Chapter 298 - The Last Diary

# A Phone Call with Lee Seol-ah

After listening to everything I had to say, she sighed and said she understood. We agreed to talk more later, and I ended the call.

"I'll try my best... but like you said, Da-in, sneaking into the detention center will probably be difficult."

That's what she told me.

However.

"Still, if you're determined to get yourself captured, I think I can arrange for you to be placed in the deepest level of Carceris during the summary trial process."

She said that much she could do for me. I thanked her for her help. Before we hung up, she added:

"And please be careful. Take care of yourself. You're always making people worry."

"Haha. Sorry, but this is the only way, isn't it?"

"...Fine. I'll look into it more on my end."

After ending the call, I sat with a pen in hand, deep in thought.

The Wish Granter. It would be best to eliminate him before Phase 4 begins, but...

"...Is this really the right time to do this?"

Yes, that's what I was contemplating.

The main event related to him occurs in the final chapter of Phase 3. But since we're still in the early part of Phase 3, the timing is quite ambiguous. In other words, is it right to eliminate him already, contrary to the original story?

"Well. When have I ever followed the original story anyway?"

...Of course, it seemed ridiculous to quickly eliminate the highlight event of Phase 3's final chapter so early, but I had no choice. If I don't take care of it now and things go wrong later, there would be no solution.

So I reviewed my plan once more.

Get captured by Stardust, enter Carceris, and defeat the Wish Granter, Bottom Influence. Theoretically, a beautiful plan.

And since he's one of the final bosses of Phase 3...

Just as I've always prepared in advance to stop the Han-eun Group and the Moonlight Cult...

I've been preparing for this one as well.

"....Sigh."

The Wish Granter.

A being who grants wishes according to the value of what you sacrifice—what's most precious to you. However, in a truly horrific way.

As one of the Sun God's creations, he's an extremely bizarre creature. From the description of a shadow-covered black entity the size of a 5-year-old child sitting among thick white tentacles, he clearly isn't human. He seems to exist in a different dimension from us, making him extremely difficult to deal with.

Because of this, I had already thought of a way to defeat him early on when I first arrived in this world.

And what I prepared was...

This diary that I've been writing in regularly.

"...Well then."

I muttered as I pulled the diary from the bookshelf and opened it.

Inside were detailed accounts of everything I'd done since the first day I arrived in this world.

...Since it contained a lot of personal content—including detailed explanations about the original story—I had asked the Vine Witch to seal it so that only I could open it.

And finally, the time had come to use it.

"...I guess I won't be writing in this much longer."

I muttered after skimming through the diary.

Just reading through it briefly brought back vivid memories of everything I'd done so far. Yes, this should be enough.

So that's taken care of.

Now the remaining question is how to get captured and enter Carceris.

"...I'll have to commit an act of terrorism. It's been a while."

I twirled my pen as I muttered.

Yes, terrorism. Come to think of it, it's been quite some time since I last did anything like that. When was the last time? Actually, I haven't done anything since the Moonlight Cult incident, and before that, the last time was when I launched missiles to train Stardust.

At that thought, I paused.

'...Wait.'

For a villain, I haven't committed any acts of terrorism for several months, and instead have been doing strange things like stopping the Moonlight Cult and protecting Stardust from the Dungeon Maker...?

Isn't this dangerous?

With that thought, I hurriedly turned on my computer and checked my fan cafe.

Immediately, I saw the list of popular posts.

*

[Upvote if you don't understand why Sea Mango has so many fans lolll]

[Egosta << Water Rocket if you agree upvote lolllll]

[Mango fans... I made an Egostic figurine]

[Xxxxxx!!!Free Dungeon Maker!!!xxxxxX]

[31 reasons why Ariel is the legitimate wife]

[Death Mango < Why is this more fundamental combo than Sea Mango not popular? Hmm...]

[Star spies slandering Ariel, must read.factpunch]

[Upvote if you think Aqua Mango = just a forced couple... or if you're a star spy writing this loll]

[Ariel <= GOAT legitimate wife who abandoned Latis just to see Egostic]

[Collection of Ariel's beauty pics.jpg]

[These guys are just excited about a new couple loll]

*

"...."

