The Virtues of a Magical Girl (4)

The Virtues of a Magical Girl (4)

“Hello everyone? I’m Oh In-sun, a researcher from The One Road.”

Accompanied by her colleagues, she introduced herself to the students she faced with a smile. Her behavior was confident and her voice was unwavering and self-assured.

It couldn’t be otherwise. She firmly believed that she was righteous and working for justice and a greater cause.

‘There are over a billion people just in the country, but we have to come all the way here and do this?’

However, the face behind this mask is cold. Although she moves according to orders as usual, she doesn’t particularly think those orders are right.

“I believe you all know what kind of amazing discovery we’ve made and what we’re here to talk about.”

She continued the briefing as planned. The content of her explanation was the same as the rumors that had already spread.

“We have succeeded in uncovering part of the secret of magical girls. We’ve managed to get a little closer to understanding the power they wield.”

A small bottle she took out from her chest. The bright yellow liquid swirling inside was the subject. For a moment, everyone’s gaze, seemingly surprised, focused on that intriguing liquid.

Seeing this, she smiled faintly. It was clearly a sneer, but no one noticed.

[Interesting]

Well, there was one being who had seen through her intentions from the start, sitting askew with legs crossed in a chair, but they were simply not stepping forward in order to gain more information.

“If we drink that, do we become magical girls?”

“If you drink it…? Well, to put it simply, yes.”

In the meantime, an excited male student raised his hand and asked a question. Oh In-sun nodded as if it was a satisfactory reaction.

‘We must find a vessel with over 90% compatibility. Even if we have to search the entire world.’

Behind the smiling mask, Oh In-sun bit her lip.

It wasn’t for nothing that they had revealed themselves at this timing and come all the way here to start their activities. They had to carry out the crucial mission assigned by their superiors.

“Magical power is not just simple energy. It’s a miraculous force that can change the essence of things. Our researchers are studying this technology for the progress and peace of humanity. The reason we’ve come to meet you all today is that we can challenge it together. Show them what we have achieved.”

She continued speaking with a smile. The outward purpose was clearly ordinary promotion. In fact, she only said and did things related to that.

At her command, a colleague standing next to her, wearing a hood pulled low, stretched out his hand and ignited a flame above it. He was clearly a man, and not a monster but an ordinary person. In other words, this was a scene that defied common sense.

“Wow…”

“So it’s true that they can use the power of magical girls…”

Naturally, people were captivated by that power. She only added a final, meaningful remark about hoping to work together.

‘It is presumed that it’s not here.’

However, their true purpose was not yet finished.

While Oh In-sun and others were doing their work, there was one person who was doing nothing but scanning students, blending in with the crowd.

“All duds. We’d be lucky to salvage a few for other experiments.”

“Mammoth… What a hassle because of that crazy monster.”

The event that went around the whole school ended around afternoon. Oh In-sun, who had been chattering all morning, took off her characteristic mask and frowned.

She wasn’t the only one dissatisfied; others felt the same way. This whole affair was decided more hastily than the original plan.

The reason was the horrific biological experiments showcased by the organization that had joined hands with Mammoth. The test subjects, with their selves and reason completely destroyed, controlled by programs and electrodes in their brains, were clearly weapons that could exert superhuman strength by artificially manipulating magical power – weapons that even magical girls couldn’t touch.

Seeing this, the higher-ups were urging to hurry the work, fearing they might fall behind other factions.

“With these fake injections…”

“Watch your mouth for now, Danny.”

Oh In-sun snorted at one of her colleague’s grumbling.

The magical girl serum shown to students today was actually fake. After all, there’s no way such powerful law-defying strength could be obtained through a mere injection. Of course, it wasn’t entirely wrong since they were ultimately doing all this to ‘create’ it.

The fake serum was just a means to attract attention. The real thing was separate.

“We, who have the full support of the party, can’t fall behind those mere criminal organization guys. Anyway, there was no one here, right? Then we should move on to the next school.”

Oh In-sun smirked and packed her things.

While attracting attention, one of her colleagues had already finished investigating all the students. The result was a bust.

