Chapter 248 - Sorry

"Huh? I really thought you wouldn't make it this time, but you blocked this one too... This is quite surprising! Alright, this will be the absolute last one! Let's see if you can block this one as well. I'll give you 25 minutes! The location is...]

Quite some time had passed since Egostic began his indiscriminate missile terror attacks.

And Stardust...

"...haa, haa."

She was now almost at the point of collapse.

'He said the last one earlier too... Why is this one the "real" last one again...!'

She lamented to herself, but of course, there was no one to listen.

Egostic. He must have had a warehouse full of missiles somewhere, because no matter how many he launched, he kept bringing out more and threatening to fire them.

As a result, Stardust was currently in a situation where she had practically flown a complete circuit around Seoul.

For some reason, Egostic kept selecting locations that were as far away from her as possible.

"Haa, haa..."

Consequently, she had been flying through the sky all day long.

At this point, she should be grateful he wasn't telling her to go to Jeju Island...

"Right... wheeze... if I just... keep going..."

Muttering almost deliriously, she launched herself into the sky once more.

As she positioned herself and punched through the air—

FWOOOSH—

WHOOOOOOSH.

With a thunderous sound from the sky, her body shot forward at nearly full speed.

Yes.

After a full day of running in circles, Stardust's flying speed had broken through its previous limits, becoming almost 50 percent faster by her estimation.

Perhaps because of this, or because her body had adapted...

She was starting to think:

'This is actually getting a bit more manageable...?'

The first and second circuits had nearly killed her. But starting from the third, she had grown accustomed to it, entering a state of mindlessness that made it less difficult than before.

Of course, it was still exhausting... but at this pace, it seemed doable...

And just as she was thinking that:

"...?"

Suddenly, snow began to fall from the sky.

'...What's this?'

White particles fluttering down from above like fine snow.

...No, looking more closely, it really did seem to be snow.

But winter had passed long ago...?

As she flew along in her dazed state, pondering this...

The snow particles suddenly grew larger.

Now it was almost a blizzard.

To the point where she could barely see in front of her.

"....What's going on."

What on earth was happening?

As she wondered with her foggy mind,

Egostic's broadcast came through her earpiece.

[Yes! Since Stardust is flying so well, I've added an obstacle. From now on, snow will fall along Stardust's route. Thank you!]

Click.

"...."

And so Stardust...

Even in her disoriented state of flying through the sky, with dizziness threatening to overwhelm her, she unconsciously muttered while in flight:

"You... you... you bastard..."

Just you wait until this is all over...!

Renewing her determination to capture Egostic once and for all, Stardust held back her tears and flew through the blizzard.

She had been getting hot from all the flying, so the snow was actually refreshing.

Haah...

***

"Good, good. Things are going well."

In a temporary control center set up somewhere in Seoul for this terror attack.

I was muttering to myself while watching Stardust's movement path.

Currently, Stardust's speed had increased by over 50 percent compared to before.

This was remarkable growth that seemed impossible to achieve in just one day.

*

[Why is Stardust getting faster and faster for real???]

[Is this the power of K-heroes? Whoa...]

[We're screwed, tomorrow all the Korean pride YouTube channels will be in full operation LOL I can already see the titles]

[Stardust << Just upvote if you agree she's the GOAT of heroes LOL Korea would have been doomed without Stardust and Mango]

[Is Egostic continuing these terror attacks just to increase Stardust's flying speed? How far ahead are you planning, Mango-sensei??]

*

It was noticeable enough that even the viewers could feel it.

Until now, simply becoming stronger was difficult to perceive, but speed was a quantifiable metric, so everyone seemed to notice that Stardust was flying faster and faster.

Of course, this method had its problems.

Namely, that Stardust was suffering too much...!

"Ugh..."

I held my forehead and shook my head.

I didn't want to do this either. But, but...

Precisely because I knew Stardust better than anyone, I understood.

If Stardust didn't grow stronger through this method now, she would surely suffer more later.

If she failed to save even one person because she was too slow, she would blame herself and suffer incomparably more than she was now.

That was just the kind of person she was.

"...Sigh."

In other words, pushing her hard now to help her grow was ultimately for her own good. Especially now, with the Gate incident approaching.

