Chapter 22 - Meeting

"Haru, over here!"

In front of the Ice Cream Festival venue.

Shin Haru, who had just gotten off the bus, met up with her senior.

"Oh, Unnie. You got here first?"

"I just arrived too! Let's check it out!"

"Sure, sounds good."

Watching her senior smile adorably and chatter away upon seeing her, Shin Haru found herself smiling quietly without realizing it.

Today, the two of them had decided to explore this festival together. The weather was nice, after all.

As they walked together, Haru gazed fondly at her senior, who was laughing brightly and chattering away.

Though Unnie Chaehyun was a year older than her, she was short and cheerful, which somehow made her feel more like a younger sister.

"Senior, want to try this? It's rice-flavored ice cream."

"Sure!"

Watching her senior happily eat the ice cream made her feel good too.

She wasn't particularly fond of ice cream herself, but going on a leisurely outing with a close unnie after so long was gradually lifting her spirits.

Truth be told, Shin Haru didn't have many friends. From a young age, she'd been so consumed by studying and hero work that she'd built walls between herself and others. Even in college, if Senior Chaehyun hadn't actively reached out to her, she would have lived without any close friends at all.

Of course, she did have friends she'd made through her hero identity. Shadow Walker and Icicle, both fellow A-Rank Heroes, were prime examples. But she rarely kept in touch with those two.

Shadow Walker only operated at night, maintaining a nocturnal schedule that made meeting during the day impossible, and Icicle was always busy covering the lower half of the Korean Peninsula alone. As a result, their three-person group chat was perpetually silent more often than not. Though to be fair, Stardus herself was also busy because of Egostic...

Lost in these various thoughts, she walked alongside her senior.

Of course, they drew plenty of stares along the way. Senior Kim Chaehyun was cute and pretty in her own right, but Shin Haru—tall for a woman, with blonde hair flowing behind her—was incredibly eye-catching.

Eventually, after wandering here and there, Shin Haru and Kim Chaehyun finished eating and headed toward the event venue.

"Wow! They even have Egostic-flavored ice cream over there!"

Her senior smiled brightly, suggesting they go check it out.

Haru's expression stiffened at encountering Egostic again despite coming here to forget about him, but her senior—already captivated by the Mango Squad—didn't notice.

And so the two of them ended up standing in line to buy ice cream.

Haru could only sigh and take pictures of her senior, who was happily smiling and eating.

Watching her senior made her feel bittersweet. At least she was grateful that Chaehyun never badmouthed Stardus in front of her. Some of the more toxic Mango Squad members actually insulted Stardus... She'd been shocked when she'd Googled Stardus and read those comments herself.

After taking photos and wandering around the remaining areas, quite a bit of time had passed.

She'd spent a lot of quality time with Unnie Chaehyun after so long, so it had been a worthwhile outing.

Though the unsettled feeling she got whenever she thought about Egostic still remained...

"Let's do that one last thing before we go!"

Where Unnie Chaehyun was pointing, there was a booth with a game where you threw darts to pop balloons. If you popped a balloon, you'd get a special-flavored 3-tier ice cream cone.

"Sounds good."

And so they slowly walked over.

The booth was designed to accommodate two customers at once.

Another customer was already occupying one side.

At first, she thought it was a family out for fun.

A mom, dad, and daughter on an outing.

But while the mom and dad had black hair, the daughter had white hair? Was it dyed?

Since this was the first time she'd ever seen silver hair in person, her curiosity got the better of her. When she got closer and looked more carefully, the daughter seemed to be a middle schooler, but the mom and dad looked too young. They didn't seem like a family, so what was their relationship?

While thinking this, she felt puzzled. Since when had she been the type to scrutinize strangers like this?

Was it because the silver hair was so unusual...? But even that didn't quite explain it—she was the type who would just glance once at a Black man with green Apollo hair standing next to her and move on. Yet strangely, this pseudo-family drew her attention.

Especially that black-haired man. There was something oddly familiar about him...

Well, it was probably just her imagination.

Shaking off these idle thoughts, she decided to just watch Unnie Chaehyun throw darts.

Having approached the booth without realizing it, she called out to the staff.

"Excuse me."

***

Oh shit.

"Excuse me."

"Yes, customer!"

"Ten darts, please."

"Coming right up!"

What the hell is going on?

Why is this happening to me when I just came to enjoy a festival like a normal person?

I felt my hands and feet trembling.

Cold sweat was already forming on my back.

My eyes suddenly wavered helplessly.

