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The reason why aliens visiting Earth become monsters has yet to be revealed.

We only know that human emotions seem to play some role in this.

It can’t just be pure magical energy. After all, humans cannot use magic themselves, yet aliens can use it from the start.

Even those who can’t cast spells usually use devices that amplify magical energy in their daily lives. Just look at the warp points installed all over the Earth, or the spaceships aliens use to come and meet us—these are all technologies infused with magic.

If alien monsters appeared because of magical energy, it should have become a social issue long ago.

A finger emerges from the white sphere, split apart as if it were a shell, long and red.

But rather than simply being grotesque, it seemed, how should I put it, strangely unrealistic in many ways. It looked less like a living creature’s finger and more like a doll’s finger that had been crafted that way.

There was a sound like an eggshell cracking, and I could see something dark inside.

Only after seeing that did I realize why we were looking at a “white sphere.”

What shone was merely the surface appearance. Unlike the black hole I created, this thing was perfectly wrapped in a white light.

Being a country that doesn’t have much understanding of magic, I can’t quite grasp why that is. I also don’t know which side is more powerful.

All I know is that the existence over there feels creepily dangerous.

The red finger above the white light stood out. The black cracks breaking into the white light looked painfully clear as well.

“Everyone, stay alert!”

I heard Rose’s shout.

We all straightened up. Though our feet didn’t touch the ground, there was still air inside, so it was impossible to be completely immobilized in mid-air.

If we couldn’t fly in such a space due to magic, we wouldn’t have been able to create spaceships that drift around in space.

Adjusting my position, I grabbed my hammer.

The hammer still emitted output, but my body was fixed as if ignoring that output. Perhaps the energy generated from the hammer’s generator is helping me to remain steady.

Should I strike now?

I thought about smashing the finger with my hammer. It might be best to attack right now when its appearance hasn’t fully materialized yet. It’s often said that insects just out of their chrysalis are at their weakest.

And I wasn’t the only one here thinking in a similar way.

The first thing that shot out was a violet beam. Jua, using all her strength, fired the beam into the cracked opening, but unfortunately, it didn’t have a significant effect.

Rather, it was…

“……It’s absorbing the light……!”

It was absorbing the light. Just like when I created the black hole.

It was absorbing light just like when I desperately induced despair and created a black hole of incomprehensible size, letting it hover in the sky.

Even Jua’s beam of light bent and flowed inside.

Hehehe, I thought I heard laughter. The kind of low chuckle that’s hard to tell if it belongs to a man or a woman.

“Don’t go near it!”

I shouted after realizing this strange phenomenon, just after Jua.

I had a bad feeling. If we went inside, something terrible would surely happen. Unlike my black hole, which simply sucked us in and spat us out somewhere else, going in there—

I couldn’t be completely sure, but I instinctively felt it.

That we would become prey for ‘that.’

Hehehe.

I heard laughter again, and a face emerged from within.

It was a face so difficult to believe belonged to a human.

Yeah. That thing looked like a doll’s face intentionally designed to be grotesque. The kind of bizarre monster face you often see in Japanese children’s special effects shows.

But rather than just being a simple doll, it seemed far more alive, making the red creature seem distinctly unsettling.

The face had wrinkles. No, it wasn’t even enough to call it a face. What appeared was a mass of sagging flesh layered on top of each other, looking more like a pile of melted rubber tires than a person’s face.

Is that a melted face?

Not just the face. Aside from the skin being a maintained red color, it looked like the armor it used to wear had melted into its body and then reformed.

It was as if the armor and the body had become one, manifesting in a bizarrely complex design.

The appearance of red colors and white lines seemed to melt into one another, looking both grotesque and simultaneously divine.

Hehehe.

That laughter.

The chuckle echoed from beyond the face. Although it seemed to have lowered, upon listening again, it sounded like a low rumble coming from behind a thick metal plate.

It appeared to be over 4 meters tall. No, it strangely looked even larger than this space. It was as if perspective was skewed.

Is it a psychological problem?

A gigantic black hole floated behind its head, like an angel’s halo.

“The space…”

Ha-yoon muttered.

Her voice trembled slightly.

“The space is distorted. No, is it just the space?”

Except for Ha-yoon and Ji-hye, the other kids had already disappeared from sight.

