Chapter 150 - Sudden Action

Seo Ja-young.

She was fundamentally someone who lived pursuing only fun. She would lie in bed every day, believing that simply lying at home consistently produced the most stable form of enjoyment.

In other words, she was quite serious about having fun. Seo Ja-young pursued entertainment to the extent that she would follow a villain she'd just met to their hideout and live there.

So, her following Egostic to carry out terrorism against Shadow Walker was all for the sake of fun.

And currently, she was experiencing quite a bit of enjoyment.

"Haah, heuuu..."

Her purple hair was stuck to her neck with sweat from moving so vigorously. She exhaled rough breaths while glaring at the man in front of her.

He was already engulfed in shadows, his form barely visible.

She barely managed to block the shadow rushing toward her by creating a wall of fire.

"Phew. This is starting to get, a bit dangerous..."

But even that was reaching its limit.

After fighting for quite some time, she felt herself becoming increasingly overwhelmed.

She had hoped to win, but it seemed unreasonable to defeat an active A-rank hero with just a little training. Maybe she should have trained harder with Da-in like Se-hee suggested.

With that thought, Seo Ja-young waved her hand to create another flame.

And it was immediately caught and extinguished by the approaching shadows.

...Hmm. This really seems dangerous now.

As she stared blankly at the shadow rushing toward her, her body completely drained of energy and breathing heavily, someone suddenly pulled her from behind, and the scene before her eyes changed in an instant.

The shadow from before was gone, and the open night sky appeared before her eyes.

Having escaped danger, she casually spoke to the man embracing her from behind.

"Haah, haah... You came?"

"Yes. Sorry I'm late."

The man answering her with a slight smile was Da-in. Or more precisely, Egostic.

Looking at him, Seo Ja-young felt slightly relieved inside.

Well, at least he wasn't too late.

While she was blankly nestled in Egostic's arms, heroes began arriving before them one after another. Shadow Walker, who was breathing heavily like her, and Stardus...?

'Hmm... she really came?'

This was the first time she was seeing the famous A-rank hero Stardus in person, whom she'd only heard about.

So Seo Ja-young was slightly intrigued. She'd heard that Egostic and Stardus had quite a long history.

The two who approached didn't attack them, probably because Egostic had set up some kind of device.

And Egostic, still embracing her from behind, opened his mouth to speak to the heroes and cameras.

"Unfortunately, the fight ends here! It seems it's time for us to part ways."

He announced in a bright voice.

"...So you're Egostic."

"Yes, Shadow Walker. You're quite strong. Next time, we'll need to come better prepared."

While the two men were conversing.

Seo Ja-young was secretly observing Stardus.

And.

....Hmm?

She noticed something quite interesting.

She was still nestled in Egostic's arms.

While neither Egostic nor she particularly cared about this.

Stardus's expression as she watched them didn't seem very pleased.

More precisely, it wasn't displeasure at seeing a villain, but rather...

From what she could sense, it was about seeing him embracing her..?

'...Wait. Could this be...?'

Suddenly, something flashed in Seo Ja-young's mind.

It was widely known that Egostic only paid attention to and cared about Stardus.

And living with him, she knew even more. For example, that he was so sincere about Stardus that he even ran her fan cafe.

So naturally, she thought it was just one-sided on Egostic's part.

But seeing it now, she realized it might not be the case.

It might just be her woman's intuition, but that displeased expression Stardus was making was clearly...

'No matter how I look at it, it seems like... jealousy?'

More precisely, it seemed like an emotion Stardus herself wasn't aware she was feeling.

Of course, she wasn't a physiognomist and couldn't accurately determine just by looking at someone's face, but she felt it instinctively.

She wasn't sure why a hero would be jealous of a villain, though.

'...Whatever it is, it's interesting?'

Right.

Everything else aside, it was fun. This whole situation.

Of course, it could just be her absurd speculation.

...But, couldn't she just verify it directly?

If just being embraced elicited such an expression, then with a stronger stimulus...

"Thank you for enjoying our Ego-stream show until now."

Seo Ja-young fundamentally pursued fun.

In other words, she would do anything for fun.

So, at the moment Egostic was saying his farewell.

Seo Ja-young, who was leaning slightly against him, turned her head and kissed him on the cheek.

"Good job, honey."

And with a smile, she said that.

"....."

"....?"

At that moment, Egostic's body stiffened slightly, and he looked down at her with a very surprised expression.

And Seo Ja-young, after turning her head to confirm Stardus's completely frozen face, smiled slightly and thought.

See.

I was right.

***

Shin Ha-ru.

She had been waiting for Egostic's terrorism all along. She had so many things she wanted to ask him directly.

Why did you stop Latis?

What exactly is your purpose?

Why are you acting as a villain?

...And, why did you cough up blood?

While Shin Ha-ru was waiting for Egostic's terrorism.

News came that Egostic had carried out an attack.

