episode_0048

In many ways, he was a guy I didn’t quite see eye to eye with, but James had been quite helpful to me for the time being.

First and foremost, our primary goals aligned.

Since we were going to be pushed around anyway, there was no room for picking sides or being leisurely. In fact, I felt that even staying here was becoming somewhat risky. The longer we stayed in one place, the greater the risk of our location being exposed.

Sure, we could just break everything and run, but repeating that process was also quite tedious.

“If we have to choose among a few options, I believe there’s ultimately only one: ‘going on the offensive.’”

James suggested this approach.

“If neither side is particularly fond of us, it’s best to sway the negotiation advantage towards our side. And typically, such an advantage is determined by ‘power.’”

“I get what you’re saying.”

I crossed my arms, looked down at James, and put on a pensive expression.

“Can we achieve that with just the two of us?”

“I’ve thought about it while encountering magical girls a few times.”

Saying so, James pressed a device in front of him.

To my utter disgust, it resembled an ‘eyeball.’ No, it wasn’t just something that looked like an eyeball; it was an actual eyeball. It was probably attached to James’s robotic headgear.

When I first saw it, one side was completely damaged and unusable, but the other side seemed intact. Separating it like this and disassembling the back made it look mechanical enough not to be too creepy.

As James pressed the button, a projector-like screen appeared on the wall of the room.

The content on the screen was akin to a video.

I say ‘akin to a video’ because it didn’t feel like it was actually recorded through a camera.

If we had to categorize it, it resembled an ultrasound image. It was a somewhat awkward video made up of polygons without colors, similar to the 3D ultrasound of a fetus I had seen online before.

Nevertheless, the surfaces of each model were neatly polished, making it possible to distinguish who was who.

After seeing this, I understood why James was trying to stick with me by any means necessary. He probably wanted to analyze the situation in this manner. Besides, understanding a situation isn’t always possible through mere post-analysis.

“If there’s enough circuit energy, this is also possible. Remembering the flow of energy at that time is crucial. It’s something impossible with the energy of a regular combatant.”

Hence, indeed, only things ‘presumed to be energy’ were visible in the video. Magical girls and me. A faintly visible monster. And the black hole I had summoned.

“This is from when you infiltrated the company.”

Hyun Yi holding onto a man, then looking at me and falling below without knowing what to do. Although the man wasn’t visible, his movements could be inferred.

“This is from when we fought near Chungmuro Station.”

Pressing the button again, James brought up the video of me rushing towards the monster for Hyun Yi.

The bright pink light from her ‘staff’ right after that was vividly displayed. Did James add color to that part?

“After watching these two videos, does anything come to mind?”

“…How I’m influencing Hyun Yi?”

“That’s correct.”

Seated on the floor with his arms folded, James spoke.

“It seems she’s not exactly friendly with Blawsome. It appears I may have underestimated her a bit.”

“…”

It was quite an unpleasant assessment.

I knew and felt that I was close to Hyun Yi, but I didn’t particularly want James to evaluate that.

“She’s clearly influenced by you. And that influence is emotional. When she thinks of the circuit on her wrist, she sees ‘hope’ in you.”

I stared at James intently.

“Isn’t that intriguing? That Blawsome can both lose hope and gain it when looking at you. I thought a magical girl of that caliber would seek hope in ‘justice’ or something. But it seems different.”

In truth, I felt the same way.

If it were Hyun Yi, I believed she would hold onto hope in things like justice or a beautiful world, believing that fighting for those ideals would lead to sustaining that hope.

Because that’s how it was in the webtoon.

Although the webtoon fundamentally twisted the clichés of magical girl stories, the protagonist hadn’t deviated from them.

Each magical girl had their own realistic concerns, and most prioritized self-interest over justice. However, Hyun Yi was different.

Hope.

In the comic, Hyun Yi embodied hope itself. Even if she wasn’t a perfectly just person, she was someone who fought for what she believed in, gradually

“Of course, I never thought that the combatants I used to hit in the original work would be ordinary citizens. Since there was no scene in which magical girls were aware of that.

Scenes where combatants engage in various conversations usually appeared in gag scenes slightly separate from the main story.

While the combatants commit various misdeeds, they engage in conversations like how old someone’s child is or who is getting married next month, only to be swept away by a magical girl’s attack with a bang. Despite that, they recover each time and reappear in comical scenes where they mock each other in different battles.

As these settings became overly emphasized with the official serialization, the existence of magical girls turned into villains, and the story started taking itself too seriously, eventually losing much of the initial ‘ironic laughter.’

“So, I’ve decided to change my thinking a bit. Please focus on Blosum.”

“Focus on Hayoon?”

“Exactly. Treat her well every time there’s a battle.”

James said, looking at me.

“If done well, we can induce the division of magical girls.”