I felt overwhelmed with the urge to scream, but at the same time, I couldn’t take my eyes off that creature.

Hehehe.

No, maybe it was more like hohoho?

I heard that low rumbling laugh—

“Ha-yoon!”

I dove towards Ha-yoon. I raised my hammer and with all my might, blocked the strangely slow blade coming toward me.

It felt like my body was being pushed back. It wasn’t just because I was floating in mid-air without gravity.

It was strong. Contrary to its visible speed.

I was shot back as if propelled. The distance between the monster and me widened momentarily—far beyond what should have happened. Only after I passed (what should have been) the distance to crash into the wall, did I realize that monster was casting some kind of magic.

I was still in that generator room. A generator-less generator room. Since I had taken away the generator, it was still an incomplete space.

The reason I hadn’t vanished from this space might be because I still held that generator.

I remembered how the black hole used to suck people in and spit them out somewhere else.

This was a power I had used countless times to break the issues in front of me, so I couldn’t forget it.

What about the other kids? Have they all fallen to the black hole? Rose? Dalia? Delphinium?

Jua too?

Ji-hye……and Ha-yoon too?

I wasn’t sure. Everything happened so fast.

Would all those kids be safe?

If the goal was merely to eliminate us, it could be done easily with only the black hole. Just tossing those kids out into space would be enough.

They wouldn’t have the strength to move anywhere instantly. Jua might quickly warp them, but that would involve the risk of injury and tossing them randomly somewhere.

In a space that barely crossed the boundary between the sky and the universe, that would be a meaningless power.

Even if they didn’t completely escape the atmosphere, it would be extremely hot. No amount of magical power could shield them from that heat.

Even if somehow they survived there, right below them would be Earth.

Once they started to fall, there would be no hope. Even in a space with almost no gravity, unless it’s a carefully calculated artificial satellite, it wouldn’t be able to overcome the mass of the Earth.

As they fell, their bodies would create friction with the air, generating heat hot enough to burn even a house-sized asteroid.

……Such thoughts piled up in my mind, hitting deep inside my head.

Slowly, the once white clothing began to stain black.

Really? Could it be? Am I actually losing all that I realized up till now?

To come this far, in such a moment, have I lost everything I understood?

So effortlessly.

A low chuckle echoed.

Now a being that could no longer be called a Chairman reached out towards me.

The infinitely expanding space shrank back in an instant.

The space between the monster and me grotesquely distorted, and at one moment, its hand tightly grasped my neck.

Long, red, cold fingers. Those belonged to someone who had gone beyond and then returned.

“Cough…”

How strange.

Even in this situation, where my clothes dyed back to black, I still hadn’t given up. I continued to breathe and did not let go of my hammer.

What does it mean to lose hope?

Ironically, the power of despair loses meaning the moment the person in despair gives up. Once there’s no feeling left to despair, that’s the end.

In that sense—still, I didn’t give up.

Why?

The monster’s other hand rose onto the hammer. As if it had been aiming for this from the start. The hammer that once emitted white power now spat out a black hue.

And the monster seemed completely uninterested in that power.

No, rather as if it were precisely the power it needed, it pulled the hammer forcefully toward itself.

Ah, I see.

This is a generator.

While I struggled to catch my breath, that thought crossed my mind.

Originally, it was a generator designed to harness the power of despair, yet I had only used its strength to chase after the magical girl.

But why?

Upon reflection, that experiment too was ultimately a failure. No matter how many despairing humans were created, even if humans were manufactured in a ridiculous manner from the beginning, even if so many custom Earthlings were produced and implanted with circuits in their chests—

In the end, it could not operate the generator.

Why?

Perhaps it was simply because there were too many humans who, despite despairing, could not give up. Humans tend to run away when overwhelmed by fear.

Then why now?

After I had stolen that generator, why could only I use it?

That’s simple.

Because I hadn’t given up.

Why?

Because I wanted to beat the magical girl.

And the reason I thought that is simple. I had always been jealous of the magical girl. For years now, I’ve been envious of Ha-yoon since she donned her combat suit as a combatant.

Even before Ha-yoon became “Blossom.”

“I see now.”

I curled my lips in a smirk.

Creak, creak, the monster twisted the hammer’s head as if to take it away from me.

James must have made something solid; it wasn’t possible to simply take the head off. The handle twisted violently in my hand.

