Chapter 37 : Supernatural Ability Countermeasures Headquarters

[Kang Eunbit]

Inside the nameplate with the Supernatural Ability Countermeasures Team’s logo, there was a hastily taken photo of me with the white wall behind the office as the background.

My face in the photo was slightly retouched to remove some Western features, changed to a level that could barely pass as a mix of Asian and Western.

It was such a subtle retouching that when comparing the photo to the real person, you might think, ‘Did I see something wrong?’

“From now on, Eunbit unnie is a Korean citizen born in a local foreign worker family who attended a rural branch school in Gangwon-do.”

“It’s been a week since Miss Eunbit, who originally lived in the countryside, was discovered late to be a magical girl and is having an adaptation period as an intern, staying at the annex of the Supernatural Ability Countermeasures Team.”

“Just show it casually when regular employees ask, ‘Who are you, and why are you following us around?’”

“It seems it will take a long time to make a full-fledged disguise identity, so you can just use this to the extent that you can temporarily present.”

Dorim and Sanghyuk completed an alibi for my existence in an instant, exchanging words with each other without pause.

‘But is this okay?’

I just expected a foreign volunteer or high school exchange student identity, but quite an official identity was created.

“How far can I use this identity?”

“Well, it depends on how far Miss Eunbit decides to reveal her identity from now on, right?”

“If you go to Yeouido and do a magic show saying ‘Accept me as a citizen, you bastards!’, you might even get a passport issued that day.”

“Naturalization of a bloomed magical girl? Wow… even with just Dorim and Park Saebyeok, the country was in an uproar; I wonder how much of a festival it would be.”

If I really did that, the friends I left in Japan would literally call me into the Garden with the threat of shattering their Glass Stars, an emergency Walpurgis meeting would be convened, and all of Japan’s news would report my naturalization (=return).

All magical girls would be shocked, saying, ‘Ehhh?! The Faceless King was actually Korean?!’

‘Hmm…’

It was tempting enough to want to record it as a special hidden camera episode, but I decided not to because I wasn’t confident I could handle the aftermath seriously.

‘Let’s maintain the stateless, mystery concept when acting as [Beginning].’

With only 8 months left until [War]’s advent, it was barely enough to soothe the current companions as much as possible and recruit new ones. This kind of disruption wasn’t good.

“Thank you, I’ll use it well.”

“It’s nothing, then from now on…”

Click

Sanghyuk connected the laptop he brought from the office to the projector placed in the small conference room where only we were, then turned on the power.

“Do you two go hiking together?”

The laptop’s background was a photo of Dorim with black hair braided so long it dragged on the ground and Sanghyuk in hiking clothes, awkwardly putting their arms around each other’s shoulders on a mountain peak.

The photo didn’t fit the screen ratio so it was chunky and cut off, and in the blurry photo, Dorim looked droopy like boiled vegetables, while Sanghyuk had his eyes closed.

“We went to shake off all the bad memories together before Dorim became a magical girl…”

“Ah, stop saying unnecessary things and just start the PPT, mister.”

Crack

As ash-gray lasers shot out from Dorim’s hands, the background instantly changed to a clean monochrome default background, and she found and executed the PPT file among the work security folders.

[Global Supernatural Ability Manifestation Situation Report (2011.9.22.)]

“It looks like a grandiose title, but it’s just everything strange I gathered through cyberbrain swimming.”

“Most of the PPT content is about the Japanese situation where there’s a lot of confirmed information, so what I want to tell you is towards the back.”

Scroll

Scroll

Along with the sound of the mouse wheel scrolling, the recent situations of named magical girls in Japan (Sumire, Himari, etc.), and how the Garden was running passed by.

Because the Japanese media was excited about the appearance of magical girls and pushed back news from abroad, I was at a loss for words when it moved to the accurate recent situations of countries around the world that I couldn’t properly see through newspapers or news.

“This is…”

“Actually, the attitudes of Korea and Japan towards magical girls can be seen as quite unusual when viewed globally.”

“People who come asking to borrow magical girls from other countries are all surprised.”

Somewhere in Europe, inside a magnificent white marble building with a dome-shaped roof, three girls were wearing dresses made of dazzlingly white fabric and shining belts decorated with golden thread.

Those who had been given terminal diagnoses were shedding tears of joy as they regained health with just one gesture from the girls. And the enormous crowd watching this was bowing their heads to the girls.

“In other regions where the number of magical girls isn’t as high as in Northeast Asia and Russia, this level of treatment for magical girls using full-fledged healing abilities that appeared before and after the debutante is common.”

