Public Enemy (3)

Public Enemy (3)

“Everyone, say hello. These friends here are new transfer students starting today.”

During the morning assembly, Yoon Seon-ho, who brought us, introduced us to the class.

By this time, my mind went blank. I want to go home. No, even if I go to where I’m living now, wouldn’t I still be controlled? No matter how I think about it, I didn’t come back to attend school.

“This is Kim Su-jung, and this is Lee Jin-ah. For now, why don’t you two take those empty seats in the back? The desks are a bit dusty, but they should be fine after a quick wipe.”

Yoon Seon-ho sensibly skipped the self-introductions. Putting myself in their shoes and recalling memories from 20 years ago, it’s natural for students to focus on transfer students.

I walked to the back with Kim Su-jung, who was stiff and looking only at the ground, breaking through those stares.

Maybe because I’ve seen many eyes that truly wanted to kill me, hated me, and resented me, I couldn’t really feel the stares of these youngsters.

“?”

“…Tch.”

At that moment, my eyes met someone’s. It was a female student sitting in the back, and I was slightly taken aback by her blatant hostility. The name tag read Kim Su-han.

“Then shall I start with the announcements?”

There was no time to argue there.

Yun Seon-ho immediately began class business, and it seemed he had some control over the class as the students started to focus on his words.

However, that girl from earlier, Kim Su-han, didn’t stop glaring.

“Hey, that girl is really glaring at us.”

A flustered Kim Su-jung whispered to me, tilting her head. However, I couldn’t bring myself to tell her that it wasn’t us, but me, who was being glared at.

“Just in case, you stay put.”

The homeroom period is coming to an end. I sat comfortably in my chair with my legs crossed, deflecting all those stares that felt like they could pierce through me.

But that was only because Yun Seon-ho, who was now the teacher, was here. There was no guarantee it would end with just stares after he left when homeroom was over. That’s why I warned Kim Su-jung.

“It’s clear there must be some misunderstanding. You… you’re not going to kill that girl, are you? Right?”

Ren, invisible to others, climbed onto my desk and shook my arm that was resting on the desk.

[Yes]

After a moment’s thought, I nodded. It seemed I was already involved, but I absolutely hated getting mixed up in unnecessary trouble.

Killing everyone who bothers you might be the rule in the Demon Realm, but humans are different from demons. If it’s a kid in their early teens, I was willing to let it slide once or twice.

Of course, that opportunity would only be available if they quickly realized their place and became aware of the situation.

“Hey. Transfer student.”

As soon as Yun Seon-ho left, she stood up as if she had been waiting for this moment.

It seemed my prediction was correct. The shortened school uniform compared to others, the makeup applied to a young face… It looked like this young kid had taken a wrong turn somewhere.

“What?”

“You, so arrogantly…”

“Hey, stop it, stop.”

Just as she was about to start a full-fledged argument, someone barged in and stopped her. It was a male student who was nearby.

“Are you crazy?”

“Let’s talk for a moment.”

The guy, who seemed quite close to her, grabbed her hand and pulled her outside. A small storm had passed.

Still, that storm was enough to make other children who were approaching us out of curiosity hesitate. Thanks to that, things got properly complicated. Maybe this was the intention all along.

“Kids these days are so precocious.”

“…Are you one to talk?”

Ren clicked his tongue in disbelief at my snickering remark.

“Class is about to start, but they’re not coming in… I guess we’ve been marked by our school bullies.”

“Don’t worry about unnecessary things. You should worry about your studies. It’ll be hard to catch up. You’re basically someone who hasn’t properly attended school.”

“…Don’t you have to? It’s the same for you too.”

“Me?”

I scoffed at Kim Su-jung’s words. I didn’t have any intention or need to study in the first place. Let alone middle school curriculum? I didn’t even need to look at the books.

“But not you. All your foundations are here and you’ll live here from now on. So worry about yourself. In this day and age, you need at least a good educational background to do anything, right?”

Just then, the bell rang. As the noisy children returned to their seats, the cute bully couple who had stormed out came back to the classroom.

Kim Su-han went straight to his seat with a hardened face.

“Hello?”

“…Yeah.”

This boy openly approached me and greeted me. The name on his nameplate was Park Tae-jun, a boy who looked tall and handsome for his age.

“Let’s be friends from now on. I’ll introduce you to other kids too.”

“Really? Why? I just transferred here today.”

“Well, because you’re pretty.”

