Transformation or Death

Chapter 2 – 

The First Transformation

[Transform.]

When I just blinked without answering, the metal ball kindly repeated what it had said. 

Even though it saved me without saying anything, I thought it was my savior, but it seems to be the destroyer of my dignity.

Transformation? Does it mean what magical girls do?

‘You want…me to do that?’ 

Suddenly?

“That doesn’t sound like a good idea.”

Of course, it’s rude for me to judge like this since it’s not my body.

Still, my mind doesn’t change. In the end, it’s just a dark male body, isn’t it? What’s so good about putting a fluttering dress on it?

The metal ball firmly shouted.

[Transform.]

Hearing its inorganic voice gave me a creepy feeling.

[Transform and take care of the villain ahead.]

I came to my senses at this voice. The villain who had been knocked down by this transformation obsession started to get up again.

“Krrk…”

Its massive body was quite threatening. The shadow that even the night couldn’t swallow gradually cast over my face.

Just like when my neck was hung, my body violently craved life. Enduring the contracted muscles, blurred vision, and the sharp pain spreading in my abdomen, it started to find a way to somehow survive.

[The price of non-compliance is.]

My thumping heart was loud. The inorganic voice of the metal ball and the thumping footsteps of the villain louder than my heart combined to create an indescribable tension.  

[Death.]

“Ha…” I laughed dryly like a dazed person. Now I’m even getting death threats from an inanimate object.

When I first came here, a rope welcomed me. The first living thing I encountered was a villain, and the first one who spoke to me was a metal ball.

All of them seemed to want to kill me.

I realized bitterly that this was not the ‘reality’ I used to live in.

A world with monsters and heroes where life-threatening situations are frequent.

Whether I die by the villain or the metal ball, what’s the difference? The only way to survive I could see was one.

Yes, to survive, I can sometimes let go of human dignity.

The villain was approaching me with no delay to crush me, and the metal ball remained silent as if waiting for my response.

In that strange silence, I took a deep breath and spat out along with the lump of refusal in my heart. “Okay, I’ll do this silly thing. Transform.”

[Approved.]

As soon as I spoke, a small crack began to form in the metal ball. A red light seeped out from the crack, and the metal ball turned white.

The villain raised its fist. A fist more than enough to instantly turn a person into a lump of meat.

Following the crack, the metal ball unfolded. It was no longer a shape that could be called a ball. Rather than a ball……

A belt buckle.

Not a fashion belt, but a design you’d see in toys or some sci-fi movie. Exactly that kind of shape.

The buckle came toward my waist.

With a clink of metal wrapping around my waist, the metal ball completely became a belt.

‘Ah, this is probably…’

It seems a bit different from the transformation I expected.

The moment the belt was fastened, a blueprint rose in my brain. It felt like an instruction manual was directly inserted into my memory.

A map appeared in my head on what actions to take to use this belt.

Following the drawn map, I moved my arms and placed my hands on the belt.

Whish!

The sound of wind being torn came. It was a signal that the villain had swung its fist.

The fist had already come right in front of my nose, but I felt no sense of crisis at all. Rather, I even felt a slight thrill.

Taking the sound of my pounding heart as my transformation cry, I muttered, “Transform.”

[ASTRONOMICAL OBSERVATION.]

When the fist covered my entire field of vision. What I saw was not a shadow, but light.

Astronomical observation.

As the words from the belt implied, celestial bodies flickered in my eyes.

Seven distant stars flowed into my two eyes. A constellation suitable for scooping up the northern sea.

[THE BIG DIPPER.]

The starlight didn’t twinkle in the sky, but in my hands, and it radiated outward.

Explosion.

A small-scale, high-density light burst out like a flare had gone off, and the shock that couldn’t be overpowered by that light swept the surroundings.

The villain was within the range and rolled on the road like I had earlier. In contrast, I stood up and walked toward it.

A completely opposite situation from before.

Dust clouds rose on the road like fog from the aftermath of the explosion. 

Within that fog, light arose. The seven round stars I had observed earlier, the source of my power, they shot up like fireworks and then came back to me like a boomerang, enveloping my body.

A sweet rush of endorphins and thrill surging up to the top of my head like a runner’s high. A feeling of solid strength and stamina without having to move.

There was no body feeling weak from not eating.

‘So this is what that transformation was.’

I was even prepared for the dreadful event of turning into a woman, but fortunately, it doesn’t seem like I’ll have to go through that.

I looked at my reflection in a building’s glass window.

A giant wearing green armor was inside the glass. No human skin was visible, and a material that looked like spandex covered the gaps between the armor that couldn’t cover my body.

Exactly like the main character of the transformation hero shows I often watched on TV as a child. Or a transforming robot.

Of course, judging by the aesthetic sense of this world, it was undoubtedly the appearance of a villain.

‘How childish…’

There were too many decorations made for mere coolness, and it didn’t look efficient when moving. The armor that looked heavy was sufficiently anachronistic for the modern era that pursues lightweight.

‘That’s why it’s cool.’

And that’s why it was cool. Why is it a romance?

It transcends practical concerns, that’s why it’s a romance.

I grinned inside the helmet.

The outer appearance was much more satisfying than I had worried. I gained enough confidence that I could even go out on the street and get phone numbers right away.

