I Became a New Magical Girl Priest

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I awkwardly twisted my lips into a smile, hiding my emotions, and did what I had to do.

There were six monsters left.

However, the circuits of the other magical girls were all spinning very intensely. I decided not to think too hard about whether it was my energy or Ha-yoon’s that was causing this.

Sorting it out wasn’t as simple as it sounded. Thanks to Ha-yoon’s fiery, blazing eyes, I managed to get it together, but still, I couldn’t avoid getting hit.

But what truly made things difficult wasn’t just getting hit while facing the monsters.

Every time I swung my hammer at a monster, and every time Ha-yoon disabled their circuits—

Cheers erupted from below. I thought I could hear clapping too. Thankfully, it wasn’t like they were cheering as if it were a football match, but honestly, it staggered me to see people responding to each of my actions like that.

“……Ha.”

Once I had cleared the circuits of the last monster, the atmosphere around us finally settled a bit.

But that didn’t mean the heat had completely dissipated.

Even as we lined up the monsters that had collapsed on the ground, the distant police officers surrounding us were still buzzing around.

As if a new hero had appeared.

Just a little while ago, we were treated like terrorists.

After placing the last monster next to Ha-yoon, I stretched my back, looking up at the sky and took a deep breath.

It wasn’t dark yet. The sunlight shining down from above felt a bit warm.

I gazed at the sky for a moment before lowering my gaze to look at Ha-yoon.

Ha-yoon, who still hadn’t transformed back, was grinning and looking at my face.

What do I do?

Every time I saw Ha-yoon’s face when we returned, if she made that expression, I felt like I couldn’t maintain eye contact. Even now, I was subtly turning my head to look away.

“Shall we head back for now?”

I muttered that. It wasn’t directed at anyone in particular. If I had to specify, it was more a statement to myself.

And, almost instinctively, I tried to create a black hole—

—tried to create one.

“…….”

Nothing happened.

“Uh.”

I made a sound of shock.

I focused again, trying to recall the feeling of creating a black hole.

And instead of summoning the black hole, I floated up into the air.

No, that wasn’t my intention at all. It felt almost as if my body had forgotten how to wield magic and was using ‘another magic’ instead.

The police’s buzzing grew louder.

To make matters worse, the hammer glowed even brighter as if it were releasing pent-up magic.

……Could I use this like a wand?

Thinking back, it did have a generator inside it. Dalia and Delphinium used wands to create bullets, and Iris had done similar things too.

So, couldn’t I make something with this? Like, I could create a black hole with the desire to escape.

I raised the hammer high, focusing my mind—

……But the result was just the light from the hammer shining even brighter.

“Wow!”

I heard someone shouting from below.

I could hear the clapping again.

“What’s this.”

Looking down, people were all cheering.

Even Ha-yoon was clapping along with the crowd. She was beaming while looking up at me.

What’s going on?

Come to think of it, I was still wearing it.

I was still in the white dress. Although it had gotten more worn and had some stains and tears since the first time, it was still mostly as white as snow.

Here I was, floating in the sky in a white dress, holding a glowing wand high.

Am I out of my mind?

As I looked down, I locked eyes with Iris.

For some reason, when Iris met my gaze, she wore a half-rotten grin. That smile was similar to the one Iris had when I was a combatant.

Click.

Iris pointed at me.

She didn’t say anything. She was too sane for that.

But the shape of her lips clearly formed a word—

Panties.

—The moment I processed that, I plummeted straight down.

*

I would have rather fainted.

I seriously considered pretending to be unconscious.

However, this hope circuit—though it should have been a despair circuit on my wrist—seemed to function entirely differently from despair circuits. I maintained my sanity very successfully until Ha-yoon grabbed my arm and lifted me back up.

As a result, I had to move elsewhere, holding onto the memory of soaring high in the sky wearing a wedding dress made of magic and then plummeting back down.

By some stroke of luck, the transformation wore off quickly.

I realized that I would have to live on with that dreadful memory forever, which succeeded in pushing my heart into a bit of despair.

Honestly, if I wanted to escape, I could have. I and the other magical girls had the ability to fly.

But even if I did try to escape, we didn’t even know the exact location of the place we had been.

So, even if we tried to escape, it meant that we would have to start anew from scratch.

Since I couldn’t make the black hole. Iris also didn’t know the precise location of our base. I had also made the mistake of not allowing any GPS-like devices.

As a result, we were… subjected to something like ‘detention.’

“You’ll be okay.”

Ha-yoon said with a very relaxed expression. Her smile was filled with such confidence that I couldn’t help but frown.

Did she somehow read my expression that said, ‘How do you know that?’ because Ha-yoon spoke up with an even brighter expression.

“You showed everyone you’re truly a magical girl. You saved people, so who would dare say anything about that?”

No way, isn’t that a bit too fantastical?

