Transformation or Death

Symbol of Peace (17)

“What a stupid idea that is. Why the sun of all things? It would freeze solid as soon as it passes the atmosphere.”

“Well, the reason is simple.”

Watcher pointed at the sky.

“If we’re going to start something, shouldn’t we aim for the highest place to make it the coolest?”

“…Bullshit.”

“Style is important. Very important. Even if it’s just for show, it becomes a definite motivation.”

The stage was set.

A stage for her who likes to show off.

At the same time, a stage to push her who always pretends to be scared and underestimates herself.

Watcher smirked as he looked over the stiffly frozen Orange Altair. It was a civilian-like attitude with no sense of spirit at all.

“Are you scared?”

“…”

Orange Altair stared at Watcher for a moment and then nodded heavily.

“Yes. You must be scared. It’s natural. Of course you’d be scared if you think you’re gambling with someone else’s life, not your own. That sense of responsibility and pressure would make it impossible to maintain your sanity. It would bring cloudiness to your eyes and take away the calmness from your hands.”

Theoretically, it’s possible with Joo Ah-yoon’s ability. I saw people who touched the butterfly in the falling building disappear without a trace. That’s not annihilation, but moving them somewhere. Judging from the words they exchanged, her exact ability is presumed to be the power to move substances that touch the butterfly to where another butterfly is.

If we make the butterfly touch that villain and shoot an arrow to the sun at the same time, it’s entirely possible.

The problem is that it’s just theoretical talk.

Shooting an arrow to the sun is impossible. Orange Altair knows this better than anyone because it’s herself. She doesn’t have such power.

She can’t bet people’s lives on such a desperate attack.

“But that’s when it’s a gamble. I don’t think what I said is a gamble.”

However, Watcher still didn’t give up.

“Didn’t I say I’d show you the stars? I can’t show you something that doesn’t exist from the start. Orange Altair, you can do it. This isn’t just encouragement. It’s not a suggestion either. It’s a statement. I know you can do it.”

He affirmed her to the point of being forceful. When even she herself had given up, he alone didn’t give up on her.

“On, on what grounds?!”

“I can see the future. That’s why I know you can do it.”

There was no lie.

It was true that he could see the future for about 3 seconds, and he did see her shoot an arrow to the sun.

There was no falsehood, only room for misunderstanding.

He recalled the scenery from the original work. The majesty of shooting an arrow and bringing down a star.

She is someone who can perform the miracle of connecting a line to a star with a human body.

Even though she died later, it was a great achievement. Moreover, in the original work, people who didn’t die were rarer, so the word ‘even though’ is actually unnecessary.

But this time it won’t be like that.

Orange Altair can become strong. It’s an already observed fact. Also, that majesty will not be faded by death.

‘Because I’ll make it so.’

Despite Watcher’s remarks, Orange Altair still maintained a passive attitude.

“But, but still…”

However, her expression said otherwise. Her mouth kept twitching as if the long-awaited praise was not just sweet but penetrating her body. It was clear that just a little more push would make her fall over.

“Bu, but I can’t shoot to the sun… To snipe, you need to be able to properly observe, but the sun is too bright and too far away to look at…”

“Altair.”

She is starving for recognition.

To have her worth affirmed by someone.

To be together with someone.

“Don’t carelessly speak of impossibility. Yes, there might be impossible things. But that doesn’t mean you should give up on seeing altogether.”

A jealous girl full of suspicion and presumption, always making enemies due to her inferiority complex. The opponent she hated the most was always herself. The opportunity Watcher was giving her was closer to a chance to face herself than a chance to become a hero.

“Don’t you think you’re a person worthy enough to face the sun?”

She needed to look at what kind of person she really was, taking off those colored glasses.

“…But I could ruin everything because of me.”

“Don’t misunderstand. You’re not taking on this challenge alone. How arrogant. Do you think everything in this world is your fault? I thought you were timid, but you’re overflowing with self-esteem. Good.”

Orange eyes tinted with suspicion looked at him.

“I and Odette will be by your side. Your actions were prompted by me. Your responsibility is my responsibility. If you fail, you can blame me. Conveniently, I’m a villain, so it’ll be easier to shift the blame.”

“Why are you doing this much for me…”

“What a silly question. It’s simply because you have the most useful magic here right now.”

“You want me to believe such an absurd lie?”

“Whether this is a lie or not, you don’t have a choice, do you? There’s a saying, ‘If you can’t avoid it, enjoy it.'”

“I avoid it because I can’t enjoy it.”

“Hm. You always have to have the last word. Anyway, that’s what I wanted to say.”

The wind was relentlessly raging. The sky melted like plastic due to atmospheric vibrations, and the ground was lightly bundled and lifted like cotton candy. The magical girls who had lost consciousness woke up one by one and threw magic at the culprit who created this wind. However, most of the magic scattered without even touching the target.

