Chapter 2. Private Life (6)
To be honest, there was a reason I'd cooperated in catching the stalker.
I did still have to keep on living, after all.
Of course, the Company had its own frightening side, in its own way. But that fear was... hmm, honestly speaking, a rather vague thing.
In the bluntest terms, my quitting the Company on the spot wouldn't make the orphanage impossible to run. Things would roll along a little leaner, but with the government support, they probably wouldn't fall short on operating costs.
I had excuses of my own lined up, too.
For one, I had no idea what the reporter even looked like. There was also the hope that if I just stubbornly insisted I'd genuinely mistaken him for a stalker, it might somehow blow over.
In any case, a meeting with the Company people wouldn't happen until this evening at the earliest — and right now, the magical girl in front of me was the far more terrifying prospect.
I'd never been hit by a corporate executive, but I had been hit by a magical girl. When you're choosing between the worst and the second-worst, isn't picking the second-worst at least a little smarter?
...
I'll admit it — I'd been emotional.
Hayun was my friend, no matter what.
I'd wanted to stay by her side somehow, without coming under suspicion. Aside from Jihye, who lived at the same orphanage, Hayun was the first friend I'd ever made.
Anyway, with my head tangled up in all these thoughts, I'd ended up acting on impulse.
"A civilian assisted in the arrest of a kaijin?"
And thanks to that, I was now cornered in an incredibly awkward situation.
All I'd thought about was saving Hayun and being done with it. Never in my wildest dreams did I imagine I'd end up showing my face to magical girls of every color in the rainbow.
For starters, Hayun and Iris weren't in their transformed states.
Passersby were already eagerly snapping photos and shouting "magical girls," so any disguise had lost its point — though then again, with the culprit caught, there was no particular reason to transform now, either.
The other three, who had come running in response to Hayun's all-call, on the other hand, were already transformed.
Of course they were — with social media in an uproar, they'd apparently judged the situation dangerous.
"It was a commendable thing to do, but you could face retaliation later, you know. In situations like this, you're supposed to just leave it be. Friend or not, barging into professional territory uninvited puts us in a bit of a difficult spot."
The one dispensing that lecture in textbook principles was a woman in a red dress.
Hmm, no — "woman" was a stretch. She was still at an age where "girl" fit better.
She was only a year younger than me, after all.
Her blazing red hair was cut into a bob, though strands stuck up this way and that, giving the style a slightly boyish air. The dress hugged her figure and read as feminine enough, but between her overall bearing and the gauntlets on her hands, there was nothing delicate about her.
I'd been hit by those gauntlets once. Three of my ribs had gone out of place that day. It hurt so much that, until I was treated at the Magical Treatment Center, I had to walk carefully, taking each breath in small, shallow sips.
Feeling a thin trickle of cold sweat down my back, I swallowed dryly.
"So, what do you think?" said the girl in the yellow dress.
Long, straight brown hair swayed against her back. The yellow dress plunged quite deep at the rear, though that hair kept it from showing easily. In the webtoon, I seemed to recall her having a line about how "that's what fan service is for."
"The case is solved, for one thing. If she's not connected to us, she might even walk away with some kind of brave citizen award, no?"
She looked a touch younger than Rose, but not as young as Hayun or me. Maybe it was her easygoing air?
Happy Dahlia.
Clutched in her hand was an enormous staff. Her long-range magic was impressive enough, but more than anything, that wooden staff was absurdly sturdy. Take a hit from the curved section at the top, and your shinbone snaps.
I'd once been loaded onto a stretcher and rushed to Noir Corporation's general hospital for employees. That was the day I learned, beyond all doubt, that a broken leg hurts a good deal more definitively than broken ribs.
My leg had trembled uncontrollably for no good reason until I finally pressed it down with my hand and managed to calm it.
"...An operation in a place like that... far too reliant on coincidence... and she actually went and copied it..."
The girl speaking with a downright bizarre abundance of ellipses was Delphinium.
True to her name, she too wore a blue dress, though her outfit leaned closer to the "witch" stereotype.
