NOVEL NEXT Episode 14 – The Runaway Girl (2)
“Hmm, I don’t really feel any great evil here. Of course, this is still quite a quality accomplishment.”
[You’re being too complacent.]
I said a word to Ren, who was mumbling alone in front of the building, then headed inside with Kim Soo-jung.
It was clearly a normal private detective office, but there was nothing to see. This was just one of their strongholds; the true base must be somewhere else. The problem was, I didn’t particularly want to dig that deep.
“I got the stuff. Let’s go.”
A young bald guy picked up the drugs we brought. The delivery was really over just like that. In a way, Kim Soo-jung wasn’t wrong when she said it was easy.
“Nothing much, right?”
“Yeah. So let’s head back.”
I chuckled as I led her back down the street. I had remembered everything.
And tonight, they would all die by my hand.
“Can’t… sleep?!”
“I’ll be back soon. Just go to sleep.”
“If you wake me up late, I’ll be angry!”
“That won’t happen.”
It was time to sleep. I left the startled Kim Soo-jung outside.
The wind was cold. The dim and shady alleys of this low-grade neighborhood felt grim compared to the shining skyscrapers far away.
“But that’s none of my business.”
I pressed the connector. With a fluttering sound, my outfit changed and my hair grew longer.
“Waaah!”
I grabbed Ren by the neck and shot up into the sky. Facing the strong wind felt somewhat refreshing.
I set my direction and soared straight there. I absentmindedly rubbed my right cheek. With my superhuman recovery, I was now in perfect condition.
However, remnants of feelings lingered in my heart. It seemed like I needed to unleash some rough play to clear those emotions.
“Wait. Are you seriously… Aack!”
I lowered my altitude and dove sharply. Against the backdrop of Ren’s scream, I crashed without reducing speed.
“Cough…”
“W-What the hell!!”
I didn’t care what kind of guys were here. The bald guy I saw during the day—I’d make sure to kill him, and if I smashed everything here, it would all end.
As I crashed through a wall with windows, I scanned the people inside, caught up by the shockwave.
“Magical Girl!!”
“Damn it! Shoot!”
Found the bald guy. And these foolish guys gave me an excuse to attack first in a panic.
“Ugh, I’ve stacked some accomplishments, but they’re just minions. I knew I should’ve captured the main body.”
“…What a hassle.”
Hearing police sirens outside, I had to leave soon. I crossed the floor soaked with sticky blood. Bodies were sprawled all around. Of course, ordinary gangsters couldn’t stand against my shadow.
“A safe? This is pretty good.”
“Wait, you don’t mean?!”
It turned out the item I had been searching for was right there. I infiltrated my shadow to break the lock and opened the safe door.
Inside were the drugs we delivered today, various documents, and cash bundles, just as I expected…
“Ouch.”
“How ridiculous… How could a Magical Girl steal?!”
The moment I reached for the money, sparks flew. I could ignore them, but that would be a breach of contract.
“What’s wrong with gaining spoils? Killing is fine, but…”
“Ah, there’s a key difference between eliminating villains and a Magical Girl gaining unfair profit!”
“Don’t kid me. You’re just trying to maintain your image.”
I scoffed and flew out of the building again. I had just wrecked a gang’s office dealing in drugs.
Next up, it was time to deal with those crazy runaway families abusing children and drug runners.
“I wonder if this is the kind of salvation they were hoping for.”
As I spotted the villa, I smirked. Would Kim Soo-jung really be able to like me even after seeing this? It took me ages to adapt to blood and death, even as someone who rolled around in the Demon Realm.
“Time to wake up, brats.”
I expelled shadows to wrap around the entire villa. I aimed for the ceiling of our room on the top floor. With shrill screams and dust raining down from the walls and ceiling, the place was torn apart.
“Ugh…”
“I’m here because there’s a really bad villain.”
With shadows lifting the ceiling, I revealed my teeth in a grin as I approached the huddled girls.
“I heard there’s a dumb pig who can’t even do her job.”
My red pupils gleamed. A thick malice, accompanied by overwhelming fear, engulfed the room.
The powerless weaklings had no way to escape this fear.
“N-No! Please, s-save me!”
I pulled the pig girl hiding behind the other girls using shadows by her ankle.
This foolish girl flailed and screamed loudly. I lifted her upside down like meat in a butcher shop.
“Sorry, but that’s not happening. My goal as a Magical Girl is to punish evil.”
