Chapter 146 - 5-Minute Standby Team

"Hmm..."

Seo Ja-young.

It had already been a month since she started living in Egostic's house.

Actually, at first she came without much thought because it looked nice, but life here turned out to be much better than expected, so she was quite satisfied.

And everyone was kind too.

She'd clearly heard they were a villain alliance, but she didn't understand why they were so nice. She didn't think too deeply about it though. Good things were just good.

Anyway, she liked that everyone was kind.

Especially compared to the people she'd met before...

"..."

...When she was young, quite a few people avoided her because of her ability.

She ignored them, thinking of them as barking dogs, but it was still a memory that made her feel a bit bad whenever she recalled it.

Anyway, compared to those people, the members of Ego-stream welcomed her without prejudice. Maybe it was because they all had abilities too.

Anyway, since coming to the Ego-House, Seo Ja-young spent all day lying on one side of the living room floor. Nothing was better than the warm sunlight heating her body.

And from there, she observed several Ego-stream members.

First, Han Seo-eun, a girl with silver short hair who was slightly shorter than her. Cute. Kind. They say she's smart too. Impressive.

And Eun-wol, who's always with Seo-eun. She has completely opposite hair from Han Seo-eun - long black hair - and sometimes wears priestess clothes even at home. Also cute and kind. Since their abilities were somewhat similar, they talked a lot.

Lee Su-bin was... kind of like the mother of this house. If Egostic and Da-in handled outside business, Lee Su-bin managed the household. She's always smiling but somewhat scary. Really gives off mom vibes...

Choi Se-hee. One of the few people in this house who was the same age as her. Perhaps because of that, they became friends quickly.

Death Knight...? This black knight ghost seemed to really like cleaning. She sometimes helped with cleaning too. Though only once.

Ha-yul and Cha-yoon, was it? She hadn't seen much of them as they were busy studying.

And Da-in, the center of this house.

He was actually the person she had observed the longest.

When she saw him on YouTube and first met him, he seemed crazy, but he was more normal than expected.

She continued her stream of consciousness.

...Actually, at first she wondered why there were only women in the house besides him, but from her observations, he didn't seem to have any ulterior motives. Rather, he seemed to only like someone called Stardus.

'Do you like Stardus?'

'Yeah, I do.'

Judging by how he answered without any hesitation when she casually asked that question before, he must really like her. Though she wasn't sure if it was romantic or just general liking. By the way, she noticed people around them getting flustered when she asked that question. Hmm...

"...What are you doing?"

And as she was continuing such thoughts absentmindedly, a voice from in front of her broke her reverie.

Blinking her eyes to regain focus, she realized she was currently lying on the floor by the window next to the living room sofa.

And Da-in, who had been working on the sofa, was looking down at her with a puzzled expression.

...Ah, come to think of it, she had been staring at his face while lying down.

To Da-in, who must have been wondering why she was staring at him, she smiled slightly and answered honestly.

"Thinking about you."

"Really?"

At her answer, he grinned, put down the laptop he'd been working on next to the sofa, and stood up.

Then, still smiling, he looked down at her lying there and said:

"Seeing you thinking useless thoughts, you must be bored. Let's go train again."

"Ah, no..."

"Yes."

He then raised his hand and made her float with psychokinesis.

Ja-young desperately tried to grab the living room mat, but it was already too late.

...Da-in. He's a good person, but he has one big problem.

He keeps trying to train her ability.

It wasn't something she wanted to do, preferring to just lie around the house all day, but somehow she found it hard to refuse when he asked. Maybe because he was the homeowner...

And so, today again, she was being dragged to the yard.

"Help me..."

"Unnie, fighting...?"

By the way, when she sent an SOS request to Baek Eunwol whom she met while being dragged away, all she got in return was awkward encouragement.

Everyone in this house seems to be on Da-in's side...

***

In the forest in front of the house.

While training Seo Ja-young there, I pondered deeply.

...How many more times can I personally carry out these terrorist acts?

Now that some time has passed even by original story standards, and Stardus has become strong enough, there's no real need for me to be on the front lines.

I already feel like retiring every time I commit an act of terrorism, so maybe it's time to seriously think about the future.

'...Ego-stream is also getting stronger.'

Of course, it's still lacking. We'd need a few more ability users here to be perfect. However, it's not easy to find villains with both good abilities and personalities, so I wonder how many more we can recruit.

Then there's the Mango-squad... no, Ego-squad that I'm thinking of forming with lower-level villains including Team Lapis, and the ability user PMC I'm planning to create in cooperation with Lee Seol-ah.

