Transformation or Death

Life of Downfall (1)

Bang!

The rusty iron door opened roughly, emitting a loud noise. Such violent noise was unnecessary for work that required delicate manipulation. Libra expressed her displeasure towards the uninvited guest who brought something unnecessary into this room.

“Get out.”

“Uh… Huff… Huff….”

The identity of the intruder was Sagittarius. It wasn’t particularly surprising. Only Sagittarius would enter this workshop so crudely.

However, Sagittarius’s condition was a bit surprising. Most of the armor forming his body was dented and broken. At this point, it might be more appropriate to call it rags rather than armor.

His face was in a similar state. The helmet, which would be equivalent to the outer skin for humans, was cracked and broken, exposing part of the face inside. It was no different from exposed muscles or bones for a human.

Fortunately or unfortunately, the inside of the broken helmet was covered in blood, preventing a view of what was inside.

“Damn it… Syringe… Give it to me…!”

Ignoring Sagittarius’s words, Libra turned her attention to the test tube in her hand. Of course, it wasn’t a drug for Sagittarius.

She was merely continuing the experiment she had been doing earlier.

“Hah, damn… Heartless bastard.”

Sagittarius sighed deeply and threw himself onto the sofa located in the corner of the room.

“Don’t worry. I’ll at least treat you.”

“Damn it, not that… Just give me one shot… Give me some drugs!”

Libra silently poured the liquid from the test tube into a beaker.

It was quite comical to see her handling tiny experimental tools carefully with hands as big as pot lids that could grab two or three watermelons at once, but no one laughed.

“Looks like you were beaten by him, huh?”

“Who’s ‘him’… Oh, that bear bastard? Yeah, I was beaten. How do you know this? Is someone spreading rumors…?”

“What a naive thing to say. How many eyes and ears do you think I have in this city?”

“What? Do you have some kind of infinite body part replication ability?”

“…Watch your words, you dimwit.”

Sagittarius was puzzled. He hadn’t heard of an ability to multiply eyes and ears. Well, I guess it could be done with that trading ability.

After coming to his own understanding, Libra’s mockery continued.

“So the ruffian has become useless even in fighting, the only thing he was good for. Why is an archer engaging in close combat?”

“Even Heracles, who was said to have fought equally with the master, was an archer. There’s no reason I can’t do close combat….”

“He was a warrior while being an archer. Fool, don’t compare yourself to someone who was versatile in both close and long-range combat. There’s a limit to shamelessness.” ṟΑℕŐＢƐṥ

Tsk tsk. Libra clicked her tongue as if disdainful and turned her eyes to Sagittarius.

“So, how was it?”

Unlike before, there was a strange expectation in those words. Sagittarius could immediately recognize the subject of that expectation. Even someone as tactless as him couldn’t miss it, because he knew who she was so eagerly expecting to hear about.

Han Jae-jung.

The one who, despite being human, unusually wields the power of a villain.

The one who lost his lifespan as a side effect.

“Well, it wasn’t much….”

Sagittarius was about to brag as usual and tell about Han Jae-jung’s fate, but he quickly changed his mind.

‘It’s no fun if I just tell about the terminal illness like this. Above all… I don’t want to see that bastard having a good time!’

If Libra remains unaware of Han Jae-jung’s lifespan, she will focus more on developing the new drug, and later, she’ll regret the time and resources invested in development when she sees Han Jae-jung die pathetically.

For someone who always preaches about rationality, a meaningless investment would be truly painful.

“…Not at all, he was incredibly strong! I couldn’t even move an inch! If I’m an ant, that guy is a bear. A bear! Wow~ he was amazing. Yeah! Absolutely! Huh? He was freakin’ awesome!”

Eat that. Sagittarius swallowed a sinister laugh internally.

If he had told the truth, Libra might have abandoned the development and returned to producing the original drug, but Sagittarius didn’t think that far.

“Hmm… I don’t think it would be to that extent. Well, I guess the shock came back as great as your arrogance has been….”

Libra put down the beaker on the desk, skeptically accepting Sagittarius’s exaggerated praise.

