Chapter 10
An Unexpected Stroke of Luck
When Unibel opened her eyes, she found herself on the school’s rooftop.
“Finally awake?”
“…Ow.”
The moment she tried to sit up, a dull pain shot through her head, making her wince.
What happened…?
She followed the teacher’s instructions and lured the enormous shadow monster that looked like a grim reaper, and after that…
“That’s right! What happened to that monster?”
“I took care of it. More importantly, I told you to run. Who told you to charge at it at full speed like an idiot?”
“I thought that was the most reliable way.”
At Woojin’s words, Unibel scratched her head awkwardly.
The moment her fingers touched the huge lump on her forehead, however, she immediately pulled a pitiful face.
“Well, anyway… thanks. You saved me.”
“…You’re doing that on purpose, aren’t you?”
“Of course.”
As Woojin reached over and rubbed the swollen bump on her head, Unibel glared at him. He simply answered with a playful grin. Somehow embarrassed by his carefree smile, she quietly turned her face away.
To Unibel, other people had always been nothing more than those she needed to protect.
That applied even to adults older than herself—like the teacher sitting beside her.
He’s such a strange person.
Sometimes he acted like a mischievous child.
Yet when it truly mattered, he was more dependable than anyone else.
The teacher chatting casually with his students at school.
The teacher who never took a single step back even against terrifying monsters in the magical world.
Which one was the real him?
…Are all adults like this?
As she stole a glance at him while he silently gazed up at the sky, the thought crossed her mind.
Unlike herself, the teacher possessed no magical powers.
He was just an ordinary person.
Normally, someone like that would panic and run the instant they encountered a monster.
Yet he had done the exact opposite, taking the lead and opening a path forward—even ahead of her, a magical girl.
It wasn’t reckless courage born from ignorance.
He carefully analysed the situation, understood everything before him, and guided events through precise calculations and deductions.
The proof was how he had lured and defeated the gigantic shadow reaper that even Unibel herself had been unable to handle.
To him…
It was as if he could already see everything.
The monster’s true nature.
Its weakness.
Everything.
The teacher had once mentioned that he had experienced many incidents like this before.
…Suddenly, Unibel found herself curious about the man named Lee Woojin.
Just what kind of life has this person lived?
Surely he had walked alone through a world no one else knew.
A life so harsh that something like today’s crisis barely counted as one.
“What are you thinking about so seriously?”
“Ah—N-Nothing!”
Startled by his sudden question, Unibel practically shouted.
Woojin stared at her in confusion for a brief moment before bursting into laughter.
Unibel’s gaze drifted upward.
Pure white clouds.
Countless stars glittering across the night sky.
And a huge full moon illuminating the entire rooftop.
…
Isn’t that way too big?
The full moon, which should have been impossibly far away in the heavens, now seemed to hang directly above the rooftop.
It was so close that she felt she could almost reach out and touch it.
Perhaps because of the crimson Otherworld Barrier, the moon itself appeared blood-red.
Rather than beautiful, it inspired an overwhelming sense of dread.
Even the moonlight no longer felt gentle.
Unibel suddenly leapt to her feet.
There were other strange things as well.
The rooftop was far too large.
This was her first time coming up here, but no matter how she looked at it, there was no way it should be larger than the school’s athletic field.
And most unsettling of all…
There were no shadows.
Perhaps because the moonlight was several times brighter than usual, the shadows that should have existed had completely vanished.
The buildings cast none.
The large water tank in the centre cast none.
Even Unibel herself had no shadow.
Void!
Only then did she remember the being she had nearly forgotten.
Why had they come to the rooftop in the first place?
Because the teacher had said that the source of everything would be here.
It wasn’t over.
Not yet.
Unibel’s eyes sharpened instantly.
The tension she had momentarily relaxed returned all at once, and her heartbeat gradually quickened.
As she hurriedly scanned the surroundings, something peculiar caught her eye.
It was…
A shadow.
Yes—a shadow.
Something that absolutely shouldn’t exist in this place where the moonlight had erased every other shadow.
