I Became a New Magical Girl Priest

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As I continued to wear a disgusted expression while listening to the bureaucrat’s story, the official eventually seemed to think he couldn’t persuade me today and left, saying we should take a break.

“…….”

After closing the door, I waited a few seconds deliberately before speaking up.

“So, what do you all think? Do you want to go back? By third grade, aren’t you all starting to want to attend school again?”

At my words, the eyes of the Magical Girls gathered toward me.

Rose hesitated for a moment before speaking up.

“Will going to college a year late really have a significant impact on life?”

Usually, it might have some effect.

Of course, the thoughts of boys and girls could differ a bit. Many boys often have to take a two-year hiatus for the military or public service, after all.

Moreover, even if they enter the same university, the day of graduation might differ for others. Some may intentionally postpone graduation to engage in job hunting, or retake classes to bolster their transcripts… or in extreme cases, fail to meet graduation credits because they hardly attended classes.

However, this is something that can only be felt after entering university. It’s a bit difficult to grasp while in high school—

Ah, right.

They’re all from well-off families, aren’t they?

If they delay employment by a couple of years, they won’t starve, so perhaps there’s no need for me to worry about them. Among those sitting here, I’m the only one who would starve if I didn’t start earning money as soon as I became an adult.

“Still, there’s something else we should worry about.”

Iris, who had been deep in thought, finally spoke up.

“If those people are really trying to persuade us, they might bring our parents.”

At her words, the children’s expressions subtly changed.

So, in reality…

In the original webtoon, except for Ha-yoon, the relationships of the other Magical Girls with their parents aren’t depicted in detail at all.

Characters who are not ‘main characters’ appear without faces, just like extras in a background, occasionally speaking but lacking any clear depiction.

Thus, my deductions can only be speculative based on the situation.

First of all, Iris and Ha-yoon are portrayed as having somewhat similar family situations. Iris’s relationship with her parents is also rarely depicted accurately, but in a few flashbacks, her parents appear to use Iris to manage their political connections.

This is why there seems to be an indication that Iris often feels jealousy and longing toward Ha-yoon.

Dahlia and Delphinium don’t have any relationships with their parents revealed, and Rose is described as having a fairly positive one.

So excluding Ha-yoon and Iris, it implies that the other children might be heavily influenced by their parents.

Iris, too, might eventually follow their words if her parents come and scold her.

But after all, aren’t they still just teenagers? While they will become adults in a few years, it’s tough to immediately become independent as soon as one hits their twenties in modern society.

In a way, perhaps they all just reached this realization today after procrastinating.

To put it bluntly, aren’t all of us here just runaway youth?

“…….”

Iris’s words suddenly made the atmosphere heavy.

Even Ha-yoon, who seemed like she would ignore everything even if her parents came to persuade her, suddenly appeared anxious as if she feared seeing their faces.

Am I the only one immune to this?

I ended up thinking more.

No matter what, I… don’t want to become a complete villain. I think it’s not right to believe that my involvement will ruin these kids’ lives.

However, it wasn’t easy to just say something about it, so for now, I remained seated with my arms crossed and my mouth shut.

It felt like a lot of time had passed after that.

Deliberately, this room didn’t have a clock. From the traces of a clock hanging on the wall, it seemed they had intentionally removed it.

Was it meant to apply pressure? Or were we just unlucky, happening to be here when the clock broke?

While I was seriously pondering whether the circuit had a clock function…

Bang.

The door opened again.

And the person beyond it was—

“Ji-eun!”

It was Ji-hye, smiling brightly.

In that moment, my brain came to an abrupt halt.

Ah, I see.

While I kept acting as if I had no weaknesses, in reality, I also had a weakness—Ji-hye, with whom I had been close all this time.

Ji-hye entered the room, making rustling sounds as she came in.

She had two large plastic bags in her hands, appearing stuffed with various items. Struggling to carry the heavy load, Ji-hye set it on the floor and closed the door again.

The bureaucrat didn’t follow her in or anything.

Did she think this would make persuading me easier?

“What’s going on?”

I asked without intending to.

Ji-hye, who was beaming while grabbing the plastic bags again, suddenly stopped moving.

She then looked at me with a slightly awkward expression.

“Ah… Sorry, is it okay for me to come?”

No, I never thought that.

