Ch.99Chapter 17. Questions (2)

I hadn’t intended for us to stand in a spot where reporters could easily question us.

Our plan was simply to position ourselves along the path the chairman would take.

“Well, they’re probably noticing and responding by now, so we should get going. I hope we can have another conversation like this sometime. You didn’t cut the broadcast midway today, did you?”

As I continued speaking, my senses gradually returned and I added a bit of humor, then tried to move—only to belatedly realize that my arms were still being held by two people.

Looking to either side, I was relieved when Hayun and Ju-a finally released their grip.

“Wait, Ms. Jeong Jieun…!”

As I tried to leave, a reporter called out.

“Oh, right!”

I was about to say something to the reporter when suddenly there was a clap from beside me.

“You don’t need to call her that anymore! And you don’t need to use temporary names like Black Magical Girl or White Magical Girl either!”

Huh?

The cameras turned to Hayun, who was standing slightly apart from me, as she shouted enthusiastically.

Hayun’s face was beaming.

She usually didn’t like showing her face to the media.

Hayun extended her hand toward me and said, “Jieun here is, from today, the sixth Magical Girl!”

“Hey, wait a minute.”

Whatever I was trying to say, the reporters were already buzzing with excitement.

Originally, Magical Girl is a somewhat official position.

It’s similar to how coworkers in a company can’t just point to another employee and say, “This person is a department head from today” and have it mean anything.

After all, it’s basically like being an employee who receives a salary from the Federation.

But… if we’re being technical, none of the five current Magical Girls would actually qualify as Magical Girls either.

So maybe at this point, it doesn’t matter anymore. That thought briefly crossed my mind.

Is that what Hayun was thinking too?

“From today, please call her Happy Lily!”

“…”

Ah.

Right.

I had momentarily forgotten because everyone calls them Blossom, Rose, Iris, and so on, but that’s not the official naming convention for Magical Girls.

They add “Happy” before their names.

I don’t know why it has to be “Happy” specifically. I don’t even know why they need such a prefix at all. Perhaps whoever created the Magical Girl system was inspired by the “generation” naming conventions in Japanese magical girl shows.

So if I were to join the ranks of Magical Girls operating in our country, and if I were to use the name “Lily”—

Naturally, I would be called “Happy Lily.”

“…”

My lips quivered.

How could I explain this away? Would denying it in front of these reporters even have any effect—

But contrary to the intense embarrassment I was feeling inside, my Hope Circuit was spinning vigorously.

Why?

Oh, come to think of it, Hayun’s circuit is spinning too.

Hayun’s circuit was known to spin intensely enough to influence other Magical Girls’ circuits, so mine might be affected as well.

If not that, then—

“Ah!”

When I grabbed Hayun’s wrist, she looked at me with slight surprise.

“Let’s get out of here first.”

I said that and took off into the air with force.

Hayun followed, flying up with me—and though it might have been my imagination, I thought I heard her laughter cutting through the sound of the wind in my ears.

As if she knew exactly what I was thinking.

I decided to pretend I hadn’t heard it.

*

Now that things had already escalated, I couldn’t afford to argue with Hayun about this and that.

It would be more rational to finish what we came to do, and then either go home or talk during whatever time remained.

Trying not to make eye contact with Hayun, who was still smiling brightly at me, I turned my gaze this way and that as I spoke to the Magical Girls who had followed us into the air a bit later.

“First, we need to find the chairman’s car.”

“That goes without saying.”

Rose replied to my comment.

Over the past week, we had discussed today’s events quite extensively. The plan, Plan B if the plan went wrong, and what to do if even that failed.

Fortunately, we were familiar with this area. Though the view from the sky was somewhat unfamiliar, the landmark buildings made it easy enough to share our positions with each other.

When we were making our plans, our first concern was the chairman’s behavior patterns.

Had he anticipated our arrival? We thought so.

Would he have changed his route? Even if he did, it wouldn’t matter once he’d departed. There were six of us, and we could split into teams if necessary. Besides, we could all fly—would a slight detour really prevent us from finding him? It’s less than a 20-minute drive from headquarters to here anyway.

What kind of car would he be in? He might have taken a less expensive car for disguise. He definitely wouldn’t use public transportation. That would be too risky in many ways.

The chairman could use the same kind of mask I used to hide, but James judged that the current chairman wasn’t the type to blend in like that.

The current chairman’s personality, as described by James, was truly “like a villain from a cartoon who holds a high position.”

He’ll do anything for money. Unlike the previous chairman, who walked a fine line between legal and illegal activities, the current chairman believes that if he makes enough money, he can simply change the laws with it.

Large corporations often tend to look down on the laws of countries they consider inferior, and the current chairman of Noir Corporation was exactly that type of person.