An Indian girl, decorated so much that her entire body looked golden due to the light, was wearing a veil on her head that seemed to be over 10 meters long.

The crowd gathered to watch dozens of servants carrying that veil praised and bowed to the goddess incarnate.

“All those people prostrating there are high enough in society to be ranked among the world’s richest.”

“The bald bearded mister in a suit in the very front row is a director of some successful PMC company.”

“…”

“There are several countries that have argued that the red broadcast is a ‘prophecy to give birth to divine incarnations through competition’ and that we should wage a war to steal stars from magical girls of other countries.”

Desire.

“The debutante itself that happened in Japan became a topic because of the high proportion of Japanese magical girls, but globally, including ordinary people, they’re still taking the ‘steal the stars’ part of the ‘red broadcast’ more deeply.”

“It’s rather ironic that Japan, where the majority of magical girls are, is calm.”

Plunder.

“Except for Japan, where magical girls are protected by the Faceless King, and Korea, China, and Russia, which quickly incorporated them into national groups and operate them as human resources, this kind of strongly religious atmosphere is dominant.”

“Actually, we forget because of Company Commander Park Saebyeok who goes around the country doing healing activities, but the miracle of healing the sick is worthy of being called a divine miracle just by its existence.”

“Which country was it? The Middle East? There was even talk of a 2-star magical girl successfully carrying out a coup d’état alone.”

“There’s a rumor that the U.S. will soon implement a magical girl recruitment operation worldwide.”

“They’re being very cautious about Eunbit unnie’s words because they don’t really know the operating principle of magical girls.”

I felt my mind going blank even while listening to Dorim and Sanghyuk’s exchange.

I thought I had avoided the Fujimoto-style magical girl bibimbap by pulling the gravity of fate through the debutante, which was no different from a future knowledge cheat, to raise the level of magical girls in one go.

‘While the regions where the majority of magical girls are located are barely maintaining peace, this is no matter how you look at it…’

A powder keg.

It was the appearance of desire overflowing and about to burst.

The madness that dominated Japan just before the Fujimoto disturbance in the original work.

“Really… this is worse than I thought.”

“Eunbit unnie didn’t know because countries trying to make a move on Japan were holding back out of caution for you, but actually, it’s the most tempting honey pot, so their desperation to test the waters is extraordinary.”

“Korea too, many hesitate to come test the waters from abroad because they’re cautious of Dorim.”

“Well, my ability is kind of like a cheat key in modern society.”

Dorim blurted out a self-praise and spun around on the swivel chair.

“Was it because of these things that you said you had something to ask me, that you were anxious?”

“…”

I thought that as the magical girl of [Cyberbrain], encountering this kind of information would make <Magical Girl HAZARD> itself feel like a kind of powder keg.

It was a scene where it wouldn’t be strange if they were seized by madness at any time and waged a war to steal stars, and 2-star girls who harbored hatred for society ran wild while fighting.

“That… this… it’s just my intuition so I didn’t put it in the PPT to show others.”

“Okay.”

“That woman who gave us the Glass Stars at the first red broadcast… well, god? devil? anyway.”

Dorim spoke to me for the first time with a slightly pale, terrified expression.

“I don’t know if I felt this because my ability is like this or before I bloomed, but I just felt from that voice that everything should be ruined.”

The will of the evil gods.

“It’s like a will or resignation saying to fight quickly and show your true nature because you will be ruined anyway? Ah shit, I’m getting confused as I say it.”

“…So the Supernatural Ability Countermeasures Team tried to maintain Korean society in its original form? While protecting themselves by showing the power of magical girls?”

Instinctively rebelling against the will of the evil gods.

“Well, that’s part of it…”

“As for me, I just followed along since I suddenly became team leader for the merit of bringing this kid.”

Sanghyuk shrugged with a humorous smile, and Dorim was about to say something seeing that but then chuckled.

They soon laughed as if they had thought of the same thing.

“…I shouldn’t have gone to the mountain together then.”

“Why? It’s heroic and good.”

“Hero, my ass, while trying to dump me on a deserted island.”

“Dorim is right.”

“Huh?”

“What?”

“Humanity in this world will be destroyed next year at this rate.”

Hearing those words, Dorim and Sanghyuk were looking at me with slightly surprised eyes.

I was strongly impressed by the two who were moving forward, relying on each other even in uncertainty.

“I came to Korea to prevent that.”

“…”

“…”

Sanghyuk and Dorim started to focus on my words.