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Chapter 27 : Ambush
The first thing that felt off was how much effort Hye-jin had clearly put into her appearance—far too much for a quick trip to the neighborhood mart.
Light makeup on her face. A yellow, star-shaped earring in one ear. A small white handbag clutched in both hands. It was not the kind of outfit someone wore to buy groceries.
Up to that point, I could still rationalize it.
She was a high school girl in her prime. It wasn’t strange if she didn’t want people outside the house to see her looking sloppy.
But when we walked past a massive supermarket and kept going all the way to the bus stop, even I couldn’t ignore it anymore.
W е́b̄ no v е̌ l̀ Ёñǔm à
“…Where are we going?”
“I told you. Shopping. Did you forget already?”
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She shot back the answer like the question itself was ridiculous.
Hye-jin boarded the bus naturally and glanced back at me. With no real choice, I followed her on.
The bus kept running.
Ten minutes. Twenty. Thirty.
Е̃n u̇m̌ а . їḋ
Even when we passed a department store, the stop bell didn’t ring. Before I could ask again, Hye-jin tapped my thigh.
“Let’s get off here.”
Our final destination was a gigantic shopping mall—one of the biggest even by Seoul standards.
A towering department store dominated the skyline, surrounded by movie theaters, arcades, and all kinds of entertainment facilities. The place was packed with people.
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Most of them were young couples or families with kids. Siblings like us were rare.
…This is uncomfortable.
Е̃ n̊ům̃ а̇ .i̇ d̃
My body might be in its twenties, but my mind was firmly middle-aged.
Even back in my previous world, I’d never come to a place like this. Walking through a massive mall with a young high school girl—even if she was my blood-related sister—felt awkward no matter how I sliced it.
“Where do you think you’re going?”
Just as I tried to subtly increase the distance between us, Hye-jin grabbed me.
I got what she was trying to do—there were too many people to risk getting separated—but as a result, a few curious glances turned our way.
Hye-jin was beautiful. Genuinely so.
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She was tall for a high schooler, easily comparable to most adults, yet her face still carried traces of youthful softness. The textbook image of an ideal high school girl.
And today, she’d gone all out.
It was only natural that people noticed.
“I’m not going to run away. Could you let go of my sleeve?”
I shook the fabric she was gripping, trying to negotiate, but she didn’t answer. She just kept walking.
Looks like this was how the whole day was going to be.
W̌ ě bn̆ о v̈ ӗ l̂ Ěn u ḿȧ
Dragged along by Hye-jin, who moved through the mall like she’d been here countless times, we hopped from place to place.
Clothing stores—she tried things on several times. I did too.
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A movie theater—we watched the latest blockbuster. It was… pretty fun.
“Alright. I guess it’s time to buy groceries for tomorrow night.”
We’d finally settled down in a café, catching our breath over coffee, when she said it.
I froze.
En u m ă
“Why are you looking at me like that?”
“I thought… today was over?”
“What are you talking about? We’re just getting started.”
“…Seriously?”
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“These places start their big sales right before closing. We were just killing time. Look.”
She pulled a crumpled flyer out of her handbag.
Ẇе́b ǹ о vеl̈ Еṅum̈ а́
When I unfolded it, it clearly advertised a massive discount event at this very mall. Percent signs jumped out at me in bold print—enough to make even someone as shopping-illiterate as me widen my eyes.
This cheap?
I felt a wave of self-reflection crash down on me.
If I was being honest… I’d been a little smug.
I’d assumed grocery shopping was just an excuse—that she really wanted to spend time with me, like a date.
…Kill me.
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The fact that I’d been indulging in that delusion with a girl whose mental age was practically half mine made me want to die of embarrassment. Meanwhile, she’d just been casually killing time.
“Okay. I’ll cooperate. I’ll help however I can.”
“…Did you eat something weird? Was the pasta earlier spoiled?”
“We came all this way. Might as well get our money’s worth.”
