Transformation or Death

Picking Stars from the Sky (3)

As she searched for the answer to life, her body that had lost its sense of existence scattered into starlight. The life of a villain existed only to achieve its purpose. 

The moment they found the answer was their end.

“Kill me.”

Han Jae-jung quietly watched her. The body that had been battered but still maintained a definite form was gradually fading away. Like ink being diluted with water, its brilliant colors were fading.

“Selfish to the very end.”

With a deep sigh and a shake of his head, Han Jae-jung glared at Virgo through his red lenses.

“You want me to deliver the final blow to your dying body? Is that a punishment? I’m an assisted suicide aide?”

His voice didn’t sound particularly shocked. To him, who had caught a glimpse of the future even for a brief moment, Virgo’s words had been heard before she uttered them.

“I won’t kill you. But.”

Though unable to read the future, Virgo somehow knew what he was going to say next.

“I’ll be with you until the very end.”

Virgo nodded with a smile.

“…Yeah, that’s enough.”

Upon hearing her response, Han Jae-jung walked past Virgo and picked up the two fallen magical girls. Yoon Seol-hwa and Red Vega could be considered the true victims of this incident.

“But first, I’ll take these two.”

Having been unconscious from the explosion until he woke up, Han Jae-jung didn’t know the exact reason why they were here.

But he could guess.

According to Joo Ah-yoon, it was certain that Jason had brought them here using Dark Matter as well. If they were here, they couldn’t have been unaware of the commotion caused by the Grim Reaper.

A sane person would have fled, but they might have rushed there out of a sudden sense of justice. Or they might have been inadvertently caught up in it. Or perhaps they thought they could find their comrades at the center of the commotion. Or maybe they were there by chance before the disturbance occurred.

He could make countless plausible guesses, but he didn’t know the exact facts. Having learned from experience the disappointment of relying on guesses because of a certain individual, Han Jae-jung wanted to know the truth.

“Come to think of it, what were these two doing that got them caught up with the Grim Reaper?”

“Hey….”

Looking exasperated, Virgo frowned and grumbled.

“I’m about to die soon?! And in the middle of this, you’re hitting on other women?! Does that even make sense?! Ah~!! So annoying, annoying, annoying!!!”

“Don’t raise your voice. It hurts my ears.”

Virgo was genuinely annoyed. Han Jae-jung couldn’t understand why.

“Those two were the Grim Reaper’s original targets, you know?! But then somehow I got dragged into it too… Ah, seriously. I’m so pissed off.”

His question was answered.

“I see. Thank you.”

“For what?”

“For staying by my side and protecting these two while I was asleep.”

“…What are you talking about. I was just trying to survive.”

Virgo tried to deflect but eventually admitted it.

“Yeah. I protected you. I wanted to protect you.”

Virgo let out a wry laugh.

“I originally couldn’t feel any sense of fulfillment… But now I do. Should I say it feels like a mother seeing her prodigal son return home?”

“More like an older sister than a mother. You’re neither gentle nor kind, but you’re stubborn like one.”

“Oh, come on, seriously.”

Han Jae-jung turned around and knelt down in front of her.

“What are you doing?”

“My arms are already full, you see. Hop on my back.”

“You really can’t stand the mood of a farewell, can you?”

Virgo snorted and draped her arms around his neck, leaning her body against him.

“You were just saying you’d do anything for me. But at the end, is it so hard for you to look at me alone?”

“Don’t worry too much. It’ll be over soon.”

“But what if I disappear?”

“I know you won’t, which is why I’m acting like this.”

The moment their bodies made contact, the rate of Virgo’s dissipation slowed down drastically. As starlight flowed and disappeared from her body, new starlight filled her up.

The white lightning, which could have stopped, didn’t stop. It bloomed like branches, reaching Virgo and allowing her to remain a flower for a little longer.

The once cold lightning now felt warmly.

“I even picked stars from the sky, so how hard can it be to save one dying person?”

“Tsk, you’ve become quite the talker.”

“You’re too much. Even though I look like this, I’m quite flustered too. The sense of futility isn’t just yours alone…”

Smiling wryly, Han Jae-jung leapt high into the sky.

