Chapter 316 - Villain's Analysis

It had been several days since I fell into this hero comic book world with my memories gone.

"Da-in, have some tea."

"Ah, thank you, Su-bin."

I was adapting to this life quite quickly.

After receiving a cup of tea from Su-bin, who handed it to me with a smiling gaze, I sipped it in the living room before returning to my room.

"...It's still amazing every time I see it."

I muttered those words while looking at my closed door.

A magical door that locks with just my intention, as if some magic circle were drawn on it.

I must have some secret activities I perform in this room.

And that activity probably involves comparing the original story and making plans for the future.

With that thought, I opened the white laptop sitting on the desk. It had a password, but it wasn't a problem to unlock since it was the password I always used.

Recently, I'd been checking what I had done and reviewing future plans.

'Seo-eun, you have my diary, don't you?'

'Yes, what? How did you know?'

'....'

Anyway, after discussing with Seo-eun and the Ego-stream members, I agreed to take about a week to recover my memories.

So I searched through the internet and my files to figure out what I had been doing until now.

And I realized one thing.

'...Why have I been risking my life so much?'

I discovered that I had gambled at certain moments. Literally putting my life on the line. In other words, I had faced countless life-threatening situations. And I had willingly jumped into all of them.

I even thought that maybe all those near-death experiences were just staged and I actually had plans all along, but looking at the thought processes in my laptop and notes, that wasn't the case. I had truly lived like a moth drawn to flame.

"....."

...Well, I'm not in a position to criticize since I've lost my memories and don't know anything. There must have been reasons. Especially considering that there seems to have been a three-year period before meeting my first companion, Seo-eun, during which I must have struggled a lot.

And particularly, most of those dangerous actions were related to Stardust...

'...I'll think about that later.'

When thoughts of her came to mind, my head started throbbing, so I checked other things first.

Anyway, looking at my remaining plans, it seems I intended to stop the Sun God.

'...Is that even possible?'

I had my doubts, but I figured my past self must have known what he was doing and put it aside.

Actually, looking at the plans organized on the computer, it was written that I would focus more on public activities from now on. It seemed that I was planning to stop the terrorism and start more formal activities, with Kathedal and the East Asian Villain Alliance at the forefront. It looked like I was gradually retiring from terrorism.

Well, the plan itself seemed fine as is. After all, I had been working on several projects that all fell apart before being dragged into this world, and now I was focusing solely on this one big "Save the World Project." I had invested so much time into this alone.

'Falling into a hero comic book world out of nowhere... really.'

With that thought, I moved my hand.

And the cup in front of me floated up.

"This is kind of fun."

I expressed that sentiment as I made the cup spin in midair.

Surprisingly, I had received two superpowers when I came to this world: psychokinesis and teleportation.

As two abilities that commonly appear in superhero comics, they might seem overpowered to anyone...

'It's rather disappointing.'

But that was my simple assessment.

The psychokinesis couldn't lift heavy objects, making it useless, and teleportation seemed to have limited utility beyond escaping.

And the reason was the risk that these two abilities put tremendous strain on my body when used. In other words, they weren't abilities I could spam continuously during battle, but rather one-time-use skills with a cooldown of several days as I'd be bedridden afterward.

Of course, someone without much knowledge might think these are still overpowered abilities and wonder how I could complain about receiving them. Indeed, depending on how they're used, they could be incredibly powerful, and if I had them in my world, I might even be able to take over the Earth depending on how I utilized them...

'But not here.'

In this world with broken power balance, that was far from the case. Of course, they were sufficient for maintaining my personal safety, but what's the point of just surviving when this world is actively heading toward destruction? All I could do was run away from the madmen who throw meteors and cause tsunamis.

That's why I had created companions.

The villain alliance I formed: Ego-stream.

...Actually, no matter how I thought about it, "Ego-squad" sounded better, but I couldn't figure out why it became "Ego-stream." Was there external pressure?

Anyway, this Ego-stream was the core of my plan.

The plan was to preemptively persuade those in this world who had good hearts but became villains due to unfortunate accidents, and make them my companions.

In fact, I now had many allies with powers rivaling S-class. The White Witch Han Seo-eun, who was shown to have tremendous power in the original story, the Moonlight Priestess Baek Eun-wol, the Saint Lee Ha-yul who could save anyone, and even the Divine Dragon.

And there were plenty of other powerful individuals who could definitely pull their weight, including Electra, Seo Ja-young, and Death Knight.

So I was living with these companions of mine. And we seemed very close.

"...Sleep together, you say?"

