· · ────── ꒰ঌ·✦·໒꒱ ────── · ·
Translated by BiasNil
· · ────── ꒰ঌ·✦·໒꒱ ────── · ·
The new terrorist attack I'm planning—it's not just terrorism.
Two birds with one stone: prevent the main event of the original comic.
HanEun Group.
One of the biggest corporations in South Korea, but also the breeding ground for those crazy bastards who took orphans and ran illegal experiments to create superhumans.
Our Seo-eun is a victim of their biological experiments. As a result, she gained high intelligence, but she suffered terrible pain in the process.
Anyway, I'm going to expose the true face of that crazy company that pretends to be normal in front of the public.
The main event—where people die in droves—first appears in the original.
They've been out of their minds and doing weird things in the dark ever since the last biological experiment.
Well, that much is already bad, but the game gets broken by a new lunatic who joins in.
His goal is "dehumanization."
I don't know what the hell that means, but anyway, this guy intends to make monsters.
And… ta-da! He actually succeeds in making a monster.
But he can't control it.
A grotesque experiment—black, sticky mucus—sprawled horizontally across a building.
When it moves, it looks like a huge black wave.
A terrible thing that devours everything it touches.
The problem is this guy—these guys? Anyway, this black worm escaped.
They're blind, so they just barrel straight ahead without a thought.
But why did this group of crazies do it in an underground lab in Seoul?
Yes, they devastated Seoul.
After bursting out of the basement, it surged upward and cut a straight path across the city.
Those black waves kept heading north, devastating everything in a line.
Yes, to North Korea.
Suddenly, North Korea—minding its own business—was swept by a black monster from the south and burned to the ground.
South of Seoul was relatively safe since it started in Seoul, but North Korea was ravaged end to end.
Because of this, a war almost broke out: "Are those wicked South Korean bastards finally trying to destroy North Korea?"
It just kept going straight—past Seoul into North Korea, even toward China—and the North Korean government went crazy. Once it crossed the border, it got stronger and started flying around.
Long story short, North Sea Ice Women went and handled it later.
It was fortunate their weakness was water. Water is common; it's easy to get. That's why North Sea Ice Women could finish it off.
Anyway, this is the first catastrophic case in the original, signaling that the comic will turn very gloomy—unlike other light, killing-time hero cartoons.
The work's tone was bright at first, then it began to sink into darkness.
Meaning, I have to prevent it.
The world I live in would suddenly turn into an '80s Gotham City, and I can't let people suffer while I'm still breathing.
So I've been thinking about this for a long time.
How can I stop it?
In fact, the best way is to prevent the experiment itself—but that's not good in the long run.
This incident exposes the ugly atrocities HanEun Group has committed, and it becomes the decisive opportunity for all its leaders to fall.
Also, it's hard to bring down the group without such a decisive scandal. Their influence on Korean politics and the media is so great that small hits barely scratch them.
So the bottom line: we need to trigger the black worm but reduce the damage.
How?
I thought about it for a long time. Then it hit me.
References from the original.
"Oh—he only crossed because there was a bridge over the Han River. If not for that…"
Okay.
The reason that brat born in Gangnam advanced all the way to North Korea, even though water was its weakness—
It just happened to have a bridge on its path.
If not for the bridge…
It would've died in the river. Nice and clean. Case closed!
When it was just born, it was weak and would've drowned. Later, it flies and crosses rivers like a joke. But at the start—if not for the Han River bridge…
That's right.
If not for the bridge—
Then why don't I just blow up the bridge?
Lightning struck my head.
Eureka.
Let's explode the bridge.
The timing of this case is so specific in the original that I can blow it up right before it starts.
Once I decided to smash the bridge, I didn't hesitate.
I have Seo-eun to make the bomb, and I can see the angles to bring it down.
Then lightning struck me again.
Wait. Explosion. Isn't that terrorism?
So… don't we need to detonate the bridge during a terror attack?
That's how the terror plan was set.
"We're going to blow up the bridge."
[The 9th Regular Meeting of Ego-Squad]
Turning my back to the blackboard—already marking our ninth meeting—I made the declaration.
