19

I've never met a truly skilled fighter among the ones who came to bother me.

First of all, no one has ever gone so far as to bring a guy just to beat me up.

I'm not sure if I was just lucky or if they didn't feel the need to go that far.

Hayoon doesn't know this is happening, and even if the company is aware, they have no reason to help me. So it's not like I have anyone backing me from behind.

No matter how much my job involves "fighting," it's a big problem if the weight class difference is too much.

From that point of view, I guess it's lucky.

Next, the ones who come to threaten me usually don't know how to fight at all.

Maybe they think working out or learning martial arts isn't useful in life, but so far, none of them have been experts.

I guess that's lucky too.

After all, I don't just fight with my physical abilities even if I'm fighting a magical girl.

If we take all those things out, the ones left are the type who try to make you kneel with numbers and intimidation.

They strike first, then gang up on the ones who falter in shock.

In the end, they're the type who gets a thrill from making you kneel on the ground.

"Ugh…!"

But there's no way I'm going to get hit by a punch from someone like them.

Even though I look like this, my body could dodge a laser beam.

No matter how much I'm assisted by the suit, my body remembers the movements.

One of them swung a palm at my face, maybe trying to slap me, but I leaned back slightly to avoid it.

A kick came at me, but again, it wasn't very fast.

I dodged it slightly to the side, and as they put their foot back on the ground, they wobbled.

If I pushed them a little with my foot here, they'd fall, but I didn't go that far.

"I'd appreciate it if you didn't aim for my face, at least."

If they hit my face, Hayoon would definitely worry about it tomorrow.

Well, it's not like I'm planning to get hit anywhere on my body, face or otherwise.

And I'm not planning to hit them either.

I slightly lifted my gaze.

There was a camera attached to a streetlight.

Right next to it, in red letters, it blatantly said "Crime Prevention Camera."

The alley we were in wasn't exactly "where the rich people live."

It wasn't a full-on slum, but there were a few places that were a bit scary to walk up alone when it got dark.

Even though it wasn't where rich people lived, it was an area where people who had influence lived, so I guess they cared about it.

Plus, since it was a road leading up to a slum, it was naturally steep.

As I kept dodging and stalling, the people swinging their hands and feet at me slowed down noticeably.

I kept stepping backward, and as I did, they kept coming up the slope, swinging their punches and kicks.

Even though hitting someone already takes a lot of energy, doing it while climbing uphill, they were obviously getting tired.

"Hey, you… stand still."

"I'm standing right here. Keep coming."

Even in the middle of winter, seeing the faces of these girls turning bright red and panting was a little amusing.

Did they not think they'd turn back because of their pride?

"See? You thought I'd be an easy target."

As I teased them, the ringleader's face flushed even redder.

I think this is what people mean when they say sparks fly from someone's eyes.

"You, I'll fucking kill you."

The voice that was shouting lowered, and the words came out as if they were grinding their teeth, sounding pretty convincing.

I looked at where I was and where they were standing, estimating the distance between us.

They slowly started walking up toward me, their tempers obviously flaring, thinking they were definitely going to kill me today.

The alley was pretty narrow.

If the three of them stood in a line and closed the distance, it might be a good idea to run here.

I thought to myself and got into position.

"Wait!"

Just as I was about to rush through the gap, suddenly, someone shouted.

Both I and the three people trying to bother me turned our heads at the same time.

And there stood a hero.

…Well, no. That was a joke.

It was just some strange person with their face covered by a mask.

And not even a proper mask, but just a scarf wrapped around their face.

To put it nicely, they looked like an old-school radical terrorist. At worst, she looked like a homeless guy wearing scraps.

At least it was winter, so their skin color wasn't showing, which was a relief.

If their blue skin had shown, it would've been a serious problem in many ways.

"What the hell is that?"

One of the girls muttered.

And just like that, my focus completely shifted away from them to the figure standing on top of the wall.

"Hey, wait!"

I shouted as I saw the person about to jump down.

"Huh?"

At my sudden shout, the person who was about to jump turned their head toward me, and their posture wobbled.

Their body tilted in an odd direction.

"Ah."

This is a disaster.

I closed my eyes.

"Eek!?"

I heard the girls scream, and then there was a loud thud, like something crashing.

When I opened my eyes, I saw the so-called 'hero'—well, more like a weirdly dressed weirdo—collapsed on top of the three girls.

Oh, this is a mess.

I quickly thought about two options.

First, leave it as is and run.

Second, still drag that person and run.

Honestly, the first option really tempted me in my heart.

If I helped that person, I might end up in trouble myself.

And more than that, I felt resentful because they had interfered with the plan I had carefully set up and messed things up.

I wasn't planning to lift a finger against those kids.

If I resisted and hit or subdued them, I'd be at a huge disadvantage.

So, I had just planned to dash down this slope and try to make the kids following me trip and fall.

Can I call this 'assault'?

