NOVEL NEXT Chapter 7 – I Became a Noteworthy Magical Girl (2)
But why go this far? I chewed on the bread they provided, pondering my predicament. What in the world did they want by engaging in such dangerous activities?
“Come on! Stop worrying and let’s just go out! We can transform, right? The connector hasn’t been taken from us!”
“I just wanted to observe for a bit.”
Ever since I possessed the Demon King, my personality has become a bit twisted. I admit that. But to survive in the Demon Realm, I couldn’t keep my wits about me.
“If this were a normal place, we’d be lucky if it were just about organ trafficking or prostitution. But here, we’ve got both Magical Girls and monsters around.”
“What the heck are you talking about?”
“It’s not necessarily a bad thing, you know? If we lay low, maybe you could accumulate the ‘results’ you desire.”
This was kind of like an undercover operation. Of course, I didn’t want to be in this situation at all.
Did Ren understand my logic? He clamped his mouth shut and plopped down.
“Were you scared? Luckily, given the decent quality, your destination has been set.”
Surprisingly, I was able to leave this room in just one day.
“The police said this is where I’m supposed to go.”
“No, a place where trash like you can be utilized more effectively.”
Teacher Park. She grinned and tapped the syringe. A moment of doubt crossed my mind. Should I take that injection or not?
“Well, it’s good that you’re quiet and well-behaved. At least you won’t see anything nasty. They didn’t specifically say to send you off with all your limbs intact.”
A broker utilizing a welfare organization to sell children, was confirmed.
So what was the goal? She plunged the syringe into my arm.
Naturally… nothing happened. But standing there blankly wouldn’t do me any good, so I eventually stumbled into her embrace.
Thank goodness, this seemed to be the right choice.
“I can’t stand this…”
As I was stuffed into a large bag, I could hear Ren grumbling, out of sight from Teacher Park. I was soon squished entirely into the bag, like a fetus curled in a mother’s womb.
“Oops.”
She loaded the bag I was in onto a rattling cart and began moving somewhere.
[Do you know anything? Like the types of crime in this world?]
“Ugh!”
I communicated with Ren telepathically. He flinched, panicking as he squirmed against my chest.
“W-what is this? Why is your voice ringing in my head?”
[It’s not exactly advanced technology.]
“You untransformed, so how!”
I wanted to explain quickly, but he showed no signs of calming down. With a sigh, I hugged him tighter.
“Ugh…”
The little guy, almost choking, thumped my arm. Only then I eased my grip.
“W-what do you want to hear?”
[You said you’re a veteran. You must have seen and heard a lot while taking care of Magical Girls. Where do you think I’m being sold off to?]
“…Probably for humans’ vile desires.”
Eventually, he started spilling the beans one by one. He knew quite a bit, and he should have said it sooner.
“If they said they intend to handle your body without restraint, you’re not going to be turned into a sex slave. Nowadays, that’s almost non-existent. The benefits have diminished. I think it might be a laboratory.”
[A laboratory?]
“Once the information about Magical Girls spread, monsters started appearing after us. Silly humans tried to use biological experiments to obtain our power without Yggdrasil’s strength.”
So, in the end, this was all a mess created by them. But it was also somewhat understandable. From the perspective of ordinary humans, the power was undoubtedly attractive.
[So ultimately, it’s an experiment to create Magical Girls?]
“That’s how it seems.”
[Alright.]
By this time, I was lifted into a space presumed to be a trunk. It seemed like I would need to take a nap for real.
*
“Wake up!”
“Ugh?”
Suddenly jolting awake, I opened my eyes. I was still in the bag, but a bright light shown through a gap.
[What’s this? Did we arrive?]
“It seems like we’re about to board a ship.”
[Aha.]
Well, Korea is annoyingly small. When it comes to human trafficking organizations, there’s no telling what they can do.
“Stay alert. It seems like they are proceeding with the transaction without you.”
I quietly strained my ears outside, hearing a language that wasn’t Korean. Ugh, it looked like I’d have to use translation magic.
“Let’s confirm first. You’re healthy, right?”
