In the past.
While shopping at a department store one day, Woo Chae-rin saw a hamster trapped behind a small glass wall. The tiny rodent was diligently running on its small wheel.
"..."
Woo Chae-rin crouched down to meet its gaze and pressed down on her crooked beanie.
The wheel was uncomfortably small compared to the hamster's body. But there were no other options. All it could do was turn that uncomfortable wheel.
Just like her.
The social wheel she had worked so hard to enter was too narrow for her.
Back to the present.
"Chae-rin, organize these Excel files for me."
"Ah, yes... But about that personal research I mentioned before..."
"Shouldn't you properly handle your lab work before bringing that up? You didn't come here to do personal research, did you?"
"Ah, yes..."
That's not something the least productive person should say to the one who gets the most work done. Though she thought this, she couldn't talk back. She had learned through experience.
If she pushed back now and claimed "I've done dozens of times more work than you," they would deflect with sophistry about how a new lab employee shouldn't be trying to do less work.
There was no intelligence or logic in exclusion.
She had thought everything in the world could be solved logically, but people were the exception. In this research institute that ran on feelings rather than efficiency, no opportunities would come to Woo Chae-rin, who had fallen out of favor with the mainstream group.
Is this how I have to live?
I suppose I must. There are no other options, and I don't want to give up everything I've worked for to start a new challenge. That would be a statistically unstable decision.
Shouldn't I at least build up some experience by enduring this before leaving? Right now, Woo Chae-rin was just a researcher with nothing to show except for academic awards from her school days.
If this is how things are at this place that has gathered all the supposedly brilliant minds in Korea, other research institutes must be the same.
"I hate this..."
If only someone...
If only someone would suddenly appear, recognize my talent, and offer me a fortune. Maybe I'll bump into a Middle Eastern oil tycoon on the street and end up getting hired at a foreign research institute.
Or maybe I'll win the lottery on a whim and become instantly rich. Or someone who's read my paper will appear and offer me a special position, something like that.
Yes, it's all just fantasy.
Such things couldn't possibly happen in reality...
"I like your paper. There's a head position open at my research organization 'Stellaria.' Would you be willing to take it?"
"...Huh?"
...That couldn't possibly happen, right?
A wealthy foreigner who suddenly visited the institute offered Woo Chae-rin the head position. In any normal organization, this wouldn't be a position offered to someone under thirty.
The shocked expressions of the surrounding researchers proved just how incredible this offer was. Wasn't this too good to be true?
So she tried to be suspicious at first. But why did she feel such a strange sense of familiarity? Even the bouquet of flowers somehow made her happy.
Gordius followed up with another offer.
"If you accept now, I'll give you lots of jewels."
"...That doesn't seem to be the issue here?"
"Or would you prefer cash instead of jewels?"
"That's... have we met somewhere before?"
At Woo Chae-rin's question, Gordius's expression darkened. He suppressed the ripple of emotion and spoke as calmly as possible.
"This should be our first meeting."
"..."
"If you need time to thinkâ"
"I'll do it."
After much deliberation, Woo Chae-rin accepted Gordius's offer.
What moved her heart was nothing other than the barely visible tear that had formed at the corner of his eye.
...Did he like my paper enough to cry?
===============================================================
Gordius introduced Woo Chae-rin to the research facility he had created in no time by pouring money into it. The young scientist's eyes widened at the massive facility that looked like something out of a movie.
"This is 'Stellaria.' And this is Joseph, our investor."
"...Hello, Joseph. You spent a lot of money on this facility, didn't you?"
"That's because this thug magician forced me toâmmph!"
"Come on, old man, don't interfere. This way."
The investor Joseph seemed to want to say something, but he was easily subdued by a middle school girl who appeared from behind and dragged him away.
"...Who is that child?"
"The pilot, Kim Yun-seo."
"Pilot? Is this a facility for making airplanes or something?"
"Giant robots."
"What?"
