Chapter 145 - Wisp

Among the many villains appearing in the original work, choosing who to recruit as a comrade was a task.

Finding villains who could blend well with our Ego-stream members and hadn't yet fallen to corruption wasn't easy.

After narrowing it down to two candidates:

A brown-haired man and a purple-haired woman.

While deliberating between them, I gave up making the choice myself and asked Ha-yul's younger sibling who they preferred.

"The lady on the right."

Based on that decisive answer, I finalized my decision to recruit the woman now standing before me.

And now.

I couldn't help thinking that Ha-yul's sibling might have made the wrong choice.

"No."

Seo Ja-young responded to my recruitment offer with that refreshing rejection.

...Hmm. This wasn't in my calculations.

While I was momentarily brain-frozen,

She gave a small laugh and answered me.

"Just kidding. I'd love to."

"..."

I suddenly wanted to flick her forehead.

***

Seo Ja-young.

She looked at the man standing before her with extremely interested eyes.

...Egostic. That celebrity who's always on the news.

I thought he lived an interesting life from what I saw on videos, but I never expected to see him in person like this.

And for him to specifically seek me out with a villain recruitment offer...

'I don't know what this is about, but...'

It felt like my boring daily life might become a little more interesting.

With that thought, she looked at the man speaking in front of her.

She wasn't sure how he knew her name and ability, but that could happen. It wasn't particularly important.

Rather, she was thinking about something else.

"What do you say?"

After explaining about Ego-stream, he smiled broadly while extending his offer.

Looking at him, Ja-young put her hand to her mouth and thought for a moment.

"Hmm..."

She was intrigued. That couldn't be denied.

She'd been bored rolling around at home all day, and this was finally something interesting happening.

And somehow he knew she'd been itching to commit some terrorism lately, and offered to let her do just that.

But the conditions seemed too good, which made it suspicious.

Well, that didn't really matter.

She could win against most opponents with her ability anyway.

That's why she originally had no sense of caution. She was confident she could defeat any opponent and escape smoothly from any situation.

But more than that.

She was curious how he would react if she rejected his offer.

Would he get serious and threaten her? Or would he try to persuade her?

So she answered:

"No."

"..."

At her casually thrown words, his body momentarily froze.

"..."

"..."

And then he was silent for a moment.

Half his face was covered by a mask, and the remaining half was shadowed by his hat, making it hard to see clearly, but he definitely looked flustered.

And seeing his reaction, the corners of her mouth turned up without her realizing it. Cute. More precisely, his reaction was amusing.

Hmm... maybe she should stop teasing him now?

"Actually, I'm just kidding. I'd love to."

So she just told him that.

"...Thank you."

After hesitating slightly, he sighed in relief and answered.

To him, she asked something she was curious about.

"Okay. So what now?"

Ja-young suddenly became curious and asked.

It was nice to know that villains drink Jetty too and that she would join Ego-stream, but what happens next?

And as if to resolve her question, he smiled and answered.

"Follow me."

Feeling that things were getting more and more interesting, she felt her mood improving.

Normally, she rarely went outside and just lay around at home.

But this seemed worth going out for—it seemed fun.

So Seo Ja-young took the hand he extended.

***

Hmm. I had a moment of brain freeze, but I successfully recruited Seo Ja-young.

...Actually, thinking about it, she might be the easiest member to recruit so far. It only took about 10 minutes.

The problem is that I don't know when or how she might change her mind. So I decided to invite her straight to our home.

After teleporting while holding her hand, she followed me without any caution. With her long purple hair, half-closed eyes, and blank expression.

Wearing just an oversized black hoodie with sleeves that hung past her hands, following me as if she were just taking a neighborhood stroll.

...She looked completely defenseless. But thinking about it, that could be because she's confident in her abilities.

Anyway, that's not what's important.

I took her to our Ego-House.

"Wow."

She briefly exclaimed in admiration at the large house before her.

"What is this?"

"This is Ego-stream's headquarters. We all live here together."

"Oh. Is it okay to show me this?"

"Yes. From now on, you're our member, so of course it is."

I smiled and answered her like that.

...Actually, since we teleported here, she doesn't know the location, and since she doesn't know much about the internet or anything, I judged she couldn't leak information. But I didn't bother mentioning that.

"...You're not very cautious."

She mumbled dreamily. I just laughed off her comment. If that's what she wants to think, that's fine.

Anyway, I pulled her along and opened the front door.

She looked around curiously at the spacious wooden mansion. It felt a bit like showing a house to a niece.

