Symbol of Peace (7)
“...Excuse me?”
I barely choked back the profanity rising up my throat. More than anger, it was absurdity. More than absurdity, it was sheer bewilderment. Where in the world had she looked to reach that kind of conclusion?
I racked my brain as hard as I could, but no answer came. Was it because my brain was starved of oxygen, or because the clues were even scarcer than oxygen?
“What in the...?”
“A sinister rumor has been circulating in this city recently.”
Orange Altair kept serenely pressing down on my throat as she spoke.
The force on my neck was practically professional—exactly enough pressure to restrict my breathing and leave my body lethargic, but not so much that it would lead to death.
[Transformation is recommended.]
’...Shut it.’
This time I muttered only in my head to avoid drawing suspicion. Transform, in this situation? That would just be admitting she was right. Not now. She was still only at the suspicion stage.
“A rumor... you say?”
“A rumor that monsters are living disguised among humans... that’s what I mean. And that they entered this city just recently.”
Orange Altair’s hand was trembling like an aspen leaf. The guilt of attacking a civilian and fear coexisted, sending vibrations through her touch. It was a ripple, as if made by a stone thrown into a lake.
“...They say those individuals are among the chief perpetrators of this recent commotion. Specifically, the culprits behind these cases that began with the disappearances.”
She was singling out a different group, not the Libra who had raided them. She must mean the masterminds who brought Libra to this city, the perpetrators of the recent disappearances—the Argo Family.
Just as he’d thought. She wasn’t talking about Watcher. Han Jae-jung felt genuinely relieved.
“I believe that is you.”
“Isn’t that somewhat lacking in evidence...?”
“No-o! I have more than enough.”
Orange Altair suddenly raised her voice, as though brimming with confidence.
“Because you are the most suspicious person in this city right now!”
“Well, that’s...”
Han Jae-jung tried to retort, then stopped. He could not think of anything to say. Seeing him give up on defending himself seemed to embolden her, and Orange Altair grew even more smug.
“Look! You don’t have much to say either, do you? Because it’s the truth! The time you entered this city and the period when disappearances became frequent overlap. On top of that, you were strangely unscathed in today’s attack. Meanwhile Vega and Dabih, who were bombed, were injured. Of course Ah-yoon... no, Deneb is an exception too, but let’s set that aside for now.”
The grip of her hand tightened. In her other hand light gathered and stretched out like a long spike.
“You suddenly appeared right around the time Deneb was retiring, and the café you opened together had to be in this city, of all places? Isn’t that far too suspicious? And on top of that, you have absolutely no prior career or records. Isn’t it stranger not to be suspicious?”
She’d treated him like an invisible man the whole time in the café, refusing to even glance at him, but apparently she’d done a thorough background check after all. Han Jae-jung gave a bitter smile.
‘Should I call her a kind girl who worries about a friend, or someone with needlessly excessive worry?’
Still, it wasn’t unexpected. Given the interest she showed in Jo Ah-yoon, the likelihood she’d investigate within legal bounds had always been high.
“You tricked Ah-yoon, didn’t you?!”
But I’d never imagined she’d commit such a preposterous theory and such a violent act.
“Wait, suddenly you’re completely lacking in logic...”
“Weren’t you a monster even before you met Ah-yoon? You disguised yourself as someone she knew, approached her, then steered her into opening a shop in this city. Ha, it makes my skin crawl.”
“What would I gain from pulling something like that?”
“That, I don’t know. But the fact that you’re deceiving Ah-yoon is certain.”
The whole reasoning process was wrong, but the conclusion was a strange thing that resembled the truth.
“Because if that weren’t the case, that sharp girl would never have done something as stupid as opening a shop in a place like this!”
That shop, Ah-yoon calls it fate. Han Jae-jung barely suppressed the words that had risen all the way up his throat. Provoking her further wouldn’t help anything.
“What’s your goal? Money? Or the credibility of being a magical girl’s acquaintance? Whatever it is, it can’t be anything decent. If Ah-yoon ends up in danger because of you...”
Orange Altair’s mental state right now wasn’t normal. If she were in her right mind, she wouldn’t be cornering a civilian this aggressively based on mere suspicion alone.
She thrust the arrow she held in her other hand close to Han Jae-jung’s face, as if to stab his eye.
“Next time, the interrogation won’t be this lenient.”
With those words, Orange Altair released Han Jae-jung. The arrow, too, transformed into light and vanished.
“Ugh, cough... hak...”
“I apologize for the violent behavior.”
