Chapter 45 : Becoming a Shining Star

There are things that become clearer in the world of 0s and 1s.

Parents’ hearts.

Adults’ movements.

The flow of public opinion.

When they have substance, they’re incredibly complex.

But if you convert everything to points and draw a picture, a clear image emerges.

Dorim realized this at a very young age in her corner of the room.

Her parents’ divorce when she was young was just two immature people failing to love each other.

The adults who tried to use her were just restless due to their own goals.

The fickleness of ever-changing public opinion was just countless people’s words flowing in like waves.

To the girl who could now see the world broadly, this world didn’t look too bad.

Whoosh―

The sound of wind brushing her ears pounded her eardrums, and at some point, she couldn’t hear anything.

“Huu…”

Dorim briefly took in the sight of Jongno, who now looked smaller than her palm, and then raised her gaze again. And she slowly rose into the sky with both hands spread, carrying the bomb.

0101010100101010101…

What she felt swimming through the sea of data with cyberbrain swimming was the emotions of countless people.

One small money transfer.

There, she felt a father’s heart worrying his son might be going hungry.

An order history for one cheap suit set.

There, she felt a female college student’s determination preparing for tomorrow’s challenge.

A hastily booked plane ticket from Jeju Island on university interview day.

There, she felt the excitement of a high school student on the verge of success.

The post history of one ID on a community site that had decreased from some day.

There, she felt the joy of a man who had succeeded in finding another interesting topic.

0101100101010010101010…

This world drawn in points was definitely not hell.

In this world, there was beauty in various and fascinating emotions boiling up and spreading in an instant.

At least, that’s what Dorim thought.

Whoosh―

The color of the sky surrounding her was gradually darkening.

Beyond the bomb, the other side looked like an endless darkness close to navy blue.

Her fingertips were freezing, and her breath, barely held with psychic power, was becoming rough.

“Huh… huu…”

Dorim looked down again.

There was the place where she was born, grew up, saw, felt, and loved.

That sight felt so beautiful that Dorim cried.

[Dorim! It’s dangerous! Come down!!]

She felt an email from Sanghyuk coming to the contact address she had left open for the Executive Director of the Supernatural Ability Countermeasures Team.

The mister seemed to have somehow escaped from there and urgently seen the news about Dorim.

“Hehe… mister… your head… was getting pretty empty…”

Sanghyuk, who couldn’t continue his married life with his wife’s legacy.

From the moment he met Dorim, who had run away from her parents’ fight, in the apartment park on the day he stamped the divorce papers, he volunteered to be Dorim’s friend.

The middle-aged man who had weathered life’s storms became a surprisingly excellent friend to the child with too high a mental age.

‘Let’s not hate people.’

His heart was filled with worry that the smart Dorim might look at this world and despise it.

‘Let’s live liking people.’

“Mister, I’ve never… not even once hated people.”

Dorim conveyed her sincere feelings that Sanghyuk couldn’t hear.

“Because, it’s this beautiful.”

Crack

Dorim’s unique weapon, the VR goggles, couldn’t withstand the lack of magical power and broke.

Since they were originally a lump of magical power, the goggles completely shattered once they lost their form.

Clink

Clink

Dorim’s face, shaking off the shattered goggles, was smiling.

Just knowing that someone remembers you can give you strength.

[Dorim, Mom is sorry!! Come back quickly!!]

[Dorim! I was wrong! Dad was wrong!!]

Ah.

That’s a relief.

“I didn’t particularly hate you. I just hope you find new love and live well.”

Dorim, smiling broadly, forgave her parents, who at least hadn’t completely forgotten her.

They, too, were immature adults living just one life, and Dorim herself was just an immature girl.

…She decided to think that way.

―!

Even the muffled wind sound that had been hitting her ears disappeared, and only a cold silence was felt in the sky.

One breath turned to ice, making her lungs cold.

Her two hands holding the bomb were already numb, sensation gone.

“Huh… hup… huu…”

She had left even the clouds below her feet; now all she felt was endless darkness.

Darkness…

“Huu… hup…”

Dizzy.

Dorim, who almost lost consciousness in the darkness for a moment, gritted her teeth.

“Not yet… not yet…!”

[Dorim! Are you really okay?]

[Dorim! Thank you for always protecting us!]

[Magical girl of Cyberbrain, fighting!! You must come back!!]

[Strongest middle school student Kang Eunseol!]

[Korea’s strongest magical girl!]

“Ha… haha…!”

The girls… the unnies who came and went to the Supernatural Ability Countermeasures Headquarters.

