Mr. Magical Girl

Chapter 23. Interlude – Words from a Hero.

A magical girl named Han Abin, an awakener from Finland, ran across the battlefield.

Blood and flesh were scattered everywhere, and the former owners of that blood and flesh built a wall of corpses.

In that hellish battlefield, she ran to save even just one more person.

Her healing magic and mental magic were perfect for such rescue operations.

She provided the dying with a last rest and gave those left behind the best sedatives and anesthetics.

Although the commander felt uncomfortable with her presence, her reputation among the soldiers was solid. Who wouldn’t appreciate someone saving their life?

Although she personally disliked it, considering it akin to euthanasia, that internal struggle might actually be why the injured liked her.

Just as she was saving the injured, an unexpected event occurred on the battlefield.

Shriek!

A voice stabbing into the brains of everyone present on the battlefield.

The power of the otherworld exceeded the regulated threshold = an ominous warning and the beginning of a nightmare indicating the combat was about to become even more brutal.

Mental plane. Emotion sharing.

Having become accustomed to such occurrences, she clenched her jaw and deduced what kind of otherworldly invasion it was.

‘This is the worst kind of otherworld invasion… If something like that happens on the battlefield…’

Having realized this, she turned her head to the nearest being from the otherworld.

A grotesquely shaped giant soldier.

An octopus-human, made of tentacles, charged forward, slapping the soldiers.

She saw the scene where the giant tentacle struck a squad of ten or so soldiers.

The force of that slap was so intense that even a low-ranked awakener would be put out of action in one hit.

It was more than enough power for ordinary soldiers to turn into mere flesh.

And amongst those caught in that slap were two soldiers.

One, with his insides splattered by the end of a tentacle, and the other with his helmet flung off so violently that it crushed his head.

– Help me!

– I don’t want to die!

And the deaths of those two soldiers became desperate cries, scattering across the battlefield.

The haunting fear instilled by those dying echoed forth.

‘This is truly the worst kind of otherworld invasion. At this rate, the soldiers won’t be able to hold on…’

As if to prove her thoughts, the expressions of the soldiers, who had been firing their guns just moments ago, became grotesquely distorted.

The shrieks of death ringing in their ears. Those who heard it experienced indirect death and their spirits shattered.

The broken soldiers lowered their weapons, succumbing to those emotions.

While some steadfast soldiers remained unaffected by the feeling of indirect death, it was only a matter of time until they fell too.

Soldiers who succumbed to the emotions of death began to spread those same feelings, contaminating the area around them.

A continuous explosion of emotions.

To Happiness Drop’s eyes, it seemed certain the battlefield would collapse soon.

However, if more soldiers or awakeners were deployed, the situation might change, but higher-ups didn’t deem this battlefield all that important.

‘It can’t be helped.’

‘Not a power I particularly like, but…’

The octopus-human swung its tentacle towards Han Abin.

Perceiving the attack, she dodged the tentacle and took to the skies.

Landing atop the tentacle, she ran across it with the light steps of a magical girl.

One step, two steps, three steps.

Han Abin stood next to the creature’s enormous face.

With a splash of blood, a white spear pierced its head.

The octopus, with its head impaled by the spear typically used by Happiness Drop, crumpled and knelt.

As the giant being fell, the soldiers’ gazes converged.

At that moment, not wanting to miss the chance, Happiness Drop unleashed her mana, casting mental manipulation magic that spread through the surroundings.

“Don’t worry! It’s not over yet! Don’t give in to the otherworld!”

A bright voice forcibly dressed in cheer.

It was a simple encouragement that even the magical girl who cast it couldn’t believe.

Yet, that small encouragement turned the tide of the battlefield.

Some soldiers began to believe they could be saved, and that feeling spread throughout the entire area.

Driving away the feelings of death, the revived morale saw soldiers clutch their guns and unleash bullets upon humanity’s enemies.

The frontline that was barely maintained.

‘How many times must it be repeated before it ends?’

‘Was this how they felt during World War II?’

While recalling her country’s history of the Soviet Red Army learned back in school, she threw herself back into the battlefield.

“I’m so glad to see Awakeners like you here!”

“I just did what I had to do.”

“Still, if it weren’t for you, we’d be…”

The conversation with the base commander ended with the commander bowing excessively to express thanks, and she headed towards her quarters.

“Today was tough.”

Upon returning, she threw her body onto the plush bed, covering her eyes with her arms.

As the black curtain obscured her sight, the last words of a deceased person she had heard today came to her mind.

“It’s your fault.”

“You gained power, and the otherworld invaded.”

Though she knew the awakener was her lifeline, she could never voice that accusation aloud.

Such accusations echoed in her head today, piercing deeper.

As an awakener, she had become accustomed to it.

While it was true that facts revealing this was not the case had emerged with the collected information, changing deeply rooted perceptions would take longer.

If there were those who expressed gratitude for help, there would also be those who hurled such accusations. She was aware of that, but after a long time, the criticism was enough to haunt her.

“It’s tough.”

