New Dawn
I found her.
The Executive's emotionless words made my heart sink.
Why? Why had she come to find me?
Had the reason she had watched me all along been to give me a sliver of hope that I was still alive—only to drag me straight back into despair?
She had deliberately kept me alive to memorize my face, then secretly visited my house so that no magical girl would come looking for me?
"...Hah."
It was hopeless.
Should I call for help? But how?
Should I scream? That would only provoke her, and she would pierce my heart in one strike.
Should I call the class president on my phone and ask for help?
No, not even that mattered if I got captured and tortured first.
"...Strange."
The Executive tilted her head, then began muttering to herself in a voice thick with irritation.
"Why... why does this pathetic boy react like this..."
"What?"
What the hell.
She suddenly forced the door open and barged in, then glared down at me as if I were beneath her. The very first words that left her mouth—
Pathetic?
As if I'd led a life bad enough for an Executive of the Demon King's Army to curse me like this.
"...What?"
"Ah."
Because I was too stunned, I blurted out the wrong thing.
It really was over, huh...?
"...Haa...!"
Still completely consumed by anger, the Executive raked her fingers through her hair and tugged at it until it was a mess.
"You... you ruined everything. The moment I saw you, my head..."
"...What do you mean..."
"Name."
"What?"
"Your name. What is it?"
The Executive who had just moments ago driven tentacles into people's hearts and hurled bodies around was now asking for my name.
She was looking at me with the same murderous intent she had shown when she told me not to answer, or she would kill me on the spot.
"I-I'm Jung Siwoo."
"Siwoo..."
The Executive ruffled her hair again, then asked sharply, "Who are you?"
Was she not here to kill me?
Why the sudden interest in my name and background?
"I was... definitely going to..."
That was when—
"Ung...! It hurts...!"
The Executive collapsed to her knees, clutching her head with both hands and rolling across the floor.
Groans of pain poured out of her.
"Damn it, my head...!"
It went on for several minutes.
Finally, the pain seemed to subside. She forced herself up and took one step toward me.
Even in my confusion, I had to ask. Otherwise I would never survive.
"Huu... Haa..."
She let out a shaky breath, then—
Tap.
She peeled off the visor that had been covering her eyes and set it on the side table.
Those purple eyes, glowing as if they were lit from within, pierced straight through me.
But even that gaze soon left me. She began scanning the room, looking for something, checking the house layout.
After watching me for a long time, she spoke.
"...Neat. It's completely different from before."
"What?"
The Executive let out a confused sound.
I had no idea what she was saying. Just moments ago she had smashed her way in as if she wanted me dead, then rolled around on the floor screaming about her head hurting, and now she was praising me?
I couldn't hold on to reality any longer.
"...Who are you?"
I asked, voice trembling.
For some reason, talking now felt possible.
Of course, as long as I didn't get killed.
"Me?"
She tilted her head, then stared into empty space as if deep in thought.
"Name... What was my name again."
Silence fell.
The glowing eyes in the darkness blinked once, then turned back to me.
"Ah, right. Harin."
"What?"
"Harin. Harin."
She kept repeating her own name, as if she had just learned it herself.
But... Harin.
"You... are Harin, right?"
"...Was that my name?"
What the hell.
It felt like I was talking to a mental patient.
"...That's right. My name was Harin."
She gave a light, almost amused laugh.
"Do you remember me?"
"...Of course I remember. You're my childhood friend."
"You've got to be kidding me. You used to remember me instantly..."
She frowned, then closed her eyes and pressed hard on her temples.
"No, I couldn't have. With this appearance... tsk."
She looked at herself, clicked her tongue, and gave an annoyed expression.
"Disformation."
At the same moment, purple light exploded from the Executive's body.
I instinctively raised my arms to block it. When the light faded, I carefully lowered them and looked forward.
"Recognize me now?"
In front of me stood the same girl as before, but wearing a simple white T-shirt and churros shorts.
The moment the transformation ended and her true form appeared, I finally understood who she really was.
"Harin!"
"Shut the hell up. My head is splitting."
"Huh."
I clamped both hands over my mouth.
Same height. Same face. Same hair length.
But the barrier that had blocked out everything inside my brain was gone.
I could now receive and interpret information perfectly.
"You believe me now?"
"Yeah... but..."
Even from a glance, it was my childhood friend Harin.
