Love and Peace (1)
“Get away from her this instant, Han Byeol-hwa.”
Ho-jun’s voice was thick with fury.
It was a rage of such magnitude that he had never once directed at Han Byeol-hwa herself. Utterly unlike the always-composed Han Ho-jun, he looked thoroughly agitated.
…Han Ho-jun had always treated her with indifference. Thorough, absolute indifference.
This was the first time he had ever shown intense emotion.
Was it simply that he disliked the sight of her pressed against the Waning Moon?
Or, if not that—
Was he fretting that she, having already seen through everything, might free the Waning Moon who had suffered for years as Han Ho-jun’s slave?
Byeol-hwa placed far more weight on the latter.
With Han Ho-jun’s violent reaction, every circumstance was now certain.
“…I refuse.”
“This is my final warning. If you inflict even the slightest wound on the Director, I will kill you in the most agonizing way imaginable, Byeol-hwa.”
Wound her?
There was no such possibility. Not when she thought of Ian-na the way she did, not when she cherished her so deeply.
What affection had she received from Ian-na?
Ian-na had regarded her as special and treasured her. She had given a love greater even than a parent’s. She had bestowed the affection and attention that Han Ho-jun—that piece of trash who had no right to be called a father—should have given.
The one who had taken Han Ho-jun’s place was Ian-na. Only Ian-na had approached her first. She had looked at her without prejudice and taught her, clearly and firmly, the preciousness of a human heart and of life itself.
The victor who could claim Ian-na was not Ho-jun, but her.
Even now, Ian-na was nestled in her arms.
More precisely, the Star Cluster was tightly embracing Ian-na, yet the Star Cluster believed that Ian-na was nestled against her.
And Han Ho-jun, who sought to drive a wedge between her and Ian-na—
Was an Unknown.
An enemy.
Ian-na’s condition was anything but normal. It was certain that Han Ho-jun and the Bureau had reduced her to this state.
The Star Cluster’s heart pounded. The compass of her intuition pointed straight at Ho-jun.
That until now, the one who had thoroughly used Ian-na and committed countless evils was Han Ho-jun. That behind everything stood Han Ho-jun. That forcing Ian-na under threat to sell out her fellow magical girls, that amputating both of Ian-na’s legs and torturing her into this ruined form—
All of it was Han Ho-jun.
There was no longer any bond of father and daughter.
No matter how he had controlled Ian-na, no matter what he had used to threaten her.
It did not matter.
As of this very hour today—
Everything would come to an end.
The Star Cluster had a somewhat fanciful streak. Her sensibilities ran rich and deep. She assigned meaning to everything, expanded and interpreted it, and used her sharp intuition to dig even deeper.
It was a slight defect of character born of always having been alone.
And that Star Cluster thought:
That Han Ho-jun was nauseating evil itself.
A man with no right to be called human—disgusting, repulsive.
That for reasons unknown he had driven countless comrades to their deaths. A man who always stayed safely in the rear while forcing death upon his fellow magical girls.
Recalling all of this, the Star Cluster—
Hesitated no longer.
"Manifest."
Around the chest of the Star Cluster as she rose against Ho-jun, space began to refract little by little. The dimension had split. From that pitch-black void, the Star Cluster’s Remegeton revealed itself, beginning with the hilt.
Black static crackled around her.
“…I will regard this as treason.”
Veins standing out on his neck, Ho-jun shouted as he tore off his gloves and flung them aside.
It was a powder-keg situation.
Behind Ho-jun, magical girls in deeply cowled robes stood massed in large numbers.
The moment anyone so much as moved, a fierce battle would erupt. Magical girls would slaughter one another, and of father and daughter, one would not emerge unscathed.
Han Byeol-hwa was more earnest than she had ever been.
She could no longer stand by and watch. This was a battle of injustice against justice. A fight between the father who plotted evil schemes and herself, who bore the lives of her comrades—Ian-na among them.
But.
If.
If they were to wage that fierce battle in this narrow corridor—
Would it even be possible to fight while protecting Ian-na?
Han Ho-jun—that man would choose to kill her rather than let her fall into anyone else’s hands. He was more than capable of it. There was no chance he would fight while minding Ian-na.
The existence of Ian-na.
That was the tiniest grain of hesitation left in Han Byeol-hwa.
She herself could end however she might; Ian-na could not.
She wanted Ian-na to live freely, to greet tomorrow with a smiling face.
Or, failing that, to be completely “liberated.”
And while Han Byeol-hwa hesitated—
“…Byeol-hwa.”
Ian-na, expression calm, looked up at her and spoke softly.
“Calm down.”
At that gentle, warm voice, Han Byeol-hwa felt her agitation subside without meaning to. It was a voice that brought relief.
“There’s no need to fight. Would you lift me up?”
“…Yes.”
Han Byeol-hwa hesitantly raised Ian-na. As if cradling a doll, she held her tightly from behind and turned both their faces toward Ho-jun.
She could not know what Ian-na was thinking.
Perhaps she meant to rebuke Ho-jun severely for the unspeakably wretched deeds he had committed until now.
She looked forward to it—what Ho-jun, face flushed red and pale by turns, would shout, what sophistry he would spout to block the path of her and Ian-na.
“…Director.”
Seeing Ian-na’s serene expression, Ho-jun spoke with a somewhat puzzled look. Ian-na had always trembled in fear.
Ian-na could not meet people’s eyes. It was ordinary for her to shift her gaze this way and that with an anxious face.
Yet for some reason, the Ian-na before him showed no such sign whatsoever. Rather, she seemed all too serene. As if she felt no emotion at all, she looked at him with a gentle smile.
