Transformation or Death

Holy Power (7)

The moonlight rose brightly, seeping through the window cracks and illuminating the hand.

“If this is completed, we will no longer need to fear the villains!”

The silver outline glimmered on the spherical machine inside. The palm covered with cloud-white gloves made the machine’s black color stand out even more.

“This is the hope I am creating!”

Though the night was dark, the girl embraced the sky’s blueness. Like the word ‘youth’, she radiated the freshness and brilliance of a blue spring.

Moreover, in the girl, there was not just brightness, but a white and transparent madness, like clouds leisurely filling the sky.

When belief exceeds its limits, it becomes fanaticism.

“A path leading to peace!”

Her eyes were unwavering. Reflected in them was a small child about half her height.

The child could not understand the girl’s words

How could this mere machine connect to peace and become hope?

For the orphaned child who never knew his parents’ faces, it was hard to believe.

For him, peace meant the freedom to choose channels on TV, the satisfaction of not waking up hungry at night, having an environment where he could always run the boiler and air conditioning, and the luxury of being able to snack at street stalls while walking.

In the end, all worries boil down to money.

This was precisely why the child had run away. To earn money. To escape the orphanage that always confined him and to find work.

The runaway child was attacked by a villain while walking at night. The person who saved him was Sky Polaris, the first magical girl.

After witnessing her heroic actions up close, the child asked her how she could become like that.

The girl promised that if they met again, she could show him something good.

The promise was fulfilled not long after.

The child attempted to run away again.

And just like before, was attacked by a villain.

The second time he was attacked by the villain was more dangerous. He was almost completely flattened by a fist five times larger than his own body.

For the still young child, the villain’s threat didn’t really register, and the immediate poverty was a much bigger concern.

Although his wariness of villains had increased due to the attacks, he had ultimately survived. The child’s ambition was great. The villains were not yet a match to stop his adventurous and fighting spirit.

Fortunately, this time too, he survived. Just like before, Sky Polaris saved him.

When she scolded him for coming out at night and noticed his scraped knees, she guided him to her hideout as a way of keeping her previous promise.

What she showed him was this round iron ball.

What’s this? Is she going to help him raise money by selling it? Oh right, he had heard about factories. So she’s planning to make many iron balls, sell them, and become rich!

But how could he even play with this iron ball

As the child’s expression filled with questions, the girl smiled.

“Do you know that you need companions to transform?”

It was a time when little was known about magical girls. Especially for the vulnerable population with limited information. It was unlikely they would know such things.

As if she had anticipated this reaction, the girl began explaining step by step.

The existence of mascots necessary for magical girl transformations, star contracts and power, the unfairness between villains and magical girls, magical girls’ retirement, the sorrow of the powerless – she continued talking without pause. Most of it was explaining how she designed this iron ball.

In truth, he understood almost nothing. Something about formulas, something about electrons. For a child not yet ten, there were too many difficult words. He could barely understand the previous background and motives, so how could he comprehend the theory?

The longer the explanation went, the more his expression soured. He didn’t even try to hide his yawns. What could be done? It wasn’t interesting.

A science documentary would be more enjoyable.

As it was getting late, the child’s eyelids gradually began to droop.

“…Ah! So in summary!”

The girl quickly summarized her explanation.

“With this, anyone can fight villains!”

At those words, the child’s eyes snapped open.

The human heart is truly cunning. From having no interest, a few words can make one hold a completely different sentiment.

They often say a woman’s heart is like a reed, but a child’s heart is even more so. Rather than a reed, it might be compared to a balloon drifting in the sky.

He has no backbone whatsoever. Getting swept away here and there.

“But it’s still incomplete… There are many aspects that need improvement. So! Absolutely! You must never touch anything here carelessly?! Huh? Handling villain power is just as dangerous as villains themselves. It might be a pain worse than dying. So you can’t touch most things here. Got it?”

The child fell into thought, mulling over the girl’s words. Because of this, it felt like he didn’t even hear the warning and gave a casual response.

“Oh, the time has already… Where were the medicine and bandages? Um… Was it here? Ah! villain can! What’s left inside…? Ugh… It’s sticky… Damn, I should have cleaned up more often… Is it here? Or not here? Ah… Just a moment! Wait just a moment!”

Loud, clattering noises. Amid all this, the child remained lost in thought.

Everyone gaining power like villains. He had pondered this endlessly. He didn’t remember the entire content.

Not just because the content was scattered and mundane, filled with a child’s typical grandiose delusions, exaggerated and fragmentary interpretations.

Rather, he was frustrated because he was about to reach a conclusion, but it never fully formed. This entire process was meaningless. There was no need to remember. What mattered was only the conclusion.

Yet, as the conclusion he sought remained tantalizingly out of reach, he felt he might go crazy. He suppressed the immediate desire to throw himself on the floor and thrash about.

Suddenly, a tiny grain of light caught the child’s eye. It was light. Like a footprint left where Sky Polaris had moved. A very small light. But a definite light.

Because the night was dark, the light was even more noticeable.

Like rats following a pied piper, the child was drawn to move toward the light particle. The light particle, which had been swaying here and there, finally settled in one place.

The child reached out, not knowing what was there. To capture the light.

As mentioned earlier, the child’s heart is like a balloon, fickle and changeable.

Even while thinking deeply, he instantly succumbs to such stimulation.

From the beginning, the child had admired light. Having seen the girl’s sparkle appear in a moment of critical danger, he had followed her to her hideout without hesitation.

This resembled the madness in the girl’s eyes when explaining her dreams. Similar to her fanaticism.

The child was a follower of light. On days constantly beaten by the scary older boys at the orphanage, he would ceaselessly pray while looking at the stars in the sky.

