Transformation or Death

Symbol of Peace (1)

“Umm…umm…”

Han Jae-jung frowned in front of the mirror and looked around his own eyes.

“This is ridiculous again.”

Behind him, Joo Ah-yoon clicked her tongue and seemed to scold him with a disappointing tone.

“Did you catch prince syndrome or something?” 

“No, it’s not like that.”

She could have just looked and moved on once or twice, but he kept doing it every time he saw a mirror, so she was getting tired of it. She admits that Han Jae-jung’s appearance is outstanding. However, if he keeps making that kind of face, her appreciation changes. No matter how good-looking someone is, narcissism is bound to wear off eventually.

“It’s not that, it’s just this eye…”

Despite Joo Ah-yoon’s concern, he only repeated deep sighs like “tsk, hmm,” without any other response.

“Well, what is it that you’re so worked up about?”

“Umm… Alright. Let’s just go for now.”

“Gosh.”

In the end, she couldn’t resolve her question and had to move on unsatisfactorily. Joo Ah-yoon frowned at Han Jae-jung’s strange behavior.

‘Did he eat something wrong? Shit…’

Did he eat spoiled food because he couldn’t stand the hunger yesterday? If that’s the case, he should have just come over to my place for dinner. Knowing Han Jae-jung’s financial situation, Joo Ah-yoon resolved once again to open a cafe.

‘Before he eats something wrong again, I need to take responsibility and make him earn his own food…!’

Even after saying they should leave, Han Jae-jung kept looking at himself in the mirror, as if he was still unsettled. His face has always been aesthetically satisfying whenever he looks at it, but recently, he’s been feeling a bit different about it.

Ever since his left eye, which had been blinded, was healed by Virgo, he’s been feeling a strange sensation in his left eye.

‘This doesn’t seem like just a healing.’

Is it a side effect of receiving Virgo’s last starlight? Since then, he has noticed several abnormal phenomena in his body. The main issue is this left eye.

Virgo’s last act of kindness was sending her final magic for his sake – the power of healing.

Of course, his vision in the left eye has improved compared to the right. Sometimes, he even feels that the color tones of the two fields of vision are different. Should he say that the R in RGB has become stronger in his left eye’s vision? It’s a bit blurry, as if he’s wearing a reddish filter.

Sometimes, he even gets the sensation that a red starlight is flowing from this left eye. Of course, it’s just a feeling, and no actual starlight is flowing.

Since this only happens occasionally, it hasn’t caused any major inconvenience in his daily life. Still, it’s quite unsettling nonetheless.

He went to the ophthalmologist, but they couldn’t find anything particularly wrong. It was an expected result. After all, modern medical technology can’t treat problems caused by starlight.

This was the biggest issue.

‘I hope I’m not becoming an odd-eyed person?’

If an adult ends up having different colored eyes, how would people around him perceive it? Han Jae-jung, who always cares about how others see him, didn’t want to make his already noticeable appearance stand out even more.

Whenever he looked in the mirror, he felt anxious that his left eye seemed to be getting redder for some reason. Of course, it’s highly possible that it’s just an illusion caused by the distorted vision.

“Ah-yoon.”

“What, why?”

“How does my face look?”

“Like shit.”

“Tell me honestly.”

“It’s pretty.”

“No, not that… Do you notice anything different about me?”

For a moment, Joo Ah-yoon’s heart froze. Her blood ran cold, and goosebumps rose on her skin like feathers trying to protect her body.

The question Han Jae-jung just casually asked could bring disaster to their relationship. It was a question of doom that, if she failed to notice the difference, would lead to annihilation no matter how she answered.

Of course, Joo Ah-yoon hadn’t noticed any changes in Han Jae-jung. That question meant destruction.

‘So that’s why he was so worked up!’

The reason he kept looking in the mirror was because he wanted her to notice the change, a cute wish! Joo Ah-yoon closed her eyes tightly.

“Huh? You don’t notice anything different?”

As Han Jae-jung urged her to answer, she had no choice but to open her eyes and try hard to find any changes.

Of course, there was no noticeable change. From his clothes to his shoes, she recognized everything she had bought for him. He didn’t have any accessories. His hairstyle was the same as before, and his eyes were still as sharp as ever, with the features she liked.

“Um… um… um… You, you look more handsome. Did, did you grow taller?”

“Phew. Alright then.”

Han Jae-jung let out a sigh of relief and moved his feet more lightly. As expected, the change wasn’t visible on the outside. Only Han Jae-jung himself could feel this change.

“…Even this belt doesn’t have anything else to say.”

After Virgo’s death, his belt has been unusually quiet. Seeing the usually noisy belt, which would sound an emergency alarm without hesitation when his health was in danger, stay so quiet, Han Jae-jung felt reassured once again.

“What’s up with him, really…!”

Could it be that he really grew taller? She’s still just 150 cm! Joo Ah-yoon followed behind him, grumbling.

“Brother, don’t go alone! Let’s go together!”

“I’m already walking as slow as I can.”

“What? Are you making fun of me for being short with small strides?!”

“No, I didn’t say anything like that…”

“Jerk!”

Lightly kicking Han Jae-jung’s knee, Joo Ah-yoon grinned slyly.

