I came here anyway.
But to be honest, I didn’t want to do anything anymore.
Until not too long ago, thoughts of revenge and other things kept crossing my mind.
Even now, those thoughts haven’t changed.
But really, what’s the point of doing things that those in power would like?
Wouldn’t it be better to just smash everything and demand the chairman’s head instead?
…Not that I’d actually go through with such a thing, given my personality.
So, here I am.
“This is so strange.”
I murmured to myself while looking down from the rooftop.
“Did they even expect us to come?”
Once again, the police were facing off against a monster.
At this point, it’s a predictable scene.
They’re just buying time until the magical girls come and deal with the monster.
What’s the point of fighting and risking their lives when they’d only end up dead?
If it was that lobster-like monster, it would crush you with its pincers or tear your body apart.
And if you charged at the spitting monster, you’d face horrors worse than death.
Just imagining parts of your body melting is horrifying.
Honestly, I thought this whole situation was strange.
Even though they have powers, aren’t all magical girls minors?
Is it really right for minors to step in and do the job of the police or military, even under the Federation’s watchful eyes?
Do they really expect us to come and fight for them again?
“Jieun…”
Hayoon called my name as I muttered to myself.
I didn’t turn to look.
Yeah, I know.
In the end, sending someone capable of fighting is the best way to get results.
A police officer’s life matters.
So does a soldier’s.
And there’s no one else besides magical girls who can suppress a monster without being killed outright by their attacks.
The Federation knows this, which is why they exploited magical girls as much as possible.
The government, knowing this too, turned a blind eye to how magical girls operated.
And the companies got away with exploiting magical girls because the government preferred them not to go on a rampage.
“Aren’t you curious? What would happen to those people if we didn’t step in?”
“……”
The others fell silent at my words.
Their gazes turned toward me.
Even though we used a black hole to get here, we didn’t jump into action right away.
Still, we distributed circuits again, so soon enough, they’ll notice that a magical girl is on a nearby rooftop.
Or maybe they already know?
There weren’t any news helicopters hovering in the air.
Not even drones were visible.
Did they fail to get permission to fly?
Leaning against the rooftop railing, I looked down.
The scene below was quite the spectacle.
A broad road was filled with black helmets.
I’m not talking about hair color.
In this world, categorizing races by hair color is meaningless.
What I meant was the helmets the police were wearing.
Dressed in black combat uniforms from head to toe, the police were surrounding the monster again.
It looked like they’d made some attempts to fight it.
There seemed to be casualties, as ambulances were stationed on the outskirts of the crowd encircling the monster.
A few civilians were visible, their numbers slowly increasing over time.
It seemed there wasn’t enough time to evacuate everyone from the building in the middle of Seoul.
This wasn’t like Chungmuro, where no one was around.
Some people on the opposite building opened their windows and were peering down at the scene below.
“What should we do?”
I asked in a lethargic voice, watching the people below.
“Should we go fight? Do we really need to prove that we’re the righteous ones?”
“That’s—”
Iris began to speak, but upon meeting my gaze, she quickly fell silent.
“Why? If you’re going to talk, why not finish what you started?”
Already in a foul mood—though it wasn’t Iris’s fault—I spoke to her with a slightly irritated tone.
Was I being too harsh?
A voice in the back of my head questioned, but I didn’t feel like caring about it.
“We’re not even getting paid for this. You all are technically deserters, too. If we go out now, the Federation might step in to recapture you.”
At my words, Iris paused for a moment to think before replying.
“Even so, if it’s a situation where people could die, we can’t just stand by…”
Her eyes met mine mid-sentence, and she fell silent again.
Why?
Even if she understood the situation, wasn’t this all a bit excessive?
They used to fight without considering the circumstances or anything else.
Of course, just because magical girls showed mercy didn’t mean the combatants would do the same.
They were desperate people in their own way.
Just because magical girls didn’t swing their staffs at them didn’t mean they wouldn’t swing back.
For me, as someone of the same age—or younger—it wasn’t a big issue.
But the sight of underage magical girls being hit by adult fighters was a moral issue, just as I questioned why minors were sent to the battlefield in the first place.
Normally… stories like this would resolve by painting the villains as irredeemably evil.
But in this world, the problem was that, deep down, both sides were just ordinary humans.
“Well, fine.”
I decided not to think too deeply about it.
“Let’s fight for now.”
At my words, the magical girls looked uneasy.
Why?
Did they not trust me?
Or was there some other reason?
Not that it mattered much at this point.
“Just don’t charge in before I finish speaking.”
“Okay,” Hayoon answered.