He lifted the axe he had put down for a moment.

“Even if you’re afraid, don’t stop challenging.”

Lightning flashed from his axe, and a spark flickered in Orange Altair’s eyes as she looked at it.

“I’ll make the path.”

Pssh. The various epaulets attached to his shoulders fell off, emitting a steam-like sound.

[Speed form.]

The seemingly heavy decorations fell off, and lightning wrapped around his body. Then he ran straight ahead. Literally, as fast as lightning. An intense white lightning was born through the wind.

Soon, silver lines were drawn simultaneously in several places in the air. It wasn’t actually simultaneous, but the speed at which the lines were drawn was so fast that it appeared simultaneous to most eyes. These lines cut through the wind, and the noisy vibration of the atmosphere momentarily met silence.

This silence was brief; the wind rushed into the empty spaces where the atmosphere had been torn. Displeased with this tide, dozens of silver lines were drawn again.

“Wow, he’s fighting well, as expected.”

“…”

“Wouldn’t you rather fight an immortal than something like that?”

Orange Altair quietly observed the villain. Did this guy not know what he looked like right now? A villain speaking friendly to a magical girl.

“Aren’t you a villain?”

She asked accusingly, pretending not to know his identity.

“You and I are enemies. So why are you being so meddlesome? Why are you like this to me, who should be killing you…”

Usually cursing like that, treating her like an unwelcome guest, acting as if she didn’t exist even when she was there. Ignoring, mocking, slandering, and tormenting.

“Why are you like this…”

Orange Altair swallowed the rest of her words. In fact, she knows too. The reason she’s unkind when they meet as humans is because of herself.

She’s just getting back what she gave because she approached with a sharp attitude first.

The girl named Joo Ah-yoon just has bad speaking habits, she’s not a bad person.

“What does my appearance matter?”

“What?”

“I said, what does my appearance matter? What’s important is what I do.”

“That’s… Sophistry. Appearance and origin are also part of the essence. They can never be separated. Humans and villains can never be combined…”

“Ah, you talk too much. Are you a loser?”

“Wha-what?!”

She was startled by the sudden insult. Orange Altair’s expression was tinged with bewilderment.

“What the hell are you talking about? So you’re saying we should just leave you all and run away? Because I’m a villain? You’re really frustrating.”

“No, that’s not what I meant…”

“That’s exactly what you meant. Why are you talking nonsense now? Aren’t you just making excuses because you don’t want to do it?”

“No!”

“What do you mean no? How pathetic.”

“You really…”

“Oh, come to think of it, it’s really pathetic, damn it?!”

She suddenly burst out in anger. Orange Altair, who was the target of this scolding, shrank back.

“Isn’t it pathetic to make excuses and try to escape when there’s something only you can do?”

She had nothing to say. Even as a villain, she was the same.

She lifted her head and looked at the world where the wind was blowing. All sorts of heroes gathered to try to kill the immortal one. The only one not moving was Orange Altair, just her. The only one who survived with the help of her comrades and was given a chance with the help of a villain. The only one holding the key to victory.

‘…Pathetic?’

For a moment, she glared at the shameless villain with bulging eyes.

“The pathetic one is you, not me! What kind of appearance is that? Even if you try to save people with that body, you’ll only get cursed at!”

What a sucker.

Being ignored, mocked, slandered, and tormented, what is this behavior?

Even after becoming a villain, has that foolish nature not disappeared?

It’s pathetic. Really pathetic.

“…What are you doing? Hurry up and attach that weird butterfly here!”

She gathered magic in her hand to create an arrow and then held it out. She hesitated for a moment, then smirked and attached a butterfly to the arrowhead.

“Do well.”

“You do well yourself!”

After snapping sharply, the two parted ways.

One forward, one upward.

Orange Altair raised her body endlessly upward. To gain more altitude, to get closer to the target. It might be meaningless considering the distance to that target, but she stopped such pessimistic thoughts and just moved her body.

Challenge.

Now she abandoned all worries and anxieties. She also abandoned her usual pessimism and inferiority complex, and jealousy. As much as she abandoned, her body became lighter and closer to the sky.

The wind didn’t blow around her. All the wind coming towards her was blocked and disappeared by lightning.

She saw the being who acknowledged her.

She saw the being she wanted to be acknowledged by. She saw Joo Ah-yoon.

Pathetic woman.

What’s so good about continuing to do such foolish things? You finally quit being a magical girl, you should be happy. I don’t understand why you’re walking this difficult path.

If you became a villain, you should just do crazy things according to your desires, why are you trying to save people? Really pathetic…

‘No, I’m the pathetic one!’

There’s someone who doesn’t stop challenging even after becoming a villain, why did I stop?

If she were to go crazy and rampage, I could at least hate her, but now I can’t even do that.

