Chapter 104 - The Pedestrian II

4

Subjugation was not optional. It was essential.

If we stood by and let things continue, the tunnels throughout the Korean Peninsula—and then the entire world—would be infected by Inunaki Tunnel one after another.

The awakened of Korea and Japan agreed to join forces. This was an apocalypse where distribution networks had already collapsed. Losing tunnel routes altogether on top of that was unacceptable.

But what sort of creatures were the nations of East Asia?

"Since an undersea tunnel has conveniently appeared off Busan, why don't we just carry out the subjugation there...?"

"Meoow. Thank you for the offer, but a proper adult cleans up their own shit, meow. Our Magical Girl Council will take the lead in subjugating Inunaki, meow!"

If the three countries met for a conference, Korea would write 'Korea–China–Japan,' China 'China–Korea–Japan,' and Japan 'Japan–China–Korea.' Such was East Asian etiquette.

Asking whether their countries had long since fallen was meaningless. The people come first, after all; a country only follows.

Even though their nations had already perished—no, precisely because they had perished—the self-proclaimed 'representatives' of each region clung all the harder to authority.

"Hmm. Your spirit is admirable, but I hear things haven't been going terribly well over there lately... We've only just acquired one undersea tunnel, while your entire country has become an ant nest, hasn't it? We're ready to help at any time..."

"Nyahaha. Thank you for your concern, meow. Things would certainly have been easier if we had an awakened of Undertaker's unparalleled caliber too, mew! Ahh, how sad to be so much less fortunate than our neighbors, meow!"

The cheerful conversation continued, full of laughter.

Apparently, it looked like far too much fun. Even China's awakened, who had yet to be infected by Inunaki, casually radioed over to say, 'Hey, hey? What are you doing? Why do only you guys get to have fun? Can't we join in too? Huh? Let's play together.'

As the faces on both sides grew increasingly sour, I politely intervened.

"Neither the National Road Management Corps nor the Magical Girl Council will lead this subjugation. I will, as a private individual named Undertaker. I would like to invite awakened whom I personally know, one by one, to form a temporary party. I would appreciate your participation for the sake of our personal ties."

"Hmm..."

"Meoow."

This, too, was a longstanding Korean Peninsula tradition: volunteer soldiers. Since we all respected tradition, my proposal passed easily.

A multinational party was formed on the understanding that everyone participated voluntarily and strictly in a personal capacity. Its members were as follows.

-Korean Peninsula: Undertaker (party leader), Saintess (secret participant), Yu Jiwon (deputy party leader)

-Japanese archipelago: Manyoneko (deputy party leader), Armless Sword.

You might think the roster was rather modest after all that fuss about forming a grand binational subjugation force, but it was more than enough.

It feels embarrassing to say so myself, but I, Undertaker, was practically a one-man legion. All I needed were talented people who could fill the gaps I couldn't cover.

As for the Magical Girl Council, well. Since we'd said, 'Two or three are enough for us,' they had no choice but to dispatch a matching number.

"Thank you for having us."

"Meow! Make yourselves at home, meow!"

While escorting us to a luxury ryokan on our business trip to Japan, Manyoneko leaned over to whisper.

"Undertaker, Undertaker."

"Hmm?"

"I know Yu-san over there is a director in the National Road Management Corps, but who's that woman with the aqua-colored hair, meow? I've never seen her before, mew..."

The person Manyoneko indicated with her eyes was the Saintess. Even on the Korean Peninsula, only Noh Doha and I really knew her identity, so it was only natural that the Magical Girl Council knew nothing about her.

"My girlfriend."

"...!"

"We're in our second month together. When I said I was going to Japan, she insisted on coming along because she was worried. She'll be staying here until the operation ends, so please take good care of her."

"Wasn't your girlfriend the Songstress of Three Thousand Worlds, meow?"

What the fuck. Why had that rumor spread all the way across the sea?

