episode_0050

*****

I’ve said this a few times before, but the standard of living in Korea is truly one of the greatest in the world. Especially in the metropolitan area, if you live a normal life, it can be said that it is not much different from life before the great chaos.

Of course, it contains the hopes and efforts of many people, but even so, there are limits. Those who are drunk on their own power, those who are tainted by dark desires, those who cry out resentment towards the world, etc. Such anti-social beings gather in back alleys where the sun does not shine or in open scars of war.

So, it would be self-evident that something like this would happen if two women went to such a place.

“Hey there~, what are two ladies doing here?”

“There are a lot of bad guys here. Will my brothers protect me? Huh?”

“Oh, no. We were just passing by… .”

A place like ruins, far from both downtown and residential areas. As I was walking in a place that had a similar atmosphere to the place where I was attacked by a strange doctor, it wasn’t long before I started receiving comments like that.

At first, I ignored the sarcasm, but now I couldn’t do that anymore. Because the front of the alley, or even the back, was filled with men who were making a fuss. The man who kept giggling at Mair stretched out his hand, so he stepped forward as if to block it.

“Look at this? Hey, did you see what this kid did just now?”

“Why is that, the sisterhood is so nice to see.”

At the words of the two men in front, snickering and laughter poured out from those around them. Mair’s panicked voice came from behind my head.

“Now, wait a minute. Can’t you see it? This kid is an awakened person! That and me… .”

“Aang~? Hey girl, did you come to this place believing they were awakened?”

“Well, if you came because you didn’t have enough men, I was planning to treat you kindly.”

“Fuha! If they had eyes, they wouldn’t do things like you.”

“What is this guy?”

Just like that, the men started talking about frivolous things among themselves. It certainly seemed like they didn’t care about us.

“Stop talking dirty like that! If you insult us any further than this──”

click! The sound of dry metal resonates. The two men in front of me each pulled out a gun and pointed it at each of our heads. The sound of Mair gasping for breath was drowned out by the man’s subsequent threat.

“If you insult me, what? What are you going to do? What are you trying to do with that handsome guy?”

“It’s potential, you idiot. Anyway, since that’s the way it is, it would be best to follow along quietly. If you even show the slightest sign of doing something, I will shoot you right away.”

“Heek. Ah, I get it. I understand, so please take that away… .”

Eventually, a whimpering sound began to come from above my head. The men are giggling once again, as if satisfied with the response.

“Still, I’m glad that I can understand the situation. Last time, the bitch who told me she was bluffing and told me to shoot her if I wanted to, really hit me hard.”

“Why, it was pretty good. It was a bit lame to say that he would do whatever he was told to do after getting shot in the leg. … But, what?”

My vision rose upward along with the sensation of being held tightly by the horns. A grim face that seemed to say, “I am a gangster,” was staring down at me as if I was wondering.

“Huh~? Hey, this kid doesn’t seem scared, does he?”

“This guyㅅ──”

“──This kid is not allowed!”

Before I could say anything, Mair hugged me from behind and turned towards the wall. I could feel Mare’s trembling in my arms and shoulders.

“Hey, he’s still young so he doesn’t know much about that! So please… .”

“No, for something like that, I feel uncomfortable. Hey, what are we going to do with this?”

“Hmm… . Judging from what he looks like, I don’t think he has any physical potential. It has horns, but no weapons.”

Judging by his appearance, the man stared at me for a moment and then lowered his gun. As she repeated “Thank you, thank you,” Mair let out a sigh of relief.

“Still, something pisses me off, so I should shoot.”

“No!!”

bang! Loud gunshots and Mair’s scream-like cries echoed throughout the alley.

In other words, no noise was heard other than that sound. The sounds of screaming, the sound of flesh being crushed, and the men’s giggling laughter.

“… Ah~ah, I said no, Ami. I’ve come this far, I just need to do a little more!”

There was no longer a trace of crying on Mair’s face, which had been sobbing just a moment ago. There is a saying that a woman’s greatest weapon is tears, but even so, isn’t she just too good at acting?

When Mare was shaking, even I was confused as to whether she was really scared or not. I was confident that I would be able to protect Mair, but Mair herself might feel differently. Well, it was unfortunate.

“If the plan goes awry at this point, wouldn’t it be right to view it as a failure?”

“It’s ARMY’s fault! Smoke! Korean language book!”

In response to Mair’s reprimand, I looked away as if avoiding my gaze. I want to protest that I had no choice.

