One thing that’s certain is that James is an engineer, and not just any engineer, but an exceptionally skilled one.
If you compare him to someone on Earth, he’d probably be a person who is very famous in the field of power generation.
How about thinking of him as someone who researches nuclear fusion?
Modern science and technology have become so vast and deep that, originally, it would be impossible for one person to fully grasp everything.
At least, that’s how it has been for Earth’s scientists so far.
Even when creating a single generator, each component within it, and even those components themselves, cannot be made by one person alone.
Each process, each theory has its own area of expertise, and each person has their own approach to research.
So, theoretically, it would be impossible for someone involved in designing a nuclear fusion generator to have specialized knowledge in high-speed communication.
The fields they have studied are just too different.
But, as if he were truly an alien, it seems James is not one of those people.
“Who do you think made the suit and the circuits you were wearing?”
Well… when you break it down, even the suit involves different areas of expertise.
After all, it’s the difference between a generator and the advanced combat suit it powers.
“You mean you made all of that?”
At my words, James scoffed and said,
“Anyone who wants to be called a ‘techie’ should at least know how to do this much.”
Ah, I see.
And as an additional note, it seems that typical techies tend to view teaching others the most basic aspects of their own skills as a taboo.
Of course, no matter how smart a species is, there are physical limits, and limits to the knowledge an individual can hold.
Their intellectual limits may be far higher than humans’, but their physical limits… well, there’s no need to even mention that.
If they came to Earth without a translation device and got caught, they might end up being raised as a pet.
Anyway, because of this, in the end, they have no choice but to share knowledge with others.
While it’s important to get help from larger species on other planets when making things, the bigger issue is that, to compete with those who create networks through knowledge, relying solely on one’s own strength is problematic.
They formed nations, joined federations, and got jobs at companies.
That’s how the techies survived.
And in the process, they boasted about their character, such as by making it easier to repair certain parts with a body size like that of a techie, or patching up important sections with knowledge only they knew.
The space battleships made by the techies are famous for their excellent performance, but they all share the common issue of being extremely difficult to maintain.
So, it could be said that they are a very closed-off group, despite being part of the intergalactic federation.
It seems James was like that even when working at a company.
“Doesn’t anyone say anything about it?”
“If I don’t do anything, the one who loses is the company.”
“…So, that whole thing about kidnapping the researcher, was that something you just wanted to do, right?”
I asked, thinking back to James waiting alone in the car without any subordinates.
James shrugged his shoulders.
“If I need information, I have to extract it. I had the authority to do that.”
Have you ever thought that the whole series of events was your fault?
Well, if someone had really planned to involve James within the company, it would have happened eventually, whether it was that time or not.
And from the company’s perspective, even I, as someone in the ‘James line,’ was probably at risk. In some way or another.
To be honest, I don’t really think I can complain about it since the mistake was in the first place when I decided to get a job at such a company.
However, I just couldn’t hold this back.
“Aren’t you just being a jerk and making a ton of enemies at the company?”
James ignored my words.
Maybe he couldn’t deny it himself.
James glared at me as I let out a deep sigh, but I simply ignored him back.
I decided to act without involving the Earth fanatic.
Since we were strategizing in a room with only one bed, it was inevitable that the Earth fanatic might overhear something, but it seemed James wasn’t too concerned about it.
If I had to break it down, his attitude seemed to be something like, “What are you going to do if you find out?”
Maybe he trusted me because I hadn’t reported him to anyone so far.
Or maybe it was resignation.
After all, he was already purged from the company, and with the kind of actions he was taking—basically terrorism—it might be that the reasons he gave me were just excuses.
In reality, his goal was probably to find the person who tried to kill him and get revenge.
Even if I thought I was being used, it didn’t make me angry.
After all, this was about all I could do at the moment.
So, it wasn’t that I thought, “It’s okay.”
It was more like a sense of resignation.
“Alright,” James said.
We had climbed to the rooftop of a building.
The way up was just a normal, straightforward route.
We were in the heart of Seoul, right in the middle of Gangnam.
Naturally, it was also somewhat far from Noir Corporation.
