episode_0036

One thing for sure, James the technician is a technician.

Not just any technician, but an exceptionally outstanding one.

If we were to compare him to Earthlings, he would probably be as famous in the field of power generation. What if we think of him as someone researching nuclear fusion?

Due to the overly broad and deep nature of modern science and technology, it is impossible for one person to fully grasp everything alone as originally intended. At least that’s how it has been for scientists on Earth so far.

Even building a single generator involves different parts within it, and even those parts cannot be made by one person’s effort alone. Each process, each theory belongs to a different expert domain, and each person has a different way of conducting research.

So theoretically, it’s almost impossible for someone involved in designing a nuclear fusion generator to have specialized knowledge about high-speed communication. The areas of study are too different.

However, strangely enough, James seems to be an exception.

“Who do you think made the suit and circuits you wore?”

Well… when you think about it, even suits fall under different specialized fields. It’s the difference between a generator and an advanced combat suit powered by that generator.

“And you think you made them all?”

In response to my words, James replied with a smirk.

“You could say I know enough to be called a craftsman.”

Ah, I see.

Moreover, a typical craftsman seems to be someone who hesitates to teach others the most basic aspects of their craft.

Of course, no matter how intelligent a species may be, there are physical limits and limits to the knowledge individuals can possess. While the limits of knowledge are infinitely higher than those of humans, well, there’s no need to put it into words.

If caught on Earth without a translation device, one might truly end up being raised as a pet.

Therefore, ultimately, one has no choice but to share knowledge with others. While receiving help from a larger species from another planet when creating something is important, it is more crucial to establish a network through knowledge like Earthlings to counteract against those who have already built a network. This is because relying solely on “individual strength” poses a significant problem.

Forming nations, joining federations, getting employed at companies.

Craftsmen have survived in this manner. And among them, to repair specific parts, it is most convenient for someone of craftsman-like stature to enter or to mend critical parts with knowledge known only to oneself, showcasing their ingenuity.

While the space vessels created by craftsmen are renowned for their exceptional performance, they also share a common difficulty – their maintenance is consistently challenging, making them a rather closed group compared to planetary inhabitants who have joined the interstellar federation.

It seems James was the same way when working at the company.

“Did anyone say anything?”

“If I don’t do anything, the one who incurs losses is the company.”

“…Wasn’t things like kidnapping researchers something you wanted to do?”

Recalling James waiting alone in the car without any other subordinates, I asked, and James shrugged his shoulders.

“If necessary information is available, it must be extracted. I had the authority to do so.”

“…”

Have you ever considered that all these events might have been your fault?

Well, if there were indeed humans within the company contemplating using James, they would have taken definitive action sooner or later, even if not at that moment. And in the eyes of company personnel, someone like me, deemed as ‘James’s ally,’ might have been seen as a threat. In some way or another.

From the very beginning, it was a mistake for me to join such a company, so I have no right to blame them for that.

However, I couldn’t help but say this.

“Aren’t you causing trouble just because you’re reckless towards the company?”

James ignored my words.

Perhaps he couldn’t deny it himself.

As James glanced at me, who was sighing deeply, he simply disregarded it.

*

I decided to act without involving Earthlings.

Although it was inevitable that information leaked to Earthlings since we were planning our strategy in a place with only one room, James didn’t seem to pay much attention to it.

To some extent, it seemed like an attitude of ‘You’ll have to deal with it yourself.’ Perhaps he trusted me, given that I hadn’t reported to other humans so far.

Or maybe it was recklessness. Considering that he was already marginalized within the company and essentially engaging in actions akin to terrorism, the reasons he confided in me might have been merely fabricated.

In reality, his main goal might just be to seek revenge on the person who had tried to kill him.

“…”

Even if I felt exploited, it didn’t particularly bother me. After all, this was the extent of what I could do right now.

So, ‘It’s okay’ wasn

We were on the rooftop of a building. We moved here just like normal when we came up this far.

Where we were is right in the heart of Seoul. It’s also in Gangnam, of course, but it was also a bit away from Noir Corporation.

It’s an important facility, so naturally they would have placed it right in the center of Seoul. That way, magical girls wouldn’t be able to attack when the location is revealed.

The building I was on was a few floors too high, so it looked easy to enter the adjacent building.

But asking if I should jump down was crazy, even though it was high enough to ask.

How will the magical girls infiltrate? They’re probably thinking something similar to me. They’ll probably enter through the rooftop.

“The magical girls are moving. Looks like they don’t plan to use a warp point today.”

“Why? That would be much faster.”

“Well, I’m not someone who knows everything.”

But even as he said that, James paused for a moment, then spoke up.

“Perhaps there’s an issue with ‘hope.’ The energy used for warping is substantial.”