“This one’s sense of being a victim just keeps growing.” 

“And your height grew too!”

“Yeah, yeah.”

Walking for a few minutes like that, the two simultaneously entered a certain shop. Even though there was a sign that said ‘CLOSED’ hanging on the door, there was no hesitation in their steps.

A quiet shop located on an alleyway. An antique exterior and design that made one think of a rainy European alleyway. As soon as you entered, the aroma of coffee tickled your nose, and vintage city pop and alternative rock shook your ears, shaking your heart like that – it was the scene of an ideal cafe that Joo Ah-yoon wanted.

“Boss! I’m here!”

“Oh, you arrived right on time!”

And now, soon the scene of the cafe would belong to Joo Ah-yoon’s hands. As she entered the shop, an elderly woman smiled and waved at her.

“Of course. I actually tried to come earlier, but… our employee walks so slow.”

Glaring at Han Jae-jung as if scolding him, Han Jae-jung lowered his head in a nod.

“I’m sorry. Even though I have legs twice as long as our boss, I was a bit distracted and came late… Ack! Why!”

“You deserved that hit.”

This time, after kicking his shin, Joo Ah-yoon sat down chuckling on the chair across from where the woman was seated.

“Huhuhuh, you two have a good relationship.”

“Heh, heheh. Does it look that way? Well~ Since we’ll be running the shop together soon, we need to have a good relationship, don’t we….”

Rubbing her cheeks in embarrassment, Joo Ah-yoon immediately shifted her gaze to the documents on the table.

“Yes, I’m really relieved too. I think you two will be able to manage this shop well….”

With eyes filled with age and affection, she caressed the table and pushed the documents towards Joo Ah-yoon’s direction.

“Actually, I wanted to give it to you for a bit cheaper… But my daughter stopped me, so in the end I could only do this much.”

“Ah, no! This amount is more than enough….”

“We have received favors from you all.”

The woman spoke solemnly.

“Considering the grace we’ve received from you all, not giving it to you for free would be close to a sin. The fact that I’ve lived to this age… Is thanks to young ladies like you.”

An elderly-friendly society. The woman’s words were no exaggeration. It’s difficult for the elderly with restricted mobility to evacuate, and on top of their age, it’s hard for them to properly live in that society.  

“Please work hard to carry on my legacy. You brought the seal, right?”

The contract documents for the transfer of the shop. With a smiling face, Joo Ah-yoon took out the seal from her pocket.

“Of course!”

It didn’t even take a minute for the pink seal to be stamped on the signature line.

***

Ippotranslation

***

[How’s the public safety situation in D5 these days?]

[I have an acquaintance who lives there, have there not been many villains around lately?]

When a man posted this on an online community, comments soon began pouring in.

└ Get ready for a funeral

└ D0 City? That place is messed up, it’s a hotspot for junkies 

└ In just a few months, villains will be roaming the streets freely lol

└ If you go there, just shut your eyes and let F and G handle it, they’ll take your money and let the villains run wild

└ You should tell that ‘acquaintance’ to get out quickly

“Whew… This is a big deal.”

Letting out a deep sigh, the man shut his laptop. He didn’t actually have an acquaintance. The post was about himself.

The neighborhood seemed fine when he first rented the place. But a few months ago, rumors started spreading about villains appearing, and eventually reports of villain sightings drastically increased. 

In the end, drug addicts called ‘junkies’ flocked to the area because of the villains, and a few weeks ago it was designated as a villain hazard zone.

It wasn’t just about money anymore, he had to seriously consider his survival.

“Ah shit, seriously…”

He felt vexed. He didn’t have any savings. He had spent every penny to move into this apartment, and now this was happening.

The national average life expectancy was under 40. He recalled the internet losers jokingly referring to it as ‘premature death’. To calm himself, the man opened a video site to watch a magical girl in action.

It was a video of Red Vega, who already had over 5 million views despite being active for less than a year. She demonstrated overwhelming magical power as a new generation heroine full of promise.

‘…I wish she would come to our neighborhood.’

If she’s that strong, she could defeat all the villains in our area. What could possibly be keeping her so busy… For a moment, Red Vega’s face on the ad looked reproachful to him.

“No, I need to get a grip.”

The man patted his cheeks to regain his senses. He was different from those losers. Unlike the magical girl ‘antis’ gwho lived pessimistically, thinking they’d all die to villains anyway.

Even now, the man who cared about social reputation told himself he was different from those lowest of losers.

Different from the trash heaping useless words on humanity’s only hope.

I’m still alive, and there’s still hope. With that thought, the man got up to eat something.

That’s when the doorbell rang.

“What’s that?”

He didn’t order any delivery. In fact, the delivery companies refused service to him. 

Could it be a villain? A chilling thought crossed his mind.

“Coming in.”

Bang!

A thunderous sound came from the steel front door, and the 10kg steel door went flying. It was clearly a villain-proof door.  

From the gaping hole where the door used to be, a massive figure walked in. Over 2m tall, a huge frame. No, too inhuman to simply call it human.

A villain.

As the man trembled in fear, looking up at the villain with malicious starlight, the villain reached out a hand.

“You, won’t you become our comrade?”

There were far too few magical girls to protect this man.

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