Where should I go?
I started running, but my mind is still in chaos.
Maybe because it’s already past sunset, the lobby was mostly empty.
If there had been other people mixed in here and there… well, I guess it would have been just as hard for me to escape, just like it was hard for them to approach me.
Which side is this person from?
Since they’re not a combatant, they don’t seem to be from Noir Corporation.
The output of Noir Corporation’s circuits is different from that of a magical girl’s.
The output of a despair circuit is much weaker than that of a hope circuit.
To support that energy, there needed to be a path for the energy spreading from the circuit to deliver strength throughout the body.
That was why we wore suits.
The circuit I received had an overwhelmingly better output than what other combatants used, but still, it wasn’t as powerful as a circuit that uses hope as its energy source, so the suit was necessary.
Well, in some ways, it might actually be more efficient…
Anyway, because of that, the person in front of me, who doesn’t have a circuit on their wrist and isn’t wearing a suit, is at least not someone from Noir Corporation.
Unless, of course, they’re disguised to avoid detection.
But what do I know?
The circuit was spinning wildly.
I don’t know how to use it.
The circuits I’ve used until now were all attached to the suit, which automatically supplied energy to the suit.
Right now, though, I don’t feel that at all—
Three people blocked my way.
They looked at least 20 cm taller than me.
They looked like the type of people who could knock me out with one punch if they decided to throw a punch.
Maybe considering we were in a hospital, they didn’t openly swing their fists at me.
“…Huh?”
But even though I knew they were genuinely trying to hit me, everything felt a bit slow.
Was it because I was used to facing enemies who weren’t ordinary humans?
As someone lunged toward me, arms wide, seemingly to grab me, I quickly crouched down.
That person also lowered their body to catch me, but by then, my fist was already swinging.
I landed a light punch to the center of their chest.
There was no feeling of bones breaking, but the person, struck in the solar plexus, grabbed their chest and staggered backward, collapsing to the floor.
I took out the one in the middle like that, then jumped and leapt over the next person.
My body felt light.
The pain I had been feeling just moments ago had nearly disappeared.
I wasn’t sure why.
Could it be that the effects of the drug I was injected with while unconscious were now kicking in?
But just as I began to entertain that faint hope, I suddenly felt my body start to tire.
I was out of breath, my legs felt weak, and the pain in the soles of my feet grew a little sharper.
Ah, I see.
This must be because of the circuit.
I couldn’t understand the principle behind it, but the circuit was supplying me with energy.
Unlike what I usually used, the circuit with an electronic display was still buzzing and spinning.
When I realized that this wasn’t due to my own abilities, my strength started to return a little.
The despair circuit truly was a despair circuit.
Unbelievable.
The fact that disappointment and frustration fueled it… The design was absolutely twisted.
Thwack!
The opponent was trying to “catch” me, but my goal, no matter what, was to escape.
They weren’t wearing suits.
They weren’t magical girls.
I had no reason to fight seriously.
I was already being falsely accused—I wasn’t about to add murder to the list.
In the end, the person who couldn’t hold back and threw a punch at me saw their fist collide perfectly with mine.
They grabbed their hand and staggered back, wincing.
How much do these people know?
Just like I was an unaware combatant, are they coming after me without knowing anything?
Looking at how they’re all dressed in medical uniforms or something like a hospital security team’s outfits,I didn’t think they were completely clueless, but it’s something I can’t know for sure.
Bang!
“Ugh!?!”
I heard gunfire from behind, and then I felt a heavy blow to my back.
While I had been running forward, I fell straight down and slid across the smooth hospital marble floor.
The circuit might have been able to withstand the physical strain on my body, but it couldn’t completely erase the pain.
My back, where I was shot, and the parts of my body that hit the marble floor hurt like hell.
Fortunately, I was able to protect my face with my hands before hitting the ground.
It didn’t feel like any bones were broken.
I quickly checked my stomach and back, and it didn’t seem like anything had been pierced, but my back hurt terribly.
Rubber bullets?
Were they non-lethal riot control rounds?
Would regular company people use something like that?
Given how they boldly use circuits and such, it seems possible, but still, I thought using firearms was a different matter altogether.
“Oof…!”
In the meantime, I felt something tightening around my ankle.
I turned my body and looked down, and saw a noose-like device around my left ankle.
It wasn’t an unfamiliar piece of equipment.
