Chapter 60 – The Virtues of a Magical Girl (10)
“I can assure you, what you’re trying to do is anything but light.”
Fluffy, left with no room to intervene in Rene’s actions, managed to speak with a trembling voice.
In fact, simply put, Takilas had caused even greater turmoil. Takilas’s actions were akin to a disaster that no one could control.
However, Takilas had merely acted impulsively, following their own whims.
All for their modest desires.
Unlike Rene now, who was daring to overturn the existing system, Takilas hadn’t even considered it. That’s why it was somehow possible to manage the chaos they caused.
“Even if our company permits it, other companies won’t just stand by.”
“That doesn’t matter. According to the regulations, the current fairy companies are merely representatives of the Cosmic Tree Yggdrasil. Before being affiliated with the company, the Magical Girls are contractors of Yggdrasil itself, and as long as they don’t violate Yggdrasil’s established codes for Magical Girls, you have no justification or ability to control them at your whim.”
Fluffy tried desperately to shake Rene and persuade her, but Rene, having exploited the loopholes of the well-established standard contract, showed no signs of budging.
The fairy companies, in truth, were merely agents and had no right to control or manage the Magical Girls contrary to Yggdrasil’s intent.
The ideological training and gaslighting that had occurred kept the Magical Girls divided and turned them into mere mercenaries, making the companies absolute overlords. However, if they possessed the will and strength to challenge the existing order, they could bite back anytime.
And at least for now, Rene was one of only two individuals who could break away from that system alongside Takilas.
“I’m doomed. Is there only one thing left? To produce a satisfactory outcome.”
Having failed to persuade her, Fluffy ultimately gave up. Although there was still one last move left to tackle this issue, Fluffy, with some worldly experience, wasn’t particularly hopeful.
As dawn began to break, casting a bluish hue, Rene, sitting on the rooftop of a nearby building, stared at a particular spot in silence.
It was a high school, shrouded in quiet stillness.
*
“Ah, what is going on…”
“Don’t worry too much, Principal. I’ll have a good talk with the chief.”
“Is that the problem? With strange things like the internet and social media these days, ridiculous rumors keep spreading.”
Early in the morning, Principal Kim Chan-seok sighed as he sat at his desk. The vice-principal, who had been waiting, tried to keep a positive front, but his face was dark.
This was all due to an incident that had just blown up the day before.
“First, can you confirm if everything I’ve heard is true? It’s not just simple bullying, but verbal abuse, violence, extortion, sexual harassment, threats… do those insolent punks think this is some kind of ancient era?”
“Uh, it seems to be true… the chief has already told us to stop everything and report it to us.”
“This is absurd. They’re just a bunch of fools.”
He sighed and sank deep into his plush chair. In truth, he didn’t care about the accuracy of the claims. What mattered to him was the school’s reputation and his own performance, not the suffering of victims or notions of justice.
“Is it so hard to just cover it up?”
“I don’t think it’s impossible. First-year Kang Jin-woo? A nobody from a mediocre family. Besides, the rumors are making noise elsewhere.”
The vice-principal awkwardly nodded in agreement.
Just as he said, Principal Chan-seok recalled the news he’d heard that morning. “The One Road,” which was currently a hot topic due to experiments and concrete research results regarding magical power. The news and internet had been buzzing about them for days.
Even if some foolish reporter brought it up, he believed the public wouldn’t care.
“Then let’s do it this way. Tell the chief it’s hard to punish them; just say it’s all about forgiveness. It’s like, why complain when you haven’t even done anything impressive enough to report? Just handle it internally with community service as a slap on the wrist.”
“Uh-huh. Understood.”
Though irritated, Kim Chan-seok didn’t think much of the matter and quickly brushed it from his mind, leaving the cleanup to the vice-principal.
“Wh-what do you mean you can’t catch them? But we have video evidence and photos!”
“We… we’re sorry. So, you might want to get a lawyer…”
“Ah, if you can’t do it, it’s just tough luck.”
The young police officer, filled with guilt, lowered his head, only to be blocked by his middle-aged superior, who shook his head. He had just received word from higher up.
With the excuse of orders from superiors, he put on a brave face and blatantly refused to pursue the investigation.