"Nice house."

If she says that, it must look good.

But that's not what's important right now.

"Now, let me introduce you to our members first."

"Ah. Electra and the Moon Priestess?"

"...You know them?"

"Yeah. I've seen them a lot on YouTube."

At her answer, I was slightly surprised.

How could this be? Someone who usually just lies at home staring at the ceiling knows about us—our Ego-stream must have really grown.

As I was absorbed in that thought and entered the living room, a familiar voice greeted me.

"Huh, oppa? Did you bring a new member?"

Seeing me and Ja-young as we entered the living room, Seo-eun approached us with surprise.

".....!"

And Ja-young's eyes widened slightly when she saw her.

"...Cute."

"Excuse me?"

Seo-eun tilted her head at Ja-young, who suddenly approached her with sparkling eyes.

Ja-young speaking so abruptly, and Seo-eun still confused by the sudden development.

Anyway, Ja-young seemed to be in a good mood. She seemed to really like Seo-eun.

"I like it here..."

After seeing Seo-eun, Ja-young looked toward the veranda where warm sunlight was shining and muttered that.

And I didn't miss the opportunity. Anyone who's read the original work knows that Ja-young is eccentric. As such, it's common sense to seize this opportunity while she seems to be in a good mood.

So I immediately proposed to her.

"Oh right, I didn't mention this. Would you like to live here too? All our Ego-stream members already stay here."

"Here?"

As she looked around after answering like that,

I made a devilish temptation right beside her.

"If you live here, you can eat three meals a day together..."

"With so many people, you'll never be bored."

"It's a nice house with free room and board, and a chance to live with numerous ability users. Will you pass it up?"

"Hmm..."

She seemed to be considering it, but it was obvious she was already falling for it.

After continuing to contemplate for a moment, she finally answered coolly.

"Okay."

"Understood."

I smiled and answered.

Seeing that Ja-young was also smiling with satisfaction, she seemed to judge it as a rational choice. Or considering her personality, maybe she just thought it looked fun.

Anyway, what's important is...

...Now that you've set foot in our house, you can't escape.

I thought that while smiling wickedly inside.

...I successfully bound an S-class villain from the original work with the condition of free room and board.

That woman doesn't seem to think much of it yet, but living in this house together will naturally make her close to everyone, and eventually she'll become a true comrade.

Actually, considering her personality in the original work, she's not the type to betray, but just in case. It's safer to bind her as family in advance.

Anyway, things progressed smoothly.

That means she moved in and everything.

And so, Ja-young officially became an Ego-stream member.

Hmm, good. S-class villain seduction complete. Easy, right?

***

And a week passed.

By then, Ja-young had become quite close with the members. She's a bit spaced out like a houseplant, but maybe because of that, she seems to have quickly become friends with everyone. She's direct in her speech, which makes her approachable.

Anyway, back to the present.

On a chilly evening, I was currently standing in the forest in front of the house with Ja-young.

She had her usual blank expression.

"Alright, let's see how strong you are!"

And Se-hee was there too.

When I hinted that Seo Ja-young was strong, she became curious about just how strong.

"...So, shall we begin?"

"Yes."

As soon as I finished speaking.

In the middle of the dark green forest, with her purple hair hanging down, wearing just a black hoodie.

She raised her hand.

At that moment.

Crack-.

The forest air.

Suddenly filled with small, will-o'-the-wisp-like purple flames.

"Oh... wow."

The small will-o'-the-wisps swirled in front of us too, making it difficult to move.

While Choi Se-hee was admiring her ability, I nodded. Yes, her output is strong indeed. If she applies this further, it would be amazing.

"Want to see more?"

"Yeah."

At my words, she nodded briefly and manipulated the purple flames to do various things.

From what I know, those flames can even nullify Shadow Walker's ability.

So.

"Good."

Watching her performance, I made a decision.

Let's target Shadow Walker for the next terrorism. That's the right choice. Just like in the original work.

As for Stardust... let's skip her this time.

What could go wrong?

***

"...I wonder when Egostic will carry out his terrorism."

Meanwhile, Shin Ha-ru was pondering that.

She would naturally step forward when that time came.

...This time, with Egostic. Maybe she should try to talk with him. Ask him some questions too. He'd probably answer.

Was there a useful way to spend this precious time meeting Egostic, which was rare and hard to come by?

...To discover his true identity.

She was spending her time thinking about that.

And so, the date of Egostic's next terrorism was approaching.

It was summer.