Chapter 103 - Magic Circle

[This is breaking news. Today, a terrorist appeared at a subway station in downtown Seoul, causing chaos among citizens. Fortunately, the hero Stardust arrived in time and apprehended the suspect without any casualties. Our reporter Nam Sang-min will bring you more details.]

Just because our Ego-stream is temporarily closed doesn't mean the Republic of Korea becomes peaceful.

In fact, now that we've clearly moved past the early parts of the original work, we're entering the middle section where villains will start pouring out in earnest.

According to the original work, Stardust should be filming a misery story by now, rolling around here and there... but, well, she seems to be catching other villains easily, probably because I've strengthened her too much.

At this point, it seems like no one but my Ego-stream can match Stardust.

In reality, I've already recruited or eliminated the truly powerful villains, so the remaining ones are naturally just a bunch of nobodies. That means the villains in my alliance are real gems, the cream of the crop.

So what are they doing now—those unique individuals who were especially strong in the original comic, who pressured Stardust and stood apart from other villains?

"Seo-eun, Se-hee. Who picks out beans like that when eating? Look at Ha-yul and Cha-yoon, that's how you should eat."

They're getting scolded for picking out beans while eating.

Those two with sad eyes, eating the beans they've pushed to one side of their bowl. I mean, I can understand Han Seo-eun doing that, but Choi Se-hee? How can someone her age still be picking out beans?

....Of course, I avoided this unfortunate situation by simply taking fewer beans from the start. I just can't stand beans.

Anyway, this may look like an ordinary dining table, but everyone here is far from ordinary.

For starters, I'm someone who knows everything that will happen in the future. Next to me, Seo-eun, who's reluctantly eating her beans, is a genius hacker, and Choi Se-hee is an A-class villain.

Sitting across from us is Ha-yul, the only healer in the Republic of Korea.

Ms. Su-bin is a jack-of-all-trades who can work with computers and operate all kinds of vehicles, and even that Death Knight sweeping the yard outside was an S-class villain in the original work.

It's truly an impressive lineup, even just looking at what we have now.

And if you include the Vine Witch and Team Lapis that we're cooperating with... hmm. I guess what I've done in this world hasn't been in vain. In a world like this, people are absolutely the most important thing. Special people.

"I'm finished!"

"Me too."

While I was thinking about this, Seo-eun and Choi Se-hee got up after finishing their meals.

"Oppa. You said you're going out tonight, right?"

"Yeah."

"Then I'll be in the basement with Se-hee unnie until then. Call us when it's time!"

"Yeah, sure."

After saying that, the two of them rushed off toward the basement.

"Sigh... how long are they going to be like this?"

Ms. Su-bin sighed deeply watching them.

I can understand why. Those two have been cooped up in the basement almost every day since last time. They're making something, tinkering away except during mealtimes.

...At first, I just left them alone thinking they'd handle it well, but as time goes on, I'm starting to have doubts too. Especially since they're keeping secrets even from Ms. Su-bin, whispering between themselves, my suspicions are growing by the day.

Still, I've decided to just watch for now.

Honestly, when they're so openly plotting something, how bad could it be? I'm expecting they're making something useful as a surprise.

"Thank you for the meal!"

Cha-yoon, who finished eating, immediately went outside to help the Death Knight cleaning the yard, showing what a good kid she is.

...Though actually, Death Knight is out there cleaning unnecessarily because he said being confined to the ring was suffocating...

Still, it's good that they seem to be getting along.

That left Ms. Su-bin, me, and Ha-yul, who looked haggard, probably because she's now a high school senior.

"Ha-yul. How's your studying going these days?"

"Ugh... don't even ask. It's not easy..."

Ha-yul looks increasingly tired as the college entrance exam approaches. Well, I guess it makes sense. She probably had nothing to do with studying until now, so it must be difficult to start at this point.

Still, with Ms. Su-bin, a Seoul National University graduate, helping her, I think she'll at least do somewhat okay.

As I looked around at each person living in this house, a thought suddenly occurred to me.

Even though I decided to dedicate everything to Stardust and have been focused solely on preventing doom, as I've continued gathering people, I now have quite a few who trust and depend on me.

That thought made me think of Lee Seol-ah too.

....She seems to like me a bit too.

I'm not really sure why. Maybe she just likes the information I've given her? Given how ambitious Lee Seol-ah is, that could be it.

However, since I don't know much about her for certain, I'm being careful about building our relationship.

Still, she's been so friendly that I even told her my name, and now she's been whining about wanting to visit my house, which is a big problem.

...I might be able to invite her once after the next main event. Honestly, I expect by then she won't be thinking about betraying me.

Anyway, that's not the issue right now.

Now I need to prepare for another main event happening early next year.

To stop what those Moonlight Cult bastards are planning to do.

***

Moonlight Cult.

A cult that believes in the absurd idea that the Moon God from another dimension will descend to this world, cleanse it, and create a new world.