The others seemed to take her response as a representative answer since no one voiced any objections.
Maybe they were wary of me.
I suppose I’d be a bit scared too, wondering what crazy thing someone like me might do.
If I were in Hayoon’s or the others’ shoes, I might feel the same way.
I jumped off the building.
The propulsion system on my hammer fired energy, slowing my descent.
I landed without any real issue on my part.
Thud!
Still, it was impossible to completely suppress the sound.
I didn’t land right next to the monster.
Even if the street was crowded, it wasn’t so densely packed that the police couldn’t move a single step.
The area around the monster was the most congested, but the farther back you went, the more space opened up.
Of course, dropping into those gaps could still harm someone, especially with the boosters I used that could melt through metal in real time.
So, I chose to land on the roof of a police bus.
The roof sagged slightly under my weight, but it didn’t crumple entirely like other police equipment I’d tampered with before.
As the attention turned toward me,
I leaped down from the bus, prompting the officers to hurriedly move out of the way.
I didn’t intend to harm them, but it seemed they thought otherwise.
I suppose, given my past actions,
I wasn’t exactly known for being friendly toward the police.
Who could have sent the call?
They can broadcast warning news on the radio.
Reporters who sense something is up from the police mobilization might write an article.
But the magical girl signal device—someone has to trigger it for it to go off.
Maybe the magical girl’s mascot?
What was their name again, Cherry?
In the webtoon, they were portrayed as pretty kind, so it might be them.
The magical girls descended a bit later, filling the gap left by the police as they moved aside.
Probably no particular reason—they just floated down gracefully from the sky, as one would expect.
I looked around.
Whether their faces were hidden by helmets or not, everyone seemed flustered and tried to move as far away from me as possible.
Some even had their guns pointed in my direction.
I ignored it and scanned the area until I found what I was looking for.
“Hey, give me that—”
I moved in an instant, grabbing the object I wanted.
The officer screamed shrilly, hastily removing the strap from their shoulder and retreating.
Not that they could escape completely in such a crowded area.
I stared at the officer incredulously and let out a heavy sigh.
Then I lifted the megaphone to my mouth.
“Testing, testing.”
A megaphone isn’t hard to use.
Why waste energy yelling before a fight?
That’s not my style.
Satisfied the device worked, I began speaking.
“Looks like everyone’s having a hard time fighting.”
I said mockingly.
“What’s the problem? Bullets don’t work? Wires don’t hold up?”
Those sometimes work on certain monsters.
Back when monsters first started appearing, and magical girls didn’t exist yet, the police fought them.
They sustained injuries but still managed to deal with the monsters properly.
But now? There’s no need to take damage when someone else can fight in their place.
Even the runaway magical girls have all returned.
Even me.
The one who’s taken blows from the police before.
Fine, I’ll admit it.
This is a job for magical girls.
If someone were to die because I didn’t step in, my fragile conscience would keep whispering, “It’s your fault.”
Whether I’m a proper magical girl or not doesn’t matter.
The fact remains that the reason there aren’t any here is entirely my fault.
Still, I don’t want to do this for free.
“Well, fine. This is our specialty, after all.”
“Our.”
The word felt strange.
I hadn’t even realized I’d said it earlier on the rooftop.
But for now, since they agreed to follow my lead, there shouldn’t be a problem calling us a team.
“We’ll fight for you! No one here wants to die, right? We can fight without dying, and we won’t waste money on useless equipment. That’s all taxpayer money, isn’t it?”
Though I’ve destroyed some of that expensive taxpayer-funded equipment, anyway.
As I began walking forward, the police parted to let me through.
“But I have one condition.”
I added.
“Give us something in return. Oh, I’m not asking for money.”
Not that I’d have any use for it.
It’s not like I’m going to a convenience store nearby.
If I could, I’d already be doing that.
“Food is fine, clothes are fine—anything works. Pay us what you think our fighting is worth. Honestly, we’re running low on supplies and our clothes are worn out.”
Was it okay to say something like that?
I hesitated for a moment before deciding to just say it.
It’s not like they wouldn’t realize our situation after we asked for something.
If they wanted to take advantage of it, fine.
Let them try.
Even though it’s a bit ridiculous to think these thoughts while trying to save lives, I’d just figure out another way if it came to that.
Maybe seeing magical girls looting convenience stores would change their perspective.
The police opened up a path, and we walked to where we were face-to-face with the monster.
This one… looked strange.
Just from its appearance, it seemed incredibly agile.
Most monsters are modeled after animals.