“I guess neither of us really feels it yet. You or me.”

Even if he proclaimed romantic vows of plucking stars from the sky, the moment a star that seemed like it would shine for eternity lost its light was indeed desolate.

Just keep her alive. That quest alone flickered in the corner of his mind.

“… Brother. Will you really be okay?”

After handing over Yoon Seol-hwa and Red Vega to Joo Ah-yoon, who had come to pick them up after being notified in advance, Han Jae-jung lifted up Virgo, whom he was carrying on his back, and told her not to worry.

“Don’t worry too much. In this state, he’s not even worth a single punch.” 

“Puahaha! That’s true.”

“Damn it, I’m really gonna flip out…”

Joo Ah-yoon rubbed her temples beyond her helmet, seemingly having a headache.

“Even though my head is fucking pounding from wondering why that bitch is tailing them and why brother is taking care of her… Well, it’s not like she’d listen even if I told her not to, right?”

Joo Ah-yoon smiled wryly and raised her middle finger.

“If she keeps tailing, just dump her off somewhere dark like a maggot. She looked like shit the last time I saw her face, so let’s not see this late autumn mosquito of a bitch again next time.”

Woosh. With those words, a butterfly flew away, and Joo Ah-yoon disappeared from sight.

“Sheesh~ What a ill-tempered younger sister. Does she take after you?”

“She talks like that, but she’s not really that ill-tempered. The ill-tempered one isn’t our personality, but your behavior.”

“Is that so? So is this the punishment I’m receiving? Dying?”

“Compared to what you’ve done, this is merciful.”

The two chuckled as they walked down the street. The area that the lion had passed through and caused a commotion was now quiet, desolate, and eerie.

The wind carried ashes that tickled their feet. It felt like walking on a sandy beach. The only flames were the setting sun and the white lightning running through Han Jae-jung’s body.

“I guess it is merciful. But what’s the point of living any longer like this?”

Virgo surveyed the scene with a furrowed brow. The world that had become clear after the hallucinations faded was almost blindingly bright to an uncomfortable degree.

“Do I look fine to you right now? Of course not. I’ve done so much. Humans are ultimately creatures of forgetfulness. Time will pass, and they’ll forget again and go insane. Forget, and live anonymously again, only to bring it up later and spout nonsense.”

Virgo had no breath. No pulse. All she had was a physical body, literally. But even this body was crumbling away. She had no lingering attachments, along with no breath or pulse.

“I hate this world. I hate people. And I hate myself for hating people. Someone will commit massacres, someone will pour out resentment. Someone will burn with an inferiority complex, and someone will slowly go insane from that inferiority complex. It’s a world where everyone is bound to go insane, so what’s the point?”

Virgo let out a ‘huh’ laugh and playfully whispered, 

“But there was something.”

Evening was gradually beginning to fall on the streets. The color of the sky was turning redder, and like adding a different paint to that sky, the color of the white lightning was gradually intensifying.

“Even in a world not worth protecting, there was something worth protecting.”

Han Jae-jung’s steps paused for a moment before continuing forward.

“…Virgo.”

“Yeah, what is it?”

Han Jae-jung, who had been silently listening to Virgo’s words, opened his mouth.

“Don’t run away.”

“Run away? Me? Kkahaha, what are you talking about. Where could I even run to now?”

“Don’t make death your escape.”

One must not make the ending an escape. The ending should be a knot. It must never remain simply as a thread.

“Don’t run away to death. Live and suffer. Live in a living hell. You don’t deserve to die. Live and suffer, wander your entire life as a voice of resentment.”

“That’s a bit too much, really.”

“But you still deserve it.”

Hmm… After a brief pause, Virgo nodded her head.

“You’re right. Running away. Running away. Everyone runs away because it’s difficult. But you know what?”

Virgo stroked Han Jae-jung’s left lens as she continued speaking.

“Escaping predetermined fate is also running away. The ancient kings and mythological figures who tried to break free from the shackles of life and death, they all ended in catastrophe, didn’t they? It’s the same now.”

Even with the movement obscuring his eyes, he did not flinch at all.

“Wherever I go, I’m running away, and the end is catastrophic. The two fates I currently have will never be tied together, no matter where I go.”

