---

The truck driver panicked at my threat and ran away outside.

As the truck stopped, I could hear a sound that seemed like aliens gathering towards us all at once.

They seemed to be making a move towards the warp point, but of course, that wouldn’t be easy.

Outside, Ha-yoon was there.

After giving me a kiss to boost my strength, Ha-yoon was fighting fiercely herself, and there were also plenty of police and soldiers to distract the aliens.

And then…

“The warp point is down.”

The moment I saw the aliens rushing in, Jua shouted from above, shooting down through the hole.

“That’s a relief.”

I muttered a response, cleared the aliens off the trailer’s wall, and carefully set it down in a corner. Fortunately, there weren’t many creatures that were free enough to swing their arms.

Maybe to operate the device, it would be necessary to turn all the energy in one direction.

Still, just in case, I cut the circuit, then tore through one side of the trailer with the magical blade I’d pulled from my hammer.

Crunch!

Bending the poorly torn metal outward produced a rather unpleasant sound.

However, while sporadic gunfire could still be heard, the battle was generally winding down.

Inside the trailer, for some reason, the lights weren’t working, and I could barely comprehend the situation from the sunlight pouring in from above, but after tearing down one side of the wall, the inside became much brighter.

And only then did I see the actual situation.

Listening to Jua’s words, my thought was to just get Pang-pang out and take her with me.

Would alien technology merely be alien technology? It could put a person into a comatose state and keep them for a long time, only to revive them immediately.

Besides, isn’t it a world where basically all curable diseases could be treated, except for very few incurable ones? The reason I thought Pang-pang would face no issues was precisely that.

But…

“……”

Still, isn’t there just too much machinery?

Upon reconsideration, there’s really no reason to carry so many aliens just for the sake of protecting the magical energy. Of course, if the protection is incredibly strong, it would be that much harder for us, and it actually had some effect.

However, if energy was needed for something else…

“No.”

Jua, who came over next to me, looked at the device and spoke quickly.

“That device isn’t in such a rush. It seems the Chairman thinks having this person named Pang-pang die would be troublesome in many ways.”

As she pointed, there was a huge battery-like object.

“It must be storing energy after converting it. It seems they needed this person’s power for a very long time. And it looks like they also needed stability in the process.”

Circuits operate based on human emotions. Naturally, it’s somewhat problematic to generate energy periodically over a long time.

Even for me, the very form of energy generated changes according to emotional fluctuations.

“So…”

“However.”

Jua said with a bit of a stiff expression.

“I don’t think we can take her out right away. For now, we have no choice but to maintain this device.”

“……”

I looked again at Pang-pang.

The face of Pang-pang, lying in an unidentifiable liquid, looked remarkably peaceful.

That’s only natural. She was, quite literally, in a state of sleep. So I couldn’t tell if she was truly in pain or not.

Whatever the condition, we couldn’t say it was normal to be like this.

And Pang-pang ending up like this was all my fault as well.

“Why did it have to come to this…”

“It’s probably something they wanted that much. That company. You often see a type of person on Earth who is so obsessed with power or money that they don’t care what happens to others… It would have happened even if it weren’t for Ji-eun.”

Jua tried to comfort me, but honestly, I found it hard to fully agree with her.

Even if such an incident was inevitably going to happen, it was easy to think that my existence pulled that inevitability even closer.

The main story I had read up to that point was about how, during summer vacation, the kids went to the beach and encountered an enemy. Until then, the main villain of the Noir Corporation had been officers like James, and the Chairman hadn’t even shown his face.

Moreover, the “Chairman” I remembered was the “former chairman” of this world. There has never been an event like a coup within the Noir Corporation. If there had been, I would’ve prepared for it in my own way.

I would’ve known that Pang-pang was the granddaughter of the former chairman.

Just how much has my existence changed this world?

Could it be that I was afraid the claims of the former chairman would be taken seriously within the company? Was it the thought of getting ahead of things before getting properly taken down?

…These are all stories that can only be known before capturing the Chairman.

“Ji-eun!”

I heard Ha-yoon calling me from behind.

Turning around, I saw Ha-yoon and other magical girls coming down near me. I couldn’t see the Chairman’s face.

Instead, what I caught was—

“……you.”

The person that Rose had carelessly dropped on the floor was a Mohican with his arms and legs tightly bound.

An officer who seemed to have taken James’s place after he had been purged.

“I-I don’t know!”

The moment our eyes met, the officer shouted.

“I don’t know where the Chairman has disappeared to!”

“It seems you were just playing the role of extracting the devices.”

“That’s right! That’s it!”

“If successful, your friend would have been flying into space just like that. Afterward, you would have been waiting here for the Chairman to come.”

Emphasizing the word ‘friend’, the officer’s face hardened.

“You’re friends with the granddaughter of the former chairman?”

“She helped me without asking for anything when I was being chased by you guys.”

“……”

“But, by saying that, what’s the status of the other devices? Even if it’s not the Chairman, you should know something like that?”

“I-I don’t…!”

“It would be good if you did.”

As I suddenly approached the officer, his mouth snapped shut again.