Looking at the dizzying posts that were the same as always, I was simply dumbfounded.

...What the hell is Sea Mango anyway? And it's been days since the Busan terror attack, but they're still going on about this? Besides, I didn't even bring a camera then, so they've barely seen Ariel's face a few times.

With those thoughts, I remembered why I came to this site in the first place. Right, terrorism. I wanted to see people's reactions since I haven't committed any for so long.

So I searched for "terrorism" on the site.

And a stream of posts appeared.

[Upvote if you think this cafe is going crazy because Egostic isn't committing terrorism lollll]

...That was just the first post, but I continued reading others.

*

[Why isn't Egostic committing terrorism???]

[Day 113 of praying for Mango terrorism]

[Egostic doesn't even commit terrorism anymore, openly admitting he's not a villain lollllll]

[(Shocking) Is there a villain who hasn't committed any terrorism but only good deeds in the last six months?]

[Mango fans waiting for Egostic's terrorism < already dead]

[Just be satisfied that he's still streaming regularly loll Today's newbies are so spoiled]

[Compared to the 6 months of no broadcasts that old fans endured, not committing terrorism is nothing lollll]

[Honest opinion) Why are you demanding a hero to commit terrorism? I really don't get it.]

*

"...Tsk."

After reading that far, I realized this could become a serious problem if it continued.

The reason I can still be treated as a villain regardless of what I do is because of terrorism. Just like someone who has committed murder will always be considered a murderer, I maintain my identity as a villain because of terrorism. No matter what anyone says, he's a bad villain who commits acts of terrorism! Like that.

But this situation is becoming quite troublesome. The longer I go without terrorism, the stronger the influence of my supporters grows. Of course, I don't care either way, but the problem is with others. Especially if organizations like Kathedal start getting suspicious, that would be a real disaster.

So now is the time, in many ways, to commit an act of terrorism. Actually, just destroying one building would constitute terrorism, so it's not a big problem...

'Right...'

This is the perfect opportunity to commit one big act of terrorism and then get captured by Stardust and go to prison.

That was my conclusion.

Simple, right?

"Good. Let's do that."

Having made up my mind, I got up and left the room for the living room.

And there I saw them gathered together.

Seo-eun was sitting with Ariel, explaining something along with Eun-wol.

Smiling warmly at the sight of the three getting along, I moved closer to hear what they were saying...

"So, Stardust's weakness is nothing other than her mental state. First, you have to shake her mentally with words before attacking. Start by calling her an old lady... her punches are especially fierce, so you absolutely can't get hit..."

...Seo-eun was earnestly explaining what seemed to be a raid strategy against Stardust.

Then, Eun-wol spoke up beside her.

I thought Eun-wol was going to stop Seo-eun, but...

"And if she tries to touch Da-in oppa, run away quickly. Don't let her touch him."

...She was actually adding to the strategy in a serious voice.

Ariel listened with an awkward smile. Well, when Ariel was still weak after recovering from her illness... I sat beside her bed telling her stories about Stardust and praising her a lot. So unlike the Ego-stream members who suspiciously hate Stardust, she doesn't have any particular ill feelings toward her.

Anyway, to stop those two from bothering Ariel, I quickly approached and called out to them.

"Oh, oppa!"

Seo-eun greeted me with a bright smile as if nothing had happened.

...I wondered if she could treat Stardust the same way, but I decided to give up on that thought. Anyway, I needed to deliver the important message first.

"Seo-eun, I have something to tell you."

"What is it?"

"Let's commit an act of terrorism."

"Really? Finally!"

Seo-eun was delighted at my words.

...And then I added the most important part.

"Oh, and this time, I'm planning to get captured by Stardust on purpose."

"...What?"

And with that, Seo-eun's expression quickly hardened as if nothing had happened before.

Hmm, this is going to require a long explanation.

I quietly sighed, thinking to myself.