But I refused to let go of the handle.

“That’s how it was.”

Black energy swirled around the hammer. Normally, this power should only emerge from about the back half, but it was already devouring all the way to the monster’s hand.

As if intoxicated by the black energy, the monster moved to seize my power.

But still, I wouldn’t let go.

“That’s why I could keep despairing yet not give up.”

Because I know.

What kind of person Ha-yoon is.

Ha-yoon is Blossom. Happy Blossom. The being with the most powerful energy among magical girls. Perhaps the one who has the most powerful energy in this world. The center of this world.

The reason is simple. Because she’s the protagonist.

She’s the protagonist of the webtoon I was reading. A strong magical girl who never gives up and fights with her own hope.

……However, that’s just information about ‘Blossom.’

The Ha-yoon I know is not just someone who can be like that Blossom.

She’s just an ordinary kid who gets hurt over small things, has many troubles she finds difficult to share with others, and sometimes goes off to cry silently in a corner. I’ve already known this weak side of her my whole life because we met in our very young days and became friends.

“I was also weak.”

That’s why I thought, ‘I want to win,’ ‘I want to be equal to her.’

Yeah. Even in that situation, I didn’t want to see Ha-yoon as just someone ‘above me.’

Creak.

The hand trying to take my hammer stopped.

The irritating laughter that had been a constant presence fell silent as well. As if expressing some kind of doubt, the monster tilted its head to the side.

“……You’re dead? Don’t joke.”

That’s impossible.

Ha-yoon wouldn’t let that happen.

Just as I hadn’t abandoned her, she wouldn’t just give up on me.

Just as Ha-yoon is my ‘hope,’ I am also her ‘hope.’

“You think you’re perfect?”

I pulled the handle toward me.

Slowly, a white light began to flow out of my body again.

The monster looked extremely flustered.

Creak— the monster’s hand holding the hammer trembled. White light seeped through its fingers.

“—————!”

With an annoying sound, the creature let go of its grip.

I turned the hammer upside down. As the white light emerged from the monster’s arm, black smoke poured out, releasing the hand that held my neck.

“It seems that was the purpose from the start. The generator. The generator that moves with despair. Isn’t that right?”

I laughed.

“It goes without saying, but I have no intention of just handing it over, you know?”

I raised the hammer above my head.

Flipping the head created a massive blade on the open side.

An axe. An axe that could probably cut through anything.

“If you’re going to make me go easy, you should have shown me how to die right here.”

But that would probably not have worked.

I wouldn’t have believed it.

The world’s strongest magical girl, ending up with the magical girl’s victory in the webtoon?

It wouldn’t logically make sense.

I swung the axe.

Crack.

Once again, just like when I swung at the Chairman before.

The space shattered.

If it were a being that moved space from the beginning, then it wouldn’t be surprising for it to pull such a trick.

As the monster swung its hand as if to stop me, I dodged. This is a zero-gravity space. I can dodge anywhere after all, right?

Instead, the axe blade that had been stuck in the air rotated and twisted, causing the crack in the air to grow larger.

I heard the sound of glass shattering. The space before the monster disintegrated.

And then, I saw a vivid pink light.

“Ji-eun!”

I saw Ha-yoon holding her ground beyond that.

She was really there.

“Just a petty trick.”

I laughed, looking incredulous, and dashed toward Ha-yoon.

Ha-yoon was holding her ground too.

Tears filled her eyes. They weren’t just resting; it seemed like they were ready to spill over.

What’s this? Does she not believe me?

I scoffed and dove towards Ha-yoon, as if sliding through the air, wrapping my arms around her waist and spinning around until my back hit the wall.

“Ji-eun, Ji-eun!”

Ha-yoon shouted, touching my face.

Did she think I had died?

That’s a bit disappointing.

I also thought it was a big deal at one point.

……Let’s just consider that my pointless stubbornness helped for once.

“Yeah, it’s me.”

I thought it seemed cool when I said that, but it felt so cheap afterward. It sounded a bit overly dramatic too.

Hmm.

Now that it’s come to this, should I just bury the memory?

Since I had completely forgotten about the flower bouquet incident, I might as well do the same this time.

I pressed my lips against Ha-yoon’s.

This time, I closed my eyes properly, setting the mood just right.

 

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