episode_0065

I made it here.

But to be honest, I didn’t want to do anything more.

Just a little while ago, thoughts of revenge and whatnot kept swirling in my mind, and even now, those thoughts remain unchanged—

Or do they?

What’s the point of continuing to do things that high-ranking people would like? It would be better to just smash everything to pieces and offer up the back of my head to the police chief.

…Well, even if I wanted to do something like that, I wouldn’t be able to go through with it due to my personality.

So, I made it here.

“It’s strange.”

I muttered to myself as I looked down from the rooftop.

Did we really think we were going to make a difference?

The police were once again in a standoff with the monster. At this point, it’s all too predictable.

The magical girls are just biding their time until they can capture the monster. Is there any point in fighting needlessly and risking our lives?

If it was a monster that looked like a crab, I would have either crushed its upper and lower body with a pincer, or if I had rushed at a spitting monster, I would have experienced something incredibly gruesome even if I didn’t die. Just imagining my body melting away is horrifying.

In fact, I thought it was strange.

Even if they had abilities, aren’t all the magical girls underage?

Even if they were cautious of the Federation’s eyes, is it really right for minors to step up and do what the police or military should be doing? The people in this world didn’t seem to care about such things.

“Do they think we’ll come and fight for them again?”

“Jieun…”

Hayoon called out to me amidst my muttering.

I didn’t turn to look at her.

Yes, I know.

In the end, it’s best for someone capable to go and fight, that’s the most favorable outcome.

The lives of the police are at stake, as are the lives of the soldiers. It’s difficult to find someone other than magical girls who can subdue the monsters without killing them and without getting killed by the monsters.

The Federation knew this and made the most of the magical girls, and the government didn’t interfere much with how the magical girls operated.

And the fact that the company was able to move relatively freely and pick and choose magical girls was also because the government, which didn’t want the magical girls to run amok, turned a blind eye.

“Aren’t you curious? What will happen if we don’t step up?”

“…”

At my words, the kids fell silent.

Their gazes turned to me.

We made it this far by creating a black hole, but we didn’t step forward.

Still, the circuit has been reconnected, so it won’t be long before someone notices that magical girls have arrived on a nearby rooftop. If not, would they already know?

There were no news helicopters flying in the air. No common drones were visible. Perhaps they couldn’t get permission.

Looking down from the rooftop railing, I saw the chief.

His black hair filled the quite wide street. Of course, I’m not talking about the color of his hair defining his race in this world.

I’m talking about the helmets the police were wearing.

The police, dressed in black from head to toe in combat gear, were once again surrounding the monster.

It seemed like they had attacked in their own way this time as well. There were ambulances outside the crowd, as if someone had been injured or was on the way, surrounding the monster.

A few citizens were visible. As time passed, they were gradually increasing. It seemed like there wasn’t enough time to evacuate everyone from the buildings in the heart of Seoul, as there were more people visible this time compared to the situation in Chungmuro.

Facing the building, people were opening windows and looking down.

“What should we do?”

I spoke in a voice devoid of enthusiasm as I looked at those people.

“Should we go and fight? Do we really need to show that we are righteous?”

“Well—”

As Iris opened her mouth, she quickly quieted down upon catching my gaze.

“Why? If you started speaking, you should finish.”

Already in a bad mood… well, it wasn’t Iris’s fault, but still, the bad feeling didn’t go away, so I spoke with a slightly annoyed tone to Iris.

“Isn’t that too much? Even if you’re not getting paid by anyone. You’re in a state of escape. If you go out now, the Federation might try to catch you again.”

To my question, Iris paused for a moment, lost in thought before speaking.

“Still, in a situation where people could die, we can’t just stand by and do nothing…”

As she was about to continue, she met my gaze and fell silent.

Why?

Even if she knew the situation, it seemed a bit excessive.

Until now, we were just fighting without paying attention to the circumstances.

Well, it’s better not to assume that the combatants will be lenient just because magical girls are watching. Those people are desperate in their own way.

It’s not like they won’t swing their fists at magical girls just because their staffs aren’t swinging at them.

Although I’m not much older than the magical girls, it’s not morally right for underage magical girls to be beaten by adult combatants, even if the situation is known.

Originally… such content is usually resolved by the villains being simply evil. But in this world, when you look closely at both sides, the problem is that they are just ordinary humans.

“Well, okay.”

I decided not to think too deeply about it.

“Let’s fight for now.”

At my words, the magical girls looked a bit uneasy.

Why?

Do they not trust me? Or is there another reason?

It doesn’t seem like something to consider at this point.

“However—don’t rush in before I finish speaking.”

“Okay.”

Hayoon replied to my words.

Whether the other magical girls considered her response as a ‘representative response’ or not, they had no objections.