Did I hear that wrong?
Gordius began his explanation to the bewildered Woo Chae-rin.
"In the future, a disaster will come that will collapse human civilization. To overcome this disaster, science alone or magic alone won't be enough. Only the fusion of both disciplines can make it possible... That's why we need you."
Is this some kind of cult?
"Um... I think I came to the wrong place. Where's the exit?"
"I know it sounds strange. But technology doesn't lie... Right? If you see it for yourself, your brilliant mind will understand."
Gordius smiled confidently and pressed a switch.
Drrrrrrrr!
As the barrier rose, the eyes of a 5-meter prototype robot lit up. With the humming sound of the mana engine, the iron giant moved smoothly.
The robot picked up a truck placed nearby for testing, lifted it effortlessly, then put it back down. Woo Chae-rin's mind filled with question marks.
Is this CG technology?
Tap tap. Woo Chae-rin ran over, her lab coat fluttering. The truck was genuinely heavy, loaded with stones, and the giant robot was neither CG nor just a shell.
It was a fully built mechanical device. She could feel it.
The thought that they might be mentally ill people preparing for the end of the world vanished from her mind, replaced by the desire to understand how they had built this and whether she could take it apart to examine it.
"...How? How is this possible?"
"The mana engine. A masterpiece created through the collaboration of a genius scientist and a magician. I've prepared study materials, so I'll give you one day to learn."
"One day?"
"We don't have time. We have two weeks left. We need to complete the giant robot within that time."
"But there's already a completed giant robot here. Do we need to improve its performance further?"
As Woo Chae-rin knocked on the 5-meter robot while asking, Gordius quietly shook his head. Then he revealed Stellaria's immediate goal.
"100 meters."
"...?"
"The size of 'Meteor,' the 'Great Beast' extermination unit, is 100 meters."
"Are you saying you want to build a giant robot that's not 10 meters but 100 meters in just two weeks?!"
Are they insane?
===============================================================
They weren't insane.
"'Weight Reduction,' 'Earth's Touch.'"
"..."
Gordius was a magician. A real magician like those in movies and fiction.
He demonstrated the marvel of reducingthe weight of materials and assembling the giant robot with earth-hands that required neither manpower nor electricity. If the materials and parts were prepared... a 100-meter giant robot wasn't just a dream.
It was almost frightening. This machine called the "mana engine" held infinite possibilities. Its most significant feature was the ability to convert between mana and electricity.
A 100-meter giant robot wrapped in the new power of mana. If the pilot had bad intentions, they could overthrow a nation with such power.
(Woo Chae-rin was slightly afraid that Stellaria might be a large-scale terrorist organization.)
Although right now... it was quite the power-hungry pig.
Since Earth didn't have mana distributed in its atmosphere, they had to convert electricity into mana through the mana engine to use it.
"Quite?! We can't handle the current power consumption, so we're drawing it from as far as China and Japanâ"
"Joseph, I see you still have half your bank balance left. I think the budget is sufficient, so don't worry."
"How can I not worry when there's a thief right next to me who's already eaten up half of my entire fortune?!"
"Uncle Joseph, but it's a worthwhile investment, right? No regrets?"
"Can't you see I'm regretting it right now, kid...?!"
She had adapted to this atmosphere too.
Joseph was Stellaria's money bag and the lowest in the hierarchy.
The middle school girl Kim Yun-seo was second in rank and could move almost as nimbly as a tiger, perhaps because she could handle mana.
"...How is it going?"
"Ah, yes. It's coming along well."
"I knew you could do it."
"..."
And that man who occasionally gave her complicated looks was the top-ranked magician, Gordius. For some reason, he showed unlimited trust in Woo Chae-rin.
Gordius had all the knowledge needed for casting the giant robot. He steadily improved Meteor's completion by pouring in Joseph's money, and there wasn't much Woo Chae-rin could help with in this process.
There were traces of a much more capable researcher than Woo Chae-rin having worked on this.