“Then what are you trying to do?” 

Han Jae-jung’s steps slowed down. The intensity of the lightning gradually increased. Like a candle flame burning more fiercely just before going out, it flaunted its brilliance.

“Don’t let me ruin your life too. You’re the only good deed I’ve left behind.”

Virgo scraped her lightning and gathered it in her fingers. It was a reddish starlight like the evening star.

“Is this already the limit, in fact?”

Han Jae-jung’s steps stopped. The lightning did not go out. It stubbornly burned on.

“How could it be.”

“Just a bluff.”

With the lightning burning until the very end seeping into Virgo’s body, and Han Jae-jung, who had exhausted all his light, his transformation was undone.

Even though Virgo had squeezed out starlight to the limit to extend her life, there was still a limit to the temporary measure after all. Virgo’s body, which had maintained its form until then, began to rapidly fade away.

“How stubborn.”

Kneeling down, Han Jae-jung was gently embraced from behind by Virgo.

“…There must still be a way.”

He muttered. His voice sounded dejected. Virgo smiled and leaned her weight on Han Jae-jung. It was very light. Absurdly light for a human body.

“You’re quite selfish too.”

Virgo suddenly giggled in his ear, then waved her hand in front of his eyes. Even with his true eyes revealed after the transformation was undone, he showed no particular reaction.

“After exhausting the starlight to the point where you can’t even move a muscle, and on top of that, losing your left eye, is there anything left for you to give me here? Isn’t that too much? To what extent are you going to make me a fool? You give me nothing, but tell me to just take?”

Virgo playfully smiled, walked around to his front, and placed her hand on his forehead.

“Come to think of it, you’ve never seen my magic, have you?”

A reddish starlight gushed from her palm.

“I should repay you for showing me the stars.”

It was the magic of the Red Spica. The miracle that recorded the fewest casualties in the history of magical girls. The power a girl gained when someone was hurt.

“Jae-jung. I’ll take on one of my fates. Of course, the death side. But I’ll let you take responsibility for one of my fates by accepting your good intentions.”

The miracle of healing. 

A warm red light seeped into his skin, gradually clearing his blurry eyes.

“See the stars with my eyes.”

And at the same time, Virgo’s body gradually faded away. Blending into the evening star.

Shining red, fading red.

“So that someone like me doesn’t appear again. So you don’t make the same mistakes I did, take on my fate.”

Virgo smiled bitterly. 

“Can you do this?”

Han Jae-jung held her hand tightly and nodded firmly.

“Although there were many mistakes in your life, I will not let you remain a mistake.”

Virgo nodded in satisfaction.

“With pure reason, I will remember you, and with emotion, I will reminisce about you. I will not defile you with the delusion of oblivion. I will remember your magic, remember that you were a girl, remember your life. I will remember your sins.”

The hand he was tightly holding onto disappeared into nothingness.

“I will not forget.”

Just as his hand, which had been hovering in the air, dropped down.

“Ah, now I can see.”

A brilliance swirled in his left eye again. His eye, which regained its light with the full power of the Red Spica, first turned to none other than the same light that was reflected in it.

Ahn Su-chae matched her eyes with his left eye and grinned mischievously.

“Huh? It’s not like it’s the first time you’re seeing my face, so why are you so surprised? What, do I look as pretty as a star?”

Along with those words, Ahn Su-chae disappeared. Han Jae-jung chuckled.

“You should have waited for an answer.”

Although the process was unsatisfactory, her ending was at least like a star’s.

In that case, it’s like picking a star from the sky and giving it to a star.

[Hidden Quest, ‘Save Her’ completed successfully.]

[Quest ‘Keep Her Alive’ confirmed as failed. But due to the success of the hidden quest, no penalty will be received.]

The life of a girl who had stayed in a reddish-purple day her whole life has come to an end here today. It has been a long journey.

He looked up at the sky with his star-filled left eye. A comet traced a flashing orbit and disappeared.

The sky had already taken on a happy reddish-purple hue.

[Error. Error.]

[Intruder detected in the system!]

The lens inside Belt also contained a similar reddish-purple hue.

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