Haven’t we shared a room since childhood? Part of it was involuntary, but ultimately, we had been in a state of ‘your room is my room’ for quite a long time.

“……No, no it’s fine.”

It had been so long since we last met.

Now that I found myself in this situation, I could finally have a real conversation, and yet I couldn’t freely express my joy in front of her.

I had an inkling about why they brought Ji-hye here.

…Just like the other kids had parents, they wanted to emphasize that I had Ji-hye.

I think I understood the reason they kept dragging time between us.

Did they hold up on the bus because they were picking up Ji-hye?

Well, come to think of it, bringing ‘parents’ could be a double-edged sword for the government.

All the parents of the Magical Girls were inevitably tied to the Federation. The Federation would naturally want to take back the Magical Girls they had created using their technology and would also naturally try to use their parents.

On the other hand, I had no connections to such a Federation.

At the same time, however, the Magical Girls had escaped the clutches of the Federation because of me.

Thus, it was only logical that persuading me would be the most efficient.

And I had an effective means of communication for that purpose.

…Here, I had to consider the people who would be lurking behind while talking with Ji-hye.

“Here.”

Seeing me respond, Ji-hye broke into a naive smile and hurriedly came over with the bags.

I quickly got up to snatch one of the bags from her hand.

“Oh, I can carry it.”

“……How could you?”

I placed the bag on the large round table we were occupying.

As the bag tipped over, its contents spilled out slightly.

Snacks, ramen, canned food, underwear, socks, and some fresh produce…

Did she buy all this with her own money again?

Was this the reason it took her so long to come here, because she had to buy all these things?

She must’ve thought we would want to eat this kind of stuff.

No, she probably thought I’d want to eat these. The snacks inside were all my favorites.

“From there, um…”

Ji-hye thought for a moment.

“I can cultivate things like plants to some extent, but I feel like I’d need these since there’s no way to get them without going through factories. Stuff like ramen or snacks can’t be made ourselves, right?”

Her words made my nose tingle.

Was that really the first thing she thought of when she was dragged to a place like this?

Had she taken a moment to ask for time to buy these?

The Magical Girls looked slightly dazed.

“You…”

I opened my mouth, then shut it again.

I had forgotten the first thing I should say. I had been so caught up thinking about why we came here that I’d been ignoring why Ji-hye came.

The first thing I should have said was—

“……Are you alright?”

“Uh, I’m fine.”

Ji-hye took a step back, placing her hands on her hips as if to show me.

And she was right. At least to my eyes, Ji-hye looked quite different from when I last saw her.

“I saw the happenings today on the internet. Your outfit was pretty. It suited you immensely.”

“W-well, it’s not a big deal.”

What was it that I wasn’t sure about?

“…….”

I felt Ji-hye staring quietly at me as I blushed in embarrassment.

The Magical Girls, as well as Cherry and James, were also silent.

Did they think bringing up anything unnecessary would really get me hit on the head with a hammer?

“Do you know why I came here?”

Ji-hye suddenly asked.

I nodded silently.

“They told me to persuade you. Then both of us could live comfortably. They said they could legally help you with what you’ve gone through. They could also provide benefits if you’re thinking of becoming a bureaucrat in the future.”

Ji-hye chatted casually, as if it were nothing.

So that’s what it was.

They sent Ji-hye to persuade me.

Now I didn’t even know who to be angry at.

Or maybe it would be better to just quit everything. Frankly, I was nauseated by all those surrounding me. I didn’t need any of this; I just wanted all of it to end.

“But, you know?”

Ji-hye pouted, appearing lost in thought.

And then she looked me straight in the eye and said:

“I don’t… I don’t want to say that kind of stuff.”

“Uh?”

“I don’t want to persuade you.”

“Er…”

“The people who told you that are the ones who put you in this situation. They pushed the blame onto you, even when you hadn’t done anything wrong.”

At her words, I was left speechless.

“I’ve known you for just a day or two, right? To be honest, don’t you want to take revenge on those who made you this way?”

That was true. Without a doubt.

“But how can I tell you to take a deal while working for those people, and just get paid?”

“Ji-hye.”

“If you want to fight, then fight.”

Ji-hye said.

“If you want to run away, then quit running away. You owe those people nothing. There’s no reason to do what they say.”

Now I saw it.