Although I hadn’t experienced it personally, it looked similar to what police used to capture rampaging monsters.
A noose fired by a gun.
At the end of it, like a fishing rod, there was a gun attached that automatically reeled in the line.
As soon as I realized what it was, I started sliding quickly across the marble floor.
Just as I had expected, the length of the line connected to the gun was rapidly shortening.
I tried to lift my upper body and somehow deal with the cord, but—
Sssst.
“Aah!?”
As soon as I touched it, I screamed from the sensation.
It wasn’t just my hands.
I felt a similar sensation in my legs, connected to the line.
In an instant, my senses were jolted, and my back arched backward.
Electricity?
Are they using an electrically charged line on me?
Ah, right. I remember that such a feature exists.
This must be something created to capture creatures much stronger than humans—perhaps even extraterrestrial monsters.
Since it’s meant for capture, I won’t die, but—
I tried to force my body to move.
Given the situation, whether it was because my brain was pumping out chemicals like drugs or if it was the circuit,
I couldn’t tell, but I was able to move, though it was forced.
“…… Ugh!”
I grabbed the line wrapped around my ankle with both hands and pulled hard to the left and right.
The line loosened bit by bit.
I heard a suspicious sizzling sound from my hands, but I ignored it.
“Ah!”
The person pulling the line must have thought they were in a hurry, because they yanked it even harder.
I had been sitting, holding onto the noose, but this time, I was dragged forward, landing face down and being pulled along.
My fingers couldn’t seem to let go of the line.
I tried to force my fingers open to release the line and barely managed to get up, but this time I was pushed over and fell.
The person who shoved me down, like they were some kind of rugby player, pressed down hard on my body.
A few more people rushed in and grabbed my arms and legs.
Why?
Why are they doing this to me?
Tears welled up in my eyes.
I… yeah, I’m not a good person.
To be honest, ever since I joined Noir Corporation, I’ve been twisted, straying further from the right path.
But still, still, I’m not a murderer.
I’ve never killed anyone.
I didn’t blow up that pillar.
Why do I have to be the one to be sacrificed?
Why do I have to take the fall for this?
Was I just meant to be used by the higher-ups and then discarded
Ah, I see.
It wasn’t just that I was used.
I got paid. I didn’t receive the money directly, but it was still used for what I wanted.
Maybe… maybe I did something strange for no reason, even though I’m just an extra whose name and face aren’t even properly shown.
I was supposed to live like that, just standing by the protagonist and offering casual admiration, drifting along.
Like the characters whose names never appeared in the original, I should’ve just lived like that.
But I don’t want to.
It’s not that I want to become the protagonist.
I don’t want to be the most important character in some manga.
I just wanted to get back what I lost.
The things I had built in my previous life, even though to others they might seem like nothing, were all things I had worked hard for—and they’ve all disappeared.
I get it.
If a comment like that was left on a webtoon I made, I’d be pissed too.
Maybe that’s why the writer purposely placed me into this role, as if to deny that I’m nothing.
Maybe that’s why I’m here, trapped in this role in the manga.
I didn’t want to be denied like that.
Even though I lived aimlessly, without any real purpose, I didn’t want my very existence to be denied.
Maybe the reason I kept lingering around Hayoon was because of that.
Maybe it was because I knew Hayoon was the protagonist of a magical girl story.
It’s also why I joined the combat unit and started my activities a year earlier than Hayoon.
I thought that if I worked hard enough, I could become a villainous executive.
Maybe, just maybe, I’d even get a bit of screen time in the main story.
So, if I appeared in the main storyline, it would feel like I got one over on the author—
…Was it my greed that led me here?
“Get… off…”
I feel disgusting.
Really.
“Just… get the hell off me.”
As I gritted my teeth and stood up, I heard surprised voices around me.
I pushed my hands against the floor and lifted myself up.
The two men who had been on my back were pushed back by my strength.
“The circuit! Remove the circuit!”
I heard someone shouting.
A hand reached toward my wrist.
“Ugh!?”
But the hand quickly recoiled.
Idiots.
The circuit runs on an enormous amount of energy.
Naturally, the heat it generates is also quite high.
While I’ve set it up to suppress it so the user doesn’t die or get hurt, it’s still like touching a kettle with boiling water.
…I’m not sure why I’m okay right now, though.
“I said… Get lost!”
I shouted as I swung my arm.
A few of the men who had been clinging to me were thrown off.