CH 12

A picturesque mansion.

This majestic mansion with a white exterior is full of modern refinement details.

This place is crowded with rich people as if they would not allow any working class to walk in.

…Somewhere nearby, I was hiding.

The guy I am aiming for is an A-class villain, Teleporter.

He is good at teleporting.

Unlike my flawed teleportation, that guy’s teleportation is much better.

So he owns a true ‘teleportation’ ability with no side effects after traveling. Although there seem to be some distance restrictions.

In a way, this can also be seen as a fraudulent ability. No, I am sure that it is a fraudulent ability. I have no idea if this Teleporter is a coward or an idiot, but he only uses his ability to steal money from the bank.

Well, at least for now.

If I compare my current period with the original work, I think I am at the 5th issue? Almost at the beginning of the comic. Only 5 out of 200 issues.

Honestly, that is a relief. If I fell in the latter part of the comic, around the 100th issue to later, it would already be chaotic. Villains, who were initially sloppy because the writer could not adjust the balance for their powers, disappeared and those bastards who can bring down the world started to come out.

Seo-eun was the last villain which appeared in the episode of the Great Depression, which ended around the 150th issue at first. She tried to conquer only Korea, so it ended at that point, but she could actually break down the world’s information network system if she wanted to.

This Teleporter. He is a very persistent fellow. He got into a fight with Stardus at the beginning.  Stardus somehow knocked the guy off his guard, and then sent him to prison with an anesthetic. But he teleported to escape as soon as he got his consciousness back.

This guy, who was caught as a petty criminal early in the comic, revived splendidly in “The Great Escape” episode where all villains escaped from the prison. He was crowned as the most annoying enemy of Stardus.

He used to be one of those villains who used to spend a lot of money looking for small but certain happiness. But after years of being drugged and locked up by Stardus, he broke out of the prison…

He lived with a determination to get back at Stardus who caught him. He became worse.

He teleported at first. Well, I must say that this ability is a good deal to be sneaky. In later episodes, whenever he did something, he just popped out and hit the person, then ran away, then hit and ran away…

If [Stardust!] was a webtoon, a lot of people would demand to kill him while calling him a sweet potato. But since it is a comic book published as a book, it is impossible to check the real-time reactions, but I bet many readers got angry at him. TN: In Korea, when they call a person ‘Sweet Potato’, it means either he/she is ugly or frustrating.

And of course, I was one of them

So this guy, I should kill him when I can.

Now, back to the mansion.

I was waiting with my car parked nearby, and I contacted Seo-eun with my in-ear plugging into my ears.

Normally, I can still do it well by myself without bothering Seo-eun. But this time, the guy is not that picky.

“Seo-eun, should we go in now?”

[Wait, you haven’t gone in yet? Hurry up and go inside.]

“Hold on, so I only need to teleport to the living room right away, right? What if he is in the living room?”

[Haa. I told you many times. Then just throw the tracking device at him and shoot at the same time. I think he will teleport to avoid the gun, so just in case he does. Still, the tracking device will be faster than the bullet since it’s using a spider’s web, so it will definitely stick to him.]

“What the hell is a web-based tracking device faster than a bullet… I don’t understand.”

[Bullets are made by factories, and the tracking device is made by myself. Of course, mine will be faster. It will come out from the threading hole on the side of the tracking device, so there will be less physical resistance… Even if I explain it like this to you, you would never understand since you studied liberal arts, right? So just don’t ask any questions…]

“Hey… I can still understand everything even if I studied liberal art. Maybe. Anyway, I don’t understand. Can’t we just do it like those spy movies? You just need to attach it by bumping into him by accident.”

[…Not only would he use teleportation rather than walking on the street, but it would be more troublesome if you get caught on the CCTV. This is the most accurate. I researched his daily routine and planned it out. When he goes out of the house, most of the time he teleports and it’s impossible to predict where he will move, so we have to eliminate him in this way.]

“But still… There should be a better way to attach the tracking device.”

[There are more reasons than what I just told you. So please just do as you are told. Haa.]

Seo-eun sounded as if I was pathetic, so I was discouraged. You rude brat… I am almost 10 years older than you…

“…….Okay, I get it….”