Though I’ve seen alien creatures with rocky bodies, designing those seems complicated because most monsters in webtoons are inspired by familiar animals—marine or terrestrial.
But this one wasn’t like that.
It looked more like a “nimble person.”
Some aliens look almost like humans, with only slight differences.
The creature before me had no hair, a gray face, and a skull that was flatter than a human’s.
If its head had just been a fish outright, it might have been less unsettling.
But it looked like someone had tried to press a human head flat to make it resemble a fish.
Its body was also thin and slightly flattened.
I tilted my head slightly, then raised the megaphone.
There were people there.
Whether they hadn’t been evacuated or chose not to leave, they were holding up their smartphones, recording this scene.
I aimed the megaphone at them and shouted,
“You heard me, right?”
No one directly responded, but I continued speaking toward the smartphones pointed at me.
“Compensation. That’s what I’m asking for. Bring us something useful—anything that can help us. From now… let’s say, for about 30 minutes, I’ll wait.”
My words seemed to confuse the crowd.
Murmurs spread among the police, and even the people filming from the buildings above glanced at each other uneasily.
I set my hammer down with a loud clang as the metal hit the asphalt.
Then I casually sat atop it—not in a comfortable, chair-like posture, but more like a delinquent leaning forward with my arms resting on my knees.
To me, it felt just right.
“Got it!? Thirty minutes! After that, handle it however you want.”
With that, I let the megaphone hang lazily in one hand.
I wasn’t about to take my eyes off the monster.
If it moved, I had to move too.
No way I’d stand by and watch someone die right in front of me.
Wouldn’t they bring something in 30 minutes?
I glanced up at the magical girls.
They looked a bit bewildered.
Were they simply surprised by my words?
Even magical girls must have gained something from being what they are.
If not monetary benefits, then political advantages—though perhaps not for themselves, but for their families.
There’s always something.
The monster stood still, watching us intently.
I couldn’t let my guard down.
No one has figured out why monsters behave the way they do.
Some go on sudden rampages like the one that held Ji-hye hostage, while others stay motionless for hours before attacking.
The only thing certain is that monsters always move to cause harm.
Whether it seems intentional or not, they’re ticking time bombs that will inevitably explode.
That’s why they’re monsters, and why they must be eradicated.
I heard the sound of someone running.
Had they been ordered to?
Well, I’ll wait and see until something is brought.
Changing my stance right after demanding something would make me look pathetic.
“Why…” Ji-hye murmured as she headed toward the scene.
Public transport to the area had been rerouted.
Subway trains were bypassing the station entirely, according to a text alert.
Still, it was possible to get close enough.
The bus wasn’t crowded; in fact, after a certain point, it was almost empty.
No one willingly goes to a place where lives are at risk.
Even those seeking death prefer it to be quick, not being torn apart by a monster.
So, the area should have been deserted.
But this…?
She saw live streams of the place on the internet.
Using 10x zoom on their smartphones, the streamers captured Jieun and the magical girls.
The faces were small but still recognizable.
Until now, they’d acted as if they weren’t paying attention, but when something happened, they suddenly began filming.
Why?
Even if the streaming platform was foreign-owned, it still had a branch in Korea, meaning they should cooperate with the government.
An ominous feeling welled up inside Ji-hye.
She didn’t know much about that side of things.
Even after spending so much time with Jieun, she hadn’t realized how much she was suffering every day.
She’d never thought about what the fighters endured, how much pain and injury they bore.
Watching magical girls fight, she could empathize with them, but she’d never once felt for the fighters who collapsed after taking a hit.
She really didn’t know anything.
Trying to imagine it didn’t even feel possible.
But—
It didn’t mean she couldn’t think about it now.
Suddenly filming and broadcasting the magical girls’ movements… it felt like it had an agenda.
Did they think the magical girls would lose? Or did they want to claim that their demands were wrong?
The bus reached its stop near the site.
Well, not that close—the restricted zone was larger than expected.
Ji-hye jumped off the bus, ignoring the driver’s uneasy gaze, and ran.
Something was strange.
Despite the large restricted zone, there were still people left inside.
“[We’ll wait about 30 minutes.]”
Showing Jieun’s demands on a live broadcast…
There was no concrete evidence, but she couldn’t shake the feeling that something was going wrong.
Had Jieun finally snapped under the weight of her thoughts?
There was nothing Ji-hye could do to help once she got there, yet she ran toward the site anyway.
Was it to help?
Or did she just want to see Jieun’s face?
Ji-hye kept running.
Even as she saw people stationed ahead, guarding the streets—
Premium Chapter
Login to buy access to this Chapter.