My clothes were starting to get gradually stained black again. Whether he was feeling intimidating or something, the officer began squirming and crawling away from me as far as he could.

“Wait, Ji-eun.”

Ha-yoon stepped forward, holding her hand out to stop me.

“It’s better to leave such questions to someone who knows how to ask them.”

“Who? The police?”

“No.”

Ha-yoon spoke with a slight smile on her lips, as if she knew that I didn’t fully trust the police.

“You know. Someone who would have enough motive to do this and enough skills, and who is likely to think rationally and not mess things up.”

“……ah.”

At Ha-yoon’s words, I nodded.

That’s right.

There was James.

If I felt a little uneasy with just James, I could also bring Cherry along.

I wasn’t yet sure where I should put this person, though.

“For now… for now, let’s just be satisfied that we were able to bring out your friend. We’ll take our time and solve things one by one.”

“That’s right.”

Jua added to Ha-yoon’s words.

That was a reasonable statement.

If we tried to solve everything at once, it might not work out.

But—

“……”

Still, I couldn’t help but feel the urge to hit him.

I had to make a tremendous effort to suppress that feeling.

*

In the end, Pang-pang was transferred from the orphanage to a nearby university hospital.

It seems that my presence is indeed being taken seriously; even at that place, which is practically a national hospital, they promised to care for her as best they could.

There was no way to take Pang-pang out immediately. If it were a normal machine, I could pull her out using a typical method, but this machine had so many complicated devices attached.

As I had expected, they likely wanted to utilize Pang-pang for a long time.

“Lock mechanisms using genetic information are quite common.”

James responded to my thoughts that way.

“And yes, the Chairman probably crafted quite a few such devices here and there. Besides, they didn’t clear out all those serving the Chairman. Even if they turned a blind eye to betrayals, there would still be those whose thoughts might change over time. So having an heir would indeed be precious.”

“Are you suggesting they were planning to brainwash her later?”

“Well, if she’s alive, they could unlock a locked device using her genetic material anytime. Brainwashing would be a separate issue after that.”

“……”

Surely, even if Pang-pang didn’t say it herself, there would be plenty of documents that could prove she correctly inherited the position of the Chairman.

“It seems it’s not just a matter of easily unlocking it with mere fingerprints or hair.”

“If it could be opened that easily, they would’ve done it by now. The ‘headquarters’ of the company may be in this country, but originally, Noir Corporation operated on a galactic scale, only moving to this country for tax evasion and ease of research. They say they can move through warp points, but the galaxy is still vast. If they wanted to hide something in another place, it would be easiest to make it so that only they, or those they permitted, could unlock it.”

And that ‘permitted person’ would include Pang-pang.

If that’s the case, it would have been better to just escape with Pang-pang.

…No, wait.

Pang-pang indeed had a rather stubborn side. If they had made it so that Pang-pang could access the company’s most crucial information, the Chairman must indeed have cared about his granddaughter quite a bit.

Perhaps that was a weakness. He might have felt uncomfortable dragging his granddaughter away somewhere.

Despite all the noise, it still came back to being the Noir Corporation’s fault.

“For now, we’ve caught that one, so I’ll interrogate him as you said. There’s no need to worry. Cherry will be right next to me. I doubt I’m going to kill him or anything.”

“……Alright, handle it.”

“I’ll let you know when I obtain some information.”

As a side note, the officer was housed in a nearby abandoned house.

It’s not uncommon for such rundown areas to have empty houses here and there. Though there’s almost no talk of redevelopment, many houses have just been left to rot after speculators bought them up, having heard rumors of possible redevelopment several decades ago. It seems the police have borrowed one of those houses.

Although I’ve heard that the federal government is moving due to the warp point almost being exploited, I still don’t know exactly what kind of movement it intends to show. To be honest, as long as they don’t touch me or the people around me, I have no thoughts of being concerned.

If possible, I’d wish for them to just bring down the Noir Corporation.

“……Ji-eun.”

“……I’m just going to get some fresh air.”

Ha-yoon called me, but I said this and stood up.

This time, Ha-yoon didn’t follow me. Perhaps it was because my atmosphere was quite different from when I was in the library.

I stepped outside, facing the chilly night breeze.

Nevertheless, quite a number of police officers around the orphanage had been withdrawn. Well, due to local safety, they couldn’t just leave the police stuck here.

Two remained at the entrance of the orphanage, and some were patrolling the vicinity, but it wasn’t something that bothered me too much.

Though small, the orphanage had its own playground. A pair of swings, a slide, a seesaw, and even some thick springs secured to the ground, resembling a horse or dog that the kids could sit and play on.

I sat on one of the swings.

Since it was meant for children, it was quite hard to sit comfortably unless I stretched my legs out.

When I was younger, this swing felt bigger.

As I sat there with a gloomy mood, another child appeared outside the orphanage building.

It wasn’t Ha-yoon or Jua.

“Ji-eun.”

It was Ji-hye.

Ji-hye approached a little cautiously and sat on the empty swing next to me, stretching her legs just like I did.

