NOVEL NEXT Chapter 23 – Public Enemy (4)
“Su, is that… alcohol?”
“It’s really nothing special, but it’s strangely hard to eat. Ah, I really want to try it once!”
I let out a chuckle as I watched the flustered Park Tae-jun. I don’t know what this dark-haired kid genuinely wants yet, but if I can take advantage of him, I definitely will.
“It’s not… that hard. I didn’t expect you to be so bold.”
“So, don’t you like it?”
“No.”
He regained his composure again. It was surprisingly quick for a kid to control his emotions like that.
“Let’s go. I’ll introduce you to the other kids during break.”
He led me out of the classroom, and I followed obediently. Kim Soo-jung’s flustered gaze followed us, but I nodded slightly to reassure her.
“There are plenty of girls too. Su-han is the same… I’ll talk to her, it’s just a misunderstanding.”
“I’m not worried.”
I replied with a big smile. I have no interest in the childish antics of these kids. Right now, I’m only focused on the crumbs I can snag and the real identity of the evil that Park Tae-jun is hiding.
“Jin-ah…”
In the noisy classroom that had erupted during break, Kim Soo-jung was blankly muttering while staring at the empty seat next to her. She felt relieved to have a friend to adapt with in this unfamiliar school, but that friend had left her behind.
“Hey, transfer student.”
“Your name was Kim Soo-jung, right?”
At that moment, a few kids approached her. They were all girls from her class. Startled for a moment, she slowly nodded.
“Are you close with the girl who came with you?”
“Don’t stress too much.”
The kids were awkwardly starting to chat with her. Even with her heightened wariness towards others, Kim Soo-jung gradually started to ease up. The kids she was talking to were just ordinary girls her age, not scary older sisters or abusive dads.
“By the way, why is Jin-ah here?”
When break was almost over, Kim Soo-jung had relaxed enough to start a conversation herself.
“Well…”
“Her name is Jin-ah, right? I’m not too fond of her…”
As soon as Lee Jin-ah’s name came up, the atmosphere among the friends stiffened slightly. Kim Soo-jung was flustered, but just then, the bell rang. In the end, she couldn’t clear up her friends’ misunderstandings, and they scattered back to their seats.
“What happened?”
“Huh? It’s not like that, but…”
Around that time, Lee Jin-ah, who had gone out with Park Tae-jun, came back. Kim Soo-jung’s eyes trembled as she saw Lee Jin-ah’s abyss-like black eyes staring back at her.
“Good for you. At least some friends are coming to you.”
“But they misunderstood you. So if we talk later, we can clear it up.”
“No, that’s not it. So just keep your head straight.”
Kim Soo-jung tried to speak cheerfully, but Lee Jin-ah shook her head firmly.
“W-What do you mean?”
“I need to get something from Park Tae-jun’s gang. So I’ll be hanging out with them for a while. But the kids are scared of them. Am I right?”
“Uh-huh…”
“So I can’t hang out with you guys at school. So you need to stick with your new friends. You can even talk bad about me. They might actually like it.”
Social interactions and politics are the basics of basics. And one of the easiest ways to fit in is to have a common enemy.
Lee Jin-ah, a ruler and adult in this world, knew this truth all too well. But Kim Soo-jung, still a child, couldn’t comprehend the idea of badmouthing a friend to get closer to others.
“I don’t get what you’re saying.”
“Then just think of it as something for all of us.”
Lee Jin-ah ended her words with a click of her tongue. Unlike Kim Soo-jung, who kept leaning on her, she never intended to play the role of Kim Soo-jung’s guardian from the start.
“…”
Kim Soo-jung bowed her head, visibly confused. That was the end of their conversation for that class period, and once break started again, Lee Jin-ah stormed out of the classroom once more.
“What did you talk about? I glanced over, but it didn’t seem good.”
“I don’t know. Was she always like that?”
Kim Soo-jung frowned as she murmured to the friends who approached her again. There was something off that made it hard to say she had changed.
Thinking back, Lee Jin-ah had been the same since the moment they first met. Ever since she stepped up and took a slap for Kim Soo-jung. The only thing that had changed was Kim Soo-jung’s own feelings.
“What’s wrong? Are you feeling sick?”
“N-No.”