I recalled the contents of the webtoon.

It was a long time ago from my perspective, so I don’t remember it well. Still, compared to other works, I have relatively clear memories. I enjoyed it quite a bit during its blog serialization, waiting weeks or even months for each installment.

Although the officially serialized webtoon that came out once a week ended prematurely.

And this world was the same world as that ‘official webtoon.’ The comedic manga that twisted clichés had become overly serious.

One notable detail I remembered was that the magical girls’ circuit also received help from Blossom’s abundant energy. So if something happened to Blossom, the firepower of the other magical girls would decrease. Iris was no exception.

… Could it be because of that?

Because I… am Ha Yoon’s close friend.

Certainly, if it were Ha Yoon, she seemed like the kind of person who would be shocked even if a classmate got hurt. If a close friend like me was in this state, it wouldn’t be strange if there were issues with the ‘hope’ she held.

“Do you worry about the magical girls?”

James asked mockingly, and I ignored his words.

“Well, thanks to that, we have some time now.”

“By the way, does this smartphone not leave any connection records?”

James asked while looking at the smartphone he held.

“This smartphone is made specifically for combatants. Even if connection records were left, there would be no record of who accessed it. I turned off all power on the way here.”

Would leaving connection records around here even matter?

“Besides, if we destroy it properly this time, whether connection records are left or not won’t matter.”

“That’s true.”

I took a deep breath.

If I’m not nervous, it’s a lie. I only have this much to do, but in reality, I don’t want to do much. I just wanted to keep running away like this if possible.

I won’t be able to meet Hae Yoon… Wisdom.

…

Yes, in the end, I guess I did. I admit that.

“So, what’s the plan?”

“It’s nothing special. When the magical girls arrive, we’ll break visible equipment inside the base. I’ll accompany you and let you know about important equipment first, so start by breaking that.”

“Okay.”

I nodded.

Then I said to James, “How do we get inside?”

“If you use that magic you showed me last time, it should be enough. Well… maybe it could have more than just a sufficient effect. If things break due to the black hole as we enter, wouldn’t that itself be a great attack?”

“I see.”

I nodded.

Then I asked again, “How do you use that?”

James’s head, which had been planning the operation in my hand, suddenly looked up.

“…”

“…”

For a while, we both looked at each other without saying a word.

“No, wait a minute.”

James put a hand to his forehead and said, “You really don’t know?”

“… I don’t. No, more importantly, how do you transform in the first place?”

“You should have known that!”

James rolled his foot on top of my hand.

Ironically, it was me who was flustered upon hearing that.

“No, even if you say that… I wasn’t even fully conscious when I transformed.”

I was in that situation when I woke up, and I wasn’t even aware that the transformation was complete, and I just instinctively thought to run away.

That’s right. At that moment, I never consciously made a decision.

“Energy! How about the energy!?”

I showed him my smartwatch.

As I flipped my hand, James’s body swayed, but even in his confused

No, if you really want to nitpick, I did fall. I just fell forward and landed on my left hand.

And in that position, I touched the smartwatch.

A spinning compass needle-like thing appeared on the smartwatch again. When James touched the screen once more, this time numbers appeared.

81 percent.

“Why is the value like this!?”

No, you should ask me that.

I have a guess… it’s not completely unfathomable.

At least I felt a bit relieved these days. The reason why it didn’t drop below 80 percent is probably because I was still very anxious.

But even so, I didn’t want to say that to James. He would just take advantage of my unhappiness, thinking it would benefit him.

“Hurry up and think unhappy thoughts! Otherwise, this operation will fail! Do you want to be captured and become an experimental material for the Galactic Federation!? Since you’ve done such a thing, the government won’t help you this time!”

They never helped me in the first place.

“More importantly, I don’t know how to use things like black holes after transforming.”

“Do magical girls naturally use them?”

You’ve never been a magical girl, have you?

I swallowed my dissatisfaction and sighed.

…Well.

James is right anyway. If I keep acting like this, I’ll be the only one at a disadvantage.

James has already set the stage, and the magical girls are coming here. I have to move accordingly.

I carefully placed James on the floor.

Then I took a few steps back and closed my eyes.

I thought about my current situation.

It wasn’t difficult. It’s much harder to calm your mind through meditation than to dwell on bad thoughts before bed.

I forcibly brought up the worries I had set aside.

I thought about an uncertain future.

To my surprise, the circuit started vibrating immediately. It felt like something powerful was spinning inside.

And that unsettling feeling dragged me further down.

“Okay, got it!”

Even James’s encouragement annoyed me. There’s no way someone who encourages me to be unhappy from the start could be comforting. I’m not that masochistic.

I slowly opened my eyes.