A complete upgrade, you might say. She had thought there were few people in the world smarter than herself, but indirectly meeting someone who followed the same path but with higher abilities made her jealous.
It felt like this might be what her future self would produce if she put her life on the line for research.
The pressure to prove her worth grew gradually, since Gordius had chosen her.
So what was she doing?
"We need to prepare for 'Phase 3.'"
The wide-area self-destruct mechanism that this "Great Beast" entity, which she had never seen or heard of, would supposedly activate at the moment of its death. If they didn't erase that, humanity wouldn't truly win even if they defeated it.
The giant robot wasn't the important part. As long as Gordius existed, it would be completed within two weeks.
What mattered was the theory to erase the death throes pattern.
One day passed, then two days... time flowed mercilessly. The day of humanity's destruction, as foretold by the magician Gordius, was steadily approaching.
And Woo Chae-rin gradually learned more about him. Gordius wasn't mentally unstable; he was intelligent, unusually generous to her, and had a nice back.
His eyes sparkled with a sense of mission, and his testimony was consistent, so Woo Chae-rin came to believe in the appearance of the "Great Beast." It was too much to deny reality as fantasy when he himself was a magician.
What blossomed afterward was a sense of mission.
Only Stellaria knew about the world's crisis. People who knew nothing were just passing their peaceful days, and just yesterday, there was a festival in Seoul.
If all this civilization and peace were to be erased...
"...Yun-seo? Could you bring me some energy drinks? Thr..."
"Three bottles?"
"Three boxes."
There was no time to rest.
Study, think, formulate equations, experiment. Another day passes, down energy drinks, study, discuss. She ran like a runaway train.
And on a gloomy night, one week before the appearance of the "Great Beast"...
"...Goldie, Goldie!"
Bang!
Woo Chae-rin ran down the corridor with a piece of paper in her hand. She had figured it out. She knew.
Running down the corridor in the throes of intellectual ecstasy, Woo Chae-rin collided with someone at a dark corner. Thud.
"Ah...!"
"Ugh...!"
Fortunately, the other person caught her, so she wasn't hurt. Woo Chae-rin steadied herself against someone's chest and was about to run off again.
"Are you okay? No, I'll apologize later. I'm in a hurry right now... Goldie?"
"...Chae-rin?"
Adjusting her glasses, she saw that the person she had collided with was the very person she was looking for. Gordius seemed to have been rushing too, as his clothes were disheveled.
And... in his hand was also a piece of paper.
Their eyes met in the darkness. She felt a fateful current. Could it be that they were thinking the same thing? She had such a premonition.
"..."
"..."
With a bit of tension and expectation...
"Chae-rin, it seems we both have something to say."
"...Shall we count to three and speak at the same time?"
"...Let's do that."
One, two.
At the end of the count, the magician and the scientist simultaneously voiced their answers.
Three.
"The mana engine's conversion between mana and electricity. By amplifying that feature, we'll decompose the Great Beast's final spell into electricity."
"The mana engine's electricity-to-mana conversion function. Let's maximize it and transform the Great Beast's death throes pattern into lightning."
"I've drafted a design centered around magic..."
"If we center it around science, the design will be stable without variables..."
What the...
"..."
"..."
Snatch.
Woo Chae-rin and Gordius simultaneously grabbed each other's papers and began studying them.
And about 10 minutes later...
"Magic is the right approach! That way of approaching the machine won't be efficient. You must have studied magic carelessly. If you've forgotten formula 2 on page 233 of the textbook I gave you, let me remind you. The coefficient p varies according to the stateâ"
"Goldie, if you have a brain, please use it! You keep thinking of magic as the core, but we have robust power infrastructure, so why are you so desperate to use mana that doesn't exist in the atmosphere right now? Just use what we have, it's cleaner!"
The magician and the scientist grabbed each other's collars and rolled around.
