READ NOVEL ONLINE Chapter 83
It was a bit strange.
Even when Ha-yoon was able to exert her power properly, I had never seen the circuits running so intensely.
Could it be that seeing hope at the brink of despair made it that intense?
If Ha-yoon could muster such strength just because she was with me, she should have been able to easily defeat the enemy long ago.
Click.
There was a noise from the robot side.
The arm of the robot, directed towards us, made a clicking sound as it opened.
What emerged from the thick forearm, thick enough to not be considered a human arm, was some sort of missile.
I thought it was dangerous.
No matter how strong a magical girl’s power is, it can’t perfectly block modern weapons. I’ve bled from gunfire even while cloaked in magical power, and Ha-yoon has lost consciousness from explosives.
Moreover, even if a missile were shot down mid-air, it could still explode, right? A physically thick glove might be more effective.
“Don’t you understand why I let you come this far?”
The Mohican said.
“You can rampage as much as you want in here. This area has been a no-shoot zone for quite a while, so there won’t be any videos or photos coming out.”
There were no windows to see outside. The ventilation was probably working solely through the ventilation system.
“So, you’re saying you’re going to kill us all in here?”
Rose laughed in disbelief.
“Last time that incident happened, it was just that your operation was sloppy and it failed. The way you lost control over public opinion was also because of you. And your way of fixing that is to kill magical girls?”
“Whoa, whoa, calm down. I didn’t say anything like that.”
The Mohican spoke as if trying to soothe a child.
“I’m just trying to persuade you a bit.”
“Persuade?”
I asked back without thinking.
“Persuade? Now?”
“Yeah, if you dislike the word persuade, let’s call it negotiation. Hey, James.”
James didn’t bother to respond. Judging by the slight rise of the front part of the drone, he seemed to have nodded.
“Think about it. This research institute, it’s still here, isn’t it? The upper floors have been cleared out due to the fighting, but almost all of your equipment is still in the lower floors.”
“Oh.”
James sounded genuinely interested.
“So you could come here and continue your research if you wanted. The company’s policy has changed a bit, so your research won’t be the main focus, but if you want, we can support you to continue.”
“Looks like making circuits is harder than you thought.”
James remarked incredulously.
“If that’s the case, then why didn’t you just say you wanted to talk from the beginning?”
“Hey, how can I contact you when there’s no way to?”
“We’ve met before, right? If you had come then instead of some monster, we could have had a proper discussion.”
“To be honest? We thought we had the upper hand back then.”
Since public opinion hadn’t completely turned against us yet.
“After that, you were out for blood.”
“Technically, we weren’t trying to kill you.”
We were just trying to socially bury you.
Of course, if possible, we would have liked to eliminate you.
“You know every word I’m saying makes no sense, right? Normally, no one would point a missile at the other party during negotiations. And you wouldn’t have stationed monsters or combatants above.”
“We also have to ensure our safety. If you fought back, we would need evidence to explain to others.”
“And these girls here might not agree to your negotiations. You can’t completely give up on public opinion so you still need to maintain the impression of being terrorists, right?”
“Yeah, yeah, alright. So, listen carefully. To be honest, you guys could probably resolve this easily, right? You seem fine.”
They were still pointing missiles at us for that.
I found the Mohican’s words a bit confusing. It’s one thing to say they want to negotiate while attacking, and another to call it negotiation while threatening us. Could it be that the company’s direction wasn’t unified? Maybe the command structure got tangled, causing all this to happen?
No, perhaps that chaotic attitude itself was the operation.
While I frowned, the Mohican cleared his throat.
“Hey, was it Jeong Ji-eun?”
“You—”
“Ha-yoon.”
As Ha-yoon tried to step forward, I moved slightly in front to stop her.
“Let’s hear them out for now. See what they have to say.”
“Alright. Having worked in a company, I guess you can talk a bit.”
“…….”
“I want to hire you as our magical girl. If you come, it’ll be easier for the other magical girls to return to the federation. Wouldn’t it be good to forget everything you’ve fought for until now and cooperate? We can give you the money you ask for. Well, not that we would actually give you 100% of our company shares since you know how it works.”
