“Blooming of struggle… You always seem to know everything.”
“I just knew the rules of this game better than others.”
I hid my still trembling hands inside my cloak and gulped down the black tea on the glass table after watching the news yesterday.
The sweet taste of sugar and the deep aroma of black tea spreading from my throat calmed my mood.
After receiving the first call of concern from friends last night and soothing them one by one, I took advantage of the free time until the next day and informed Sumire, the representative of the council, about what I knew.
Sumire, with her hands folded demurely, took a moment to think before speaking.
“Already blooming 2-Star Magical Girls conducting a ritual to evolve further through plunder…”
A small sigh escaped her lips as she listened attentively with an unwavering posture.
“If this were to be known, I can’t even imagine the terrible chaos that would ensue.”
“……”
“The media, which had been passive in reporting overseas news for fear of Fujimoto’s reaction, is now paying attention to this simultaneous large-scale plunder.”
“So far, there will be no one who knows why the terrorists are doing such things.”
“Other than the council and the Magical Girls, no one knows more than the concepts of blooming and dreams you told us.”
“…Are you disappointed with what I kept hidden?”
After secretly watching Sumire for a month since the garden was established, I finally saw the look of surprise that I had not witnessed before.
Sumire returned to her usual expression, but her face was noticeably softer.
“There’s no need to tell everything to your subordinates; it’s not necessary if it prevents unnecessary misunderstandings.”
“In any case, I apologize for not anticipating this chaos.”
“No matter in private, a ruler’s apology should not come lightly before their subordinates.”
Sumire put her hands into the sleeves of her kimono, narrowing her pretty eyebrows and speaking in a firm tone.
“We are merely those who help you make better decisions; we are not ones you should bow your head to. Your intentions lie within the great justice, so how could we disrespect that?”
Ugh, what am I even supposed to say?
I think of Sumire more as the CEO leading the [Magical Girl Company, Japan Branch] than a friend or colleague like Sato Hana or Ichika.
‘I see myself as something like a major shareholder.’
Fortunately, Sumire wasn’t the kind of shady CEO obsessed with short-term success or treating the company as her personal property; she was a diligent CEO who attempted to comprehend the intentions of investors and maintain the operations within the given rules.
Upon realizing that Fujimoto’s method was wrong, she completely changed the direction of the council.
‘She’s just rotating the autopilot while on a business trip to farm talent from abroad, but she really intends to treat me like a king.’
The problem is I think she genuinely believes she’s not a CEO but rather a true subordinate who’s come under me.
Even that brutal Eiji Fujimoto gave me chills when I heard he severed ties with his father.
“Since there’s already a domain established in Japan, we can’t create many more, but the number of those belonging to the garden will gradually increase.”
“If there’s justice, people will naturally gather there.”
“If there are uninvited guests who come into the domain, I will run to rescue those Magical Girls who called me ‘King’.”
“Well then, I, along with the leadership team, will do our utmost to save those plain dreamers until the faceless king arrives.”
“……”
Sumire rose from her glass chair and slowly bowed in a proper posture.
I still felt a complex mix of emotions about whether a single lesson and opportunity could change a person so dramatically.
‘In fact, the nature of Sumire wanting to protect something remains unchanged.’
It’s just a difference between the misguided evil path due to ignorance and the righteous path someone informed her of.
“Well then, I’ll take my leave again.”
“Good luck.”
＊
“Damn it! Stupid cowardly little bastards!”
Bang!
Kang Dorim kicked the trash can in the office with all her might.
Trash flew out with a loud noise, but Oh Sang-hyuk simply lowered his head with a solemn expression.
“Damn it!! We don’t even know when those crazy girls will show up!! That security? What security?!”
With the [Start] domain declaration aimed at finding protection from supernatural ability terrorism and a pledge to respect the intentions of Korea’s Magical Girls, Sanghyuk had only heard two things in the past few days.
– “Due to security reasons, we cannot arrange immediate meetings or discussions with unidentified supernatural ability users, especially those with only foreign activity history.”
– “There’s a possibility that the leader of the terrorists is [Start], so we should solve this through trusted channels.”
Sanghyuk felt a headache from the reality of having to navigate all around due to the paranoid old folks completely out of touch with reality.
‘If we reveal that [Start] is currently in the country, it seems they would be prepared to surround and detain us with the army.’
Details of damage from China, the Middle East, and Europe were classified, but based on what Dorim could gather with her abilities, all that could be said was it was a perilous situation.
70% of the officially recognized Magical Girls from the EU participating in joint events in France were killed or severely injured while having their stars stolen, and the government facilities were rendered inoperative due to explosions. No clues about the suspects had been captured either.
