I Became a New Magical Girl Priest

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Pang-pang’s job didn’t seem that difficult.

Just like always, it involved going somewhere and breaking things.

Usually, the “Noir Corporation” was on the legal side of things, so there shouldn’t be any major issues.

In fact, today felt way more relaxed than usual.

Fighting with Ji-eun wasn’t a bad thing.

Though it sounded a bit strange, I meant it. The idea of being able to tussle with a Magical Girl and wait on purpose for her to accept the challenge wasn’t unpleasant for her, who claimed to be somewhat of a fan.

But at the same time, I had some worries.

Why was the hammer not solid enough?

If I hit her head wrong, her helmet might shatter.

I was always anxious that Ji-eun could recognize my face if that happened, which made Pang-pang cautious.

If I hadn’t gotten close to her, it wouldn’t have mattered at all. If we hadn’t randomly bumped into each other and became friends, it wouldn’t feel like anything.

Last time, when Ji-eun called me over and sat me in a chair next to her, I was trembling inside.

In the end, Ji-eun got up and left without saying much.

“…Hey, isn’t this a bit odd?”

But someone broke Pang-pang’s train of thought by bringing that up.

Magical Girls usually responded quickly. No matter how unrelated the combatants’ actions were to the Magical Girls or how trivial they seemed, they almost always showed up in a hurry to disrupt the combatants.

The Noir Corporation always looked displeased by that, and particularly the officers, like James, often got incredibly furious.

“…”

What if someone found out that Pang-pang was friends with the Magical Girls?

Although Ji-eun didn’t always hang out with me, we did see each other pretty often.

…It wasn’t so much that the surveillance on the Magical Girls was lax; they probably just didn’t care that much about the combatants. If they had paid attention, things would have gotten really out of hand for Pang-pang.

“Why aren’t any Magical Girls showing up?”

One of the other combatants muttered in confusion.

Bam!

Pang-pang silently swung her hammer, smashing what the Noir Corporation told her to break.

She didn’t break everything, though. It was still in a state that could be considered “safe.”

The antenna sitting atop a short mountain.

Not in Seoul but rather Gyeonggi-do. Seeing something nearby, it seemed like they really wanted to observe the Noir Corporation’s industrial complex.

The exterior of the complex had pretty thick walls, so it shouldn’t be easy…

“Nah, hey! You guys talking made her actually appear, didn’t it!?”

Someone’s terrified voice rang out.

Following the sound, Pang-pang looked up at the sky.

There, she saw the usual red glow.

“…Hey, you guys.”

But judging by the low tone of their voices, the mood didn’t seem too great.

Rose. And the Magical Girl next to her was Delphinium.

It wasn’t exactly a perfect pairing.

It felt like the other members were busy with other stuff, leaving these two to come here.

“Things aren’t going so well for us either, you know? Our friend got hurt, and because of you, we had to stop in the middle of what we were trying to do.”

Crunch.

Pang-pang couldn’t grasp how she could hear that sound despite wearing a gauntlet on her hand.

She heard the combatants cry in fright as Delphinium’s magical energy began swirling around her.

Some combatants were already turning and running.

“…”

Pang-pang saw the circuit on one of the combatants’ wrists.

“…Oh, you guys. You’re the ones who never run away and keep confronting Ji-eun.”

It seemed like Pang-pang was somewhat famous among the Magical Girls.

She looked up at Rose.

“If you run away from here, I’ll just let you go seeing Ji-eun’s face. After all, wouldn’t fighting just make it hurt more?”

But Pang-pang didn’t do that.

Though she didn’t have a circuit. And while she didn’t feel any particular pride regarding this job…

For some reason, running away here seemed like it would tarnish the name “Lily.”

Even if it wasn’t anyone else’s opinion.

Pang-pang didn’t run away at all in front of “Lily.”

“…Hah.”

Seeing Pang-pang clenching her fists, Rose spoke.

“Guess that’s how it is.”

Rose closed her eyes and opened them.

“Then, I’ll knock you out with one strike.”

Pang-pang swallowed hard.

*

“Do you think it’ll work, Jua?”

“Um…”

Hospital.

It wasn’t quite closing time yet, so Jua and Ha-yoon were sitting in the park outside the hospital.

Both of them wore their hats pulled low. Ha-yoon had big glasses on her face, while Jua wore a mask.

