Transformation or Death

 Like Family (11)

Han Jae-jung opened his eyes.

“This is… What….”

It was pitch black. He thought night had fallen, but judging by the faint traces of sunlight beyond the sky, it was just clouds covering the sun. 

A cloud of dust had risen and filled the sky. This already dark land took on an even more gloomy color. The once ominous yet beautiful purple hue had faded. A desolate and silent wind blew.

This was a ruin. Infinitely close to the original meaning of the word ruin. 

An unusable land. A place where buildings once existed.

There were no traces of the original buildings, and the ground was covered in fine ash-like particles, obscuring its original form.

The sight was too tragic to have been created by a single explosion. Han Jae-jung wondered how he had survived. Without transforming, he couldn’t have withstood an explosion of this magnitude.

Han Jae-jung finally realized he was alone. With the thick smoke and the surroundings completely destroyed, he couldn’t pinpoint his current location.

Spitting out the dirt in his mouth, Han Jae-jung stood up. His body was battered, but not immobilized. 

The problem was his eyes. His left eye, which had been viewing the past until just before, was completely dark. Not obscured by smoke, but a more fundamental issue.

‘…Am I blind?’

Han Jae-jung was unnaturally calm. He didn’t know if this was a temporary condition or a permanent disability he would have to endure for life.

Aside from that, his body was surprisingly uninjured as he dragged himself through the ruins. An ominous silence weighed on him, as if even sound had been swept away by the explosion.

“…Virgo?”

The always noisy Virgo was nowhere to be seen. Had she been caught in the explosion and died? Had she vanished without a trace like the many other buildings here?

No, she could have died before the explosion. Just before this area became ruins worse than a devastated city, Virgo’s heart had been pierced by light.

It would be more surprising if she had survived.

Phew, Han Jae-jung spat out the dust and ash in his mouth once more.

She was definitely dead. Even as he was convinced of this, Han Jae-jung did not stop walking in search of Virgo.

Thud. Suddenly, something caught his foot. He looked down to identify it. It was a piece of scrap metal. A shapeless piece of scrap metal that had detached from some machine.

If he didn’t know the original, he would have thought it was simply junk. But Han Jae-jung had a sense of where this scrap metal had fallen from.

‘Was it the one Virgo had?’

That machine that allowed for more delicate manipulation of starlight.

If it had been shattered this tragically, it would be unusable from now on. Han Jae-jung smiled bitterly. The item he thought would be the key to controlling her rampage was destroyed.

This was fine since it was just a machine, but what about people? Yoon Seol-hwa, Joo Ah-yoon, and White Davi were still inside the Dark Matter. They could have been caught up in this explosion.

And they might have encountered the perpetrator who caused it.

Both possibilities have similar implications.

Death.

With a power capable of this level of destruction, even if they were magical girls, it would be difficult for them to survive. Add to that an explosion like a missile had dropped. Who could survive that?

Han Jae-jung questioned once more how he had managed to survive.

Heaving a deep sigh, he picked up the pitiful piece of scrap metal. Junk that wouldn’t fetch a good price at a junkyard. He roughly stuffed it into his pocket.

It was futile. He was tired too. 

The past still flickered in his darkened left eye.

Red Spica, Virgo. A magical girl, yet a villain. Someone he had to protect, yet kill. Pitiable, yet unforgivable. 

A person who lived a futile life, and vanished futilely.

In the end, someone he didn’t know.

Due to the villain’s attack, the opportunity for conversation he had prepared was also overturned.

Despite being so deeply entangled, I only knew her through speculation until the end. Han Jae-jung let out a deep, agonizing groan.

“…Ah.”

Then suddenly, Han Jae-jung saw a glimmer of hope. The current quest assigned to him was ‘To keep Virgo alive.’

If she was dead now, the quest would have deemed it a failure and imposed sanctions on him.

But the quest had neither indicated success nor failure.

The quest could still be completed.

“…She’s alive.”

Well, she had previously clashed with the villain that caused this calamity twice before. And she had returned alive both times.

If she survived twice, why couldn’t she survive a third time?

Considering she had reappeared later with a complete body despite losing her left arm to him earlier, she must possess remarkable healing abilities.

Virgo is alive. Han Jae-jung was convinced.