A large witch's hat sat atop a bob trimmed so neat and precise it might have been measured with a ruler. Over her back hung a cape closer to a robe — made of who knew what, it glittered with starlight, and it was beautiful.
And looking at that starlight, I felt goosebumps crawl up my arms.
...Delphinium's magic was threatening. If the attacks from the magical girls I'd mentioned earlier amounted to "it hurts, so dodge it," Delphinium's magic made the crown of your skull tingle the instant you laid eyes on it — a threat to life itself.
I'd never actually taken a hit and died, so she apparently did calibrate her firepower to some degree — but even so, that scorching sensation of your body burning was one I never wanted to feel twice in a single lifetime.
In an ordinary battle, we'd only ever face one or two of them. Even when a full group fight broke out, things broke down into several of us swarming a single opponent.
And since we were inevitably taken down the moment a fight started and shipped straight off to a hospital or the Treatment Center, there was rarely such a thing as a "round two" — little chance of being beaten down by two or more magical girls in a single day.
So why was it that, right now, the villain was me, all alone, and the magical girls numbered five?
"...Jieun?"
Seeing me trembling in my chair, Hayun called my name carefully.
"Don't worry too much."
"...Yeah."
"Are you scared the Company might retaliate?"
No, I'm scared you lot are going to smite me.
But since I couldn't exactly say that out loud, I shook my head.
"I-I'm just a little cold. I was outside for a long time, remember?"
"Oh, right."
Hayun nodded calmly at my excuse, then said,
"Well then, Jieun. I'm really sorry, but..."
Hayun looked at me, genuine apology written across her face.
"I have to handle the cleanup after the case. I probably can't hang out with you anymore today..."
"Oh, okay."
I felt truly sorry toward Hayun for thinking that way, but honestly, I was a little relieved.
As long as I got out of here, at least I wouldn't be getting subdued by a magical girl.
I looked at the kaijin, still unconscious.
His face was unharmed. That Earthling man's face had been a mask.
Blue skin, and antennae sprouting from his head.
He was from the same planet as the Earth-boos. True to the reports that his body had been modified, one of his eyes was mechanical.
Seeing him still knocked out and not stirring worried me a little. ...He was going to wake up... right?
"You don't need to worry about him."
My gaze had drifted toward the stalker, and Hayun — apparently taking it to mean I was still worried about him — rested a hand on my shoulder and said gently,
A strange tangle of worry, guilt, and relief churning inside me, I nodded stiffly.
On the way home.
My head had filled with thoughts and I'd gone quiet for a while, when Jihye — sitting in the seat beside me, fidgeting — finally opened her mouth as if she couldn't stand it any longer.
"Um... I don't know if it's okay to bring this up after everything you've just been through."
"Hm?"
I'd been staring out the window, and only belatedly turned toward Jihye.
She was already holding out a notebook to show me.
...When had she bought that?
"Earlier, while you were talking with the magical girls, I ran to a shop nearby and bought these."
"...Don't tell me you got autographs."
"Yep! Two of each — one for you, too."
She really had. Jihye flipped the notebook open for me — one signature per page, ten pages in all.
Hayun, Rose, and Dahlia gave off the image of types who'd enjoy signing autographs, so that wasn't much of a surprise. But Dahlia — and Iris, of all people — signed them too, huh. That one I hadn't known.
Then again, Dahlia aside, Iris did secretly crave the public's attention. Maybe all that leaping across the rooftops today had been her way of showing off her heroics.
...Come to think of it, she had stared at me for a moment earlier. Was it because I'd stuck my neck out too far?
Maybe I should have just kept my head down.
"Still worried?"
"No, it's not that."
"See? Your friend— ah."
Jihye clamped her mouth shut mid-sentence, then glanced around carefully.
We'd be on the news too, but our faces hadn't spread around inside this bus yet. We were ordinary civilians, not celebrities — a stranger would have a hard time picking us out at a glance anyway.
Still, it was nice that Jihye remembered and was being so careful. Part of the reason I'd come out with her today was that I knew that was the kind of person she was.
