Transformation or Death

A Little Money and a Place to Live Tomorrow is Enough (5)

Several days have passed since Libra visited the Argo Family.

Dust is accumulating on the money bag, marking the passage of time since that visit.

September, who had boasted about squandering the money on alcohol, hasn’t touched the money bag at all since Libra left, only keeping it in storage.

Instead, he focused on growing his forces. As promised to Han Jae-jung, he didn’t extend his reach to D5 city where they had previously established roots. However, humans don’t live in just that one city. They could recruit plenty of people from various other places.

Anti-social individuals steeped in defeatism existed everywhere, at any time. Many figures who could become comrades with monsters.

November, the third brother, continued conducting funerals and memorials despite receiving a scolding from the eldest brother.

In between those times, he also devoted effort to practicing his abilities, calling it revenge practice.

Jason wandered back and forth between the two brothers. The whole situation made him uncomfortable.

Whether it was September, who neither prepared for revenge nor repented for his evil deeds despite what happened to his brother, just continuing what he was doing.

Or November, who turned away from reality and showed little improvement.

Or the subtle current of hostility flowing between the two.

All these elements made him feel unpleasant.

‘This isn’t why I joined this place….’

Jason’s reason for joining the Argo Family was simple. He wanted comrades. He thought that even someone like him who had no dreams could feel bonds and comfort here.

But the relationship they offered was that of brothers, not comrades.

Sworn brotherhood. A relationship where people think of each other as family due to shared purposes or strong friendships. What Jason got from this relationship was the latter. They gave friendship but not purpose, and Jason still couldn’t understand the ‘challenge’ they desired.

What’s enjoyable about fighting and winning against strong monsters? Is it okay to endure countless sacrifices for that?

Is my inability to understand this because I have no dreams? Despite belonging to one organization, he felt a great sense of alienation.

However, even with clear acts of betrayal, the Argo Family didn’t cast Jason out but continued to accept him. When with September, he was offered drinks, and when with November, though verbally condemned as a traitor, he was invited to train together.

Because of this kindness, Jason stayed by their side despite feeling alienated. Though not comrades, they were still brothers.

Today, he was in the middle of practicing abilities with November. The ability to make things lose their way.

Usually, they practiced using this ability to avoid attacks. They repeated exercises where November would attack, and Jason would make the attacks lose their way and miss.

But during today’s practice, Jason, who was absent-minded for a moment, got hit by November’s attack, and in his panic, he activated his ability incorrectly.

Thus, Jason activated his ability on himself and lost his way.

“Where am I? This is fucking terrible!!!”

Panicked, Jason repeatedly used his ability trying to get home, but each time only led to new unknown places, and his starlight and stamina quickly hit bottom.

He activated his ability with his last remaining starlight.

That’s when he met this villain.

“Sorry about the shoulder. Didn’t know you’d be such a pushover idiot. Thought you were definitely an assassin.”

It was the Sagittarius villain. He offered a casual apology in a flippant tone. Jason let out a mocking laugh.

“Ha! What are you talking about? Assassin? I don’t have such abilities! There’s a limit to misjudgment.”

“I said I’m sorry, okay? But don’t you feel self-loathing saying stuff like that?”

With steps as flippant as his tone, he easily made his way through the building.

Watching him, Jason felt life was both unfair and equal at the same time.

To be strong despite having no purpose like me, and to have no purpose despite being such a strong villain.

Villains without purpose naturally have less desire to become stronger. While there might be low-level villains with intelligence worse than dogs who have no purpose, it’s obvious they’d die before becoming high-level villains due to this characteristic lack of desire for improvement.

Having no purpose was like a kind of disability for villains, yet he proudly possessed strong power.

This was both enviable and fascinating. Why is it like this? Suddenly, Jason recalled how he had once tried to make a comrade out of another dreamless villain but failed, and now that villain had become so strong he couldn’t even chase after them.

“Looking at you reminds me of someone.”

“Who?”

“Do you know Watcher? He’s a very strong fellow. He also used to be dreamless like us.”

“Watcher…? Hmm, feels like I’ve heard that somewhere.”

“You’d like him if you met him.”

He had completely forgotten the name Han Jae-jung had given as a villain. Therefore, Sagittarius couldn’t connect the name Watcher with Han Jae-jung.