It seems like Earth is still a developing planet under protection, so things are complicated in many ways.

If they were aliens from the Galactic Federation, they might have been given some sort of extrajudicial immunity, but for that guy, who was basically an illegal tourist, there would be problems.

So, if I just left things as they were and ended up getting caught by the police, I'd definitely be deported without any exceptions.

"…Ah, I don't care anymore."

I quickly ran over and grabbed the person's wrist, who had barely gotten up from the ground.

And I ran.

"Eh, ehhh?"

It seemed like they couldn't comprehend what was going on since I grabbed their wrist and was pulling them.

I ran as fast as I could.

They still seemed confused, but the person at least followed my hand and ran hard.

I could hear someone shouting from behind, but I ignored it.

*

Ha, ha, ha.

After running for a while, we reached a small park in the neighborhood.

It wasn't very big.

There was a small stream flowing from the mountain side, and next to it was a gazebo and a short walking path.

I looked back at the road.

There was no one following us.

Phew.

I let out a long breath and casually sat down in the gazebo.

Normally, old men from the neighborhood would almost take over the whole gazebo, but since winter hadn't ended yet, there was no one else around.

"What… what was that, just now?"

"No, I should be the one asking that."

As soon as she caught her breath, Pangpang- or their full name- Jiguppa pulled down her scarf from her face and asked. I frowned.

"Where did you suddenly pop out from?"

"Eh? Oh, I came out to buy dinner."

Sure enough, Jiguppa was holding a plastic bag.

I walked over to look inside the bag.

There were cup noodles inside.

They were all crushed, though.

Thinking back, she had the same bag when she was standing on top of the wall earlier.

And as I saw inside the bag, I felt bad for her.

She was the type of person who probably saw food as a basic necessity, given that she had to pay rent and all the other bills, while I didn't have to worry about any of that.

"…I guess I can just boil it in a pot."

Jiguppa laughed awkwardly, but I furrowed my brows slightly.

"Why'd you come out in the first place?"

I hadn't heard the full story yet.

"Well… I heard someone might be getting bullied."

"So you came to help?"

"Well… since it was you?"

I rubbed my face with my hand.

Seriously, what kind of evil organization minion acts like this?

I mean, I'm working here to earn some pocket money too, so I guess I'm not that different, but still…

I sighed heavily.

"Come on."

"Huh? Where to?"

"No more questions."

As I started walking, Jiguppa obediently followed behind.

I went into the nearest convenience store.

*

Honestly, I didn't think it was my fault, but still, she had tried to help.

And then her dinner ended up getting ruined.

I felt a little sorry for her, so I bought her a new cup noodle.

I also grabbed a small can of coffee for myself.

"Hehe~"

So, we were back in the gazebo.

The guy whined that she didn't want to drink alone, so I bought another can of coffee.

But that extra one was bought with her own money. She had insisted on paying for at least one can herself.

In her hand held a blue can, and I held the warmed-up version of the same can in mine.

The crushed cup noodles became our snack.

Actually, I didn't eat any.

It's not that I'm against eating crushed noodles, but I really didn't want to eat crunchy noodles with coffee.

Jiguppa, though, was eating them like a snack with soju, looking a little flushed.

I noticed a "No Drinking" sign attached to the gazebo.

"This is it. This is the taste of life."

"Isn't it a little weird to say that at your age?"

I asked, thinking it was something I'd seen in a hundred Korean dramas.

"This is exactly the age to say stuff like that. We don't get to do this back home."

Because it's illegal.

I took a sip of my coffee.

The sweet, canned coffee taste didn't seem to match the noodles, but I let it go.

Watching Jiguppa happily eat the noodles, I asked her, "Do you like living here?"

"Hm? Of course. Otherwise, why would I stay?"

"What do you like about it?"

She blinked as she looked at me when I asked.

"…Well, it's because it's a different planet?"

I mean, I don't completely not get it.

Come to think of it, I know very little about her home planet.

She'd sometimes tell me about it without me asking, but I never really tried to learn more.

I've never wanted to visit another planet.

But, if I went to her planet, I have no guarantee I'd be okay.

She can walk around Earth without any life support, but there could be something on her planet that would be fatal to me.

Maybe something that's harmless to her but could be toxic to me.

Still, even putting that aside, there might be quite a cultural difference.

I watched her in confusion, and the guy scratched her cheek, looking a little embarrassed.

"Well… I guess. Over here, I can get caffeine anywhere, and I can watch my favorite dramas and movies whenever I want. And the latest movies are easy to find too."

That's true.

It is true, but…

Somehow, seeing this made me think she didn't want to talk.

Having thought that far, I decided not to ask any further questions.

I had never really wanted to go to another planet.

Seeing Jiguppa walking around on Earth without any special life-support device, it seemed like there were no major health concerns for her here. But that didn't mean I'd be fine if I went to her planet. Even if the toxins there were in tiny amounts and harmless to her, there could be something lethal to me.