...
Come to think of it, Jihye had gotten dragged into this too, hadn't she?
Maybe because I'd been too wrapped up in my own problems.
I nearly heaved a long sigh before remembering Jihye was right beside me, and swallowed it down.
True to a company that summons its combatants the instant they slip up, the contact came that very evening.
I'd known it was coming, so I deliberately slipped outside while Jihye was washing up.
After an hour or so of shivering in the cold and pacing around aimlessly, the text finally arrived.
A message from Executive James.
...
For a "Cadre," he certainly met one-on-one with me — a bottom-rung employee — far too often, I thought.
Probably because they'd found out I was friends with a magical girl.
I let out a small breath and headed straight for the bus stop.
The view from Executive James's office was as magnificent as ever.
It wasn't taller than every building around it, but with Seoul Plaza spread out directly below, the view was wide open even by downtown standards.
And before I had any chance to admire the scenery, James laid out a row of enlarged photographs across his work desk.
...Not the guest table, then.
Presumably, I was meant to walk over there and stand while he talked.
Wondering if, sure enough, I'd been summoned to have my mistakes pointed out, I walked over, squared my shoulders as best I could, and waited.
Once the photos were all laid out, James took his seat.
I glanced down at them.
Photos of Hayun and me, arm in arm.
My expression was barely visible. Hayun, on the other hand, was beaming up at me.
"You two seem to be quite close."
James began. There was a smile on his lips, but his eyes weren't smiling at all.
"I did a little digging, you see. It turns out the two of you have been classmates since elementary school."
...
"Have you been close since then?"
...
"Well, fine. That would be your 'private life,' I suppose. I shall take care not to intrude that far."
James picked up the tablet near his seat and woke the screen, then turned it toward me, the article blown up large across the display.
I was done for.
My face was in that newspaper photo.
Not that it was crisp — a shot taken from far away and forcibly enlarged, I'd say. If you insisted on splitting hairs, the focus was trained on the magical girls standing around me, and I was merely background.
But apparently, that much was enough for James's eyes.
James said nothing for a long while.
That silence was terrifying.
Ordinarily I'd thought of him as nothing more than a harmless buffoon. Even mid-battle he did little but shriek, and once a fight ended, he always took his frustrations out on us combatants.
Perhaps it was because he reminded me of the villain executives from those live-action kids' shows I'd watched growing up that I'd written him off so completely.
But right now, for some reason, he was frightening.
Suddenly, the stalker's face from earlier today flashed through my mind. The face that had looked like an ordinary middle-aged Earthling man at first glance had become a vividly blue alien's the moment his disguise came off.
The James standing before me now also wore an Earthling's face.
What real face might lie behind it — that, at least, I didn't know.
"Miss Jieun, I hold rather high expectations of you."
James rose from his chair and looked out the window.
It wasn't late enough to call midnight, but the days had grown short, and outside was already a pitch-black stretch of night lights.
Gazing down at the tiny lights moving below, James spoke in a weighty voice.
"Why did you cooperate with the magical girls today?"
"Well—"
I opened my mouth quickly.
"—the magical girls noticed first."
James glanced slightly back at me.
"If I hadn't cooperated at that point, they might have started suspecting me."
"Ah, I see. So you are telling me that is why you went so far as to use a tracking program to aid the magical girls."
He'd attached the words "I see," but his expression showed little conviction.
I opened my mouth to offer further excuses, but James raised one hand slightly and cut me off.
"Miss Jieun, are you by any chance familiar with the mechanics of trust?"
...
"If you don't consider someone worthy of trust in the first place, you don't trust them at all. I do not trust the ordinary combatants. That is why, even when drafting an operation, I build it on the assumption that they will fail, rather than entertain the notion that they might succeed at anything."
His shoes clicking against the floor, James rounded the desk and walked over to stand near me.
"But you see, even those unremarkable, untrustworthy sorts develop a knack after doing the same thing over and over. And around that point, one begins to think: 'Ah, this one shows promise.'"
