episode_0041

Naturally, Ji-hye also agonized.

How to find the missing Ji-eun, and what to do once found.

But there was nothing she could do alone.

She didn’t plan on finding Ji-eun and sending her to prison, so she couldn’t report it to the police. The police were probably already on Ji-eun’s trail with full force. She had already been labeled as a “terrorist.”

And if she were to ask others for help, that wasn’t an option either. There were no people around her who would do such a thing. Even if there were, they wouldn’t do it for free.

Ji-hye had friends, but they were all kids her age. How could she ask her school friends how to find Ji-eun?

The room she used was still the same.

Ji-eun hadn’t been discharged yet. Even if Ji-eun’s actions were captured in photos and videos, until she was sentenced in court, she wasn’t a “criminal” yet. That’s what the teacher seemed to think.

Regardless of the truth, those who knew Ji-eun didn’t think she would commit such… terrorism.

It was certain that Ji-eun, who had appeared as a “magical girl” in Gangnam, was involved. But at least no one died that day.

Above all, fighting and setting up bombs to kill people are completely different things. The latter is much more professional.

Where did she get the bomb materials, when did she have time to carry them in and install them, and how did she manage to enter such a secure area?

No matter how skilled she was as a combatant, it didn’t seem like the story would unfold so easily.

“…”

Ji-hye stared blankly at Ji-eun’s spot and then went outside.

Fortunately, there were no reporters lurking around. Since the incident where she entered the childcare center spread on the internet, journalists had been more cautious. Or maybe they figured there was nothing more to ask here.

Even amidst consecutive grim incidents, the world hadn’t changed much.

As usual, the neighborhood was quiet on weekends. Well, there weren’t many places to hang out around here anyway.

She took a bus to the bookstore where Ji-eun often visited.

Unlike the quiet neighborhood, there were a lot of people here. To be honest, there were too many. Ji-hye, who enjoyed the lively chatter, found it difficult to adapt.

This was the extent of her “escape.” She had few friends around, didn’t know how to do other bad things, and didn’t have friends nearby.

Just as Ji-hye occasionally went out with friends on weekends, it seemed like Ji-eun also came here with Hwayoon. They hadn’t been hanging out together recently. Ji-eun didn’t seem eager to call Ji-hye, and Ji-hye hadn’t thought about joining them when they were with their friends.

When Ji-hye had intervened between them last time, it was an impulsive act.

So, despite sharing the same room for a while, Ji-hye didn’t really know much about Ji-eun. At least that’s what Ji-hye thought.

She knew about Jung Ji-eun and some of her habits and likes, but she hadn’t bothered to find out what kind of person she was at school, who her friends were, or how she was getting along with them. Knowing about Hwayoon was mainly because she was “Hwayoon.”

“…”

Hwayoon’s number was still on her phone.

But she couldn’t bring herself to call. It wouldn’t make either of them feel good in this situation.

She spent about an hour wandering around the bookstore, talking to people.

Ji-eun was nowhere to be seen. Of course not. It wouldn’t make sense for someone who needed to hide to be here.

Her nose tingled. If she thought more about Ji-eun here, she’d end up walking and crying alone, becoming a strange sight, so Ji-hye tried to hold back her tears.

It was the same these days.

Kids at school often asked about Ji-eun. Those who had never known about Ji-eun before started showing interest after she appeared in the news.

Perhaps Ji-hye had many friends at school.

And because she had so many friends, Ji-hye couldn’t deny the speculations her friends made. Both sides, whether denying or affirming, lacked evidence.

But there was one thing she definitely disliked.

She hated that Ji-eun’s name was being gossiped about by kids.

She didn’t like the kids who acted like they knew more than Ji-hye, who had been with her all along. She didn’t like those who believed everything in the news and talked about Ji-eun as if she were truly a terrorist.

Leaving the bookstore, I sat on a bench.

It was early February, so the weather was a bit chilly. But perhaps because of that, there was no one sitting on this bench, so my mind felt at ease.

“Jieun….”

I muttered while looking up at the sky.

She used to be a combatant against magical girls, but now Jieun had become a magical girl herself.

I don’t really understand what’s going on.

When it comes to Jieun, she just awkwardly smiles and seems unable to speak, maybe for that reason.

Because I don’t know anything.

Because I don’t know how much I know.

The current situation feels too unfamiliar.

Right now….

“I miss her.”

Jihye muttered to herself.

Whatever Jieun did doesn’t matter. To Jihye, Jieun was just Jieun.

“I can’t even listen to music.”

Jieun doesn’t like touching her belongings carelessly, so she didn’t touch the items on the desk.