"Yes. We used to, didn't we?"

In fact, Seo Ja-young, wearing a purple hood, came at night saying we used to sleep together and naturally slipped into my blanket like a cat. When I asked about it later, it turned out to be true...?

Well, with her small frame, the bed wasn't particularly cramped, so I just went with it. ...Of course, sleeping in the same bed with a woman I barely remembered made my heart race a bit.

However.

"Umm... ...Ms. Seo Ja-young, what are you doing?"

"...Caught."

When I woke up at night feeling some weight and saw her straddling my body, looking down at me with purple eyes, I was startled.

...Why was she grabbing my clothes anyway?

Anyway, that's how I was living.

"Oppa! Look at this!"

"Da-in oppa... it's me, Eun-wol, it's Ariel. Choose one."

"Hehe, Da-in. Have some more of this."

"Hey Da-in, want to play a game together to help recover your memories?"

And there was one more thing I noticed while living like this.

"..."

...The people living with me really cared for me.

No, it was more than just caring. Their affection for me was so obvious that anyone who wasn't a fool could feel it.

I mean, I could clearly feel that they openly liked me.

And given that they didn't seem to think I noticed this...

'Wait, so until now, I've been gritting my teeth and ignoring all this...?'

It was baffling.

No, they were so forward that there wasn't a day my face didn't turn red.

...And the suspiciously high number of women in my villain alliance.

Looking back at the notes I left, I could see that I placed great importance on group cohesion. In fact, living together in this house was to build trust and become closer. Makes sense, since if even one person betrayed us, it would be over. Treating each other like family and building affection is ultimately the best way to prevent even the thought of betrayal.

Looking at the atmosphere among the companions, thanks to my efforts, everyone was friendly and extremely harmonious with me at the center. Surely I didn't calculate this far...did I? Is that too paranoid?

Suddenly, I thought of a friend I cherished back in my world. My Jae-yeon, what would she think if she knew what I was doing? Would she worry about me falling into a dark, depressing story, or would she be annoyed that I was living with beautiful women?

Actually, that wasn't the real issue that came to mind when thinking of affection.

The issue was Stardust.

"Sigh..."

I sank into a sigh.

Stardust. Korea's only S-class hero, the protagonist of this world, and the only key to preventing its destruction.

...And after searching through all the records so far and analyzing Stardust's reaction when she first saw me after I lost my memories in this world.

I came to one conclusion.

Stardust seems to like me.

"......"

This wasn't self-consciousness; it was a fact I had concluded through purely rational thinking. It's hard to believe that someone as principled as her would like a villain, but looking at what I've done so far, it was possible. I was like Stardust's dark knight. Rushing out whenever she was in danger.

I didn't even need to look at past records; just from what I personally saw of Stardust, it was obvious. Concern and affection for me were clearly dripping from her eyes.

...And honestly, considering how my heart raced whenever I thought of Stardust, it seemed I had feelings for her too. Though my heart also raced for my companions, so it wasn't an accurate verification method, but still.

'...What should I do about this?'

And the scariest part was that I didn't seem to have noticed this until now. Well, it took me quite some time to accept it too. Since Stardust never had any romantic involvement with men in the original story, the very idea that she liked me was hard to accept. If even I, looking at it objectively from a third-person perspective, felt that way, how would the person directly involved feel? Especially since I had directly carried out terrorist acts.

...Well, at least I know now. When I recover my memories, I'll understand everything. My current memories won't disappear anyway.

In any case, this self-reflection was enough for now. I should get the diary from Seo-eun and recover my memories. Reading the diary would probably provide the most information, but I couldn't open it yet because I was afraid my memories might return midway and end my reflection.

With that thought, I habitually started scribbling what I had realized in my notebook.

[It seems Stardust likes me.]

"...This should be enough."

With that thought, I closed the laptop.

Alright, in a few days, I'll read the diary and return. To my original self.

As I was reaching out with that determination, I suddenly paused at a thought.

...Wait, I killed another creation of the Sun God.

I wonder if Celeste is okay with this?

***

Meanwhile, in America.

The day Egostic eliminated the one who made a wish.

Whoosh.

"....."

Celeste. Seeing another candle go out in the place where she was praying.

She sighed and left the prayer room.

Then came the news from overseas.

[Currently, the Carceris managed by the Korean Association is collapsing! This is caused by the S-class villain Egostic...]

"...."

As she blankly watched the video on TV.

After a long time, she opened her eyes, swung her silver hair, turned around, and quietly left the place.

The time for the next Kathedal was approaching.