It lay alone upon the rooftop floor, despite there being nothing that could possibly cast it.
If Unibel’s guess was correct…
That was the mastermind behind everything that had happened to her school.
The King of Shadows.
Void.
“Calm down. It doesn’t look like it’s planning to attack right now.”
Just as Unibel was about to rush toward the shadow standing at the far end of the rooftop, opposite the rooftop entrance, Woojin stopped her.
She looked up at him.
The expression on his face was different from any she had seen before—so unreadable that she couldn’t tell what he was thinking.
If he knew what that shadow really was…
Then perhaps he also knew how to deal with it.
Just as he had cleverly defeated the monster downstairs.
Unibel’s eyes locked onto Woojin’s lips.
What is he going to say?
Without realising it, she swallowed nervously, waiting for his answer.
“Well, for now…”
“For now?”
“How about we sit down and rest for a bit?”
“…Huh?”
Under the strangely bright moonlight, the rooftop was bathed in silver.
Unibel and Woojin sat side by side, leaning against the wall.
“I’m not sure we should really be doing this.”
“Save your energy whenever you can. We haven’t had a chance to rest since we started climbing up here.”
“Well… I suppose that’s true…”
Still puzzled by Woojin’s suggestion to rest despite the boss being right in front of them, Unibel slowly closed her eyes.
Before long, with her head resting against the wall, she quietly drifted off to sleep.
“…Midnight.”
Checking the time on his phone, Woojin let out a quiet sigh.
If things were following the original story, another magical girl should have arrived by now.
He glanced at Unibel, who was already sleeping peacefully, then shifted his gaze toward the Void.
The Void’s threat level was Comet (彗星).
A colony-type monster capable of manipulating shadows, creating “Remnants,” and transforming an entire area into its own territory.
Its actual body wasn’t particularly strong.
That was why it wasn’t a good match for Unibel.
No…
Calling it merely a bad matchup would be an understatement.
It was practically her worst possible opponent.
It was probably designed that way intentionally—as the first major obstacle for the protagonist, who had been winning effortlessly until now.
On the other hand…
The other magical girl who was supposed to arrive as reinforcement happened to be an excellent counter to it.
In the original story, she had effortlessly rescued Unibel after she was overwhelmed by the combined assault of the Void and the Harvester.
“…No sign of her.”
To be honest…
He had expected as much.
Ever since defeating the enemies on the fourth floor and climbing to the rooftop, he’d been unable to shake an ominous feeling.
Before he came to this world…
Whenever he had crossed paths with the girl who kept trying to take her own life—seven separate times, always on the rooftops of different schools—
his intuition had never once been wrong.
Whenever he had a bad feeling…
Something always happened.
And more often than not…
It happened in the worst possible way for him.
Grrrr…
From within the massive shadow before him, another Remnant emerged.
This one resembled a dog.
If his memory served him correctly, it was a Chaser—
a variant much faster than ordinary shadow creatures.
The newly created Remnant slipped into the Void’s shadow and disappeared below.
It was probably sent to search the school for them.
Woojin didn’t react much.
Ordinary shadow creatures couldn’t climb onto this rooftop.
There were no usable shadows here.
And the Harvester—
the only creature unaffected by light—
had already been defeated.
Let’s observe things a little longer.
Unibel still needed rest.
No matter how enhanced her body was…
No matter how much magic she possessed…
She was still just an ordinary middle school girl.
She had spent hours wandering through a school overflowing with sinister shadows.
Only minutes ago, she had fought the gigantic monster known as the Harvester.
She hadn’t shown it…
But she’d undoubtedly reached her physical limit.
The proof was lying right beside him.
The moment she’d finally relaxed…
She had fallen asleep almost instantly.
…I’m tired too.
Woojin quietly closed his eyes.
The Void creating a Chaser meant it still hadn’t located them precisely.
He couldn’t sleep as soundly as Unibel…
But closing his eyes for a few moments shouldn’t be a problem.
…Or so he thought.
Suddenly—
Every alarm bell in his mind went off.
His intuition screamed.
