Creak. Rattle. Clank. The sound of iron gears and wood creaking.
In a room filled with such sounds, soone stops while trying to use the wrench in their hand.
"The petty thief... I guess he failed. I thought the Institution guys wouldn't have the strength to deal with Rulers, but things don't always work out that easily. It would be nice if things were resolved as easily as a screw."
'I turned a blind eye to the theft of the dolls, but I only suffered a loss. This is why people who only believe in anomalous abilities...'
Wooden hands and rolling prosthetic eyes. A chanical device that replaced internal organs. Even at first glance, they weren't human.
They talk to themselves with their creaking mouth.
The occasional malfunctioning mouth was sothing they couldn't fix.
"It's good for and humanity too that the Institution is alive and well. Thanks to that, there are no interruptions when I'm working... Ah, after all, peace is the best."
'It's a pity that I couldn't get the necessary ingredients...'
The item they were trying to obtain from the Institution was a golden cog.
It is one of the essential items to strengthen their power and deal with upcoming threats.
One day, they will obtain all the ingredients and fulfill their wish. For that to happen, it is best not to be disturbed.
Whether it's the Institution or another organization.
"But... It will be soon. Instead of gears, you can hear the unpleasant whirring sound of tal. The first of the Rulers will appear, a selfish machine god, intent on breaking through the Institution's shallow defense and taking control. That's annoying..."
POV Switch - Ella
'I'm bored. Because of the cognitive impairnt device, the only kids who talk to are Ha-rim's group. And if we talk face-to-face, they will recognize to so extent.'
If it's just my face, they wont recognize , but if I get too close, it's still a problem.
Moreover, if I don't talk to them from ti to ti, they will beco distant again and forget my existence.
"What are you thinking, Alice?"
Ha-rim approached as I sat blankly. I ca up with a suitable answer.
"I was thinking that I didn't want to think about anything."
"You said sothing profound."
Ha-rim responded to my answer by saying that she did that too sotis and laughed.
She seed to notice that I was bored, which is probably a luxury I don't like to admit to myself.
After thinking about it for a while, she told her own way to ease boredom.
"Hmm... Sotis when I'm bored, I look around. For example, see those unclaid scissors sitting on that desk?"
I looked at the scissors that Ha-rim pointed to with her finger.
These are scissors with nothing special about them.
"If you keep them with you, it could be helpful when you need sothing sharp. Sotis you can open a locked bathroom door with it."
Open a locked bathroom door. I didn't even think about it.
I didn't bother to ask how that was feasible.
Ha-rim continued.
"You can't see it from here, but there's hand sanitizer in the restroom. If I spray that on , I can slip away when soone cos to get , right?"
"That's a creative idea."
Not soap, but hand sanitizer.
Yes, that would be slippery too.
It was obvious, but I didn't think about it either.
When it cos to ideas, Ha-rim is better than .
"And most of all, look at all the bags and old clothes left on the playground! Don't you want to look through them? You might find sothing useful!"
"No... You're the only one who wants to go looking through trash cans or leftover bags on the street..."
"Eh? Really?"
"Yeah. Really."
This kid still lives with the feeling of being the main character in the ga and interacting with all the interest points.
In fact, hadnt she already researched everything about the school?
Of course, she would have refrained from going through soone else's desk because she would be accused of being a thief.
It feels like she knows where all the loopholes are.
"Hmm... If you're tired of looking at things, look at the students in our class. Do you see them over there? There's a rumor going around that they're dating."
Ha-rim pointed at the young couple chatting sweetly in the hallway.
I was shocked by that.
"Are they already dating the opposite sex?"
"Already. It's normal."
"Is it... ?"
I showed my doubt. Ha-rim took that as a sign of interest.
She started asking questions about dating.
"Alice, are you interested in dating too? Is there a boy you like?"
"Well..."
A boy. I was originally a man. So, seeing n as mbers of the opposite sex... Honestly, I couldn't help but feel repulsed.
However, it was amusing to tease Suho and Kyeong-min using the fact that my body was female.
...Now that I thought about it, I did feel quite a bit like a woman.
Yet, sohow, loving a woman feels oddly unsettling.
There was a feeling of reluctance and resistance to doing this and that.
It's confusing to think about gender identity at this age.
"Was it a sensitive question?"
As my worries grow longer, Ha-rim asks .
"What do you an?"
"I learned in class that there is diversity in love and that we must respect it... But in reality, when you are in the minority, it is difficult to easily reveal your true feelings, and there is no good in saying it, right?"
I thought Ha-rim had beco an ethics teacher for a mont.
She was so serious in explaining things clearly and coherently that it embarrassed .