Just thinking about all the preparations needed for the power inflation in the latter part of the original story gives me a headache. Plus all the other villains that Stardus alone would have trouble handling...

Ah, my head hurts, my head hurts. Right, I'll think about retirement or whatever later. For now, let's focus on preparing for this terrorist act.

So I called out to Ja-young, who was flailing around:

"Stop flailing and try shooting a fireball!"

"...Ugh, firebaaall-"

She waved her hand carelessly while stretching out her words as if it was the most tiring thing in the world.

However, despite her half-hearted motion, a purple fire burning intensely shot out from her hand.

"Ohhh..."

The purple flame exploded with a loud boom as soon as it hit the tree.

Plus, this flame could control heat and spread, so the fire only burned with a purple light at the spot it hit without spreading.

See, look at that. You can do it when you try.

She's become much stronger than when she first came. Look at her, now familiar with combat thanks to the education from the number one villain studies instructor.

"Woah..."

"Hey. Come down now..."

...She had become so familiar that she created a whirlwind with purple flames and rode on it.

Hmm. Anyway, I guess this is enough.

"Hmm. I was just starting to have some fun."

"You'll have real fun soon. Let's commit terrorism."

"...Oh, finally?"

She approached, flailing, showing interest for the first time.

"Are you confident about terrorism?"

"Sure. What's so hard about it? Just shoot some flames at heroes and run away if it looks like I'm going to get caught, right?"

She said that very calmly.

...As expected of someone who caused terrorism on her own in the original story, she understands the essence quite well.

"Ah, and you know you'll be on broadcast too, right?"

"I know. Don't worry, I'm good at fan service."

Seo Ja-young said that while slightly raising the corner of her mouth.

...That's actually scarier.

Anyway, after returning, we finally started making concrete plans.

Terrorism time, terrorism location, terrorism progress...

And most importantly, what to name Seo Ja-young's villain name.

"How about Dark Spirit?"

I asked first.

Well, since she gave herself this name in the original story, she'll probably go with this one this time too. She might be surprised at how I knew.

But contrary to my expectations, Seo Ja-young just looked back at me with cold eyes.

"...Wow. Your naming sense is terrible."

"Oppa. Who would give a woman a name like Dark Spirit..."

Seo-eun, who was listening next to us, also said that to me with a pitying look.

...I'm so wronged! She named herself that in the original story!

But I couldn't say that...

Regardless of my grievance, Seo Ja-young's villain name was finally decided as Mist.

...A name that had nothing to do with Dark Spirit.

Anyway, time passed as we completed all preparations.

Finally.

The time had come.

***

Evening. Shadow Walker Kim Ja-hyun's house.

He was sitting in his seat, recalling the conversation he had with Lee Seol-ah.

"Hmm... So Egostic commits terrorism for Stardus."

The words she conveyed were exactly as he had suspected.

Egostic, a hero who protected the Republic of Korea from behind while pretending to be a villain. A hero who protected the country as passionately as Stardus.

"Terrorism to make Stardus grow...?"

He tilted his head.

So the reason Egostic commits terrorism is all for Stardus. To make her grow. No wonder there was a reason he only committed terrorism during the day.

"Why Stardus of all people...?"

Of course, he was slightly puzzled about why it had to be Stardus.

After pondering for a moment, he realized. Ah! Of course, it's because he likes Stardus. That makes sense.

"...Kheuk, to act like that even while being hated by the one he loves, all for her growth... Egostic. What a man."

A man among men, that's Egostic.

As he was thinking that, suddenly his phone rang.

It was the association.

And as soon as he answered, what he heard was:

[Shadow Walker! The villain Egostic has caused terrorism. Since it's night, we need Shadow Walker to respond!]

"Hmm...?"

He was slightly taken aback.

Why me...?

It was common knowledge in the Republic of Korea that Shadow Walker responds to terrorism at night.

Egostic would surely know that, so why did he cause terrorism at night?

After wondering for a moment, he simply came to a clean conclusion.

Well, maybe he thought it would be too much to only face Stardus, so he wanted to help me grow too.

Yeah, that must be it.

Well then... I can't miss this.

"Alright! Egostic, I'm coming. Wait for me!"

Shadow Walker laughed heartily as he prepared to leave.

...With a slight curiosity about what kind of terrorism he had prepared to face him.

***

[So, since Shadow Walker has already been dispatched, Stardus, please standby for now...]

"..."