Public Enemy (7)
"Are you... a familiar face?"
"Yeah. So you don't have to worry about it."
The middle school boy's puzzled question, and the light laugh that answered it. Han Eun-seo had been too slow to grab the boy's arm as he hurried past her.
"How...?"
"No way!? How!? It can't be! The info's been leaked, right!?"
Lulu, perched higher on her head than Aria, exploded into a full tantrum.
Aria snatched the fairy and delivered a stinging smack to her cheek. Only then did Lulu fall quiet.
"Calm down. You couldn't have realized anything. It's just... that girl has been on my mind since the beginning."
Aria stared at Lee Jin-ah's retreating back. Unmasking a transformed magical girl was impossible in principle. Even the Demon King of another realm, Takilas Lee Jin-ah, had only noticed her because she had caught a trace of the mana leaking from Aria during her recovery. That was all.
So Han Eun-seo was not about to panic and assume her secret was out.
"...Better head back."
She decided to call it a night right there. She couldn't stay in transformation form forever anyway; she had to live like an ordinary middle-schooler.
"Yeah. Nothing's happened yet."
"I should call the facility. Speaking of which, that looked like a close friend."
Han Eun-seo, whose personality usually made her hesitate to take decisive action, was gently reassured by Lulu.
She nodded and picked up the phone. For now she would set aside the Mammut case and focus on the other issue that had popped up earlier.
"...?"
"Who is it?"
In the facility's lounge, Kim Su-jeong answered the vibrating phone. Hong Soo-young beside her turned her attention over.
"Unknown number. A message..."
Still dazed, Kim Su-jeong read the text without thinking. Her eyes widened, and her hand began to shake.
"What? Did something happen?"
"No. It's not that."
Startled by Jin-ah's words, Kim Su-jeong shook her head and read the message aloud.
The message was about Lee Jin-ah. The sender was Han Eun-seo, who had obtained Su-jeong's number from a facility contact.
"The high-schooler we ran into last time. She saw Jin-ah in the downtown area today and asked if I knew anything... the text just came in."
"Why the heck would Gwang-dong know her? Well, I guess he does."
Hong Soo-young let out a soft snort when she heard the content. She wasn't wrong.
All three of them already knew where and what Lee Jin-ah had been doing today.
"That bastard Park Tae-joon is a snake. When problems blow up, he's always one step behind, but he's never been a clean guy."
"I agree. Jin-ah's the one being used here."
"Huh, I don't think she's being used at all..."
Jin-ah's earlier jab about Park Tae-joon made Hong Soo-young glance away slightly.
She hadn't seen the incident in the classroom, but Jin-ah had.
That was why she could now see that Lee Jin-ah and Park Tae-joon's relationship wasn't the usual "trophy and owner" dynamic.
"Anyway! Jin-ah's in danger! She told me on the text to just hang out with the others, but I don't know what could happen to her!"
Kim Su-jeong slammed her fist on the desk. Jin-ah nodded, visibly shaken.
"Jin-ah's not an ordinary girl, but she's still just a slender one, right?"
"No, but... she stuck to Park Tae-joon because she wanted to, right? Can we just tear her away by force?"
"Never!"
When Hong Soo-young offered a more cautious opinion, Kim Su-jeong shouted at the top of her lungs. The look in her eyes, wild with something almost mad, made Hong Soo-young flinch.
"Jin-ah wouldn't do that. She wouldn't abandon me like that..."
"Hey, hey, calm down. I-I was wrong."
Shocked, Hong Soo-young immediately apologized and nodded.
In the end, under Kim Su-jeong's leadership, the three of them decided they would corner Lee Jin-ah when she returned and talk to her seriously.
"...Everyone! First, let's head to the facility's air-raid shelter right now!"
But that same night, before Lee Jin-ah could even arrive, the incident exploded.
*
"Let's just focus on having fun."
"Sure."
Park Tae-joon led me back to the room. Honestly, my heart was racing. It was one thing to party, but this kind of shady thing was a first for me.
But my mood started to sink. The way the lurking ghosts kept swirling around me was getting on my nerves.
"Long time no see, Tae-joon. Is this her?"
"Yeah, bro. I wanted to introduce you."