Just holding back from trying to hit those guys with one punch was my limit. Because I kept trying not to think about anything in my head. In fact, I would like them to praise me for persevering this far.

“Ji, what are you doing now? A bullet… .”

“I caught it?”

As I was making excuses in response to Mair’s reprimand, one of the frozen villains muttered in astonishment. There is no need to answer in particular, but it would be good to break the will of the person who answered. In fact, the alley, which had been filled with nothing but ridicule, was filled with astonishment.

“Woah, don’t be funny! There’s no way something like that is possible!”

“Even though I’m seeing it right now, I feel a bit sad about it. If you don’t believe me, try shooting again as an experiment.”

“Ha! I will grant you whatever you wish!”

bang! A sound rang out from the alley once more. Concentration—isn’t there even a need? I spun around, catching the flying bullet out of the air. Of course, this time too, there was no sound other than the sound of the gun.

“How on earth… .”

“The trick is to control the movement of the finger that pulls the trigger, the durability of my hand, and the direction of force. Well, I don’t know if I say it this way.”

Ting! Tangrang. The bullet bounced off my hand and hit the wall. Steam was rising from the bullet rolling on the floor.

“Would you like to try more? I could just throw this bullet at your head this time.”

Of course, as a good hero, I wouldn’t do such a thing, but unfortunately, the villains didn’t seem to think that way. Rattling rattling. Two pistols fell loudly to the floor.

“Hey, those behind you, please don’t back away and come this way. You know that running away is meaningless anyway, right?”

“Hee Iik!”

“I’m sorry, please spare your life!”

The villains in the back who were caught trying to run away without notice also started praying with their heads on the ground as soon as Mare spoke to them.

When one person did that, all the other men bowed down and followed suit. One person even copied the sambegugodurye, wondering if he had seen it somewhere else.

“… Uh, um. I won’t tell you what your tastes are, but if you don’t do it in moderation, you may be disciplined, so be careful.”

In the end, Mr. Ryan, who came at a bad time, caught the sight of the incident, and the two of us ended up in a situation where we were in a position to passionately explain that it was not intentional. As expected, those bastards should have been hit on the head one by one.

***

It was obvious when Ryan came out, but this was also part of the internship. The difference so far was that while the work up to now had been an immediate response to an incident, this time it required some kind of investigative power to investigate and resolve reported cases.

“Confirmation complete. I think they are the villains you were looking for.”

“Okay, thank you.”

Mair reports to Mr. Ryan with a smile. Behind them, villains with blank eyes and drool were sitting down.

“Wasn’t that too unforgiving?”

“Hmph. Since I was a dirty man and tried to touch my body, this is natural. Rather, after this, I plan to mess with it even more so that I can tell the police everything.”

“No, I think those guys are nice, but I’m worried about you. Then again, if you take any restrictions, isn’t it difficult?”

“… After all, there are only ARMYs!”

“You guys worked hard too.”

While pushing away the mare that was clinging to me, I also sent a thank you to the two people behind me – Jabberwock and Bully. This project was done by the four of us: me, Mare, Yangachi, and Jabberwock. The rest of the people are looking at houses, or rather, looking at companies.

“It’s okay because there’s no need to worry.”

“It sure wasn’t a hard time since I didn’t do anything and just watched, right?”

“It’s better than pretending that anyone can come up with something.”

The sneering bully and the disdainful Jabberwock’s gaze collided in the air. I thought that our relationship would improve a little through this internship, but I guess it was too much for just 1 or 2 weeks.

For reference, Yangachi planned the strategy and Jabberwock was in charge of the guerrilla attack. It was a plan in which the beautiful Mair and I, a seemingly pretty girl, would catch the villains, find out where the villain with the gun was based on Mair’s hints, and have the Jabberwock raid them before they could escape. Although the Jabberwock’s job ended when the target was accidentally caught on the first fishing trip.

Still, the gangster who figured out the villain’s habits well, and the Jabberwalker who hid in the shadows of the alley and escorted us both did a good job, so I think I can praise them purely. In fact, Mr. Ryan also received favorable reviews.

“You guys are really excellent. It’s a world of difference from when I was a student. There is a reason why Cheonmyeong High School is famous.”

“No, to this extent… .”

“Haha, there’s nothing to be too humble about. There aren’t many heroes who can deal with guns head-on, heroes who can subdue villains with just a show of force, and heroes who can deal with a variety of situations. If it applies to all three, it deserves full evaluation.”