“It’s been a while… Ho-jun.”
“…Is that so.”
It’s been a while, she said.
The situation made no sense. He could not grasp what Ian-na was trying to say.
And seeing that face of Ho-jun’s, Ian-na smiled faintly.
“…You haven’t changed either, Ho-jun.”
“I have always been consistent.”
Ian-na’s smile.
It was not unfamiliar.
When Ho-jun was young, Ian-na—of the same build as now—had shown him that same smile.
As if it were the waning moon that rose at dawn, brightly illuminating the black sky.
…No way.
Ho-jun’s gaze shifted to Ian-na’s surroundings.
Sedative vials and syringes strewn haphazardly across the floor, the unconscious adjutant, the clear injection marks remaining on Ian-na’s white neck—all of it entered his view.
Having roughly grasped the situation, a slight smile touched the corners of Ho-jun’s mouth.
“Ho-jun, I have a favor. Don’t issue any orders. I can… resolve everything.”
“…That remains to be seen.”
The magical girls who had been strictly guarding Ho-jun stepped forward, and Ian-na instinctively grew wary of them.
Whenever they moved, a bizarre metallic grinding sound reached her ears. From beneath the deeply pressed robes, red eyes continued to leak out.
All ten of them.
Ian-na, who had seen the future, knew what those things were.
They were artificial girls “developed” for use against great magical girls. Beings into which the Bureau’s finest talent, enormous capital, and critically injured artificial girls had been “recycled,” created solely to hunt the magical girls of the Twelve Seats.
They would die.
The current Star Cluster could not handle those. They possessed neither reason, nor self, nor emotion. They were no different from tools—killing weapons that obeyed only orders until the very moment their lives ended.
If Ho-jun uttered just one word, the artificial girls would reveal their true forms and charge the Star Cluster. She would be torn to shreds without leaving a trace and end up in those things’ stomachs.
Their main raw material was living beings, after all—humans included.
Right now, Ian-na was more serious than at any other moment.
The sorrow at her former comrades having been transformed into tools, the disillusionment with the Bureau, the desire to protect the good and the weak—all of it combined to show Ian-na the path she must take.
But.
“I warn you for the last time. Hand over the Director.”
“I absolutely will not hand her over, you murderer. After doing such things to Lady Waning Moon until now…… I can never forgive you…!”
The situation was hurtling toward catastrophe.
Ho-jun stood in a position that felt the madness of magical girls more keenly than anyone. From artificial girls to the Twelve Seats, no magical girl could escape madness.
However—
There was a premise: that they possessed a self. Magical girls without a self, magical girls who felt no emotion or desire whatsoever, were never swept up in madness.
The Magical Girl of the Star Cluster.
From what he sensed, she was currently closer to madness than any other. Whatever the reason, she had lost her self-control and was trying to harm Ian-na.
Righteousness before family.
For a great cause, one does not even hesitate to destroy one’s own kin.
That was the being known as Ho-jun.
The Star Cluster was extremely dangerous. Right now, if she so much as twitched a finger toward Ian-na, Ian-na would die. All of his plans would turn to nothing. Decades of effort would be wasted in an instant.
Ho-jun wanted to stop the Star Cluster from harming Ian-na so that he could achieve his ideals.
And the Star Cluster wanted to liberate Ian-na even if it cost her life. She could not watch with open eyes as Ian-na lived on as a puppet of the Bureau.
If—
Even if she could not win—
She intended to “liberate” Ian-na.
From the prison of flesh.
When the conflict between the two reached a critical point, Ian-na thought calmly. From where had the misunderstanding the two of them harbored originated?
As far as she knew, Ho-jun had cherished Han Byeol-hwa extremely when she was very young. The image of Ho-jun giving little Han Byeol-hwa piggyback rides came back vividly. Ho-jun had never hated Han Byeol-hwa.
Yet from a certain point onward, his attitude toward her had turned to indifference. The reason remained unknown. Ian-na had far too many duties of her own to go digging into family affairs of that sort.
One thing was certain.
The two of them were connected by blood. Han Byeol-hwa was, no matter what anyone said, Ho-jun’s biological daughter.
Ian-na knew. Who Ho-jun was, what connection he had with her, what had twisted him, from where he had taken the wrong path—she had realized it all.
Even what death he would meet.
Ian-na, whose mind was clearer than anyone else present, accurately grasped the circumstances of every incident.
Therefore—
She wanted to prevent the mutual slaughter of kin.
A tragedy would unfold in which father killed daughter and daughter killed father.
Only when their relationship had reached its worst, only when it was riddled through with misunderstanding, would the slaughter begin.
It was a cruel fate.
That blood-related family would commit such cruel acts was something she could never accept. She could not accept it.
Han Byeol-hwa was her family as well. Ian-na had treated every magical girl like family and thought of them as family. She regarded them as special—like the stars high in the night sky, something that could not be exchanged for anything else.
Therefore, even if she died, this was a situation she could not allow.
…However.
There was no time.
Ian-na’s chest was pounding violently. The sedative with its awakening effect was pouring endless vitality through her entire body. Breathing growing steadily harder, she clutched at her chest without meaning to.
Her pupils contracted to pinpoints.
She realized instinctively that something was wrong, yet she did not show it outwardly.
Cold sweat ran down her skin; she forced herself to ignore it. Smiling brightly between the two of them, she was trying to resolve the misunderstanding.
Because that—
Was the role of the Magical Girl of the Waning Moon.
No matter what ending she met.