· · ────── ꒰ঌ·✦·໒꒱ ────── · ·
Translated by BiasNil
· · ────── ꒰ঌ·✦·໒꒱ ────── · ·
Shin Haru.
A third-year student at Yeonhui University.
She is normal except for her blonde hair and an appearance that makes everyone glance over their shoulder. Honestly, being pretty is not normal…
Anyway, only a few people know that she is a hero.
A secret no one knows except for some of the Hero Association's agents and her fellow heroes.
That is why she was able to enjoy a relatively normal college life.
…Of course, the fact that she was absent more than most students is somehow suspicious.
Not just that.
She missed the party at the beginning of the semester, the orientation, the MT, the after-party, the festival…
Since she didn't participate in any school events, she can hardly be close to anyone.
Of course, she is also deliberately distancing herself from people on purpose.
However, she is still close to some classmates and seniors, so it is not a big problem.
Just like that, she was doing well in the double life of a college student and a hero.
Terrorism rarely happens in Seoul.
Maybe once every two weeks?
Honestly, that would normally be considered "often." But in this confusing world, it is still bearable.
Not many strong villains have appeared in Korea yet.
Of course, in the world's largest country, the United States, they say terrorism is rampant every day to match its population.
Instead, they have many S-class and A-class heroes, so the balance is maintained.
When you go to the U.S., cities are full of A-class heroes.
Considering that Korea does not have many A-class heroes, the U.S. is amazing.
That's why she doesn't think that she is very capable, even though she is an A-class hero.
Well, what is her ability? Nothing more than being very strong and flying.
That is all she can do. So when Egostic caused trouble last time, she could do nothing but watch.
"..."
Tap. Tap.
She tapped her finger on the glass of the mango smoothie she was drinking.
Egostic.
At first, seeing him kill other villains made her furious.
In fact, she had this thought about Egostic.
A childish little boy suddenly received a superpower, so he ran wild.
It was her guess.
An attention seeker got his power and suddenly thought, 'Oh, why don't we just kill all the villains with this,' then got excited and killed other villains.
Instead of formally applying to be a hero and becoming a member of the judiciary.
A child who acts as if he is justice by using excessive force.
Some people set out to be vigilantes after gaining powers and enjoy having the public's attention.
They delude themselves into thinking they are "heroes" who are different from the "inflexible heroes."
The type that she hates the most.
Attention seekers.
That thought changed to conviction when Shin Haru saw her name written in blood at the murder scene.
A disgusting bastard.
She is sure that he only cares about her face.
How could he be so brutal and do that with blood?
She could only think of putting him in jail at that time.
…Although, she didn't understand how he found where the hidden A-class villains lived.
Yeah, no one knew back then.
She doesn't know if he is crazy.
[Yes, there are bombs on those two ships right now. Boom! And everyone on those two ships… will die without being able to say goodbye to their loved ones.]
[The time limit is 30 minutes, and you cannot press the detonators of two ships.]
He was not just a child excited over his superpower.
He was surely a villain, planning a large-scale terror attack.
And he was also a psychopath who played with others' hearts.
Even though she showed nothing on the outside, inside she was shocked.
How can a person be so anti-human?
Honestly, if Egostic hears about this story, he will be upset that it was not his idea but an homage from an old movie in the past life. But she couldn't tell him that.
He said his name was Egostic.
People in the community analyzed that he seems to have named himself after the English word "egoistic," which means selfish.
The connection between his name and his idea about how selfish human beings are.
Even by looking at this, he does not look like a normal person.
And then, last week.
At first, she sighed when she heard that Egostic's followers were causing a bomb attack.
When a madman comes out, other villains pour out like the fallout effect.
She doesn't even know how Egostic proceeded with the event the very next day after his first terrorist attack.
The terrorist attacks happened so close to each other that she had to assume they were prearranged.
The followers who sincerely followed Egostic were born in a day, and they were so active that they caused terrorism the very next day.
Even as the Association discussed and put out a policy to prevent copycat crimes like Egostic's bomb attack—
The terrorism happened so fast that she had no choice but to go along with it without any preparation.