But even aside from that, wouldn't there be a pretty big cultural gap?

When I looked at her with a skeptical expression, Jiguppa scratched her cheek, looking slightly embarrassed.

"Well, you know. Here, I can get caffeine anywhere, and I can watch my favorite dramas or movies whenever I want. And it's easy to catch the latest films, too."

Well, that was true.

That was true, but…

Something about the way she said it made me feel like she didn't really want to talk about it.

Realizing that, I decided not to press further.

Crunch, crunch.

The sound of someone biting into dry ramen echoed next to me.

Watching that, for some reason, made the crushed ramen look delicious.

I grabbed a piece, put it in my mouth, and started chewing.

Then, I took a sip of coffee.

I immediately regretted eating them together.

*

The next day.

As usual, I took the bus to school with Hayoon.

I sat down without much thought.

While other kids were chatting happily, I ignored them and looked for my textbook to take it out.

Thud.

The classroom door opened with a loud noise.

Actually, it sounded more like a bang than a thud.

I looked toward the source of the noise and saw an adult woman standing there, her face flushed red with anger.

A rather large woman.

"Ma'am!"

I heard the homeroom teacher shouting from behind.

Upon closer inspection, I noticed the woman was wearing a necklace.

The design was quite chic, but her face didn't quite match, making it look oddly unbalanced.

Her clothes were the same.

Even if you didn't know anything about fashion, you could immediately tell it was a luxury brand, with a huge logo on the dress.

Over that, she wore what was clearly the fur of an animal that had once been alive.

The handbag she was holding must've been expensive, too.

As she scanned the classroom, her eyes met mine.

I had never seen her before, but I had a pretty good idea who she was.

Well, I didn't expect this.

There had been quite a few people who had tried to torment me until now, but I had never seen anyone go as far as bringing their parents.

Was I just lucky so far?

Or did this year already start off on the wrong foot?

To my surprise, the woman, who had recognized me, came straight towards me.

The students in the way moved aside.

It didn't seem like they were moving to torment me, but rather, they probably figured it'd be better to not get involved with her.

Someone even took out their smartphone and started recording.

Could this be used as evidence later?

I got up from my seat.

Hayoon, who was sitting in front of me, stood up when she saw me get up.

The woman who was approaching had a face so red it looked like it might burst.

Her eyes were wide open, and I was a little worried thinking they might pop out.

Her daughter didn't look anything like her.

Out of the three girls I saw yesterday, I wasn't sure which one was her daughter, but none of them resembled her.

When she got close, I thought she might start yelling at me, but instead of shouting, the woman raised her hand first.

I considered whether I should avoid it or take the hit.

It seemed better to avoid it.

If the video gets uploaded with a title like "School Violence Justice Served," it might make me look bad.

I didn't want to act according to their intentions, especially since they were snickering while recording.

So I fixed my gaze on the woman's thick hand, preparing myself—

Thud.

Her hand never reached me.

"..."

Hayoon was looking at her with an expression that practically screamed, "What do you think you're doing?"

The hand that was supposed to strike me was stopped midway. Hayoon was holding it back effortlessly with just one hand.

And just to be clear—she wasn't grabbing it.

Being the smart girl she was, she knew that if the woman got hurt, it could turn into a legal issue for her.

"Excuse me, ma'am."

Hayoon's voice was polite and calm.

"May I ask what seems to be the problem?"

At that composed question, the woman's furious eyes wavered slightly, as if some rationality had returned to her.

"This brat—"

Hayoon stared.

Without blinking.

Uh, even I found that a little intimidating.

The woman's pointing finger trembled slightly.

It wasn't just that Hayoon was mad.

Nor was it that this woman was particularly terrifying.

It was the situation itself.

Because now, Hayoon was about to find out about what happened to me yesterday.

"This kid," the woman continued.

Her anger slightly diminished—perhaps realizing something, or maybe recognizing Hayoon's face and remembering which family she belonged to.

"She hurt my daughter yesterday."

"..."

Hayoon looked at me.

She looked at me with a doubtful expression.

That's not true, right?

It felt like I could hear those words, and I almost let out a frustrated groan.

What should I say here?

If I admitted it, then I'd be guilty as charged.

There was a security camera in place, but the problem was that I wasn't the only one who was caught on it.

If things escalated into a full-blown legal battle and the authorities started looking for the "attacker," that could open a whole new can of worms.

Seeing me stay silent, the woman's confidence grew.

"Yesterday, because of that incident, my child had three broken ribs! Do you know that!?"

No, I didn't know.

Honestly, I thought it was somewhat deserved.

If they'd gone to a clinic, it would've healed in a day, but it seemed like the kids stayed at the hospital.

They probably received treatment.

"Jieun?"

Hayoon called my name with a slightly bewildered tone.

I hesitated for a moment, then sighed deeply.

"So, what?"

And that was the only thing I said.