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Translated by BiasNil
· · ────── ꒰ঌ·✦·໒꒱ ────── · ·
"My Haru believed in the apple mango conspiracy.... Oh my!"
Her friend, Lee Seol-ah, said it while covering her mouth.
When Shin Haru glared at her with a sour look, Seol-ah finally smiled and lowered her hand.
"Hehe, I'm kidding. Don't get mad."
"I'm serious."
"Oh my, are you upset, Haru? What should I do?~"
After teasing her with a smile, Seol-ah coughed, returned to her usual expression, and spoke up.
"Yeah, well, it certainly sounds weird. He does terrorism, but he's also a villain who doesn't want people to die…"
Seol-ah, lost in thought for a moment, twisted a strand of her sky-blue hair with her fingers and continued.
"…It's possible, isn't it? Like an entertainer—the kind who enjoys getting people's attention? I guess so. How should I put it?"
After choosing her words for a moment, she clapped her hands and said,
"You could say he's a villain who wants to terrorize but doesn't want to kill civilians. I mean, he even contacted me to save people during terrorist attacks he caused."
Having said that, Seol-ah crossed her arms and nodded as if she'd solved Haru's dilemma. Then she took another sip of green tea to soothe her throat.
Shin Haru, who had been listening quietly, spoke up at once.
"…So you think he's harmless?"
"Huh? Harmless is a stretch… He destroyed buildings and an airplane. He's a villain—just a villain who doesn't like civilians dying. Better than the ones who try to kill civilians."
"And judging from the hacking skills and the money he tossed around this time, there's clearly something going on—but I'm relieved it's him. If someone with that level of ability wanted to kill, it would be terrifying."
Seol-ah sipped her tea again.
Seeing Haru still looking troubled, she smiled and said,
"Did you ask this unnie for advice because you're worried about that? Wondering whether he's a villain or not?"
"Who's 'unnie'…? No, well, it's just something I've been thinking about…"
"There's nothing to agonize over. There are all kinds of villains in the world. Some try to kill five people and juggle them around, and some don't like killing at all. You don't need to overthink it. Going forward, his terror should only cause the kind of civilian damage you can prevent. Killing villains… well, that's a private sanction, but it's not killing civilians."
Listening to Seol-ah speak as if she'd been worried it might be worse if he were killing people with terror, Haru felt a strange tug.
Yes. If she thought about it rationally, Seol-ah was right. A villain who wants to cause terrorism without civilian casualties—Egostic. If you define him that way, the matter ends there.
The reason for terror could be chalked up to simple pleasure, like any other villain.
Maybe that's the normal reading of Egostic.
But she still had doubts—hard to put into words, but… her intuition tugged strongly.
The sense that his terrorism wasn't just about personal thrills—that there might be another reason.
Watching the way he staged his attacks, it felt like he was aiming at something more than just enjoying the act.
Some other intent, something deliberate behind it.
What was it? Without knowing, her thoughts were still just dismissed as delusions.
Glancing at Haru's pained expression again, Seol-ah chuckled.
"Honestly, I thought it'd be a big problem when you called me out today. And it's about a villain? You really are a workaholic."
She shook her head.
"Haru, we're people too. When we're not working, we should empty our heads and rest, right? You're a college student—go to events, make friends."
"…I have a friend."
"Oh, that senior you mentioned? That's not a friend—that's an older sister! Anyway, rest when you rest. So, would you ever date a guy?"
"You've never dated a man either."
At Haru's deadpan, Seol-ah's face flushed slightly.
"Hey, my privacy is managed at the group level. Me too! If it weren't for all the surveillance…"
"Yeah, yeah. Got it."
Seol-ah grinned, and Haru soon smiled back.
With Egostic's topic set aside, they started talking about how they'd been.
Seol-ah brought up her latest worry.
"Sigh… It's so stressful that every move I make goes to the press."
Lee Seol-ah.
Haru's friend, an A-class hero in charge of Busan, with ice powers.