‘You’re still amazing, aren’t you…!’

Acknowledging it made her feel better.

She wanted to be acknowledged by Joo Ah-yoon. Because she admired her. She admired the woman who walked a path both similar and completely different from her own.

“I hope you keep being so amazing!”

The heat of the sun draws closer. Her face was hot. Her body was filled with heat. Now she can barely see people. They look as small as dots. The sky was vast and clear. It seemed to cleanse her vulgar heart.

She picked up the bow. She raised it diagonally upward. She drew the bowstring. She drew it even stronger than usual. She gripped it so tightly that the tendons in her arms felt like they would snap and the blood vessels in her eyes might burst.

There was no thought of failure.

“When I become more amazing than you someday, I’ll shine even brighter!”

What was created at the end of overcoming fear and inferiority was a desire for improvement.

Not the desire to tear others down out of envy or to fall into the abyss together out of a sense of kinship, but a pure desire for ascension.

I saw you, who even after falling to the lowest point a person can fall – becoming a villain – still continued to strive to be human.

I saw you, who in a much worse situation than mine, became a much more amazing person than me. You who remained proud regardless of ability or frustration.

You who could always save people as if it were natural.

With someone like you around, I can’t fall here.

Now there’s no delusion. No doubt. Only certainty.

I can believe. I can do it.

Orange Altair recalled the first day she encountered magic. More precisely, the heartfelt wish she made to the stars on that first day.

I want to become like that person. And I can do it. I can do even better. I can be acknowledged by everyone.

The heart that started from such admiration and belief.

That’s why Orange Altair’s magic was the bow.

An arrow inevitably leaves the moment it’s shot. You can’t manipulate it at will. That’s why a bow requires faith.

The faith that my wish will hit its mark.

Certainty beyond faith.

A display and certainty of one’s own abilities.

The belief that even if there are many variables beyond my control, it will surely reach my aspiration someday.

Because it originated from this prayer, the miracles Orange Altair creates take the form of a bow.

“So, I have to shoot from here.”

As if everything would end if she failed here, she concentrated all the strength from her entire body to the tips of her arms. The tightly drawn bowstring resembled all of her muscle fibers. It seemed like it would be destroyed after being shot once.

Crack, crack. A terrible sound came from between her bones. It was apt to say her body was being ground. Blood vessels throughout her body were pulled, some tearing, and blood flowed from her joints.

But there was no wavering.

But this isn’t my finale.

This feat today is not my last.

As someone once told me, I will become even more splendid in the future.

“Because I’m the person who shoots arrows that reach the end of the sky.”

She released her hand from the bowstring.

Bang! A roar that was hard to believe came from shooting a bow shook the atmosphere.

The sound, using the atmosphere as a medium, flowed like a wave and reached those below.

Those who heard the sound looked up at the sky. A single line traversing the firmament at tremendous speed entered their eyes clearly. Just as that line was about to disappear from view due to its height.

“Now!”

“I know!”

Watcher cut the wind surrounding October, and Odette sent a butterfly through the center. It was the last remaining butterfly.

The butterfly that flew straight touched October’s heart.

Soon, the wind was cut off.

Starting from the center where he disappeared, gradually, the air began to regain its original tranquility.

The scenery of the island also gradually disappeared. The Goldilocks zone, having lost all its owners to maintain the space, collapsed.

As the tumultuous world regained peace, someone was falling from its center. Though lacking the flamboyant hair and resplendent dress, it was clearly an elegant person.

Watcher immediately threw himself upon seeing this. The body he caught midair was remarkably light compared to what she had been shouldering.

Ah, it was when she reached the ground in Watcher’s arms that she opened her eyes. Opening her eyes, Ara slowly looked around. The peaceful scenery of a city with no particular issues. A space of peace where the survivors were sighing in relief.

Then, feeling something cold at her fingertips, she turned her gaze there. Perhaps influenced by where she had been earlier, a small puddle remained. It was reflecting the world like a mirror.

“Did you see the stars?”

Watcher asked. Ara nodded, looking at what was reflected in the tiny puddle, too paltry to be called a sea.

“They were here….”

A sign was hung at Joo Ah-yoon’s cafe. It meant they were officially opening for business.

The name was ‘Baekho’.

Not the white tiger Baekho, but named Baekho meaning ‘white lake’.

There were several other candidate names besides Baekho. After arguing for days about what to decide on, they finally agreed to choose randomly, and Baekho was picked.

Joo Ah-yoon complained that it sounded old-fashioned and wanted to change it, but rules were rules, so Baekho was finally hung as the sign.

Meanwhile, Joo Ah-yoon, determined to make it sound trendy somehow, kept calling the cafe ‘White Lake’ in English, ignoring the decided Baekho. A wry smile came at the shallow thinking that using only English makes things look hip.