Please grant me magic too. Let me beat up all the scary villains and annoying older boys.

Naturally, the wish was never granted.

The child judged this not as a lack of his own belief, but because he was not qualified.

People say magical girls are truly good people. Great heroes who sacrifice themselves without hesitation. They guide the sick, get hurt instead so healthy people don’t get wounded, and rage on behalf of those who have died.

How beautiful is that.

If the stars only granted magic to such purely good beings, he could understand why his wish wasn’t fulfilled.

He would use magic only for himself.

Most people would probably do the same. The older boys at the orphanage, the adults beating those boys, the elderly those adults bow to.

To have something, one needs qualification.

This was the greatest revelation of the child’s 9-year life.

Admiration must remain admiration, dreams must remain dreams. Only then can beautiful things exist. If anything desired is immediately achieved, it loses its value.

It remains special because it’s given to only a few.

Stars shine because night exists.

Power for everyone?

That cannot be.

Suddenly, the child saw the place where the light had attached as incredibly unclean. The round iron ball immersed in that darkness looked horrifyingly ugly.

And so, he wanted to break it.

The moment the child’s hand touched the iron ball, an explosively brilliant radiance burst forth, almost embarrassingly bright.

-…?!

For a moment, he didn’t know what had happened.

When he opened his tightly shut eyes, something felt strange.

First, his vision was different. The world was not as it had always been. The distance between the ground and his eyes was far. It felt like being on a desk, looking at the world.

“Do you have consciousness? Answer me!”

The girl who was usually at his waist height now looked low.

-Huh, what….

The voice was strange too. Low. Not the kind that would annoy even himself when screeching and screaming.

The child moved his hand. Not small. Massive hands on both sides, capable of easily crushing an apple.

However, the appearance was quite different from human skin. Hard. Like looking at an insect’s shell. No discomfort of heavy armor or gloves. No inconvenience in movement.

It was the moment he realized this was his body.

“…?! Did you say something? Do you have consciousness? Do you know where you are? Do you remember talking to me earlier? Huh?”

-Here is….

Looking around, everything was a mess. Sunlight entered through the broken wall cracks, brightly illuminating the space.

Night had passed, and morning had arrived.

Broken glass fragments were scattered all over the floor. The unfiltered sunlight reflection was almost eye-painfully bright.

The glass reflected not just sunlight, but the scenery. Only then did the child see his own face.

Human skin was nowhere to be seen, replaced by a grotesque face resembling a villain. Exactly like the villain he had been running from the previous day.

“S-Say something!”

Seeing this, the child was certain he had gained power.

Anyone could fight villains.

Just as she had said. If one becomes a villain, one could confront villains.

-What the fuck, crazy….

“You! Did you just swear?! Huh, where did you learn such language? Tsk! You shouldn’t say such things carelessly!”

The child laughed looking at his own hideous face. Though his mouth was hidden beneath the villain’s face, a clear smile was evident.

Because his face was ugly.

His theory was correct.

Beauty is given only to those who are meant to be beautiful. For those without qualification, only such hideous appearances remain. Indeed, he was a bad person. Unlike them, he did not shine.

The specialness would not be scratched. Those girls’ glory would continue eternally, their path would be like flowers.

It was a beautiful sky day. The clear sky blue was like glass, and the clouds were as mysterious as tropical fish drifting within that glass.

In contrast, the child looked more disgusting than ever. Not even days when he’d rolled in mud or been covered in vomit were as filthy as today. The day he wore the skin of a villain that kills humans.

This was the greatest blessing in his nine years of life, and also a lifelong curse.

The child became a hymn for divine heroes through his very existence.

***

Ippotranslation 

***

“What the f-fuck….”

Everything came back to memory. Why he had become like this.

The Archer pressed his forehead and stepped back. Perhaps from the recoil of regaining memories, his head hurt significantly. Nausea rose, but he held it back. Anyway, there was nothing to vomit.

“I… I… was such a brat? An orphan, a good-for-nothing? Fuck! I’m no different from the idiots flooding the neighborhood!”

But his lament was brief.

The Archer picked up his dropped bow and headed toward the hideout. There was a sniper on the other side. To avoid exposing the hideout’s location, he had to move elsewhere.

When he thought about it, what difference would it make?

“Fuck my life. What a fucking worthless existence.”

Having found what he’d forgotten, it was as good as finding what to do next.

***

Ippotranslation 

***

Han Jae-jung collapsed immediately upon returning to the hideout.

The price of wielding the Big Dipper constellation was steep. The power that overloads the body is enough to instantly discharge an ordinary person’s physical strength.

His heart wanted to immediately ask the Archer what he had obtained by defeating the messenger, but he couldn’t resist physiological functions. What could a person do against the body shutting down?

How many hours had passed? As his body regained strength, Han Jae-jung’s consciousness began to resurface.

“Uh, umm….”

Even with blurry eyes, he could see clearly.

“Oh, what the fuck.”

Everything was a mess. The already rundown abandoned building that served as their hideout had completely collapsed.

Damn, fully awake now. Han Jae-jung quickly raised his body. Joo Ah-yoon silently supported him.

“What, what happened? Did we fight? Did a magical girl attack? No, wait, she did! I told Kim that motherfucker to fight away from the hideout….”

“No, that’s not it.”

“Not that Kim motherfucking son?”

“No, he is definitely a motherfucking son. I mean what I said before was wrong.”

Joo Ah-yoon quietly shook her head.

“A civil war has broken out.”

Han Jae-jung’s eyes snapped open.

“That, that Kim motherfucking son… Betrayed us….”

“What are you talking about, Ah-yoon?”

When will there be a quiet day?

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