Chapter 153 - Ant Colony

In the original work, the final boss of Phase 2 is the Moon Light Cult.

Their overwhelming scale, unprecedented until then, and their abilities as the first Korean villains to launch attacks against the entire world were truly dominating.

Until then, Korea hadn't received much attention in the world of ability users, but this period marked when it began gaining significant recognition. It also became the starting point for the emergence of subsequent villains, each one a disaster-level threat.

But that doesn't mean all villains before the Moon Light Cult were weak.

There were those who had abilities but hadn't yet fallen to villainy, and others who were only preparing for terrorism without executing their plans...

And today, I came to find someone who causes a large-scale terrorist attack in the early part of Phase 3.

"Oppa. Is this the right place?"

"Wow, I can't believe a place like this exists. Amazing."

Eun-wol and Choi Se-hee followed on either side of me.

Together with these two, I was walking through a suspicious underground corridor beneath someone's house.

"Yes... this is the headquarters of today's target. We're almost there."

I explained to them.

The place we teleported to is the headquarters of the future S-class villain, Weapon Master.

A madman who casually commits horrific acts like weapons development and human abduction for modification. By the way, he significantly contributes to making New Seoul, already in chaos due to monsters, even more of a disaster.

In other words, we need to kill him now, while he's still just making weapons, before all that happens.

With that in mind, I left Desik to guard the house and brought Eun-wol and Choi Se-hee with me. Standing in front of the villain's headquarters, I took out my phone.

"Well, before we go in properly. Let's start the broadcast first."

"Okay, oppa."

"You mean that explanation thing? Good, hurry up."

After they finished speaking, I levitated my phone using psychokinesis and started the broadcast.

I wondered why I needed to bring a camera, so I decided to just use my phone camera instead. It's only going to be uploaded to YouTube anyway.

Anyway, after quickly adjusting my clothes and starting the broadcast, there was a brief [?] symbol, then chat messages began flooding in instantly.

Every time I see this, I wonder how so many people rush in as soon as the broadcast starts. Did they set alerts or something?

"Hello everyone. This is Egostic!"

I greeted them with a wide smile.

Since this wasn't an official broadcast anyway, I just casually waved my hand. Back and forth, like greeting a friend.

Yet the chat was still rising at a rapid pace, like a terrorist broadcast.

And somehow, the chat was on fire.

*

[Why is the video quality so bad this time lol]

[Are you filming with a phone camera? Kinda feels like an illegal broadcast lol]

[Starting a new broadcast just two weeks after causing terrorism!!!]

[I can see the Moon Priestess and Electra behind you, is this another terrorist attack?]

[I don't care about anything else, are you really dating Mist? That's what I'm most curious about, please answer quickly, I'm getting dizzy]

[So are you dating Mist? So are you dating Mist? So are you dating Mist? So are you dating Mist? So are you dating Mist? So are you dating Mist?]

[Egostic, explain yourself🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥]

[Seriously, explain your crime of toying with viewers' hearts!!!🔥]

[Mango oppa, that's not true, right? Mango oppa, that's not true, right?]

[🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥]

[Why is everyone on fire lol]

[Explain🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥]

[Let's just burn for now🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥]

[The chat burning over a villain's dating rumors... this is rare]

*

Well, this was already an expected result.

For the past two weeks, entertainment shows have been talking about me whenever they had nothing else to discuss, so this is understandable.

...Though it seems to be burning more intensely than I expected, so I smiled innocently and opened my mouth as if I knew nothing.

"Oh right. I've been hearing such rumors lately. That I might be in a romantic relationship with Mist, the new member of our Ego-stream."

The chat responded with [yyyyyyy], showing their agreement.

To them, I announced matter-of-factly:

"I don't understand why you're all so interested in who I date or what I do, but unfortunately, there's nothing between Mist and me! All Ego-stream members are just my colleagues, so I hope there are no misunderstandings. At the end of the last terrorist incident, Mist was just joking because she was curious about your reactions."

[For real?]

[Are you lying?]

"Besides, if it were true, I'd just admit it cleanly. Why would I bother denying it?"

"That's right. Ego oppa and unnie aren't like that."

With my answer and Eun-wol's assistance from the side, the chat suddenly calmed down quickly.

*

[Hmm... okay?]

[Well, just this once? I'll believe you]

[I've believed in Ego oppa from the beginning^^]

[None of us in Team Mango doubted our Mangostick, right?]

