Chapter 409 - Old Ties

I had been confined to the hospital for several days.

"Hey! Hahaha, Egostic. How are you feeling?"

"Da-in oppa!!! I missed you so much, hic."

"Haha. It's been a while. Hello to you too, Ariel."

While I was bedridden, many people came to visit me.

Among them were many welcome faces I hadn't seen in a long time.

This time, Atlas and his daughter Ariel came together to my hospital room.

"You must be busy. A phone call would have been enough."

"Haha! How could I be so heartless? Especially when I heard Egostic had collapsed! I came running. Plus, my daughter was crying and begging me to take her to see you."

"Sigh... Da-in oppa. I was so worried..."

Ariel had let her blue hair down, burying her face against my arm as she murmured. I stroked her head with a bitter smile while lying in bed.

Ariel once lived with our Ego-stream. After returning to her homeland to receive successor training from Atlas, she had been constantly contacting me saying she missed me.

...She must have been especially shocked after hearing about this accident.

I thought about this while comforting Ariel in my arms.

By the way, Ariel had clearly matured in many ways since being with Atlas.

She truly looked worthy of being called a princess knight of the sea now. She seemed to have grown taller too.

...But more importantly, it felt a bit awkward having his daughter in my arms in front of her father.

"Hahaha! I'm relieved to see you're doing much better now. Everyone at Kathedal is very worried about you."

Of course, Atlas didn't seem to mind at all. He was laughing heartily.

...I guess he must really like me, considering he still occasionally jokes about me being his son-in-law. Or maybe Ariel has been gaslighting her father...

Anyway, with such thoughts, we had quite an enjoyable reunion.

Of course, when Atlas said it was time to leave and tried to take Ariel with him, there was a bit of a scene as she refused to go... But in the end, it concluded with Ariel being dragged away in tears.

Instead, she managed to get a promise from him that she could live with me again after the Sun God business was over, so I guess that worked out? Seeing Ariel quietly smiling through her tears afterward, it seemed like it did...

Anyway, after that, many others with whom I had long relationships came to visit.

"Mr. Egostic. Are you feeling better?"

"Mr. Egostic. Are you alright? You look healthy, at least."

My friends from the East Asian Villain Alliance, Katana from Japan and Li Xiaopeng from China.

"...Master. Are you comfortable?"

"Da-in teacher! Huung, I was so worried!!"

"...Teacher Da-in, are you okay?"

"Teacher, please don't be sick..."

The four members of our Ego-squad, currently working as A-rank heroes for the association and my first generation PMC students: No. 1 Lee Se-geom, No. 2 Seo Chae-young, No. 3 Heo Da-hee, and No. 4 San Soo-ah.

They all seemed to have grown up compared to when I was teaching them, probably from being on the front lines. Of course, they're now leaders with many juniors under them including second, third, and fourth generations.

Though for some reason, they still call me "teacher" like in the old days.

And others too.

"Ahem... Boss. It's been a while."

"No way. Red. What have you guys been up to?"

Team Lapis's Red, Blue, and Yellow, who left on an airship saying they were going to find some "One Piece" after the Moonlight Cult incident, returned after several years. Wearing rabbit helmets and entering nervously, they told me they'd been wandering around with nothing to do until they met angels and had been running away from them all over the world... That's how they'd been living. They said they were too embarrassed to return to Korea until they heard I had collapsed.

"You should have said something..."

What happened to that big, impressive airship anyway?

Anyway, since angels come from the sky and we need air combat capabilities, I told them to just stay with our association. I said they'd provide accommodations and everything, which really moved them.

The next visitor was Cha-yoon, the younger brother of our healer Ha-yul.

"Hyung! Are you feeling better?"

"Yes, yes. Cha-yoon, I should be asking you. Have you been well? I told you not to stay in the dormitory and come back home since it's dangerous these days."

"Haha. I'm a high school senior now, how could I do that?"

Cha-yoon smiled as he said this.

The small child I first met had already grown so much.

It seems like just yesterday when he first saw me in that slum and exclaimed "It's Mangostick!" with shining eyes... It was amazing.

...No, what's really amazing is that the Korean Ministry of Education is still holding college entrance exams despite the state of the world.

Of course, the school Cha-yoon attends is one of Yu-seong Foundation's schools with top-notch facilities and security, so he should be safe... but I still felt uneasy. Even though Cha-yoon had grown up, he was still a kid.

Anyway, he came with his sister during their free time.

...Then, looking at me with a determined expression, he confessed his wish.

"...Hyung. Do you know what my dream is?"

"What is it?"

"...Our siblings' lives were saved thanks to you, Da-in hyung. So I've been thinking since then. I want to help you when I grow up."

