Chapter 164 - Pride

# Korea Hero Association Control Center, Seoul

"What? An S-class hero is coming? What does that even mean?"

The headquarters was in chaos.

"It's exactly as I said. America is suddenly sending an S-class hero to capture Egostic."

The Director explained while wiping sweat from his forehead.

Lee Seol-ah frowned in confusion at his words.

"I mean... putting everything else aside, why are they suddenly coming? Especially when Egostic hasn't caused any terrorist incidents for months?"

"...I don't know either. The International Committee just made this decision, and there's nothing we can do."

"Sigh..."

Lee Seol-ah pressed her fingers against her forehead as if she had a headache.

...Egostic, Da-in. Since they were allies in the same boat, his crisis was her crisis too, leaving her feeling deeply troubled.

And beside her.

"...This doesn't make sense."

Shadow Walker, Kim Ja-hyun, muttered.

Having been dragged out of bed for this sudden situation, he looked tired.

Nevertheless, since this concerned Egostic, a man he respected, his eyes sharpened with alertness.

"Egostic's collaboration with Latis, the North Atlantic organization... that seems reasonable, but why now of all times?"

"Exactly."

Lee Seol-ah nodded in agreement.

The two had previously met and had in-depth discussions about Egostic, who secretly protected Korea from behind the scenes.

Naturally, they couldn't help but react negatively to the news of an American S-class hero coming to capture Egostic.

And they weren't the only ones having a negative reaction.

"..."

Stardust. Shin Ha-ru.

Her expression had been frozen since she first heard the news.

More precisely, she was upset. Why would America suddenly target Egostic?

Even as she frowned, she felt her own contradiction. The righteous hero inside her was screaming: what's the problem?

Objectively speaking... having an S-class hero come all the way from America to capture a Korean villain should be something to be grateful for, not upset about. It was even better that the International Association was sending them directly, so Korea wouldn't be charged for the costs.

In other words, it should be praiseworthy that an allied nation was helping capture a foreign terrorist.

So why did it feel so wrong?

While Stardust was feeling this confusion,

Lee Seol-ah, sitting in front of her, slammed her hand on the desk and confronted the Director.

"There's definitely something wrong here. When did we ever ask for help? Stardust and our team can handle this perfectly fine. This is disrespecting the Republic of Korea."

"Exactly. And to notify us so suddenly on the same day... this is a diplomatic discourtesy, if you think about it."

Shadow Walker nodded in agreement beside her.

"Come on, you two. Why are you directing this at me..."

While the Director wiped his sweat with a handkerchief, feeling troubled by the two heroes' stares,

Stardust nodded unconsciously after hearing their words.

...Right. It's natural to feel upset. I'm not the strange one.

That was Stardust's conclusion after seeing Icicle and Shadow Walker, who both looked somewhat angry like her. Yes. Why would those two be angry? They're angry because it's an anger-inducing situation. They're not even on Egostic's side. It's a situation where anyone would be angry.

While Stardust rationalized this way, she couldn't help but think further.

...Besides. Egostic is her responsibility. She is the only hero Egostic considers his opponent, and vice versa. Who's trying to come between them?

She's the Egostic expert to begin with.

As Stardust's eyes darkened further, Lee Seol-ah turned to look at her and finally noticed Stardust's state, beginning to worry slightly. Just then,

The conference room door burst open, and an association employee rushed in breathlessly.

"H-Hero Methel has arrived from America!"

"Oh? She's arrived at the airport now?"

"What? No. She's arrived at our building right now."

"?"

As everyone including the Director was taken aback,

the sound of high heels clicking came from the corridor.

Then, the conference room door swung open.

"Greetings, heroes of Korea."

A woman confidently entered the conference room.

America's S-class hero, Methel.

She had arrived at the Korean Association.

***

Long gray hair.

Snow-white skin.

Sharp-looking eyes.

With a jacket draped over her shoulders and arms confidently crossed.

America's S-class hero.

Methel.

Currently, she was leaning back on the sofa in the Director's office, legs crossed, sipping tea.

"...You arrived quickly."

"Yes. I flew here."

Though she was speaking English, Methel came across as disrespectful.

Well, having seen many overseas S-class heroes before and knowing how disrespectful some of them could be, the Director just accepted it.

"The reason I came here is to capture that Egostic or whatever."

"...Is that the only reason you came?"