[Aw, what? I thought you were dating]

[Miss Mist sure likes to joke]

[Now that you say you're not, I feel disappointed lol]

[Damn, I believed in you~~]

[The Ice Mango ship is still alive!!]

[Why are these people calming down so quickly lol]

[The chat became so docile, like they were hypnotized lol]

[This will probably become news again lol]

[Damn, why are we asking a villain who started a broadcast to explain dating rumors, and why is he actually explaining lol]

*

Everyone changes their attitude so quickly.

Anyway, having achieved my goal, I naturally changed the subject.

"Anyway... that's enough about this. The reason I started this broadcast is to announce this."

With those words, I switched my phone camera to show the corridor ahead.

While comments like [Where is this?] appeared in the chat showing curiosity.

After switching the camera back to show my face, I explained to the curious viewers what I was going to do.

"Today, at this time, I plan to hunt another villain who doesn't listen to me. This is the first time in years since I last caught Teleporter."

*

[Ohhh???]

[Villain hunting??]

[Is this the return of Egostic's original villain hunting content that newcomers don't know about??]

[Wow, why are the broadcasts so good these days!!!!]

[I need to watch this with popcorn]

[Everything's good but please fix the quality, what's with the phone camera]

[Is this an adult video lol]

*

As viewers were eagerly anticipating what would come next in the broadcast.

I revealed the cold reality to them.

"Yes! So, you'll probably see the results on tonight's news. Now that I've made the announcement, today's broadcast ends here. Thank you!"

*

[?]

[???]

[Wait, ending the broadcast here? What does this mean]

[Making us all excited and then this!! Where does this belong!!!!!]

[No, come back, come back, come back]

[This isn't reality!!!!]

[I'm sorry, I won't complain about the bad quality anymore, please]

[? I just finished popping all this popcorn and you're end??? ing??? No way!!!]

*

Yes way.

I waved goodbye and turned off the broadcast.

It could get dangerous here soon, so keeping the broadcast on would be risky.

"Somehow I feel sorry for the viewers..."

Only kind-hearted Eun-wol said something like that.

"Well, that's done. Let's move on."

"Yawn... is it over? Alright, let's go."

As the broadcast ended, Choi Se-hee, who had been leaning against the wall yawning, stretched her arms and stood up.

After confirming that Eun-wol was also ready, we walked down the corridor.

"Wow... this place is fascinating."

Storage-like rooms appeared immediately after walking a bit.

They were filled with all kinds of guns. From common military guns to what looked like white-plated space guns.

And on the wall hung blue screens with weapon design blueprints in front of them. Plus various types of bombs piled up.

We continued walking through this place lined with all sorts of weapons.

As we went deeper underground, Choi Se-hee's expression, which had been curious and looking around at first, began to harden.

"...Hey, why are there so many weapons here? It's scary."

"I told you, this is a weapons specialist's hideout."

"Wow, insane. Is that big thing a bomb?"

And as we went deeper, all kinds of perverted weapons began to appear.

When we found a blood-stained mace on the floor, it was truly horrifying. Eun-wol had already been clinging to my arm in fear for a while. ...Eun-wol, you're much stronger than dozens of maces.

"Ugh, this is creepy."

"Maybe it feels worse because we're underground. Why do all villains make their hideouts underground?"

The Han Group was like that, and this place too. They all dug something like ant colonies underground. And one of those future villains also made a hideout underground like this.

...As I was thinking about that, I realized that our Ego-Base was also underground at first, so I decided to keep quiet. Well, underground can be warm and nice too.

After passing through the eerie path, we suddenly came to a fork in the road.

Standing there, I told Choi Se-hee and Eun-wol:

"You two go that way. I'll go this way."

"Huh? By yourself?"

"No, Da-in oppa. It's too dangerous!"

After persuading the two who looked at me with concern, I finally succeeded in splitting up.

They hesitated until the last moment of parting, but anyway.

Walking alone down the gloomy corridor, I thought to myself.

...Alright, buddy. Now I'm alone. What are you going to do?

With that thought, I glanced at the hidden black CCTV camera.

He's probably watching, so he needs to make a decision before it's too late, right?

Thinking that, I prepared to bring out the black tentacles hidden inside my clothes.

...Our Behemoth, looks like we'll be using you after a long time.