"... That's completely unfounded. She's my first girlfriend."

"O-oh. Is that so, meow? My apologies, mew. There are a few Walpurgis among the magical girls too... Anyway! If she's your girl, we'll treat her as an absolute VIP, meow!"

Watching the two of us whisper, the Saintess tilted her head with a questioning look. She was the only member of our group who didn't know Japanese.

We unpacked at the inn and got down to a proper meeting.

"We'll carry out the subjugation on the Japanese side. But if this operation ends successfully, the Council will have to give me a reward."

"A reward? What do you mean, meow?"

"A spirit camera."

"Ah..."

"Specifically, a Polaroid OneStep. The 1977 model, please."

"Nyahaha, meoow. You really are obsessed with that thing, aren't you, Undertaker?"

Manyoneko scratched her cheek.

"I'd love to give you one, mew. But it's an incredibly rare treasure, and even the Council only has three... Mmm, I'll send the proposal up the chain for now, meow."

As the 'Council' in Magical Girl Council suggested, the awakened of the Japanese archipelago did not adhere to a strict chain of command.

Each shrine had a magical girl who had received a divine blessing, and each girl governed her own territory.

The Council headquarters was located on the Noto Peninsula, but compared with the National Road Management Corps' standing on the Korean Peninsula, it was a headquarters in little more than name.

In other words, rather than saying 'the Magical Girl Council possessed three spirit cameras,' it was far more accurate to say 'three magical girls who possessed spirit cameras belonged to the Council.'

Without persuading them individually first, there was no chance they would simply hand over such valuable items.

Naturally, I knew the Council's circumstances perfectly well. That was why I started with a difficult demand before quietly backing off.

"Then could you at least tell me where the Polaroid cameras were originally farmed?"

"Meoow?"

"I'm personally a huge fan of that item. Think of me as an obsessive collector. Getting an actual camera would be ideal, but if that isn't possible, I'd like to gather as much information as I can."

That way, I could jump the queue next run and snap up the item myself.

Manyoneko's face brightened.

"Meow! If that's all you want, I'll find a way to get everyone to agree, meow! Leave it to me, mew!"

Normally, the place where an important item was farmed would also be confidential, but I had just publicly committed to going out of my way to subjugate Inunaki in Japan rather than on the Korean Peninsula.

Sure enough, Manyoneko returned with good news only a few days later.

"I found out where it was farmed, meow. And..."

"And?"

"Ta-daa, meow!"

With an exaggerated flourish, Manyoneko revealed the object she'd hidden behind her back.

"Oh!"

It was a camera. A Polaroid OneStep (Land Camera 1000), released in 1977.

The item I'd coveted for dozens of runs lay in the cat magical girl's hands.

Yes, it was the very camera that would later prove its worth when I went on a hotel staycation with Sim Aryeon at Sauron's Tower.

My eyes wavered.

"Don't tell me, Manyoneko..."

"Nyahaha. You came all the way to our neighborhood with your girlfriend and trusted aide, Undertaker. We'd lose face if we merely told you where to farm it and called it a day, mew. So... ahem. The owner agreed to hand over the camera on the condition that we subjugate Inunaki Tunnel, meow!"

"Manyoneko. From this moment on, we're friends."

"Yeaah! Friends, mew!"

SMACK!

We exchanged a high five.

The subjugation party's morale could not have been better.

Leaving the Saintess at the inn, the four-person party of me, Yu Jiwon, Manyoneko, and Armless Sword set out on Korea and Japan's first official joint operation.

5

Once we reached our destination, the two local magical girls climbed onto a podium—a rock.

"Meoow! Thank you so much for deciding to help with this subjugation operation, mew!"

"... ..."

Manyoneko pointed behind her with the tip of her umbrella. Inunaki Tunnel stood there.

A stone wall blocked roughly ninety percent of the entrance. It was filthy with scribbles and graffiti in every imaginable color.