“So he’s likely to be in a luxury car,” James had speculated.

“But if there’s only a chauffeur in the driver’s seat, he could take a smaller car.”

“You know what? There will be a tremendous number of reporters at the place where the chairman is being summoned. He’s not the type who wants to be seen getting out of a car that everyone else drives.”

Some business people might emphasize their “modesty” by driving ordinary vehicles, but still.

“People’s personalities don’t change that easily. Besides, the current chairman values his safety immensely. He’d want a car that could survive if someone with a grudge rammed into him from the side.”

That means he’s got a lot of dirt on him.

Is it similar to how people who make money illegally flaunt their wealth with ridiculously expensive cars?

Having heard all this from James, our job now was simply to find a vehicle that matched his description.

In the heart of Seoul, such cars appeared occasionally, but this was Jung-gu in Seoul, where many government buildings were concentrated. There were quite a few ordinary vehicles passing by as well.

Among them, we needed to find the car heading from the company to the prosecutor’s office. Especially since we arrived a bit later than expected, the chairman’s car would have gotten closer to the summons location before turning around.

“Among the visible vehicles, excluding parked ones, I can see about six,” Iris said, quickly scanning the surroundings. Small mana clusters moved along her line of sight. Some kind of magic to aid vision? Cherry and James had mentioned they were preparing some equipment—this must be it.

Six large, sturdy, expensive-looking vehicles.

Coincidentally, there were six of us.

“Let’s split up and check. Everyone has their pagers, right?”

After seeing the kids hold up their pagers, we dispersed according to Iris’s instructions.

Flying directly in my assigned direction, I spotted a vehicle with an unmistakably authoritative aura. I wasn’t interested enough in cars to recognize the company by the emblem alone, but it definitely wasn’t made in Korea.

I landed in front of that long black sedan.

This area is always congested. The roads are quite wide, but being in the center of Seoul means there are many cars, and the complex road network means there are many traffic lights. It’s disadvantageous in many ways if you want to change direction and escape.

That car was also trapped between other cars, so it shouldn’t have thought about running me over to escape… or at least it shouldn’t have.

But as soon as I landed in front of the car, the engine roared ferociously.

Before I could even check who was inside, the vehicle charged toward me.

I barely managed to block it by planting my hammer handle into the ground, but I couldn’t help being pushed back.

If there had been even 20 meters of space, Hayun’s circuit might have reversed.

“…”

What kind of thought is that?

Hayun probably acted that way to help after seeing my circuit spinning. I don’t think she had any other intentions.

If I expect too much, I’ll end up feeling betrayed all by myself.

What could be more pathetic than unrequited love?

The front of the car was dented, but it didn’t split apart. The engine must still be working because the car immediately reversed.

“Whoa.”

Before I could stop it, it reversed violently and crashed into the car behind it. Then, without even checking the damage, the driver in the black car turned the steering wheel sideways, crossed the center line, and made an illegal U-turn.

I immediately took out my pager and pressed it, then ran toward the car that had been hit.

The poor compact car’s hood was completely crushed, rendering it immobile.

When I tapped on the front window, the dazed man inside rolled it down.

“Are you okay?”

“What? Oh, yes. I’m not hurt, but…”

“That car just now belongs to Noir Corporation. If you need to file a claim, make sure to send it there.”

“What?”

“And report it to the police first. If you tell them I was chasing that car, they’ll probably understand right away.”

To be honest, I had some doubts about that. I’d heard that public opinion of me among the police was decent, but I’d never spoken with them directly.

Still, I couldn’t just say nothing to this poor man.

Suddenly, I remembered how other Magical Girls would repair damaged homes or property and apologize after their battles.

…Perhaps Magical Girls had their own hardships. Hardships much greater than having to run out during an English listening test.

After patting the car window frame twice, I turned and ran with all my might.

[Lily!]

I heard Hayun’s voice from the pager pinned to my shoulder as I ran.

For a moment, I almost tripped at hearing that name, but I managed to regain my balance and leap into the sky as if taking a running start.

“What’s with that name?”

[Even if we call each other by our names in daily life, during operations we use our designated codenames. Your codename is Lily, right?]

I had so many things I wanted to say, but I swallowed them all and got back to the main point.

“I think I found it. The car I blocked immediately started fleeing.”

[About that, was the window tinting so dark that you couldn’t see inside?]

“Yeah, why?”

I answered with some unease as Hayun spoke as if she already knew.

[Same here.]

[Me too.]

Iris continued right after Hayun.

[Black sedan on the run. The body is so sturdy that gunfire won’t stop it.]

“Even with magic bullets?”

[Seems they’ve reinforced against that.]

That was Dalia speaking.

