NOVEL NEXT Chapter 27 – Public Enemy (7)
“Do you know him?”
“Yeah. So there’s no need to worry.”
The boy’s puzzled question and the laughter-filled answer. Han Eun-seo couldn’t catch the kid who was passing by her.
“How…?”
“No way!? How!? There’s no way, right? Information didn’t leak, did it!?”
Lulu, who was above her head, had a bigger panic attack than she did.
Aria grabbed Lulu and playfully hit her on the head. Only then did Lulu quiet down.
“Calm down. They probably didn’t notice. It’s just… I’ve been worried about that kid for a while.”
Aria gazed at the retreating figure of Lee Jin-ah. Recognizing a transformed Magical Girl was, in principle, impossible.
The Demon King of another realm, Takilas Lee Jin-ah, had only realized Aria was recovering from her injuries by sensing the magical energy she radiated.
So, Han Eun-seo didn’t easily believe her identity was discovered.
“…Let’s go back for now.”
She decided to stop her activities right then and there. After all, she couldn’t remain in transformed status forever; daily life needed to happen too.
“Right. For now, it should be fine.”
“I should contact the facility. By the way, it looked like they were friends.”
However, due to her personality, Han Eun-seo found it hard to take the first step, and Lulu comforted her.
Nodding, she picked up the phone. She wanted to momentarily put aside the Mamute matter and explore this new issue.
“…?”
“Who is it?”
In the facility’s lounge, Kim Soo-jung picked up her vibrating phone. Hong Soo-young, who was nearby, showed interest.
“It’s an unknown number. There’s a message…”
Dazed, Kim Soo-jung read the message without much thought. Her eyes widened, and her hands began to tremble.
“What? What’s wrong?”
“No, it’s not that…”
Kim Soo-jung shook her head at Kang Jin-soo’s startled words and read aloud the message.
The message was about Lee Jin-ah, and its source was Han Eun-seo, who had gotten Kim Soo-jung’s number from a facility official.
“It’s from that high school girl I met the other day. She said she ran into Jin-ah in the downtown area today and asked if I knew about it… I just got the message.”
“Why would a high schooler care about her? Well, she does know her.”
After hearing the information, Hong Soo-young scoffed. It wasn’t a wrong statement, considering the trio knew what Lee Jin-ah was up to today.
“Park Tae-jun is a snake. He’s always one step behind when problems arise but isn’t clean at all.”
“I agree. Lee Jin-ah is being used, too.”
“Well, I don’t know if she’s being used or not…”
Kang Jin-soo, who had been badmouthing Park Tae-jun, averted his gaze at Hong Soo-young’s comment.
He may not know, but at least Kang Jin-soo had seen “that incident” when Hong Soo-young was thrown across the classroom.
Therefore, he believed the relationship between Lee Jin-ah and Park Tae-jun wasn’t your typical relationship with a trophy and its owner.
“Anyway! Jin-ah is in danger. She texted me that she was just hanging out with some people, but who knows what might happen.”
Kim Soo-jung exclaimed as she slammed her hands on the desk. Kang Jin-soo, startled, nodded in agreement.
“Lee Jin-ah is definitely an unusual girl, but in the end, she’s still a thin girl.”
“Still… Didn’t she stick to Park Tae-jun because she likes him? Is it possible to forcibly separate them?”
“Absolutely not!”
When Hong Soo-young raised her slightly skeptical opinion, Kim Soo-jung yelled. Hong Soo-young felt overwhelmed by the intensity.
In her eyes, where madness flickered, darkness momentarily swirled.
“There’s no way Jin-ah would do that. She wouldn’t abandon me…”
“Calm down. I- I misspoke.”
Surprised, Hong Soo-young nodded as she apologized.
Ultimately, the trio concluded under Kim Soo-jung’s leadership that they would grab Lee Jin-ah seriously and talk to her when she returned today.
“…Guys! L-Let’s go to the shelter inside the facility first!”
But that night, before Lee Jin-ah arrived, the incident broke out.
*
“Let’s just focus on having fun for now.”
“Okay.”
Park Tae-jun led me to the room. Honestly, I was a bit nervous. It was one thing to have fun, but this was my first time in something so unruly.
However, my mood began to drop slowly. It was irritating that the creeping demons were increasingly getting crowded.
“Hey, long time no see, Tae-jun. Is this the one?”
