Chapter 30 : False Accusation (4) Part-1

It’s really a ridiculous situation.

Shouldn’t I be thrilled to have enough strength to push a car without heavy machinery?

After all, it’s the power I gained after coming to this other world.

I can leap with bare legs and jump over a police bus,

While running, my speed was nearly as fast as a car.

Bullets come flying but curve away to the side,

Normally, even having just one of those powers would feel satisfying.

If there’s a villain in front of me, I’d just smash them to pieces and head straight for a happy ending.

But all I feel is despair.

Did something break in my head? Even while I was running away, I just kept crying.

There were choices in front of me, but I ended up picking only the wrong ones.

Every time I made a choice, I thought it was something necessary for me, but now I see it wasn’t.

I should’ve just let the world run its course.

I shouldn’t have been so greedy.

I should have just thought, “I’m someone who won’t make it” and lived my life, but I made a fuss for no reason.

In reincarnation stories, no matter how much the author stirs things up, the protagonist doesn’t usually come out on top, does she? But I was nowhere near that.

I don’t even know where I should go.

My mind tells me I need to leave Seoul, but I can’t decide which direction to go.

After all, I’m right in the middle of Seoul.

Should I head toward the Han River? At least if I cross a bridge, I might have somewhere to escape to…

But still, I was running toward home.

Strictly speaking, it’s not really a home.

It was somewhere I was going to have to leave eventually.

But in this world, it’s about the only thing I can really say I have.

Right now, I don’t even have my phone or wallet.

All I have is this tattered hospital gown.

Inside, I don’t even have proper underwear on.

Bang!

Again, I heard the sound of gunfire in front of me.

Is someone analyzing the direction I’m going and sending people after me? It’s making me anxious.

At this rate, no matter where I run, I’ll only be chased down.

I saw something flash—

“…!”

The pain in my shoulder was so sharp I couldn’t even scream.

My running speed slowed down.

I stumbled, having misstepped.

Then, several gunshots rang out.

Pain spread through my body.

Each shot felt like a giant hammer striking me.

Something shiny fell to the ground.

They were bullets that hadn’t pierced my body.

Live rounds.

Maybe because they hit my body, the tips of the lead bullets were blunt and crushed.

I guess they know rubber bullets won’t work on me.

Maybe the reason the bullets curved instead of hitting me directly is because they lacked enough kinetic energy.

Perhaps they used less gunpowder, or maybe the caliber was different.

Or maybe those were bullets with more gunpowder inside.

What’s important is that it’s ignoring even the magic around me and hitting my body.

A spotlight gathered around me.

The light that had barely faded now blinded me again.

It wasn’t just bright; it was so blindingly bright that my head hurt.

I wonder if they’re okay with me going blind?

“…It hurts.”

I mumbled, my voice trembling.

Slowly, black substance started to cover my body, beginning from my left arm.

Ting, ting.

I heard the sound of metal bouncing off.

It seemed like the others couldn’t hear it, and instead, they approached, as if it was the perfect opportunity.

The ones at the front were holding something like shields.

Their clothes looked much thicker, and the silhouettes barely visible seemed bigger than an average person.

A duller gunshot rang out, and multiple bullets hit my body at once.

I almost fell backward, but I managed to stop that.

Some of the buckshot hit my head, and a ringing sound echoed in my ears.

It feels like the circuits are reading my mind.

Wherever I hurt, a barrier is formed.

Even though it couldn’t completely offset the shock, just that alone made it much more bearable.

Something like a net flew toward me from the approaching group.

The net that landed on my body was much heavier than it looked.

It wasn’t just an ordinary fishing net; each strand was a thick metal wire.

Such nets piled up in several layers above my head.

I felt my strength drain from one knee.

The gunfire stopped, but the sheer weight pressing down on my body made it even harder to escape.

More than anything, my body was exhausted.

I no longer felt pain, but even the enhanced strength couldn’t keep my eyelids from growing heavier.

I curled my body.

The tightening wires pressed in from all sides, as if they were not going to allow me any space.

In that moment, I felt like it was the only way I could keep my body intact.

“I don’t want this anymore…”

“I hate it… I hate everything.”

I just want to give up.

“Someone, please…”

As I muttered, my vision was slowly engulfed by darkness.

It was exactly like that time.

The time when I was caught by Hayoon.

Just before my sight was completely covered, I thought I heard someone call my name.

*

“No!”

No matter what happened, I couldn’t catch up with Jieun, who was running much faster than Hayoon, who could fly.

It’s not that I simply lacked the ability; it seems like our strengths were completely inverse.

The person who could be called Hayoon’s hope was now being chased by countless people.

The sirens from below made my head throb painfully.

Is that gunfire I hear in the distance?

Listening to that, my heart grew even more anxious.

I could lose my friend.