She thought she had just quietly done her own work while keeping her distance because it was difficult to get along with them, who seemed to enjoy themselves without thinking.

But they had always been cheering for what Dorim was doing.

“Now… Eunbit unnie will protect them well…”

As long as they’ve entered [Beginning]’s domain, at least as far as Dorim knows, the kindest, most foolish, and purest king will protect them.

010110001110101010110101010110…

[Is this email going to Miss Kang Eunseol?]

[Thank you, magical girl!]

[I’m cheering for you while watching the news now!]

[Thanks to you, I was able to open a store safely with my son without being scammed. Thank you so much!]

[You’re coming back, right? Right? What are we supposed to do without the magical girl of [Cyberbrain] in Korea!]

[I’m cheering for you while watching the news at home now!!]

[It would feel too gloomy in Korea without Dorim!! Come back!!]

010101010011100111010101011010101…

[I’ll send a few fruit baskets to the Supernatural Ability Countermeasures Headquarters when work is over! You must come!]

[I’ve made beef bone soup, you must come eat it.]

[Thank you, Kang Eunseol!]

[Dorim is such a cute name; why are you changing it~ You must come back safely!]

[Eunseol unnie, please come back safely!]

[It’s a big deal now; you’re the only magical girl in the world who stopped a terrorist attack!]

[Crying while watching the news… thank you, magical girl! For protecting us!!]

[I’m proud that Dorim is the most amazing magical girl after Beginning!]

101010011010101110101000101010101010…

Look.

Don’t their hearts contain a warmth that can’t be changed into a single point?

Dorim found it lovable.

Dorim was proud of it.

Zzzzt

Zzzzt

Had she reached her limit?

Ash-gray noise occurred all over Dorim’s body, and her strength rapidly drained.

“Ugh… huu…!”

Let’s hang in there.

“Uaa… uaaaaaaaa!!!”

Dorim mustered her strength to protect the people cheering for her and whom she cheered for.

00:57

00:56

00:55

As far as possible, as fast as possible.

The current speed wasn’t enough.

Farther and faster.

So that no one would get hurt and could greet tomorrow with a smile…!

If someone asked Dorim why she was going this far, she would answer like this:

“Because… I’m a magical girl…!”

Because I’m a magical girl who wants to love and protect everyone!

Woong

She felt her Glass Star vibrating greatly.

She felt countless people seeing her as a single point rising into the sky and feeling hope.

Hundreds of millions of hearts were connected to her, cheering her on.

The world.

The world the girl loved was now answering.

Dorim’s bloomed magical girl outfit, the loose T-shirt, was covered in dazzling light.

No longer anxiously preparing for the future alone.

For a magical girl who loves the world and connects the hope of tens of millions as one.

She needs an outfit befitting that.

01010110101010010110101010110001101…

The stickers densely attached to the T-shirt scattered as pieces of magical power, becoming a large ribbon wrapping around her waist.

Above the silver ribbon, the wishes and hopes of countless people still being endlessly sent were floating as 0s and 1s.

Glass slippers formed on her small bare feet along with a gentle light.

Her tangled and messy ash-gray hair straightened out, and silver light rose.

When the dazzling light that had covered Dorim’s entire body cleared, scattering ash-gray crystals.

A magical girl was wearing a silver dress.

Fully bloomed 3-star magical girl of [Cyberbrain]

Kang Dorim

The girl who loved the world amidst the wishes and hopes of countless people truly bloomed her shining third star.

[Dorim!! Now!!]

Eunbit’s voice was faintly heard.

The domain was completed.

“If it’s now…!”

Dorim felt the faint domain that she normally couldn’t have grasped resonating with her third star and permeating.

Dorim raised her spread hands.

[Cyberbrain] Magical Girl’s Unique Skill

Cyberbrain World

“Farther! Completely out!”

Dorim shouted while gathering magical power in both hands.

“So that people won’t get hurt!!”

The ash-gray magical power was intertwined with silver threads and spread out hugely while giving form to people’s hopes that had turned into 0s and 1s.

Some magical power became giant heavy equipment and pushed the bomb away

Some magical power became virtual heroes and pushed the bomb away

Some magical power became Dorim’s form and pushed the bomb away

The virtual world containing people’s hearts became reality, pushing away the madman’s malice.

Hope mixed with ash-gray and silver materialized, opening a huge ballroom in the dark universe.

Ominous magical power spewed from the bomb that had advanced far away, pushed by an incomparable mass to anything so far.

00:00

Flash.

Boooooom!

Even in the face of the violence of enormous light and energy, the Cinderella of the virtual world was smiling.

Even if the ball ended, she could return leisurely.

To the world she loves.