Chapter 293 - People's Reactions

# Enhanced Translation

The sky was filled with dark clouds, with heavy rain pouring down.

A massive spherical space made of blue water floated in the air.

I entered it together with Stardust who had come to help me...

"...Um, Ariel? I think you're making a big misunderstanding here."

I was trying to explain myself to Ariel, who was sniffling in front of me with tears streaming down her face.

Ariel's sudden shocking statement—asking if I was dating Stardust—left me completely dumbfounded. What could possibly make her think that? ...Could it be that rumors about my love life had spread overseas?

"What misunderstanding? Oppa, I'm not stupid."

Ariel suddenly wiped her tears with her sleeve as she said this.

...Why was she crying? I couldn't understand what was happening, but... before I could say anything more, Ariel continued.

"Anyone who watches TV can see you two are dating! You're openly acting like a couple and being all lovey-dovey—who wouldn't notice that?!"

Ariel shouted, squeezing her eyes shut and clenching her fists.

...Naturally, I found her words completely absurd. What on earth was she seeing? ...Well, I suppose when cameras weren't around, we might have done things that could be misinterpreted. Like holding hands, or me getting carried away and saying strange things... Those kinds of things. Obviously nothing romantic, but actions that could be misunderstood by uninformed third parties.

However, I, villain Egostic, can swear I've never acted that way in front of cameras. We have a strictly business-like hero-villain relationship. We never mix emotions into it... right? Probably.

Anyway, I glanced at Stardust with an incredulous expression. This was exactly the moment when she should be getting annoyed too. Just imagine how angry a hero would be if someone asked, "Are you actually dating a villain?"

So I turned to her, expecting her to speak up for me...

"....Huh? What are you even talking about..."

She did say something like that.

...But rather than looking angry, she was still scratching her cheek with a face flushed red all the way to her ears while avoiding eye contact.

"And l-lovey-dovey? When did I ever..."

Watching Stardust seriously mumbling to herself with reddened cheeks, I decided to handle this myself. She seems quite flustered. Well, I guess it's not every day you get confronted with this kind of talk face-to-face. ...Probably?

Yeah. Let's stop thinking about this before I get embarrassed too.

"I... I don't care who oppa dates. Just being with oppa is enough to make me happy. Is that... is that so difficult?"

While we were like this, our Ariel was fearlessly spouting lines that would make her cringe under her blankets if she remembered them just a month later.

The sudden soap opera-like atmosphere made me dizzy for a moment, but I still needed to say what needed to be said.

So I sighed and calmly answered Ariel.

"...Ariel. I don't know what misconception you have, but it's really not true."

"...What's not true?"

"It's really not true, I'm telling you. Have I ever lied to you?"

"..."

As I spoke to her soothingly, trying to calm her down, Ariel gradually began to settle.

"...Really?"

When Ariel asked with slightly reddened eyes, I thumped my chest in exasperation as I replied.

"Yes. Why would you even think that? I told you last time too that there's nothing like that going on."

"...You did say that."

Finally calming down, Ariel wiped her eyes and stopped crying.

...And only then did she seem to realize what she'd done, as her cheeks turned red. Good. At least she knows to be embarrassed...

"So Ariel. Why did you cause all this trouble?"

After Ariel had calmed down a bit, I asked her that question. Look at this storm, tsunami, and chaos. Though there was an unexpected benefit of helping Icicle grow...

Anyway, I had a rough idea, but it's better to hear it directly.

In response to my question, Ariel quietly answered.

"...You said I was too weak to join Ego-stream. So, so..."

"You wanted to show your abilities?"

"...Yes."

Just as I thought.

Her answer matched my prediction exactly, and I let out a deep sigh.

...She could have just told me she was this strong.

Though I probably wouldn't have accepted her anyway because of Atlas... Wait. Putting that aside, did Ariel create this entire massive storm by herself?

I pointed that out and asked.

"...Ah, I did get some help from Dad's subordinate merpeople. Ahaha..."

Only then did she sheepishly admit the truth.

...Sigh.

"...Alright, Ariel. Let's talk about the rest later at my place. Okay?"

"Okay..."

With Ariel calmed down.

The incident in Busan was essentially over.

Now what remained was...

"...You two seem to know each other. And did you say 'home'?"

Stardust, who had been blushing until just a moment ago, was now looking at me with cold eyes as if that had never happened.

[Oppa, what are you doing in there? People outside are filming everything you're doing and it's causing a commotion.]

...And the public's reaction to witnessing this sudden incident.

To be precise, both were problems.

***

After the massive terrorist attack that brought a tsunami to Busan.

People were in an uproar over this unprecedented large-scale terror attack in the southern region.