Mr. Lion had been with us for the past few weeks, so he had a good understanding of our combat capabilities. Therefore, it is said that in this case, if there were any shortcomings in the resolution process or excessive suppression, they were planning to make up for them.

“In our time, there were some guys who were so excited about hero activities that they used a little too much power. Of course, looking at you, it was a useless worry. Now, I would believe it if you said you were seasoned veterans and not students.”

“… Ha ha ha, that can’t be possible~.”

From now on, I will have to hide my strength in external evaluations like this. Although it’s strange that a hero hides his powers.

Since I had just heard from Mair that I couldn’t act, I decided to change the story here rather than continue lying. Because there are some good conversation topics there.

“By the way, guns are rare. The government must have been managing it quite tightly.”

It wasn’t that uncommon for small-time villains to settle down in places like this, but if those villains had guns, it would be a different story. As victims had already come forward, Team Galaxy also came forward at the request of the police for cooperation.

“It seems like it keeps flowing in from the black market these days. Because the situation in the ‘market’ side has become very unstable these days.”

“Do you mean ‘market’?”

“Okay. Perhaps the defeat of a calamitous monster on the northern front coincided with a change in the market’s operating policy… .”

I was planning to ask what the market was, but I moved on to talking about the current state of the market. I’m not sure, but is it famous?

After thinking that, Mr. Ryan kept his mouth shut while talking. No, he didn’t just close his mouth, he put his hand on his forehead and started thinking about something.

“Hey, Ryan?”

“… no. It was a pointless story, forget it.”

I forgot and didn’t even know what it was about in the first place. Still, I had enough sense not to ask what it was. No, even if they hadn’t noticed, anyone would have hesitated to ask if they saw the look on Mr. Ryan’s face right now.

“Really, if you were a veteran… .”

Eh, what? It was impossible to get over it with hearing that still had room for strengthening. So, the reason I didn’t ask for details here wasn’t because I couldn’t hear Mr. Ryan’s mumbling.

‘Please stop doing such careless things next time.’

It was because I didn’t know what kind of burden it would be on Sia if I called myself an experienced person here. Isn’t it a bit weird to start thinking right after hearing something like that?

… No, if I had judged it to be really important, I would have attacked without mercy even though I felt sorry for Sia. Mr. Intuition—of course he’s in a bit of a scrap state these days—is also quiet, and it’s a bit weird to overreact to a single murmur in the first place.

“The work is finished!”

“Yes, everyone worked hard. Now, let’s withdraw today.”

So, without further questioning, I returned to work with my colleagues, just thinking about the market.

***

” Is it okay, everyone? ”

A large building overlooking the city. There, in the glow of the setting sun, a girl wearing a hood—Marie looked out the window and expressed her concerns.

Because I didn’t say it consciously, my voice was small and faint, but the only people in that room, big or small, were people who were out of the ordinary. Of course, he also had a healthy mindset and wanted to alleviate his colleagues’ worries.

“Of course it’s okay! Because these kids aren’t capable of doing anything with a gun in the first place.”

“But… . Bobbin’s body isn’t that strong.”

Despite Raon’s comfort, Mari was still depressed. Aside from being divided by lottery, there were many people who had no worries about guns, but that wasn’t the case for everyone.

Of course, everyone, including Marie, knew that it was an excessive worry. The heroes who went there, including the veteran hero Steam Lion, had enough potential and ability to protect their allies. But even that fact was insufficient to resolve simple concerns.

Therefore, the next person to step forward was a small magical girl.

“Uh-huh, deduction of points, deduction of points!”

“Yes… ?”

“Well, I’m not actually doing any evaluation or anything like that. Still, think about it carefully. That blond-haired, slightly evil-looking boy. What would he think if he just listened to you?”

At those words, Marie reflexively recalled the trainer’s reaction when he heard her words. Gratitude for your concern? no way. Rather, I think he doubts his own abilities… .

“… I think he will glare at me with a very frowning expression.”

“Really? Phew, he really is as crooked as he looks.”

It was only then that Marie realized that she had unintentionally gossiped, and her face became filled with embarrassment. The experienced magical girl did not miss the opportunity and dug deeper.

“Well, it may not be that harsh, but there are many heroes who have strong pride, whether in a good or bad sense. Worrying too much is actually counterproductive. Here, you should rather do what you can.”

“What can I do?”

“You guys are not playing around right now, you are in charge of the standby team. It is also your role to believe in your team and remain resolute. That way, when your friend comes back, you can congratulate him on his hard work, right?”