I stared hard at the Mohican’s robot for a while.
“So, you can give me what I want? It’s just the shares I don’t want?”
“Noir Corporation was originally… well, it’s an off-world corporation, right? It’s far larger than the companies on Earth. If you ask for money, we should generally be able to give what you ask.”
Though if you asked for a nation-level budget, they might try to lowball that.
However, I was starting to feel this entire conversation was strange. A company that has shown a fairly consistent attitude until now wouldn’t suddenly talk about wanting to negotiate with me. Honestly, if we’re going by the Mohican’s words, this isn’t a place where other people are watching, so just blowing us all up would sound more convincing.
But, well. There might be a chance they really could give something.
If this is truly a negotiation, then they might have something they want too.
“Then, I want something.”
“Oh, what is it? Tell me.”
“I’d like your chairman’s right wrist.”
“…….”
The surroundings fell silent.
Both the Mohican and the magical girls around me looked at me, seemingly shocked.
“Ah, let me do the hammering down and I hope there are no legal issues. Since it’s happening, I can do it here. Right now, I can take it by the wrist, not the head.”
“……Are you serious?”
“Why do you think I’m fighting? If it’s truly for justice against the wrongs, I would have gone to some human rights organization from the very start.”
“…….”
“No? Then I’m not negotiating. Would you really think I’d talk to those who wanted to harm my family and me? Forget about Ji-hye, you were just going to overlook that?”
“That….”
“See, you can’t even deny that. Coming to someone who is already furious and saying, ‘I’ll give you money to settle down,’ is ridiculous.”
I turned my head sideways to see Ha-yoon and the other magical girls.
“What do you all think?”
“……I need to think a bit about the talking about taking off the wrist.”
Ha-yoon spoke cautiously, choosing her words carefully.
“I agree that the chairman should definitely be punished. Ji-eun doesn’t fight just because she wants money.”
Ha-yoon softened my request a bit. Well, realistically, that would probably be the best outcome.
If we’re able to bring back the former chairman, I could make him regret without even having to kill him, but let’s put that aside for now.
“Ha, haha.”
The Mohican laughed.
“Well, it seems words alone won’t suffice.”
“Did you really think that would work?”
Rose asked, looking really incredulous.
“No, isn’t that natural? If I had thought of negotiating with you, I wouldn’t have placed the higher-ups and wasted time!”
As the Mohican yelled, the ground shook slightly.
“……!”
All the magical girls, including me, immediately readied themselves.
The first thing to launch was the Mohican’s missiles.
Three missiles were fired toward us—
And one of them was hit directly by Iris’s beam.
“Uh?”
Before the Mohican could react, the missile’s trajectory changed.
It was still coming our way.
But it was heading straight for the Mohican’s robot.
Boom!
Whether the missile hit the Mohican’s robot or whether it detonated from the shock of the beam, I didn’t know, but the Mohican’s robot staggered forward.
However, it didn’t tip over. Rose, approaching with a speed almost invisible to the eye, landed an uppercut on the robot’s head.
Crack! Even though it was clearly the sound of the robot breaking, there was an eerily chilling noise, and the robot inadvertently stood back up.
“Here they come from all sides! Everyone, stay alert!”
Dalia cried out.
As Dalia said, part of the ceiling had opened up. And from there, small missiles poured out.
If an ordinary person were to be hit, they would literally not be able to put their bones back together. They would end up as nothing but tiny scattered pieces of flesh.
But.
As Dalia waved her wand, the small beads she had thrown at the combatants earlier flew in every direction.
One by one, they didn’t hit every missile directly, but the little beads exploded around the missiles as if they were some proximity fuse. The missiles were swept up in the explosions, unable to reach us, and exploded in mid-air.
The fragments didn’t reach us. A transparent wall made of magical power had already formed around us, and the fragments were lodged into it, appearing to float mid-air.
A faint smell of gasoline wafted through the air. Well, it didn’t smell exactly like gasoline, more like some gas was sprayed, but none of it was effective against us.