Additionally, Stardust was actually performing exceptionally well, meeting expectations. Just look at her speed increase. While other heroes spent years trying to become just 1 percent stronger, she was flying around as if she'd received some growth buff in just a few hours. A little more and she might double her speed today...!

That's why, with tears in my eyes, I added one more circuit. So she could fully internalize that speed.

I even called in our Shin-ryeong and Se-hee to make it snow and strike lightning occasionally, preparing her for every situation. It was almost an all-in-one training session.

While developing Stardust like that...

*

[Upvote if you're a salary thief who escaped to a bunker in advance LOL Oh, it's going to fall on our city too]

[For real LOL It's going around every city, so it'll be here soon~]

[Breaking news: All students at our school have taken their seats in the bunker LOL Kids seem excited about the chance to skip class]

[Koreans, faster than anyone else LOL]

*

As a bonus, I also somewhat improved people's evacuation abilities. After threatening so many cities, everyone was now anticipating that their city might be next and preemptively escaping to bunkers.

So I continued the missile threat terrorism for a while, suppressing my guilty feelings.

[Oppa, we only have one missile left. I think we should wrap this up soon?]

At last, the time to end had arrived.

"Okay, got it. I'll get ready."

After responding like that, I prepared to carry out the final part of today's terror attack.

That was to go out myself and greet Stardust, who had blocked all of today's missiles.

And, most importantly.

There was something I had to give to Stardust today.

"..."

I stared intently at the black object I had prepared in my hand.

Then I slipped it into my pocket and stood up.

Yes, now I needed to prepare to meet Stardust in person.

I needed to, but...

"Tsk..."

...The thought of meeting her after making her run in circles all day made cold sweat run down my back.

'Should I just run away now...?'

I was thinking that seriously.

However.

"...."

My inner intuition was frantically warning me that not meeting her now could really screw things up, so I decided to go meet her.

...Let's be careful. Very careful...

***

"Huff... huff... wheeze..."

In the blue sky where strong winds blew.

As the sun was about to set, beginning to turn red.

Stardust, who had just sent another missile flying into the sky, was sprawled against the rooftop of a nearby building, breathing heavily.

[Wow, I really didn't expect you to block this one too. That missile was my last one. Ahem, then I'll end today's terror attack here. Citizens of the Republic of Korea, be thankful that Stardust is here!]

As she clutched her spinning head, Egostic's broadcast came through her ear.

"It's really... huff. Really over now..."

Stardust swallowed her rough breaths and muttered.

...She really thought she was going to die. Seriously.

It was almost comparable to the hellish training she received from the association in the early days of being a hero.

Unlike then, someone was threatening her with missiles in hand, so she had no choice but to fly frantically from place to place.

Especially when it started snowing and lightning struck in the middle...

"Ugh..."

As she clutched her head for a moment, leaning against the railing.

"Egostic..."

Just as she muttered his name...

"Haha, did you call for me?"

"...!"

A familiar voice came from right behind her.

Hearing it, she reflexively turned around.

And there...

"Hello, Stardust. Ahem, it's been a while."

Egostic was floating in the sky, smiling at her with an awkward expression.

"You, youuu..."

"Haha..."

When she looked up at him with teary eyes, he avoided her gaze with an apologetic look.

...An apologetic look?

"Ahem, um. Are you okay...?"

"How could I be okay...."

"Ha, haha..."

Seeing his awkward expression as he cleared his throat in front of her.

She found herself at a loss for words.

He seemed to be genuinely sorry already.

...Since she hadn't expected this reaction, she was momentarily stunned.

She had naturally assumed he would smile shamelessly and say something like "Did you have a hard time?" But instead, he was apologizing, which confused her. No, what kind of villain commits terrorism and then feels sorry...

'Really...'

It was absurd.

Even as she thought this, she could feel her anger gradually subsiding.

Right. Come to think of it, maybe that's just how villains are? Like how he kept extending the time because I was late... He probably had his own unavoidable circumstances.

Wait. Is that not right...?

And as she was wavering between whether to stay angry or not...

At that moment...

....

The sun was slowly setting, dyeing the sky red.