The friend I’ve known since childhood, the one I’ve always relied on, I might lose her.

The more she thought about it, the weaker Hayoon’s power became.

“Hayoon!”

I barely snapped out of it at Cherry’s shout.

I’m not sure what exact power the Noir Corporation’s circuits use, but at least the minimum required to operate the circuits is likely much less than the power magic girls use to operate their own circuits.

The reason a magic girl can be a magic girl is because she can turn the circuits and generate that much energy.

But still, even in this weakened state, there was enough energy to fight.

So, I had to go.

No matter what, Hayoon couldn’t afford to lose Jieun.

How?

Should she try to persuade them with words? Or should she try to subdue her by force?

Hayoon’s parents hold an important position between the Galactic Federation and the Korean government.

Naturally, they have to keep an eye on both sides, so there’s no way Hayoon could secretly hide Jieun.

Iris’s warp technology could transport Jieun to a distant place, but… would Iris actually help?

Moreover, warp technology can be easily abused once it’s used for the wrong purposes.

Iris’s warp technology is already under surveillance by the Galactic Federation.

The moment Iris helps Jieun, Iris’s position would become very dangerous too.

No matter how Hayoon think about it, there seems to be no way to help Jieun.

Handing her over to those people is out of the question.

This wasn’t just a simple arrest.

Even if she were to be arrested, why would Jieun…?

Magic girls fight for justice.

Even if the Galactic Federation can’t be perfectly just, the magic girls must be just.

No matter how broken the world is, there must be corners where things are running fairly.

They needed to show that.

A magic girl was meant to be that symbol of hope.

Where did it all go wrong?

Hayoon bit her lip and tried to hold back her tears.

Is this really what the righteous path is like?

Is this the first time something like this has happened?

Was Jieun singled out for the first time, and was it just bad luck that Hayoon found out?

I saw Jieun.

No, I could barely see her.

Jieun should have been clearly visible, since she was in the middle of the bright light.

The soldiers surrounding her were visible, though.

The road was completely blocked off.

Large trucks and buses had come and were blocking the major roads in all directions.

Even though it was night, a few cars were parked at the end of the blockade.

The people inside them must be wondering what was going on.

A helicopter was hovering in the sky.

[Blossom!]

A loud sound came from the helicopter at a certain distance.

[Withdraw! Another magic girl will take over the scene!]

But I couldn’t see this “other magic girl.”

[The monster has almost been subdued! There’s no need for additional help!]

A monster.

The person in the helicopter was calling Jieun over there a monster.

Did Hayoon think Jieun wouldn’t be recognized?

I had recognized her as soon as we arrived above the hospital.

[Blossom]

Hayoon, for the first time, ignored the orders.

“Cease fire! Cease fire!”

I heard people shouting.

The gunfire that had been sporadic suddenly stopped.

I could see shiny things on the ground.

Metal fragments with blunt, crushed tips.

“Bullets?”

I had seen them before.

Non-lethal weapons used by the police when regular means didn’t work.

They were usually used to hold out until the magic girls arrived.

“Jieun…”

Jieun’s condition was even more serious than that.

There was blood on the ground.

It didn’t look like she had been killed by live rounds, but she could stop breathing at any moment, and it wouldn’t be surprising.

“Why?”

Jieun was barely visible.

Over her body, over the torn hospital gown, several layers of metal wire netting were piled on top.

The only evidence that Jieun was still alive was the twitching body barely visible through the gaps between the wires.

Hayoon raised her staff.

A blade formed from pink light.

She swung it and cut through the wire.

“Blossom!”

Someone shouted.

Hayoon didn’t respond.

Fortunately, no one approached Hayoon.

Maybe they sensed something was off.

“Hayoon…”

Cherry muttered while tightly gripping Hayoon’s shoulder.

The wire wasn’t going to be cut that easily.

Had they already consider how magic would sever them?  It didn’t seem like just any ordinary wire.

It was thick wire that could be used in construction.

Just one strand thrown at your head could likely kill you instantly.

“Blossom!”

One of the soldiers, who seemed a bit bigger than the others, mustered up the courage to approach Blossom, shouting as he did.

“It’s a subdued monster! If we release it, it could be dangerous!”

“It’s not a monster!”

Blossom shouted back.

“Jieun is human, she’s from Earth!”

Monsters are aliens that only emit an unknown energy that can be felt when they’re near Earth, especially around humans.

A human from Earth can’t be a monster in the first place.

Yet, these people, who are also from Earth—

“Blossom.”

Hayoon, gripping her staff tightly, didn’t back down.

The man carefully approached again and spoke.

“She is a suspect in the explosion case. People died.”

“No, she’s not.”

Hayoon glared at the man.

Her face was hard to see due to the intense light, but it was clear from her stance that she was visibly flustered.