The magical girls were being safeguarded thanks to the vigorously turning circuits. Magic, as it is, could be considered a cheat, thoroughly blocking any situations that could threaten the user’s body.
James got on the drone, and Cherry wore at least minimal equipment, so there was no way they could faint from the gas.
“What is this?”
The Mohican said, quickly regaining his stance.
Click, click, missile heads popped out of the robot’s arms and legs. Before I could warn them, they were already being fired.
And one of those missiles was caught mid-flight by Rose.
A missile that had almost hit me directly, struggling in Rose’s grasp, appeared to be alive. It looked as if she had caught a fish, presenting an oddly relaxed scene despite the flames erupting from the propulsion.
Rose twisted her hand and released the missile.
The missile flew completely in the opposite direction, hitting the Mohican’s robot. The white gloves became charred black.
Before the smoke from the missile cleared, Ha-yoon dove into the cloud—
Swish.
With a stunning pose, she struck the opponent down.
Swish.
Sparks flew where the radiant blade passed. And not long after, a faint explosive sound was heard from within.
“Ugh!?”
The robot’s chest suddenly opened wide around the split, and the Mohican, whose hair was lit on fire, stumbled out and hit the floor after being smacked by Rose’s hand.
Click.
And then the Mohican was targeted by Iris with her gun.
“Wait, wait, wait! I surrender, I surrender!”
The Mohican raised both hands and shouted.
“Now you say that?”
Ha-yoon blinked.
“It’s ironic when the one who just a moment ago rained missiles on us like it was nothing says that.”
“No, that wasn’t it. Honestly, I had to do that to immobilize you.”
“Let’s just knock him out. Maybe he’s just trying to drag out the time again.”
Rose stepped forward as she spoke.
The Mohican fell back making a squeaking sound, and James’s drone moved forward.
“This is strange.”
James said.
“If you’re using the resonator properly, there should be no need to drag time like that. Also, it’s weird that you didn’t prepare bombs like last time. Whether there’s an officer present or not, the current chairman would willingly try to blow this place up to eliminate the magical girls.”
“Doing that would…”
“Lead to issues with the federation.”
“The kind of person who would care about such things isn’t present here. For him, the first priority is profit, and the second is profit. As long as he can prove his theory and sell his products, that’s all that matters to him.”
“Theory?”
“…….”
James deliberately did not answer my question.
“It can’t just be about dragging time; blowing missiles around wasn’t the goal. You wouldn’t need that much energy to move equipment on your side.”
“What do you mean by that, huh!?”
“You seem unable to catch on.
“Then, to summarize, you’re suggesting there should be enough bombs here that almost brought down the former chairman’s mansion.”
“…….”
Ah.
I see.
That makes at least a bit of sense.
If they planned to blow us all up at once, they would need time to build energy for the bombs to detonate.
Surely, they wouldn’t think about the officers on site, believing that such bombs were present.
“You really came here knowing that, didn’t you?”
“I thought the possibility was slim. Besides… uh, I assessed I’d be safe in some way. Don’t you remember that I’ve always been monitoring your circuits?”
After saying that much, I had nothing else to say.
In other words, my inability to exert power had kept me safer.
I felt a little deflated. Something felt… futile.
“Well, don’t be too disappointed. After all, achieving what the magical girls want ultimately requires this kind of process, doesn’t it?”
“… Are you saying that to me? Since you think my circuits are that important?”
“There’s a theoretical basis, and since you exist, energy can be researched continuously. Moreover, right now, getting rid of the chairman and regaining the research assets is the goal, so you don’t have to push yourself too much. There are other magical girls around, right?”
“…….”
My left wrist trembled slightly.
Noticing that, James let out a small sneer.
I remained silent for a while. However, Ha-yoon, who had been looking cheerful lately, probably thought it was not a good time to speak, and she said nothing.
The mood became suddenly heavy.
Was this because of me?
“… Let’s go.”
I exhaled deeply and said.
“We have nothing more to gain.”
“If we could take that robot, it would be nice.”
I stared hard at James.
He was clearly saying that knowing I had no power to move something like that right now.