Suddenly engulfed by gloom, she stared at the ceiling.

“This isn’t why I wanted to become a nurse.”

What she was doing was indeed a noble task of saving people.

Yet still, she didn’t want to save people like this.

She wanted to save those about to die with all her strength, not have to make extreme choices about who to let live and who to let die.

The black mark left on people.

No matter how much she tried to erase it from her memory, it kept surfacing.

“What on earth was I thinking when I entered psychology? I could have chosen another job.”

“…Psychology?”

For a moment, a face twisted by agony flashed before her.

A sharp headache.

Their lives began to intertwine.

“I want to save people!”

“May the end be peaceful.”

“You will become a magical girl who saves people from now on.”

“Why are people unable to find happiness?”

“Han Abin, as a hero, you’re too weak. Why not quit?”

“Lisa. Why didn’t you save that soldier? Didn’t you say it was essential to protect the general’s son?”

“If I had such power…”

“Do you desire the power to change the world? Happiness Drop, the magical girl of happiness.”

She reached out towards her last memory because there was power within it.

A small black orb containing abundant otherworldly power.

A tiny trap tempting someone.

To the black orb reminiscent of the salty candy she used to have as a child.

“Stop. There’s nothing at the end of that path.”

A refreshing female voice awakened Han Abin’s mind.

Suddenly jolted back to reality, Han Abin found herself standing in an unfamiliar space.

A square room surrounded by gray concrete walls. There was nothing there.

No passage to the outside, no furniture, no food.

Only two magical girls existed.

Han Abin, with pink hair dressed in a nurse’s outfit.

A woman with blonde hair wearing a fluffy white gown draped over her shoulders.

“What was it like participating in a war from long ago? Did you enjoy it?”

From long ago, a war. The person being asked had no grasp of those words.

“Then, was everything just an illusion?”

What she could understand was solely that what she experienced moments ago was not reality.

The weight of death that fell from her hands.

The weight of life she had held onto.

All were merely illusions.

“It’s just a dream. Once you wake up, those dreams will be forgotten. The conversation we’re having now…”

The magical girl peered into the depths of the other’s heart and answered the question.

“What are you?”

Han Abin asked in turn, her only gesture to respond to the question.

“Apparently, a student has come to a foolish command. Perhaps that fool had no thoughts on such matters?”

The speaker continued without answering the question.

Brought up by something only she seemed to know, she spoke while laughing.

“What do you mean?”

The explosive Han Abin seized the woman by her body.

It was odd enough to have fallen into such a strange place, but to be ignored by a woman who seemed to know everything made her explosion all the more justified.

However, the woman whose clothing was caught smiled and opened her mouth.

“That’s quite irrelevant, isn’t it? Even if I tell you, it’s a story you’ll forget anyway.”

Furious, Han Abin tugged at her gown.

The sensation of clothing slipping away as she disappeared. All that remained was the white gown in her hand.

“What you saw and felt is someone’s past.”

The blonde magical girl appeared behind Han Abin and continued.

Did this evoke malice?

Han Abin grasped the bow she summoned and swung it behind her.

(This leads to such devastation.)

With all her might, the arrow she shot was stopped by a red scythe.

The face of the magical girl blocking the arrow gleamed in someone else’s view.

Empty eyes.

Tears of blood flowing.

A gash torn wide on either side of her mouth.

Bubbles of repressed memories erupted from the depths of her memory.

Corpses viewed during an internship from a traffic accident. The shredded chunks of flesh resting atop the corpse’s shoulders.

And that chunk of meat appeared more intact compared to the face before her. It was merely akin to it, only retrieved from her memories for a fleeting moment.

(It was the last stands of a hero who desired to be saved.)

The sewn-lipped mouth approached Han Abin, smiling. While the magical girl’s mouth remained sealed, the wounds on the corners of her mouth made it appear as if she were grinning.

“And still, you desire power? After obtaining strength, can you resist reaching for more power?”

Gulp. Gulp.

With a sound akin to raw sewage gushing, her insides splattered out.

The scene before Han Abin became increasingly grotesque as time passed.

From the corpse of the traffic accident, like an animal ground in a grinder.

“This is a dream. That woman said so too. It’s just a nightmare.”

Such things could never occur in reality.

If she waited, the dream would end.

Han Abin closed her eyes to avert her gaze from that sight.

“That’s right, it’s a dream. But it’s also your future. If you wish for power, the black candy will always be by your side. Can you really not reach for that bitter and astringent candy?”

The voice of the sightless woman turned chaotic, like a torn drum.

Not a normal voice using tongue or lips.

An awful sound using only the vibrations and pitches of her voice.

Receiving incomprehensible questions through that horrible sound, the listener fell silent.

No response came.

She simply kept her mouth shut and ears blocked, wishing this scene to be a dream.

“You’re choosing not to respond, are you? Fine. Then remember. The fate of the one who swallowed the black candy. A horrific sight.”

A blood-red finger with only bones left captured her eyelids.

