After completing the verification of the strategy, the monsters that let out a cheer immediately headed for the ‘Black Zone’ in droves.
A few days of rest, and as if to repay that rest, the monsters came rushing all at once.
Lack of sleep stemming from the anxiety of when they might rush in all at once.
Even for a sturdy adult, this cycle was maddening, and Mary sat against the wall, her eyes bulging like a battery-depleted robot.
The phenomenon she thought would never happen again had now occurred for the fourth time.
Even with slight stimulations inflicted on her body while asleep, she would simply keep her eyes wide open, thinking it was just the mascot poking her.
“Ugh, ugh….”
It was already the fourth day of rest, just after a horde of monsters had appeared.
It was about time for them to show up… but the mascots were quiet.
Crouched against the wall, biting her thumbnail, Mary rolled her eyes around, firmly believing that these vicious bastards with no morals would show up at any moment.
“Ma-Mary….”
“Why, are you awake?”
She quickly turned her head to the voice of the gomtaengi, which sounded almost welcoming.
Her voice was even trembling now.
From the look on its face, it didn’t seem like it was calling her for anything to do with the monsters, so she turned her head back to its original position.
“No, it’s not that… If they come out, I’ll wake you up, so please get a bit of sleep.”
“No, I’m definitely going to kick these bastards and then sleep.”
Even in this rare case where the gomtaengi was worried about her, Mary resolutely replied, then chewed on the jagged bits of her bitten thumbnail.
She fiddled with the rough edge of the torn thumbnail with her index finger.
It was a purely unconscious action.
‘Monsters, just try to show yourselves.’
The pent-up anger from lack of sleep had only one direction to turn.
Only one place.
“Mary, this is really going to be a big problem…”
Once again, the worried voice buzzed in her ear.
She already knew that a big problem had arisen without needing to be told.
“So before it really becomes a big problem, I’m going to cause a big one.”
Responding like that to the gomtaengi, she tossed her messy long hair over her shoulder.
How to prevent the monsters from coming out.
She already had found at least a workaround for that.
“What’s the object?”
“I managed to get it somehow… but this is originally a tool for reform, you know?”
In response to her offhand question, the gomtaengi answered while handing her a jewel toy about the size of a baseball.
It looked like it was made of thin plastic, but it wouldn’t break easily even if dropped on the floor.
The name of this object was the mascot ball.
Being a mascot doesn’t just come about spontaneously.
Shiyeon’s sea serpent and this gomtaengi were originally monsters.
A monster with a good heart and a purpose for reform would enter this ball and get purified and so on…
How mascots are made isn’t my business.
That kind of thing isn’t immediately important.
What is truly important is that this toy-like ball can serve as a prison to capture the oversized monsters.
In simpler terms, it’s a portable prison.
“I collected about ten of these, scraping them together from the surrounding area…”
“You did very well.”
With an exhausted expression but a satisfied one, she slowly caressed the precious portable prisons with her small hands.
Despite that, the gomtaengi scratched its head in worry with a hand that wouldn’t get scratched and voiced its concerns.
“But this thing might not be as sturdy as you think… If the monsters resist, they’ll break out right away.”
“Is that from experience?”
“Yes…”
When asked if that was from experience, the gomtaengi nodded with its head hanging low.
It seemed to be experience after all.
Deciding to gloss over that part, Mary affirmed with her words.
“It’s fine.”
As Mary assured that whatever the gomtaengi was worried about would be okay, it looked at her with a curious expression, wondering what she was relying on for that assurance.
Before another question could come out, she even explained the reason for her confidence.
“If I make it so they can’t move, that’s all there is to it.”
That day, the mascot named gomtaengi witnessed.
In the girl’s eyes, there was an emptiness in the universe where not a single star floated.
The days lived as a monster and that moment when she had turned into a mascot were something she had never seen before.
It couldn’t fathom the hollow and pent-up anger engraved in the magical girl’s eyes.
Lack of sleep could push even the strongest person to this point.
Though there was not enough saliva to gather, the gomtaengi pretended to swallow and thought.
‘This is probably going to be a big problem for the monsters….’
As Mary’s long-awaited wish came true, on the fourth day of rest, the monsters appeared.
This time, six monsters appeared in succession, actually planning to torment the Sun.
They feared visiting the ‘Black Zone,’ but on the other hand, they were curious about just how strong the magical girl could be.
With confidence that their new strategy would leave no aftereffects, they had come to the ‘Black Zone’ with a light heart, as if visiting a mandatory travel course.
The cycle of the Sun’s painful monster removal came to an end that day.
The monsters that visited the Black Zone that day.
Did they know that such a disaster would await them during their turn?
Probably, they had no idea.
For sure, the Sun was laughing more joyfully than ever.
Recalling that day occasionally, another mascot asked, and the gomtaengi answered.
It described it as the most terrifying sight of Sun, one that had never existed in the past or the future.
“Where have you hidden yourself—?”
