145 – All you need is a little money and a place to live tomorrow (7)
The black body of the iron ball, which only reflected light from other places, emits a small green light of its own. It started to radiate. It was like a small LED light that appears when you turn on the machine. Next, a mechanical sound was heard as if something was moving inside the belt.
“What?”
Han Jaejoong was so embarrassed that he let out a loud voice.
“What’s wrong, Jaejoong?”
“Uh… It’s just something… Because my body feels refreshed. “Is it because I slept soundly?”
Yun Seol-hwa asked curiously. He shook his head and hesitated.
“hehehe, that’s normal.”
Yun Seol-hwa chuckled, probably feeling proud after hearing the news that she had slept well. He felt infinite gratitude to the man who treated him like usual even though he suffered the injustice of being kidnapped. Even though he thought he was selfish, Yun Seol-hwa did not take her head off his shoulder.
Han Jaejoong took it lightly and continued to look at the belt. The belt was still emitting strange mechanical sounds and LED-like light.
[57%… 62%… Until complete normalization]
Han Jae-joong glanced sideways at the light, observing Yun Seol-hwa’s notice. It seemed clear that the belt had started restarting. Although full-scale conversation is not yet possible, it will soon become possible.
In other words, from now on, I could receive assistance from the belt. It is definitely convenient for analyzing the surroundings, calculating routes during battle, etc. Above all, the belt can control the quest.
If a strange quest appears before you can persuade Yun Seol-hwa, your position will be quite difficult. We must prevent her from going out to catch monsters or helping other magical girls, leaving her mentally unstable.
But you cannot suppress the quest with your own power. When it comes to the contract, Han Jae-joong is strictly in B’s position.
[78%… 82%….]
The belt will soon begin operating. As she quietly waited for the percentage to be filled, Yoon Seolhwa slightly moved her head and made eye contact with Han Jaejoong. A soft breath tickled the back of her neck.
“Ah… That’s right. Jaejoong. “When do you want to have breakfast?”
“Shall we eat now?”
“Is that so? Bread and fruit are okay for breakfast, right? “Have your tastes changed?”
“No, give me that.”
Yun Seol-hwa’s eyes trembled slightly as if she was anxious. When Han Jaejoong immediately denied it, her eyes became vibrant again. She smiled slightly, nodded her head, and stood up from her couch.
“Okay. “Then I’ll get ready right away.”
“Thank you.”
If it was normal, I would have said something like, ‘Shall I help you too?’, But I didn’t do that today. This is because they were waiting for the belt to start running. I also have a story to share with Belt. Unfortunately she was left alone to prepare her meal since yesterday.
As her eyes caught Yun Seol-hwa putting on her apron in her kitchen, her voice came from her belt.
[It’s patriarchal.]
“Surprise.”
[Seeing as the heart rate is constant, it doesn’t seem that surprising. Full restart has begun.]
“I know.”
Belt’s voice was still inorganic and constant without any highs or lows, but the tone of speech was as human as before it was extinguished.
[You seem to be in quite a difficult situation.]
“Is that what you say as soon as you wake up?”
[Then is that all you said to me when I woke up?]
“Welcome.”
[Thank you.]
She lowered her voice and whispered quietly so that Yun Seol-hwa could not hear. At the same time, her body became heavy and a sharp pain appeared in her left eye.
[Kidnapping is quite unusual behavior for a magical girl. Normally, the mascot would have suppressed it.]
“I guess he’s a loyalist like you.”
[Is this a compliment? I gratefully accept it. But it’s definitely weird. Allowing a magical girl to commit a crime… The mascot is like a boundary created to prevent the magical girl from going astray. I will never help you if it goes against the purpose of the contract.]
Typically, it can be suppressed by not helping transformation or interfering with magic control.
That is why the mascot dies when the magical girl becomes corrupted. You deal with what is holding you back and become truly free. It runs wild without regulation.
[But I don’t really feel any signs of corruption from her. Only the clear starlight unique to magical girls is detected.]
“…I see.”
The point of Belt’s analysis was clear. Blue Sirius’s mind is unstable, but he is not crazy. This action now does not lead to the fall from grace as a magical girl.