Perhaps they couldn’t predict where I would pop out. Well, I would have been a bit scared too if I were in Hayoon’s or the others’ shoes, wondering what I would say.

I leaped out of the building.

Reducing the speed of my fall by emitting energy from the hammer’s propulsion device, there were no issues with my body, but…

Thud!

I couldn’t completely muffle that sound.

The place I landed wasn’t exactly near the giant.

Even if it filled a wide street, it wasn’t so packed that the police couldn’t move at all. The area around the giant was the most crowded, and as you moved backward, there were spaces where one or two people could stand.

Of course, even if I fell through that space, being a person who could melt iron in real-time using boosters, I could have been injured.

So, where I landed was on top of a police bus.

Although the spot I landed on was slightly dented, I didn’t completely crush or deform it like I did with other police equipment.

As I leaped off the bus and landed, the police officers scrambled out of their seats.

I didn’t have any intention of killing those people, but it seemed they had a slightly different perspective.

Well, considering my actions up to now, I had definitely not been friendly to the police.

Who the heck made the call?

In a place like a radio, warning news can be broadcast. Journalists who sensed something was up after seeing the police mobilize could write articles about it. But the magical girl summoning device only rings when someone calls for it.

Could it be the mascot for the magical girls? Wasn’t her name Cherry? She had a pretty nice personality in the webtoon, so maybe that’s how she really is.

The police stepped aside, and a little later, the magical girls descended.

There was probably no particular reason, and they probably just descended gracefully from the sky, as one would expect.

I looked around.

Whether they were wearing helmets or not, whether their faces were visible or not, everyone seemed to be trying to stay as far away from me as possible, looking flustered.

There were even some pointing guns in my direction.

Without paying much attention to that, I looked around until I finally found what I was looking for.

“Hey. This—”

As soon as I moved to grab what I wanted, a police officer yelled in surprise. He quickly threw off the strap hanging on his shoulder and stepped back. There were so many people there that he couldn’t completely escape.

“…….”

I looked at the police officer in disbelief and let out a deep sigh.

Then I raised the megaphone to my mouth.

“Oh, oh.”

I knew how to use a megaphone.

Was there really a need to make a lot of noise before fighting? I didn’t want to do that.

After making sure my voice was coming through properly, I said, “It seems like everyone is having a hard time fighting.”

In a mocking tone.

“Why, are the bullets not going through? Is the wire not working properly?”

Some monsters are immune to bullets.

Back in the day—when monsters were just starting to appear and there were no magical girls yet, the police used to fight. They handled the monsters properly even though they suffered damage.

But not anymore. There was no need to suffer damage when there were people willing to fight in your place.

Even the magical girls who had run away were now back, facing off like this.

Even me.

I, who had been beaten by the police before.

Yeah. Let’s admit it.

This was something magical girls had to do. Even if I might not be able to say for sure whether I was a real magical girl, in this situation where there were no magical girls, the reason was definitely me.

But no matter what, I didn’t want to just go along with it.

“Well, okay. This is our specialty, after all.”

‘Our.’

It’s funny that I’m saying that now. I didn’t realize it when I said it on the rooftop, but oh well.

Well, they didn’t refuse to follow my lead, did they? So, for now, there shouldn’t be a big problem with me saying ‘our.’

“In return, let’s fight! No one wants to die, right? With us, you won’t die and you can fight, and you won’t waste money on useless equipment. That’s taxpayer money, you know?”

Some of the expensive equipment made with that tax money was destroyed by me, but anyway.

As I started walking forward, the police officers moved aside.

“But, there’s one condition.”

I said.

“Give us something in return. Oh, I don’t want money. There’s no need for that. We don’t need to go to a convenience store nearby with that.”

If we could do that, we would have done it already.

“Food is fine, clothes to wear are fine. Give us anything. Let’s evaluate the value of our fight. In reality, we’ve been running around so much that our food is running low, and our clothes are getting worn out.”

Is it okay to say something like this? I hesitated for a moment, but decided to go ahead with it.

Anyway, at the point where something is different, they can’t help but know our situation over there. If they want to use that, there’s nothing we can do about it. That’s what they say.

It was a bit funny to think like this while saying they don’t want to see people die, but at that time, it’s enough to find another way.

After seeing the magical girl looting the convenience store nearby, those people might change their minds a bit.

As the police opened the way to the side, we also came to the place facing the monster.

This monster… looked a bit strange.

Just by looking at it, it seemed incredibly fast.

The appearance of monsters is mostly derived from animals. Although I’ve seen people made of rock if they were aliens, designing such monsters is complex and difficult. Monsters that appear in webtoons are mostly like that.

Whether it’s marine life or terrestrial organisms.