If he had been more level-headed, he might have remembered that name, but right now he was too excited about meeting a comrade to recall it.

“Yeah… After getting treated, guide me to that guy called Watcher. Comrade. Hearing that he found his dream makes me a bit interested.”

“That sounds good, comrade!”

Suddenly, Sagittarius stopped walking. Jason looked around curiously. In the middle of a forest of buildings, there was a huge hole so deep its bottom couldn’t be seen. A sinkhole. A scar of a city that had collapsed from within.

“Hold tight.”

Sagittarius grabbed the head of Jason, who was slung over him like a rice sack, and jumped straight into the hole.

“Oh shit!!!!”

“Hahaha!”

Jason flailed his legs as if swimming. He looked just like he was walking on air. It seemed as if he had taken over running vertically from Sagittarius, who had been running horizontally until just now.

“You tricked me, you unemployed street punk bow-clicking bastard!!!!”

“What did this bastard just say?”

Bang! Soon Sagittarius’s legs landed on the ground. A huge echo reverberated through the massive cavity. The space was so vast that even the echo couldn’t fill it.

“Do you know how much strength it takes to draw a bow? Distance clicking? Cli-i-icking?! Try shooting it yourself, damn it!”

Sagittarius’s angry voice also created an echo but couldn’t fill the cavity. The voice crumbled and disappeared before leaving this hole.

“Then you should have explained properly from the start. Why be so confusing?”

“I told you to hold tight!”

“You call that a proper explanation? How socially inept must one be to consider that an explanation? Can’t you normally converse? How pitiful….”

“This bastard really knows how to piss me off with his words.”

Sagittarius continued walking while grumbling. He moved confidently through the darkness where not a single path was visible.

“Where is this? It’s disgustingly huge. Is the doctor you mentioned here?”

“This is where my master fought long ago.”

“Master?”

“Sky Polaris, I mean.”

“Damn, how am I supposed to know that without any explanation? Sky…? But who’s that?”

“Ugh, ignorant bastard.”

“Please explain properly. You knowledgeable comrade bastard.”

“The first magical girl and the strongest magical girl in history… Would you understand if I put it that way?”

Jason, hanging on his shoulder, let out a small gasp of admiration.

“A magical girl was your master? That’s unusual.”

“Never even spoke with her though.”

“Whew, you were crazy.”

“Since we’re comrades, you’re crazy too.”

“I know that.”

Humans sense madness in those who dream while ignoring their surroundings.

Villains sense madness in those who live in reality while watching their surroundings.

For these two opposing beings, the value of dreams was also opposing.

Dreams were both special and ordinary.

“…So where is this?”

“I explained earlier.”

“I mean what is this place used for now?”

“Why don’t you explain properly, damn it. No social skills?”

Jason, hit back with the same insult, closed his mouth with a groan.

“Right now it’s a very amazing idiot laboratory.”

“Can something be both amazing and idiotic?”

“It’s idiotic because it’s amazing.”

Being amazing means being special. Being special means being far from ordinary. Everyone who isn’t ordinary suffers from some kind of deficiency.

“Being able to be amazing means you’ve given up a lot of things.”

To Sagittarius’s eyes, it looked like giving up. Giving up everything else to focus on just one thing. Chasing dreams meant how much you’ve given up. That’s why Sagittarius both looked down on them and respected them.

The stronger the obsession with dreams, the more one could give up.

“Well, that’s true. So who’s this idiot who gave up so much?”

“That golden sparkly guy over there.”

“…?”

Light appeared in the cavity that seemed endlessly dark. Jason squinted to see the light better. Meanwhile, Sagittarius continued walking toward the light while carrying him. As they got closer and things came into focus, he naturally realized what was there.

“…!”

Jason was shocked.

“Isn’t that Libra?”

“Yeah?”

“H-hey, you might not know this, but I’m from the Argo Family….”

“I know?”

“Damn! You brought me here to sell me out!”

Hearing this suspicion for who knows how many times, Sagittarius frowned and squeezed Jason’s waist. Arms that could shoot arrows dozens of kilometers away were enough to break a waist with just a little force.

“Pick one – are you too suspicious or not suspicious enough?”

“I was just joking.”

Jason immediately backed down. It was strange to be suspicious after making a comrade’s pledge anyway.

