Chapter 3
“Huh, the time is already…….”
Heesu, who had been about to play the next episode of the magical girl series she was eagerly watching, glanced at the clock and muttered in surprise.
The DVDs she had started watching as soon as she returned to her one-room had already piled up to ten episodes. Just one more episode, just one more—before she knew it, it had become this much. A considerable amount of time had passed as well. It was because she had been so absorbed in the dreams and romance of magical girls that she had concentrated without noticing the passage of time.
Before she knew it, the surroundings had grown dark and midnight was approaching. Once she became aware of the time, she remembered that she hadn’t eaten dinner, and her stomach growled.
Ah, I told Mom I’d at least eat a rice ball.
Heesu recalled her conversation with her mother. If she skipped meals like this, she’d get another beating from her mother. Of course, if Heesu didn’t tell her, her mother wouldn’t know, but it still made her feel uneasy.
Scratching her head as she pondered, Heesu got up and went to the kitchen. She knew full well in her head that there wouldn’t be anything decent to eat even if she searched the house, but it was foolish human nature to look anyway with a “just in case” mentality.
Heesu opened the cupboard and refrigerator. They were empty. As expected, there was no way rice balls would be in there. Forget rice balls—there wasn’t even a single cup of ramen.
“……Haa…….”
Guess I have to go out after all. What a pain.
Heesu sighed and pulled out a cardigan to put on. It wasn’t that she didn’t consider just skipping the meal since it was bothersome, but her mother’s nagging from before leaving home kept echoing in her ears. Besides, she wanted to finish watching the magical girl series she had left incomplete. For that, it would be better to fill her stomach first.
Heesu roughly shoved her feet into slippers, opened the door, and went outside. Her hair was pulled up tight and tied with a rubber band, wearing a tracksuit with holes at the knees.
Wandering leisurely, Heesu walked through the dark alleys. Soon she emerged onto a main street where the sound of cars speeding by rang out. It was the bleak night streets of the city with hardly any passersby visible. Since it was late, most stores were closed, but only the convenience store had its doors open, brightly lit.
“Welcome!”
When Heesu entered the convenience store, the part-timer greeted her. Heesu answered half-heartedly and roughly scanned the products with her eyes. Whether they had just restocked, there were quite a few new lunch box products piled up, and sandwiches with various fillings were lined up in rows. Among them were products on sale as promotions and others that came with freebies when purchased. Heesu pointlessly looked at this and that, standing around pondering for quite a while.
In the end, what she picked up was the usual tuna mayo rice ball and red stir-fried noodles. Walking to the refrigerator, she also grabbed a can of beer. It would be really nice to mix the red stir-fried noodles with rice balls and eat them with beer while watching magical girl stories.
“Yes. Shall I ring this up for you?”
After finishing the payment, Heesu took the plastic bag the part-timer had packed for her and went outside the convenience store. She hung the plastic bag’s handle on her wrist and started walking back toward the alley when—
⎯BOOM!!
Suddenly a tremendous vibration accompanied by a thunderous roar erupted.
Heesu looked up in shock. In the distance, she could see thick black smoke billowing up. People who had fled from that direction in panic rushed past Heesu.
What is it? Did something explode and catch fire?
Just as Heesu, who had become serious-faced, was tilting her head in confusion:
“HOOOOOOOWL!!”
From far away came the sound of something howling.
Heesu’s eyes widened at that sound. It wasn’t the cry of any animal. At least among the animals Heesu knew, there was none that made such a sound. It was like the howl of a monster from animation or movies.
No, even if the owner of that sound was an animal, it was strange. There couldn’t be an animal in the city that could cry with such volume. At the very least, it was certain that something strange was happening over there.
Something strange, something that doesn’t happen in daily life. In other words, something very, very extraordinary.
……Could it be. The moment she thought that, Heesu’s heart began to race.
Of course, her reason was shouting at her to run away like everyone else. But unfortunately, Heesu wasn’t such a rational person. Rather, she was someone who had been searching for this kind of extraordinary situation. There was no way she could run away when the possibility of the extraordinary that she had waited over twenty years to finally encounter might be over there.
As if enchanted, Heesu walked toward the place people had fled from.
“……This is.”
Having somehow approached up to the black smoke, Heesu looked up in bewilderment.
People bound tightly in black root-like things were screaming in terror. The sight of those tree roots writhing and moving like snakes while swinging people around was like watching a dangerous amusement park ride. Of course, when people struggled desperately to escape but couldn’t budge at all, it was clear that couldn’t be an amusement ride.
“My god…….”
Heesu groaned and covered her mouth with her hand.
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