The heat was rising in the circuit.

Just that made me feel much stronger than when I was fully geared up as a combatant.

However—

100 percent.

…

I still couldn’t transform.

Why?

“Transform, transform!”

Although James shouted, I couldn’t do it.

I remembered that moment. I was beaten all over, with wires even wrapped around my body. Not just any wires, but a heavy wire mesh that could easily injure someone just by placing it on them.

Only when I was caught in such a situation and about to be dragged away to an unknown place could I barely transform.

Do I have to face such a situation again to transform?

With that thought, the circuit heated up even more. The humming sound grew louder.

But there was no overflow.

Was this circuit designed by James for transformation? It seemed so on the surface, but maybe not in reality.

I knew the energy I generated could protect my body, but maybe I didn’t create the suit simply because I was in a hurry then.

I had to hide.

So, maybe this wasn’t equipment for transformation in the first place, and I was able to transform forcibly.

Do I have to endure more hits, more torment?

Do I have to face such a situation every time I solve a problem in the future?

The circuit was hot. The heat felt like it could warm my body.

But strangely, my body was getting colder. I felt like curling up on the floor right away. But I knew that wouldn’t solve anything. The cold was emanating from inside my body.

It was cold.

“Got it! That’s it!”

I closed my eyes tightly again and clenched my fists.

And muttered.

“Transform.”

And—

Nothing happened.

“Transform!”

I shouted again, but nothing happened.

I became anxious.

Could it be that I focused too much on subverting webtoon clichés and neglected to follow this one?

The circuit was intensely hot, and my body was cold. Even without putting my ear to it, the humming sound was deafening.

“Please, transform!”

No matter how much I shouted—

“…Jieun?”

“….”

My heart sank at that voice.

I slowly opened my eyes.

The voice came from above.

Up there, there were various magical girls.

My clothes were fluttering. Black smoke was gradually rising from the circuit. It wasn’t covering my body completely.

Suddenly, I felt a sensation of my pants being pulled. Something felt like it was crawling up my body—

“Hurry and transform!”

James climbed onto my shoulders and shouted.

“If you don’t transform right now…!”

I don’t know what to do.

Ah, I just wanted to die.

In front of Ha-yoon, how hard I tried to take care of myself. I tried to look cool in my own way. Honestly, collecting music CDs was also for that reason. Even though you can just stream them, it seems more convincing if you pretend to know about them like this.

But, it’s ruined.

Because someone shouted about transformation in front of me.

There doesn’t seem to be such a thing as transformation in magical girl transformations. Well, in officially serialized webtoons, all transformation scenes were skipped, but in the version serialized on the blog before, there were people who thought shouting out transformation made sense.

So.

“Jieun!”

Ha-yoon called my name and looked towards me, and I closed my eyes tightly.

For a moment, I felt a slight dizziness.

“…Ah.”

It’s strange.

The power that doesn’t move according to my will, unexpectedly unfolds like this.

The view in front of me turned pitch black. Even the light that used to come in a little when I closed my eyes disappeared in an instant.

The voice calling my name sounded distant.

Something tight wrapped around me. Something cold inside me reacted to it and began to corrode my body.

It felt like drowning in water. I couldn’t breathe properly, and my chest felt tight.

Even if I tried to scream, my voice was completely blocked, and I couldn’t escape outside. My ears felt stuffy.

As if I had fallen deep into despair.

Deep within, a sea of despair where no ray of light enters.

Within that, I struggled.

Splash.

I had heard this sound before.

The sensation of the shell enveloping my body falling away.

The unseen view rapidly brightened, and the blocked breath suddenly flowed.

I took several breaths. I grabbed my throat with my hand to check if there was anything stuck.

When I lowered my gaze, I was already changed into different clothes.

“Great! Perfect!”

James cheered.

When I raised my gaze, Ha-yoon was looking at me with a complicated expression that was difficult to describe in words.

“…”

Cold sweat ran down.

I want to get out of here.

Knowing it’s meaningless, knowing it’s something I have to do here.

Looking at Ha-yoon, it felt like my heart was being squeezed.

I don’t know why. I just want to run away from here.

Could it be because I might be caught in an embarrassing situation? Or—

Will I be scolded for lying? Because if we talk, I have to explain each one—

Ha-yoon will probably look at me with pity.

“…”

The buzzing circuits stopped for a moment. Maybe my heart even stopped.

The cold sensation sharpened my mind, preventing me from fainting.

I don’t want that.

I don’t want to not be able to be where Ha-yoon is.

“Jieun…!”

Ha-yoon turned towards me. The magical girls nearby rushed towards Ha-yoon, but behind me, a black hole appeared, absorbing the surrounding light.

Once again, I ran away.

As I always have.