“Yeah, brother. I wanted to introduce you.”
A guy who looked like an adult, at least in his thirties, but surprisingly still a high schooler approached us to greet.
I saw the flickering shadow in his eyes. It smelled like faint magical energy. He was exactly like the one causing chaos this afternoon.
The demon had blatantly possessed him. It was uncertain when he would flip out and reveal his true nature.
The problem was that there were more of these types around. Even in this low-quality dump, it seemed too easy for demons to take over.
“Feeling a bit burdened? No one knows.”
Seeing my expression, Park Tae-jun seemed to misunderstand something and held my hand with a sly smile.
I found it absurd and just smiled back at him. It certainly looked like it would be hard to part ways normally tonight.
“Possessing demons maximize the victim’s dark side, right? Like that guy who caused chaos today. Am I right?”
“That’s correct. They strip away rationality and turn them into beasts acting on instinct.”
“Is that so? That sounds to me like revealing a person’s true nature… Just saying.”
While Park Tae-jun temporarily left to get more drinks, I nestled into my seat and perked up my ears. I expanded my senses to pick up the information around this entertainment district.
“Hey. Those people are fighting.”
“What’s up with that girl? She’s getting wrecked. But hey, what if… she dies?”
Several people in the room gathered by the window, giggling. I could hear what they were looking at clearly.
A drunken young woman had picked a fight with a man. From what I caught halfway through, the guy was a soldier on leave, and the woman seemed unhappy with him.
It sounded like insults were flying, like calling him a guard dog or an army vacation loser. While they were insulting remarks, they could be genuine feelings coming from a drunkard.
The issue was that it meant the opponent was not in a normal state.
“Hey, is she really… dead?”
“Dummy! Her face has been ground into the asphalt! You think she’s still alive? Hurry up and take a picture!”
With the sound of sirens, chaos erupted.
The man, provoked by the insults, could not hold back. In modern society, laws, order, and unwritten rules should keep people in check.
But with a demon possessing him, were those constraints even noticeable? He was in an anger management crisis!
The man ruthlessly beat the woman with overwhelming brute force.
“Hmm, not bad.”
I watched Park Tae-jun stumbling toward me and gulped the drink in my hand.
Bitter. The boiling alcohol surged irresistibly through my body, yet since it wasn’t a situation to get drunk in, I used my magic to alleviate the intoxication.
“W-What’s happening?”
“Do you know why people today only have big mouths? Because they don’t fear smashing their heads in. They know their opponents will endure. But now… there are those who want to retaliate.”
I explained it to a bewildered Park Tae-jun.
At that moment, the door was violently smashed, and someone, bloodied, was flung into the room, writhing.
“Young-sun…”
Park Tae-jun took a step back. The bloodied victim was the punk high schooler we encountered earlier.
“I’ll cut in line! I was first! I’m going to take it!”
A crazed lunatic shouted as he raised his bloody fist.
“AAAHHH!”
“YOU F*CKING BASTARD! PAY ME BACK!”
The festival of demons began. The possessed people began to spill their pent-up anger and desires without restraint.
I ducked my head and dodged a desk hurled by a crazed woman.
Broken glass was glinting at my feet. This insane world seemed determined to keep pummeling me.
“Quick, get out of here.”
“Director…!”
The hulking figure had been chasing us since school. He broke in and rushed toward us.
“Over here! Both of you!”
He pinned down a rampaging possessed person and quickly rested us on the ground before leading us out of the room.
The hallway was a mess. No, the entire building was in chaos.
“What on earth…?”
“People have gone mad. This way.”
Of course, the street crawling with people was ten times worse.
The roar of maddened people and the screams mixed with a thick scent of blood wafted through the air.
Dumb humans, just how much had they been nagging at others that the moment self-control slipped, their heads would crack open immediately?
[Is this the world the monster Mamute wants? A world where a single blow can crush skulls?]
“Y-Yeah. Madness, chaos, disorder. That’s his power.”
[What? Sounds like an average Demon Realm to me?]
I chased after the director and Park Tae-jun, chuckling at Ren’s words.
Madness? Chaos? Is this all there is? Honestly, it was below my expectations.
[I said I’m not going out. I’d like to see some action, though.]
I had no plans to step in, but even more so now, I was reluctant. At least show your true form or something; having the demons dance around while you hide was just not satisfying.