I didn't look at James. I simply kept my eyes fixed on the window.
"And from that moment on, you begin entrusting that person with finer and finer operations."
...
"But what happens when the very first operation you entrust to that person falls apart? There is only one sample, and if even that single sample proves defective, does the failure rate not become one hundred percent? All the more so if it was the sample's own will that ruined it."
I couldn't say a word.
Because the fact that I had actively helped the magical girls was undeniable.
James went on staring at me in silence for a while longer — then, without warning, burst out laughing.
"Well, fine."
After his hearty laughter subsided, James picked up one of the photographs spread across the desk and studied it as he spoke.
"For our part, we couldn't be more pleased to have secured someone in a magical girl's inner circle. No — honestly, I'd call it destiny. Yes, your value far exceeds that of some petty criminal-turned-laborer. So I shall deem today's excuse to 'have merit' and let the matter pass. Besides, you are friends, are you not? A few private feelings are only natural, I suppose. However."
James leaned slightly against the desk and looked at me.
It was a position where his face stayed in my field of view even if I avoided his eyes.
"From the second time onward, there is nothing even we can do for you. One failure and one success would at least make it fifty-fifty — but two failures, and you are simply zero percent."
"...Understood."
James nodded, looking satisfied with my answer.
"Then off you go."
I turned around at once.
Rather than wondering why he'd summoned me just to say all this, the relief that it could end without much of a lecture was far greater.
But just as I was nearly at the office door, James spoke up again.
"Ah, one more thing."
When I stopped in my tracks, James continued in a somewhat grim voice.
"About the donations we have been sending you."
...
I turned back around.
"This has not yet been made known to you, but as it happens, some time ago there was talk within our company of formally launching social contribution activities. And with your situation coming up at just the right time, we have acquired the operating rights to that orphanage."
My mouth fell slightly open.
"Which means, from now on, it should no longer be called a 'donation' but an 'operating budget.' Oh, but don't worry — I am not saying we intend to run the place on the paltry sum we used to donate. If we did, the funds would surely end up 'lacking,' would they not?"
I stared at James, dumbfounded.
"Having taken it over, we can hardly neglect its operations. One never knows what tales those who strike out on their own from the place might go around telling."
James regarded me with an expression of considerable amusement.
"Ah, but then again, there is one way, isn't there? The teachers there could commit some illegal act and be replaced. Child abuse, for instance."
My fists clenched tight.
The teachers there... were all doing their very best. They were hardly perfect people, but for us, they gave more than enough.
"Or — ah, yes, here is another idea."
James gazed thoughtfully up at the ceiling with perfect nonchalance, then spoke as though a brilliant idea had just struck him.
"You will be a second-year in high school soon, won't you? Time to start settling on a path, no? Employment, or university. I hear heading straight into the workforce is quite common these days. How does the opportunity to join a major corporation sound? I understand you have a roommate — the two of you seem quite close."
James turned the photograph in his hand toward me.
It was a photo of Jihye.
"How happy would your friend be to hear she could work at a company whose starting pay could only be called excellent? Ah, of course, not actual employment — she is not an adult, after all... Though a 'paid trainee learning the trade' would be entirely possible."
"Jihye is—"
"What? It is hardly a bad offer, is it? If she learns the work properly before even graduating high school, she could start on excellent terms wherever she moves later. And our company could extend any number of benefits programs as well. We could help her pass the high school equivalency exam while working here — and earn a university degree at the same time."
Seeing the dumbfounded look on my face, James smiled.
"And of course, she might drop out of high school chasing all those dreams, only for every one of those benefits to be suddenly cancelled. Who could say? The ways of the world are always so difficult to predict."
...
I had no idea how to answer James.
Because, in the end... it had all been my fault.
"So think it over carefully, Miss Jieun. We are not your enemy. Though we are the sort who could become one."
"...Understood. I am truly sorry about today."
"Yes, I am glad to see you reflecting on it. Then, do get home safely."
Clutching my wildly pounding heart, I turned away.