Haven’t I at least appeared somewhat like a magical girl so far? I transformed, used magic, and defeated monsters.

Even saving someone could lead to being treated like that. Would they have treated me like a magical girl if I had just shown this one aspect back then?

Well, it is detention, but it seems that my treatment wasn’t too bad.

They didn’t bother putting handcuffs on us or confiscating our circuits. We were simply being taken on a bus that came to pick us up, moving along quite comfortably.

Though it wasn’t exactly like a bus with iron bars that you’d see at a protest… Why is it called a ‘mini-bus’? A bus that takes returning soldiers from vacation. The bus we were on was that kind of bus.

I thought it might be a bit too ordinary to transport magical girls like us, but honestly, if someone were to ask me what kind of vehicle we should use to move, I wouldn’t have an answer.

I’d say that an armored vehicle seems too cramped inside, and if we wanted to move comfortably, this might be better.

“The circuits…”

“Thinking of what happened when they took the circuits from us last time, they won’t easily take them again.”

Rose said boldly.

Ah, is she referring to the incident where Ji-hye was taken hostage? It was true that the magical girls arrived late.

If it weren’t for me, that incident could have escalated drastically.

Ji-hye might not have come out unscathed.

…….

No, just looking at it from the perspective of an ordinary person, maybe I could say that she ‘wasn’t unharmed’ back then.

Ordinary people don’t get involved in life-and-death hostage situations, nor do they get threatened by people doing bad things to them.

“Moreover, we are being taken to a completely different place. At least it doesn’t seem to be a government building. Could it be someone from the government?”

Iris speculated.

“Is there really a reason for people who have been quiet until now to suddenly act?”

Dalia expressed her doubt.

“……Perhaps it’s precisely because they’ve been quiet that they are finally acting now.”

Something had happened within the company.

It was me who blew up the wall, but what came pouring out afterward were the monsters.

This time, unlike ever before, they clearly looked like Earth dwellers.

……No, that’s debatable. It might be ambiguous to say they looked clearly like Earth dwellers.

There probably aren’t any Earth dwellers that are three meters tall.

Yet, putting looks aside, they couldn’t be aliens, given that they had direct control over the circuits.

Aliens manipulate magic directly. Of course, that is somewhat distant from the ‘fantasy’ we think of, as they use very complicated devices that amplify magic. There are also specially trained individuals who can accumulate magic separately.

Earth life forms, including Earth dwellers, generally can’t directly manipulate magic, although on other planets, many life forms are born with some magical ability. They say that even ancient fossilized creatures tend to have concentrated magic. They use this magic like fossil fuels, just like using coal or oil to move their spaceships.

Or should I call it ‘mass fuel’? Since those fossils bear magic.

If the company is creating Earth dwellers for the purpose of ‘fuel,’ they are indeed making moving petrol wells. Creating beings that produce magic from human emotions, ‘circuits,’ capable of generating energy on par with magical girls.

In the end, seeing that we managed to win against a greater number of monsters than we had, it seems our level is just enough to match, but it doesn’t reach ‘beyond’ that point quite yet.

“…….”

Since I kept my mouth shut, the magical girls seemed to fall into their own thoughts and didn’t speak.

About an hour of driving later, we finally reached our destination.

“Where is this?”

“I don’t know. This isn’t a building we recognize.”

Ha-yoon answered my question. I glanced at the other girls, but they all shook their heads.

Even though I had lived in Seoul for quite a while, I don’t know every road in it. I could recognize landmarks, but I couldn’t identify exactly where we ended up based on the passing outside scenery.

Honestly, I wasn’t entirely focused on the outside.

To be honest, I was a bit scared. Last time I got involved with the government, I was in danger of becoming a test subject too.

I still don’t know if they were sending people to arrest me or if they were looking to do something different by changing hospitals. Maybe one of the monsters we defeated today included me.

“…….”

I glanced over at James.

James was sitting across from me in the middle of the bus aisle. While the seat was way too big for just a hamster, it wasn’t like I wanted to sit him on my hand. Neither did he.

Seeing that Cherry was sitting next to him, it seemed at least the police were treating the two of them separately as ‘one person.’

I figured he noticed my staring, but he didn’t bother to say anything to me.

Was it because he didn’t have anything to say? Or was he too shocked by this whole situation to say anything?

I also didn’t have anything to say to James at that moment, so the silence felt satisfactory enough.

Even after the bus arrived, they took a while before letting us down.

The front seats were hard to see. It seemed like they were having a quiet discussion, but I couldn’t overhear anything.

Maybe about ten minutes later? The bus front door finally opened, and the person sitting in the front seat stood up.

He was still wearing a bulletproof vest and had knee and elbow pads. The police officer probably had magazines tucked away in his tactical pockets.

At least he had taken off his bulletproof helmet, revealing a clearly marked indentation on his head.

