NOVEL NEXT Chapter 32 – The Line We Must Protect (2)
“This is it, I absolutely have to do something after this trip.”
I carefully laid Kim Soo-jung, who was collapsing towards me, down on the bed.
If I continued to watch, it would surely lead to something even worse.
I didn’t have a solution ready right now, but that was okay. The facility I was staying in was a national agency set up to handle these kinds of situations.
Right now, I needed to discreetly leave the school to handle some urgent matters.
And without hesitation, I soared into the sky.
“So how do you plan to find them?”
“…I don’t know. Let’s just head to the place where we were supposed to meet.”
Unfortunately, even I, who knew all the magic of the demon realm, didn’t have the convenient ability to track targets precisely without even a single clue. For now, I decided to comb through the area where Kim Soo-han said he would meet Park Tae-jun.
That place was right behind the school. But naturally, there was nothing at the now-locked rear gate.
“Excuse me.”
“Ahhh!?”
I stealthily dispelled my hiding and approached a public service worker who was dozing off in a chair.
He seemed startled by my sudden appearance, falling off his chair in shock.
“Uh, when did you get here?! I didn’t hear any footsteps… No, wait, it’s class time right now…”
“I was here during lunch earlier, too.”
“Uh? Ah, no? I opened the door and went to eat…”
Flustered, he scanned me up and down, and stammeringly started answering my question.
But honestly, he wasn’t much help. The system was more lax than I expected. The back gate was always kept open for the smoking area where school staff members could take breaks.
“Can I, by any chance, see that CCTV? Can public service workers not access it?”
“No, I can view it, but why do you…?”
“Then just show me quickly. I don’t have time right now.”
I subtly manipulated my magic. The overwhelming force he was unable to withstand gripped his body. His face instantly turned pale, his eyes filled with fear.
“Wh-why am I…?”
“This is a matter of life and death for a student. Show me quickly.”
The fear that even Aria, the S-rank magical girl and true warrior, couldn’t endure.
Unable to bear the terror radiating from my shadow, he nodded furiously, completely unaware of his own actions.
“Did they take a car? Ugh…”
Immediately, I could view the CCTV installed at the back gate through the computer of the nearby guard post.
Among the people, I saw Kim Soo-han. She briefly chatted with Park Tae-jun, who was standing outside the gate, and eventually got in the car. At least that much was voluntary.
“This isn’t enough. I can’t use tracking magic on digital data.”
“W-what should we do then?”
Once again, hidden behind an empty building, I clicked my tongue. The issue was that, just as Ren said, I didn’t have the ability to locate those who had driven away.
“I guess I’ll just leave it to luck.”
I kept calling Park Tae-jun, but this guy was clearly biting down hard in silence. It was the same whether I used a payphone or hid my number.
Ultimately, I soared back into the sky.
“Park Tae-jun has certainly been overrun by a demon. If demons are rampaging like this, then this method will be useless. However, if they are moving with some purpose…”
I flew directly across the sky. My target was undoubtedly somewhere in the downtown area—a place where demons usually prey on shady people.
I planned to find the demon there and follow its trail.
“At least to know Kim Soo-han’s whereabouts, this is a foolish choice. Just like I saw with Kim Soo-jung moments ago, possessed individuals only express their desires!”
“If it’s Park Tae-jun’s desires, he must have summoned me, the trophy and toy he’s recently taken a liking to!”
Ren shouted as he grabbed my hair, but I rebutted him head-on. Clearly, the clues lay in the movements of the demons.
‘Found it.’
And not long after, I spotted a demon weaving through the cityscape of skyscrapers.
I quickly trailed behind it. If it were a typical demon, it would soon burrow into a victim’s body, causing a rampage, moving according to the victim’s desires.
“Hmm?!”
The demon suddenly plunged into the body of a just-finished phone call salaryman.
I quietly landed in a side alley and released my concealment.
His eyes met mine. I clearly saw the murky energy swirling in his gaze.
