Chapter 89 - Join Hands

The woman with long light blue hair and a slightly cold, cat-like impression standing before me. Lee Seol-ah.

There are many ways to describe her.

First, along with Stardust, she's one of only three A-rank heroes in the Republic of Korea. She operates under the alias Icicle, suppressing villains from her base in Busan.

And beyond her hero identity, she has another equally famous status. The name Lee Seol-ah itself.

She is a third-generation chaebol, the heiress to Yu-seong Corporation, which proudly ranks second in Korea's business world.

She already had some recognition for her exceptional beauty and chaebol status, but after awakening her abilities and announcing her intention to live as a hero as well, she became a major topic of conversation.

Despite being a third-generation chaebol, her choice to work as a hero for citizens' sake seemed to be viewed positively, giving her quite a good image in Busan where Yu-seong Corporation's headquarters is located.

Especially with her distinctive beauty and her habit of walking around with a bright smile, she's earned an image of being a "kind chaebol heiress" from the public. Since she's doing hero work that she doesn't even need to do, it's natural, I suppose.

And all of this is nothing but a mask.

This woman who pretends to be naive and innocent is actually a shadow mastermind harboring ambitions to devour the Republic of Korea from behind the scenes. Her hero activities are just to hide her true intentions, manage her image, and build connections with the Association.

Effectively commanding Yu-seong Group from behind the scenes, she becomes the actual head of Korea's leading corporation after her competitor, Han-eun Group, self-destructs.

In the original story, after the president steps down due to the Seoul collapse incident creating a political vacuum, she gradually consumes the political world one by one, expanding her influence.

And eventually, having seized control of the business world, political sphere, and public sentiment, she rises in the latter half of the original story to become the de facto ruler of the country—able to change presidents at will and modify laws as she pleases.

And now, this woman was right in front of me.

"A cooperative relationship..."

She muttered quietly, gently setting down her teacup.

Behind her, sunlight reflected off her light blue hair, making it sparkle.

"How interesting."

Then she smirked and continued speaking while looking at me with cold eyes.

"A villain proposing cooperation to me, a hero... do you really think I would accept this?"

Her words were chilling.

Simultaneously, I felt the room temperature drop slightly.

Actually, considering her ability, it might have actually dropped.

And to that response, I grinned.

"Come on, what are you saying? We both know what's going on."

This is the crucial part.

The Lee Seol-ah shown in the original story is an incredibly frightening person. A woman with almost innate talent for seeing through others' psychology and assessing situations.

However. That's when she had more experience and expertise.

Right now, she's still just someone with ambition, clumsy compared to her later self in the original story. Her judgment is probably still a bit clouded at this point.

In other words, she's still a rookie.

So, the only time to handle her is now. Right now, before she ripens.

With that in mind, I continued speaking with a relaxed smile.

"I clearly know who's behind Yu-seong Group's expansionist moves, so why act like this? I'm not trying to interfere with you—I just want to have an amicable relationship where we walk the same path together. Comrades, you might say."

After saying that, I casually flicked my hand to levitate the empty teacup and teapot beside me with psychokinesis, pouring myself a cup of coffee. Then I picked it up and drank. Delicious.

Seeing me act so comfortable, as if I were in my own home, Lee Seol-ah's eyebrow twitched involuntarily before she quickly regained her composure and spoke to me coldly.

"I don't know what you think you know about me. Besides, what help could you possibly offer me? This is ridiculous."

Summary: Explain what help you could possibly give me

I gave her another smirk.

"I can offer you many things. Well, the list would be endless if I were to enumerate them all."

It wouldn't look cool to brag about it all upfront, would it?

I quietly took a USB drive out of my pocket and tossed it to Lee Seol-ah.

When the black object suddenly flew toward her, she flinched slightly but caught it mid-air.

As she held the USB in her hand and looked at me questioningly, I shrugged and spoke.

"You seem busy these days, merging with other companies one by one, even dabbling in politics... Well, I've given you something that might help. Please consider it a small token of my sincerity."

After saying that, I simply stood up. She looked at me as if to ask what I was doing when I suddenly rose.

"I'll come back in a week. I hope you'll accept my proposal by then."

"Excuse me? What is this—"

"I'll see you later, then."

I said what I needed to say and wrapped myself in my cape.

Classic villain move. Say what you need to say and disappear.

Before teleporting away, I took one last look at her.

Her light blue hair, her slightly sharp, cat-like eyes looking at me.

Seeing her looking much younger than she did in the latter half of the original story, I thought to myself.

Yes. Really. I hope you accept. This cooperation.

I was debating whether to deal with you or not, and this is what I chose, so at least be this helpful.

