Chapter 24 - Crocodile Hunt

"Stardus!!!!! If you don't come out!!!!! I'll destroy everything!!!!"

In the middle of the downtown area where the festival was being held.

What was happening there could no longer be called a festival—it was a funeral.

"Kyaaaaaaah!"

Screams echoed from every direction.

Citizens who had been caught in the sudden attack lay scattered everywhere.

Thud—. Thud—.

Buildings, booths, streetlights.

A monster was smashing everything in its path indiscriminately as it advanced.

Its entire body covered in green scales—this bastard's name was Crocodile Man.

He was someone who appeared around the middle of the original story's arc.

If I remember correctly, this scientist guy was experimenting on a crocodile when some accident happened and they ended up fused together like this.

But that wasn't the important part. The important part was that this bastard shouldn't be appearing here.

It wasn't time for him to show up yet, so I hadn't even put him on my priority elimination list. Where the hell did he suddenly pop out from?

"Stardus!!!!! Why won't you come out!!!!! Are you too busy fooling around with Egostic to show yourself!!!!!!"

...Oh, is that why he popped up?

The sight of him suddenly getting pissed off at his own words and smashing everything around him was quite the spectacle.

"Ugh, uuugh."

I could see quite a few people lying on the ground, groaning.

Most people had already fled quickly, but there were still plenty who'd gotten caught up in the chaos and lay there moaning.

This bastard normally lived as an ordinary man, but he could transform into a crocodile monster whenever he wanted—which made him all the more vicious.

Ah, if he just hadn't transformed, I could've really done instant teleportation-surprise attack-one bullet and cut. Should've just killed him instead of slacking off.

Anyway, the damage was already done.

He'd suddenly appeared and was causing havoc demanding Stardus come out...

Crocodile Man. This was probably the first time people were seeing this villain. Until now, he must have been living in hiding too.

The Association would later designate him as an A-Rank Villain. Honestly, in my opinion, they could've given him S-Rank and it would've been fine. The Association already gave villains much more generous rankings than heroes—I had no idea why they only gave this guy A-Rank.

Anyway, this bastard was a real pain in the ass in the original work.

His skin was basically covered in thick scales, so most physical attacks barely worked on him.

A monster who could tank guns, bombs, and the like with his body.

For Stardus, whose only real combat ability was superhuman strength, he was an incredibly difficult opponent to face. No matter how much Stardus hit him, he could withstand almost all of it.

What made it especially problematic was that this bastard was obsessed with Stardus. He wasn't the series' first villain to just cause random chaos—he was the first to specifically call out Stardus by name. Actually, I'd referenced this bastard from the original quite a bit when calling out Stardus myself. I mean, when you call her, our justice-loving Stardus usually comes running.

In any case, this was a crisis situation right now.

Some green-haired tanned punk who looked like he could bench press 500 pounds was trying to steal Stardus's attention away from me.

No way! Did he really think I'd let Green Sun steal my Stardus?

And timing-wise, this bastard had started his terror attack at a moment when it was extremely difficult for Stardus to step in. She happened to be here right now, so if she went to the Association to get the recognition reduction filter, it would take time. People would all die before that. What about those people lying there groaning and bleeding?

Yeah, it was a hundred percent certainty. There was a hundred percent chance that Stardus would step forward without the recognition reduction filter, showing her bare face.

That absolutely couldn't happen.

If you looked at the very last episode of the original work, 'Revealed,' you'd know—the world after her face was exposed was hell for Shin Haru. All kinds of hate comments, terror attacks, sniper fire, and more poured down on Shin Haru like a waterfall. The criticism multiplied exponentially.

Right, I'd gone through all this trouble to make Stardus happy, and I couldn't just sit here and watch it all suddenly collapse like this.

So I had no choice but to step in.

But then what if I got called an anti-hero again?

That's why I needed to make an excuse—no, an explanation. And to do that?

I'd have to turn on the broadcast and go.

Sigh, honestly at this point I don't even know if I'm a villain or a YouTuber anymore.

***

"Stardus!!!! Are you still not coming out!!!!"

Crocodile Man shouted, having knocked down everything around him.

He clenched his fist as if enraged.

His fist was nearly the size of a human head.

"Fine then, I have no choice. I'll kill everyone here!!!!!"

With his fist clenched, he strode toward where people were trapped under the collapsed debris.

When the fallen people saw Crocodile Man walking toward them, they tried desperately to escape by twisting their bodies, but they were already too battered to move.

Finally, as Crocodile Man's shadow fell over them with his fist raised, the people were gripped with terror.

"P-please, spare me..."

"Don't resent me—resent Stardus!!!!"

