Chapter 103

Chapter 103

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.

Huh, he let out another sigh and continued speaking.

“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?”

“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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