"This used to be called Sorojidani Tunnel, mew. But as you can see, it's been infected by Inunaki, mew!"

"... ...!"

"It wasn't really a route pedestrians used, so we left it alone, thinking people could just take a detour through the mountains, meow. Nyahaha. But the god I serve lives in a shrine nearby, mew. It's been bothering me and bothering me, meow."

Manyoneko flung her umbrella open.

It was a peculiar umbrella. Its exterior was painted gold, but inside, stars glittered against a pitch-black background like the night sky.

It wasn't a fashion accessory. It was Manyoneko's divine relic. Every magical girl carried one such treasure.

"Fortunately, thanks to Undertaker and the Korean Peninsula's awakened helping us, we can once again attempt surgery to remove this cancer from the archipelago, mew! I'm counting on you, meow!"

"...! ...!"

"Likewise. We haven't worked together for long, so there may be minor mistakes and misunderstandings. Whenever that happens, I'll calmly ask for your understanding, and I'd like to ask for it in advance as well."

"Of course, meow!"

"...! ...!"

That was when it happened.

Yu Jiwon, who had been standing quietly beside me holding her trunk, raised a hand. Incidentally, she was fluent in Japanese too.

"I have a question."

"Meow?"

"Why does the awakened beside you keep opening and closing her mouth, going '...! ...!'? Is she mute?"

Our gazes shifted to Manyoneko's side.

There stood a loner who had yet to join our conversation, stretching up onto her tiptoes with all her might. Presumably, she wanted to make her presence known.

That's right.

All the dialogue marked '...' until now had actually represented that mute magical girl hovering around us.

Incidentally, this magical girl was not only mute. She also lacked both her right and left arms. She was excellent evidence that, if a god existed in heaven, it was a sadist who took pleasure in abusing humans.

"Oh. Armless Sword, did you forget to use your voice-transmission magic, meow? We can't hear anything right now, mew."

"...!"

At Manyoneko's reminder, the mute, armless magical girl hopped up and down. Then a voice began to sound in our heads.

["Oh dear, my apologies. Master Undertaker. Master Yu. I was under the mistaken impression that I had been transmitting my voice all this while! Haha, I thought you were deliberately ignoring me."]

Her archaic way of speaking was utterly at odds with her adorable appearance.

Armless Sword.

Quite literally, a swordswoman without arms.

I was used to her manner of speech. Readers with good memories may already have realized it, but the magical girls who accompanied me when I fought the UFO aliens in run ninety-nine were none other than Manyoneko and Armless Sword, standing here now.

They were also the Japanese awakened I trusted most.

"Hmm..."

Yu Jiwon, on the other hand, apparently saw the magical girls before her as a pair of absolute nutjobs. Her expression turned odd.

It was an undeniable fact, admittedly.

Yu Jiwon whispered in Korean.

"Your Excellency. Why do magic-type awakened all have something wrong with their heads? First Dang Seorin's witch cosplay, then Cheon Yohwa's school-uniform cosplay. Now magical girls? Even the awakened next door are a mess."

"Indeed... I never realized [Minimap] was a magic-type ability either."

"...?"

I looked around the group.

"Good. There may be only four of us, but each is a hero worth a hundred fighters. Today, we will subjugate the anomaly said to have the greatest void depth in the Japanese archipelago. Manyoneko, are you ready?"

"Meoow! As of today, Inunaki Tunnel will be renamed Nekonaki Tunnel, meow!"

"Armless Sword?"

["Indeed! The Magical Girl Council has attempted to subjugate Inunaki four times before, and all those records are stored intact in my head. I am fully prepared!"]

"Yu Jiwon."

"I will follow Your Excellency's orders."

I glanced up at the sky. As though she'd been waiting for it, the Saintess's voice rang out.

["I'm ready, Mr. Undertaker."]

Perfect.

Rarely had I felt so reassured before tackling an anomaly. We advanced with our spirits in excellent shape.

