LIGHTNOVELWORLD Chapter 325
Hope is a shining emotion.
Maybe, it’s a color that symbolically shows that small light shining from afar, leading us.
If the god of this world thought of hope in such a way and expressed it like this… well, I can certainly praise the choice of that color.
I have goals, but no dreams. I’ve never thought about becoming something in this world.
Perhaps, I entered this world just as I was about to forget my dreams and be pushed into reality.
The reason my hope has no color is probably for that reason.
I have no dreams, but I have goals.
Becoming a magical girl wasn’t my dream, but now that I am one, I’ll continue being a magical girl.
I don’t know the purpose of coming to this world at all, but because I met Ha-yoon, Ji-eun, Seo-hee and Yeon-woo, Jua and Chae-yeon, I want to see those kids, so I live another day.
There might be people who would laugh in disbelief at my not-so-grand goals, but I honestly think that way.
A white shining hope.
My hammer could shine like that and crush everything. Hope is a strength for me to move forward, but it’s also the force pushing me from behind.
As I achieve each goal, the more I think about having such goals, that strength pushes me from behind.
To not stop. To somehow move forward.
The first time I met the magical girls, I was able to charge at them without fear because Ha-yoon was there by my side.
In my childhood, despite being in such despair, the reason I was able to keep living was that Ji-hye and the other kids from the orphanage, and the teacher were there.
I’ve taken steps like that and arrived here.
I have no thoughts of going back.
A loud sound was heard. A sound so large it was hard to believe it was the clash of metal against metal.
The sound of a mass of light swallowing my hammer and colliding with that big alien’s circuit.
My power is not just mine. My hope has always come from other kids.
A hope that can be painted in any color.
But because of that, it’s a hope that somehow seeps in stubbornly and rises again.
I decided to define my white color like that.
Suddenly, there was a sound like something breaking. There was a crack in the circuit. Not my circuit, but the one prepared over there.
And then, behind that, my body was being thrown back.
The voice calling my name became a harmony, as all the other kids came rushing towards me.
I really don’t get why they all like me so much.
This is probably a story I won’t understand until the day I die.
“Aliens!?”
I snapped out of my momentary daze and shouted. The worried gazes of the kids looking only at me turned right back. No, I wish they’d at least focus on the enemy during the fight… Well, it’s not like they would listen just because I said so.
If they were the kind of kids who would listen to me, I wouldn’t even have thought about following them.
Indeed, my personality is pretty messed up.
I couldn’t just blame the kids. The area was hazy, with smoke or dust clouding my vision almost completely.
“Haha.”
Laughter echoed. It wasn’t from our side.
It was a laugh coming from beyond the smoke.
That short laugh slowly grew until it became a loud roar. Like we were hilarious, a sound that mocked us.
I staggered to my feet. My body was sore from the explosion a while ago.
I picked up the hammer. The kids looked at me with worried eyes, then each took a bit of distance and assumed a battle stance.
The thick smoke began to settle, and slowly, what lay beyond came into view.
“I told you so?”
Pung-Pung said.
“I prepared a gift.”
I frowned.
Slowly, the smoke settled, revealing the figure of that red-skinned Pung-Pung.
Armor was wrapped around her arms. Similar to the ones used by the aliens, that kind of armor.
But even so, Pung-Pung didn’t look distorted like an alien. It was just that her face was clearly visible without a helmet.
“Oh, this isn’t a gift. This is a gift you prepared for me… A weapon utilizing energy created by Earthlings. Thanks to you, it seems the verification was a success.”
Is she excited about the thought of selling that energy?
Of all things, the weapon that woman was holding was a hammer. Similar to mine. Is this also what we gave as a ‘gift’?
If that’s the case, then the gift they prepared is—
As I turned my eyes to find the ‘gift,’ I froze at the sight of something sprawled on the floor.
“So you’ve only just realized. Well, if you can use energy, there’s no need for the opponent to be a modified alien.”