His pace gradually quickened. He didn’t know where he should go. He just ran blindly.

Like when he had escaped the Dark Matter before, he ran endlessly.

He ran a path where not even an inch ahead was visible. This path resembled a path of escape. The experience was not much different in that he ran endlessly, harboring only vague hope.

It was like hell.

An endless hell of suffering.

No matter how far he went forward, the smoke did not dissipate. Under his feet were ashes and finely crushed concrete powder, and the scenery did not change.

Han Jae-jung kept running. Finding people, fleeing from this land. With only that goal, endlessly. 

‘Fleeing?’

Han Jae-jung mocked himself.

‘Wasn’t my goal to protect?’

But for survival, he had no choice. Isn’t it that you have to live first to have a next? I have to live now to carry out such a goal as protection.

If he flees, others can also preserve their immediate lives.

He can subdue them later. After gaining strength later.

‘But the machines for controlling the rampage have also disappeared, when is the next time?’

Han Jae-jung wondered as he ran.

‘Is avoiding like this really protection? Leaving the possibility of facing danger again next time?’

Then what can he do? He lacks strength now.

‘A villain he hasn’t even met yet. Why is he already scared?’

Some things can be known even without meeting. That villain, just by walking, could split the earth, disturb the sky, and shoot out a light like a meteor that could turn the entire area into a wasteland.

That must be the villain who transcends constellations that Botis had mentioned before.

In contrast, his own strength is pitiful. He still can’t handle it properly, and the consumption of starlight is also fast, so he can’t fight for a long time. Fast and flashy but empty inside. 

It is a form forcibly created by pursuing strength, but it is not satisfactory.

It is easy to predict defeat and death after the battle.

It’s just like the old days.

Han Jae-jung mocked himself.

It’s no different from when he recklessly charged in with dark matter without knowing anything. Just like back then when he was scared and ran away from the villain he tried to kill.

It’s no different from the old days when he was always scared and just ran away.

It was the same with Red Spica. He was unnecessarily scared and couldn’t stop her. He was unnecessarily afraid that if he did stop her, she might even try to harm him. He allowed several people to die.

He was afraid that if he unnecessarily approached her wounds, the relationship would go wrong. He remained silent. He didn’t try to know even when he could have.

He came here to die, what was he so afraid of?

Where did the courage he had when he first set foot here go? Why was he so sneaky?

Did he become afraid of dying again because he had something to lose?

It’s no different even now.

That villain is the mortal enemy who killed his parents. Yet instead of challenging him, he’s trying to flee to save himself. Is his life so precious? Or is it because he doesn’t even have the memory of his parents to feel a desire for revenge?

Is this endless path he’s walking now meant to punish him for fleeing?

Han Jae-jung realized that this space was not reality. Is it the path of the dead that he’s walking after dying, or is he seeing a hallucination just before dying?

Pausing for a moment to catch his breath, he thought.

Where did this darkness originate from?

This terrible darkness that blinds, deafens, silences, and clouds his mind – where did it begin?

Han Jae-jung pondered quietly.

Is it because his life is precious, or because he has a lot to lose? What was the reason he didn’t try to know the girl’s wounds, vaguely hoping it would get better over time? What is the true nature of this terrible hope?

Why has he been unable to control the power of his star until now, losing reason and emotion, going insane?

Virgo answers that the reason for madness is forgetfulness. If one acts without knowing what one must do, that is madness.

Han Jae-jung thought that was not a wrong statement. For it was none other than himself who did that.

Forgetting everything, living without knowing, yet vaguely feeling love, longing, happiness.

He could recall his ex-girlfriend as a prime example.

Even though he didn’t know why he loved Yoon Seol-hwa, he loved her. It was a manic love.

Now he knows the reason.

He had lost his parents to the villain. With no proper relatives, he was in crisis of being completely alone, and she was the one who reached out a hand to him.

“Jae-jung… Are you okay?”

It was none other than Yoon Seol-hwa.

Through his left eye, the eye that had been seeing the past, this time he caught a glimpse of reality. Her worried face looking at him.

Next to her, the fallen White Davi can be seen. She herself was not in good shape either. Her entire body was covered in wounds and her eyes were dazed. She looked like she could collapse at any moment.