I could see Seo-eun got a little shocked when I said with a sulky voice.

[Hey, what’s wrong? Don’t be sulking all of sudden. We already talked about something similar, and you are being like that again…]

As Seo-eun was talking, I heard some noisy sounds next to her so Seo-eun stopped talking. Soobin, who is staying next to her, seemed to say something.

I heard some ‘Okay… Okay…’ and then Seo-eun talked to me again.

[…I’m sorry. Just go back to your position. We have no time to lose.]

“Okay, I get it!”

She has been confusing me by calling me both ‘hyung’ and ‘oppa’ since a while ago, so I wanted to ask her to choose one between them. But I didn’t think it was the right time to do so I held it in.

…And if I tell her to choose one, she will keep calling me ‘hyung’. You can guess from the circumstances of her on the first day of our meeting, she is a little afraid of men, so I think she insists on calling herself a boy and calling me ‘hyung’ on purpose. I wonder if all of the researchers in the lab were men.

But luckily, she is getting better after a few months. Maybe she is opening up because she realized that I am harmless. Even if I didn’t read the original comic, I can still see that she is a girl… She seems to think that a short haircut would make her look like a boy. And that is kind of cute.

Honestly, the best solution is to sneak in at night and kill him, but that’s not going to work.

Because of “Shadow Walker ”, one of a few A-class heroes along with Stardus in Korea.

If I do something at night, I will be caught by this guy.

He is responsible for almost all the terrorism in Korea happening during the day.

Such a bad guy. Without him, I could have handled all villains easily. He is a hero so I feel guilty if I eliminate him. Also, if I eliminate him, the problem will be bigger so I try to stay active during the day.

Well, I seem to be having all sorts of thoughts as I am about to step into a real fight. It is like how I would think about different things when I sit in front of the desk during my school days.

I adjusted my half-mask.

Okay, it is time for action.

[You didn’t forget the plan, right?]

“ Yeah.”

I have to teleport to his living room, which is close by.

If he is not in the living room, search quietly and shoot secretly.

What if I get caught? Since I already attached the tracking device, I can go to plan B.

“I am going in.”

I took a deep breath and prepared to teleport.

And- Go.

***

I teleported to that Teleporter’s living room.

The thing that I could see as soon as I teleported here was…

Someone’s face?

“Oh, shit!”

“Gosh!”

[Hyung, shoot!]

As we were horrified at the same time, I immediately shot him with my right hand and threw the tracking device with my left hand.

-BANG!

After my shot, this guy was out of sight.

I have no idea if he was shot or not.

Why was he in the living room? He ran away right away.

As things turned out like this, we have to go with plan B.

“Seo-eun! Did I stick the tracking device on him?”

[Yes! Soobin, please tell us where he is!]

[Okay! Right now… 500 meters to the east!]

[You heard it, right? Hurry up and go!]

“No, if I have to keep teleporting like this, the side effect…”

[Hurry up!]

“O-Okay!”

I moved quickly.

***

I estimated roughly and moved 500 meters forward.

Wait, this is downtown.

“AAAAAAAAAAH!”

“W-What the!”

I got confused as I suddenly teleported to a crowded place.

Wait, this is a busy street!

People were surprised as a person wearing a black cape and a mask suddenly appeared out of nowhere.

“Oh, who is that…?”

“Oppa, isn’t that Egostic?”

“Oh? That’s right!”

The citizens started to recognize me.

As soon as cold sweat dripped down because of my embarrassment, I heard Seo-eun’s voice in my ears.

[On your right!]

The right?

I looked to my right and from far away…

I saw a man clutching his stomach, blood dripping from his body.

Oh, you were there?

You also got shot.

I drew a smile without myself knowing.

Alright. Sometimes things have to be this easy.

I was about to teleport over there, but as he looked at me, he stumbled and disappeared again.

“Alright. You are challenging me, right?”

An untimely teleporting chase happened in the middle of Seoul.

***

“…Yes. This is the Hero Association of Korea. How may I help you?”

“What? Egostic appeared in the middle of the town?”