“….”

I remained silent with a frown, but James pretended not to see my expression and continued speaking.

“If we’re lucky, all magical girls can turn their backs on the Galactic Federation. Blosum is at the ‘center’ among them, so to speak.”

Besides being friendly with all magical girls, Blosum’s ‘energy’ also influences the circuits of other magical girls.

When James pressed the button again, the screen changed as if taken with an infrared camera.

“We measured the amount and range of energy in the circuit.”

My circuit was a deep blue color, almost close to black. It was emitting this color due to the black hole I had created, swirling around it and emanating even from where I stood.

The energy of hope seemed to be responsible for the ‘high temperature’ captured by the infrared camera.

It was shining brightly, almost white, in the center of the red part.

Hayoon, or Blosum, was almost white, and the energies of the surrounding magical girls seemed to connect to her smoothly.

In every sense, Hayoon was the ‘center,’ both positionally and energetically.

“If you know about the center of this energy, it’s also possible to make all magical girls detach.”

“…So? What should we do once they detach?”

“What else could we do?”

James revealed his intentions.

“Just mess everything up. If we show that things won’t stay calm here if they meddle, they won’t be able to treat us lightly either. Having a close cooperative relationship with the magical girls wouldn’t be a bad idea either.”

“That’s easier said than done.”

“Easy or not, do you have any other ideas besides that? Neither my plan nor your thoughts suggest any other way once everything has gone awry.”

Annoyingly, he was right.

“….”

But I didn’t want to just accept that.

So, I chose to remain silent.

Seemingly expecting that, James raised his hands slightly and turned towards the other side.

It was where the humanoid body James was riding on was located.

Now, only about a quarter of that body remained. What was left was mostly the ‘skeleton’ part.

And among the remaining parts, there was an item that seemed to have been collected by scraping off the parts with advanced technology.

It was a drone of a size perfect for a hamster to ride on.

There might have been something like a control seat inside the robot, but I don’t know how the rest of the drone was made.

Moreover, the drone didn’t seem to have the commonly seen propellers.

“It flies using magic. It’s similar to the principle behind the hammer they use as a weapon. …Although that ‘principle’ has been severely distorted by their ignorant methods.”

“….”

He seemed like the kind of guy who couldn’t help but say a word that really got on my nerves.

“With this, it can somewhat deviate from aerodynamics and follow them. Thanks to my ancestors thousands of years ago, I can hang onto your shoulder miraculously well, but after the last battle, I felt a slight threat to my life.”

“That’s true.”

I couldn’t help but nod at that statement.

Perhaps James follows me simply because he’s overly suspicious. Of course, it might also be to analyze the battles and create more advantageous situations, but it’s probably because there’s a significant risk of serious danger if he ends up alone after being separated from me, given that although cunning, he is extremely physically weak.”

“Perhaps there’s no need to worry about flying around. I’ve included all the functions that can be added, so as long as you can receive only your magic in your vicinity, you should be able to dodge bullets on your own. If there’s enough energy, you might even be able to do more than that.”

Was it modeled after the magical girls’ circuit?

I shrugged my shoulders at James.

Although I didn’t want to admit it in front of him, I honestly felt a little relieved.

I didn’t want to be alone in the midst of battle.

Just having someone who could at least curse at me made me feel less lonely. It was comforting to know that there was someone who could do that for me, even if it came to that.

*

To Hayoon, her parents said they could give her a ride if needed.

Of course, that didn’t mean they would personally drive her. Her parents didn’t have enough time to spend on such things.

The Galactic Federation consists of numerous countries from many planets. Each planet has its own day cycle, and time varies for each country on those planets.

Having to always calculate much more complex time differences than global corporations was a tiresome task.

The federal officials arriving on Earth naturally had no concept of day and night. While they generally adjusted to this side’s time, it was better for them to adjust first to present a good image.

Therefore, Hayoon usually woke up alone at home.

Even though there were housekeepers and knights.

“….”

She brought the dishes to the table herself, poured cereal, added milk, and ate it crunchily.

Yes, those people were working, but Hayoon somehow didn’t want their help.

Since childhood, she had vaguely thought that this was how the author would live.

If the author heard this, she might laugh. Perhaps she wouldn’t solve her mornings with cereal like this.

But still, watching the author, she wanted to become like that. She always seemed to handle everything by herself without faltering.

It was nice to walk together every morning. To sit shoulder to shoulder on the bus.

So today, Hayoon chose to take the bus instead of driving.

After riding several times, she hoped that one day the author would suddenly be there beside her.

In reality, all the dreams she had concocted so far were just nightmares, and she thought that if she talked about it, the author would laugh and say, “What nonsense,” but time was passing carelessly.

The cold winter passed, and spring was coming.

The author did not reappear.