Before he even finished thinking, he grabbed the sleeping Unibel in his arms and threw himself sideways.
BOOM!!
The instant they moved…
The spot where they had been resting exploded apart, leaving behind a massive crater.
“Kyaaah?!”
Dragged awake by the violent impact, Unibel let out a startled scream.
She wasn’t the only one shocked.
Woojin was equally stunned.
It attacked first?
His assumption had been completely wrong.
He had believed the Void wouldn’t make the first move because its true body was weak.
In the original story…
The creature had patiently waited until Unibel attacked first.
Then realization struck him.
Things were different now.
The Harvester wasn’t here.
Without a subordinate to fight in its place…
The Void had no choice but to risk exposing itself.
Whether it lived or died…
It intended to settle everything here.
“I don’t really understand what’s happening… but I just need to attack that thing, right?”
Breaking free from Woojin’s arms, Unibel gripped her wand.
She fired the familiar stream of blazing flames.
Woojin silently shook his head.
That enormous shadow…
Wasn’t the Void’s true body.
Exactly as expected…
Her spell exploded violently—
Only to burn empty air.
When the flames faded…
The shadow remained untouched.
Confusion spread across Unibel’s face.
She had fought monsters immune to magic before…
But never one her magic couldn’t even connect with.
The Void was fundamentally different from every monster she’d faced until now.
Unless she understood its structure…
Unless she discovered its true core…
She could attack forever without accomplishing anything.
In reality…
The Void’s true body wasn’t large at all.
Not merely small—
Tiny.
The original novel described it as being small enough to fit in a little girl’s palm.
From Woojin’s perspective…
That meant roughly the size of a baseball.
So where was it?
It had to be somewhere on the rooftop.
The Void preferred places where long shadows stretched across the ground.
As far as Woojin knew…
Nowhere in the school produced longer shadows than this rooftop.
The shadows have returned…
Above him…
Everything suddenly grew darker.
Turning his head slightly, he noticed that the building’s shadow—which hadn’t existed moments ago—was now stretching far across the rooftop.
The railings.
The water tank.
Every object around them had regained its shadow.
Under the unnaturally bright moon…
Those shadows were absurdly long.
The rooftop itself was nearly the size of a football field…
And more than half of it was now covered in darkness.
The Void manipulated shadows.
It lived within shadows.
Every shadow was within its reach.
“Don’t step too far into the shadows!”
“O-Okay!”
Woojin warned Unibel just in case.
At the same time…
He heightened his own concentration.
Every attack the Void launched came through shadows.
Which meant…
No sound.
No warning.
Escaping that earlier ambush had been little more than luck.
His intuition wasn’t some miraculous ability that let him predict enemy attacks.
It wasn’t a convenient power.
It was more like having the feeling:
“Looks like it might rain today.”
So you bring an umbrella…
And it actually rains.
Nothing more.
There was no guarantee that fortune would keep saving him.
He focused all of his attention on his eyes.
If he couldn’t rely on hearing…
If intuition wasn’t enough…
Then vision was all he had left.
Whether he could actually see attacks emerging from pitch-black shadows…
He had no idea.
But he had no other choice.
…
Wait.
Something felt strange.
Were the shadows…
Always white?
Shadows existed because light was blocked.
They had no colour.
Everyone knew shadows were black.
Even a kindergarten child knew that.
Yet…
The shadows before Woojin’s eyes had turned white.
He instinctively looked around.
Clouds of pale mist drifted across his vision like white smoke blown by the wind.
Red!
Within the blizzard-like haze…
A single crimson point appeared.
It rapidly grew larger.
Sharper.
Darker.
Until it became a blood-red spike made entirely of shadow.
There was no sound.
No indication of where it had come from.
Even while watching it directly…
He couldn’t tell where the attack had originated.
“…I dodged it?”
Yet somehow…
He had.
This time it wasn’t thanks to vague intuition.
He had moved at precisely the right moment.
Silently…
Another red point appeared in his vision.
Watching it, Woojin smiled faintly.
At last…
He had found the first clue to defeating the Void.