At night. Again with a new woman.

"Shadow Walker has already been dispatched, so there's no need..."

Of course, due to the association's misjudgment that it would end with Shadow Walker without necessarily provoking Egostic, her deployment was delayed for a while, but when she confirmed that Shadow Walker was being pushed back, she quickly headed to the scene.

...If she missed this chance, she didn't know when she would have another opportunity to talk to Egostic.

With that judgment, she quickly flew to the scene and finally was able to meet him.

"Hello, Stardus. As expected, you came."

"...Egostic."

Above the night sky where faint stars were visible, he greeted her with his cape fluttering.

"It's nice to see you after a long time. Have you been well?"

Looking at him greeting her with a smile, Shin Ha-ru remained silent for a moment.

As expected, you came... Does that mean he knew she would come?

Why?

"Of course, since Shadow Walker couldn't handle it, you came personally, right?"

"...Yes. That's right..."

Looking at Egostic who answered as if asking something obvious, Shin Ha-ru agreed while hiding her true feelings.

...Fortunately, he doesn't seem to know that she came because she wanted to meet and talk to him.

"Ah, right. And as always, you know I brought the detonator? If you attack me, I'll press it immediately, so please be careful."

And as if worried she might rush at him, Egostic took out a detonator from his pocket and waved it while speaking. Shin Ha-ru simply nodded. Well... even though he says that, knowing him, he wouldn't press it anyway. By now, she knew that much.

So, looking at Egostic who was staring at her blankly as if he had said everything he wanted to say.

Shin Ha-ru didn't miss the opportunity and immediately asked what she had been curious about.

There was a brief confusion, but what she was curious about was this.

"Latis. I asked why you stopped their terrorism, why you did such a thing."

Right.

Why did Egostic stop that terrorism?

...While clearly being a villain, claiming to be a villain.

Why.

And he, who seemed surprised as if he hadn't expected her to say such a thing.

Soon began to answer at length.

"Did you forget what I told only you about my goal? My goal is to create the largest villain alliance in the Republic of Korea to confront the association. But if those small fries take all the public's attention, my position becomes a bit awkward. So, well, I did exert a little influence, that's true. To maintain Ego-stream's exclusive position. It wasn't for the Republic of Korea, of course."

To summarize, he did it just for himself.

The part about only telling her this was good, but that wasn't the important thing.

The important thing was that her intuition felt.

No matter how she looked at it, this statement seemed like a lie.

"...You expect me to believe that?"

"No, I only told the truth, cough. I told the truth, and if you respond like that, it's difficult for me too."

As she was about to question him.

Seeing Egostic coughing as if his throat hurt, Shin Ha-ru unconsciously paused.

...Right. There was something more important.

So she finally was able to ask the most important thing.

And actually, what she wanted to ask him the most when she met him.

"...Anyway, that's enough. You... you coughed up blood last time."

"...Um, blood?"

"Yes. Blood. You can't deceive my eyes. During the last terrorism, didn't you cough up blood? I guess there's some problem with your body?"

...She wasn't asking out of concern for him. Just, just... just in case. It would be troublesome if he suddenly died, that's why she was asking. Yeah.

"...That was just because I was having a hard time then, my body is fine so you don't need to worry. I absolutely won't stop and will continue terrorism until I'm on the verge of death, so please look forward to it in the future."

And at his answer with a smile, she unconsciously felt slightly relieved. Right... so he's saying he won't stop terrorism and will continue.

...Wait, why am I relieved to hear this? Am I crazy?

As Shin Ha-ru was inwardly scolding herself and about to ask the next question.

"Anyway! It was nice talking to you. Now I'll go rescue my colleague!"

"Huh? Hey, wait..."

Egostic suddenly disappeared from in front of her as if his time was up.

...She still had more questions.

Right. But he said he would continue terrorism in the future, so there would probably be many opportunities to ask.

Convincing herself of that, Shin Ha-ru moved to where Egostic had gone.

...Come to think of it, Shadow Walker and that woman had been fighting next to them all this time. She hadn't noticed because she was only looking at Egostic.

What Shin Ha-ru saw as she approached was.

Egostic affectionately embracing some woman she had never seen before from behind.

"....."

Somehow, seeing that scene, her head cooled down without her realizing it.

Ha. He's just so casual with skinship with women...

...Right. Well, he said with his own mouth that his colleagues are like family, so they're probably not that kind of relationship.

But somehow, it didn't feel good.

With that thought, as she was listening to Egostic's final words with an unpleasant expression, she didn't know until then.

-Smooch.

That she would see such a scene.

'...Wait.'

What did I.

Just see?

***

[This time it's REAL. Real-time search, real-time popular tags, real-time trending videos #1 <> The identity of the cheek kiss that makes even me flutter?! Check it out on tonight's Entertainment Report!]

The next day. The Republic of Korea was once again covered with Egostic's dating rumors.

It was already the third dating rumor.