Before she could say anything more, I cut off the conversation.
"Wait! Can you stop being so profound all of a sudden?! Even if you tell that, I'm not particularly interested in dating!"
"Honestly, neither. But I do have an ideal type. I like soone who stays with all the ti! It'd be better if they're a good person. I think it's even better if they're fun too."
"Umm... I."
They said love cos in many forms, right?
Maybe I was thinking of it as too physical.
In my head, I imagined soone making a sincere confession that they loved .
The other person may be male or female, young or old.
I ca to a conclusion.
"... Honestly, if soone says they love , I don't think anyone could deny it. What can I say... I feel like I can't reject it?"
Is it a little strange? I waited for Ha-rim's reaction.
She smiled bitterly at and said.
"I read in a book that won who are too easy are not attractive!"
"What books have you been reading?"
I couldn't help but retort.
Ha-rim added that I sounded like an old man.
Once again, when one topic ended, she moved on to the next one.
Class is starting soon, so this should be the last topic.
She pointed to a boy dressed in black and wearing a hoodie in the corner of our class.
"Let's see... How about the guy over there who watches ani during break ti?"
"Huh?"
"I once saw him watching an ani called 'Card King Earth' when I was bored. Was his na Yong Tak-gu? Let's go ask him what ani he was watching."1
"Wait a minute. That's not possible. It's really not."
"Why?"
'There's definitely a reason he's watching it while alone!'
"He may be timid and delicate, so I'll go alone and ask him."
If you're watching an ani and the bubbly girl in your class asks you what you're watching, you're probably going to be embarrassed.
You're most likely going to think, Uh, what? This is a little awkward.
Not that I would ever know.
Because no one else had approached except for the Senior.
As a forr loner, I feel like I could empathize.
"Hey... Do you mind if I ask what you're watching?"
I asked as discreetly as I could.
"Uh, what? This is a little awkward."
A sense of betrayal creeps into my heart.
But I apologized without a hint of annoyance.
"Uh... Um... Sorry I interrupted you. I was just curious."
"Well, let show you a little bit then. It's not really an ani."
His deanor changed.
He realized that he wasn't the one to be judged.
Loners are naturally paranoid.
I can't believe I didn't take that into consideration.
"Oh, it's a virtual YouTuber."
"Do you know them?"
"I know. I watch a lot of ga livestreams. Strears are changing a lot these days."
The 2D character is moving around while playing the ga.
This person is a virtual YouTuber.
A way to make it more fun is to slightly break down the boundary between 2D and reality by broadcasting while acting as a cute ani character.
"This is a Monster Hunter series ga, right? It was released a while ago."
"So you know? It was first released overseas."
"Well, I've been waiting for the Korean version of the ga since I've watched the foreign livestreams."
I continued talking excitedly with him for about 5 minutes.
At this ti, I realized that Ha-rim was looking at my back with a dissatisfied expression.
"...Alice... You're having fun without ..."
"Oh. I'm sorry!"
"Uh... Um..."
"It was fun. Let's talk next ti."
"O... Okay."
Ha-rim and I returned to our seats. Tak-gu put his hoodie back on and started looking at his phone.
[Where are you looking? If you are my fan, watch my broadcast! I don't like you flirting with that girl!]
"I'm... I'm sorry, Lost."
Before I knew it, class was over and I was on my way ho from school.
Originally, I should have avoided getting too close, but the other kids had work to do and quickly returned ho, so I didn't want to leave Ha-rim alone.
While this was happening, I asked her about what bothered .
"Ah, Ha-rim, didn't you buy sothing like a crystal ball at an occult shop before?"
"Oh, that's right! I bought it, but I think I dropped it while playing near the window. When I looked for it, it was broken outside the club room window. But how did you know?"
"It's just. When you think of occult items, it has to be a crystal ball."
"As expected! Alice thinks so too, right?"
I can clearly see what kind of thinking process she and the children went through when they bought it.
That crystal ball. There was clearly an anomalous power.
A strange song ca from the crystal ball.
The singing voice had an effect even on , who probably has a higher resistance than normal humans. It must have been the product of quite a strong being.
I should ask Jas to reinvestigate the occult shop and collect the broken crystal ball later.
"I see. Was there anything suspicious about that crystal ball?"
Ha-rim thought lightly at my question.
"Well... When I fell asleep with it, I had a strange dream."
"What dream?"
"Sothing like... I felt like I was at an idol concert?"
"Eh?"
"That's all."
Co to think of it, the music playing felt like a pop song.
Step, step.
Today, the other kids went first because they had stuff to do, so it's easy for silence to set in when one of two people stops talking.
