The Line to Protect (5)
"Here! Here it is!"
"These crazy bastards!"
A faint siren wail cut through the air after only a few minutes inside the test facility, and people began pouring in like a tide.
The rescue team reacted exactly as expected. Seeing the girls floating alive in the tanks, they stared in horror and immediately sprang into frantic motion, as if they thought I was making a fuss.
Soon came the sounds of bodies being pulled out one by one. The tank I had been in automatically opened its lid, and cautious hands reached in to grip my body and lift me free.
"Captain. Right now..."
"Hurry up and save them! How the hell do you think I know what those monsters did to these kids' bodies?!"
As my eyes fluttered shut, the firefighter wiping me down and checking my pulse and breathing barked at the junior officer.
Soon my eyes were pried open again, and harsh light flooded in.
"A-are you okay...?"
The man who had rushed over tapped my shoulder gently and spoke with careful concern. Every time it was embarrassing, but I couldn't even control the movement of my pupils.
I gave the smallest nod, and he pulled the breathing tube from my mouth before hastily wrapping a towel around my waist.
"Just a little longer. I'll get the other kids and be right back."
"Check the basement."
"What does that mean...?"
"Some of them were taken down there earlier."
To the man who was about to leave for the other children, I acted the pitiful girl and gave him the hint. His eyes widened at the mention of even deeper basement victims, and he yanked out his radio to send an urgent order to head down.
"Lie down and wait. You're all right now."
He then hurried off to another location. Watching his retreating figure, I let my body go limp and collapsed face-down onto the floor with a heavy thud.
"As you wished, it's done?"
"...Yeah. Now the only thing left is to crush that egg-headed Mammut."
"Saying things so casually. But I have a feeling you might actually be able to do it."
Ren, sitting beside my prone body, flapped her big ears and shook her head.
After lying there for a while, I roughly checked my identity, wrapped myself in a blanket, and was gently carried into the arms of a rescue worker before being loaded into the ambulance.
*
"Eunseo... Eunseo!"
"No. Don't touch me. This time I will definitely capture them."
Following Mammut, another shocking piece of news slammed into South Korea.
Illegal villain organizations were common enough in this era, but the idea that such bastards were performing live experiments on dozens of girls kidnapped from across the country and the capital was something that would be remembered in history.
"Let's move together with the police, Eunseo. It's clear they have a connection to Mammut. It's too dangerous alone!"
"...Police?"
At Oh Yun-seo's urgent words, she—magical girl Aria and South Korean high school student Han Eun-seo—shook her head after much hesitation.
Of course, Oh Yun-seo's expression was no better.
Recently she had been acting strangely. Until now she had believed completely in her own power, her own justice, her own beliefs and actions. She had never doubted that what she was doing was right.
But that certainty had begun to crack at some point. She had already sensed the moment it would happen.
'Takilas. What are you...'
In her mind flashed a girl with flowing black hair and crimson eyes carrying deep black as her personal color.
All these cracks had started from the day she first met that girl—from the moment she herself was injured and her arm was broken by that girl.
Ever since, every time she encountered Takilas she had tasted bitter defeat.
"There's no time. If we move with the police, it won't help much with this case."
"E-Eunseo..."
Oh Yun-seo, her words mumbled in a daze, was startled into stammering. The magical girl Aria who had faithfully cooperated with public authority until now had her first moment of doubt.
Even so, the highest-risk magical girl Takilas whose identity remained shrouded in mystery still existed.
"I was surprised. I thought you'd contact first, Aria."
"Are they all gathered?"
"Yes."
Aria looked at the gathered colleagues from the locked rooftop of the management bureau. Since they were all magical girls from the same agency, the possibility of betrayal was nonexistent.
"No matter how many times, their achievements are staggering. We must definitely capture them."
"...The important thing to remember is that they eventually succeeded in that horrific experiment."
Maintaining her composure, she reminded the gathered girls of the information.
At that moment every face hardened. They already knew exactly what the horrific experiment Aria had described was.
