26. Betrayal. The Eve of the Operation.
Everything's ready. The plan's been double-checked, and all the gear we've prepared is perfect. As I head to the teleport room where the dimensional gate is set up, Tyranno sidles up and starts yapping at me in that infuriating way.
"Loser kitty♥ Can't even keep your eyes open properly—you look just like a total baby♥" He giggles, and the teeth on the Tyrannosaurus hood he's wearing over his head rattle around. It's the successor to the old Tyrannosaurus Suit that got smashed—the Tyrannosaurus Suit MK.2. At first glance, it's just a hoodie inspired by a dinosaur. The hood's shaped like a T-rex face, colored exactly like the skin of those dinosaurs from picture books. But the moment you pull it over your head, sharp teeth sprout along the edge of the hood, and T-rex gloves form on your hands, skyrocketing your combat power. It's the latest battle gear that completely fixes every flaw from the Tyrannosaurus Suit MK.1 that Chae Sua wrecked. If the old version was a calculator, this one's like AlphaGo—not even that does it justice. More diverse and powerful armaments. A custom combat system tailored to take on Chae Sua. And above all, it fixes the biggest issue with MK.1: those comically short dino arms that made using your hands impossible.
"Rawr! Gotta have this fearsome T-rex eat up the loser kitty♥" The cute, deformed T-rex plushie gloves—modeled after Tyranno himself—snap their mouths open and shut. "Behold: Tyrannoveros!" He yawns the dino mouth wide, and a tiny flame like a lighter sputters out.
"Shut it. I just didn't sleep well last night, that's all. Yaaawn." I stretch my mouth wide, and Tyranno teasingly sticks his finger in and out of it. As if I wasn't sleepy enough already—this brat's making it worse. I barely got any shut-eye, so I've been wiped out since morning. Even lying in bed, sleep wouldn't come. My heart kept pounding, something like chains squeezing tight around it, keeping me tossing and turning all night. Can't have this right before a big op. I've been uneasy since last night. My beast instincts are screaming a warning. But I can't call off the mission over personal mood swings. All I can do is hope it's just nerves. Oblivious to my turmoil, Tyranno keeps needling me from the side.
"Now even Lion can't sleep♥ All you can do is eat, sleep, and shit—but if you can't even sleep, what're you better at than a crying baby♥?"
"Ugh, seriously? You have to piss me off even in a situation like this?"
"Hehe♥ But it's fun♥ A Lion who can't do jack is just my personal stress-relief sandbag♥"
Eit, eit—he swings punches at the air. Like those cotton-candy fists could hurt anyone. Probably wouldn't even sting if they landed. In his imagination, he's probably smashing a giant sandbag, snapping those chains, or maybe duking it out with Muhammad Ali and Sylvester Stallone at the same time.
"Shoo, shoo-shoo. Chae Sua. Shoo, shoo-shoo!"
"We're here, so cut it out. You're being a nuisance." To snap him out of it, I stomp hard on his foot. He's still in cat form, so it probably doesn't hurt much.
We open the door to the interdimensional teleport room and head to our assigned dimensional gate. Before activating, we double-check the coordinates. One to the presumed whip location. The other to lure in Chae Sua.
"This one's good. Yours?"
"Who're you worrying about? It's set up 1000% perfect."
Uneasy as I am, even Tyranno's got enough experience hopping between Earth and Darknis—he won't screw up the coordinates. Still, just to be safe, I ask again.
"You set it right? Check it one more time. Gwanghwamun Square in South Korea, yeah? Don't pull a last time and stick it in Kim Il-sung Square in the North during a military parade."
That time we landed in the middle of Kim Il-sung Square during a parade? Scared the shit out of me. Could've sparked World War III. The history books would've had a field day: "WWIII starts not with a bullet, but a mesugaki's thick skull." Good thing Tyranno's antics made the news, woke up the North Koreans to mesugaki greatness, and they ditched nukes for 24/7 Mesugaki Meditation ASMR on YouTube and opened the borders. You never know with this world.
"Gwanghwamun Square? Yeah, checked it solid. No doubt."
"...Yeah, it's right. Gwanghwamun Square coordinates are spot on." When I lean in to check, Tyranno blocks the panel with his body.
