Dangerous Promise!?
—KWA-A-AK...!
Harin’s grip on my wrist tightened further, veins bulging like cables ready to snap.
A tingling current ran through my fingers, making them twitch on their own. My skin paled to a ghostly white, blood vessels refusing to carry the pain.
“Hey, hey…!”
“I can put up with anything. Don’t bully the people, don’t fight the magical girls. You said you’d listen to your friend, right? Don’t you, Siwoo?”
“Ugh…! H-Harin…”
Her voice trembled when she called my name, but her red eyes stayed fixed on mine, burning with something I couldn’t read.
That stare promised to pierce straight through my soul the moment I slipped up. My words caught in my throat.
“But… they all have friends. Right now, you’re the only one I have. Why won’t you play with me? I’ve been holding back from killing people just to be with you. Why?”
Harin’s red eyes flashed with an emotion that could have been rage or jealousy—I couldn’t tell. The patience she’d shown for years finally shattered in one violent snap.
A cold shiver raced down my spine and spread through every limb.
“H-Harin…!”
“Why.”
—KWA-KAK.
Her fingers clamped down harder, muscles grinding, bones grinding. The agony was unbearable. My entire palm turned white; blood wasn’t reaching it anymore.
“It hurts…!”
“What?”
“It hurts! It hurts so bad—let go and talk!!!”
I finally screamed. I could feel the raw pain radiating from my wrist, but I couldn’t even flex my fingers. This was just a normal high-school boy’s body. How was I supposed to endure that kind of strength?
“Ah…”
Harin’s glowing eyes flickered once, then the bloodlust and crimson aura draining away.
Only then did she seem to regain her senses. Her face twisted in shock as she quickly released my wrist.
The eyes that had been so terrifyingly bright slowly returned to normal. The face that had been twisted in anger now filled with guilt.
“S-S-Siwoo… are you okay…?”
Her voice, once low and sharp, now wavered with self-reproach.
Her hand that had grabbed my wrist hovered uncertainly, then curled into a fist and slipped behind her back.
“Uuu…”
Blocked arteries suddenly cleared. Fresh blood surged back, and the lingering agony from my wrist mixed with the burning pain in the muscles, creating a sensation I couldn’t describe—an unbearable symphony.
—Kwaaaaaak…!
Every time my fingers twitched, the pain flared, but I couldn’t even bend them. I was forced to endure it anyway.
Just when I thought the worst had passed, Harin whispered, “I’m sorry.”
“Again… I hurt you…”
“…”
“I don’t want to do this either… But every time I hear about the magical girls, I get so angry…!”
“Harin.”
“Yes?”
I cut her off mid-sentence and asked the real meaning behind her earlier words.
“You said you were holding back from wanting to kill people?”
“Ugh… N-No! I didn’t mean—!”
She tried to deny it, then swallowed the rest, realizing she couldn’t justify it.
“I-It’s just… I got annoyed. That’s all. Right now… I’m not thinking that. At least not when I’ve been using too much strength…”
“…”
“Don’t leave me. Siwoo… please? I really can’t do this without you… If you leave, I can’t go back to normal…”
Desperate not to be abandoned, Harin slowly crawled toward me, completely ignoring her own appearance. She only cared about me.
This was the pure, broken Harin I remembered from before I knew her true identity—the one who always broke down in front of me.
Her pride, her confidence, everything thrown away. I couldn’t help it. I pulled her into a tight hug.
Would she kick me again for this?
“…Harin.”
“…What.”
Her voice returned to its usual low, sharp tone in a single word.
“Let’s go to the karaoke place.”
*****
We walked for several minutes until we reached the karaoke room near my house.
Harin followed right behind me, every three steps letting out a dissatisfied grunt, but there was a faint hope hidden behind her frown.
The sun was setting, painting the alleyways dark. I opened the karaoke door.
It was empty because it was evening.
Grateful for that, we took the largest room, sat down, and pulled up the song list.
“What song are you singing?”
