Chapter 119 - The Thirsty One Digs A Well
[This new terrorist is so cute lol]
I'm seriously watching her and not thinking she's a villain at all, more like watching my granddaughter's adorable antics lol
The way she roasted Stardust by calling her "ma'am" and how she kept saying "oppa, oppa" to Egostic was seriously cute lol
=[Comments]=
[When she said "I'm your first teammate!!" that was so cute for real lol]
ㄴ[Yeah, she was sad that no one acknowledged her until now lol]
ㄴ[+And when she thought she took down Stardust and excitedly bragged to Egostic, that was so real lol]
[Even though they both use formal speech, when Egostic does it there's a certain vibe, but when she does it, it's just cute lol]
ㄴ[Well, she's a high school student, so it makes sense she uses formal speech with adults lol]
[Wait, why is everyone talking about how cute the terrorist is instead of how scary the terror attack was?]
ㄴ[Please refer to it as the 'main event']
ㄴ[It's a Mango concert]
*
[What kind of place is Ego-stream really...?]
A genius hacker high school girl who brings out a biological weapon (100% truth, no lies)
A Death Knight who revives after death
A Moon Priestess who was NTR'd from someone else's cult
And Mangostick who has suspiciously strong influence...
And they say all of these people are as close as family...?
Damn it!! Mangostick, what have you created?!
=[Comments]=
[Hero Association get out of here, Mango-stream is coming through~]
[Do you see Korea's treasure Egostic as a small fry?]
[Why are you completely leaving out Electra, the first member of Ego-stream, from the main text?? What is this?? You wanna fight?????]
ㄴ[You seem suspiciously angry, are you from Team Electric Mango?]
ㄴ[Wow, Ego-tra fans are still around? That's hardcore lol]
*
[The significant meaning behind the "same house" statement]
Considering Egostic's statement about his members being like family
And the hacker high school girl saying she hacked from the same house
MAYBE all the Ego-stream members live together in one big house???
=[Comments]=
[Whoa]
[This actually seems possible]
[From what we know so far, there are at least 4 women in Ego-stream, right? Whoa]
ㄴ[Haremstick OMG]
ㄴ[Is this the revival of Team Electra?????]
ㄴ[It's Team Moonlight Mango that's rising, don't even try with your electric grilling]
ㄴ[Didn't you see her appearing with the Moon Priestess? After seeing them embracing, how can you say that?]
ㄴ[Hey rookie... the "Ice Mango" ship is still alive...]
ㄴW[You crazy bastards, don't fight over ships in my comment section dammit]
ㄴ[Seeing how angry you are, the post writer must be Team Stardust]
ㄴW[How did you know?]
ㄴ[Damn lol]
[If it's true that all members live in one house, I'm really curious what they do together normally]
***
Deep in a mountain range where no one can find it.
Standing proudly in the center is a large house.
This is the Ego-stream headquarters.
Beyond being South Korea's greatest villain alliance, it's now becoming Korea's premier gathering of supernatural ability users.
And I, the founder and leader of this alliance,
was currently busy comforting a crying Seo-eun.
"Sniff...."
"It's okay, it's okay."
After being unconscious for a night, she woke up, sat blankly on the bed, and suddenly started crying.
I was startled when she began crying right after waking up, so I was frantically trying to comfort her. Seriously, what's making you so sad?
"Sniff.... I could have won..."
Ah, so that's what she's upset about.
...But Seo-eun, um. It didn't really look like you could win...?
Still sniffling in my arms, Seo-eun began to apologize to me.
"I'm sorry, oppa... If I had just done a little better, I could have won..."
"No. It's okay, it's okay, and you didn't necessarily have to win."
"Sob sob sob..."
As I held the crying Seo-eun in my arms to comfort her, I quietly thought.
Actually, Seo-eun... this was a fight you weren't supposed to win from the beginning...
Since Ego-stream itself is an organization planned to periodically give trials to Stardust, it would be somewhat troublesome if we actually defeated Stardust.
...Or would it? Maybe losing would make her work harder?
While I was thinking about this and stroking Seo-eun's hair, Soo-bin and Choi Se-hee's faces peeked through the doorway behind Seo-eun's back.
They probably came after hearing the crying.
Choi Se-hee silently mouthed 'Can I come in?' to me, so I gave a slight nod.
Yes. Please help me comfort her.
After entering the room, Choi Se-hee spoke to Seo-eun from beside her.
"Hey, Seo-eun."
"Eek?!"
Seo-eun was startled when she suddenly heard Choi Se-hee's voice from beside her.
She quickly pulled away from my arms and said:
"Oh, u-unni?"
"Yes. I'm your unni. Stop crying and look at this."
Choi Se-hee handed over her phone as she said that.
Seo-eun, with her eyes slightly red from crying, took it and read the posts displayed on the screen.