"All right, what do I need to prepare?"
Seo-eun asked, eyes sparkling.
"When is it?"
Su-bin was curious about the date.
"Well… why are we doing terrorism in the first place?"
Our healer, Lee Ha-yul—who still seems unsure why she's here.
With the members roughly gathered, I laid out the plan.
"Ha-yul, you might not know, but terrorism is all about balance. We need to keep tension on this loose peninsula. We'll execute in a few weeks. Preparations start now."
"Da-in, you've thought this through, right?"
"Yeah! Since we're blowing up the bridge for a reason, let's figure out the terror setup around that."
"All right, hmm… bridge, bridge. Which bridge?"
"There's a big one over the Han River. That one."
"That? Ohhh—that's why you asked me to make a bomb with ridiculous power?"
"Yeah. We'll need something stronger to knock it down."
"Well, you're going to create a dilemma again, aren't you? And we're going to have to tangle with that brat Stardust?"
"Hm. Seo-eun, what do you mean 'that brat'? But yeah, that's true."
"H-Hey… why am I here?"
In the middle of our heated debate, a quiet voice piped up.
When we turned toward it, Lee Ha-yul shrank a little under the sudden attention.
"Oh, Ha-yul. You're family now. And family helps with family plans, right? I called you for a brainstorm. Collective intelligence, okay?"
She murmured, "Family…" and nodded. Her gaze brightened with a bit more motivation.
We do need collective intelligence—but I also called her to help her blend with us. Make her an accomplice to deepen our bonds. If she grows closer to each of us, won't the day come when she reveals her healing ability to us?
Anyway, we started putting our heads together.
Ideas poured out and were thrown away, over and over.
Then Seo-eun clapped, as if she remembered something.
"Ah! Da-in! You know the one I didn't use last time—you called it 'Good Samaritan' or something."
"That?"
Right, there was that. I shelved it when we switched to a different operation. But it could fit this bridge job…!
"No, Da-in—let's modify it."
Seo-eun laid out her thoughts.
Oh, that's good.
Then Ha-yul, who'd been quietly listening, spoke up too.
"Hmm… Wouldn't this part be better like this? You said no casualties, so…"
"Oh, that's not bad either."
So we spent days shaping the plan.
After a few days—
"Yeah. This should be enough."
Preparations complete.
***
Shin Haru.
She's developed a new habit lately.
[I tried to make an Egostic toy hammer.]
[Mangostic's legendary one has to be the quiz show.]
[(All About Mangostic) The best was the train terrorism.]
[Everything here starts with 'Mang.' Is it because this is a Mangcafe[1]?]
[Day 118: eating mango, wishing for Egostic's return.]
[The reason Mangostic can only come back within this week… (real facts)]
[(Spam) 5 reasons why Egostic won't come back.]
Reading posts on Egostic's fan cafe.
At first she checked for any new information on Egostic, but now it's just become a daily habit.
Most of the posts are meaningless, but she skimmed them to kill time.
A new post popped up.
[Hey, a new video from Egostic is out!]
"…?"
At the same time—
Posts started flooding the cafe.
[He appeared!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!]
[Fuck it, this is the real sex hahahahahaha.]
[Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you.]
[Hey, he's here hahahahaha.]
[I was watching TV hahahaha.]
[Entering. Hahahahahaha.]
[He returned hahahahaha.]
[Mangostic! Mangostic! Mangostic! Mangostic! Mangostic!]
[A new porn after 118 days hahahahahaha.]
[Oh, fuck! He finally appeared hahahaha.]
[What the? What the? What the? What the? What the? What the?]
[Fuck hahahaha. There's a community celebrating because an attack broke out? Hmph.]
[Turn on your TV or YouTube right now.]
[Damn it, I trusted you!!!]
[Where is that? Hurry up and analyze it! Hahaha.]
Shin Haru quickly opened YouTube after checking the situation.
The video was up on the main page.
[Hello, this is Egostic.]
At the same time, the Association called.
"Yes, yes, I saw it. I'm on my way."
She sprang up and started running.
He's back.
[1] TN: Mangostic fancafe.