“I don’t know.”
Harin looked a little irritated, so I started thinking about what I wanted to sing. I’d finally come after a long time—I should sing something I loved.
“Ah.”
“What again.”
A sharp smack landed on the back of my head. I’d already been to karaoke today. Karaoke wasn’t something you went to whenever you felt like it. It only happened when the sudden urge hit you. But now that I’d already sung once, there was nothing left I wanted to sing. My throat even felt a little sore.
Just as I was about to put in a coin to replay the last song, Harin suddenly grabbed my shoulder and whispered in a shaky voice, “Don’t put in the coin.”
“What are you talking about?”
I figured she might have wanted to sing something now that the urge was back. But there was no reason to stop me from inserting a coin.
Why did she grab my shoulder like that? I thought and thought… there was one reason.
“No way…”
Harin nodded.
That made sense.
“Coming.”
—KWA-A-A-AANG!
The entire karaoke building shook like it was about to collapse. I couldn’t even brace myself. I slammed to the floor and barely managed to sit up.
“Ugh… Ah…!”
—SLLLIIP…
Black tentacles erupted from the floor where Harin had been sitting and gently wrapped around my body, pulling me toward her.
The moment our bodies touched—
“Hold on tight.”
A dark portal formed beneath our room. We fell in without resistance and were sucked through.
For a moment everything was nothing but pure chaos, colors blurring, space tearing apart. Then we landed on the rooftop of a nearby empty building.
“Uuuu…”
“Are you okay?”
“I-I’m fine…!”
The teleportation still felt weird, but it was far better than dying under rubble.
“As long as I’m not dead, that’s fine.”
Harin stood up immediately and stared at the distant portal.
“Don’t make this more annoying. Stay hidden here well.”
“I’ll do that even if you don’t say it.”
With a light joke, Harin gave me a faint smile.
“…Break Up.”
—KWA-A-A-AANG!
Purple light exploded. Harin’s hair and eyes turned violet. She finished transforming and leaped off the rooftop with her writhing tentacles.
Footsteps and screams echoed from the surrounding buildings as people fled in panic.
But Harin was gone. She was fine.
I hid in the corner of the rooftop and waited for a while, listening to distant Demon King Army screams and the sounds of crumbling buildings and broken bodies.
A little time later Harin returned. Even in her violent fighting style, the distant battlefield looked beyond horrific. Not a single drop of blood on her clothes.
That wasn’t fighting. That was slaughter.
“Is it already over? I thought we’d have a tough fight since the portal just opened.”
“In your terms, he was strong. The kids must have gotten really mad. It looked like he prepared everything carefully.”
“S-So…?”
“So? What do you want to know about that?”
Harin gave a sinister smile and nodded.
“Do you think those brainless guys could be my opponents?”
“…”
“Yeah, I guess.”
I answered shortly and stood up.
Then—
“Ugh!?”
Off-balance, I suddenly leaned backward. Instinctively I reached my arms behind my back to steady myself so I wouldn’t hit my head.
—THUMP.
A tentacle shot from Harin’s shadow grabbed my body lightly and carefully pulled me upright again.
“T-Thanks…”
“It’s nothing. If it’s like this, you can be grateful to me. You—”
Harin started to say something else, then stopped, clearly displeased with her own words.
“Never mind. Let’s go home. Deformation.”
“Hm?”
Her body glowed faintly, then returned to her usual civilian clothes.
I still wore the jacket I’d taken from her, but seeing her now, I was sure the Harin I knew was still inside her somewhere.
“Why? What were you about to say?”
“It’s nothing.”
“If it’s nothing, you could just tell me. What were you going to say? Huh?”
I mixed in a teasing tone, deliberately turning my head to meet her eyes while she avoided my gaze.
“Huh? Say it. Why? Maybe you’re embarrassed…”
—POW!
“KYEUP…!”
“I’ll really kill you.”
I finally understood. The hot-tempered Harin who used to punch first the moment she saw me. She really was the same old Harin.