“Congratulations… .”

Marie’s hands were clenched tightly. The look under the hood, with eyes shining with enthusiasm, was a world away from the restless look just before. As a Chinese person who often faces similar problems as a leader, this was purely admirable.

“You are skilled.”

“Even though it’s like this, I was the leader in my previous team.”

“Uh, was that so?”

“Okay then. You were a leader too, right? If you have any questions, ask anything.”

The magical girl smiled and made a V sign at the surprised painter. As if drawn by his confident smile, the painter asked a question he had always thought about.

“Well, should a leader be strong?”

As a Chinese person, there was no particular intention behind the question. In the past, he would have had quite a complex about being weaker than other team members, but with his recent growth, Ami’s loud words eased the burden on his mind. Therefore, the question just asked was more worldly, meaning it was about looking cool as a leader rather than the qualifications of a leader.

However, the magical girl froze in the V-shaped pose. Senior, senior? Even when the painter called out, the magical girl’s smile did not break for a moment.

“… What were you talking about?”

“Well, I was talking about whether it would be better for a leader to be strong.”

“Ah! Ah, yes, the strength of a leader. Umm. This is something I worry about. But maybe it doesn’t really matter? If you really want to be honest, a leader is a commander.”

The magical girl began speaking actively again, and her expression was the same as before. No, on the contrary, the way he smiled knowingly and said, “Hmph,” was even more lively than before.

“Then is that it? Did you hear the rumor that you will become stronger if you join our team?”

“Oh, yes, what.”

“There’s nothing to be embarrassed about! So what if that’s the reason? So, is there any effect?”

The painter shook his head, pulling away from the magical girl who was getting closer as if she was telling a secret. It’s been two weeks since the internship started, but there has been no change in his and other team members’ skills so far.

“That’s so strange. I usually see a reaction around a week or so.”

“As expected, you don’t know the cause?”

“I don’t know at all. I want to find the cause, but the manager is quite opposed to it. After all, isn’t this the manager secretly mixing some sort of elixir into our meals?”

“Haha… . A member of our team said that there is a high probability that it is not a drug because the drug will be found when tested.”

Hwain also agreed with Army’s opinion that if there was a culprit(?) in strengthening this team, it would be either an unregistered awakener or a falsely registered awakener. Of course, ARMY also tilted their heads when asked why they were an exception.

As they were sharing interest-based speculations about Ganghwa, Raon and Marie also quietly joined in. As the conversation gradually moved towards professional magic and it was difficult for the painter to say anything, the door to the room opened.

“Yes!”

With a brightened expression, Marie ran towards the door. However, the person outside the door was not Ami and the others, but a Westerner wearing glasses. Seeing Marie taking a step back, the Western man—Hatter—smiled bitterly.

“I guess you were really looking forward to this, so I’m sorry. Is there any dumping inside?”

“Here~.”

In response to the magical girl’s answer, Hatter put down the mountain of documents in her hand in front of the magical girl. An average person would get tired of just looking at it, but the magical girl levitated the document in the air with her magic and chanted a spell. “Paralalalak,” the documents quickly turned in front of the magical girl’s eyes.

“The wizard’s speed reading magic is always amazing. It consumes more magic power than it looks, so I can’t even dream.”

“That’s a huge amount. What is that document?”

“It’s nothing special, it’s like a report on the research results of our lab. I’m only a hero, but in reality, I feel like I’m in charge of communication between the sponsor, the research institute, and Team Galaxy.”

Team Galaxy was a four-member team, but had an unusual structure of two A-class heroes and two non-combat awakened people. Fine also could not feel Hatter’s unique force of a strong awakened person.

Why did the researcher join the hero team? Hwain thought about it for a while, but couldn’t come up with an answer. In the end, Painter looked up at Hatter, wondering if he wanted to ask her directly, and realized that he was also looking down at her sitting in the chair.

“Hey, what’s going on?”

“Oh, it’s nothing special. It’s amazing what you’re doing right now. Do you have potential?”

At those words, the painter looked down at his body. Smoke, which began to move somewhat according to the painter’s will, was hovering around the painter’s body. Since I was always doing it whenever I had free time, my awareness of training had become shallow.

“No, it’s not potential, it’s training. Since the potential I use is related to fire, it feels like practice handling that fire.”

In reality, it was quite different, but Fine thought there was no need to go into detail. Fortunately, that alone seemed to make Hatter interested and he started talking about various things.

