CH 16

Stardus. Shin Haru.

Her parents gave her that name, with the meaning of ‘Starting a new day’.

But these days, she can barely have a new day.

“Haa…”

Looking at her smartphone, she sighed and dropped it down.

[Let’s be honest. What have Stardus done?]

Those words seemed to ring in her ears.

The public opinions centered around the Internet.

They doubt the quality of the A-class hero, Stardus.

Honestly, she was very upset.

What has she done wrong?

Her only crime is to save people from time to time while attending college.

But the public opinions coldly stared her down.

Ever since he appeared.

Why should she be vilified when she did as usual and only ran out when she heard Egostic had appeared in town?

She even let him go and could not catch him properly since she was afraid the citizens would be in danger.

She could not understand.

Why people like how Egostic eliminates other villains.

The citizens accumulated dissatisfaction seeing heroes only caught and gave the diabolical villains soft punishments.

The anger which used to direct at the judges had spread to the heroes before they knew it.

You should have killed him on the spot. Why did they have to aim to capture them alive?

Because you only captured them alive so they still live comfortably in prison like that,…

It was nonsense, but complaints have already spread quietly among the citizens.

And then he came out like a comet that everyone was waiting for.

A man who hunts villains has appeared.

That is Egostic.

He was the person that every Korean person has been dreaming of.

…Of course, he caused the cruise ships terrorism. No, to be exact, the case should be considered as an attempt terrorist incident.

He did not cause any terrorism after all. No one pressed the button, the citizens were quickly convinced and easily backed off.

And he defeated the terrorist hostage crisis at Daehyun Tower by himself. That incident was so big that it had to be buried.

When other heroes were unable to do anything because of the hostages, he proudly entered the enemy camp by himself and succeeded in rescuing everyone without any death. He even gave them money.

And Teleporter, who was graded as class A because of the danger of his escape skill, was eliminated by him.

The public showed their enthusiasm in many ways. It is not a coincidence that almost every community likes him and a fancafe for him has been opened.

And those who confront him will naturally become evil.

And it happened to be her.

“Haa…”

Shin Haru took another sip of the mango frappé in her hand.

As she feels ashamed and painful, she wonders if this is why she became a hero.

She was shocked to see even her close senior friend expressed that she likes Egostic lately.

Sitting by the window in the cafe, she looked out.

As spring came, cherry blossoms bloomed so beautifully on the street.

She doesn’t even have time to go see it because of both her college life and hero life.

But even so, people are cursing at her.

Even in the regular meeting of the Hero Association last time,

She almost fainted as the general manager said with a smile, ‘I am getting more comfortable these days thanks to Egostic’.

It is not normal. Everyone except her is crazy.

“Haa… No. Get a hold of yourself.”

She shook her head and decided to finish her assignment.

She cannot be productive if she keeps digging into it like this.

She has to do her homework.

So she pulled herself together and tried to finish the assignment.

Until she got a call at this time.

[Stardus, turn on the TV right now! Egostic is back. He pointed you out again!]

Her face stiffened.

Perhaps, it is time for work again.

Shin Haru immediately kicked her seat and hurried out.

No matter what people say, she is a hero.

She is on her way to do her job.

***

“Long time no see, my fellow citizens! It is your likable villain, Egostic!”

On a cliff with a panoramic view of the railroad.

I greeted the camera.

I am going to be broadcasted live on everyone’s TV again.

Actually, I think even with just a livestream on Youtube, the terrestrial TV will broadcast it on its own.

This  time I hijacked the waves again.

Why? Because it can show my potential.

Since the last hijacking incident, the broadcasting companies seem to have paid a lot of attention to the security, but it is nothing more than a useless decoration to me. Well, I actually did nothing… Seo-eun did it all… But who would know that?

Bowing my head, I looked at the hologram with my right eye hidden behind the mask.

Using a high technology made by Seo-eun, it has a function that allows me to see holograms in front of my eyes like the suit in Iron Man’s world. But the important thing is that there was no software to put into this function. So I opened the chat window from the Youtube live broadcast. I opened it…

[The big one is coming. The big one is coming. The big one is coming. The big one is coming. The big one is coming. The big one is coming. The big one is coming. The big one is coming. The big one is coming. The big one is coming.]

