NOVEL NEXT Chapter 30 – Public Enemy (10)
When I woke up, I kept watching Kim Soo-jung squirm, wondering if she would lunge at me again.
“Ughh…”
She mumbled incoherently in her sleep, wriggling around before finally sitting up. As she looked around, our eyes met for a moment while I sat on the chair, gazing up at the top bunk.
“Oh, when did you come in?”
“…Is that how you come out?”
Her first words, wide-eyed, made me click my tongue. It didn’t seem like she was lying.
She really looked like she had no memory of being possessed last night. The real issue was that the demon was still inside her body.
“Now that I think about it, I was definitely in the lounge last night…”
“Forget it. Just come down already. We need to eat… and go to school.”
There was no need for unnecessary interrogation. If she couldn’t remember, there was no point in scaring her with “You got possessed and you hit me yesterday.”
But one thing was certain: the way Kim Soo-jung acted yesterday definitely included her true nature as well.
Which meant she could turn around and smack me in the back of the head at any moment.
“It’s fine even if you smack me. Strangely enough… how did you transform without transforming?”
[Shut up.]
As Kim Soo-jung clumsily got down and changed her clothes, I kicked Ren who was mumbling to himself.
“Hey, what’s this?”
“I don’t know.”
Kim Soo-jung asked, glancing at the wrench and duct tape on the desk with a slightly trembling voice, but I just shook my head.
In the end, we left the room together, maintaining some awkwardness.
“Hold on a sec, Lee Jin-ah.”
However, after breakfast, Hong Soo-young, who I hadn’t expected to see, came to me with a clearly nervous expression.
“What’s the matter, senior?”
“Um… just don’t misunderstand and listen.”
Taking me to an empty emergency stairwell, her eyes were shaking. Her voice trembled too.
She was usually a bold and loud girl, but this showed she was nervous. It seemed she was a typical tough on the outside, soft on the inside type.
“I’m worried about you.”
“Worried?”
“About your recent behavior. You almost got into big trouble yesterday without any reason.”
She struggled to continue her remarks. I listened silently while analyzing.
Is Hong Soo-young acting of her own will right now? Yes, but she’s too wary.
“Stop hanging out with Park Tae-jun and his gang. They’re scarier than you think.”
“I have something to gain from those guys, so it’s fine.”
“What exactly are you gaining? Jewelry? School uniforms shortened to fit their taste?!”
She shook her head as if she couldn’t understand.
“I’ve seen things. Since elementary school, there were many who got into trouble hanging out with him and were forcibly transferred. He doesn’t like you. Once he gets bored, he’ll toss you aside like a worn-out shoe.”
“Definitely, he’s a shady guy.”
“Then…”
“I have my reasons to trust him, so don’t worry. More importantly, didn’t Soo-jung act weird yesterday?”
I activated my magic. While doing so, my eyes, disguised in black, started glowing red again.
It was a level that only mimicked the magical eyes of succubi, but it should have an effect on someone mentally cornered.
“T-that…”
“Soo-jung asked you, didn’t she?”
A bead of cold sweat trickled down Hong Soo-young’s forehead.
I leisurely pressed her. She may be bold, but she’s still a rookie; there’s no way she could withstand this pressure.
Eventually, Hong Soo-young spilled everything that happened while I was in the city yesterday.
“This is getting messier.”
Thanks to that, I decided I needed to figure out how to remove the demon inside Kim Soo-jung’s body before it got even more troublesome.
[Demons are here, and there are demons there.]
On the school bus. I clicked my tongue while seeing the demons crossing through the city. I had seen Mamute’s level yesterday. What bothered me were those demons.
It was impossible to kill them all. Right now, I’m a magical girl, after all.
“…”
I glanced at Kim Soo-jung, who was staring vacantly out the window next to me. There must be potential bombs like her hiding in society.
And when Mamute gives the command, they’ll plunge the surroundings into chaos.
“It’s legendary to go to school normally after that ruckus with the monsters last night.”
“That thing yesterday? It happened east of Seoul.”