This meant there was nothing more to see here.

*

“What are these guys trying to do? So blatantly…”

“Each one was a murderer, or worse in malice. It was certainly a bit unusual.”

I chuckled at Ren’s muttering as he sat above my head, looking down at the window. The One Road researchers who visited today.

Research on magical power has recently become a hot potato globally, but to me, it seemed extremely suspicious.

“Ugh… It’s true that they’ve made some progress. Humans originally could barely contain magical power using mana stones. But those guys just now didn’t use mana stones. They didn’t become monsters, nor were they copies of monsters or magical girls.”

“Literally a new human species.”

I nodded at Ren’s serious words.

They were different from the experimental subjects we’ve encountered so far. They had truly implanted magical power into their bodies, controlling and utilizing it while maintaining their sanity.

“What you just said, I heard it from dad just now?”

At that moment, Park Tae-joon approached, scratching his head. He had moved diligently as I instructed and brought back the answer.

“Tell me.”

“One Way. Those people, although they have a branch in Korea, they’re originally supported by the Chinese government and have their headquarters in China. Wasn’t the internet buzzing about this in the first place?”

He told me exactly what he had confirmed. Their nationality didn’t matter at all, but it was certainly an interesting fact.

“Hmm, it’s one of the notorious places even among us.”

Ren shuddered as he talked about China’s unique characteristics. The situation was different from other countries that couldn’t control most magical girls.

“They control hundreds of magical girls and use them as their private army. Fairy companies have no power there. No matter how young and inexperienced, somehow the magical girls voluntarily pledge loyalty to the Communist Party. It’s incomparable to how Aria, the magical girl here, cooperates willingly with the Management Bureau.”

“So?”

“It was a natural progression for humans here to become interested in magical power, a miraculous force they can’t handle, if we look at our history. From the beginning, I was certain that if they saw results, they would actively exploit the loyal magical girls there.”

Ren finished his explanation with a troubled look. It was about a field I didn’t know or care about, but I listened to the end because it was somewhat interesting.

In short, it was one of the few places where various experiments that criminal organizations had longed for could be attempted under state leadership.

“Well, I don’t think other places would be much different, but certainly, we can’t compare.”

Returning to my seat, I dismissed the thought. I was considering wiping them out since there was some justification, but then I wondered why I should bother taking the initiative.

“…That’s probably why other magical girls don’t touch them. If they do, they might have to face numerous magical girls in the mainland as enemies.”

“I don’t care about that stuff. What bothers me is why they’re doing this here instead of in their own country.”

Simple cooperation, gentle promotion? I wouldn’t even care about such things.

What bothered me was the anxiety of what kind of interference might come ‘again’ just when I thought I could live peacefully and have some fun.

“And even if there’s a problem, I’m sure they’ll handle it well on their own.”

I smiled faintly as I watched the noisy children. Kim Su-jung was among them. The commotion wasn’t because of those guys who just came and went.

I turned on my phone, following the children.

Magical girls have always been celebrities surpassing even entertainers since their appearance. Especially the stronger and more mysterious ones.

“Hmm, is this our company’s new recruit? Fluffy took charge of her, I see.”

Ren muttered while watching the video on my phone. As expected of a mascot, he’s very analytical about magical girls.

“She’s a bit older. High school age, perhaps? Unlike you, her personal color is bright gold, not gloomy. But there’s some exposure of legs and chest with that short skirt and outfit. Seems like she’s been repressed in some way. However…”

“She’s incredibly strong.”

I snorted.

On the screen, Seria, who had summoned a huge magic circle in the air, turned a rampaging monster into dust with a single strike of massive lightning emitted from it.

The magical girl specialist internet broadcaster, who was filming the scene live, zoomed in on her face, which wasn’t much different from the original. Her beautiful face was flushed.

However, having already spoken with her once, I knew that this wasn’t due to the excitement of battle, but rather embarrassment about the exposed parts of her body.

“Shall we go welcome our junior then?”

Since she’s here anyway, she’ll find out about my identity. I intended to give her a welcome ceremony without hiding anything. Magical girl to magical girl.