“Hmm… I wonder what my brothers will say when they hear about this….”

While muttering like that, Jason was shocked once again.

“…!”

“…? There’s someone else?”

“L-let’s hide! Quickly!”

“Suddenly?”

Though confused, Sagittarius followed Jason’s words and hid. Also, because Jason was struggling so much, he had no choice but to let him down.

Jason ignored his pain and pressed his body against the hidden wall, watching Libra and the villain in front of him.

“Why are you here…!”

It wasn’t a mistake. The person over there was my brother who was training together until just now.

“Second brother…!”

It was November, the mysterious person from the Argo Family.

Among the members of the Argo Family, he was the one who showed particularly strong hostility towards Libra. But now, I couldn’t understand at all why November was having a conversation with Libra.

As always, Jason couldn’t understand the madness of those who had dreams.

**

No one understood Yoon Seol-hwa’s love. Even though she had never hidden this love, that was the case.

Yoon Seol-hwa was an exemplary magical girl.

Beautiful, strong, and good. Her textbook-like appearance and behavior seemed to draw in everyone’s ideals.

Many admired her, and many harbored fantasies about her.

Baek Ah-hee was one of those people. She considered her the ideal magical girl second only to Sky Polaris.

Although her interest in Han Jae-jung was sometimes heavy, it wasn’t particularly hard to understand if you translated it as an obsession with parents and family.

If grandmother was still alive and constantly threatened by mysterious people like Han Jae-jung, even I would have shown such hypersensitive reactions.

To begin with, that interest didn’t particularly harm her magical girl duties. She always tried to save many people. It was the same during the bombing incident before.

If Yoon Seol-hwa hadn’t created an ice barrier to interfere with the bombing, the number of victims would have been different by orders of magnitude.

She hates villains but values human life the most, and although she has someone she loves, she prioritizes work over that person. Who could condemn someone like this for forgetting their duties by being absorbed in personal matters?

So, Baek Ah-hee thought Yoon Seol-hwa would only do good deeds forever. In fact, most people here thought the same. No one imagined she would commit evil acts.

“…”

After telling the main point over the phone, there was a moment of silence. It even felt as if the connection had been cut off for a moment.

“Um… Sister Seol-hwa?”

Only then did an answer come from across the phone.

“Jae-jung… Why?”

That wasn’t an answer but another question. Though her voice was still gentle, there was a slight edge to her tone.

“Ah, well… They say Jae-jung was discharged, but I can’t see him anywhere. He only answered the phone at first, but now he doesn’t even answer… So I thought maybe you might know something…”

“Aha.”

A dry voice of agreement. Baek Ah-hee flinched for a moment.

“Don’t worry too much.”

Yoon Seol-hwa’s voice quickly became gentle again.

“Jae-jung is with me right now. I heard the call earlier too. You called a few hours ago and now you’re trying again? Hehe, I didn’t know you two were so close. Should I put him on?”

Together. Yoon Seol-hwa answered without any hesitation. It must be true. Baek Ah-hee felt somewhat relieved. She was grateful enough that he wasn’t involved with villains.

“…No, it’s okay.”

“Why? It’s fine.”

“I don’t need the phone call, but could I come see you right now?”

“Uh… Why? Is it that urgent?”

“No. Just want to see your face…”

“Hmm… What should I do?”

Yoon Seol-hwa pondered for a moment. That groaning voice was lovely but somehow creepy. Baek Ah-hee didn’t know why she was feeling this creepiness now.

“Ugh… I’m sorry, but I don’t think that’s possible.”

Yoon Seol-hwa rejected gently but firmly.

“W-why, why not? Even a small party to celebrate the discharge…”

“Shee.”

Drop. Like dew falling to the ground, her voice lowered.

“I said no. Not now.”

“…Sister Sirius, where are you right now?”

“…”

“Sister?”

“….Sigh.”

A deep sigh. The weight of that sound was incomparably heavy. The cafe that had been bustling until just now suddenly became as quiet as if it had fallen into winter.

“Ah-hee, I like kids who can read between the lines.”

“…But I like you, sister.”

“Of course I like you too… But… But Ah-hee?”

“Yes.”

“I think I might dislike you now. Ah-hee, not now. Adjustment is needed now. Come visit later.”

With those words, the phone call ended.

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