Maybe Jieun didn’t have any particular thoughts, but Jihye quite enjoyed listening to music. Lying on the floor, tapping her toes, listening to the music from the speaker together, she liked it.

Will such a day come again?

“What do I want?”

Do I hope to embroider instead? So, if there is a sin, repent quickly and hope to just come back? And lie in the same room as before, spending time with meaningless conversations and hoping to listen to music again.

Do I hope for normalcy to return?

…Even if such a thing happens, knowing that things can never go back exactly the same, Jihye didn’t realize she was thinking like that.

And realizing that such thoughts ultimately stemmed from not fully trusting Jieun, Jihye buried her face in her hands.

*

I’m not someone who gets nervous easily.

Once the physical pain subsided, the first people who came to mind were Hayoon and Jihye.

The reason they came to mind so clearly is simple. Besides them, there was no one I was as close to. I have acquaintances like nursery teachers and children from the nursery, and I have good relationships with them in my own way, but not as close as with Jihye.

Hayoon’s face still crosses my mind occasionally. She doesn’t seem to be doing well, so every time we meet, my worries deepen, but at least I know she’s alive and eating.

Moreover, I heard that Hayoon is currently ‘safe.’ There are no serious injuries, so I was relieved.

The problem is, I don’t know how Jihye is doing.

…I know that one reporter bothered Jihye.

There was a report that someone went to the orphanage to harass Jihye because there were hardly any people who supported her at the school I taught at.

Although her face was pixelated, seeing Jihye so flustered made me boil inside.

I wanted to rush in and push them away immediately, but of course, if I did that, I wouldn’t achieve anything and would only get caught—

….

Yeah.

In fact, I sometimes wanted to just give up.

By stubbornly persisting, I only hurt those around me.

Maybe it’s better to really give up and go embroider or something. I’ve thought that way before.

But in the end, I’ve been persevering relentlessly until now.

“Here.”

While lying down gloomily, someone placed a canned drink on my forehead.

Startled, I grabbed it with my hand. It was a canned coffee.

It was unexpected.

Apart from work, I rarely had a reason to go outside, so such gestures were almost always unexpected. On days when I went to work together, I helped out, but on days when I didn’t, just pretending to leave would set James off. No matter how much I disguised myself, going out frequently could cause problems.

I got up from my seat and picked up a coffee that seemed to have been taken from the fridge.

Jieun was already opening the can and pouring it into her mouth. It seemed like today was a day off.

“You look extremely depressed.”

“….”

I looked down at the canned coffee and eventually opened it.

As I imitated Jieun by putting it in my mouth, I tasted a strong sweetness as if a lump of sugar had dissolved in water.

“I guess you must be really depressed.”

Jieun stopped there, just fiddling with the can without saying more.

I stared at Jieun, who was like that, and asked, “Why do you help me so much?”

At my question, Jieun widened her eyes and looked at me.

“I appreciate it, but helping me won’t benefit you in any way.”

In reality, asking such questions now wasn’t appropriate. There are many people in the

“I’ve been moving as I wanted all this time, so honestly, even if I try to answer now, I can’t remember the reason.”

“……”

I lost words to say in response to that.

“It’s not because I like Earth… Well, that’s not it. No matter what, not all Earthlings are likable. I’m not interested unless they’re cute like magical girls.”

When Voyager said that, it suddenly struck me.

Well, I did say that when I was drunk back then.

“So you’re saying I meet those conditions?”

“Well, you are pretty, right?”

Upon hearing that, any thoughts of further inquiry vanished from my mind.

If a serious response had come back, I might have become serious too.

No, surely this is also out of consideration for me—

“If it were just James alone, would you have chased him away immediately?”

“……”

James, who had been tinkering with something mechanical in the distance, seemed taken aback by that question.

“Well, I didn’t just judge based on appearances. I thought I could trust you. You’ve never betrayed me, so there’s no reason for me to betray you either.”

I may not know what kind of planet Earthpah is, but maybe this is a cultural trait.

Just like how on Earth it’s almost a universal culture to treat guests with sincerity and respect, and for guests to behave politely towards their hosts.

Of course, not the entire planet follows that. There must be many countries on that planet, and Earthpah itself might be from one of those countries.

“You mentioned Voyager before.”

I casually changed the subject.

“Is that true?”

“Of course!”

The Earthpah said cheerfully.

“Beings whose lifespans don’t even reach a hundred years, putting in such great effort to launch a rocket into space just because they want to see beyond. They even inscribed a ‘legacy that could be humanity’s last’ inside. Isn’t it romantic? To put songs into something so small in the vastness of space that we might never find it!”

“That’s not true. It was created by the Federation.”

Huh?

Both the Earthpah and I looked at James simultaneously.