[Well, it makes sense they’d think of that. The current chairman is very suspicious by nature.]

It’s also a classic method. And effective.

“…Then, are you saying there might be other vehicles besides the ones we’re chasing? What about other vehicles that could maintain a minimum level of authority?”

[That would be too many. By now, they could have entered a parking garage to hide.]

[…And if we target those vehicles and they turn out to be ordinary citizens, we’d be in trouble.]

After hearing Delphinium’s words, I fell into thought for a moment.

“…”

Even though our real goal wasn’t to directly strike at the chairman, it was still frustrating to be outmaneuvered like this.

“Then, let’s focus on pursuing the vehicles we’re already chasing. Let’s resolve this as quickly as possible and move to Plan B. At the very least, we need to show the chairman that we’re genuinely angry.”

After hearing the others acknowledge my words, I continued chasing the black vehicle.

Even though I’m faster than a running person, I’m not chasing the car on foot.

Flying through the air is faster than running on the ground not only because you don’t have to worry about friction with the ground, but also because you don’t have to worry about obstacles or road conditions at that speed.

After overtaking the black car that was weaving dangerously between other vehicles, I activated the booster on the back of my hammer and smashed down on the front of the car.

BANG!

The front of the speeding car sank deep into the ground, while the rear bent as if about to break and flew up into the air.

Now, what to do?

Just how much sturdier is this car compared to a normal one? It crumpled pathetically against my hammer, but that was to be expected when hit by what was essentially a cannonball.

Isn’t that level of window tinting problematic? Surely that dark is illegal. Can they even see traffic light colors?

Then again, someone who modifies people into weapons probably doesn’t care about such minor issues.

In that brief moment of assessment, I jumped up and grabbed the trunk area of the car. The front was completely folded, with the roof about to touch the ground.

Fortunately, the car didn’t have its rear torn off and slammed into the ground. It just flew up in the opposite direction after receiving my force in mid-air.

I was a bit worried about what happened to the person inside.

Well, if they were wearing a seatbelt, they probably survived.

THUD!

I set the vehicle back down on the ground and reached my hand through the broken window.

“Gasp!”

I felt my hand being pulled in strongly and quickly applied force.

Whatever gripped my hand so strongly was definitely not the strength of an ordinary person.

A Kaijin.

So that’s why there were no groans or screams from inside the car.

I placed one foot on the rear door and kicked hard. The rear door crumpled inward, and the back of the car shifted sideways.

Whatever was inside seemed to partially emerge as well.

And what I saw was indeed a human hand.

But unnaturally bulging, as if forcibly inflated.

“…”

I hadn’t expected that the person being summoned would resort to using the same thing again, this time to evade Magical Girls.

Had they perhaps found a way to control it? Kaijin aren’t supposed to be that easily controlled.

As if engaged in a test of strength, the Kaijin pulled me inward again. Unfortunately, in terms of weight versus weight, I was overwhelmingly lighter. Even with my strength, there was a limit to how much I could resist.

CRACK.

The window shattered, and I was inevitably dragged into the car.

“Tch.”

As expected.

The driver’s seat was empty. It must have been on autopilot. Well, aliens who can build spaceships would naturally have such capabilities.

And then.

“…You’re really not my type.”

I said to the Kaijin as our eyes met.

The Kaijin raised the hand that wasn’t gripping my arm. It was a threatening posture, as if about to strike me with its elbow.

Still, I had my hammer in my other hand.

The booster activated, and the hammer in my other hand shot upward.

It tore through the car’s roof and struck the side of the Kaijin’s head.

BANG!

It’s a bit pitiful. I felt more sympathy since the original was human.

Besides, it’s not like they wanted to become like this.

…Or is that assumption too far-fetched?

Either way, this isn’t the time for such thoughts.

Hitting the Kaijin’s head with my hammer was fine, but I was now trapped in the crushed car. Damn it.

Think more carefully.

I keep losing focus because I’m worried about Hayun, and conversely, thinking about the chairman makes my blood boil.

BANG!

“Ugh!”

My back was hit by a knee.

Looking again, I noticed the seatbelt restraining this Kaijin was something special. Not the kind of seatbelt we normally use in cars, but made of the same material as the armor they put on other Kaijin.

BANG!

“Ow, that hurts!”

I said, getting up from my seat again.

Creak, creak.

The car’s roof crumpled under my hands, which exceeded human strength thanks to the circuit’s power. I think I heard something like a scream nearby.

And as I sat up, my eyes fell on the circuit attached to the Kaijin’s chest.

I raised my fist and delivered a straight punch to that circuit.

“GRAAAH!”

The Kaijin immediately launched me with an uppercut.

Good. At least I’m out of the car now.