One experimental subject subdued by Takilas. Even with a healthy body and the ability to control mana, without commands it hung like an inanimate doll—doing nothing, thinking nothing.
"Those bastards..."
"The experimental subjects are innocent girls, beings that magical girls cannot touch. So be careful. If it comes to fighting, the only option is to subdue them like Takilas."
"That cheeky little brat said she was going to kill Mammut?"
When Aria mentioned Takilas, one magical girl wearing a large witch hat grumbled with a sullen expression.
Aria realized that every magical girl present here was hostile to Takilas. But she was not.
"Let's go. If we achieve results, that Takilas girl might even change."
Remembering the bet with Takilas, Aria took the lead and soared into the sky.
The other magical girls followed suit.
The tracking trail was the evil spirit. Testimonies that victims had been possessed by evil spirits and used to kidnap surrounding girls had already begun pouring out.
"...What is this guy..."
Usual school. The atmosphere remained gloomy because of Mammut and the recent incidents.
Recently, the delinquent high school girl Jeon So-hyun had been coming to school every day, standing slantedly in the empty seat of the neighboring class while clicking her tongue at the vacant desk.
That empty seat belonged to her friend Han Eun-seo, who had said something incomprehensible like "let's go somewhere together after graduation" and promised to help develop and use her hidden power.
The problem was that Han Eun-seo had been on sick leave for three days because she had been active as magical girl Aria.
'It's definitely something.'
Finally turning her back, she crossed the hallway and bit her lip. Honestly, objectively speaking, it was an unbelievable story. Not a magical girl, claiming to have special power?
But because of Jeon So-hyun's unique personality, she couldn't dismiss it so easily and had been longing for Han Eun-seo.
That day, the blue lightning-like power that had manifested to escape the evil spirit's possession.
After that day, the girl who had opened her eyes to mana was seeing what others couldn't see, touching what she couldn't touch, hearing what she couldn't hear.
'I want to check a bit more.'
She shook off the formless ghost clinging to her ankle and sighed.
Honestly, she knew nothing about this side, so she had no choice but to cling even tighter to the only hint—Han Eun-seo.
'By the way, there were kids caught up in the middle school facility. It can't be Su-jeong, right?'
While her mind wandered during class, she suddenly remembered the incident from two days ago.
Two girls who had a connection with her—ones she hadn't been able to check because she had been living in a completely different space from the middle school due to high school and part-time work.
Knowing this incident was related to the evil spirit, she decided to go to the middle school.
"...Su-jeong?"
"Senior So-hyun. Long time no see."
However, when she went to find Kim Su-jeong that afternoon, she couldn't believe her eyes.
"Jin-ah... Lee Jin-ah was involved in that? That... live experiment?"
"Yes. So she's in the research lab now. She's doing tests. So... so I haven't seen her face for two days already."
Maintaining her composure, Jeon So-hyun followed Kim Su-jeong into the room.
And the moment she saw the room's contents, Jeon So-hyun swallowed hard and quietly locked the door.
"Jin-ah wouldn't like to wallpaper the room with her own photos like this."
"But it's been more than a day without seeing her face."
"Moreover, it's all surveillance photos. Photos of her eating, changing clothes, studying, sleeping... all of them."
"But if I don't appeal that I like it this much, that girl will leave me too."
The tone of Kim Su-jeong, standing with her back turned, suddenly changed.
Jeon So-hyun was sweating cold sweat and secretly reached for the mysterious wrench hidden between the books in the shelf beside her.
"You... who are you."
And declared. Kim Su-jeong, who had been wrapped in a sluggish dark aura, turned her body with eyes now completely blacked out.
"I am... the one who will... cut... the line... between you and Jin-ah."
"Ack...!"
Even though deeply possessed by the evil spirit, she couldn't bring herself to swing the wrench at her close younger sister who was rushing toward her with a determined look.
The two bodies collided with a bang and rolled across the floor.
Jeon So-hyun, hit hard in the stomach, retched while grabbing the arm of Kim Su-jeong who was trying to strangle her neck and barely holding on.