The atmosphere inside the vehicle was tense. All the students were aware of what happened yesterday and were anxious.
Sure, the monsters were a problem, but the fact that normally sane people went crazy instilled fear in everyone’s heart.
[It’s clear there’s a collaborator.]
“That’s right. But I can’t identify who they are.”
[Maybe we can dig up suspicious points and find something.]
Ren’s words sparked something in my mind. The unidentified experiment subjects I saw while raiding the illegal entertainment spots.
“Y-you’re planning to attack Mamute, aren’t you?”
[Can’t be helped. If it gets more troublesome if left alone, we have to clean it up before that.]
It was an obvious statement. We had to stomp out the trouble before it got bigger.
*
“Soon, I want to taste the screams and flesh of a strong magical girl!”
“What do you think of our proposed plan?”
“It’s sufficiently reasonable.”
At that moment, while the world faced a nervous morning, Mamute, the monster at the center of last night’s chaos, comfortably sat in an office chair.
Mamute had just come back from mindlessly devouring a magical girl who had unwittingly invaded his organization’s office.
But to him, the weak magical girls’ blood and flesh were nothing but boring familiar fare.
“Then, proceed as planned. The others will believe you have lost interest in this country. While you’re at it, we’ll act as bait to lure out the strong magical girls you seek, and when the time comes, you can feast on those girls.”
“Is that manageable?”
Mamute flashed a grin, showing off his large teeth.
“Of course. If we get rid of the magical girls in our way, we’ll be able to plunge this world into chaos as you desire.”
The man nodded confidently at Mamute’s words.
‘As long as I get a sample and finish the experiment. I need the blood of a strong, very strong magical girl.’
Of course, he had a slightly different goal than Mamute, who aimed at pure slaughter and chaos, but the desired outcome was the same anyway.
“Then, I’ll watch.”
Mamute rose from his spot and snapped his fingers. His body was enveloped in a thick smoke and disappeared in an instant.
As planned, Mamute set off across the sea to the nearby country, Japan. There, he would draw attention by revealing himself.
“Director, then…”
“Contact the boss. Also let the lab director know. It’s time to start work. We also have the control rights over the demons scattered in Korea.”
The ones left in the office immediately took action.
They planned to lure the magical girls with Mamute’s actions in Japan.
“Mamute is heading to Japan. It’s the closest country to this one, with a lot of people and famous magical girls, so it’s bound to attract attention.”
“The monster wants fresh blood and flesh, and we simply want pure bio-data.”
After all, the entire nation was currently focused on Mamute’s every move.
Thanks to that, the organization, enjoying a little freedom from surveillance, had already built a facility within Korea as pre-planned.
This place was a bunker built underground beneath a villa in the mountains.
On the surface, it appeared to be just a normal basement of a villa, but a considerable number of people were bustling around inside.
“Is everything ready, Andrei?”
“Yes.”
Andrei, the head of this place and the lab director, proudly showcased something on the screen.
“Hehehe… Ahh…”
“This is the girl who will become the core of the demons Mamute commands in this area. Using electrodes connected to her brain and body, we can issue commands to control the demons. Such an achievement! Only we, who have directly studied Mamute, can accomplish this!”
Andrei proudly introduced a girl firmly tied to a chair.
The girl, naked and with her eyes rolled back, was making strange groans rather than actual words. Horrifically, her head was partially opened, revealing part of her brain.
Electrodes connected all over her body were shoved deep into her brain as well.
“If we can move the demons, then it’s not too hard.”
“…I hope for success.”
Andrei was brimming with enthusiasm. After all, he was the one leading this project. He genuinely believed that the plan was nearly completed.
“Control the demons. It would be wise to create a criminal organization that can lure out magical girls, right? They will have no idea that demons can do this.”
Andrei giggled, giving the command to start the plan.
Simultaneously, researchers entered commands through the electrodes.
The girl screamed in a horrific manner, twisting her body and convulsing. The demons Mamute commands were once just fragments of normal souls.
The poor soul, torn into thousands of demon fragments, along with its body, was thoroughly violated as a tool.