‘Crazy, crazy…!’
The plant-type monster, Idelty.
He was buried underground, trying to soothe his trembling body as he hid deep within the apartment courtyard.
I shouldn’t have come here; I shouldn’t have…
The trend of exploring the ‘Black Zone’ began among the monsters.
When the first companions headed there, he thought they were insane.
When the second companions headed there, he thought, is this even doable?
When the third companions headed there, he thought, it seems doable.
When the fourth companions also headed there, he thought, the strategy seems to be working.
And then it was his turn, the fifth.
While he had occasionally come to other parts of the Earth to fight magical girls, it was his first time at the ‘Black Zone.’
After the thought that it was not much different from other places, it was proven that the strategy had now become meaningless.
Death did not come in an instant.
‘Please, please, please, please….’
Idelty prayed fervently.
Please, don’t find me.
Just pass by me.
He knew the magical girl had the means to locate monsters, yet he continued to murmur that futile wish.
“Where could you be—?”
In the dirt where nothing was visible. The chill that might have been pleasant at other times was, at this moment.
At this moment, it wrapped around him like the cold hand of death.
He began to feel the faint vibrations of the earth.
Please be a passing small insect.
Let it be the subtle vibrations of a worm wriggling.
However, denying all his thoughts, the sound that came directly above him pronounced his end.
“I found you here…”
“Ah, ah… no!”
The proud leaves he had above the earth.
The warmth of the hand that grasped it revealed him who was hiding in the dirt.
In front of him appeared a death incarnate with the visage of a child wearing a mask.
Because of this one leaf, because of this one leaf!
Did he imagine that the time would come when he would resent the symbol of his kind, which he had been so proud of?
Before that, just today. At this moment.
Did he think he would struggle so miserably and pathetically?
Meaningless struggles.
But even those struggles soon became impossible…
“Ah….”
“One.”
One.
With the sound of the girl’s voice ringing out, consciousness faded away.
Have I died? Is this the recovery room?
It wasn’t as painful as he thought.
It’s said that the ones in the recovery room have become unable to rise again over such a trivial matter?
Has the quality of the monsters really dropped so much? he thought as he opened his eyes.
‘…Hmm?’
But the space he opened his eyes to was strange.
Not the recovery room of the spaceship, but a bizarre perspective as a tiny insect looking down at the Earth.
Without any functioning body parts to move, trapped in a dreamlike space, he looked at the Earth.
He was certainly trapped somewhere.
Could it be, is this just the beginning?
Beyond the ominous thought, before his breath could even catch up, through the perspective of the magical girl, he could see the outside of the confined space.
Another fellow monster, who had been with him toward the Earth.
He was running for his life as if he had sensed the approaching shadow of death.
However, from the scenery outside, it was clear that he had already been caught.
From the distance where it looked like he could reach out and touch him with a hand that no longer existed.
His lower body was slowly being torn apart, with a small bulge resembling a pimple that had emerged.
“AAAHHHH—!”
“Ah, ah… aaah!”
With overwhelming fear and anguish engraved in that voice, he shouted, denying the current situation.
He wanted to close his ears to the horrifying scream that was almost unbearable to listen to, yet he had no body part left to do so.
With the only remaining muzzle, he could only cry out in protest.
“Stop it! You evil monster!”
However, that outcry was swallowed in the dreamlike space and failed to reach the outside.
He could only stare blankly at the horrifying sight of his fallen companion monster, overwhelmed by fear, wondering how such a cruel act could be possible.
“Two.”
Two.
The ominous voice of the girl echoed quietly.
Watching the remaining four companions get violated one by one, he eventually lost his grip on his sanity.
Even the remaining companions suffered pathetically, and the girl headed somewhere.
To a desolate lot where not a single person remained.
“Is this enough?”
The Sun pulled out the monsters from the mascot balls one by one.
In the construction site that had been emptied after the work was finished, there was no one to listen to the monsters’ screams, no matter how loudly they cried.
Probably, no one else expected it to turn out this way except for the Sun.
Meanwhile, in the recovery room of the spaceship, Medik Tenkl was tilting its head in confusion.
“Why… is no one coming?”
Medik Tenkl later realized that the delay in the return of the six monsters was due to the Sun’s full course of torture.
That day. In the history of monsters, a history was inscribed under the name of ‘Black Nightmare.’
The first was eight, returning with a cry of joy.
The second was eight as well, similarly celebrating with cheers of happiness.
The third was seven; they felt relieved.
The fourth was nine, and they were assured of their safety.
The fifth was six monsters.
They did not know the pent-up rage behind the sun.
The anger became a fear and pain like the light pouring down, enveloping them.
Let their noble sacrifice be remembered and feared….
“Discard that operation, understood?”
“Yes….”
From that day forward, it became a rule within the spaceship that many combatants could no longer head to Earth all at once per Medik Tenkl’s command.
It was a justified response to the simultaneous permanent psychic damage and power loss of the six combatants.