After a three-hour marathon meeting, they finally completed the design for the special equipment that would mark the end of the Great Beast battle: "Meteor Fall."
===============================================================
A sudden massive construction site had appeared in the city center. It was surrounded by walls so that people couldn't see inside, and there were many rumors among people about a large department store being planned there.
In reality, it was the launch site for the giant robot "Meteor." Thanks to magical camouflage blocking external observation, fortunately, it hadn't been discovered.
Meteor's cockpit was open, and Gordius and Kim Yun-seo were sitting side by side on its shoulder, saring into the void.
That space would crack open, and through that gap, the "Great Beast" would come.
Beep. Through the earpiece they wore, communication from the control room reached them. While monitoring the Great Beast's appearance point on a large screen, Woo Chae-rin spoke to Gordius.
-...It will come, right?
"It will."
-Goldie, what if... it doesn't come? What if your prophecy magic was wrong, and this giant robot is just a huge overreaction?
Feeling the wind brush against his cheek, Gordius calmly replied.
"Then that would be fortunate. Why, are you worried about losing your job? I've paid you enough that you won't have to worry about money anymore."
-All that money was reinvested in Meteor. With the fate of the world at stake, how could I hoard that money?
"Future Joseph did."
Static. Through the communication, an agitated Joseph cut in.
-I didn't... know! How could I have known about a monster that even nuclear weapons can't handle? Anyway, if that Great Beast or whatever doesn't show up, you'd better be prepared. Got it?!
"Joseph's fortune has already become a giant robot, so what are you going to do?"
-Hey!
"I'm joking. I'll synthesize some jewels for you, so don't worry, Joseph. Thanks to your investment, humanity will be able to survive."
-Joseph just left. He says he's embarrassed.
The communication was taken over by Woo Chae-rin again.
"Chae-rin?"
-Yes, Goldie?
"When this is all over. Would you like to have dinner together..."
-Pfft...
"Don't laugh. I'll claim damages."
While Woo Chae-rin was trying not to laugh at Gordius's awkward invitation...
ââââBoom.
A soul-shaking roar echoed. It was earlier than expected.
-About three hours ahead of schedule. Goldie, is this a dangerous variable?
"No. Probably... because we used mana with the mana engine, it seems to have attracted the Great Beast a bit earlier. There's no problem."
Because we're ready.
ââââCrack, crack!
The street under the evening glow was empty. Evacuation had already been completed by this point. No matter how much the beast rampaged, there would be no human casualties.
A crack in the void was clearly visible. The crack was expanding with each roar...
At the same time, it was spewing dense mana in all directions. As if trying to dye this world.
ââââRumble!
Gordius and Kim Yun-seo boarded Meteor. The mana engine surged, and the 100-meter body began to move slowly.
"Let's go, Stellaria."
-System all green. I'm counting on you, Goldie, Yun-seo.
"Uncle Joseph, watch carefully! I'll show you how I protect the Earth!"
-Sure, kid. But why are you so friendly with me...?
It begins.
===============================================================
The Great Beast was crawling out through the crack.
That is an arm.
An arm with sharp protrusions reminiscent of beast claws touched the middle of a building that had been standing next to the crack. It slowly applied pressure as if the building was in its way.
Crunch!
The building was instantly being crushed. The concrete surface crumbled like soft stone, and the internal steel beams bent far too easily. And so, the building with its waist cut collapsed.
Rumble...
But there were no screams from people.
The Great Beast sensed something strange and twisted its neck. Why? The pain and fear that should have been heard were absent. Instead... what it felt was the opposite.
An unpleasant smell was coming from the point covered by the construction site tent. The smell of determination and hope.
Swoosh. The tent was pulled backâ
The giant robot finally revealed itself to the world. Silver armor, a body comparable in size to the Great Beast, the heavy sound of the mana engine shaking the world.
Its name is:
Great Beast Extermination Weapon "Meteor."
A giant that exists to crush the monster that would destroy human civilization!