I stuffed the sale flyer into my pocket and grabbed Hye-jin’s hand.
As compensation for my solo misunderstanding, I resolved to play the role of pack mule with everything I had.
Ӗ n̂ u mа̊
***
“Think this is enough?”
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The moon was high in the sky, and the mart’s farewell jingle was playing by the time we finished our real shopping.
“Isn’t this… a bit much?”
“It’s fine.”
I walked out with two huge shopping bags hanging from my hands.
Е̊_ń ŭ m̃ а..і_d̊
The truly heavy and bulky items had already been shipped home. What we carried were lighter things that could break easily, so the weight wasn’t too bad.
I glanced sideways at Hye-jin, who still looked worried, and decided it had been a good haul.
Given how crowded the mall was, the quality was excellent—and the prices were absurdly low. I’d honestly want to come back even without her.
“Well, if you’re okay with it. But give me one. It’s awkward if both your hands are full.”
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Hye-jin, her handbag slung over her shoulder, took one of the bags from me.
It wasn’t light by normal standards, especially for a girl, but she didn’t look strained at all.
Wе̄b̄ ň о̊v̇ е̂ l Ēň ùm̃ а
For someone so slim, she was surprisingly strong.
“…Something feels off.”
“Hm?”
“Never mind. Just thinking out loud.”
We walked side by side, each carrying our bags, heading out of the mall.
But the uneasy feeling wouldn’t go away.
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…
Had a place like this existed in the original story?
Nova, the main villain group, didn’t care about civilian lives.
No—worse. They actively used civilians as hostages.
The moment they realized that Stellis valued civilian safety, their tactics became even more blatant.
Their battlefields were always crowded areas.
W̆_e̊ b̌ṅŏv_е̇ l̀ Еǹüm̀ а
And this mall was no exception.
With shops packed tightly together and constant foot traffic, it was an ideal battlefield for Nova.
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But in the original story, there had never been a battle in a shopping mall. Not once.
They’d occupied schools, subway stations, airports—hell, even the National Assembly building. So why not a mall? A place this dense and crowded should’ve been Stellis’s worst nightmare.
“…Did the mall itself not exist when the original story started?”
Thinking back, even the early slice-of-life sections never mentioned anything like this.
E ñumӑ
A mall this huge, with this many stores, should’ve been brought up at least once.
“…Ah.”
And then it hit me.
A single line of dialogue, spoken by someone long ago in a distant memory.
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—They killed my only brother. Right there.
A figure glaring at a ruined pile of buildings, voice shaking with rage.
Ѐ n̊üm̄ а̀. ĩ d
A woman who, after losing her brother, became a merciless monster bent on revenge.
…Eve.
A sense of dread surged through me.
***
On a rooftop swallowed by darkness, even the moon hidden behind clouds, someone raised a scope toward the brightly lit shopping mall.
“How’s the prep?”
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“We’ve been ready for a while now.”
A green-haired girl, Belicia, lifted her head from the scope and stretched her arms.
They’d already been waiting for four hours.
There’d been several opportunities.
“Can’t we just shoot already? She’s been wide open the whole time.”
“Don’t get careless. That’s the Sword Demon.”
Ẁеb nо̄ v é l_ Еnǔm а̇
At Ayla’s tense warning, Belicia returned to the scope.
She’d heard the rumors—that the Sword Demon was a monster even among Stellis.
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But honestly? She wasn’t impressed.
To Belicia, it looked like an easy hunt. Pull the trigger and it’d be over.
Even Ayla felt a flicker of doubt.
Where was the battlefield ghost she remembered? All she saw now was some clueless fool.
Е̄ ǹ ù m а̌
Had the intel been wrong? Were they stalking the wrong person?
The idea that the meticulous Sword Demon would show up in a place this exposed felt unreal. She’d always stayed within a fixed territory.
“Well, even if she isn’t, it doesn’t matter.”
Ayla uncrossed her arms, eyes drifting to the anti-materiel sniper rifle aimed at the mall.
