NOVEL WEB Chapter 1
A shabby corner of a room.
I wake up again in my desolate room, devoid of any furniture.
“Ah—um. Hmm. One, two, three.”
As I stretch my stiffened neck after waking up, a thin voice that I’ve become accustomed to after hearing for two years escapes my lips.
A cheap, rough blanket lay on the floor.
A women’s training suit hangs on the wall.
Delicate, white fingers.
And as I open an old cell phone, the date is displayed before me.
June 6, 2011.
It’s twelve years ago from the day I died at the age of 27.
More precisely, I returned to the past of the ‘Japan in the novel’ I read during middle school.
This place is not reality, but the world within a light novel.
The place I have been in for the last two years.
“…….”
Light Novel
Often referred to as “Ranovel,” this genre of literature is typically smaller in size than conventional novels and is characterized by illustrations of beautiful girls. Among them, [Magical Girl HAZARD], which I read during middle school, is a depressing magical girl story.
Magical Girl.
A term that makes the hearts of many children flutter; a word that made sprouting sprouts rush to the TV like zombies on Sunday mornings. The brightly colored hair brings back memories of children sitting in front of the TV, leading them to a land of dreams and hopes—those mischievous first loves of childhood.
But one day, that perception changed entirely.
An animation that appeared like a comet, delighting the eyes of pure-hearted magical girl genre fans with stunning art and luxurious action.
[Magical Girl Sakura Blossom]
(魔法少女 さくら ブロッサム)
An episode of this work, which officially promotes the abbreviation MSB, completely altered the meaning of the term “magical girl.”
“Haruka sister?”
“Gyaaaaa!”
The dependable senior character, Haruka, fighting against storybook-like enemies, was caught off guard during battle and beheaded.
The shocking truth is revealed.
“What are you talking about? You’re seeds of witches, so it’s right to call you magical girls!”
[Magical girls rise against despair entrusted to them in exchange for wishes!]
MSB’s bold attempt to inject despair into a magical girl story full of dreams and hopes created a whirlwind of popularity. MSB, which was meant to emphasize the praise of humanity, drove its characters into a dire situation.
Afterwards, works imitating MSB’s success all shared an unreasonable despondency. The characters were not created to overcome challenges; instead, they existed merely to be miserable.
The [Magical Girl HAZARD] I read was also born during this trend.
A mere imitation, following the fragments of a masterpiece.
A story about characters existing just to be unhappy.
In unreasonable situations, the protagonist, with a righteous heart, tries to overcome everything but ultimately experiences a despairing ending—a cruel story.
This work was translated and published in Korea through the efforts of a publishing company famous for translating only failure narratives.
“I read that.”
And I woke up within that world.
Rustle
As I stood up, silver hair tickled the back of my neck.
When I first woke up in this world as a silver-haired girl, I was greatly confused.
“……”
I took out the glass star I had carried in my pocket for the past two years and gazed at it.
Inside the colorless and transparent glass, starlights were swirling like a rainbow.
The moment I saw this glass star, I couldn’t help but despair.
If it was the past of the world I lived in, I would do anything to return to my mother.
However, there was only one way to escape the world of [Magical Girl HAZARD], where this glass star exists.
*
On a slightly hot early summer day.
The Shibuya Scramble Crossing in Tokyo was packed with people waiting for the signal.
Always the same daily life.
Among the crowd gathered there.
Office workers, having finished their sluggish morning work on a Monday, were contemplating what to eat in the nearby restaurant to quell their hungry bellies.
‘Ah, I’m hungry.’
‘What should we have for lunch today?’
Female college students shopping were chatting while eyeing the 109 department store visible from the other side of the crosswalk.
‘I think my makeup looks a bit off; should I fix it in the bathroom?’
‘I can’t remember where the sale was.’
An ordinary scene just like any other.
At precisely noon, the sky turned red.
“Eh? What’s this?”