Pung-Pung kicked away the fallen alien armor with the chest piece wide open as she spoke.
Inside that armor was a woman lying unconscious, her upper body exposed.
Strange tubes were stuck all over her body. It looked like she had IVs infused into all her veins.
The sight was of that woman who had been visiting me several times, mistaking me for her daughter, despite not sharing any blood.
“…Oh my.”
Ha-yoon muttered.
“…Ji-eun?”
Ji-hye looked at me with trembling eyes.
Ji-hye still hadn’t realized. I don’t know if the other kids noticed or not. The only way to know was the faces of Ji-hye and that woman.
And, in reality, I had no basis for this.
But, but—
“The condition to never give up, despite despair. Right. We know that too. We just haven’t found a proper specimen until now. That’s why we’ve tried to make one ourselves… The chairman, no, the former chairman, said it wouldn’t work like that, but look. I’ve succeeded! I’ve even found a substitute, even if it’s half-baked.”
The woman said to taunt me.
“There was hope right before my eyes.”
I gripped my hammer tightly.
But before I could jump out and swing my hammer at that face, the woman was already babbling away.
“Without even knowing who your real daughter is. I should’ve told you. If I did, you wouldn’t have learned hope by looking at me.”
I stomped the ground.
“Ji-eun!”
Ha-yoon quickly followed me, but my hammer was slicing through the air.
“Did you seem to not even notice until you saw her face? Isn’t that strange? Even I, who came from another planet, can see how much you resemble each other.”
“Shut up!”
“I can see that your circuit’s RPM is dropping. It’s not the generator’s fault. Oh, I see.”
Pung-Pung smiled and moved closer to me. I hastily laid my hammer sideways to block the attack, but I was sent flying backward.
I got anxious. This was not a good sign.
Hope, for it to be strong, should not feel any other emotions. It’s the force that says there’s no reason to give up, no reason to fail. The belief that even if we fail, we can win.
But words crushing that kind of thought were coming from that woman.
Is it because of the generator? Should I not have brought the generator? If I hadn’t, then that armor might not have gained strength.
“Have you despaired? Because your close friend might get hurt?”
“No!”
I shouted desperately, but the woman had already begun speaking to Ji-hye.
“Doesn’t that look like anyone? It resembles someone even to me. You.”
“Uh?”
Ji-hye considered in bewilderment.
“Can’t you think that way?”
Pung-Pung laughed out loud. Now that woman’s intention was clear to the other kids, and they were rushing at Pung-Pung.
But we’d already used a lot of power. The generator wasn’t functioning properly, so the strength we had been receiving from it was slowly declining.
On the other hand, Pung-Pung, who had accumulated the generator’s power in her armor while we fought, was unaffected.
As though she were enjoying herself, she dodged our attacks with acrobatics and shouted with ease.
“Were you thrown away in the same place? Then, if one of the kids that was thrown away isn’t the real one! Who would the other one be?!”
“…”
Ji-hye, who had just managed to catch up with the story, slowly opened her mouth.
Her expression was blank.
“Ji-hye, wait a minute…”
“…Mama, right?”
But before I could say anything, Ji-hye’s aura felt a little strange.
“…?”
A question mark arose in my head. The other kids too. Even Pung-Pung came to a halt for a moment.
Ji-hye had tears welling in her eyes.
An understandable reaction. It was certainly an understandable reaction.
But what Ji-hye said next was a bit different from my thoughts.
“I had… a mom?”
“…”
Ah.
It came to me a bit late.
Ji-hye was a kid who thought differently from me.
Unlike me, who twisted anything into the gloomy side, she was always trying to live brightly.
A child who wanted to not be defeated by reality, that kind of kid.
And—
And if it’s Ji-hye like that,
She probably won’t ‘despair’ about the fact that she had a mom.
For now—yeah, that’s right.
She’d probably want to protect.
With that huge, sturdy shield in Ji-hye’s hand.
The green shield was slowly starting to glow brighter.