“Ah, yes, well... I suppose I can understand.”
Since he knew for a fact that all magical girls were mentally ill, Han Jae-jung gave her the benefit of extenuating circumstances. It was perfectly natural for someone who wasn’t in their right mind to do things that weren’t in their right mind.
Han Jae-jung studied her eyes. Inside those glittering pupils shone a sharp and distorted emotion, like a shard of broken glass. More than anger toward her, Han Jae-jung felt pity.
‘She loses her temper quickly, yet she held back her anger so well in front of that monster.’
I was even slightly impressed. In front of Libra she’d been on the verge of tears and nearly dropped to her knees, yet with a civilian she turned into a berserker and resorted to threats.
Of course, this rampage probably didn’t come from a suspicion she’d just formed today.
It was safe to assume the suspicions she’d been accumulating had detonated with this attack serving as the trigger.
The Argo Family, an organization so massive that even the notoriously infamous Libra was forced to keep them in check. And a café that had naturally settled in just as the Argo Family was beginning to rampage. Its sole employee: a man whose face even her former colleague barely knew.
She’d failed to properly respond to Libra, the perpetrators of today’s attack, and while a monster had done the actual work, she was the one receiving the accolades.
Nothing had been resolved, and her friend was still in this dangerous city. On top of that, she’d even caught wind of a rumor that a monster disguised as a human was in the city.
How much self-loathing must she feel?
Today, right alongside the realization of her own weakness, she must have felt an enormous anxiety.
“But, please don’t do this sort of thing to anyone besides me. You’ll crash into ruin in an instant.”
“Is that a threat?”
“A guess. How could someone like me threaten you, Altair?”
Perhaps she didn’t like this overly polite attitude. She gave an awkward frown and jabbed a finger at Han Jae-jung.
“Today it was only a warning, but next time won’t be.”
Under that grim stare, practically dripping with killing intent, Han Jae-jung gave an exaggerated shudder. He meant it as an appropriate reaction, but to Orange Altair it felt like nothing but a provocation.
“How terrifying.”
“...Yes. Be terrified. And be careful.”
Just as she’d done in the café, she turned primly away, raindrops scattering along the line of her hair. The faint orange light, like starlight clinging to her strands, scattered with the droplets. It looked like the smallest of fireworks, a firework show that blooms and vanishes once.
“Because I will be keeping a very close eye on you.”
With that murmur, Orange Altair flung herself off the rooftop without a moment’s hesitation. If anyone else had done that, I’d have been terrified, thinking it was suicide, but she was a magical girl, of all people. There’s no need to be startled by a magical girl launching herself from a rooftop or standing bare-bodied in front of a train.
“What a god-awful personality...”
Only after Orange Altair had vanished could Han Jae-jung finally let out his true feelings. He was genuinely wronged. Studying his face reflected in a puddle, he tilted his head.
“How can anyone look at me and think I’m a monster?”
[She appears to be a magical girl with exceptionally sharp instincts. Exercise particular caution in your words and actions until you earn her trust.]
It was a truly complicated feeling. Being falsely accused as a monster was infuriating, but the moment I felt aggrieved, I felt like she would now feel aggrieved in turn. In any case, her reasoning wasn’t entirely wrong.
Han Jae-jung let out a deep sigh and muttered.
“Now how am I supposed to explain this when I get back...?”
Not feeling the slightest threat from Orange Altair’s declaration of surveillance, he worried instead about the nagging he’d get from Jo Ah-yoon, who would see him return soaked to the bone after going to get an umbrella.
This prediction came true. The moment he got back, he had to endure a thorough grilling from Jo Ah-yoon, whose nerves were already on edge.
**
‘Is my glare really not that scary?’
Watching Han Jae-jung’s expression today, Orange Altair had thought that. By her own measure she’d thought she was glaring fiercely, but apparently in other people’s eyes it had only looked laughable.
Staring into a mirror and recreating her expression from earlier, she gave a small, hollow laugh. Even she found it ridiculous.
Well, who would find it frightening?
A magical girl who had threatened and assaulted someone who’d gone to fetch an umbrella, worried he’d get rained on—who would ever find that scary.
‘No. Let’s not regret it.’
If he really was a monster, the one in danger would be Jo Ah-yoon. Even if it was excessive, it was something she had to do. Something she absolutely, had to do....
Slap! She struck her own cheek hard and steadied her resolve.
Orange Altair. Real name Ara.
A newcomer who had appeared like a comet in Korean society, which had seen no new talents for a while after Pink Deneb.