With her green eyes as the last thing in my sight, I teleported away from that place.

Ah, now I have to go back up to Seoul.

So damn annoying.

***

"Haah....."

In the place Egostic had left.

In front of it, Lee Seol-ah exhaled.

"Ha. Seriously, what the..."

Only after he left did she breathe out the breath she'd been holding.

In truth, though she didn't show it, her heart had nearly stopped. Her back was soaked with cold sweat.

She never imagined that Egostic, that villain, would suddenly appear before her. Especially since he usually only sought out Stardust.

And when he showed that he knew about her plans, she felt chills run down her spine. How? She had definitely, absolutely concealed the information thoroughly.

When she saw his eyes that seemed to see through everything, she tensed up involuntarily, but somehow managed to maintain her composure.

Egostic. She had made some assumptions about him.

Lee Seol-ah was born with the talent to almost perfectly guess what others were thinking. With her innate intelligence and perceptiveness, she could almost read other people's minds.

And based on her assessment, Egostic, though operating as a villain, harbored no hostility toward the world. The same applied to the hero Stardust. Rather, he acted like a hero while pretending to be a villain.

And through a series of events and his actions, she was half-convinced: Egostic was a kind of anti-hero. One with exceptional abilities.

And the possibility of such a person appearing before her? She hadn't rated it very highly. After all, no matter how exceptional his abilities were, how could he know that much?

And today, Lee Seol-ah had to admit.

That she had underestimated him.

He knew everything about her, even knew that she saw through him, and on top of that, he even proposed cooperation.

And when she asked what he could do for her, he just threw a USB drive and disappeared. He said what he wanted to say and just left.

"Haah... seriously, what the..."

What does he want from her? Why did he approach her?

To begin with, Egostic. He would be a very unfavorable opponent if he became her enemy.

Egostic. From the beginning, she had seen through him with her insight. That despite pretending to be a villain, he paradoxically resembled a hero. And based on her innate perceptiveness, his actions seemed somewhat related to Stardust. Though she couldn't quite figure out the exact reason.

There were several reasons to be wary of him.

Overwhelming information gathering capabilities from who knows where, overwhelming financial power from who knows where, and influence that couldn't be ignored. Somehow he had formed a kind of fandom, and not only was the size of that fandom significant, but they also showed tremendous loyalty, believing whatever he said unconditionally. No, even among the general public, the opinion of Egostic was generally favorable.

In other words, Egostic was one of the most influential individuals in the Republic of Korea. People might not realize it because he usually wears a mask and laughs, but he's actually a very dangerous and frightening existence.

However, based on her judgment, he didn't seem particularly hostile, and it didn't seem like they would have many entanglements, so she hadn't been overly cautious. She kept an eye on him, but that was it.

And then suddenly, he appeared before her.

With a rather unexpected talk of cooperation...

"Haah...."

Lee Seol-ah's mind became complicated.

How did he know about her ambitions, and what was this talk of cooperation? Was it a trap?

Especially that look in his eyes before he disappeared.

As if his casual laughter had been a lie, that cold gaze looking down at her made her shiver slightly.

...Is this really not a trap?

If he wasn't actually hostile to her, she had no particular reason to reject him. Cooperation with him would be a plus, not a minus.

...Whether he sincerely wanted to cooperate with her or not would be revealed once she opened this.

She looked at the small USB drive in her hand.

...I hope plugging this in won't get me hacked or something?

"..."

No, that can't be

Though she thought it was an unnecessary worry, just to be safe, she plugged it into a secondary computer.

What could be inside?

She opened the USB with tension, and inside...

"...Huh?"

There were countless files documenting the corruption and vulnerabilities of competing companies.

From internal information to confidential documents to personal misconduct.

Documents that could be utilized in numerous ways if she wanted to use them.

As she examined them one by one, her eyes sparkled slightly.

With these alone, the merger and acquisition issues that had been giving her headaches could progress much, much faster.

Already, numerous methods of how to devour other companies using this information were forming in her mind.

"...He was a very nice person."

Egostic.

It seemed he genuinely wanted to help her, not threaten her. Someone who gives her this couldn't possibly be her enemy. So.

Her happiness circuit suddenly activated at this unexpected gift.

According to her smart and intelligent judgment, Egostic seemed to genuinely want to cooperate with her and appeared to be a useful person.

If that's the case, naturally.

Is there any reason to reject him?

***

One week later.

"So, have you considered my proposal?"

"Yes. Well, I see no reason why we can't work together."

And so the two shook hands.

I, Egostic, have successfully recruited the future shadow mastermind who will run Korea's largest company by market capitalization.

'Lucky me.'

I seduced her in one go.