Kim Soo-jung clutched her racing heart for no reason.
*
“You…”
“See you again.”
At that moment, as middle schoolers were going through their own adaptation phases, a strange current flowed through the nearby high school.
Sporting a delinquent look and demeanor, Jeon So-hyun, who hadn’t been at school for a while, noticed Han Eun-seo, who was currently just an ordinary student, and her brow furrowed.
“Just leave me alone.”
Bitten lip, she coldly brushed past Han Eun-seo.
“You were going to enter a facility, right?”
However, Han Eun-seo’s one remark made Jeon So-hyun stop in her tracks. Enraged, she glared at Han Eun-seo with fiery eyes.
“You brat…”
“I know everything. That you survived Takilas’s attack. Now just stay out of trouble and behave…”
“What do you know?!”
Unable to hold it together, Jeon So-hyun couldn’t help but grab Han Eun-seo by the collar, disregarding the stares of bystanders. But Han Eun-seo’s expression remained cold. With a grip that was too strong to resist, she brushed off Jeon So-hyun’s hand.
“I have people inside the agency. And you have no idea how miraculous it is to survive that day. There are far more dead than living.”
“Wha…”
Although Jeon So-hyun tried to resist with trembling arms, she couldn’t even move a finger.
“Miraculous… is it?”
“You met Takilas, didn’t you?”
Jeon So-hyun swallowed hard at the serious look in Han Eun-seo’s eyes. Since that night, Han Eun-seo hadn’t slept a wink or eaten anything. The pressure of that demon summoned from the Demon Realm was something she couldn’t handle alone, and it had shaken her to her core.
An overwhelming fear, that bone-chilling magic.
“So cherish the life you’ve been given again.”
“I-I won’t do anything like that again. I’ll just live a normal life and work part-time.”
With a crushed spirit, Jeon So-hyun eventually nodded. Han Eun-seo then released the pressure she had been imposing on her.
“Why did you care about that kid? You weren’t like that before.”
“…I just have to be cautious now. It caught my attention, and kids like that are easy to get caught up in things, so I just wanted to keep an eye on it.”
After watching Jeon So-hyun’s retreating figure, she adjusted her glasses and continued on her way.
However, the mascot above her head, Lulu, reacted in confusion.
“I don’t think those demons would prey on kids who can’t even handle a thing like that.”
“By the way, are you sure about that info?”
She confirmed with the grumbling Lulu. The reason she was on high alert after overcoming the wounds of last night was not trivial.
Among the predicted appearances of monsters, one of them was a notorious figure flagged by the agency, set to appear in this country on Earth.
“I’m sure. The monster Mamute, who rules pleasure and desires. He’s finally… set his foot on this Earth. Right in our territory!”
Lulu responded with a tense voice. This creature matched the disaster classification of SS. The magical girls who knew about it were quickly exchanging looks of concern.
Given who they were dealing with, they couldn’t act independently to rack up results.
“Their main tactic is to lure and ultimately corrupt civilians to make them their minions. The negative energy generated in that process becomes their prey. We need to catch that monster before his tricks escalate!”
“I know, I get it. It’s better to mention it.”
They were already aware of Mamute’s information. And she decided to report that information to the Management Bureau.
“Mamute, the monster that corrupts people using demons. It brings chaos.”
“More crazy monsters keep coming out…”
“We must stop this.”
“Yeah, of course.”
Once Han Eun-seo made a resolution, a crisis meeting was summoned in an instant.
The director of the Management Bureau sighed while rubbing his face. The position of the bureau chief was unexpectedly stressful and infuriating. It was to be expected when dealing with non-human entities.
“It can’t just be handled by Aria alone.”
“This is a matter that has to be dealt with at the level of the magical girls’ contractors. In other words, the fairies’ company too.”
Oh Yoon-seo focused on the briefing without hesitation. At the mention of fairies, everyone flinched. Essentially, it was the fairies that started this whole mess.
“So what can we do?”
“Thorough information gathering and monitoring… I guess.”
Ultimately, the management had no choice but to step back and rely on the magical girls’ efforts once again.
“The damage will eventually fall on us, damn it. Let’s establish a plan accordingly. Keep surveillance tight and report immediately if anything unusual happens!”
Of course, there were things they had to do.