[Egostic Live ON. Hahahahaha.]

[I was bored but a fun event came. Hahahaha]

[What crazy stuff is he planning to do today? Hahahaha.]

[Ego-Hi(meaning Egostic-Hi)]

[Let’s go~ Let’s go~ ]

[Mango Stick! Mango Stick! Mango Stick! Mango Stick! Mango Stick! Mango Stick! Mango Stick! Mango Stick! Mango Stick! Mango Stick! Mango Stick! Mango Stick!]

…but I already regret it… Do they think this is a surprise event?

I checked my reflection on the camera. As always, I am wearing my suit in black from head to toe. I am wearing a gray half-mask on my face, which is my symbolic appearance. Honestly, I wanted to wear a black wizard hat here, but I could not because Seo-eun refrained from that. Next time, I am going to use it secretly.

Anyway, let’s keep talking.

“I have been getting a lot of news lately. Yes! A lot of them are coming in. A lot of people like me! I saw my fancafe, too! Gosh, it is very fascinating. Haha.”

I said with an awkward laugh.

I scratched my head and laughed.

But all of sudden, my face got serious.

“But. I think you guys are misunderstanding something.”

I spoke with my low voice and walked to the edge of the cliff. The camera followed me and slowly approached me. I controlled all of it with my telekinesis. Phew, I am lucky to have this telekinetic power. Or I had to hire a personal cameraman. How awkward would it be to look at the cameraman on this cliff while bragging.

Keeping my low voice, I continued while looking at the edge of the cliff.

“I am a criminal, guys. Do they use the word ‘villain’ these days? Anyway, that’s me. I think a lot of people forgot that I am a villain who eliminated other villains for my vulgar satisfaction, not for you guys!”

[This brat, he is such a tsundere*wwwwwww] TN: Tsundere is a term for people who act rude, cold, and hostile towards the people they care about in order to conceal their warm and caring feelings.

I almost fell off the cliff when I saw the chat window. Can’t I turn this off in the middle? I should tell Seo-eun to make an OFF function after this.

I almost lost my mind, but I am a professional. I spoke up without changing my expression.

“In that sense, I have prepared another great project. I think you guys are not scared of me yet. Now! Everyone, can you see the railroad far away?”

I fixed the camera to the track side of the train with my telekinesis.

The tracks were straight all the way, but there was a forked road that extended to the other side in the middle.

And the camera showed how people were tied up at the end of the track.

“Hahahahaha! Can you see this?”

The chat window turned upside down in an instant.

Yes, this is it. This is it! Fear me more!

“I tied them up. People on the track. This place where the train runs straight! Five innocent people are being tied up here. And the place where the train goes out! Only one person is tied up at that crossroads. If this train keeps running straight, it will run over five people. But do you see the lever over there? If you pull that, the lever will change the track. So the train is going to hit only one person who is tied up there.”

[I think I saw this somewhere]

[Isn’t this The Trolley Dilemma?] TN: Also known as “The Trolley Problem”. A series of thought experiments in ethics and psychology.

[Trolley Dilemma for real?]

I could not help but look at the chat window.

Oh, so people in this world also know about The Trolley Dilemma unlike in the Dark Knight.

Still, I guess no villains have done this yet. I swallowed a sigh of relief.

“Should we turn the lever? I am not going to switch it. Fyi, stopping the train is not an option.”

I switched the screen shown by the camera.

Now, a view of the engine room in the running train is shown. The driver there was unconscious and collapsed, a masked woman was driving the train. Yes, that is Soobin. Thank you, Soobin!

“If you do something stupid, you might flip the train, so please keep that in mind. The only option is to turn the lever or not. Well, I will stop talking. Ms. Stardus, please come. I will keep an eye on your moral judgment.”

Okay, the situation is all set.

Now, Shin Haru. You just need to come.

[Stardus again. At this point, this is true love.]

I completely ignored the chat window.