"Yes. That's what they ordered me to do from above. So, well, I came to stretch my legs a bit."

She said with a smirk.

"...Anyway, he's just an A-class villain, right? I thoroughly examined his terrorist records, and there wasn't much to them. A clown who's all talk—I can catch him by myself easily. It's strange that you haven't caught him yet."

Lee Seol-ah felt a surge of anger at these blatantly dismissive words about Egostic, but knowing that defending him here would make things even more awkward, she bit her lip and remained silent.

Instead, she observed Methel.

With her long gray hair and darker gray officer-like uniform.

Her face looked so vicious that she could easily be mistaken for a villain rather than a hero. Her ability was related to rocks, wasn't it?

Added to that was the unique arrogance evident in her tone and behavior. Being an S-class hero, and one of America's S-class heroes called the Celestial Dragons, she seemed to have an extremely strong pride.

The Director sitting at the desk seemed unbothered, but Lee Seol-ah, facing her, quickly realized: this S-class hero would not be easy to deal with. If someone nicer had come, Lee Seol-ah might have been able to control the situation somewhat, but seeing someone who appeared so harsh made her head throb.

As if her headache wasn't bad enough, Ha-ru's silence beside her made her even more anxious.

Just then,

After taking another sip of the tea served by the staff, Methel smirked and muttered casually.

"And... my goodness. Unable to catch that all-talk clown for 2 or 3 years. What has the association been doing all this time? Well, I understand since there are only A-class heroes in this country. Haha."

Now Methel was openly mocking them.

At those words, Lee Seol-ah decided she couldn't hold back any longer.

"Excuse me."

"Hmm? What is it?"

"...You do know that there have been zero casualties from that villain's terrorist activities until now, right? I guess you don't realize how difficult it is to maintain zero hostage casualties in all terrorist incidents, even by international standards?"

Lee Seol-ah's tone was almost sarcastic by the end.

...She hadn't intended to be so aggressive, but somehow her words came out too confrontational.

Well, she had spoken after assessing her own backing and the woman before her.

And as expected,

Methel looked at Lee Seol-ah, smirked, then ran her hand through her hair and said:

"Haha... Right. Hostages. True, there have been no casualties."

After saying that much, she looked at Lee Seol-ah.

More precisely, she looked at Shin Ha-ru and spoke.

"...But sometimes, it's necessary to sacrifice the few for the many. For the greater good... don't you know? Well, if you did, you wouldn't have let that insect-like creature run wild like this."

With those final words, she stood up and looked down as she spoke.

"Sometimes, for the greater good, you must boldly give up hostages. Even if a few people die in the process, isn't it better to ultimately capture the villain for a better outcome?"

After saying that, Methel clicked her high heels toward the door.

Pausing briefly after opening the door, she turned to the Director and said:

"Director, thanks for the tea. And the next time Egostic causes trouble, I plan to step in, so don't interfere unnecessarily. I can handle that guy by myself, so just watch from here as I half-kill him. I'll take care of it. Bye."

With those final words, she coolly walked out, her high heels clicking.

Once the sound of her heels faded, Lee Seol-ah finally exploded.

"Seriously, what's with that woman? Does she think this is her living room? I'm absolutely speechless."

Even as she said this, Lee Seol-ah glanced at Shin Ha-ru sitting beside her.

Ha-ru, who hadn't said a word until now.

After Methel left, Ha-ru rested her arms on the table in front of the sofa, her face coldly frozen as if contemplating something.

Then, in a slightly subdued voice, Ha-ru quietly muttered.

"...As I thought. Should I dunk her?"

"W-What did you say?"

"..."

Looking at Ha-ru's dark expression, Lee Seol-ah broke into a cold sweat.

Let's just pretend I didn't hear that.

***

Ego-Base.

After Lee Seol-ah's contact, I looked at the track record of S-class Methel, who had personally come from America to Korea to capture me. Her brilliant career unfolded before my eyes.

"Oppa. What do you think?"

As Seo-eun asked me anxiously, I gave her a brief answer.

"This won't do. I'll have to dunk her after all."

"...What?"

Seo-eun seemed surprised by my conclusion.

Regardless, I had already made my decision.

Yes. This is actually better. After much thought, physically dunking her is the right move.

With those words, I began to work on my upcoming plan.

And so, under the same sky,

The hero and the villain were unknowingly thinking the same thing.