“Well, that’s what you say.”
Soon, I heard several guys approaching. I closed my eyes again and stifled any signs of presence. Right after, I heard a zipper being unzipped with a crackling sound. Blinding light poured over my face.
“Is it about time to wake up?”
“Still… another hour left?”
Rough hands suddenly grabbed my eyelids and yanked them open.
“…Oh, you’re already awake. Quite the bold little one. We’ll see you later.”
He noticed I was conscious after shining a light into my eyes. I glared at him as he quickly zipped it back up.
“Alright. This transaction seems satisfactory. Load the goods first.”
I felt my body lifted. They were indeed talking about a ship. A pretty big one, too. After being carried for a while, the zipper was finally pulled down. This time, completely opened. I could stretch my legs for the first time in nearly half a day.
“It would be best if you behave quietly. You won’t understand anything anyway. But you know what this is, right?”
A skinhead white guy checked my eyes and smirked while tapping a silenced pistol against my forehead. Meanwhile, another guy twisted my arms behind my back and cuffed me.
“Where am I?”
“…Huh?”
As I opened my mouth to say something, thanks to the translation magic, he probably heard it in his mother tongue. His eyes widened in surprise.
“You speak Russian…”
“And who are you guys?”
I couldn’t help but chuckle. At the same time, the guy who was cuffing my wrist froze. He noticed the ring, the connector, on my finger that revealed my use of powers in that instant.
“M-Magical…”
“Let’s just say I can recognize it.”
Immediately, I manipulated shadows to split his shocked body in half. The guy putting on the cuffs also fell, blood spurting from the holes punctured by the shadow’s sharpness.
“How come you can use your powers without transforming?!”
“I wanted to investigate further, but there’s no helping it.”
Ignoring Ren’s shrill squeal, I snapped the cuffs off with strength and used the connector to transform my outfit, technically completing a transformation.
“Ugh!”
“Here… cough..”
The ship that had set sail was descending into chaos. Bullets wouldn’t hurt me; my shadow’s blades sliced through their bodies in an instant.
“Yikes!”
I kicked down a locked door and entered. As expected, this place was some kind of laboratory.
“But what kind of experiment are they running that they bought a little girl? Tell me straight. If you do, I might let you live.”
“W-We are…”
“Over there!”
I clicked my tongue. After decapitating the trembling researcher, I sent undulating shadows toward the approaching guys, wrapping them up completely.
“I need to pick up the pace.”
I snapped my fingers, shattering the wrapped-up goons to pieces. With cracks of breaking bones and mangled corpses, the bodies were unrecognizable.
“Ugh, can you not take this so seriously?”
“I’m always serious.”
I slowly walked through the ship’s interior, my hand in my skirt pocket. There was nowhere to escape in the middle of the ocean anyway.
The guys clinging to the small lifeboat thinking they could somehow survive would be dealt with later.
Some guys charged at me, but already the spikes surging from the flowing shadows through the entire corridor turned their heads into Swiss cheese.
“Oh, are you guys the heads here?”
“…Magical Girl.”
Heading toward the most concentrated presence, I discovered a group of survivors huddled together. The skinny white guy standing in the middle seemed to be their leader.
“I never thought you’d sneak in using a broker organization…”
“No one thought you’d check properly, then.”
“I didn’t know. I never expected a girl in her early teens, untransformed, to sneak into a crime organization without being found. But… if it’s that Code Red crazy girl, then who knows.”
“How oddly confident you are.”
My shadow was swirling throughout the entire space now. With just a flick of my hand, I could kill all of them. Yet, he remained unusually calm compared to his subordinates.
“Well, you kids don’t know. You’re just a puppet mercenary.”
He pressed a switch he was holding. I could have stopped it, but out of curiosity, I let it go.
“Oh… so this is the nature of your experiments?”
“Though a failure, we succeeded in partially transplanting the power of a Magical Girl. Go, N-21!”
Something thudded down from the ceiling. A small, pitiful creature contorted grotesquely.
Once a normal girl, it opened its long-slit mouth and shot dark waves toward me.