For a while, we looked up at the sky without saying a word.

There weren’t many clouds for spring, but it was still Seoul, so the stars weren’t very visible.

As I quietly gazed up at the sky, I could nevertheless see a few lights peeking out little by little, but whether they were stars or spaceships, I couldn’t say. Even living in a world that wouldn’t seem out of place called a space opera, I didn’t have much interest in stars.

“Pang-pang.”

Ji-hye cautiously started to speak.

“She must have been a good person.”

“……She is a good person.”

I replied like that.

I hadn’t really been thinking about Pang-pang for a long time.

I just thought of her as a quirky girl who oddly liked caffeine and was infatuated with Earth culture, without considering what kind of life she was living or what thoughts and choices she had made until coming here.

Even after receiving so much help.

Thinking back, she was one of the few friends I had in this world.

“Later.”

Ji-hye said.

“When the situation settles down, let’s talk about it.”

“Eh?”

“I’ve known you for so long, yet I know too little about you.”

“……”

“And honestly, I don’t think I’ve told you much about myself either. As if we were living in different worlds.”

At Ji-hye’s words, I quietly nodded.

“……Yeah, when the situation clears up.”

“Yes.”

Ji-hye said that and didn’t say anything further.

We just continued to look up at the sky together.

…I wonder.

What kind of emotion do I really have toward this world?

Even while thinking that I hate it so much, I find myself developing things I like. I think everything about school and the situation is unpleasant, yet I start to cherish Ji-hye, whom I met at the orphanage, and Ha-yoon, whom I met at school.

If I truly hated this world, if I only thought it was a burden, could I have those kinds of feelings?

Could I leave this world without any attachments when told to?

I’ve never had a conversation with the author as a human. I’ve never even fought over comments and replies.

So I really don’t know what the author was thinking to place me here.

Is this a test to see if I can still hate this world after coming in?

“……”

If there weren’t any aliens in this world, I might have thought the author was looking at me from the other side.

But the truth is, there are so many sentient beings beyond the sky in this world that it’s hard to even entertain such thoughts.

I was neither here nor there, not fitting in anywhere properly. Perhaps that was because I didn’t firmly decide on anything.

Maybe that’s also why the kids ended up in such troublesome situations.

If I’m going to despair, then I should thoroughly despair, and if I’m going to hold onto hope, I should do that thoroughly and straightforwardly, yet I couldn’t become either.

Just what kind of emotion should I hold toward this world?

It seems like the person who could answer that is probably nonexistent in this world.

*

“……”

“……”

After Ji-eun and Ji-hye left, an awkward silence filled the room.

It wasn’t a sharp atmosphere that felt like it would peel skin or a cold atmosphere that might freeze you to the bone. Rather, it was precisely because it wasn’t that that it felt ‘awkward.’

Particularly, that awkward air was felt around Ha-yoon and Jua.

If it were on a normal day, Rose would have poked fun at either one or both of them. Although the relationship between magical girls isn’t particularly close, that doesn’t mean they hate each other fiercely, and moreover, during the time they’ve all been together, their relationship has somewhat improved.

Besides, while Jua might be unfamiliar with it, Ha-yoon was also on friendly terms with Rose.

However, it didn’t seem to be that kind of atmosphere right now.

The ‘atmosphere’ itself was almost similar. But Rose, Dalia, and Delphinium had all witnessed that event today firsthand.

The sight of Ha-yoon and Ji-eun kissing.

Though Ha-yoon kissed for Ji-eun’s ‘power,’ not many magical girls would know the exact reason—besides Ji-eun and Ji-hye, of course.

It felt as if the atmosphere had completely built a wall against romance.

No, maybe this is a bit unfair to say. The magical girls generally don’t have any prejudices regarding that, so it’s not something that would immediately come to mind, yet there are still plenty of people in the world who can’t imagine same-sex romance at all. More precisely, many people fail to realize that they could be a target of such things.

Even if they were interested in that sort of thing.

That’s why Ha-yoon seems pitiful. They weren’t even a candidate for a romantic interest from the outset.

Though it was fitting for Ha-yoon to be trying her best nonetheless.

If there was a problem…

Rose glanced at Jua.

Jua had a somewhat blank expression. Her face reddened, as if she was revisiting something from earlier.

So it was indeed the ‘kiss.’

That’s right.

Is it possible for one person to like someone? It absolutely could be. In fact, it might even be considered ordinary.

Is it possible for two people to like one person? That too could happen. Whether it’s ordinary or not, Rose didn’t know as she had no experience in romance, but it certainly wasn’t something ‘impossible.’

Then, what about that person who likes someone and is kissing both of the other girls?

…It might not be completely impossible, but hmm.

While the relationship between Ha-yoon and Jua doesn’t seem to change immediately, it’s also impossible to expect that there’ll be no changes at all.

And besides, even if I’m not sure what the emotion is, if Ji-hye also seemed to be showing such an atmosphere little by little…

Rose decided to step back from that situation as much as possible. Glancing over, it seemed Dalia and Delphinium felt similarly.

They just silently supported Ji-eun in their hearts.

 

---