She was also the daughter of the chairman of Yuseong Enterprise, one of Korea's largest companies—often called a third-generation chaebol.
"Hero work is fun for me, and it helps the company image, but… why is everyone so interested in what I wear?"
She sighed and reached for the table.
Haru could only say, "That must be hard."
Unlike Stardust, who thoroughly hides her identity with measures like recognition interference, Icicle didn't hide hers.
Even before she awakened and became "Icicle," she was already well-known as Lee Seol-ah, the third generation.
So she didn't hide her identity; she worked as a hero under her real name, bare-faced, without using recognition interference.
"Well, I haven't interfered as hard as I used to since starting this, so that's good. Honestly, I think it has a positive effect on our company's image."
"You're living a tough life too."
"Yeah. I'm glad Busan has fewer terror attacks than the capital area. If we had as many as you do… wow…"
With that, Lee Seol-ah stuck out her tongue, then took out her phone. Reading an article, she grimaced.
Haru, curious, asked,
"What's wrong?"
"Our rival. There's this lunatic, Kim Sun-woo—used to be one of our technical advisors—he got released. He ran illegal experiments and got caught. How did he get out? Must've pulled strings in the lobby again."
"Kim Sun-woo…"
"Phew. Nothing's going smoothly these days."
With a scoff, Seol-ah set her phone back on the table.
They kept chatting.
Time flew, and it was late at night.
It was raining outside.
"Shall we head out?"
"Yeah."
They decided to part ways there.
Outside the café, bodyguards in sunglasses and suits stood by the entrance.
"Miss, please get in."
"Oh, Haru, want a ride? It's raining."
"No, I'll walk. You go first."
"Really? Okay. Do you have an umbrella? Mister, bring an umbrella!"
Haru accepted the umbrella from the suited men and thanked them.
"Haru, I'm going. If anything else worries you, call me right away, okay?"
"Okay. Get home safe."
She saw her friend off in a black limousine.
Soon the car vanished from sight, and Haru started toward home.
Raindrops pattered on the umbrella.
She walked on, guided by the umbrella through a night where only the rain could be heard.
It was nice seeing a friend after so long.
Seol-ah was the only friend she could talk to openly.
Walking slowly, she lifted her gaze to the sky.
Dark—nearly dawn.
Staring up at a sky where only the moon floated, she drifted into thought again.
In the end, Seol-ah also advised her not to pay particular attention to that Egostic guy.
Just a villain who doesn't want to hurt people—nothing more.
But Haru still couldn't let it go.
She felt like Seol-ah was missing something.
Her gut told her he was up to something big.
And she didn't think he was as bad as she'd first believed—baseless, ridiculous… and yet a thought that kept ringing in her head.
Without realizing it, Stardust was trying to pierce the essence of Egostic with her super-sense.
Of course, without knowing his true self, all she had now was discomfort—and a desire to stay alert around him.
"Haa…"
Staring at the dark night sky, she just sighed.
She felt unsettled about Egostic.
She was sure Egostic was lying around somewhere with a full belly.
***
"Cough, cough."
"Aaahhhh!! What's wrong with you? Don't you need a doctor? Let's go to the hospital!"
"Seo-eun, how can I—cough—go to the hospital? I'll be fine in a bit—cough."
"You're coughing up a bucket of blood; how is that 'fine'!"
"Da-in, you can't die… Sob."
In a large mansion deep in the mountains—
I was lying there, vomiting a bucket of blood.
People bustled around me, crowding in and fussing.
By the door, Ha-yul stood pale-faced, staring at me.
Damn it.
Did I overdo it on that bridge?
"Cough."
More blood came up.
It's so unfair. How much did I burn through for that?
I'm such a sucker…
I blew up the bridge, fainted as soon as I got home, and woke up three days later.
And the moment I woke up, I started vomiting blood.
I feel like I'm dying.
Will Stardust one day find out I'm working hard for her and fly over here?
No. She won't come. Probably.
Oh, man…
"Cough, cough."
"AaAAAA—"
And Seo-eun, please stop screaming…