'I have a good feeling about this.'

With confidence, we demolished the stone wall at the entrance and entered the tunnel. Its cozy darkness wrapped around the backs of all four of us.

Sixty-six minutes later.

The joint Korean–Japanese awakened party was fucking annihilated.

5

Again.

Next, run 142.

"Meoow! As of today, Inunaki Tunnel will be renamed Nekonaki Tunnel, meow!"

"Splendid spirit. Excellent. But there's something we need to check first."

"... Meow?"

I answered my party member's morale-boosting cry with an utterly serious expression, lowering the temperature around us by about one degree.

Of course, I hadn't suddenly awakened a temperature-control ability. Quite literally, the temperature around Inunaki Tunnel's entrance was dropping in real time.

"That bastard of an anomaly has already noticed our approach. Manyoneko. You brought the spirit camera, right?"

"Meow? I did, but..."

"Take it out and try taking a picture."

"... Understood, meow. Boss."

Sensing the abrupt shift in my demeanor, Manyoneko's face grew cool and composed as well. Without a single objection, she immediately took the camera from her backpack.

Yu Jiwon remained expressionless, as though accustomed to this side of me. Armless Sword was calm too.

Manyoneko carefully lifted the spirit camera in one hand—one of only three in all Japan.

"Where should I point it, meow?"

"The tunnel entrance. Capture it and the surrounding scenery in one shot."

"Roger, mew."

CLICK

The flash flared. The instant camera soon developed the film and spat it out through its thin lips.

All five of us—me, Yu Jiwon, Manyoneko, Armless Sword, and even the absent Saintess—looked down at the photograph together.

Armless Sword's expression hardened.

["This..."]

In the spirit photograph, corpses were pinned with huge nails to every cedar tree lining either side of the tunnel like temple pillars. The bodies wore outfits adorned with elaborate frills and decorations—rather too ostentatious for ordinary people to wear in public.

They were the corpses of magical girls.

"Do you recognize them?"

["... Yes. The picture quality is poor, so I cannot be entirely certain. But judging by their costumes, they all seem to be comrades who disappeared during previous subjugation operations. I believe there is even a girl I have not seen in seven years."]

Just as I'd thought.

I kept my expression impassive. A subjugation force's leader had to remain steadfast at all times.

A teammate voiced the question in my place.

"What is this, meow? How could this...?"

"It's a provocation. As I said, that anomaly already knew we were approaching. It's daring us to come closer."

"No, but... that makes no sense, mew. Neither Armless Sword nor I are shrine maidens who come up short in spiritual power, mew. How could we notice nothing until we took a photograph...?"

["Wait a moment."]

I turned my head.

Armless Sword was staring at one corner of the washed-out instant photograph.

["These corpses here. The ones hanging right beside the stone wall."]

"Meoow?"

["It is a little blurry, but... do their faces not resemble ours?"]

"..."

The evening cicadas cried.

The Japanese described that sound as kana-kana. But like all language, those letters could never fully capture its distinctive cry. Perhaps it wasn't even a cry at all, merely a gasping, choking sound that failed to become one. It echoed again and again through the cedar forest surrounding us.

"Take another picture, Manyoneko. Center it on the stone wall this time."

"Understood, meow."

CLICK

The flash burst.

At that instant, the cicadas fell silent throughout the forest. Strange as it may sound, it felt as though thousands of insects were all staring at us in unison.

WHIRRRR

The Polaroid camera developed the photograph slowly, making what seemed an excessively loud noise.

We looked at the photograph once more.

"..."

The corpses in the picture had grown a little lighter.

Everything was identical to the first photograph, except that they now hung from the cedars without their heads and arms.

No. On closer inspection, one other thing had changed.

On the stone wall at the tunnel entrance, amid the multicolored scribbles and graffiti, words that had been entirely absent from the earlier photograph were written in vivid red.

-Welcome home.