Chapter 7
The Black Knight had vanished, leaving Bing Seol Hwa alone, biting her lips.
It was sheer luck. There was no other way to explain it.
The Black Knight was far stronger than she was, and had they continued fighting, she would have likely been defeated.
That was frustrating. Having to admit she was lucky when she hadn’t even defeated her opponent felt humiliating. The weakness of being unable to do anything.
Surrounded by talk of being the strongest, had she unknowingly become arrogant?
While thinking such things inwardly, Bing Seol Hwa showed no signs of distress on the outside and contacted the KMPA.
“I failed to subdue the Black Knight.”
— [What?!]
The response from the KMPA was one of sheer disbelief.
To capture a single Black Knight, multiple magical girls were summoned to create the barrier, along with Reina as bait, and Bing Seol Hwa as the ultimate weapon. The failure of such a mission was, of course, a nightmare for the association.
“Please get the details from the other magical girls.”
— [Wait, Bing Seol Hwa, hold on—]
Click.
As she hung up the phone, Bing Seol Hwa slowly lowered her arm. At that moment, the phone cracked and froze due to her icy magic.
It seemed her emotions had gotten the better of her, causing her magic to leak out. She paid no mind to the broken phone and crushed it without hesitation.
This couldn’t continue.
Hadn’t she vowed not to lose to anyone, to shine brighter than anyone else?
For that, she had worked tirelessly and had become an S-rank magical girl. All for a single reason.
No matter where “that person” who had gone missing was, she had promised to shine so that he could see her.
For a while, Bing Seol Hwa quietly gazed at the cityscape from the top of a building, before slowly taking to the skies.
…Come to think of it, the Black Knight’s swordsmanship felt oddly familiar, which only added to her irritation.
“Black Knight.”
With a growl, Bing Seol Hwa ground her teeth in anger.
The next time they met, she would certainly kill him.
***
[A-rank monster “Black Knight” engages in battle with magical girl Bing Seol Hwa… Escape during a fierce confrontation]
Reading the articles that had emerged about yesterday’s incident, I couldn’t help but sigh.
Countless articles were heating up public opinion. The gist was that the Black Knight had successfully escaped while fighting Bing Seol Hwa.
Of course, from my perspective as someone who had fought directly, this was a far cry from the truth, but it was, in fact, to be expected.
Imagine if news spread that Bing Seol Hwa had been overpowered by a monster. The stock market would crash, and the number of people dying from that would far exceed those dying at the hands of monsters. It wouldn’t even be surprising if people ended up becoming monsters themselves due to failed investments.
One reason the Korean stock market remains highly valued is the relatively low damage from monsters, thanks to powerful magical girls.
Thinking about these circumstances, it was natural for the articles to report in such a way. In fact, if you were to get technical, the content was fairly close to the truth; it was a classic example of “not lying.”
“Well, still….”
The public’s reaction was incredibly heated. The trust in Bing Seol Hwa in South Korea was nearly bordering on fanaticism. Just the fact that there was a monster that had successfully escaped from her would cause the stock market to drop by over ten percent.
[Directly killed humans: 0; Indirectly killed humans: all-time high?]
[“Black Knight Risk” starts circulating in the securities market]
Ha, this is insane. I haven’t done anything, and yet my notoriety is increasing.
I slipped into a community discussing monsters, and as expected, the Black Knight was the hot topic.
— [How is it possible to escape from Bing Seol Hwa????????]
— [I thought the Black Knight was just an A-rank? What is going on?]
— [Shit, my stocks.]
…I didn’t need to read more. I sighed deeply and stepped out of my basement room.
I had no part-time job today. I needed to earn money since my finances were tight, but I hadn’t found a weekend job yet.
As I aimlessly strolled through the nearby streets, I unexpectedly ran into a familiar face.
“Su-hui?”
Lee Su-hui. So, she was the magical girl Reina. The girl approached me, seemingly recognizing me.
However, her demeanor was a bit different than usual. While she had also seemed different yesterday, today it felt darker.
I guessed the reason in my mind but pretended not to notice as I asked her.
“Is something wrong? You look a bit down.”
Su-hui hesitated for a moment, closed her eyes, opened them, and let out a deep sigh.
“You know there was an operation yesterday, right? It failed… so, it’s a bit tough.”
I hadn’t understood what the “operation” meant yesterday, but now I did. The operation Su-hui mentioned was actually to subdue the Black Knight.
“I don’t know the details of the operation, but cheer up. There will be other opportunities next time.”
“I’m not so sure about that. The country’s in an uproar because of the failure.”
“…What?”
“It was an operation against the ‘Black Knight.’”
I fell silent without saying a word. Su-hui squeezed her eyes shut and splashed some water on her face.
“I thought I did my best. The operation was well-prepared by the association, and even Bing Seol Hwa was involved… but we failed. You saw the article today, right?”
I had seen it. No, I had experienced the content of the article firsthand.
Clearing my throat, I said, “Still… it can’t be helped. If we couldn’t catch him even with Bing Seol Hwa involved, it’s not your fault, Su-hui.”
Su-hui pouted and replied, “That’s not something a fan should say, is it? I know Bing Seol Hwa is amazing, but I’m also a proper magical girl.”
“…That’s not what I meant.”
Su-hui fell silent for a moment, hesitating before lowering her head.
“I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have said that… I guess I’m on edge because of the failed operation.”
“No, that’s understandable. I get annoyed too when things don’t go as planned.”
Just then, a sharp sound came from Su-hui’s phone as she received a call.
Holding the phone to her ear, Su-hui’s face turned pale, and she bit her lip.
“What’s going on? Is something wrong?”
“They said… monsters… a large number of monsters have appeared. They think it’s because of today’s stock market crash… and there are five monsters in this neighborhood…”
Hearing that, I thought to myself.
It seemed like “those guys” were starting to make their move.
In the original work, “Magical Girls Don’t Fall,” there existed a villainous group.
They were called the “New Humanity Association.” An organization made up of monsters that believed these monsters represented the “new humanity,” desiring a world dominated by monsters.
The problem with the New Humanity Association was that these weren’t just strong monsters. They were actively working to bring about the destruction of the world with intelligence.
One of their most representative actions was sowing the “Seeds of Darkness.”
Originally, the Seeds of Darkness were randomly sown among people, and when a host’s heart was completely enveloped in darkness, they would offer a contract.
However, special monsters could create these “Seeds of Darkness” at will, and instead of waiting for hearts to succumb to darkness, they began to give the Seeds of Darkness directly to those whose hearts were already shrouded in darkness.
Yes, just like the many people who had lost everything due to the massive crash of the Korean stock market.
I let out a small “tch” in my mind. Why hadn’t I anticipated this kind of movement? After all, the New Humanity Association had operated relatively quietly and discreetly in the early stages of “Matseu-An,” and their true identity was only revealed around the middle of the story.
But in the world I had possessed, for some reason, it seemed that the New Humanity Association had begun their activities much sooner.
As Reina hurriedly transformed and rushed towards where the monsters were, I watched the people fleeing to shelters. I then headed to a secluded spot where no one would see me and said, “Transformation.”
As the Black Knight, I began to scan the nearby magical energy. It seemed that even the magical girls were struggling to respond to the sudden crisis.
Furthermore, the five monsters were merely the number that had appeared in this neighborhood. If we widened the scope to the entire country, that number would increase dramatically.
…This might actually be good. After all, wasn’t hunting monsters inevitable if I wanted to find “Baek Seung-hyun’s” memories?
I started moving towards the location of the nearest monster.
[I will kill them all.]
A little angry.
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