Chapter 195 - Direct From The Farm

# A Bright Afternoon

I was sitting in the living room working, basking in the sunlight streaming through the balcony.

The sound of the TV came from in front of me.

["Stardust has dealt with another newly emerged A-rank villain yesterday. What's remarkable is that it took her less than 10 minutes to defeat the villain..."]

After the economic news ended and Stardust's story came on, I looked up. There on the screen was Stardust, standing proudly after defeating the villain.

Her expression even looked somewhat relaxed.

Since the Demon Castle incident, her Star Punch must have truly awakened to its full power, as she's been going around demolishing everything by herself.

Around this time in the original story, she would have been struggling against various villains and living a miserable life hunting down a few demons that escaped from the Demon Castle. Seeing her grinning like that now makes me feel like smiling too.

...But thinking about it, this is no time to be smiling.

While Stardust is strong now, she needs to become even stronger. Especially if she's going to stop the coming apocalypse.

In other words, if she only fights weak opponents like this, her body will get soft and her skills might actually deteriorate, so she needs to be continuously matched against strong enemies. There's a reason why I always created stronger dummies for our PMC members to fight against.

Anyway... it's really time to prepare the next terror attack.

After the Demon Castle incident, she's been spending her days peacefully without any major incidents. As her arch-enemy, shouldn't I show her something?

Yes, a new terror attack. A new terror attack that will test Stardust's limits.

...What could that be?

"Hmm..."

I crossed my arms and fell into thought.

Actually, the solution is surprisingly simple. I just need to deploy our Ego-stream members again. Electra and Seo Ja-young could hold their own against Stardust for a while with Ha-yul's buff, plus there's the inherently strong Moon Priestess Eun-wol, Han Seo-eun who's creating Star Buster 4, and Data who can fill in like a supporting actor.

In other words, I just need to combine a few of them and send them out. This would be the simplest solution. I wouldn't even need to step in myself. Just have them fight appropriately and then retreat.

...However, there's a problem.

'...After experiencing the Demon Castle, which was an epic terror attack... if I showcase another familiar-looking terror attack, my position as an arch-enemy would...'

Yes, that's the symbolic nature of terror.

This will be my first terror attack after the Demon Castle, so it's bound to attract attention.

Especially since I showed up with the Spear of Light at the Demon Castle, and the media is still talking about me a lot...

"Hmm..."

...As they say, new wine needs new wineskins, so recruiting a new villain would probably be best...

"The timing... right now..."

I quickly racked my brain.

Yes, terror attacks using our Ego-stream members will continue after the Moonlight Gate event anyway. There's no need to start that now. For now, I can focus on gathering members without being too late.

It's been two months since the Demon Castle incident, and it's been even longer since I personally went out wearing Seo-eun's suit...

I looked at the calendar, recalled the original story's schedule, and after some deliberation, made my decision.

Yes. Let's recruit a new villain now and go terrorize Stardust together. If I'm going to call myself Stardust's arch-enemy, shouldn't I do at least this much?

"Alright, let's go!"

I made my decision.

Yes, that person... or should I say, that spirit? After meeting and recruiting them, turning them into a villain and launching a terror attack would be perfect timing. Considering their strength shown in the original story... even Stardust would find them difficult to deal with. It would definitely help her grow.

Having reached that conclusion, I began planning my next move, recalling the original story.

Not a bad plan at all.

And so time passed.

"Ah, finally done. Hey, what are you doing?"

The members who had been training and sparring outside returned.

Seeing Stardust's recent activities, they've been working hard without me even telling them to, saying they'll definitely beat her!

Especially Choi Se-hee, who seems to be working the hardest these days.

"I was planning the next terror attack. Hmm..."

Choi Se-hee, who was wiping her wet hair with a towel while watching what I was doing, flopped down on the sofa behind me.

And following her was Han Seo-eun, making dying noises as she staggered in. She wobbled over and collapsed next to me.

"Oppa... I'm dying..."

She had been busy lately, working on perfecting Star Buster 4 while also training.

She started nodding off while sitting there, making soft sounds.

...How tired is she?

As I was covering Seo-eun with a nearby blanket, Eun-wol also approached from one side, looking tired.

"Mmm... Da-in oppa, I'm going to take a nap too."

She sat down next to the dozing Seo-eun, covered herself with the same blanket, and started dozing off leaning against the sofa.