"...And?"

"So I've decided. My dream is to join the association."

Cha-yoon said this as if making a huge confession.

...However, I was rather confused.

"But Cha-yoon, you don't need such high grades for the association, right? Aren't you getting nearly perfect scores in almost all subjects? You don't need to go that far."

To my words.

Cha-yoon firmly told me that wasn't it.

"No, hyung. I have to. Because my dream is to become the Director."

"..."

At Cha-yoon's words, I was speechless.

...He said he wanted to become the Director to be my supporting force within the association. But if this happens, everyone from Lee Seol-ah on the government and corporate side to high-ranking officials in Korea would become my acquaintances?

Well, I thanked him and told him to work hard.

...Although I don't think the association will continue to exist after we catch the Sun God. But I guess it will last a few more decades.

Like this, many others came to visit me.

And finally.

"Mr. Da-in. How have you been?"

The busiest person in Korea right now.

...Lee Seol-ah. She also came to see me.

"Yeah, I'm stuck here, unable to leave, doing well."

"...Mmm. That's good. You need to stay in one place for a while, Mr. Da-in. You keep coming back injured."

Seeing Seol-ah nodding as if this was a reasonable measure, I felt wronged.

Even you? I wonder how low my credibility has fallen...

Anyway.

"So, are you still insanely busy?"

"Of course. There's so much cleanup to do after this massive angel attack. Our country got off relatively lightly... other countries, whew."

With a tired face, she shook her head and then sat on the edge of the bed I was leaning against and continued.

"Especially... after oppa collapsed, it was absolute chaos. People protesting, government leaders all confused... and you weren't waking up, so everyone was worried."

"Haha... But you held the center and protected everything, right?"

At my words, Seol-ah with a confident expression...

Looked at me with disbelief and said:

"Mr. Da-in. What do you take me for? Do you think I wasn't worried about you? I still don't know how I managed to handle things this past week."

"Um... sorry?"

"Haah... It's fortunate I was there to somehow hold things together with hope. I managed to endure because Celeste kept insisting with certainty that you would wake up."

"...Really? Celeste did?"

I wonder.

"Anyway, it's fortunate that the angel attacks have decreased sharply again. It will take time to recover, but..."

"That's true."

I had such thoughts while continuing my conversation with Seol-ah.

...Until Ha-yul interrupted to say visiting hours were over.

Anyway, the long rush of hospital visits finally ended this way.

And I returned to my peaceful daily life.

...While confined to the hospital under Ego-stream's surveillance.

No. This is ridiculous.

'No. Without me, the work at Kathedal and the countermeasure headquarters won't get done!'

'Oppa. What could you possibly do in that condition...! That's just your ego talking. And technology has advanced so much these days. Everything can be done remotely...!'

'She's right, Egostic. Han Seo-eun is correct.'

My strategy to escape using work as an excuse was effectively blocked by Seo-eun's technology talk and Stardus's approval.

Thanks to that, I was currently enjoying my confinement life in the hospital.

Actually, I didn't think this was even a hospital. When I woke up one day, my room had somehow changed. To a large white isolation room.

...Well, it wasn't bad. When I argued that humans need sunlight, they gave me a room with very large windows that let in plenty of sunlight.

The only problem was that the room had just one door. And members of Ego-stream took turns guarding it.

"Cough."

I complained inwardly as I coughed.

...In my opinion, the fact that I was coughing up a bit more blood since that day was being blown out of proportion. I tried to hide it as much as possible, but somehow they always knew. Did they install CCTV in this room?

"..."

Well... of course, I'll admit what needs to be admitted. My body does seem to have weakened somewhat since that day.

But still... I don't know.

"Sigh..."

I sighed and turned on the TV.

As I listened to the sound absentmindedly, a thought occurred to me.

'...So. What is the true nature of my ability?'

I quietly thought while looking at my hand.

An ability that emitted light from my hands, just like Stardus.

But that light was... too bright, and rather than light, it felt murky and sticky, as if contaminated.

But one thing was certain.

'It's definitely powerful.'

A power of tremendous intensity that I couldn't have imagined before.

Although my body was damaged after using it, in those few seconds when I emitted that black light, I swept away all the angels.

Why did I only gain this ability now?

"..."

My guess is that it probably had something to do with the Sun God.

Just as Stardus's star power increased due to the Sun God's approach, my power also increased.

However, since the total amount of my ability was weak, I suspected that some kind of forced reaction occurred, resulting in this situation.

I can't use psychokinesis or teleportation now either, as they feel like they would cost me my life.

The result was this confinement play.

"....."

Thinking about this, I sighed.

It seemed I would have to stay in here for a while.