bit ironic to think this way while claiming I didn’t want to see people die, but I could find another solution when the time came.

Once people saw Magical Girls raiding nearby convenience stores, they might change their minds.

The police parted, opening a path, and we came face to face with the Kaijin.

This Kaijin… looked a bit strange.

Just by its appearance, it seemed like it would be incredibly fast.

Most Kaijin are modeled after animals. I’ve seen aliens with bodies made of rock, but perhaps designing such Kaijin is complex and difficult, as most Kaijin in the webtoon were animal-based.

Whether seafood or land creatures.

But what stood before me now was different.

If I had to describe it, it looked like a “swift person.”

Some aliens look like Earth humans with only slight differences.

The being in front of me had no hair and a gray face. Its head shape was a bit… flat for a human head.

Rather than looking like a fish head, it looked like someone had tried to make a human head look like a fish by pressing it from both sides.

Its body was also somewhat flat and thin.

I tilted my head slightly and raised the megaphone.

There were people up there.

Whether they couldn’t evacuate or chose not to, I raised the megaphone toward the people pointing smartphones at us.

“Did you hear me?”

No one specifically responded, but I spoke toward the smartphones aimed at me.

“Payment, payment. Give us something that will help us. Starting now… I’ll wait about 30 minutes.”

My words seemed to surprise people.

Murmurs spread among the police officers, and even the people in the buildings pointing smartphones at us looked at each other.

I put down my hammer. There was a loud metallic clang as it hit the asphalt.

Then I sat down on the hammer.

It wasn’t a comfortable position like sitting in a chair; I rested my arms on my knees in a somewhat thuggish posture, but I thought it was perfect.

“Got it?! 30 minutes, 30 minutes! After that, deal with it yourselves.”

After saying that, I just slumped with the megaphone in one hand.

I didn’t intend to take my eyes off the Kaijin. I’d have to move if it moved.

After all, I had no desire to watch people die right in front of me.

…Surely they’d bring something within 30 minutes?

I looked up at the Magical Girls.

They all looked somewhat perplexed.

Were they simply surprised by what I said?

The Magical Girls must have gained something from being Magical Girls. Even if not financial benefits, there must have been political advantages. If not for the Magical Girls themselves… perhaps for their parents. There are many such cases, right?

“…”

The Kaijin remained motionless, staring at us.

We couldn’t let our guard down. Nothing has been revealed about why Kaijin move the way they do.

Some Kaijin go berserk without warning, like the one that took Jihye hostage last time, while others stand still for hours before suddenly moving.

One thing is certain: all Kaijin eventually move and cause damage. Whether it appears intentional or not.

They are bombs that will inevitably explode, with whom communication is impossible.

That’s why they’re Kaijin and why they’re always targets for elimination.

I heard someone running.

Perhaps they received orders.

Well, I’ll just wait until they bring something.

I’d look too pathetic if I changed my mind right after making a statement.

*

“Why…?”

Jihye muttered as she headed toward the scene.

Most public transportation to the area had been rerouted. She received a text message saying the subway would pass through without stopping.

But she could still get close enough.

There weren’t many people on the bus. In fact, at some point, there were no people at all.

No one would want to go somewhere where they might lose their lives. Even someone suicidal would want to die instantly, not be torn apart by a Kaijin.

So there shouldn’t have been people in the area, but…

“What’s this?”

Videos of the scene were being broadcast online.

Through a smartphone’s 10x zoom. Jieun and the Magical Girls appeared small, but their faces were still recognizable.

Until now, it seemed like they were deliberately not saying anything, but as soon as an incident occurred, they started filming. Why?

Even if the streaming site was foreign, as long as it had a branch in Korea, it should cooperate with the Korean government…

She had an ominous feeling.

Jihye knew nothing about that side of things.

Even after living together for so long, she hadn’t known that Jieun was in pain every day.

She had never thought about what combatants actually did or how much they got hurt.

She had empathized with Magical Girls while watching them fight, but she had never empathized with fallen combatants.

So she really knew nothing. Even trying to imagine it was difficult.

But—

That doesn’t mean she can’t think about it at all.

Suddenly doing something they hadn’t been doing before…

Filming and showing the video as soon as the Magical Girls moved suggested some kind of intention.

Did they think the Magical Girls would lose? Or did they want to say something was wrong with their demands during the fight?

“…”

The bus had almost reached the area.

Well, strictly speaking, the distance was still considerable. The controlled area was wider than expected.

Jihye got off the bus despite the driver’s anxious gaze and started running.

It’s strange.

It’s strange that there are people who couldn’t evacuate despite the wide area.

[I’ll wait about 30 minutes.]

Broadcasting Jieun’s demands…

Without any evidence, she felt something was going wrong.

Had Jieun finally lost her mind?

Even though going there wouldn’t help, Jihye was heading toward the scene.

Was she going to help, or was she just running because she wanted to see Jieun’s face?

Jihye kept running.

Even as she saw people guarding the road ahead.