“Now you should start to see why I’ve been paying attention to him. I’ll obtain the CCTV footage of today’s battle and use it as valuable reference material. I won’t forget your sacrifice.”

“I’m not dead yet, you know?! And if you’re grateful, give it to me as an injection. By injection.”

Ignoring Sagittarius’s words again, Libra quietly looked at the scattered documents on the desk.

The documents contained photos of various individuals and their personal information. The form, resembling a job interview document, was a list of major experimental subjects that Libra had compiled with her intelligence.

“If you could be beaten to that extent, the next test subject should be more carefully….”

Watching Libra examining the pile of documents, Sagittariusheld his forehead.

He felt it was a mistake to have fled here. Seeing this place that makes his blood boil, maybe it would have been better to go to Botis’s place….

‘No, that’s not right.’

Sagittarius immediately corrected his thoughts.

‘Libra only gives as much as she receives. There’s no aftermath, so it’s clean. The treatment fee won’t be cheap, but it’s better than not getting treated at all. But Botis, that woman, is a no-go.’

The loving smile and gaze that gives him goosebumps just by looking at it. Although she had never harmed him, Sagittarius felt uncomfortable with Botis for some reason.

Is it because she was the first villain he met when he lost his memories? He couldn’t shake off the thought that she might be the one who erased his memories.

“Why did Master befriend such a woman….”

Once again, recalling his master, Sagittarius was lost in memories.

“When did I first meet Master….”

He couldn’t recall anything, but it must have been good memories. It must have been a fateful first encounter where the Master tried to kill him or where he watched the Master slaughter villains from behind.

Thinking about death, Sagittarius suddenly remembered that he had almost died today too. How long has it been since his life was threatened?

Despite the opponent inflicting such severe injuries that he could barely move, Sagittarius couldn’t feel fear or even resentment towards Han Jae-jung.

He was just regretful.

“It’s a shame, such a shame….”

How would a woman react upon hearing about the tragic fate of her loved one? The meeting of love and tragedy is also romantic.

“What a shame….”

Sagittarius kept repeating his regret as if lingering attachments remained.

***

Ippotranslation 

***

“Jae-jung, are you okay?”

On the evening of the day he met Sagittarius, Yoon Seol-hwa came to see Han Jae-jung. She was still in her magical girl outfit rather than casual clothes, suggesting she had transformed to come here.

“Huh? Yeah….”

She had suddenly called asking where he was, and when he answered honestly, she hung up. Just a few minutes later, while he was still puzzled, she showed up. Today was the day a villain directly attacked the Magical Girl Association, so she must be quite busy.

As questions multiplied in Han Jae-jung’s mind, Yoon Seol-hwa grabbed both his arms.

“Are you really okay? Are you hurt anywhere? Do you feel any discomfort in your body, or, or were you threatened? Did they plant a bomb in your body or something? Did you feel like you were being watched more than usual today? Nothing like that?”

Her hands frantically patted Han Jae-jung’s body. Rather than finding this strange behavior perverse, he was more worried. Han Jae-jung grabbed Yoon Seol-hwa’s wrists as she was touching his chest and waist area, removing them from his body, and asked, “…Did something happen?”

“Ah, well, you see… It’s just….”

Yoon Seol-hwa’s fingers curled inward as her wrists were held. Despite eagerly touching his body just moments ago, she now avoided his gaze and fidgeted as if suddenly embarrassed.

‘Jae-jung’s gaze is so cool… Ah, I shouldn’t be thinking like this.’

After briefly losing herself in his intense gaze, Yoon Seol-hwa suppressed her shyness and raised her head again. Her attitude was filled with determination, as if facing the sun.

“Well….”

As Yoon Seol-hwa stared directly into Han Jae-jung’s eyes with a tense gaze, she realized one thing. That there was bewilderment and perplexity in the corner of his eyes.

‘…Did I rush things too much?’

Yoon Seol-hwa reflected on her actions. At the same time, she tried to downplay it so he wouldn’t worry too much.