“This is also quite an interesting method. It may seem a little cumbersome, but it is definitely dangerous to actually practice fire-type potentials in a place like this. However, there are many types of fire-related potential, but is it okay to say that handling these fluids means handling the fire itself rather than raising the temperature or causing ignition?”

“That’s roughly how it feels.”

“Oh! It’s truly rare and worthy. What about the power of fire? Are there any temperature-related restrictions?”

“There is nothing in particular… .”

“Ohh!!”

Every time the painter answered a question, the Hatter became more and more excited and eventually grabbed both of the painter’s hands. As a Chinese person, I was just confused as I didn’t know if this was a foreigner’s sense of distance or a Hatter’s personal characteristic. Of course, regardless of Hwain’s condition, Hatter kept pushing forward.

“This is true! It’s been a while since I saw a great talent, so I can’t get over my excitement. How is it? If you can afford it, try an experiment at our lab──”

The person who cut off Hatter’s words like a machine gun was neither Hwa-in nor Hatter, but a third party, Marie. Marie, who came in as if cutting off the hand that Hatter was holding, opened her eyes sharply under the hood and glared at Hatter.

“Sorry. Our leader is in trouble.”

“Ah, ah! I’m really sorry too. This is a habit. But can you please think about it? Just then the firework──”

“Hatter, I’ve seen all of this~. Also, let’s go quickly instead of making weird recommendations to students who are fine.”

“──Hmm. This is not a strange recommendation. Please do not use words that may be misunderstood, dumping.”

The magical girl stood up, dragged Hatter towards the door. In the meantime, Hatter was persistently encouraging Hwa-in.

“I’m going to go to the lab for a while, so I’m waiting here. Well then, see you later~.”

“Dumping, please let me go. I’m just making an ordinary recommendation.”

“It’s a nuisance to the kids!”

The door to the room was closed, leaving only the grown-up voice of the transformed Dumping Cat. When the two noisy people suddenly disappeared, a strange calm came as a reaction.

Raon was thinking deeply about something with a serious expression, and Marie was glaring at the closed door. Even though Raon didn’t know, Hwain had an idea about Marie. There is only one case where that passive girl reacts so violently.

“Marie, is there anything strange about Mr. Hatter’s soul? Did it turn black again?”

Marie, who possesses Soul Poetry, has a significantly different attitude toward the other person depending on their soul. Even the painter realized that much. The reason why she was strangely friendly to the painter herself was because ‘her soul was at ease.’

Marie shook her head in response to the painter’s question. However, that was not the case for both questions.

“The color is… , white. But it looks strange. It’s gross.”

“Aren’t most souls disgusting looking anyway?”

“… It’s more disgusting. It’s like bread eaten by worms.”

Do bugs eat bread? That was the thought that came to Hwa-in’s mind after hearing Marie’s words. As a painter who had never actually seen a soul, it was difficult to understand Marie’s point of view.

“Soul poetry is not perfect either. Teacher Sia said that too, right?”

“That’s right, but… .”

In fact, she was very hostile towards Ami through Soul Poetry, but she was getting along well now. Although he doesn’t even look at Ami in situations like eating. It was proof that just because a person has a defect in their soul does not necessarily mean there is a problem with their humanity.

However, soul poetry had the potential to be used as reference material in actual police and courts. Therefore, the painter was reluctant to conclude that there was no connection at all.

So, how should I get in touch with Hatter during this internship period? While the painter was thinking about it, there was a knock on the room door again. Of course, as soon as she heard the sound, Marie walked toward the door with brisk steps as if she had never done so before.

“Si, excuse me… . Wow, hey, sorry. Did I do something wrong?”

The one who opened the door and came in was the hero Ratchet Rabbit. As soon as he opened the door and came in, Rabbit encountered a very disappointed girl and trembled at the door, not knowing what to do.

“You don’t have to worry. What’s going on beyond that? The other people here went towards the research lab.”

“… yes. I know. That’s what I came for.”

There is something I would like to discuss only with you. Rabbit said that and sat down across from the painter.

As a Chinese, it was a story that would make one tilt one’s head. What advice can they give to themselves who are only experiencing work experience that they cannot give to their fellow team members?

Of course, you will have to hear everything to make a judgment. With that thought in mind, the artist sat Raon, who still seemed half lost in thought, and Mari, who looked downcast, on either side of him. Rabbit’s intention to show a serious attitude seemed to have worked, as he took a deep breath and slowly opened his mouth.

The first word started like this.

“Father is not coming back.”

*****