“Why would you even report something like that to the police in the first place? Huh? We’re busy people. We’re not about to waste our time on kids fighting. Go take it up with the teachers.”
Kang Jin-woo, a victim who had received help from Rene and had courageously stepped forward, was eventually thrown out of the police station with a grim expression.
“As expected.”
The feeling of despair was immeasurable.
Although still a high school student, he wasn’t completely clueless about how the world worked. He understood very well why he had become a target and why he couldn’t escape from this situation.
“Because I’m weak.”
His physique was small. His grades were mediocre, and his personality was also unremarkable. He had a good relationship with his parents, but his divorced parents’ economic situation was poor.
In society, those things were commonly referred to as weaknesses.
To overcome them, he knew he should have been strong from the start rather than being timid during that unfortunate moment.
“Ah…”
As Kang Jin-woo stumbled down the road, he stopped at the sound of his vibrating phone and trembled.
How they knew, he had no clue, but amidst the furious vibrations were the jeers, insults, and threats of his tormentors pouring in for an entire day.
And with that, the heart he had barely managed to hold on to finally shattered.
The sense of betrayal that no one in this world was on his side, the guilt of harming those around him by merely existing, and the mounting pressure and fear of the revenge that would come next.
“I can’t take it anymore.”
Staggering, Kang Jin-woo ran to a place other than school. He rashly climbed onto the rooftop of a nearby building.
The sky was clear, and the vast city below looked peaceful.
Even if he were to die right here, he thought, the world would never change.
“If I had known…”
He let out a hollow laugh as he muttered to himself.
Just a day before, in the moment when he had first received help from a Magical Girl.
That mysteriously beautiful and dangerously enchanting blonde Magical Girl had whispered to him.
“Will you deliver judgment yourself, or will you trust the laws of this land?”
Rene had given him choices in a whisper. And it was himself who had chosen to believe in the law.
The reason wasn’t because of the order or beliefs that Aria had proclaimed. He was just afraid of that too.
“Fool.”
Feeling extreme regret, he scolded himself for being a coward both inside and out. Then, he took a step forward off the ledge.
He berated himself for not having had this courage to step forward sooner.
“Ah…”
In an instant, he lost his balance, tilting forward and falling. He opened his eyes wide, wanting to scream, but his voice got stuck.
Regret surged, but his body didn’t stop.
Ironically, what came to his mind just then were the faces of his parents, along with the blonde hair blowing in the wind and a pair of blue eyes that had looked directly into his own.
“Hoo…”
“You were about to take your own life by their hands.”
But that flash wasn’t just a figment of his imagination.
The trembling Kang Jin-woo instinctively clung to the warm body that caught him mid-fall, inhaling deeply.
The fragrant scent that emanated quickly calmed his mind.
“I’ll ask you once more.”
The Magical Girl, Rene, gazed down at him with unwavering eyes as she held him.
“Do you wish for them to be judged? For everything wrong to be set right?”
“I, I…”
Rene, cradling Kang Jin-woo, who had a similar physique to hers, carefully set him back down on the rooftop. His face flushed, he was unable to meet her gaze, fumbling his words.
Meanwhile, Rene, who was quietly seething with rage, had forgotten the fact that she was intimately pressed against an outsider.
“I-I want it. A proper judgment for the wrongdoings!”
“…You were prepared for death by their hands, and you actually attempted it. Therefore, the retribution they will face will be equal.”
Regaining his composure, Kang Jin-woo made a different choice this time. Rene nodded as if she had anticipated this.
“To realize justice. I will fulfill the duty of a Magical Girl.”
With that, she released him and soared into the sky in an instant.
“Really, are you really going to kill them all?!”
“There will be no injustice. When one intends to take another’s life, it is only natural they must be prepared to stake their own.”
Though Fluffy, hanging on her shoulder, raised their voice, Rene did not stop. Her destination: Kang Jin-woo’s high school.
The targets of judgment included the perpetrators and all those connected to a system that had failed to function properly.
Unlike Takilas, the chaos of purification was about to begin its true activity at this moment.
Support me by donating at least $10, and you'll have the right to request any novel from Novelpia (excluding 19+ content) using a newly developed tool.