".....Unni, what is this?"
"What else? These are posts saying how cute you were during the terror attack. How about it, feeling better?"
"...Ha. Unni, I'm not an elementary school kid who suddenly feels better seeing things like this. I'm not the type to care what others think."
Seo-eun. That statement would have been more convincing if you hadn't been smiling while saying it.
Seo-eun spent a long time looking at the phone. Even other posts. She was looking so intently that Choi Se-hee, who was standing in front of her, said, 'Um... should I take it back now?'
After thoroughly reading the posts on my fan cafe, Seo-eun, who had been crying just moments ago, suddenly seemed energized as she clenched her fist and said:
"....That's right! This terror attack wasn't my only one, and I have more in the future, so I can win next time!"
Suddenly speaking with confidence, Seo-eun then quietly and solemnly whispered to me while still clenching her fist:
"....Oppa, my Star Buster 2.0 will be different from last time. I'll make sure of it."
"Uh... yeah. Fighting?"
"Great! Unni!!!"
"U-um?"
"Follow me to the basement! From today, we're making a new Star Buster!"
"Hey, wait a minute!"
Choi Se-hee hurriedly chased after Seo-eun, who had suddenly jumped out of bed full of enthusiasm.
"......"
Well.
At least she's got her spirit back, so I guess that's good...?
By the way, Seo-eun was caught by Soo-bin in the living room and got scolded. How could she be running around right after waking up from fainting?
Oh dear.
***
"Sigh...."
So Seo-eun's issue was resolved well.
After seeing Eun-wol and Choi Se-hee chatting cozily with Seo-eun lying on the bed, I came back to the living room, plopped down on the sofa, and used the nearby remote to turn on the TV.
[Egostic has caused a new terror attack, how are citizens reacting?]
[Yes. Once again, there were no anomalies. There were no casualties, and the hostages were safely released. In particular, one of the hostages who was captured revealed that they were a fan of Egostic, so they were more than happy about the experience.]
....Let's stop watching.
I kept changing channels until I found one showing a movie, then let out another deep sigh.
"Sigh...."
"Da-in oppa, why are you sighing so much?"
Just then, Lee Ha-yul, who had been in the nearby kitchen, came trotting over.
She looked at me with concerned eyes.
I honestly told her about my worries.
"No... I clearly carried out a terror attack to lower my popularity, but there's no result..."
It's truly incomprehensible.
Since when did imprisoning people in cages, intimidating them, and threatening them with guns become a non-issue?
Clearly, something is wrong with South Korea in this world. I diligently and earnestly carried out terror attacks, but it's strange that people don't recognize that.
Hearing my words, Ha-yul made a slightly ambiguous expression and said:
"....Um, oppa. To be honest, unless someone dies in your terror attacks, your popularity will probably continue like this. It's actually a bit strange that there are no casualties in your terror attacks..."
She trailed off but still expressed her honest opinion.
I gave her a firm response:
"...Killing people is not acceptable."
One thing I promised myself when I decided to become a villain here.
I won't kill civilians. At least not if I can help it.
...Actually, whether there are casualties or not, I've taken hostages and attempted murder dozens of times. Why does everyone pretend not to notice or care about that?
"Sigh... But that's a bit of a problem."
"Oppa. You look troubled, would you like me to heal you to clear your head?"
"Huh? Yeah. That would be nice. Thanks."
After I finished speaking, Ha-yul sat me down on the sofa and began massaging my shoulders.
...?
"Wait Ha-yul, weren't you going to use your healing ability?"
"Using my ability while massaging like this is more effective, so please stay still."
"Um... okay. Thanks."
Ha-yul's massage was refreshing.
...I don't really remember how I ended up getting a massage, but anyway.
Later that night.
I was alone at my desk, browsing through a video sharing site.
"Wow... no way, there's so little of this?"
When I searched for "Egostic," somehow all the videos criticizing me were gone, replaced only with videos treating me like some celebrity.
Egostic_highlights, Egostic_mad_movie, K-villain Egostic that shocked the world, things like that.
...Are there really so few people criticizing me?
It was only then that I felt a great sense of alarm.
Wait, in those hero movies I watched before, even the nice hero who just shoots spider webs gets relentlessly criticized by some newspaper with an old man, but in this world, there's no one criticizing me, a villain?
With that thought, I searched for "Egostic criticism."
The search results immediately decreased.
Even the few videos that did appear were all from the early days of my terror attacks, so they were practically nonexistent.
As I scrolled down with a serious face, that's when:
"...There's one."
There was exactly one.
A video of a woman questioning, "Isn't Egostic a terrorist?" with confusion.
Naturally(?), that video had received a lot of dislikes.
Something clicked in my mind.
"...That's it."
If no one is criticizing me.
Why don't I create a broadcast that criticizes myself, just like in those hero movies?
"....."
...I might be a genius.