A response without any hesitation. I, who was trying to find a reason why he was picking a fight, froze for a moment at this unexpected answer.

I was starting to understand this guy’s style.

“It’ll be fun if we hang out together, you know?”

The guy grinned and smirked. I erased my expression and stared into his eyes. For a kid, he was quite good at hiding his true intentions.

However, he couldn’t hide the dark malice within from the eyes of a Magical Girl.

“S-Stop it!”

Ren jumped in surprise and blocked between the guy and me.

[What have you been misunderstanding all this time?]

“I, I thought you were going to kill that guy. Think again. Being young means he has that much more opportunity.”

[…Fine. I won’t kill kids that are too young]

As the English teacher who had already started the class was writing on the blackboard, I smirked at Ren’s urgent words.

[But it’s a bit strange. Aren’t you guys supposed to do anything for results? There’s no such thing among fellow Magical Girls, right?]

“Th-There are unwritten rules. No matter how obsessed with results, we don’t touch young kids who could be the hope for the future. That’s the very premise of being a Magical Girl in the first place.”

Ren muttered, seemingly relieved, while rubbing his chest.

For now, I didn’t lie. I really had no intention of touching young kids unless absolutely necessary.

[But you know too, Ren. That guy might be young in age, but his insides are pitch black. If we leave him alone, he won’t easily leave me alone. He’s already made me his target]

“Then what do you plan to do…?”

[Well, I guess I’ll have to play along.]

The corners of my mouth turned up slightly. While I wasn’t particularly interested in childish games, I couldn’t ignore it since I wasn’t alone now.

In fact, it seemed like it could be an opportunity. A chance for the deviation I couldn’t do before due to various circumstances.

“…”

As if she sensed what I was thinking, Kim Su-jung turned to look at me with worried eyes.

I wrote a note for her to see. It said that no matter what Park Tae-jun says to me or how I act, don’t be surprised and handle it well.

And I told her not to think too much and quickly make some suitable friends.

“He’s not an ordinary guy, so I’m curious what he’ll do. But he’s just a middle school kid, how much can he really do?”

The bell rang. As the surroundings started to get noisy and the teacher packed up to leave the classroom, the boy got up from his seat and approached me as if he had been waiting for this moment.

*

‘From an institution?’

During the unbearably boring English class. Not many people were fully focused on the lesson.

Park Tae-jun, sitting in the middle, was no exception. Right now, he kept glancing at one female student.

The new transfer student who arrived today, named Lee Jin-ah. Of course, there was another female student, Kim Su-jung, next to her, but his eyes were only on Lee Jin-ah.

There was a different reason why he was attracted.

Although she herself hadn’t been aware of it at all until now, her appearance, which had been created as a magical girl’s body from the beginning, was quite remarkable.

Her striking looks, coupled with an atmosphere that didn’t match her age, were the main reasons why Kim Su-han picked a fight and Park Tae-jun took interest.

‘It would be fun to play with her.’

Moreover, Lee Jin-ah was completely different from other students.

She deals with her surroundings without any hesitation or wariness. Not knowing that this composure was the composure of someone strong enough to trample everything, he only thought about wanting to break that composure.

‘If she refuses one more time, I’ll have no choice.’

The class ended. He stood up from his seat.

The cell phone he was holding displayed a message saying that the two female students who transferred today were from a Management Bureau facility.

There was no reason not to use such a weapon when he had obtained it.

“Have you thought about it?”

“You’re only going to take me?”

“That’s right.”

“…Okay.”

However, without even needing to bring out the weapon, Lee Jin-ah accepted his proposal. He smirked.

Kim Su-jung’s face turned pale, seemingly shocked by her friend’s decision, but neither Lee Jin-ah nor Park Tae-jun paid any attention to it.

“I guarantee it’ll be fun. We can do anything.”

This wasn’t the first time he had done something like this.

A family that owns a mid-sized company and is influential in the region, an uncle who is a member of the National Assembly for the district, a cousin who is a former prosecutor, and so on.

Having been close to real power from an even younger age, he already knew well what kind of power he possessed and what it meant.

He calculated that he could easily crush a facility-raised orphan girl with no one to rely on, no matter how proud and aloof she acted.

“Hey.”

“Hmm..?”

“By the way, do you guys have any alcohol? What do kids these days do for fun?”

However, Park Tae-jun couldn’t even imagine that this beautiful girl he had his eye on was a being that completely transcended human common sense.