Just as he raised his hand into the air to bring his fist down, and the people squeezed their eyes shut sensing death—

In this quiet place, the sound of music began to play.

"Hm?"

Crocodile Man tilted his head.

Suddenly, upbeat rock music that didn't fit the atmosphere here at all began to echo through the area.

As the solo of an electric guitar blared noisily from somewhere, Crocodile Man turned his head.

And what he saw was me, standing on a nearby building's rooftop.

Me, standing on the rooftop railing, looking down at Crocodile Man.

To my right, a Bluetooth speaker set to maximum volume was blasting out the loud music.

Standing on the rooftop, I was dancing to the beat of the music. Not intensely—just swaying my body to the rhythm. Occasionally clapping along to the beat too. First appearances are supposed to be flashy, you know.

And to my left, a camera floating via telekinesis was broadcasting my appearance on YouTube.

Should I give them a greeting?

Alright, let me get back into character.

"Good day, everyone! We meet again after last time. The true villain of this era, South Korea's public enemy—Egostic. Pleased to meet you!"

*

[Mangostick! Mangostick! Mangostick! Mangostick! Mangostick! Mangostick! Mangostick! Mangostick! Mangostick!]

[He's here, my porn]

[Is God Mangostick? Is God Mangostick? Is God Mangostick?]

[Calling himself the true villain and public enemy with his own mouth LOL]

[Enemy of Yako hahahahaha]

[Did he misspeak and mean the true hero of this era?]

[Wasn't it public hero? Really dunno]

[hahahahaha the opening is hilarious why is he dancing hahaha]

[Wait so where even is this???]

[Oh isn't this where that green monster is doing the terror attack?]

[I think that's right?]

[Wait why is he here again LOL]

*

The bundle I'd brought from the underground base was still strapped to my back.

I rummaged through it for a moment and pulled out a wireless microphone. Let's see... if I pair this with that speaker? Done.

The music from the speaker stopped, now connected to the microphone.

I tapped the microphone once.

Tap-.

Thump-.

The speaker let out a heavy sound when I struck the mic.

Yeah, looks like it's connected properly.

"Testing, testing. Mic test."

When I spoke into the microphone, sound blasted from the speaker beside me at tremendous volume. Ah, damn, I'm going to go deaf.

Maybe because Seo-eun had custom-modified this speaker, despite its small size it output about as much as those massive concert hall speakers. Yeah, this should be plenty audible down at ground level, right?

I put my mouth to the mic and addressed the crocodile bastard below. Should I use polite speech like usual? Nah, this guy's been too irritating—I'm going casual.

"Listen up, you crocodile bastard. You're surrounded. Surrender right now."

Crocodile Man, who'd been about to start massacring civilians below, looked up at me, then turned and started walking in my direction.

Then he shouted up at me loudly. Wait, why is his voice so loud when he's not even using a speaker like me?

"Who are you?!!!!"

"I'm Egostic, the guy you slandered a few minutes ago, you bastard."

"What?!!!!"

The crocodile snout squinted up at me, apparently having bad eyesight. After staring for a while, he finally recognized my face and started shouting furiously.

"You!!!!!! You're Egostic!!!!!!"

"Yeah, I'm Egostic."

"You bastard!!!! I'll kill you!!!!!!"

Then suddenly he started charging at me. I was genuinely flustered by this sudden acceleration. What did I even do to deserve this?

But more importantly, I'm on top of a building—how long is it going to take him to get up here? Is he going to take the elevator?

Before I could finish that thought, he plunged his hands into the building's exterior wall and started climbing up. Is this guy completely insane?

"Uaaaaaaah!!!!"

"What are you doing?"

The bastard climbed the building while screaming.

I just stood there and watched. He was climbing faster than an elevator would take, at least. The building wasn't that tall anyway, so he reached the top quickly.

"Uaaah!!!"

The bastard finally clawed his way up.

When he landed on the rooftop, a thump- echoed as the building shook.

"You bastard!!!! I'll kill you!!!!!!"

"Hey, can't we just talk this out?"

The moment he reached the rooftop, he charged at me, which I easily dodged with instant teleportation. I just moved directly behind him. No need to go far. I left the speaker on the ground and moved with just the microphone and bundle.

After his charge missed and I vanished, he looked confused. Wait, even just watching the news he should know I have teleportation abilities—what's he doing?

He turned his head looking for me, so I kept teleporting behind him, staying in a position completely outside his field of vision. He grew increasingly flustered. Wait, was he always this stupid?

Eventually, I couldn't hold back and smacked the back of his head. A nice slap with my hand.

"What are you doing, you idiot?"

This guy seems a bit slow...