While his drone didn’t show expressions, I easily imagined James sneering at me from beyond.
I clenched my teeth.
Finding a possibility, I was mere research material, yet I was seemingly deemed uncooperative.
They might not care whether I’m useful or not—
Boom, boom, boom…
At that moment, the ground shook again.
“Uh?”
“Is there something hidden?”
Rose asked the Mohican.
“Is there something… hidden?”
The Mohican replied, his face turning pale. It indicated he had no clue whatsoever.
“James.”
“At least it’s not because of your circuits, so rest assured.”
In my inner quarrel, James aptly responded.
“You’re fine.”
Ha-yoon said to me.
“Whatever comes out, we’ll definitely… take care of it.”
“…….”
Looking at her confident smile, I momentarily lost my words.
What I really disliked was that the trembling in my left hand had stopped.
Each word I spoke, fluctuating so much was unbelievably frustrating.
Especially since I couldn’t control it.
And accordingly, Ha-yoon’s circuits were turning even more fiercely. A hum was starting again.
Boom!
The floor shattered.
As if something was trying to come out from within, bang, bang, over and over again, what broke through the floor was—
A monster.
It was a monster, but something seemed off.
“… No armor?”
“And that appearance…”
An Earthling?
No, could it be an Earthling? The Earthlings I know generally don’t grow taller than about three meters.
However, even if it was unbelievably muscular and overly tall— I had never seen an alien like that. The skin color was the type that could come from an Earthling as well. Most importantly, isn’t it that Earthlings couldn’t become monsters?
There was a circuit embedded in the chest of such a being—whole.
“…Hooh.”
James let out a calm sound.
“I understand now, why they could secure so many aliens over there.”
No one responded.
But everyone must have been thinking the same as James.
This company knows how to ‘artificially create monsters.’
Whether it’s through their own research or stealing technology from other companies, it’s unclear. But one thing is certain, the ability to turn Earthlings, who can’t use magic on their own into ‘monsters’ capable of running circuits, exists here.
Creeeak.
The sound of broken machinery creaked.
The robot that had fallen until recently slowly began to rise again.
The children’s gazes turned toward me.
“No.”
James said immediately.
“That ‘circuit’ functioning, at least, is not a problem for Jeong Ji-eun.”
The floor broke, and more monsters began to rise.
All of them bore a circuit embedded in their chests. Those circuits were all roaring with a fierce sound.
“It seems someone is aiming for the commoditization of Earthlings.”
“Why are you so relaxed about this?”
“The assumption that monsters could be created has been considered for a while. Moreover, it seems the company thought of exploding this research facility to bury the evidence. To blow everything up while the monsters hold you off, making it possible to eliminate all at once.”
“If they do that—”
“Then they can gain considerable profits. There are still many planets that haven’t joined the federation, right? What did you ask me earlier? Ah, right, you asked how many children can be born at once.”
“…….”
“Federation technology surpasses that. If you just want to ‘grow and develop,’ it can be done in multiple ways. The technology for artificial wombs was already made a century ago.”
“So, you’re saying…”
“To ‘create’ humans. To ‘transform into monsters’ for sale. Or to use them as ‘materials that operate circuits.'”
The drone turned towards the monsters.
“I’m not sure how old they are…”
“The federation…!”
Ha-yoon cried out, but James’s drone shook its head back and forth.
“I told you before. There are quite a few planets that haven’t yet joined the federation. Even if it doesn’t lead to war, they would still be eying such a ‘massive energy source.’ If a being opposite the federation begins to grow in power while using these kinds of beings, then, well, the federation would ‘inevitably’ have to start using them, wouldn’t they?”
Like a nuclear weapon.
“Above all, I’m curious about why you think the federation wouldn’t have such thoughts.”
Even on this Earth, there have been experiments using people as test subjects.
What would happen if they thought that they weren’t even their own citizens?
No, what if they wouldn’t even consider them as sentient beings at all?
“…….”
“Well, thanks to you, I’m alive. If you had really had ‘the same power as before,’ we would have been crushed under the rubble of this enormous building by now, right?”
I couldn’t respond to James’s words.