They thought they had done a decent job of concealing their identities. At least, until now, no one had been particularly interested in them.

On Jua’s lap sat a laptop.

Originally, there should have been other Magical Girls here too. But due to bad timing, and calls coming in not from Seoul but from Gyeonggi-do, only the three of them remained.

They couldn’t use the circuit.

If they used the Magical Girl circuit, everyone would find out that the three of them had used that circuit to hack the hospital system.

What they were using was the laptop containing Jua’s created magical circuit.

“…Accessing the hospital computer server isn’t going to be easy.”

Yeon-woo, who had been pacing near the bench, spoke up.

“If we try, we’ll just have to see.”

Jua murmured softly as she continued tapping on the laptop.

I mean, it’s not like there’s just one computer, right? Yeon-woo thought, but didn’t bother to ask further.

“Hmm.”

“Jua?”

“A bit… complicated.”

Jua answered.

“Honestly, we don’t even know exactly what we’re looking for. If we’re just talking about test results, then all we have are the crazy test results that’ve already come out. If we’re looking for testing samples…”

“Right. It might just be a lot easier to search that girl’s house.”

At Yeon-woo’s remark, Jua and Ha-yoon looked at her with horrified expressions.

Yeon-woo immediately put on a defensive look.

“Why? Isn’t it weirder to dig through the hospital database?”

“…”

At Yeon-woo’s comment, Ha-yoon paused for a moment.

Logically speaking, Yeon-woo was right. They had actually tried to go that route.

Or, they could have just captured that girl and taken hair samples.

However…

“They’d probably be on high alert.”

Jua said.

“It’s the Noir Corporation, after all. If they’ve forged results once, there’s no way they wouldn’t do it again.”

“Even if we go to a different hospital?”

“Even if we go to a different hospital. They could delay the results or somehow shake Ji-eun’s confidence, right? We could try it, but ultimately, it’s the same time-consuming deal.”

Yeon-woo could only nod at that comment.

“And…”

Ha-yoon opened her mouth.

“If by any chance they really are her biological mother?”

“…”

“If we just doubted her and can’t trust her, and just threatened her for samples…?”

Yeon-woo fell quiet for a moment, then closed her eyes.

After taking a deep breath, she tapped her feet on the ground.

Even though no one showed it, Ha-yoon knew. Everyone regarded Ji-eun as a special friend.

And while Ji-eun appeared strong and simple on the outside, she had a very delicate heart in reality.

Just having that ‘maybe she’s my mom’ person around made her so shaken up.

It wasn’t that they couldn’t grasp her detailed feelings, but that complex thought alone had left Ji-eun wounded to the point of not being able to operate the circuit.

But what if Ha-yoon tried to hurt her ‘real mom’?

How would Ji-eun react?

That’s why everyone hesitated to take direct actions.

Worried about possibly being hated by Ji-eun.

“Man, we really are at a loss.”

Yeon-woo shook her head in disbelief and sighed deeply.

“Ah.”

And right on cue, Jua murmured.

Yeon-woo and Ha-yoon turned their gazes simultaneously toward Jua.

“Did you find something out?”

“Um…”

Jua murmured.

“I found… something.”

“Found something?”

“It’s been deleted. The samples were destroyed. This isn’t really deep information.”

Jua said with a frown.

Ha-yoon and Yeon-woo’s shoulders drooped.

“So? Is there no way? Should we just go and tell her? Asking her to give us the genetic sample because we don’t trust you or your company?”

Yeon-woo spoke in frustration.

“No, there is one more person we could ask.”

Jua lifted her head and looked at Ha-yoon and Yeon-woo.

“James.”

“James?”

Both of them repeated in unison.

“James came by after the samples arrived. Like he was trying to do something. After that, the samples disappeared.”

“How do you know that?”

Jua turned the laptop around to show them.

Unlike the other laptop, the screen made of magical energy displayed something like CCTV footage.

“…How do you find something like this?”

When Yeon-woo asked in disbelief, Jua let out a long sigh.

“The password for the wireless connected CCTV was just the hospital’s name with an exclamation mark added.”

“…”

The two of them were left speechless.

The video showed one person.

A person with blonde hair, neatly parted in a 2:8 ratio.

…It was someone they often saw, an ‘officer’.

 

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