James had quietly come closer and was now sitting near us.

He shamelessly—or should I say cutely—grabbed a snack from the Earthpah’s spread.

“Finding a single planet is much easier than finding a small spacecraft. It’s too small to stumble upon by chance. Do you think it makes sense to claim that it was discovered during a random scan without knowing its exact location?”

“……”

I looked at James with a slightly puzzled expression.

“In fact, the Federation probably knew about Earth five years earlier. They might have even sent people to observe. Saying that finding Voyager was the decisive reason for finding Earth is just a superficial gesture for friendship.”

“……”

“No.”

As I made a confused face, the Earthpah cut in sharply.

“I understand. You found Voyager first.”

“It would be more plausible to assume that you found the Sun first and then judged that Earth might have some form of life.”

“Whatever you say, what I know is the truth.”

“Do you have any evidence?”

“Evidence…”

The Earthpah smirked with slightly relaxed eyes.

He’s tipsy, this guy.

“You seem to know something significant, but I can’t say.”

“……”

James looked at me, as if asking with his eyes, ‘Do you believe that?’

Honestly, I find James’s reasoning more appealing.

But that doesn’t mean I agree. In the end, James is just thinking for himself.

“Isn’t it more plausible that you found Voyager first? If it came from far away, naturally you would approach it from a distance and start with Voyager, which is far away.”

“Exactly!?”

The Earthpah agreed with me, and James rubbed his forehead with his hand.

“……”

And fell silent again, sipping his coffee.

It wasn’t a good idea to drink coffee at this hour. It’s almost time to sleep.

…Although it might be okay now.

If I can’t sleep tonight, I’ll probably think about Hayoon and Ji-hye again.

Seriously.

Maybe next time, I should try to get some alcohol or something.

Two days later.

After finishing work with the Earthpah and returning to the room, there was a large hammer there.

It looked incredibly huge and heavy, almost as big as Ohamma… Upon wondering where the materials came from, I realized that James’s robot had shrunk by almost half.

If they used about half of the weight of an adult male, it would naturally be very heavy.

“…Isn’t this too heavy? Can you even swing this around?”

I asked, and James snorted.

I considered giving it a little push to see if it would flatten out, but hesitated since the Earthpah

The guy working at Noir Corporation seems to have a straight mind. Perhaps he was just there for the money.

Probably because he can’t control his facial expressions when it comes to ‘racial discrimination,’ I am treating James like a human being now.

Well, I don’t want to become a murderer.

James, who snorted, said with an extremely absurd expression, “What are you talking about? It would make sense if you consider the laws of physics in every action you took that day, but it will only take a few seconds.”

“Why is this coming up now?”

As I was feeling a little perplexed, James continued to speak as if showing off.

“If you throw something upwards, naturally, the body should experience more force than that. In other words, you and the combatant raised in the air should have received much more energy than just falling. It’s a matter of moments for you.”

“……”

Oh.

“You didn’t think so? You thought I did something weird to take some magical action.”

James squinted.

“Well, that’s how magic works. Just thinking ‘it can happen’ is a miraculous power that can reverse the laws of physics. The human who actually committed such an unbelievable act, even the one who can create a ‘black hole without a sun’ in the sky, cannot perform simple magic like ‘flying around.’”

Taking a deep breath, James shook his head from side to side, looking at me as if seeing something inevitable.

“Anyway, isn’t he someone who can confidently ignore the laws of physics like that? Can’t he wield something like this naturally? At least I think it’s more practical than flying around. If it’s a video of pushing a car with one hand, you can still see it on streaming sites.”

I bit my tongue, unable to find my footing after saying something unnecessary.

“I made it the way you wanted, so why not try it once?”

With a slightly bewildered expression, I approached the hammer.

It looked similar to a hammer I had seen in an American hero movie before. It was a really crude square column-shaped hammer.

However, the handle was quite long. It seemed like I really tried to make it in that shape when I called it “Ohamma.”

“The reason the head is bigger is because of the generator, right?”

“Yes. There’s no point in making a core if you don’t control it.”

I reached out and grabbed the handle.

The circuit is still running. In fact, it has been running since the moment I first put on the circuit.

So, there was no reason not to pick it up.

Despite its appearance and size, the hammer felt too light in my hand.

“……”

I stared at the hammer quietly.

“How is it?”

“…I won’t know until I try it.”

In response to my words, James snorted again.

He seemed to realize that I deliberately said that because I didn’t want to say what I liked.

In any case, it’s just a good feeling.

For now, I’m refraining from using magical girl movements. I think it’s because Ha Yun’s hope hasn’t returned yet.

So, I thought I would have a chance to try this a little later.

But unfortunately, I only got to use it just two days ago.