Kidnapping and confinement. It is an act that would cause great repercussions even if it were done by someone other than a celebrity. It is not an appropriate act for a magical girl who requires a strong sense of justice both externally and psychologically. But Blue Sirius did.
In other words, Yun Seol-hwa did this without any malicious intent.
Rather than feeling puzzled, Han Jaejoong felt relieved.
“I’m glad.”
Yun Seol-hwa, who had no choice but to be kidnapped, must have been more sad than herself who was kidnapped.
He truly thought so. How much agony must he have gone through before kidnapping? He felt infinite compassion.
[It seems like the crazy one is the guardian. If you have been kidnapped, please worry about your own safety first.]
“Can you put your personal opinion like that? “Isn’t this another violation of duty?”
[Thanks to the previous punishment, I was able to draw a line on how much I could and could not say. Rest assured, there is no need for the guardian to worry.]
“I wasn’t worried.”
It is a machine anyway. You won’t die, so why worry? At that time, I have to worry about my lifespan, which is like a sharp lead that might break at any moment, or the magical girl who will have countless hardships. Han Jaejoong said sarcastically.
Of course, the original intention is not like that. Belt, who could read Han Jaejoong’s thoughts, did not necessarily take issue with his remarks.
[I see. Ah, when I read your memories, I realized that you used a terrible temporary solution.]
“What?”
[Forcibly compressing the starlight and focusing it on one star. The idea itself was great, but the method was very ignorant. Please don’t make such a stupid transformation again.]
Come to think of it, I haven’t transformed once since the last transformation.
[I will refine the transformation system based on your idea. Until then, please refrain from transformation.]
“Is that what I want?”
I wonder if all the monsters commit suicide together. Han Jae-joong looked at Yun Seol-hwa with anxious eyes.
Judging from yesterday’s story, Yun Seol-hwa plans to deal with Archer, Libra, and other monsters. Of course, the most important enemy is the Watcher, but…
I plan to resolve this later by roughly giving up. If you remind them that you can defeat them at any time if they are overwhelmingly defeated and show the gap, even if you can’t kill them, you can feel at ease.
But other enemies are different. When defeating them, even if you are Blue Sirius, you have to risk your life.
“How strong is the folktale now?”
If she’s the same as when she fought before, she doesn’t stand a chance. The same goes for Libra, who completely recovered the star, and Sagittarius, who fights at a distance. The Argo family is also a powerful enemy in its own way.
All of her just-mentioned enemies may be able to lead her into a somewhat equal fight at her level, but… That’s the problem.
If the power is equal, several variables act more fatally. Condition, surrounding terrain, mental state. It is easy to suffer unexpected defeat due to the combination of many complex factors. This is especially true if you are a magical girl whose strength varies depending on your mental strength.
In order to protect lives, it is necessary to further widen the gap in power.
“This is what I think. I’m going to take down these guys I’m thinking about right now. Then, Seolhwa knocks me down in my weakened state and I run away. Later, he appears before her once again and intentionally defeats her. I run away in a bad way. If I do this, I won’t have any questions and won’t it be okay?”
[It’s a crazy plan.]
“Then do you have a better idea?”
[I have some plans in mind for escaping from here… But nothing else yet.]
“I won’t escape. “Discard everything and invest all your calculations into how to persuade the story.”
[…I understand.]
The space in front was strangely annoying, but Han Jaejoong didn’t bother to take issue with it.
“Belt.”
Ding. A cheerful sound rang from the toaster, and the pleasant smell of toasted butter wafted into the living room.
“Jaejoong~”
“Oh, I’ll go.”
Yun Seol-hwa called, and Han Jae-joong stood up. As promised before, the chains had been removed, so there were no restrictions on movement. She has no restrictions as long as she is present. Of course, if she goes out, she will be filled again.
Han Jae-joong continued what he was saying as he moved his feet towards the table that was gradually being filled with food.
“What is your connection to Virgo?”
[….]
The belt cannot tell lies. Therefore, speaking is either truth or silence. This time Belt chose silence. This was no different from a tacit affirmation.