Looking to the side, I saw that both Seo-eun and Subin's expressions had also frozen solid.

Everyone knew what Stardus's bare face looked like.

In other words, everyone understood just how dangerous this situation was.

I swallowed hard.

I had no idea why Stardus of all people happened to be here, but I needed to run away immediately.

The abilities Stardus possessed were superhuman strength and flight.

But this superhuman strength wasn't just simple superhuman strength.

More precisely, it should be described as having tremendous physical power.

For now, it was just being ridiculously strong when she wanted to be, but later on, she would gradually become a superhuman who transcended the limits of the human body.

Seeing farther than others, hearing better than others—all her five senses would develop.

In other words, though the Association, still unaware of this, had named this ability "superhuman strength," it was actually more accurate to view Stardus as a superhuman.

And it wasn't just the five senses—even her sixth sense would develop.

Meaning she could instinctively sense when something was off. Basically a super sense?

Of course, this was still the early stages in terms of the original work's timeline. She wasn't at the point where she'd look at me and immediately think, "That's Egostic, that bastard!" But still, she was developed enough to feel, "Something's strange..."

The conclusion: I was in big trouble.

I had to run.

But I'd already received the darts.

If I suddenly ran away after receiving the darts without playing, wouldn't that look even more suspicious?

"Yap!"

"Oh, Unnie, you're good at this?"

"Of course! I'm pretty skilled at this!"

The woman next to me, laughing and throwing darts.

Kim Chaehyun, Haru's close unnie.

In the original work, when she wasn't in hero mode but living her everyday life—or should I say, when she was just an ordinary person—this was the senior she was closest to. With her incredibly bright and cute personality, she was quite a popular character. Of course, that all changed in the latter half of the story...

"Throwing darts, throwing darts~"

The sight of her beside me, throwing darts like crazy and popping balloons. No, she was throwing them so well that for a moment I thought it was Shin Haru doing it.

"Customer, aren't you going to throw?"

Seeing me standing there in a daze, the clerk asked cautiously.

Oh right. I need to throw quickly.

While Haru was still focused on Chaehyun's dart throwing, I needed to hurry up, throw mine, and get out of here.

"Oh my, the person next to me is so good that I found myself staring blankly without realizing it. I'll throw now."

After quietly speaking to the clerk, I quickly picked up the darts and started throwing.

"Haha, S-Seo-eun. Look. Watch Oppa's dart-throwing skills...!"

"Y-yeah. H-hurry up and throw."

As expected, Seo-eun answered me while trembling. I wish she'd act better—how can she stutter like that... though I suppose I can't talk since I'm trembling too. We're in the same boat.

I started throwing randomly. Naturally, my accuracy was poor since I was just throwing wildly. Meanwhile, Shin Haru's group next to us seemed to have already finished. Even though they came after us...

"Wow! You got them all!"

"Oh, Unnie, how did you do that?"

"Give me my prize, give me my prize!"

Wait, she hit all 10 shots?

The clerk said with a laugh that this was the first person to hit all 10 today. After asking her to wait a moment, the clerk went to the back and brought out an ice cream cone... then started scooping ice cream from a container in the freezer and piling it onto the cone.

So that's the prize—the 3-tier ice cream cone.

Kim Chaewon took it and held the cone in her hand, laughing "hehe."

Since it was 3 tiers instead of just 1, the ice cream wobbled precariously above her.

This... if I stay here any longer, something terrible is going to happen.

I had just finished throwing my darts too. I hit about 4 balloons? Obviously no prize for me. Considering I threw them with trembling hands, it's weird I hit any at all. But this is my chance. A chance to escape quickly.

"Oh, what a shame. We'll be going now."

Saying that, I turned around to make a quick exit. I need to run away fast.

I thought that as I turned to the side.

The problem was, at that exact moment, Kim Chaehyun was standing next to me, holding her 3-tier ice cream cone and taking a photo.

And she happened to turn her body at the exact same time as me, so our shoulders bumped and she tilted toward me.

Along with the ice cream cone she was precariously holding in her hand.

And in that moment, I saw the future.

Splat.

'Kyaaaah!'

The horrifying future where that ice cream would collide with my body.

Just getting ice cream on my clothes would be terrible enough, but I knew this wasn't all. The real problem was that, judging by how this senior of Shin Haru's was panicking in front of me, I was about to get entangled with Shin Haru.

So as I watched the ice cream falling toward me in slow motion, I truly wanted to cry.

...It's not like God is deliberately screwing me over or anything.

What the hell. Why are you doing this to me?