“Ah…”
She seemed to have a guilty conscience, as her face turned pale with despair. I wasn’t just making empty threats.
The reason I could act against her was because she harbored evil recognized by the fairy organization, after all.
“I don’t get it anymore…”
Of course, Ren was sighing like that, and this brat’s evil probably wouldn’t count toward actual results.
After all, most people have evil intentions within them.
Naturally. The struggle to survive, instincts, desires. Society tries to label and control all of it as evil using laws and morals.
“But even so, you should have been prepared to die if you touched first.”
“Shit!!!”
Ultimately, the desperate pig girl began to scream curses as she thrashed around.
“What did I do wrong! Just because I educated those dumb bitches, why am I getting it from you… Aaaah!”
“Don’t call me petty. I’m in no position to just let things slide.”
I coated my hand with the shadow’s blade and severed one of her meaty arms from the squirming mess. Blood sprayed as she screamed, but I sealed the wound with shadows and brought the blade to her again.
“Ever heard of ‘Lingchi’? A method of execution by slicing your body bit by bit while still alive.”
Finally, fear returned to her eyes, which had been filled with grievances.
Yeah, this is how it should be. Keep showing that expression.
*
“Huh…ugh…”
“Ugh.”
Jeon So-hyun covered Kim Soo-jung’s eyes while tightly closing her own.
Magical Girls are heroes, warriors of light who bring dreams and hope.
However, what lay before their eyes now was the very embodiment of a gruesome and dark abyss.
“Don’t listen. Don’t look.”
Jeon So-hyun made Kim Soo-jung block her ears. In doing so, she had to endure the horrific sounds and screams herself.
The hellish noise of a person being sliced alive. Now it was a hoarse voice gasping in pain.
“Stop it right now!”
“Takilas! You’re surrounded!”
And the sirens and shouts ringing out from all directions. She held Kim Soo-jung tight, hoping for rescue.
Although gunshots rang out from time to time, nothing changed. The tear gas canisters thrown were deflected back by the shadow tendrils, choking only the police.
‘That’s a disaster.’
There was no stopping or escaping it; they could only wait for it to pass, like a typhoon or earthquake.
“Oh, they’re already dead.”
With a thud, something that used to be human, now just a lump of flesh, dropped into a pool of blood.
Jeon So-hyun subtly opened her eyes.
“Takilas!”
“This cheeky little brat…”
At that moment, several Magical Girls rushed through the air, cutting through the atmosphere to arrive at the scene.
“Oh, seniors?”
She, Takilas, smiled at them. Strangely enough, there wasn’t a single drop of blood on her body or clothes.
“Why are you here? Are you collaborating with this country too?”
“Shut up! We’re here to punish you for tarnishing the image of all Magical Girls!”
“Are you in your middle school phase? You’re still in junior high, right?”
“Ugh!”
No room for dialogue. The Magical Girls pulled out their weapons and aimed them at her. Their true intention, of course, was to keep this powerful competitor, who had appeared like a comet, in check.
But at the same time, Takilas released shadows, shooting out dozens of shadow blades at the Magical Girls.
“Ahhh!”
“Sorry, but there’s still one head I need to behead.”
The Magical Girls, unable to fend off the onslaught of blades, were swiftly incapacitated. She zipped past them and soared into the air.
“Catch her!”
The police fired their guns, but they couldn’t touch her from the start.
“Impressive, truly. A legendary performance! A legendary performance!”
“If you keep being noisy, you’ll be left here on the street.”
Ren, hanging on her body, groaned in annoyance, but she pretended not to hear.
‘I found her. What a fool. Should’ve run to the ends of the earth.’
Now fully accustomed to the senses of a Magical Girl, Takilas detected a familiar evil. A figure sprinting away down an alley.
It was Kim Kwang-hoon, who was unknowingly approaching the villa.
“Ahhh!”
She landed right in front of the fleeing figure. The escape route was already blocked by shadows. In the narrow alley, the two faced each other alone.
“You know very well why you’re going to die, right?”
“Wait, wait! I’ll talk! I’ll tell you everything…”
“Sorry, but I’m not curious at all.”
She swung her hand and slashed his throat. Sure, knocking him out could yield useful information, but she had no desire to listen.
“Ugh.”
She felt a bit tired and, above all, extremely bored.
‘I can’t keep living like this anymore. What’s the difference from the Demon Realm?’
Roughly shaking her head, she instantly dropped her transformation. With her hands stuffed in her pants pockets, she slowly returned to the villa.
This area had already descended into chaos because of her.