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The argument didn’t last long.

In fact, it felt more like I was the one giving up. Pang-pang was pretty stubborn in situations like this.

I really had no idea why she insisted on following me, why she’d willingly endure such hardship—I couldn’t grasp it at all.

I understood she thought we were close friends, but…

“You’re something else.”

“Just be honest.”

In response to my words, Pang-pang smiled and said,

“You just want to have at least one friend around, right? Not someone like James over there.”

James shrugged as if he couldn’t believe it, but I couldn’t say a word.

“…What if I go with you? What are you going to do if I leave to work?”

“I’ll watch the tent.”

“……”

“And hey, it’s okay. I can fight pretty well!”

I knew that already, but still, wouldn’t it be limiting to go alone?

Plus, I didn’t even have a combat suit.

But…

“I’ll think about it a bit more.”

I said that to Pang-pang, feeling somewhat relieved that it meant I wasn’t outright rejecting her. She flashed me a smile in response.

Honestly, even as I answered like that, I was considering leaving her behind. Late at night… Well, I could leave anytime, so that should be enough.

Even if she said she would come along, following someone else was a completely different matter. I knew Pang-pang had done various things here, but they were just part-time jobs anyone could do.

Being a combatant was somewhat unique, but it wasn’t like they were teaching investigative skills or anything.

…After searching around for a bit, if it got tough, I would eventually head home.

That was just what I was thinking.

*

But a laid-back mindset always ends up getting shattered eventually.

When you think, “Ah, I’ll find a job and just casually make some money here,” the job disappears completely, or something happens with the boss, or I encounter some problem myself.

In fact, I had already experienced something like that in this world. Just hanging around as a combatant, and after graduation, thinking I’d quit and work a regular job.

It would be nice if I could beat a magical girl at least once in the meantime, that kind of thing.

…In the end, it was a plan that fell apart. I should’ve recognized that my life in this world had never been that smooth from the start.

It was when I had gathered everything I needed to spend some time outside.

I guess Pang-pang started to sense that I was going to leave, because she suddenly said,

“Ji-eun, do you want to go out and have some fun?”

“…Have fun?”

I tilted my head at Pang-pang’s words.

I hadn’t even considered it. I was already on the run, and there were a ton of people chasing me.

Sure, after nearly three weeks, things had calmed down a bit. My school and the orphanage I had been attending had decently faded from the news, even though my face had been pixelated, so they began to reduce the frequency of featuring me once the buzz around me diminished.

But still, I was a fugitive. Going out for fun was out of the question.

Honestly, just the fact that I was working was a bit risky.

Looking at James, he was vigorously shaking his head. It was a definite sign of “Absolutely not.”

“I’m not suggesting going far.”

Pang-pang quickly added upon seeing my expression.

“I just thought… how about taking a day off and relaxing somewhere?”

“Where?”

“Um… somewhere in Seoul?”

Hearing that, I suddenly thought of Hongdae, where I had gone with Ji-hye and Ha-yoon.

…Well, I hadn’t really had fun there in the end. A stalker had started following me midway.

But up until then, it had actually been quite enjoyable. Not that anything major had happened, but it was nice.

As long as I didn’t end up making a café with her, it might be okay.

I glanced back at James.

James shrugged his shoulders and spoke to us.

“Even if I tell you not to go, you probably will, right?”

“……”

“Well, I suppose if it’s somewhere I can return within an hour, it should be fine. After all, the places we work at are somewhat far away too.”

Seeing Pang-pang brighten at that, James quickly added a condition.

“But, go during the weekday daylight. Preferably somewhere with as few people as possible.”

We nodded in agreement.

*

In situations like this, people usually think it’ll be because of this plan that I’ll get caught—but hey, we weren’t going in without any preparations made.

It’s not like we were going to project our faces into holograms; we were properly covering ourselves with fake skin to go out.

Pang-pang and I headed outside to a nearby downtown area. There were indeed people around during the day, but not too many.

The modest number of people actually helped hide us better. We made sure not to linger too long in one spot.

It felt like a long-awaited moment of relaxation.

Like the time I went with Ha-yoon to pick out records at the bookstore.

“……”

“Why? Are you tired?”

“No, it’s not that.”

Oops, I ended up thinking of something else.

I would never think that I’d never see them again for the rest of my life. It was just that, at the moment, I was simply a little distant from them.

Right now, my ultimate goal was revenge, and the chances of success were small—but if I succeeded, I planned to try living normally again.

And that was also the reason I couldn’t bring Pang-pang along. If I failed to overcome this, the only one left would just be in danger.

…Yeah.

Let’s think of this as the last time.

Today was the day I would make the most of it. James was starting to prepare as well, and I had made the proper preparations to manage outside somehow.

Even Pang-pang had gone so far as to make a list of necessary items for camping, so we had probably gathered everything we needed.

“Oh, that’s a no-go.”

I saw Pang-pang’s gaze turning towards the café and said,

“Coffee is absolutely a no from home.”

“Hmph.”

Pang-pang whined, but she looped her arm through mine.

Come to think of it, had we ever done this before?

…Had we really been that lonely?

Yeah, it must have been lonely. Living overseas without family. The work I did didn’t get me recognized well by others either.

So, perhaps having a friend like me, and yeah, having spent a little time together, wasn’t such a bad thing after all.

The thought of leaving without a word weighed heavily on my heart.

*

Going out to play didn’t end up being a huge problem.

In fact, it might have helped a bit that we went out for fun.

“Hey!”

When we returned home, there was someone in front of Pang-pang’s house.

I immediately tensed up, but Pang-pang greeted the person casually as if she knew them.

“Hello.”

“Hello or whatever, some student friends came by earlier. You should answer when your friends contact you, don’t you think?”

“What?”

“A few of them came, knocking on the door and calling your name, and when I went down, they had already left.”

“……”

“When I asked what was going on, they said they were your friends—”

But as the person continued speaking, their expression turned a bit peculiar.

“Friends, right?”

“Yes, they’re friends.”

I nodded.

The person was staring at me with a somewhat examining look. As if it was odd that I lived here.

Now that I thought about it, it was my first time seeing this person, while Pang-pang seemed to know them. She must have been living alone back then.

“Thank you. I’ll try to contact my friends.”

“Ah, yes, that… it was noisy…”

As Pang-pang replied, the man took a look at me with a slightly awkward expression and walked away.

We entered the house with stiff faces.

James was already waiting for us with all our luggage packed.

“Where have you been?”

Before he could finish, Pang-pang and I closed the door.

“Who came by?”

“…… Probably someone from the company since public officials never speak like that.”

So, they must have been looking for us at work.

“Could it be that we stayed out too long and that became a problem?”

“Could be, or it might not be. It’s possible it was just a coincidence. They might have easily checked how close your friend was.”

Whether they noticed I had ties with Pang-pang by going through past CCTV, or if, until now, they were unaware and only just figured out I had friends.

“I might have deleted my information before leaving, so they could finally investigate properly.”

James noted.

“We have to leave right now. Luckily, we are already all set to go.”

Pang-pang looked at me.

“……”

I clamped my mouth shut.

We stood quietly, exchanging glances for a while.

In the end, it turned out I was losing once again.

In this situation, I wasn’t sharp enough to just leave Pang-pang behind.

…Ironically, one part of my mind was letting out a sigh of relief.

 

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