[Transformation successful.]

The metal ball that had become a belt still urged me in its inorganic voice.

[Guardian, take down the villain. I will provide all assistance.]

Now there’s no going back.

‘I’m sorry, Mr. Han Jae-jung.’

I ended up rough handling the body you just entered today. But I had no choice, right? No matter how much the body changes, I have to survive. Why did you commit suicide in the first place?

A full-fledged battle is starting. A crazy situation I’ve never experienced even in the military.

I gulped down my saliva. Right after getting involved in a suicide commotion, now I’ve even transformed and will have a deadly battle with that villain.

“Haha…”

I couldn’t help but laugh at the absurdity. Come to think of it, I’ve been laughing a lot today. It’s a good thing to be cheerful.

I clenched my fist tight with the thrill and tension, and the innocence. I fixed my gaze on the villain and didn’t avert it.

“Krrk…”

The villain’s legs swelled as if it had been so humiliated.

Bang!

Leaving large footprints on the road, the villain came running. Its speed was incomparable to before. It was barely possible to track with my eyes.

However, it wasn’t threatening.

“Krrk!”

I easily avoided it by just taking two steps to the side. The villain continued forward due to its momentum.

Its back was wide open. This time, I ran toward it and thrust the fist I had clenched earlier into that wriggling leather skin.

Puak!

With a crisp impact sound, the villain rolled on the road.

It would have been better if it had died right there. But the persistent thing got up again and came at me. An inept creature without any special abilities.

This time, I simply arched my back a little to avoid it, and then used that recoil to kick up its chin.

Paak!

The inside of its mouth must have been completely crushed as dark blood splattered in all directions.

Now’s my chance. Without stopping, I landed a roundhouse kick to its side. Even though I hit the leather, it caved in like I had hit cotton. It spat out more blood and flew away.

‘Amazing.’

I could clearly see what to do next.

I’m not some legendary martial arts champion, yet I had this much composure and judgment in this life-or-death situation.

[That is my assistance. I am analyzing the enemy’s movements in real-time and transmitting the optimal movements to your brain.]

Another surprising thing was this power.

‘The power of the Big Dipper, indeed?’

In the magical girls chronicle, the size of one’s power was determined by the brightness and number of stars assigned to each individual.

All magical girls could wield the power of one star. And they would also decide their transformation name from the name and color of that star’s light.

Most are derived from actual existing stars, but the power of a magical girl and the actual brightness have nothing to do with each other.

Regardless of whether it’s a first-magnitude star or not, they can hone their star and increase their power.

Anyway.

The number of stars I saw was a total of seven.

Just from the voice the belt spoke, the power I could command was undoubtedly the Big Dipper.

A simple calculation would mean it was the power of seven magical girls combined. And I might even be able to further increase this power later.

‘Extravagant.’

It was too vast a power obtained without any will to acquire it.

Paak!!!

By the time the villain’s body was in the air longer than it touched the ground, I strongly kicked up its abdomen.

On a night when all the street lamps were off and the moon and stars shone brilliantly, a new monster adorned the sky.

A power I couldn’t even imagine normally. Yet I still had considerable energy left.

I bent my body, twisted my waist, and adjusted my sights to land a punch on that falling villain anytime.

I grabbed onto one of the paths the belt had drawn in my brain and followed it.

One of the many ways to kill the villain.

The technique for the finale.

[SET. Reverse Star.]

A green glow similar to the color of the stars I had seen earlier coiled around my fist.

Toward the squirming, falling villain, I thrust it in.

Reverse Star.

The star that rises in reverse.

As the name implies, the starlight didn’t flow from the sky to the ground, but from the ground toward the sky.

Kwaaang!

The meteor didn’t fall, but rather it shot upward.

My fist that had straightened upward shattered the villain’s body and caused a small explosion.

[Reverse Star manifestation successful. Reenactment rate 50%. Villain neutralized.]

It’s a bit concerning that I only unleashed half of its power. But in the end, I succeeded in neutralizing the villain.

“Whew…” I let out a deep sigh as the tension dissipated. With this, I won’t have to be threatened with death for refusing to transform anymore.

As for you, belt, go out into nature and live freely now.

No matter how strong the power, I don’t want to do the crazy thing of fighting without compensation.

As I was about to place my hand on the belt to cancel the transformation, 

[The act of canceling the transformation is not recommended.]

What?

[A magical girl is rapidly approaching this location. Do not cancel the transformation. I repeat. Do not cancel the transformation.]

A magical girl? Then I should cancel the transformation even more. With this appearance, it’s perfect for being misunderstood.

[New quest updated.]

“Who is it?”

The voice of the belt and a woman’s voice coming from the night overlapped.

When I turned my eyes, I saw a woman flying toward me surrounded by a cluster of light that looked like it was being emitted by a tinkerbell.

A magical girl.

[Take down the magical girl in front of you.]

“Are you, are you a survivor over there?”

My heart started pounding heavily again, even though the battle had ended. Was it because of the joy of meeting the subject of my fandom in reality? Or was it because…

[The price of non-compliance is death.]

“…?! A, a villain?”

Was it simply because my stomach felt uneasy?

If I continue like this, I’ll become a possessed person.

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