This man was entirely possessed, just like Kim Soo-jung moments ago.
“Do you happen to know me? Is there something you wanted?”
“…No. Not really.”
He replied with a smile. The calm demeanor of someone who seemed completely unconcerned, as if he were perfectly fine, made others around us ignore him.
At this point, I couldn’t be sure whether this was a rampage state or not.
“Goodbye.”
I couldn’t be suspicious, so I couldn’t pry too deeply. If the demons recently unleashed were following the same orders, then Park Tae-jun and this man should exhibit the same stance.
If not, then the demons were merely indulging in people’s desires…
“On a weekday lunch, a student is here? Did you get lost while visiting or something?”
However, just as I turned my body, he gently snagged me with a soft tone.
Ren, perched above my head, muttered something about nonsense, but I had a gut feeling.
“Y-yeah… It seems that way.”
“Oh dear. That’s a big issue in times like these.”
As I smiled gently and turned back, he grinned down at me.
“Follow me, and I’ll lead you there.”
He naturally encouraged me to follow. That gentle smile and his courteous, relaxed demeanor gave off the vibe of a good-hearted uncle helping out a lost child. But in this day and age, that wasn’t a wise choice.
“Alright.”
I naturally accepted his suggestion.
[Park Tae-jun lured Kim Soo-han away, and this man, too, is trying to take me, an utter stranger, under the pretense of helping. Do you see any similarities?]
“…Planning to take a girl away? If the target is Mamute, then anything is possible.”
Ren remained skeptical. But the moment this salaryman invited me into his car and started driving, both I and Ren felt assured.
*
“Collaborating with Mamute isn’t just a simple boost for our power. It becomes a crucial moment to understand and utilize the mysterious power called ‘魔力’ that magical girls possess.”
Director Andrei mumbled into the recorder in his hand, taking notes.
The command center where he was located was equipped with devices that allowed him to oversee the entire facility disguised as a villa.
“And to use that, we gather the girls of suitable age to become experiment subjects, utilizing the demons spread across the nation. Heh… This large-scale biological experiment will greatly contribute to humanity’s evolution.”
On the screen he watched, girls transported to the facility in real-time by the possessed individuals appeared. All of them were in their early to mid-teens—a common age for being chosen as magical girls by fairy corporations.
The girls forcibly moved to the facility were all tightly restrained on the experiment tables.
Those who couldn’t make it onto the experiment table were shoved into large test tubes, forced into a deep sleep.
“Everyone’s attention—both police and magical girls—will inevitably turn towards Mamute, who suddenly appeared and caused chaos in Japan. In this gap, we will move as quickly as possible to fulfill our wishes.”
Andrei nodded satisfactorily.
The plan was flawless. The great calamity that was Mamute provided enough data and served excellently as a bait, while the organization acquired the experiment subjects en masse.
If they knew how hard it was to find physically healthy girls for experiments, this opportunity would be worth its weight in gold for them.
“Begin the experiments! We must minimize the time. After all, there’s an abundance of subjects. Administer! Administer!”
He immediately ordered the start of the experiments while simultaneously demanding speed.
In reality, they judged it impossible to keep everything hidden even with Mamute involved, deciding they needed to gain as much data and results as possible before getting caught.
“Does it hurt? The substance being injected now is extracted from the blood of magical girls. But endure it. Your sacrifice will benefit everyone.”
Andrei, who personally visited the lab, stroked the head of a girl bound to an experiment table, her body riddled with needles, screaming madly through her muzzled mouth.
Such scenes were occurring simultaneously on dozens of experiment tables all around.
Despite her desperate thrashing, the syringes attached to the machines injected their contents to the very end.
“Ah… She went into shock.”
“As expected. Dispose of the corpse and reduce the dosage for the new subject before retrying.”
As the convulsing girl bled and slumped, he cleared away the body and laid down a new experiment subject.
This would be a sight repeated consistently, and he considered it a natural cost of resources.