But what was in front of me now was not like that.

If we had to compare, it looked like a ‘fast person’.

Among aliens, there are individuals who look like humans with slight differences.

The being in front of me now had no hair and a gray face. The head was a bit… flat to be called a human head.

It would have been better if the head was just a fish, but it looked like someone had tried to make a fish by pressing a human head left and right.

The body was also a bit flat and thin.

I raised my head slightly. And I raised the megaphone upwards.

There were people there.

Whether they couldn’t evacuate or didn’t, facing the people holding smartphones towards this side, I held up the megaphone and shouted.

“Can you hear me?”

There were no people responding separately towards this side, but still, I said towards the smartphones facing me.

“Pay attention, pay attention. Give us anything that could help us. I’ll wait for about… 30 minutes from now.”

People seemed a bit confused by my words.

The murmuring sound among the police spread, and even the people holding smartphones towards this side from the top of the building looked at each other.

I put down the hammer. Thud, a loud sound was heard as a metal object fell on the asphalt.

And I sat down roughly on the hammer.

It wasn’t a comfortable posture like a chair, and it was a somewhat awkward posture with my arms on my knees, but I thought it was better.

“Got it!? It’s 30 minutes, 30 minutes! After that, you can solve it on your own.”

Saying that, I just stretched out the megaphone in one hand.

I won’t take my eyes off the monster. If it moves, I have to move too.

No matter what, I didn’t want to see someone die in front of me.

… They won’t bring anything in 30 minutes, right?

I raised my head and looked at the magical girls.

They all looked a bit puzzled.

Are they just confused by my words?

The magical girls must have gained some benefits from being magical girls. Even if it wasn’t a monetary benefit, it would have been politically helpful. Even if the magical girls themselves weren’t… well, their parents or something. There are many, right?

The monster was staring at us without moving.

I can’t let my guard down. There’s not a single clue as to why the monsters have been moving like that so far.

There are monsters like the one that took wisdom as a hostage last time, running around recklessly, and there are monsters that stay still for hours and suddenly move.

One thing is for sure, all monsters inevitably cause harm when they move. Whether it seems intentional or not.

A communication that doesn’t happen, a ticking time bomb that will eventually explode.

So, monsters are always targets for punishment.

I heard the sound of someone running.

Perhaps they heard an order.

Well, I’ll have to wait until I get everything first.

It would be too obvious if I changed my mind right after saying something.

*

“Why…?”

As she faced the scene unfolding before her, Ji-hye muttered.

Most public transportation towards that place had been rerouted due to temporary closures. The subway had a sign indicating it would pass through without stopping.

But she could still make it there if she got close enough.

There weren’t many people on the bus. In fact, at some point, there were no people in sight at all.

No one would willingly go to a place where lives were being lost. Even someone attempting suicide wouldn’t suddenly want to die, and they wouldn’t want to be torn apart by a monster.

So, there shouldn’t have been anyone around.

“What’s this?”

On the internet, a video of that place was being broadcast.

Through a zoom ten times that of a smartphone. Ji-hye and the magical girls appeared small, but their faces were still recognizable.

Up until now, they had been silent as if intentionally not saying anything, but now that the situation had escalated, what was the reason for filming the video?

Even if the streaming site was foreign-owned, as long as there was a branch in Korea, cooperating with the Korean government would be… the right thing to do.

Somehow, a sense of foreboding crept in.

Ji-hye knew nothing about that side of things.

She had lived together for so long without even knowing that Ji-eun was in pain every day.

She hadn’t thought about what the combatants were doing, how much they were getting hurt and in pain.

She had seen magical girls fighting and had imagined herself as one, but she had never imagined herself being injured and falling to the ground.

So, she really didn’t know anything. Even if she tried to imagine, she couldn’t imagine it well.

But—

Still, she wasn’t incapable of thinking.

It was just that she hadn’t done it before, and now she was.

The fact that the magical girls started moving and immediately filmed the video made her think that there was some intention behind it.

Were they expecting the magical girls to lose? Or did they want to say that something was wrong with their demands while fighting?

“….”

The bus had almost arrived near the area.

No, to be precise, the distance was quite far. The controlled area was wider than she had thought.

Ji-hye quickly got off the bus, receiving the bus driver’s uneasy gaze.

Strange.

It was strange that there were people who couldn’t take shelter inside the wide area.

[I’ll wait for about 30 minutes.]

Showing Ji-eun’s demands on broadcast.

There was no evidence, but she felt that something was going wrong.

Had she finally given in while thinking about Ji-eun’s thoughts?

Even though she couldn’t help there, Ji-hye was heading towards that place.

Was she going to help, or was she just running to see their faces?

Ji-hye kept running, even if she could see the people guarding the road up ahead.