The fact that it was us two was enough to make each other chatter, though.
I thought out topics of conversation in my head.
Then, unconsciously, one particular topic ca out of my mouth.
"Ha-rim, you like the occult. What would you think if there were a lot of abnormal things like ghosts around you?"
"That might be fun?"
"Even if it's bigger and more dangerous than you imagined?"
"For example?"
"For example... A monster bigger than a mountain watching us from the clouds in the sky?"
"That's scary..."
I guess so too.
I wondered how she would react if she found out that this world was similar to the supernatural world she fell into before.
Would she despair? Would she start crying? I have to protect them so that that doesn't happen.
As I was rubbing my chin and worrying, Ha-rim also rubbed her chin and frowned.
Am I making that kind of face?
Ha-rim, too engrossed in rubbing her chin, couldn't see ahead. So it was quite inevitable that she would bump into soone blocking the path.
"Ah! I'm sorry."
"..."
Ha-rim and I looked up.
He's taller than us. Three boys who looked to be in their third year of middle school were blocking the road.
"Hey, what is this? A wallet just happened to be here."
"What?"
From the first word, I recognized the clichd tone of their voice.
"My brothers and I need so money for cigarettes, can you give your wallet?"
It feels fresh.
Even though I've t murderous monsters, it's been a long ti since I've seen a middle school student try to rip off.
The mory of being robbed of money when I was a grown man cos back to like a flashback.
"...I don't want to..."
Ha-rim hesitates and expresses her refusal.
"Just do a favor, hmm? Give it to before you get your ass kicked and cry."
"Hey, hey, hey, even I feel like crying if you do that."
"Damn, you two are such assholes. Pfft."
The gangsters are giggling amongst themselves.
Since they have no respect for the other person and are only thinking about taking our money, they let their guard down and they say whatever cos to mind.
I've experienced this before, but the curiosity in my mind is preventing from moving my mouth and hand.
"Yes, I will give it to you."
Ha-rim puts her hand on her pocket.
I was thinking of stopping her and scolding the bullies. And then paused for a mont.
...Is this sothing I should do?
This is not an insurmountable situation.
We can get away without a problem by just handing over our wallet and putting the money in Ha-rim's wallet later.
It's not a dangerous situation.
It's just a small event in everyday life. Even if you get hurt, you won't die.
I didn't want to show my strength and make her feel uncomfortable about again.
I watched Ha-rim as she was pulling her wallet out of her backpack.
...And what she took out was not a wallet, but an insect repellent spray.
She took advantage of their lack of attention and sprayed it into the eyes of the person in front.
The gangster's screams rang out and Ha-rim grabbed my hand.
"Hey! Alice, let's run away!"
"Uh, yes!"
I ran after her.
I could run faster, but I didn't necessarily need to overtake her.
"Fucking hell!"
The gangster who got hit by the spray chased after us, swearing.
Including the two people next to him, there were a total of three people chasing two female elentary school students.
To be honest, there is a difference in speed and it is difficult to win by force.
Is Ha-rim afraid? I looked at her expression.
...She has a serious expression.
"Turn to the right and go up the slide!"
As soon as I turned right, I saw an old playground.
I climbed up the steep slide along her.
It was old, so it was less slippery.
We arrived at the second floor of a castle-like structure built for children to play.
Ha-rim kicked the gangster who followed us.
But the other two who climbed up the stairs rushed at us.
At this mont, Ha-rim hit the floor and broke it!
We fell to the ground.
I was shocked that she had the strength to break the floor.
"Woah!"
While I was surprised, she smiled and ran again.
"The rides at this playground have been degraded for a long ti! Even the signs say there's a risk of falling because they're cracked!"
Even so, no one knew if it would break at once.
Right behind us, the gangster who had been kicked by Ha-rim and slipped, gave chase again.
Ha-rim took sothing out of her bag and threw it with great concentration, as if trying to ti it.
It was a hard, round baseball.
Just as the bully's foot touched the ground, the baseball got stuck between the sand and his foot, and he fell.
"Urgh! My ankle!"
"Sorry, it was intentional!"
One person was eliminated, so there are now two.
The two of them were so angry that they didn't have any rationality left.
"You better run! If you get caught, you're dead!"
On that side, there are middle school students.
On this side, there are elentary school students (except !). The running speed difference is clear.
Even though Ha-rim is fast, the other side is faster.
It's not surprising, since gangsters often play sports.
Ha-rim took a deep breath as if she had made a big decision.
"... I'm so sorry, but please have courage, Alice!"
"What?!"
Shockingly, after calculating the timing for a mont, Ha-rim turned and jumped into the path of a passing car on the side of the road.