“I’m sorry… Just wait a little. I’ll go back and…”

The magical girl’s transformation has been undone. Perhaps the shock was so great that it was automatically undone.  

A huge shadow loomed behind her. Han Jae-jung knows the identity of that shadow.

The villain that ambushed the road and killed his parents in the past. The villain that directly caused Red Spica’s retirement. The villain that now gives him a reason to flee again. 

The villain, closest to a monster.

Leo.

It had almost no human form, only a ferocious beast-like appearance.

Red mane and black leather. Its tail was a snake and its mouth breathed heat like the sun. Its body was as big as a house, causing those who saw it to cower in fear.

The monster in his half-sighted view kept approaching.

“…I’ll go back, and defeat you.”

Still, Yoon Seol-hwa’s eyes were not yet dead. Muttering towards the fallen Han Jae-jung, she gripped her ribbon again. Her hand was trembling violently.

The villain let out a huge roar, shaking the ground. Yoon Seol-hwa swallowed her dry saliva and began her transformation. She knew the transformation after undoing it would be a considerable burden on her body, but still acted.

Her body was enveloped in a blue starlight and Yoon Seol-hwa became a magical girl. Once again, she charged at Leo.

At her side, Virgo flew in and rushed at the villain. Despite being critically injured to the point where a human would surely have died, she moved.

“Get loooooost!!!!”

As the two of them charged and struck Leo’s mane at the same time, the villain let out another roar.

That was enough. This roar had starlight mixed in, and despite being a sound, it clearly delivered an impact. And heat.

In an instant, the two fell to the ground. Blue Sirius lost consciousness, and Virgo, spurting blood all over her body, rose again.

Her heart was gone, one eye was crushed, her leg was broken, and her arm was burned. Horrific injuries.

Starlight scattered from those wounds. She looked like she could die at any moment. No, she was already as good as dead.

She was burning her last life force to resist him.

The remaining half of Han Jae-jung’s field of vision was darkness.

Why did Han Jae-jung choose magical girls as his wards? Why did he only have sympathy for them?

At first, he didn’t have such a grand mindset. He never thought about such a grand mission.

It wasn’t because they were magical girls that he wanted to protect them. It wasn’t because they were something special that he wanted to protect them.

It wasn’t because they were magical girls that he wanted to protect them, but simply that the people he wanted to protect happened to be magical girls.

He only had the desire to protect people who were like family to him.

This was the most primitive mindset.

Han Jae-jung looked at the smoke surrounding him.

Endless darkness, and therefore giving the hope of being able to endlessly move forward, and in the midst of walking, vaguely giving the happiness of something being resolved.

Its name was desire.

Just as he realized the identity of the darkness, a white cluster of stars shone from the other side.

Most of it was obscured by this darkness and invisible, but he knew it was definitely shining there. The piece of metal pinned to his pocket resonated and emitted light.

He knew the reason he had to move, and realized what was blocking him.

This darkness is both my enemy and my own, so I had to sweep it away with my own hands.

[All star activation processes completed.]

Since this entire darkness is a part of me, I can control it.

I don’t need the power of any machine. I don’t need anyone’s help.

[Observed all stars.]

As he moved his hand, the darkness flickered and turned into lightning.

The blinding lightning gathered in his hand. It transformed into some kind of mechanical device. A dial-shaped tool similar to what he had seen before.

The key to control himself had been in his hand from the beginning. 

It was the reason.

Grasping it.

Han Jae-jung stood up.

His real body firmly placed both feet on the ground, and a belt was attached to his waist.

He mounted the mechanical device he had held in the fantasy onto that belt.

The crude dial gradually took on a clearer shape. A pattern like a bear with an open mouth surrounded the lens.

The Big Dipper was no longer drawn on the lens.

[ASTRONOMICAL OBSERVATION.]

His body was enveloped in a brilliant white light.

The lightning that had consumed his body was gone.

Soon after, his original armor that had been hidden by the lightning appeared.

“…Jae-jung?”

Virgo muttered as she looked at him.

[I obey my fate.]

He follows his fate. Not a fate given by someone else, but his own mission that he found for himself.

[URSA MAJOR.]

As primal as a beast.

And at the same time, possessing a reason as cold as surprising.

His eyes that had turned black regained their original light.

He emitted a beautiful yet pure lightning.

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