....I'd like to say that's all nonsense. The problem is that it's somewhat true. There actually is something like a Moon God or whatever, and other dimensions really do exist. That's the state of the original world's setting.

In conclusion, these people are lunatics trying to bring the Moon God directly into this world to destroy it. Especially their leader, who's completely insane.

If the Han-eun Group guys were the main villains of Phase 1 in the original work, then these Moonlight Cult people are the main villains of Phase 2. Particularly from the middle part, they put forward a woman called the Moon Priestess, who historically has absolutely no weaknesses, and completely ruins Seoul, which was already half-ruined by the Han-eun Group. And they do it multiple times.

Of course, Stardust tried to stop them, but there's no way the original Stardust could defeat someone that even the current, stronger Stardust couldn't beat. Those guys were formidable, armed with all kinds of magic circles and the special power of moon magic. By the time Stardust finally figured out how to defeat and send them away, Seoul was already ruined.

Moreover, their wickedness extended to tearing open dimensions, causing monsters from other dimensions to pour into Earth, but that's not an urgent problem right now. The issue is that in just a few months, the Moon Priestess will carry out her first terrorist attack.

That's right.

In just a few months. A large-scale terrorist attack will occur in the heart of Seoul.

The first attack by the woman known as the Moon Priestess of the Moonlight Cult.

Starting with this first attack, she goes on to carry out nearly ten more, and with just a few attacks, she succeeds in completely destroying Seoul. By creating something like a magical storm in the middle of Seoul.

If you're wondering why heroes couldn't stop her from the beginning, the answer is simple.

It's because of the magic circles that the Moonlight Cult people had laid throughout Seoul months and years in advance.

From magic circles that trigger their moon magic to ones that weaken heroes' abilities and ones that make people lose their memories when they approach—they thoroughly prepared to collapse Seoul with their doping-like advantages that no one could stop.

The Association eventually figured this out and succeeded in driving the Moon Priestess to a place without magic circles and killing her... but by then it was too late. Seoul was already ruined.

So, preparations for those magic circles need to be made in advance. By whom? By me.

That's why at this late hour, I'm standing in the middle of a Seoul street. Along with Seo-eun and Choi Se-hee.

"So, what are we looking for again?"

"Magic circles."

"Magic circles?"

Choi Se-hee frowned as if I'd said something completely random.

I explained it to her kindly, in a way even a beginner could understand.

"There are huge magic circles drawn across this entire area, so large they can only be seen in satellite images. And, um, we need to find them."

"....What's a magic circle, oppa?"

Seo-eun beside me looked similarly confused.

Magic circles...

"It's just a kind of supernatural ability. When activated, it applies a sort of buff to the neighborhood where the magic circle is drawn."

It's actually not a supernatural ability. This is magic related to the moon, and supernatural abilities are a completely different category.

But it would be inconvenient to explain all the religious stuff about the sun, moon, and stars here, so I just explained it that way.

"Who drew them?"

"A group called the Moonlight Cult. They'll be carrying out terrorist attacks here soon, so they've drawn magic circles. We need to find them in advance."

"...Shouldn't heroes be doing this? Not villains like us?"

"It's pointless to argue about that now, isn't it? Let's just find them. We need to find the outline of the circle. It'll look like a line because it's so big."

"But it's night now. Will we be able to see it?"

"It's actually better because there are no people around. And Seo-eun, did you bring it? Good. If we wear these, we can look for things that glow brightly, which will make it easier."

After giving everyone night vision goggles, I called out as it was time to start.

"Alright, let's go!"

"...I'm not sure we can find anything with these."

Ignoring Seo-eun's grumbling, we set out on our search.

Looking for magic circles in the middle of the city.

...I wonder if we can find even one today.

***

And some time later.

[Oppa, I think I found something similar?]

"Really? Let me see."

I ran over to where Seo-eun was and finally found what we were looking for.

A long, slightly tilted line stretching across the dirt ground like graffiti. And special symbols inside it.

"Yes! I knew they would have made them by now! Good job, Seo-eun!"

"Eek! Put me down, oppaaa!"

I picked up Seo-eun and spun her around in the air a few times, then left her looking dizzy as I analyzed the symbols of the magic circle.

This triangle inside an inverted triangle was probably... the device that suppresses heroes' abilities.

"Great! Now we just need to find a few more. Let's keep going!"

"What? This wasn't the end?"

Yeah. There are quite a few.

Those guys really love their doping.

So over the course of several days, we searched Seoul and found several more large magic circles that had been drawn.

"....Honestly, from what I've seen, that Stardust girl should be bowing to you, oppa. You're completely doing everything she should be doing."

"Haha."

I just quietly patted the head of the grumbling Seo-eun.

And so, gradually.

The time for the next main event was approaching.

The day when Stardust, Icicle, and even Shadow Walker would be helpless despite it happening at night.

And at the same time, the day of Egostic's livestream return.