*

[Holy shit I live in Busan and suddenly we're filming a disaster movie lololol]

(Photo of a huge tsunami)

Why is this happening to me

=[Comments]=

[I'm watching the news and this is seriously the first time Busan's been attacked lolol]

[Now you know Seoul people's pain?]

[Busan people who've been living without any terror attacks are losing their minds experiencing this spicy terrorism for the first time lolol]

ㄴ[Hey we already went through monsters running around during the Moonlight Bridge incident, damn it..]

[Everyone's running inland right now lololol]

[Doesn't Busan not have Stardust? This is bad]

ㄴ[They'll call Stardust, she's probably on her way]

[Is Icicle going to show what she's made of???]

ㄴ[Honestly it'd probably be faster to just wait for Stardust lol]

[But I heard the terrorist is from Latis, aren't they working with Egostic? They've been attacking everywhere except Korea during the global simultaneous invasions, but suddenly?]

ㄴ[Yeah that is a bit strange]

ㄴ[Maybe they fought with Egostic?]

ㄴ[The scale of the attack seems smaller than their average though, not sure what's going on]

ㄴ[According to the latest news, the terrorist is a woman?]

ㄴ[Whoa]

ㄴ[Ah lolol]

ㄴ[Mango fans who are starting to understand what's happening, like this comment lololol Mango kun!]

ㄴ[For real lol]

ㄴ[Wait, doesn't this mean there's a good chance Egostic will come to Busan?]

ㄴ[Oh?]

ㄴ[I live in Busan and was running away, but after seeing this I turned my car around and headed back to the coast lolol Evil Mango fan betting my life on Egostic coming ON lololol]

ㄴ[You crazy bastard lolol]

*

[Breaking news) Egostic really appeared in Busan lolololololol]

(Photo)

Just caught on broadcast camera lololol

Ah... it's you again MANGO-AT

=[Comments]=

[Wow lololololol I knew it would be like this damn]

[Holy shit I was wondering what that last part was, it's MANGO-AT lololol]

[Thank you MANGO thank you GOAT]

[He's even faster than Stardust now lololololol]

[Like if you feel safer with Egostic than Icicle lolol starting with me lololol]

ㄴ[Smashing that like button lololol]

ㄴ[Icicle is an A-rank hero and Mango is an S-rank hero, can't be helped lololol]

[That Mango fan who turned his car around gets 1 win lololololol]

ㄴ[It's true lolol He must have seen it in person damn lolol]

[But why isn't the broadcast on? But why isn't the broadcast on? But why isn't the broadcast on?]

ㄴ[Huh?]

ㄴ[It's true? Wait Mangostick!!! This isn't right]

*

After Egostic appeared, people calmed down quickly as if nothing had happened.

While the media was broadcasting that people could rest easy now that Egostic had arrived, causing the atmosphere to rapidly settle.

In the meantime, people started rolling out strange rumors.

*

[Latest) Icicle X Mangostick what's going on?]

(Photo of Icicle smiling and talking with Egostic)

Whoa... what are they doing?

Is Ice Mango making a hardcore comeback?

=[Comments]=

[Oh lololololol]

[Ice Mango rumors resurrecting after 10,000 years lololol]

[The official one is Stardust but what's this? This is cheating!]

ㄴ[Cheating but pure love!]

ㄴ[You crazy bastard lololololol]

ㄴ[Ice Mango supporters admitting it's cheating lolol]

ㄴ[Stardust, Mango is cheating on you~]

[Stardust should be arriving soon damn lololol]

[Fact) Ego-Star is just fans making a fuss, they're actually not in any relationship lol]

ㄴ[?]

ㄴ[What?]

ㄴ[What are you saying right now.]

ㄴ[???]

ㄴ[You shipping ignorant]

ㄴ[You... what are you saying right now?]

ㄴ[Look at all the Ego-Star team comments pouring in ah lol]

ㄴ[Ice Mango team is still alive? You guys are persistent lol]

[Meanwhile people are totally casual about a hero and villain chatting naturally lololol]

ㄴ[It's just everyday life now lol]

*

Beyond the community sites, people who had nowhere to go also gathered in the broadcast station's chat room that was covering the situation from afar.

And even there, which had been relatively calm...

*

[Stardust has entered the chat too lololololol]

*

It exploded after Stardust's arrival.

Although the cameras were filming from too far away, and the angle was perfectly blocked after Icicle froze the sea... people were still busy writing speculative posts.

Especially after Stardust flew off somewhere with Egostic.

As people were dying of curiosity about what was happening inside that strange water sphere that Stardust and Egostic had entered and not come out of...

"..."

Inside that water, I was currently making my next plan.

...More precisely, planning how to escape from Stardust with Ariel.