It made sense to have an important facility like this installed in the middle of Seoul.
That way, if the location got compromised, the magical girls couldn’t easily attack.
The building I was on was a few stories higher, so it seemed easy to enter the adjacent building.
Of course, if you told me to jump down, I’d probably ask if you were crazy—it was that high.
How would the magical girls infiltrate?
They were probably thinking the same thing as me.
They’d likely try to get onto the rooftop.
“The magical girls are moving. It seems they’re not planning to use the warp point today.”
“Why? That would be much faster.”
“Well, I don’t know everything either.”
But even so, James fell into thought for a moment before speaking.
“Perhaps there’s a problem with ‘Hope.’ The energy used for the warp is enormous, after all.”
I recalled the content of the webtoon.
For me, it felt like a long time ago, so I didn’t remember it clearly.
Still, compared to other works, I had a relatively vivid memory of it.
I had liked it a lot since the days when it was serialized on blogs, and I used to read it while waiting for new chapters, which would sometimes take a few days, or other times stretch into weeks or even months.
I ended up dropping the official webtoon that came out weekly halfway through, though.
And this world was the same as that ‘official webtoon’ universe.
The Cle…
If I fumble through the setting I can remember, the magical girls’ circuits were also supported by Blossom’s overflowing energy.
So, if something were to happen to Blossom, the firepower of the other magical girls would decrease. Iris was the same.
Could it be because of me?
I… I’m close to Hayoon, but…
If it were Ha-Yoon, she would definitely be shocked if someone in our class got hurt.
If someone as close as I am to her is in this condition, it wouldn’t be strange if there were an issue with her ‘Hope.’
“Are you actually worried about the magical girls?”
James…
“Well, fine. Thanks to that, we’ve gained some time.”
“By the way, doesn’t that leave a connection log?”
I asked, looking at the smartphone James was holding.
“This is a combat-spec smartphone. Even if there’s a connection log, it won’t show that I made it. I also turned it off completely while bringing it here.”
So, it doesn’t matter if a connection log is left behind, since we’re already close enough.
“Besides, if we properly destroy it this time, it won’t matter whether the connection log is there or not.”
“That’s true.”
I took a deep breath.
Here’s the translation:
If I said I wasn’t nervous, that would be a lie.
The only reason I’m doing what I can is because it’s all I can do, but honestly, I don’t really want to.
If I could just escape like this, I’d probably choose that.
Hayoon.
I wouldn’t be able to meet Ji-Hye, though.
Yeah, in the end, I would have done it. I admit that.
“So, what’s the plan?”
“It’s nothing complicated. We just need to break whatever equipment we can see inside the base when the magical girls arrive. I’ll accompany you and point out the important equipment, so let’s start with those.”
“Alright.”
I nodded.
Then I asked James,
“How do we get in?”
“If it’s the magic you showed me last time, that should be enough. Actually… it might even have an effect greater than what’s needed. If the surroundings get torn apart because of the black hole as we enter, that in itself would make for a great attack, wouldn’t it?”
“I see.”
I nodded again.
Then I asked,
“How do you use that?”
James, who had been strategizing on my hand, suddenly lifted his head.
We stared at each other in silence for a while.
“No, wait a minute.”
James placed one hand on his forehead and said,
“Don’t tell me you don’t know?”
I don’t. Wait, more importantly, how do you transform in the first place?
“That’s something you should have known!”
James stamped his foot on my palm.
Hearing that, I was the one who ended up being flustered.
“No, even if you say that… I wasn’t fully conscious when I transformed.”
I just found myself in that situation, and before I knew it, the transformation was complete.
The magic, too, was used instinctively as I thought about where to run.
That’s right.
In that moment, I never consciously decided to do any of it.
“Energy! What about the energy!?”
I showed him my smartwatch.
As I flipped my hand over, James’s body swayed, but despite being flustered, he didn’t fall.
Actually, to be precise, he did fall—he just tipped forward and ended up falling onto the back of my left hand.
And with that, I touched the smartwatch.
A compass needle-like indicator started spinning again on the screen.
When James touched the screen once more, numbers appeared.
81%.