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The weapon in Belicia’s hands was a Barrett M107CQ.
A magical girl wielding something like that said it all—its form was a gun, but its essence was a wand.
Wе b̊ n о́ v̂ еl Еǹ u m a
No sound. No bullet. No trace of mana.
A perfect assassination.
Unless you sensed it beforehand, dodging was nearly impossible.
Belicia had pierced the hearts of countless monsters and magical girls with it.
And yet, she hesitated.
Because the target was the Sword Demon.
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A magical girl infamous for laughing as she hunted Comet-class monsters, her absurd close-combat ability earning her that nickname.
The Sword Demon Ayla had faced in the past truly deserved to be called a ghost.
“…Still, we can’t waste an opportunity like this.”
Ayla had never liked her.
No—she hated all of Stellis, preaching non-lethality despite being in the same hell.
She wanted to rip off their mask of hypocrisy.
Ёńǔm ä
To Ayla, the world of magical girls was a battle royale where everyone fought with their lives on the line.
And she wanted to show them what half-baked resolve led to.
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“…They’re coming out.”
A man and a woman exited a store just before closing.
Their hands were full of shopping bags.
“Shoot now?”
Ë ṅu̇m ȧ
“Don’t target the Sword Demon. If she notices and runs, it’s over.”
“Then who?”
“The man. According to Mari, he’s family.”
The plan was simple.
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Blow out the brother’s leg. At the same time, the other Nova members would move in, creating chaos and abducting him while he was immobilized.
Use the hostage to lure the Sword Demon.
Еn̂ ù m̃ а̀.і.d
Game over.
What kind of face would she make when her precious family was taken from her?
“Wouldn’t it be better during the day, when there are more people?”
“I agree. But the Master’s been nagging us—avoid civilian casualties, blah blah. What a joke.”
Lately, the Master had been saying strange things.
Ayla wanted to ignore those ridiculous orders.
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But the aftermath would be a pain.
The Master herself was rarely seen and not that scary.
The real problem was Marionette—the one Nova member who handled information suppression and manipulation.
If Marionette openly boycotted them, they’d be stuck dealing with annoying law enforcement every time.
The thought of playing tag with the police made Ayla’s head throb.
Stellis would happily cooperate with them, too.
Ёn̆u m̌ а̊ .іd
The world wasn’t ready to know about magical girls yet.
“Non-lethality, now of all times. What a joke.”
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Considering how much blood they already had on their hands, it was absurd.
In a way, tonight’s shot would be the signal flare that restarted a war that had been simmering.
“Then we start with the leg.”
The crosshair dropped from the chest.
Е̇ ṅu mа
The distance from the mall exit to the abandoned motel rooftop was roughly 1.5 kilometers.
A straight, unobstructed line of fire—an ideal sniping position they’d chosen after long reconnaissance.
“Perfect.”
There it was.
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The opening they’d been waiting for.
Laughing casually, the Sword Demon took one of the bags from her brother’s hands.
Ё num ӓ
Both hands occupied.
No matter how fast she reacted, the bullet would hit first.
“Take the shot.”
“Yes, ma’am.”
A slender finger squeezed the trigger.
The M107CQ’s muzzle velocity was around 853 meters per second.
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Belicia’s shot—without recoil—was even faster.
A normal person wouldn’t even realize a bullet had been fired.
Dodging was impossible.
In Ayla’s mind, she vividly pictured the man clutching his shattered leg. She raised her hand, ready to give the signal the moment it hit.
“…It missed?”
Belicia’s voice wavered—rare for her.
Wеḃ n о́ v̇ el̇ _Е̂ñ ǔ m̀ ǎ
Ayla felt the same shock.
It hadn’t missed.
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The man had thrown his body sideways at the exact moment the shot was fired.
How?
The movement was so precise it was as if he’d seen the future.
Belicia and Ayla froze.
Е̄ n̂û ṁ a . іd
And then—
The man’s sharp gaze snapped upward, locking onto them.
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