...Usually Eun-wol, being strong, was relatively fine after sparring, but it seems everyone has gotten stronger, making it more tiring for her to keep up.

As I watched Seo-eun and Eun-wol dozing off leaning against each other, a thought suddenly occurred to me and I turned my head.

Wait. If Seo-eun and Eun-wol are this tired, what about Seo Ja-young who always gets tired?

So I looked around a few times and quickly found Seo Ja-young.

She was already sleeping with a blanket spread out at the entrance to the living room.

...That was fast.

Everyone was exhausted and had fallen asleep.

As I was quietly turning down the TV volume...

"What, is everyone sleeping?"

I heard a voice.

Turning around to locate the source, I saw Choi Se-hee with her eyes gleaming.

While everyone else was tired and dozing off, she was sitting on the sofa drinking banana milk that she had opened at some point.

"Hey, aren't you sleepy? It sounded like you all fought pretty intensely this time."

"Ah, well. Heh. I've always been confident in my stamina, you know?"

She said with a cool grin.

Hmm, but since everyone was dozing off, we were speaking quietly and it was hard to hear.

So I got up and moved to sit down next to Choi Se-hee on the sofa.

As I sat down beside her, she made a questioning sound while sipping her banana milk.

Looking at her orange hair that came down just to her shoulders in a sort of bob cut, and her yellow eyes looking at me, I found myself speaking impulsively.

Yes. I had originally planned to go alone, but it might be better to go together.

"Want to go on a trip together?"

"...Huh?"

When I said that, she suddenly dropped the straw she was holding in her mouth and started getting flustered.

"S-suddenly? Wait, where to?"

Seeing her start to ramble incoherently, I calmly said:

"To recruit a new villain. I was originally planning to go alone, but if you're okay with it, I think it wouldn't be bad for us to go together."

"...A new villain. Right, I should have known... But wait, just you and me?"

Her eyes, which had momentarily turned cold at the mention of a new villain, returned to normal when I suggested going just the two of us.

"Yeah. It doesn't seem necessary for everyone to go."

Actually, I could go alone without any issues, but I thought it might not be bad to take someone along just in case. And when Choi Se-hee mentioned her good stamina, I impulsively thought of asking her.

Why is stamina important?

Because we need to hike up a mountain.

"Well, fine. Let's go, wherever it is."

She answered with a grin, not realizing the tragedy that awaited her.

I smiled back at her and thanked her.

...Thank you.

I really didn't want to go there alone...!

***

And so, a few days later.

Having told everyone about my plan to recruit a new member that very day, I began preparing to go to where this person was.

"...Wait, why do I need to pack a down jacket? It's not even winter yet."

"There's a reason for everything. Here, put in a scarf too."

"...We're not going to Antarctica, are we?"

"Da-in-ssi, here are some heat packs."

"Ah, thank you, Su-bin-ssi."

"...Oppa, you're not doing something dangerous again, are you?"

"This time it's really not, so don't worry."

...As long as nothing goes wrong, that is.

After appeasing the grumbling Choi Se-hee at home, we set off on our journey, packing winter clothes at the beginning of autumn.

Across rivers, bridges, and tunnels, we finally arrived at our destination.

After getting off, checking maps, wandering around, and walking for quite some time, we were able to reach our destination.

"Is this it?"

"Yes."

After pushing through bushes and trees, we arrived at:

A massive snow-covered mountain deep in a valley, unexpectedly blanketed in snow.

"...Wait, since when did Korea have a place like this?"

"It's hidden, so ordinary people don't know about it."

"Anyway, we need to climb to the top?"

"Yeah. They should be around the peak."

"Oh... this feels exciting, like we're going on an adventure after a long time!"

Looking at the tall mountain with an eager expression as if she wanted to take on the challenge, she suddenly seemed to remember something and asked me:

"Wait... but who exactly lives at the top of this snow mountain? Are they human?"

"Human... I wonder if they could be called that?"

"What?"

They're closer to a spirit than a human... but they can probably transform into a human too. I'm not certain though.

"Anyway, let's go up. You'll see when we get there."

"Well, if you say so... Okay, let's go!"

With those words, Choi Se-hee grinned and began taking her first steps toward the mountain.

I followed behind her, moving my feet as well.

Wait for us, Stardust.

I'm bringing a fresh villain with me!