Chapter 96

The source of the discomfort was an agreement with the monsters, which had been broken once before.

While someone was retracing those vague memories and forgetting them.

For a certain spaceship adjacent to Earth, it was a harsh reality that loomed close.

In the recovery room, transmission room, and regular cabins.

As the promised time approached, the tension only escalated until it cast a great sense of unease over the spaceship.

Medik Tenkl, who made the greatest contribution to the agreement.

Although he wasn’t particularly involved in matters related to transmission, several monsters sought out Medik Tenkl in the transmission room, asking him indirectly.

“What, what do we do? Are we really sending it?”

“…For now, it seems we must proceed as scheduled.”

For now, as scheduled.

Since normal transmission duties weren’t handled by him, there wasn’t much Medik Tenkl could inform them.

Deciding whether to go or not was ultimately at the discretion of the upper commanders.

However, from the perspective of a foot soldier, the orders of the high-ranking officials, while not absolute, had to be obeyed.

Medik Tenkl’s “as scheduled” created a significant wave in the regular cabins.

One monster returned to the cabin with a dark expression.

He was one of the regular soldiers who had just eavesdropped on the conversation between two monsters in the recovery room where Medik Tenkl had been.

Seeing the visibly troubled monster, another one, already aware of the outcome, stepped forward and asked.

“What did they say?”

“They’re going.”

The monster with the grim expression confessed freely.

The monster who had also turned dark along with him frowned and cursed.

“Damn it….”

A deployment to the Black Zone, which had been somewhat vaguely forgotten over time.

In the span of twenty Setre, there were new faces among the monsters, ones that had not been seen before.

They were like fledglings in the eyes of the previously incumbent monsters who had only heard about Magical Girl Sun through words.

How different could it really be among magical girls?

Having experienced battles with them several times, they did not realize just how terrifying Magical Girl Sun, whom the senior monsters feared so much, truly was.

“Then, I’ll go!”

Don’t do things you’re unsure about; if you think you should, then do it.

The atmosphere aboard the monsters’ spaceship was similar to what one might find in a military force on Earth, with one brave monster lifting its fin-like arm.

However, regarding this matter, it seemed that this rule did not apply as three webbed fingers waved dismissively, shaking its head.

“Stop it, stop it. You still don’t understand how terrifying they are.”

A monster lying on the upper bunk, sipping a drink, spoke confidently.

He was one of the 6,327 monsters deployed for the “Countermeasure Against Reproduced Sun” operation.

With so many participants, his presence was faint, but had they not been there, this spaceship would have drifted through space as a piece of cosmic trash.

6,327 monsters.

What was the reason for such a grand yet not so grand nickname?

Immediately after the “Countermeasure Against Reproduced Sun” operation, the monsters had vowed to kill the Maker from the Monster Development Division, regardless of the high-ranking officials.

They briefly rejoiced in the victory after the situation calmed down.

Fueled by the anger over the unannounced large-scale massacre caused by the reproduced Sun, thousands of monsters stormed the development room.

Feeling a threat to his life, the Maker that day promised all participating monsters sufficient retirement funds to spare his life.

“I’ll make sure this never happens again! Yes! Indeed!”

He was a wealthy individual even by monster standards, having become a high-ranking official out of pure interest, so funding was more than enough.

Surrounding that incident, the Monster Development Division is still in a closed state.

They provided treatment and respect to the monsters who participated in the battle that day.

A title like a medal created to give them a sense of pride is none other than the 6,327 monsters.

While they may not understand pride, the enormous reward allowed the Maker to avoid a one-way trip into space.

The title of the 6,327 monsters was like a check that confirmed they could receive that reward.

Meanwhile, the Maker, shut out from the development room, is now dispatched to another spaceship, focusing on conquering another planet.

Of course, the monsters, who had no reason to care about the minor updates between high-ranking officials, still felt burdened by the possibility of going to an area where Sun existed, despite their heroic titles.

“Ha… I guess the time has come to use this, listen up.”

“What? What is this?”

“Our ambitious creation of the 6,000 monsters.”

The gatekeeper, a high-ranking monster of the transmission room.

The truce with the Black Zone had effectively been broken once due to Ebl Croaker.

If Sun pointed that out, they would thoroughly deny any connection and had been counting down the days until the end of the truce.