And on a pretty wide road!
With perfect timing, she succeeded in avoiding all of the honking cars without stopping and crossing the road.
I started to sweat.
I'm afraid that Ha-rim will die, not !
'Ha-rim. The calculation of car speed is perfect. Are you really an elentary school student?! Even if you are bold, you are too bold!'
She runs calmly while apologizing to the drivers.
I've known for a long ti that she's not normal, but she always breaks common sense.
We stopped on a street between buildings a few monts later, and the lone gangster behind us gasped, having separated from the other two.
"Wow. Holy shit. You're pretty good, I admit. But that's it."
Ha-rim found a long stick in the trash can and pointed it at the gangster.
"Ha! You want to fight? That's ridiculous."
The bully ran towards her.
Unlike the excited bully, Ha-rim was frighteningly calm.
I saw her eyes moving really fast.
My guess is that what Ha-rim glanced at was his shoulder, arm, and the other person's gaze.
She easily dodged the bully's fist and struck his head and stomach in a series of motions.
"Argh!"
And I sprayed the crouching bully's eyes with the spray Ha-rim lent .
She continued to hit the feet and legs of the bully who was rolling on the floor.
She was thinking of causing pain in his legs so he wouldn't be able to chase us.
Honestly, it's a scary idea.
If Ha-rim had been a little more scary, I think she would have slashed his ankles.
"You idiot! Why are you getting hit!"
"Urgh..."
The other bullies who arrived later scolded him.
I wondered if it was the beginning of another chase, but I only shook my head at the persistence of the thugs and felt no tension.
"...Officer~"
"Huh? What is it?"
There was a police officer directing traffic across the road.
This is a police officer whom Ha-rim sotis greeted because it was close to the way ho from school.
Ha-rim had deliberately walked towards him.
"They asked to give them money, and they told not to tell the police, but they looked suspicious... Is it okay to give them money?"
"...You three, follow ."
The situation is over.
Ha-rim smiled brightly while wiping away the sweat she had shed while running.
"Hehe... That was close."
"Lies..."
She was full of leisure.
After all, the main character is the main character.
Ha-rim stretched out her arms as if she felt refreshed.
And she spoke as if she had rembered sothing.
"That's right. The topic we just talked about. I didn't answer properly, did I?"
"Huh? Ah, that's right. So much happened in the anti."
"Well... No matter how much I like the occult, I don't think a world full of scary things is a good place, even more if they are just out there running around and terrorizing my friends."
"I guess so... Right?"
"Yeah. But it's inevitable that they are going to run into sothing and have to either run away or fight, but it's weird that I get to decide that."
I nodded. The thing nad trial wasn't always predictable.
It's not like she can handle it every ti.
"Yeah, I guess we don't have a choice."
"I don't want a world where scary things roam around. But if I were in that world, I would try to overco the scary things. If I try and work hard, I might be able to overco anything. Like we did just now!"
Ha-rim was always like that. She never gave up, and even in the original ga, she was the one who refused to give up on life until she was given the worst ending possible.
"And when I did it, it felt really good, like a feeling of being saved."
"Yeah, you were amazing."
"? Alice was there too."
"Huh? I guess so."
In the end, it's no different from doing it alone. But I couldn't predict what Ha-rim was going to say.
"It beca even more special because I was with Alice. The bad guys were scary, but the chase beca a fun mory for and Alice... And Alice even smiled!"
"Smiling? ?"
"Yeah! I just saw Alice smile brightly for the first ti. If there's a reward for doing your best, it's Alice smiling at you, right? If Alice smiles, I might enjoy a few more chases."
Ha-rim is happy.
As I was admiring Ha-rim's smile, a thought suddenly occurred to .
Had I co forward to intervene, she wouldn't have had any fun.
Keeping the children away from danger and ensuring their safety.
Keeping scary monsters away from the kids and if they et any, erase their mories so they can return to their daily lives.
At first glance, that seems correct.
Children are precious and must be protected.
...But didn't I rob the children of their adventure?
Haven't I taken away their joy in exchange for seeking safety instead of adventure?
Even if what I erased was a minor incident, even if it was the Institution that erased the mories of that place full of the supernatural that was the ga stage.
I thought it was the right thing.
Is this really right?
"I..."
Sothing fundantal inside was shaken.
My power becos unstable and ripples.
Alice who prevents adventures from happening is not Alice.
"Ah. There's a food stall over there. Let's have so snacks!"
Ha-rim said as we stopped at a passing stall. She took my hand and led once again.
I surrendered to the hand, and in doing so, the ripples were cald.
"...Sure."
Reviews
All reviews (0)