“Is it a movie shooting?”
“What…the…?”
[Ah, can you hear me?]
With a massive rumble, a somewhat lethargic female voice echoed. At the same time, the monitors and TVs around the world turned red, broadcasting the same voice.
A clear abnormal situation.
[I am the judge of this magical girl HAZARD…]
Brrrrrrrrr
“Ugh… bleh…”
“Gyaaaaa!!”
The moment the woman said her name, people on the street started to complain of headaches or retch. The massive noise made it impossible to hear the woman’s name.
[…is what I will say. Well… it’s a name that you devolved ones might find hard to accept.]
Despite her lackadaisical tone, there seemed to be a hint of weak anger in the woman’s voice.
The woman’s explanation continued.
[The consciousness of human evolution.]
[[Magical Girl HAZARD] begins with 10,000 girls.]
[Girls who accept the seeds prepared for evolution will be granted glass stars.]
A girl waiting for the signal suddenly exclaimed while looking at the shining glass star in her pocket.
“Eh?! When did this come in?!”
“I didn’t get one!”
[Depending on the number of granted starlights, the potential for evolution grows stronger, and depending on the destined direction each carries, they can grow stronger more quickly.]
[The number of starlights can also increase by absorbing others’ starlights.]
Girls who were showing off their stars on the street gasped in shock and hid them inside their clothes.
Clearly, they started to eye each other with suspicion, whom they hadn’t cared about just moments ago.
[May you embrace as many starlights as possible and… achieve evolution… if you can.]
[I will tell you more detailed information next time.]
[Face humanity’s fate with caution.]
A tiny addition comes in a small voice.
[…But I can’t.]
“……”
The scenery returned to normal.
That day the entire world burned red with that event.
*
Finally, the original story began.
More precisely, the content of the first volume will revolve around ‘that event’ that will happen about a year later, but from now on, it could be said that I intervened in the flow.
I was secretly sweating cold among the numerous people.
Because I knew what would happen next.
Because I knew that all that lay ahead would not be peaceful.
“What the heck is going on?”
“Hmm… Nothing happened, so isn’t it okay?”
“Looks like some movie or game promotion event.”
Chatter chatter
Even after witnessing the whole world’s sky turn red and an unidentified object being distributed in a language everyone could understand.
People wanted to return to their daily lives.
They thought it was something unrelated to themselves.
“……”
I quietly lifted the glass star and stared at it.
Inside the transparent glass star, three dazzling lights were forming a triangle, emitting a massive starlight.
Because of this colorless glass star, I understood that this world was a fictional story, leading me to despair.
But because I received the power to escape this world, I held onto hope.
Three lights.
This immense power, referred to as born 3-Star, was at the same level as the four strongest characters who survived until the end in the origin.
My last hope to endure the countless fights filled with absurdity and to borrow this world’s immense power to return to my original world.
“Mother.”
I cautiously cradled this last hope and murmured.
“I will definitely return.”
My past life.
Hyeonwoo died one winter day in 2023, closing his eyes in a cold alley. And in another world, I arose again as Hikari Shirogane.
“……”
Thinking of my mother, I suppressed the rising sadness and looked up at the sky.
On that hot early summer day in June 2011.
An apocalyptic world where most of humanity perishes due to fighting, with only a few magical girls surviving. The day of the first incident of [Magical Girl HAZARD] dawned with the sky as blue as usual.
“But what should I have for lunch now?”
“Hmm, let’s just have a burger.”
“How about katsu don?”
Watching people quickly return to their daily lives after the brief abnormality, I carefully tucked the glass star back into my pocket and headed home.
Fearing that the tragedy of [Magical Girl HAZARD] might strike at any moment.
“I think that girl who just passed by received a glass star too?”
“Really? She was super pretty.”
“Did she dye her hair?”
I worried that the beacon of hope I received in this strange world might extinguish.
Fearing everything that the future might bring.
I was afraid of everything.