“It, it’s really nothing! Just that today a villain mentioned you. I just dropped by because I thought of you… Yeah, that’s really all it is!”

“That’s not nothing at all.”

Joo Ah-yoon frowned as if dumbfounded and sipped her coffee. Since the place Han Jae-jung was when Yoon Seol-hwa called him was Joo Ah-yoon’s house, she was naturally there too.

“Those villain bastards are causing trouble again… Ah, but don’t worry too much for now. Brother and I have been lounging at home all day today. Nothing bad has happened so far.”

While making this excuse, Joo Ah-yoon gave Han Jae-jung a meaningful look.

It was a look that said, ‘Something did happen today, didn’t it, shit.’ Han Jae-jung pretended not to see it and looked back at Yoon Seol-hwa.

“Re, really…? Nothing happened today?”

She was looking up at him with eyes like those of a large dog looking at its bleeding owner. There was a sense of worry for the owner, as well as a determination to seek revenge on his behalf.

“It’s true. There was no problem today.”

Han Jae-jung felt something strange about these words he uttered. It was literally true. There was no problem today. He just acted as usual.

Transforming according to the quest, dispatching, fighting villains. It was the flow of a day that had become a habit.

There was no lie in these words themselves.

However, this day might be more precious than others.

For a wealthy person with 1 billion won, 100 won might be a negligible amount, but for a poor person with only 1000 won, 100 won would feel much heavier.

Han Jae-jung hadn’t fully realized how little of his life was left. But he could only guess. That the value of this day would become heavier from now on.

“…Thank goodness….”

Yoon Seol-hwa was letting out a sigh of relief. There was even a hint of moisture mixed in with the sigh. He could imagine how much she cared about his well-being.

But the meaning of that sigh wasn’t that she was relieved about everything.

Yoon Seol-hwa stared intently into his eyes and then nodded as if she had made some decision. A much stronger resolve was felt than before. Sparks flew in her ice-like transparent eyes.

“But just in case…. Um, that is… Jae-jung. Let’s live at my house. Let’s stay together for a while. Okay? I’ll let you go back when I feel it’s okay… Okay? Okay? Is that not possible, Jae-jung?”

“What are you saying, senior… That’s practically the same as confinement.”

“Con, confinement?! What a scary thing to say, Ah-yoon. I’m not that kind of bad person… Ah, right, Ah-yoon, you come to my house too. You never know. Come to think of it, a villain using powers similar to your starlight appeared too, so something might happen to you….”

“No, no. That’s an overreaction. You’re being oversensitive.”

Yoon Seol-hwa didn’t back down.

“It’s okay even if it’s an overreaction or being oversensitive. I used to think we shouldn’t do that, but not anymore. I’ll just be a sensitive and insensitive person.”

Yoon Seol-hwa trembled as she grabbed Han Jae-jung’s hand.

“If I think that Jae-jung might get hurt because I couldn’t protect him, I really… Don’t think I could bear it….”

Han Jae-jung felt her trembling through his skin and thought.

How should he convey this matter? How should he say it? Could he even say it? His heart burned black like a spreading fire.

That night. They barely managed to dissuade Yoon Seol-hwa from forcibly taking Han Jae-jung and Joo Ah-yoon to her house. But they couldn’t completely erase her anxiety, so they finally persuaded her by all staying at Joo Ah-yoon’s house.

“Jae, Jae-jung. Um… Shower… It’s your turn… Next….”

Yoon Seol-hwa, seemingly embarrassed and hiding her face with a towel, emerged hesitantly from beside the wall, delivered her message, and quickly disappeared. Han Jae-jung watched this scene with a slight smile.

Tap tap.

As he got up, he heard a sound of something tapping on the window. Han Jae-jung turned his head curiously to look at the window.

A peculiar bird with a goat’s head was hitting its head against the window. In its beak was something that looked like a note.

Han Jae-jung examined the contents of the note.

‘I thought the explanation might be insufficient. I’ll tell you everything I know. Just ask. -Botis.’

Once again, his heart spread with complicated emotions.

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