However, she could only blame herself for doing nothing and watch the situation nervously.
Egostic stepped up to the plate himself.
To be honest,
She was very nervous.
Scared? Sure, she decided to be cool and admitted it.
She was a little scared. A little. Not really really scared.
The man whose next action no one could predict went there himself. And not to mention, a place with more than hundreds of hostages.
It would have been strange if she didn't worry.
All the heroes from the Association, including herself, could only watch the situation while holding their breath.
…And of course, they had no choice but to watch it through the live broadcast. Even though his close-up face was covered up, he looked so shameless that she just wanted to run there and punch him right away. But she tried to keep it cool and continued watching.
And he proved that he was a freak, too.
When he saw his followers, he shot them all together while calling them "bullshit."
Then he released the hostages safely. He even promised to compensate them with money. She heard that money was actually transferred into the victims' accounts. It was sent from a fake bank account so they cannot track him down.
Not only did he give them money, he even apologized. He apologized since his followers caused a fuss. Right in front of the live broadcast.
At that point, she was really confused.
What the hell is he doing? If he is a villain, he has to act like a villain.
And frankly speaking, he was actually heroic in his actions that day.
…Of course, you cannot accept a vigilante. However, since the Association allowed his killings as he was doing it to save the hostages' lives, and they were dead anyway—
That's why she finds it weird.
None of the villains are like this Egostic.
Indiscriminate murders, bombing, arson, kidnapping, terrorism.
Villains causing these crimes are very common.
But a villain who seems to have some kind of "belief" like this Egostic guy?
This is the first case she's seen.
Of course, there may be similar cases around the world, but this is at least the first case in Korea.
—Ring.
She left the cafe after finishing her homework.
A nice day with warm sunshine.
She stretched out her arms out of habit.
"Woaaa."
Sometimes, men walk by and glance back at her as she stretches her arms. But she doesn't notice.
"Egostic…"
'…He knows where the villains' hideouts are. He can hijack the radio. He knows the account numbers of the hostages he met for the first time. He is rich.'
Who the hell is this guy?
Egostic has already become the number one alert in her mind.
She means:
Whether he is good or bad, the man named Egostic has a big share in her mind.
'…I'm going to find out who you are.'
***
"Tsk. Is someone talking about me?"
"Isn't it because you haven't washed up lately?"
"Seo-eun, I know that you're a girl but you keep on—"
"Hyung, please be quiet."
"Alright…"
"…. Should I… prepare water for you?"
"Su-bin. What's the matter with you again? You don't have to do anything, just stay still. Also, I wash myself every day. I was framed!
"…Okay."
"Why don't you trust me? I said I was framed!"
In the heart of Seoul.
A secret base located a few stories deep beneath a normal-looking house.
The base of Egostic. Ego-base.
"Hyung. Why are you naming someone's house like that?"
"Seo-eun, there's no such thing as your house or my house between you and me. Your house is mine, mine is yours."
"You sold your house so you don't even have a house anymore."
"..."
Yeah, I moved out.
To Seo-eun's underground secret basement.
Since I have to do many things from now on, I decided it would be better to move to a place where all the equipment is gathered. Seo-eun agreed with me.
Although I don't even know how deep it is, the place is still bright and nice with LED lights. It has a lot of rooms, so there is no big problem.
Thank you, Seo-eun.
As I looked at Seo-eun with gratitude, Seo-eun frowned as if she wanted to ask me, 'What are you looking at?'. That brat.
My best friend and the genius hacker, Han Seo-eun.
She is a small child with a silver bob. She is only in 9th grade. I thought she was in 7th grade at first.
She keeps calling me "hyung" and claiming that she is a boy…
Seo-eun, I already read the original comic and I know that you are a girl…
I never thought a middle school girl would call me "hyung."…
That doesn't mean that Seo-eun is the only one who lives here.
The self-proclaimed follower of mine—the woman I kidnapped, I guess.
"…?"
Su-bin, who was frightened, looking up at me, is also living with us.
…How I picked her up is a long story.
"Haa…"
The number of people living with me is increasing. Is it just me?