Some small countries in North Africa, which were reported to have had a coup by Magical Girls, had completely lost contact.
‘China has entirely shut down foreign contact and is merely missile bombarding its domestic cities one after another.’
The USA was dispatching aircraft carrier fleets to Europe while strongly demanding all countries disclose the real-time statuses of their supernatural abilities.
Some lawmakers argued that the White Wing Unit members should be put on the American fleet for protection.
‘With the excuse of danger, they probably want to detain supernatural ability users who have never been verified outside of the American continent.’
Despite being a major country with the largest number of supernatural abilities, Japan had completely lost control over its own supernatural users and remained silent while monitoring the situation.
Originally, the person holding that control was in the same building, so there was no concern.
It was an urgent situation intertwined with supernatural abilities, but even the Supernatural Ability Response Team was restricted from entering the secret bunker under the guise of security.
Why on earth were they so guarded against Dorim, who had been a model Magical Girl for the past 13 years without a single incident?
‘They must be afraid we’ll stage a coup after seeing the Japanese government act like fools.’
Although he already knew the answer, Sanghyuk felt as if his chest would explode with frustration.
He understood why they were unwilling to relinquish control, but even though it’s been a day since the incident occurred, they were still making excuses about security? Do they think it’s just because they can’t do anything?
“F*… I really can’t stand these public servants.”
“…Sir.”
Dorim, who had been yelling in a corner out of frustration, suddenly called out to Sanghyuk calmly.
“What?”
“Let’s do something.”
“……”
“If we don’t act, we’ll never be able to persuade those old fools.”
Sanghyuk looked up and stared at Dorim.
Dorim was quietly staring at the office wall with her fists tightly clenched.
“If we do something, we’ll probably be heavily criticized, but there’s no other way.”
Dorim’s tightly clenched little fist was the first Sanghyuk had seen since hiking on a sweltering summer day. Then Dorim left the office, walking somewhere.
-…Seoul doesn’t look as bad from a distance as I thought.
-Right, Dorim? Life may seem rough up close, but it’s actually quite beautiful when viewed as a whole.
So don’t hate people.
So let’s live loving people.
It didn’t seem coincidental that the promise they made on that day suddenly came to mind.
Ding-dong!
Suddenly ringing, the phone displayed the contact number of the VIP security officer.
“Yes, this is Oh Sang-hyuk, Team Leader of the Supernatural Ability Response Team.”
＊
Glance
The path to the secret bunker where VIPs and cabinet-level officials were holding an emergency response meeting was known only to a select few security personnel working at the Blue House.
Therefore, the official in charge of leading the Supernatural Ability Response Team was driving a special vehicle that obstructed the view outside except for the front seat, which was covered with a barrier.
“…….”
“…….”
On the CCTV screen capable of real-time monitoring the back seat, Team Leader Oh Sang-hyuk and the Magical Girl from [Cyber Brain] were both sitting somewhat awkwardly, keeping their mouths shut.
“We have arrived.”
The vehicle stopped just a nail’s breadth from the entrance to the bunker, and the only access point available through the open back seat door was the corridor inside the bunker.
As Sanghyuk passed through the bunker’s concrete corridor, he began to grasp the reason why they had told him to wait another day.
‘They’ve blocked all radio and electronic devices; was it because of Dorim’s abilities that they were cautious about even having a video meeting?’
With security personnel positioned at each corner of the corridor, they confiscated all phones from Sanghyuk and Dorim, thoroughly checked them with metal detectors and other scanning devices before they were allowed to proceed.
As they walked through the corridor, they were led by security personnel multiple times, deliberately disorienting them until they opened and closed the doors several times to prevent them from understanding the internal structure. It seemed like they wanted to block off escape routes in case something went wrong.
‘This is ridiculous! So, all this time, they haven’t allowed Dorim into the National Assembly or Blue House for good reason?’
Only after reaching the conclusion that they needed to have complete control over the Supernatural Ability Response Team did they decide to call Dorim.
Finally, two female bodyguards held Dorim’s arms while other guards stood behind her, signaling that the meeting preparations were complete.
Sanghyuk felt like he was about to explode with frustration, wanting to shout that it wasn’t that they couldn’t do anything up to this point, but he restrained himself.
After all, the person being humiliated the most was the one trying to arrange the meeting.
‘If anything happened to Dorim, I would’ve probably suggested that we take back what we said on the mountain.’
Clank!
The iron door opened, and the meeting to determine the future of the Magical Girls began.
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