He looked to be in his early forties, but it’s likely that he appeared older because of the nature of his work, spending a lot of time under the sun. He could still be in his late thirties, though.

“We have arrived.”

“This isn’t where I live.”

I said that somewhat casually.

As I wondered if he would get angry, the returned answer was surprisingly polite.

“Yes, I’m terribly sorry, but… it seems there are people who would like to speak with you all.”

“Have we been arrested?”

I couldn’t bring myself to respond to that question.

I decided to take it as ‘nothing has been decided’ for now.

Well, if they tried to confine us as soon as we got in, it would put them at greater risk. My circuit is partly a despair circuit itself.

At least right now, since I felt ‘hope,’ it was a good thing. The moment I start to despair, a black hole would pop up and force us to escape.

Moreover, they probably wouldn’t even understand why this was happening. Just like how I seemed to create light and a black hole.

With a very faint hope, I lightly placed my hand on the circuit and felt a slight vibration.

……Did the design really change?

In the end, we decided to comply with the police officer’s instructions.

*

Where we ended up was not an interrogation room…

It looked more like a break room. The surroundings seemed quite spacious, and the tables, although a bit messy and old-looking, were laid out like a café.

In one corner, there was a place for snacks and instant coffee, and it was stuffed with various items.

After occupying the biggest round table and sitting silently and waiting, the door to the break room opened again, and someone stepped in.

I wondered what kind of terrifying person would walk in, but the one who entered looked like a weary public official.

“Hello.”

He greeted us, attempting a soft tone, but his tired voice didn’t sound very friendly.

He was carrying quite a thick file.

As he tried to sit down, he noticed we were taking up the whole table and flinched, grabbing a smaller table next to it to sit down with us.

Then he carefully placed the file in front of him on the table.

Although his sitting position felt somewhat awkward, it seemed like he still wanted to do his job, so he spoke as politely as he could.

“I’m Kim Su-hyung, here to explain various things to you. Nice to meet you.”

I didn’t even know if that was his real name. After all, he didn’t mention where he was from.

When no one replied and we stared blankly at him, the man named Kim Su-hyung immediately got to the point.

“Perhaps you’re unaware of how things are currently going.”

“Isn’t the company doing strange things behind the nation’s back, and the Federal side has some schemes going on too?”

When I said that, he blinked.

“And the government is also up to something. Isn’t that why you brought us here?”

I might have sounded a bit rude, but I didn’t feel any guilt.

I didn’t know how high up this man was. I didn’t know how involved he was in what was happening to me, or whether he was even involved at all.

However, I didn’t want to engage in a pleasant conversation with someone from the government trying to persuade me.

The reason we were here was simply because I couldn’t create that black hole.

“……Yes, without going into too much detail, that is a fair assessment.”

“The Federal side and the company are trying to pull something strange together, and the government is tacitly allowing this, that much can be felt.”

“Right. However, if you dig a little deeper, you’ll realize that those three factions are actually competing against each other.”

“…….”

At first glance, it didn’t seem like there was much competition going on.

“I understand if you can’t believe me. However, we’d like to make one proposal to you all.”

“A proposal?”

“Yes. Would you be interested in forming an alliance with the government?”

“…….”

What’s that now?

To be honest, the government seemed to be the most vulnerable and foolish of the three factions.

What have they done until now? Besides sending over a police team to wait, they’ve negatively impacted my life.

“Cough.”

Seeing my expression, the official coughed awkwardly.

The other girls had their mouths shut. I couldn’t tell if they were leaving the conversation to me or if they just didn’t plan to oppose whatever I said.

“……Let’s at least hear them out.”

“Though we refer to it as an alliance, I don’t mean to imply that you should come under us. More accurately put… we’re suggesting forming a kind of service contract.”

“A contract?”

“Yes. The government can offer benefits, and in return, you would provide us a certain level of assistance, meaning we are talking about a mutually beneficial relationship.”

“……What can the government offer us that they haven’t already?”

“The services that the Federal side and the company would never be able to provide for you.”

Seeing that my response caught on, he began speaking somewhat more smoothly.

“For example, we can send you back to school. We can help you live comfortably without the risk of being arrested, and we can offer you a place tailored for magical girls.”

“So, what you’re saying is that you brought us here just to tell us that you want us to sign a contract? Under those conditions?”

“Not that we want you to sign right away.”

The man hurriedly replied.

“I understand the unfair treatment you’ve all faced thus far. A formal resolution regarding that should come first. It will take time to formalize the contract, so for now, we’d like to discuss matters further and make adjustments. And if it sounds agreeable, we can sign the contract then.”

Well.

Since this also involves the Federal side and the company, it seems this will likely turn into a long discussion.

I placed my hand on the circuit and began contemplating.

……I might have some despotic thoughts lingering in my mind.

Could I use this official to my advantage?

 

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