“Hello, Hayoon.”

And there, unfamiliar children appeared before Hayoon.

She didn’t dislike them. But she didn’t think it was good either.

Children who had never appeared when the author was around now seemed to compete fiercely, as if they were vying for the spot left vacant by the author’s disappearance.

“….Hello.”

She forced a smile and greeted them.

Blor Island, which had sent many ordinary people to the hospital after being hit several times, did not show annoyance at the words of the same classmates.

Even though the author had been knocked down several times.

She played along with the talking next to her. Most of the time, it was boring stories that Hayoon didn’t care about.

How is your father? How is your mother? Why are you talking so enthusiastically about your parents?

And sure enough, eventually, at the end of those stories, the “parents” met Hayoon’s parents.

“….”

She tried to change her thoughts.

Knowing that she was thinking this way because the author was involved among the people she considered evil, she understood how bitterly ironic it was.

But still, now that she knew.

That those people there had no other choice, that ultimately they were doing “legitimate work,” she tried to change.

After discussing with Wisdom, she became even more confused.

If the corporation is evil, then the money that comes from there must be the result of evil deeds.

Then, how should one accept it when using that money for good deeds?

While the story might change if it’s money laundering, at least the money earned by the author was used purely for operating the orphanage without going elsewhere.

Thanks to that money, the children received clothes, had enough food, and could enjoy plenty of snacks.

Being able to promptly fix any parts of the building that were damaged, the orphanage children were able to live in the best possible conditions in that environment.

No matter how much money the government provides, there are bound to be areas where sacrifices must be made. Nuar Corporation’s funding helped ensure that there wasn’t a single area where sacrifices had to be made.

If one denies all of that, then all corporate donations in the world become unnecessary.

For the sake of donations, if the person themselves doesn’t receive any compensation—every activity of the author that Hayoon had been hit with becomes meaningless.

Wisdom resented Hayoon.

It would probably be impossible not to resent Hayoon after knowing everything.

“….”

Until now, she had avoided it several times.

In fact, she might still be doing so at this moment.

If she hadn’t been close to Ji-eun like this, could she have thought about the fact that Ji-eun was among the combatants?

No. Probably, if Ji-eun hadn’t been there, she wouldn’t have been able to realize it at all.

She wasn’t even considering looking in that direction.

Once she started investigating, it felt like everything she hadn’t thought about before was pouring out.

“Hayoon.”

“Yeah?”

“We need to get off here.”

Lost in thought for a moment, Hayoon almost missed her stop.

And only after getting off did she realize that the person who spoke to her was Iris—Jua.

“Jua.”

“….”

Jua seemed like she wanted to say something to Hayoon.

“You’ll miss your stop if you keep zoning out like that.”

And she said that.

But judging by the pause before speaking, what she wanted to say was probably something else.

Hayoon nodded and followed Jua.

Only after entering the school did she realize that she hadn’t greeted Jua.

And it was also the first time she saw Jua taking the bus to school.

But before she could ask anything, Jua had already entered her classroom.

During lunchtime, the kids inevitably approached Hayoon.

Hayoon was not pleased.

No matter how well she performed in front of them, most of the kids who approached her had given testimony against Ji-eun.

Those kids seemed to completely antagonize Ji-eun, the magical girl.

It couldn’t be helped.

It was a job she couldn’t reveal the fact that she was a fake terrorist to the outside world.

It was happening because they were believing limited information blindly.

While listening to various stories and just going along with them,

“Isn’t she shameless too?”

Such a voice was heard, causing Hayoon to suddenly stop her chopsticks.

As she raised her gaze, she locked eyes with the one who spoke.

That kid completely misread Hayoon’s expression.

“I knew she would be like that.”

“That kid?”

The kid seemed annoyed by Hayoon’s indifferent tone.

Perhaps because over the past month or so, Hayoon had forced herself to smile in front of those kids and go along with trivial stories, the kids thought that Hayoon had completely sided with that group.

“Why, every time you tried to make friends, she would pop up from nowhere and interfere. Wasn’t that frustrating? She must have thought it would benefit her.”

After thinking for a moment, Hayoon slightly raised the corners of her mouth.

She wasn’t necessarily agreeing.

She just wanted to hear this kid out until the end.

Why did they think that way?

Thinking about it now, it was strange. She knew Ji-eun had no intention of making more friends, but how could these kids still make the same remarks after Ji-eun disappeared?

“I noticed that.”

“Yes, yes.”

Some kids nodded in agreement without realizing the implications of the statement.

And some looked pale.

If you were to speak as Hayoon,

Her forced smile remained frozen.

“Were you, aware of that?”

After saying that, it seemed like those kids also realized their mistake.

“Would you like to hear more of that story?”

Unfazed by their reaction, Hayoon asked so.