Forcibly opening Han Abin’s eyes, the figure before her was burned into her vision.

The fallen hero.

A smiling expression reflected on the countenance of a sorrowful woman.

“Hoaaaaah!”

Suddenly, what was that scream?

What did that Lisa character say to shatter like this?

Startled, she almost crashed her car into a tree on the roadside.

“Did you wake? Eat.”

“Eat?”

“There’s some triangle kimbap and cola beside you. Open it up and eat.”

Given how rough the road was, she wondered if it would even be easy to eat, but thinking of what lay ahead, she needed to fill her stomach.

Looking into the rearview mirror, she saw Han Abin’s dazed face, expressing confusion as she munched on the triangle kimbap.

“What dream did you have? You were asleep for quite a while.”

“I’m not really sure…”

The students seated at the back began conversing.

While it was a bit distracting given she was driving, it wasn’t enough to break her concentration.

“Getting back to that, a long time?”

“You slept for a week. The teacher said it would be no big deal.”

“A week?”

The already dazed-looking expression of Han Abin became even weirder.

It was as if her intelligence was regressing along with her expression, and the triangle kimbap she had been putting in her mouth fell from her lips, becoming just a sticky bit of rice stuck on her cheek.

“Yeah. Thanks to that, I was able to monopolize the teacher.”

Baek Sihyeon then began relating stories about the training they had undergone over the past week.

Getting hit with a hammer.

Getting bruised from being struck by a hammer.

Dislocating her joints while swinging the hammer.

Passing out due to getting hit with a hammer.

To summarize, it was all bragging about getting hit with a hammer.

With such words, Han Abin seemed to wonder how to react and shoved more triangle kimbap into her mouth while gazing out of the window.

Unlike Baek Sihyeon’s sadomasochistic tales, the actual training was relatively normal.

If there was a problem, it wasn’t about the training itself but rather about Baek Sihyeon’s strange learning speed.

It would have been better if she were a genius and fast in all respects, but the issue was that no one understood her criteria.

While she quickly learned minor skills, she hadn’t progressed at all with weapon handling—in this case, the hammer—after a week; she still had yet to move beyond the level of swinging it wildly like a child.

Thinking that perhaps a lack of practical experience or fear of combat might be the cause, she resolved to head into the field without checking on Han Abin’s condition.

Waiting too long would mean not knowing when she’d wake, and if she didn’t wake, she could carry her around.

Contrary to expectations, Han Abin awoke on the way, so everything turned out well.

Admiring her luck, she pressed on the gas pedal harder. Even though it wasn’t as easy to hit the brakes as before, it wasn’t a major issue. After all, the main use of a car is to move forward, not stop.

The clutch was a bit of a problem, but…

Clunk. Clunk.

As bumps in the road caused the car to rattle, it wasn’t long before Abin’s lips became covered in rice.

“Where are we heading right now?”

“North Korea. Restricted area.”

“North Korea? Why all of a sudden? Is it already the hero mobilization period?”

“It’s far too early for that; don’t worry. Si-hyun, you explain.”

Because I’m way too busy driving.

It’s absolutely not annoying.

Though I was still wondering earlier, my body’s not cooperating with stopping on the brakes.

Had I just run into something? I can’t say for sure since it was blocked behind the steering wheel, but it’s unlikely anyone is around here.

“We’re heading to catch some monsters.”

“Monsters?”

“The teacher knows a location where a large number of monsters are gathering, so we’re going there to raid!”

Baek Sihyeon’s explanation didn’t resonate too loudly. Only the critical point felt missing.

If one mentions attacking a location with B- or C-rank monsters gathered together, what kind of reaction would Abin have?

Isn’t this mana suddenly weak?

“It seems a little inadequate for practical training… right?”

“It’ll manifest soon. Try summoning it.”

She needed to check the test drive anyway.

Whoosh.

With the sound of metal crunching, a massive projectile shot through the passenger seat.

What is this? A dream?

Bang! Crash!

It was the ominous noise from ahead that jolted me back to reality as I momentarily escaped into a dream state.

The car, creeping along at its limit, gradually slowed its pace down.

As the car came to a complete stop, I bolted out of my seat and opened the hood.

What I laid my eyes upon was a devastating scene.

An engine ablaze, spilling oil everywhere and in pieces beyond recognition.

Would asking if this rental insurance covers such damages even receive an answer from the insurance rep before they fled, laughing?

How much did I have in my bank account? I didn’t really have money, did I? But the rental car vanished? Hyun-seok! Lend me some money!

After a brief getaway from reality and a swift resolution for the future, I turned my face towards Han Abin.

“What now?”

“I was just trying to summon an arrow…”

Yeah, it seems too much mana burst out and got out of control, right?

I had anticipated it would pair well with Happiness Drop, but it seems like the compatibility was far too good.

“Teacher, what do we do now?”

Even in this situation, Baek Sihyeon questioned calmly.

“What do you mean? We walk.”

Si-hyun, I wish I could think without a care like you do.

The car let out its last gasp of breath and exploded again.

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