I noticed tears were glistening in Ji-hye’s eyes.

“Today’s fight was because you wanted to fight, believing that you had to, right?”

“I….”

While I listened to Ji-hye’s words, I finally opened my mouth to speak.

“I’m not fighting for some grand reason.”

“I know.”

Ji-hye answered.

“I can tell you’re not trying to be on the side of justice. I know you’re not doing this to save the world either.”

Ji-hye spoke as though she could read my thoughts.

“You’re just in pain and struggling. You’re fighting for the people who make you suffer and hurt.”

Ji-hye took a deep breath.

“So, what do you want to do? If you want to make peace with those people, that’s one thing. If you want to return to school, that’s also something you can’t ignore. Those people are saying they will sort it all out. But… is that really what you want?”

“…….”

“If it’s really what you want, then I wouldn’t be here, would I?”

That was right.

Since they thought I’d be easy to persuade, Ji-hye was sent along.

Because of me.

To convince her closest friend to wade back into those people who had treated her so badly.

“Don’t these people seem ridiculous?”

Ji-hye smiled, lifting one side of her lips.

“I really don’t get why they thought they could persuade me while failing to convince you.”

“…….”

Actually, that wasn’t necessarily ‘persuasion’ either.

It might have been ‘intimidation.’

The reassurance that they would make it possible for me to join the bureaucratic position actually implied that if I didn’t comply, I may never have that opportunity.

The promise that I would be allowed back into school suggested that, conversely, I could also be barred from attending.

Had they really spoken so gently to Ji-hye?

Had they deliberately tried to soothe Ji-hye’s worries with that kind of conversation?

“Ji-hye, you…”

“I’m fine.”

Ji-hye said.

“I’m really okay, so do as you wish.”

Hearing those words, I clenched my fist tightly.

What kind of emotion should I feel for that statement?

Despair?

Should I feel despair over the fact that I would have to leave Ji-hye alone? Or despair over possibly ruining this girl’s life?

Perhaps that was how I should feel. The emotion I should have had in this moment might’ve been guilt.

But strangely enough, I felt an emotion opposite of that in Ji-hye’s words.

“Oh, that’s shining.”

Ji-hye pointed at the circuit on my wrist.

The circuit was glowing brightly.

“I guess what I said was effective.”

“……Did you know?”

“No, just. I felt it instinctively.”

She smiled.

Knock.

I heard that sound from beyond the door.

Someone seemed to be trying to come in. Had they been watching through some sort of CCTV hidden in here?

“…….”

Perhaps seeing my circuit made Ji-hye suddenly leap towards me.

And she hugged me tightly.

“……Ji-hye.”

“It’s been a while since we hugged like this.”

“…….”

That’s true, but…

I hesitated about what to do and rubbed Ji-hye’s back.

“Just like that, you’re still awkward.”

“Hey.”

I couldn’t help but respond to Ji-hye’s teasing banter.

“I’ll be fine, so don’t worry.”

Ji-hye said once more.

“They can’t do anything to me. After all, you’re the one who has my back. Right?”

“……If you need it, I’ll come help.”

Somehow, listening to Ji-hye’s words made me feel like I could truly do everything. There was no basis for it. But isn’t that what friendship is—listening, empathizing, feeling sorry—and believing that a good day will come?

Without any basis or logic. Just hearing those words does nothing to resolve the situation.

However, even so, it brings comfort.

Perhaps that’s what hope is.

The very form of hope I had denied with every conceivable reason until now.

Ji-hye let go of me and busily moved to grab the bags that were on the table, hastily handing one to me. I accepted it without being able to refuse.

Seeing me blankly staring at her, Ji-hye smiled at me one last time.

As if she believed I could make it happen.

“I know you won’t hear it, but I’ll be rooting for you. You will… be able to do it. If it’s what you truly desire, you must.”

As I began to turn the Hope Circuit, I couldn’t create a Black Hole.

So, I thought I couldn’t do it, just assumed that.

…Honestly, I still think that way.

But at the same time, for some reason, even without any reason at all, I began to feel like I might be able to do something.

Looking at Ji-hye’s bright smile made me feel like I could do anything.

Feeling as if my body was slightly floating, I told Ji-hye, “……I’ll definitely visit again next time.”

Ji-hye nodded.

 

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