Chapter 82: Trial (4)

No animal exists that perfectly imitates a human.

To be precise, there isn’t a single person on Earth who can perfectly mimic another.

Miko was the type to be suspicious of anything first.

She’d give a gentle poke to the stomach; if something red and copious flowed out, it was an enemy.

If nothing flowed out, it was an ally.

Miko quickly noticed the subtle sense of incongruity surrounding Ianna.

Ianna hated having her stomach pressed more than death itself.

Though a very slight difference, Miko discerned that the scent of falsehood surrounding Ianna had grown stronger.

‘…A doll?’

Miko, who was well aware of the level reached by the Bureau’s advanced medical engineering technology—evaluated as half a century ahead of other factions—could not help but doubt Ianna’s existence.

It didn’t matter what Ianna’s true identity was.

In a very short moment, Miko, having reached a conclusion very close to the truth, had nothing left to hold her back.

A smile unknowingly spread across her face as she looked at Ianna, who was looking up at her with wide, rabbit-like eyes filled with a mixture of fear and surprise.

Ianna’s identity didn’t matter at all.

Everything was merely a pawn to bring Hojoon down.

Miko had no intention of ever forgiving Hojoon, who had dared to trample on her goodwill and raise a banner of rebellion.

Testing Ianna, instilling a bit of pleasure and fear, was akin to laying the groundwork for executing her plan.

‘Could Hojoon possibly understand such profound foresight?’

Whether Ianna remembered the past or not was unimportant.

Rather.

She couldn’t control herself, curious about the expressions of Ianna, and Hojoon, when they would be utterly distorted.

Miko smiled ominously and stroked Ianna’s hair.

***

“Ugh, uwegh, uook, weeegh……………”

I couldn’t bear the nausea.

Because a human neck, dripping with blood, was placed right in front of my nose.

“Good work, Byeolhwa.”

“…Don’t mention it.”

Han Byeolhwa, acting nonchalant, wiped the blood stained Lemegeton clean.

Below it, several corpses, their forms difficult to recognize, were laid out.

Hojoon also threw his blood-stained gloves onto them and then approached me.

“……Are you alright?”

“Uh, u-uh, yes…….”

I nodded.

Hojoon seemed to be worried about my body.

He must have been concerned about what Miko might have done to me.

Fortunately, such a thing never happened.

The moment Miko’s hand went inside my skirt, the alarm was deactivated.

I was able to scramble out, leaving Miko, who was smacking her lips in disappointment.

“Hojoon. I’ll be staying for a while. Take care of the preparations yourself, alright…?”

“I will serve you with utmost sincerity.”

As if she had never intended to commit such a lewd act, Miko had returned to her original appearance.

It was the same innocent look she had when they first met.

She was old enough to have a young daughter who smiled like that.

Screeeech-

I left Hojoon’s room, leading a creaking wheelchair.

The ‘little commotion’ had left my head quite muddled.

When I used rest as an excuse, Hojoon also readily nodded.

“Byeolhwa, earlier. Wh-What… happened…………?”

Byeolhwa’s exceptionally tired appearance was quite striking, so I was curious about what had happened.
I looked at Byeolhwa with wide eyes and asked.

“I’ll tell you when Janwol-nim is older. It’s an adult matter….”

Byeolhwa treated me like a child, looking down at me with a mature, suggestive smile.

When her unique, mysterious atmosphere overlapped with her smile, Byeolhwa’s face looked quite mystical.

“Wh-What does that mean…!”

A tremendous shock, not like a hammer, but like a drill boring into my skull, struck me.

Because I thought Byeolhwa, whom I had considered no different from a brat, had trampled on my authority.

My hands wouldn’t stop trembling.

Ianna had a ‘serious’ personality that could never accept such pranks.

It was the same even before her body became like this.

In fact, Ianna didn’t have many friends even before.

She had become an idol and an object of admiration for magical girls, but she wasn’t a ‘friendly older sister’ or a ‘charming comrade.’

Because other magical girls couldn’t easily approach her.

Ianna’s personality also contributed to the magical girls feeling uncomfortable around her.
‘Is Ianna not free (anna)?’ 

‘Puhaha! A brilliant play on words using Lady Janwol’s name! Lady Janwol will surely like it…!’

‘Right? It was worth thinking for an hour, wasn’t it?

Lady Janwol will look back at me too, right?’

Even if magical girls approached Ianna with such witty jokes and delightful pranks.

‘Uh, time? It’s fine.

But… isn’t it a bit much to call a senior magical girl by her name?

Ah, of course, I’m not saying I’m uncomfortable.

Other magical girls might find it unpleasant, so I hope you’ll be more careful in the future.’

Ianna would reply like this, tearing apart the hearts of her juniors who looked up to her.

“Puhuhup….”

Putting aside the fact that it was a very witty and funny joke, Ianna herself didn’t have the social skills to be loved by others in the first place.

One had to consider that she had grown up in the Bureau her entire life, but even so, she showed quite a serious lack of them.

Until I was reincarnated, that is.

Anyway, considering that the average age of magical girls was that of adolescent girls, Ianna’s serious and uptight attitude naturally blocked other magical girls from approaching her at the source.

No matter how hard she herself tried to approach other girls, Ianna, who couldn’t even understand such funny jokes, couldn’t fit into any group.

And so.

At some point, Ianna began to rely on the authority and fame she had built, and her age.

‘That’s not how you use Lemegeton…!’

‘Did that move…? A magical girl should move more like, paback!…!’

The images of Ianna in my memories were pitiful enough to bring tears to my eyes.

It wasn’t that she was openly ostracized like now, but magical girls of any era basically had an evasion manoeuver equipped for Ianna.

Because Ianna would nag every time she encountered them.

Ianna believed that she could become friends with other girls that way.

Except for unusual cases like Byeolmu-ri, most would have a fit and run away at Ianna’s nagging.

Anyway, the point was that Ianna didn’t have many ‘friends’ even before becoming like this.

She could earn everyone’s respect, but she couldn’t build friendships.

Perhaps, I thought, that was why Ianna was now even more obsessed with words like ‘family’ or ‘friend.’

Ianna had lost two of the three elements she could uniquely present.

She lost her authority and was reduced to a puppet, and Ianna’s name was stained with infamy.

Now, the only thing Ianna could rely on was her age, but.

“Ah, really! Stop it…!!!”

Now she was even being ignored by Byeolhwa.

This was why Ianna hated being teased as a bedwetter to the point of freaking out.

Because she thought her last shred of adult authority was crumbling.

I tried to scold Byeolhwa with a smile that exuded ‘adult composure,’ but suddenly I felt frustrated and tears welled up.

Han Byeolhwa, who had even more hopeless social skills than Ianna, didn’t know what to do seeing me like that.

Just as pranks precede confessions for boys who like a girl in childhood.

It seemed Han Byeolhwa was also ‘pranking’ me to get closer.

But I had no intention of simply letting it pass as a prank.

After making Han Byeolhwa extremely embarrassed by crying my eyes out.

As compensation, I planned to make her buy me the most expensive, melt-in-your-mouth chocolate from a vending machine.

I was going to eat it all myself, right in front of Han Byeolhwa, without giving her a single piece.

‘What a truly demonic thought…!’

Ianna’s brain was developing in this wicked direction.

And.

A little later, my mouth was full of chocolate.