"Really? Then why hide it?"
Suspicious. Like a puberty-stricken girl jumping when her door "locks" but her parents barge in.
"'Cause it's hilarious watching you losers try to peek♥ Like a middle-schooler straining to glimpse a figurine's panties on a screen you can't even see♥"
Hmm, still feels off, but I can't delay the op over this. We're outside the zone where Chae Sua's likely base is—prime time to strike. Can't waste it.
"Fine, I'm going first. Good luck."
I activate the gate, and my body starts getting sucked in.
"What?! 'Good luck'? You just cursed me to have no luck!"
"What cat crap is that?"
"Hmph! Don't need luck from a loser like you♥ Better if your bad-luck germs bounce back on you♥ Reflection! Reflection♥"
Did he parse "good luck" as "no luck"? I'm touched! He's learning hanja now! My steady Han-gumong lessons are paying off! I'd pat his head, but teleport's done—I'm in an Earth city alley.
But thinking it over... even knowing "mu" means none, that's not something to celebrate.
"Sigh."
My sighs are world-class. I'd take silver at the International Sighing Championships. Gold goes to Doctor.
No one's in the alley, so I transform to human.
Crack! Crunch! Snap! Fur absorbs into skin, bones and organs reshape to fit. Skin and muscles lag, stretching weirdly, but rapid regen snaps 'em back. Good thing no one's around—that'd scar 'em for life.
"Hoo, ugh. Hurts so bad."
Not born with human form, so every change aches.
"They said I'd get used to it after a few times. Bullshit—still kills me every time. Ow."
A bit better than last time, though. No blood at least.
"Maybe after coming out to Tyranno, I should just stick to human form."
I check a window for weirdness. Reflected me looks sleek and stunning—hard to believe I was a cat minutes ago. Just gotta hide the beast ears under a hat and stuff the tail in my clothes.
"How do humans wear this crap on their skin?"
Hate how it dulls sensation, so I go minimal: dolphin pants and white tee. Kinda revealing, but who cares about a girl showing skin?
"Let's get this over with."
I pull out the prepped mesugaki dowsing rod.
"Ooh, starting to twitch."
Which way? I follow it. Chae Sua lives fancy—lots of classy folks around. Waving a dowsing rod draws eyes, but in a world with villains and magical girls strolling around? Who gives a shit. I wander forever. Angle widens, narrows, widens again—repeating.
"Doctor make this right? No way she'd mess up, but why's it so flaky?"
Wanna chuck it, but Tyranno's face flashes—sigh, refocus.
Finally, definite spot for the whip.
"But... what's this place? Chae Sua's house here?"
It's no apartment, complex, or studio—just an abandoned lot between buildings. Some random struts, a few trees. Nothing else.
"Modern magical girl bases are underground like this?"
Saw it in movies. Touch a special rock, ground opens to a secret base. Suit-wearing Kingsman—nah, Korea, so King's Man greets me. Or secret button in a tree. I know it's dumb. But dowsing rod points here firm, and Doctor's inventions don't glitch. Just in case, I kick some rocks.
"Tch, no dice."
Dumb idea. Did Tyranno's thick head rub off? Such nonsense, and then—
Snap!
"Eek!"
Whip flies from somewhere. Dead aim at my throat—meant to kill. I twist, grab it, but the black whip coils my arm like a living thing.
"Tyranno's whip."
Feels nostalgic seeing it again. But Chae Sua wouldn't use it. Lent to another girl? Plan leaked, they ambushed? Tyranno could be in danger. Gotta nab this one, beat info outta her, then Gwanghwamun.
"Come out."
Whip came from a corner piled with construction junk and trash. Bats crawl from strut gaps. Red-eyed, fetal-red skin with bulging veins. Not just gaps—eaves, trees, encircling the lot. Bats swarm.
"Bats?"
Bats in this era? The swarm gathers into human shape—the whip-slinger ain't a magical girl. It's Arcade.
"Perfect ambush, and you catch it. No wonder all Darknis villains cower."
Thinks he owns my lifeline now? Grinning cocky, a face he'd never dare in front of me.
"Arcade, you loser."