After a long period of twenty Setre, the gate circuit targeted at a specific location on Earth had been reactivated.

Immediately after reactivating it, the gatekeeper cocked his head at the noise coming from in front of the transmission room.

“What’s all this commotion…?”

The door of the transmission room, which normally only opened during specific hours when monsters were deployed, wouldn’t open unless there was some special reason.

Since it was such an uproar, the gatekeeper opened the transmission room door to discover the words “Fierce Opposition!” written in various monster languages.

From the misshapen writing engraved on some cosmic debris whose origin was unknown, a sense of determination could be felt.

As he blinked in bewilderment, the cheers slammed into the face of the gatekeeper.

“Fierce opposition to the deployment to the Black Zone!”

“Damn, crazy.”

Not just a level of insubordination, but a gathering of monsters akin to a coup d’état.

Ultimately, with a statement of seriously considering the issue, the transmission to the Black Zone was postponed.

The people of Earth had no way of knowing what was happening on the spaceship.

Even though the truce period had ended, the monster alarms in Incheon showed no signs of activation.

The ones most sensitive to the news were the journalists eagerly anticipating the appearance of the monsters and those involved in the matter.

Among all who remained vigilant.

Mary, who had long forgotten what was meant to happen, received a call with restrictions on the caller ID.

“Hello.”

“Uh, is that you, Mary?”

“What is it now?”

“Was what you said about the truce with the monsters really until yesterday?”

‘Truce?’

Tilting her head for a moment, she was logically retracing what the Minister was saying.

Only then did she realize the source of the discomfort was something she had forgotten.

“Oh, that.”

In February of the fifth grade of elementary school, the day the agreement with the monsters was clearly supposed to end.

As she uttered a sigh of realization, a momentary silence was followed by the Minister’s voice, filled with disbelief.

“…Did you forget?”

“Ha ha, that couldn’t be! Isn’t it good if they don’t appear?”

“If it’s quiet, it’s actually more unsettling… Anyway, can we think that monsters might appear again starting today?”

After a few direct conversations, the Minister was finally revealing what was on his mind.

Although it was a matter related to the magical girls, realistically, they had too much to focus on to only worry about this.

“Probably, I mean, has there ever been a time when monsters showed up at exactly such and such an hour?”

Trying to placate the Minister, who was increasingly anxious, she spoke somewhat casually about how monsters could appear any time, day or night.

The Minister, unable to fully accept it but seeming to understand, left a few words of advice.

“Okay. Got it, you’d better be prepared, okay?”

“Yes.”

As soon as she replied casually, the call ended with a soft sound.

As soon as she answered, Shiyeon, who had paused the video, resumed the animation and asked.

Shiyeon had been growing, increasingly mingling with friends and developing her awareness and vocabulary.

She had the foresight to lower the volume when receiving a call; she had really grown.

“What was the call about?”

“Minister’s call. You know that monsters could come out starting today?”

“Is that so?”

As she informed her about the prior call, Shiyeon responded with a head tilt as if it were someone else’s affair.

The carefree days they had been enjoying, without any tension, abruptly came to an end like a summer vacation.

However, the difference between ‘will appear’ and ‘could appear’ was indeed significant…

As the tension once again seeped back into their daily lives, the monsters who did not show any inclination to appear even days later.

In fact, they seemed to appear normally in other areas but not in theirs.

Could it be that, unbeknownst to them, the truce had been extended?

And somehow knowing that, the groups most vigilant about this situation were rushing to post their findings online.

[On the day of promise, the monsters did not appear… Is it a good sign or a bad sign?]

[‘Why aren’t the monsters appearing?’ The absurd twist in the 27th]

[‘I shouldn’t have taken leave for nothing….’ Disappointed workers]

[The public sentiment was that monsters would appear on the 27th; ultimately, ‘fake’]

From the titles that passed as articles, it seemed they had actually wished for the monsters to show up.

The consistency of these journalists was quite something.

While the end of the truce was indeed as stated, what came afterwards was an entirely different issue.

Anyway, thinking of distancing from the filth of society, she put on her clothes.

Today was the day to head to the hospital following Senior Jiun’s message.

Recently, it was a blessed event that Shiyeon joined her, having begun to act separately.

The place they were heading wasn’t far, but they had to take the bus for five stops to reach a certain obstetrics and gynecology clinic.