No matter how you looked at it, this guy was an adult, probably over thirty, but somehow still a high-schooler. As he stepped up to us acting all familiar, I saw the shadows flickering in his eyes. A faint dark mana. Exactly like the troublemaker from earlier today.
He had openly possessed a ghost. Any moment the eyes could roll back and its true nature would show.
The real problem was that there were more than a few of them. No matter how low-class the trash den was, it was surprising how easily they let themselves get eaten by ghosts.
"It must be rough, huh? No one's noticed."
Seeing my expression, Park Tae-joon misunderstood and smiled faintly while taking my hand.
With no shame, I looked him in the eye and laughed. Tonight was probably never going to end normally anyway.
"Possessed ghosts exaggerate the victim's darkest side. Like that guy who caused chaos earlier. Right?"
"Exactly. They strip away reason and turn you into a beast that only follows instinct."
"Really? That sounds like it shows a person's true nature... to me."
While Park Tae-joon went to grab another drink, I sat down and perked my ears. I expanded my senses and picked up every scrap of information happening around this entertainment district.
"Yo, those people are fighting."
"What the hell is this woman so bold about? She got slapped. But seriously, if she dies, what then?"
A few people in the room had gathered by the window and were snickering. I could hear everything they said.
A drunk young woman had started an argument with a man. I didn't catch the middle, but the guy was clearly a returning soldier on vacation, and she looked like she had a grudge.
Some comment about "guard dog" or "military fashion" or whatever. It was insulting, but it was the raw truth spilling from a tipsy mouth.
The problem was the other person wasn't in his normal state.
"Yo, is he... dead?"
"Idiot! He smashed his face into the asphalt and he's still alive! Someone film this quick!"
With the sound of sirens, the commotion spread.
The insulted man couldn't hold back. In modern society, the rules for protecting people, order, unspoken laws—none of that would register on a ghost-possessed mind, especially not one with anger issues.
The man unleashed overwhelming physical force, beating the woman without mercy.
"Hmm, not bad."
I watched Park Tae-joon rushing over and shoved the drink in my mouth.
It burned. The alcohol surged through my body, but since I wasn't in the mood to get drunk, I moved my mana to wash the effects away.
"W-what happened?"
"You know why people only run their mouths nowadays? Because they know they won't get their skulls cracked if they get too cocky. The other side will just take it. But... people who can't take it anymore have appeared."
I explained it to the bewildered Park Tae-joon.
At the same moment the door exploded inward and a blood-soaked figure was hurled into the room, writhing.
"Hyung Yeon-seon..."
Park Tae-joon staggered back. The bloodied victim had been thrown in by the same delinquent high-schooler we had run into earlier.
"You cut in line! I was first! I'm eating you!"
A madman in a daze screamed while raising a fist dripping blood.
"Aaaah!"
"This bastard! Repay the money or I'll—"
The ghost festival had begun. Possessed people, their control snapped, were letting the inner rage and lust pour out freely.
I bowed my head and dodged the table the woman with rolled-back eyes had hurled.
The shattered glass on the floor sparkled in my vision. This crazy world was still trying to squeeze every last drop out of me.
"Hurry, hurry, escape."
"Principal-nim...!"
The bulky figure that had been chasing us since school days burst in and charged straight at us.
"This way! Both of you!"
He grabbed a possessed person, slammed it to the ground in one breath, and dragged us out of the room.
The hallway was in ruins. No, the entire building was a wreck.
"Impossible..."
"Everyone has gone crazy. This way."
Of course the bustling streets outside were worse.
The screams and wails of the rampaging people, plus the thick stench of blood carried on the wind, filled everything.
Stupid humans—how much had they scraped at others their whole lives? The moment control snapped, everything shattered.
[Is this the world Mammut wants? A world where people just get smashed like teacups?]
"Y-yeah. Madness, chaos, disorder. Those are its powers."
[What? It's just a normal demon realm?]
I laughed softly as I followed the principal and Park Tae-joon, listening to Ren's words.
Chaos? Madness? This was pitiful. Honestly, I had expected more.
[I told you I'm not stepping in. I'd like to see someone try to bully the big guy once.]
I wasn't planning to get involved anyway, but I wanted it even less now. At least if I showed my true form, or if I made the ghosts under my control dance on command, it wouldn't sit well with me at all.