A newcomer who had literally ‘appeared’ like a comet, only to flash briefly and fade.
Now a mid-career magical girl with a reasonable amount of time served.
Now that Pink Deneb had retired, she was the magical girl with the lowest win rate. Her dispatches were frequent, but she had not been able to rack up commensurate achievements.
She was not free from the gaze of others. She was different from Red Vega, who accepted any insult as justified criticism, and Pink Deneb, whose personal standards were so firm that reputation never swayed her.
Of those three, so often grouped together as the Summer Triangle, only she was ambiguous.
Red Vega, who had debuted openly as a major rookie and grown so powerful that she could no longer be compared with Orange Altair, was at least manageable. Someone on an entirely different level was not a person you envied or felt deflated over.
But Pink Deneb’s case was different. Her magic was a typical support type, specialized only in detection and movement while offering virtually zero combat assistance. She was short and had a poor personality. Her words and conduct were unrestrained even at official functions, and her win rate was the lowest. Their debut timing wasn’t all that different, either.
Yet that girl was self-assured.
A mere bridge that had to bow its head to connect Cowherd and the Weaver Girl—yet she was utterly self-assured.
Orange Altair couldn’t stand it. Both her persona as a magical girl and her human qualities—all of it.
The human Ara could not bring herself to like the human Jo Ah-yoon.
She had nothing on me, yet she never cowered and remained self-assured.
That peculiar attitude, her way of speaking, even her abilities—none of it could ever contribute to creating a good image for the magical girl profession, and yet she was needlessly brazen.
She never once thought about those of us lumped together with her. She was nothing short of a nuisance.
Orange Altair could never, ever tolerate it.
But...
“So you’re retiring and acting like you’re done with magical girls now?”
She could never tolerate it.
“Chirpy. Nothing special?”
[No, Guardian. There’s no unusual activity to report.]
Perhaps because of her magic specialized in sniping. Unlike other magical girls, she can send her mascot out to a far distance.
Using this, she was currently surveilling Han Jae-jung from afar. Given the nature of the mascot, which cannot be seen by anyone other than its contractor, he probably didn’t even know he was being watched right now.
No—she had warned him she’d be watching, so he’d be keeping his guard up in his own way. But he can never see the watcher.
Just like a panopticon.
A relationship between an observer who can watch the prisoner at any time, and a prisoner who must live in fear of when and where they’re being watched.
Orange Altair, Ara, smiled slyly as she gulped down mineral water.
‘Pink Deneb. You’ll never become an ordinary person.’
Forcing the enormous power gap she’d felt while facing that monster today to the back of her memory, she drained the bottle of water refreshingly.
‘You should be thanking me. You don’t have the faintest clue how much danger surrounds you, so you’ll never understand me.’
Retired magical girls often become targets of revenge for monsters. Jo Ah-yoon couldn’t escape that danger either.
‘Let’s see who’s the one laughing in the end—you, or me.’
Your happy new business has crumbled. The person by your side is most certainly a monster and not a human. And that’s only to be expected...
‘Because that bastard is from Dark Matter.’
Dark Matter, a place no ordinary human could ever escape alive. A human who emerged from within it. What could that possibly mean? In other words, it’s proof he’s no ordinary human.
‘Jo Ah-yoon. That man isn’t the oppa you used to know, is he?’
-The man working at that shop is my comrade. Could you possibly persuade him for me?
A certain disguised monster who had cautiously approached her while she was on her way to the café. Not knowing she was a magical girl, it had naturally imitated a human. That was a foolish decision. Magical girls can feel the dissonance of a disguise entirely.
It had worked out well for her. She’d learned the identity of Jo Ah-yoon’s suspicious man, after all.
‘Just how entertaining will that bitch’s twisted expression be?’
Ara passed the night with that enjoyable fantasy.
**
Orange Altair’s body trembled, her expression deeply distorted.
“Altair. What exactly are you playing at?”
“No. That, I mean. Well...”
Swallowed by terror, Orange Altair bowed her head.
How did things end up like this?
Today was supposed to be a pleasant day. The day she should have exposed Han Jae-jung’s true identity, elevated her own standing, and finally received recognition....
“Should I accept this as a fit of pique aimed at me? Or...”
She felt as though she’d stepped into a sub-zero freezer. The longer that stare bored into her body, the stronger the bone-chilling cold grew.
“...should I accept it as a challenge aimed at me? You choose, Altair.”
Blue Sirius’s heavy gaze pressed down on her.
“Do you want to call it nonsense? Or... do you want to fight me?”