Han Jaejoong may have a broken head sometimes, but he is not an idiot. The words and actions he showed so far and the red magic he last saw. Above all, the evidence was that the area that Virgo had treated was throbbing as it interacted with that belt.
Is it the effect of absorbing starlight at the time of death, or are there other variables? No matter what it was, it was clear that the belt had something to do with Virgo.
“If you don’t want to talk, that’s okay. From now on, I will consider you as a person and respect you. So please respect me just as much. Especially quests. From now on, please use your authority to help me. Especially in times like now…”
[Sorry for interrupting you, Guardian.]
His eyes met with Yun Seol-hwa, who was preparing breakfast while humming his tune. Every time our eyes met like this, she would give me a warm smile like big eyes. As she looked at her, a ray of anxiety ran down her spine as opposed to her being happy.
[Quest appears!]
“Wow.”
Han Jaejoong was impressed.
It seemed like the world was not on my side.
**
Jason watched the conversation between Libra and her third brother with anxious eyes.
“This is betrayal….”
But this was not something he should say as he had left the organization and was now in the enemy’s stronghold. A sense of guilt creeped up, but now was not the time to get buried in it.
“Why the f*ck are you hiding again? “Don’t be frustrated, just go…”
“Shh! “The story has begun!”
Jason silenced the archer’s voice as he seemed to wake up at any moment.
“What’s going on?”
Third brother, November, had also just arrived, so Li Bra spoke to her. She asked why he came here.
“What are you going to say?! Huh?!”
November reacted violently to his small question and raised her voice. Then he rummaged in his arms and pulled out something.
“Why did you put something like this in your money bag?!”
What he took out was a zipper bag filled with powder. It doesn’t seem to be a seasoning or anything, but powder packaged in a way that looks suspicious to anyone.
It had an appearance that would make even an ordinary person suspect that it was a drug. Since this was the source of the money bag, it was almost an established fact that the identity of this powder was a drug.
“What were you planning to feed our gang members, you bastard!”
November shouted excitedly. Libra asked without the slightest embarrassment.
“Why did you search the money bag?”
“Of course it’s to burn it down! “Because I wanted to get rid of that stuff right away!”
“I see….”
“Why did you give us drugs! “What are your intentions?”
When November asked, Libra looked puzzled and held her breath.
“But, if you saw it, it would have been normal to report it to your immediate brother and contact him, so why didn’t you do that? “If you look at the nothing behind you, it looks like there isn’t an army… Why are you alone?”
“Because I alone am enough to deal with you!”
“hahahaha, it’s good to have confidence. “But that’s not your purpose, is it?”
Libra stepped in front of him. November took a step back, but the step was so small that the distance narrowed.
“If you had seen the medicine, you would have also seen the note on the front, right?”
“…!”
“As I said before, what was in that bag was a gift from me. I handed over the bag as an apology. A lot of money and… Drugs. Yes, it’s a drug. But it is not a drug for pleasure.”
Doping. A drug to gain even more strength.
“It’s a special enhancer. It is a drug that further increases the strength of a monster. That’s why I didn’t want to be misunderstood, so I attached an instruction manual to the front of the medicine. “I’m sure you read it, but why did you ignore it?”
Libra smiled and quietly observed the powder zipper bag that November took out.
“By the way… The medicine has decreased.”
“…!”
“Don’t play pranks like vaporization. Why did I give it to you as a solid instead of a liquid? They say it doesn’t deteriorate when stored. But looking at that state… You used it, right?”
“…?! Ah, no, that’s….”
November’s attitude became noticeably more timid. Among the Argo brothers, he was particularly moody, and his emotions were clearly visible on his face.
“It’s okay. I’m not saying anything. I originally gave it to you to use, so I’m just grateful. hahahaha, now your purpose has become clear.”
A sinister laugh echoed through the cavity.
“Did you want to become stronger?”
If you dream of revenge, of course the first thing you dream of is force. Strong hatred soon leads to strong desire.
“I guess that wasn’t enough.”
November. Of all his brothers, he was the one who was most saddened by October’s defeat, and he must have been the one with the most desire.
From noble mtl dot com
The last time I went to Argo Family, there was a harvest. After stimulating a little revenge, the test subject came to visit me.
