Chapter 28 - Seeds Of Doubt
"...So while Egostic's stalling for time, you move in. Understood?"
The moment she hung up with the Association President, she took to the sky.
Recognition Interference wrapped around her as she streaked across the city—arrive fast, leave faster; every second mattered. Without Egostic, hundreds more would already be lying in the street.
"Haa... haa..."
She'd flown dozens, maybe hundreds of kilometers, lungs burning. Too late? she wondered. Did I miss everything? Still, she pushed harder. The earpiece linking her to HQ had long since been drowned out by the roar of wind; at this speed it was useless. She couldn't slow down. In the blink of an eye, another dozen civilians could die.
When she finally reached the rooftop where the villain was reportedly rampaging—
The villain was already down.
And beside the motionless body, someone calmly scooped a dropped firearm into a bundle.
The same man who had been occupying every spare neuron in her brain lately: Egostic.
"Huff... huff..."
She turned, taking in the scene. A hulking, crocodilian figure lay sprawled on the concrete. Greenish vapor drifted above the Crocodile Monster; Egostic's gas mask suggested he'd neutralized it with some kind of biochemical weapon. Where did he even get that? And how did he think to use it?
She swallowed the questions and asked the only one that mattered.
"...You took him down?"
"Yes, that's right. I did."
His unruffled answer drew her brows tight. Why? Why appear out of nowhere and finish off the monster? What does he gain?
All her confusion condensed into a single word.
"...Why?"
As if he'd rehearsed for this, Egostic began reciting.
"Well, I was lounging around when the broadcast cut to some lunatic making a scene. They kept yelling for Stardus, and I thought, 'Wow, our little Star's gotten popular~' while I munched popcorn. Then—get this—they started dragging my name into it."
The assailant had called him out?
While Shin Haru was busy evacuating Senior Chaehyun from the scene—she hadn't heard a thing—Egostic kept talking.
"They made it sound like I was some clingy ex. Felt... insulting. What did I ever do to them?"
Her face scrunched at his words.
What? Me, clingy to him? Absurd slander—we're enemies.
Yet hearing him call the idea insulting stung, just a little.
"According to my personal dictionary," he went on, "anyone who drags my name through the mud needs an education. I decided to make an example of him—have a little fun."
That was the heart of it.
Her expression relaxed without her noticing. Yeah. That's exactly the kind of lunatic he is. Everything he's shown so far has been impulsive and destructive. Someone weaker than him mentioned his name, so he crushed them.
Just as the last of her questions settled, he used telekinesis to swivel a camera away, then stepped between her and the lens. In a voice too low for the feed to pick up, he said:
"...And since I've muted that thing, let me be clear: don't ever think of barging in bare-faced like today. Do it again and your life becomes very, very tiring."
What?
She froze. How could he possibly know she'd considered that?
Before she could reboot her brain, Egostic was already waving at the camera.
"All right! That's today's broadcast. I showed up on a whim, so I'm beat. Something big's coming next month—look forward to it. See you around. Bye~"
Wait, something big next month?
More importantly—how did he read her mind?
"Hold on!"
She lunged to stop him, but he was gone. Nothing remained on the rooftop except the sprawled-out Crocodile Monster.
"...What the hell."
***
A few days later, the incident was already fading from public memory. B- and C-Rank Heroes who'd been on standby—and did nothing—were formally reprimanded, closing the case inside the Association.
"Whew," the President laughed, slapping his knee. "Good thing that mad dog showed up. When he bites our side, it's a nightmare—but when he bites the enemy, there's no one better! Haha!"
Leaving his carefree laughter behind, she stepped out of the office.
"Haa..."
Reports finished, she exited the building and gazed up at the sky. This is good, she told herself. So why does my head feel like such a mess?
Walking down the street, she opened the school community on her phone and typed a single word into the search bar:
[Egostic]
Only a handful of posts appeared, none recent.
Frowning, she tried a different spelling:
[Mangostick]
Posts flooded the screen.
*
[Mangostick! Mangostick! Mangostick!]
[Craving Mangostick today]
[Baby Mang-fan just joined Mango Squad... can I get into the hot posts?]
[Honestly these days Mangostick seems way better than most heroes lol]
[Mangostick went to our uni (proof inside)]
[Got a one-month ban for praising Mangostick—called it villain sympathy. Now everyone's doing it, wtf lol]
[Mangostick terror forecast for next month... real facts]
*
Every single thread praised him.
...
She was absently flicking through posts, half-hoping for something—anything—when a title snagged her eye.
[These days Mangostick just wanders around sucking up to villains like an idiot. If Korea keeps heading this way...]
Yes. Someone else sees how twisted things have become.
Heart thumping, she tapped the thread.
***
[Author] Anonymous
[Title] These days Mangostick just wanders around sucking up to villains like an idiot. If Korea keeps heading this way...
Rider
(gif: Kamen Rider reaching out)
[Anonymous1] Hope my prediction comes true
[Anonymous2] If you hate begging for likes, hit like here
***
"Ugh, forget it."
She hit back and powered off the phone, chin in hand, gaze drifting to the blur beyond the window.
...Everyone except her adored Egostic.
Where had it all gone wrong?
'...That bastard hasn't killed anyone yet, right? And with him hunting other villains lately, crime's actually dropped. Leave him be for now—an instant-teleport type's nearly impossible to catch anyway.'
'What if he pulls another terror stunt?' Ha-ha, then you can stop him again. I trust you. The Association trusts you.'
The president's words circled her skull like a lazy record.
If the head of the Korean Paranormal Ability Association said as much, maybe—just maybe—Egostic really was harmless.
Yet everything he'd done so far screamed "unpredictable catastrophe." If she hadn't intervened, every soul on that ship and on those tracks would be dead.
If Egostic ever did kill someone, would people still sing his praises?
"...No. Not a chance."
She pressed her forehead to the cool glass and closed her eyes.
How did Egostic know she was planning to unmask herself? Had he read her mind, some kind of mind reader?
No—ridiculous. He didn't have that power.
Then how? Had he spotted her at the festival? Did he know her identity—her real name, Shin Haru?
"..."
None of that mattered. Egostic was a villain, through and through, and she would bring him down like any other.
She clenched the promise tight... yet, unbeknown to her, a seed had slipped through the cracks of her certainty: the poisonous doubt that maybe everyone else saw something she missed.
***
"...Subin-unni, is Oppa still out?"
"Yeah. But his vitals are way better now. He'll probably wake soon."
"Haa... What was that idiot thinking, treating his body like trash..."
Egostic. Leaning against the bedrail, Han Seo-eun studied the unconscious man.
What made him throw himself into fights without a plan?
...Stardus, of course.
"..."
Just thinking of Stardus stirred something sour inside Seo-eun. Da-in had never said it outright, but Seo-eun could read the pattern: every time, without fail, Da-in would charge through fire for Stardus.
What on earth did he see in her?
More importantly—
Cough, cough.
"Oppa!"
He opened his eyes before she could finish the thought—three days after he'd collapsed.
...