Of course, we had drifted apart after middle school, so we were basically strangers now.
Still, when we passed each other on the street, we would exchange a casual hello.
It had definitely been like that...
"You... your hair and eye color...?"
"Tsk. Of all the questions, you ask the first one about that?"
Harin's hair and eyes had always been black since forever.
She had been the perfect student, the rule-follower.
But now everything was different.
Her hair looked bleached or blond, I couldn't tell.
Her eyes were blood-red, not like any normal human's.
"Brainwashed. Damn it."
"Brainwashed? By who?"
"Who else? Those damn Demon King's Army bastards."
Harin answered sharply and strode over to the couch, collapsing into the corner.
I could only sit there on the floor like an idiot and watch her.
"...Aren't your hips sore?"
"Ah... yeah..."
"Don't just sit there like an idiot. Come over here and sit."
Thud, thud.
Harin patted the cushion right beside her.
I still had no idea why she was drumming her fists on a couch like it was a punching bag.
I cautiously stood up like a scared animal and slowly approached, sitting at a safe distance.
"Haa..."
Harin sighed deeply.
Why the hell...
"Hey. Sit next to me, you idiot."
"...Okay..."
I slowly moved closer until I was right beside her.
She definitely hadn't been like this back in middle school.
Maybe the brainwashing was to blame.
"Hey."
She spoke first.
"I was a magical girl."
"What!?"
That was just ridiculous.
"Idiot, lower your voice. My head hurts...!"
She flinched from the shout next to her ear and glared at me with pure irritation.
"S-sorry..."
"...Hah. It's fine. None of this is your fault. It's my fault for being weird..."
She covered her face with both hands.
A moment later—
"I won't make this short. ...Can you just listen without interrupting?"
I nodded.
"...Thank you."
Harin gave a small smile.
*****
What she told me went far beyond anything I could have imagined.
She had been a magical girl until a few months ago, when she lost a battle and was captured by the Demon King's Army.
She had been brainwashed and had been an Executive ever since.
Everything she said was impossible to believe.
"So... why are you like this now...?"
I had been listening in silence and couldn't hold back anymore. I asked her, ready to be cursed at.
She had said she was brainwashed and had been killing people on command.
But how could she be talking to me right now, still somewhat sane...?
"How the hell should I know?"
She gave a short answer.
"Today, when I saw your face... my head suddenly cleared up. The whispers in my mind, the impulses that filled my thoughts... they were gone."
"..."
"So today I returned and ran away. I couldn't figure anything out. But..."
Harin turned to me.
"When I saw you again, I understood."
She carefully reached out and grabbed my hand.
"If I'm with you, I think I can figure it out. What I have to do. And... I can take revenge on them."
"I'm just an ordinary person...?"
"No need. I'll do the fighting."
Crack...!
The hand holding mine tightened even more.
Goosebumps broke out all over my body.
"Help me. Please."
Slowly, Harin moved her other hand to my collar.
Then—
Tap.
"Eh!?"
She grabbed my neck.
"If you don't help me..."
The air and blood around me seemed to stop flowing. Panic surged again.
"I'll kill you, and I'll chase you too..."
The only thing Harin wanted was one thing.
Help.
Of course, the level of help she needed was absurdly dangerous and unrealistic.
"So..."
Tap.
A single tear fell from her eye onto the couch.
The hand that had been around my neck a moment ago now clutched my back tightly, as if she would never let go again.
"Help me... Please... Siwoo..."
Harin pulled me into a trembling embrace.
"Please... I don't want to be brainwashed again... I don't want to go back... to that hellish place..."
"... "
"I don't want to kill anyone anymore. I don't want to lose myself anymore... So please..."
I gently wrapped my arms around her.
Harin's body, hugging me for the first time in a long time, trembled like a leaf in the wind.
We stayed like that for a long time.
Then—
"...You pervert."
"Huh?"
"Why... why are you hugging me!!! Let go of me!!!"
Harin pushed me away.
"Ah, anyway! If you don't help me, I'm really going to come kill you...!"
Flash.
A black hole-like thing appeared in the air.
"...See you tomorrow."
Harin threw herself into the void with a gentle voice once more.
"...She'll really go insane."
My childhood friend who had drifted apart after middle school and then gotten close again had become twisted.
Terribly twisted.