Today was the first day of official opening. Naturally, there were no customers.

Who would come when such a crazy incident had happened in this city? Most of the people who were here have moved away.

“Brother…”

“What.”

“Should we open a second branch…?”

“What second branch? Stop talking nonsense and think about marketing strategies. Listen. Using the fact that it’s a store run by a magical girl as a marketing tool…”

“So, we make a second branch to make people think there’s a first branch. This White Lake.”

“What’s with that pronunciation?”

“Why, is it British pronunciation?”

“How is that British pronunciation? Ah, welcome. This is Baekho.”

“White Lake!”

Ding. The bell rang, and finally, the first customer of the day arrived.

“Ah… Um, hello…”

“Ugh, what the…”

“They’re clearly a customer, aren’t you going to treat them properly?!”

It was Orange Altair. Ara. She was said to have been hospitalized due to the effects of shooting that arrow, seemed she’s been discharged now. In her hands were a bouquet and an elegant paper bag.

“Th-this is an opening gift! And… Ahem! Sir Ha-Han Jae-jung?”

She placed the bouquet on the table with a thud. Her eyes curved sharply.

“Ca-can I see you for a moment…?”

“What’s with the ‘sir’… Are you going to make a fuss again? Brother, just ignore her.”

“…What do you want to talk about?”

“I-I want to talk alone…”

“Really nonsense. I can’t allow it. Talk here.”

Joo Ah-yoon overtly guarded, grabbing my arm to prevent me from going near Ara. Ara’s eyes, which scanned us perplexedly, trembled for a moment. She chewed her lips before finally opening them.

“…Sigh, alright. Then listen?”

Ahem, Ara cleared her throat conspicuously and stared at me with burning eyes. Just as I was about to avert my gaze from the pressure.

“I’m so sorryyyy!!!!”

Ara bowed her head 90 degrees. It looked like her head might touch the floor at this rate.

“I wrongly suspected you due to my mistaken view and caused you immeasurable harm! Th-this is my humble attempt to express that feeling…”

“Ah, no, what are you doing suddenly, Altair. Raise your head. It was a reasonable suspicion…”

“Nooo!!! It was entirely my fault! There’s no need to use honorifics! Come on, hurry and denounce me!”

“Hahaha! Crazy bitch! Hey, get out quickly. Should I sprinkle salt, brother?”

“You be quiet too. Qui-quickly raise your head. I’ll gratefully accept the gift.”

I reached out to accept the gift, fearing she might make an even bigger fuss if I refused. Then her two hands firmly grasped mine.

“You’re so kind…!”

Two sparkling eyes examined me.

“I misjudged you! You’re not a villain, but a helper secretly protecting an acquaintance who became a villain… Ah, I’ve been rude.”

“…Pardon?”

“Ah, this is a watch. I didn’t know the size, so I just wrapped the original, but you can adjust it yourself when you wear it.”

“No, that’s not it, what did you just say…”

“Oh, a call from headquarters. I hope your business prospers and you have a nice day!”

Ara disappeared saying that.

“…What did that girl just say?”

It seemed her suspicion had been resolved in a strange direction.

Saying I was a helper secretly protecting Ah-yoon, who had become a villain, from being exposed to the world.

The suspicion was resolved, but the misunderstanding remained.

“This is crazy.”

When did she find out.

***

Libra smiled deeply as he looked at the syringe in his hand.

His ability of trade.

An ability close to omnipotence that realizes miracles by paying a certain price.

It was a drug that maximized that ability.

Its performance was.

“Forced divinity.”

Injecting it into villains to forcibly create a pseudo-divine state.

The current version had the drawback of making them lose reason and go berserk, but that was something to be modified gradually.

“I should thank October. He was a good test subject.”

He injected it into the kidnapped October and observed him. He went berserk for quite a long time, providing a lot of good experimental data.

“If it becomes possible to control these pseudo-divine villains…”

Libra would have a powerful army that no one else had ever possessed.

He chuckled while looking at the syringe.

“Now, how will you stop this army?”

He posed a question to someone who wasn’t here.

The person most likely to give Libra an answer now. The guardian of guardians. Han Jae-jung.

He would even give up his life to stop an army of divinity.

Only that one disappears, and others gain peace…

A beautiful trade.

“I should look into the golden ratio.”

Libra rummaged through the lab in ecstasy.

This drug would surely become a symbol of peace.

“Kuhehe… Hahaha!!!”

The villain of Sagittarius looked at Libra with contemptuous eyes. Recently, because he was absorbed in this drug research, the supply of drugs he used to give to himself was cut off.

“Idiot…”

What on earth was that person that he would cut off even his own drug supply to find a new power?

“Han Jae-jung, was it?”

The villain of Sagittarius became interested in him.

“I should look into him.”

To see if he’s worth cutting off my drug supply.

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