CH 30

There are so many houses in Seoul.

If you look on the street, all you can see are apartments…

Of course, we cannot leave out detached houses.

One of those houses that filled the ground.

There is an ordinary-looking detached house.

This house seems to have no problem on the surface.

If you can see who comes out of the door in front of the house.

You will usually see a girl come and go, and sometimes, a boy and a girl come out.

So it seems to be a normal house of a family, and if you go inside.

You can feel something strange.

Why is the door inside locked with a password?

And even when you open that door and go inside, you will feel something strange.

Because it’s empty inside the house.

Although there is some furniture, it is gently dusty as if it had never been used.

Like no one has ever lived there before.

But then, who are those men and girls that were coming in and out?

When you have been thinking that far, you feel something behind you that makes you feel goosebumps.

It’s a haunted house. You might run away screaming.

But honestly, ghosts don’t live here.

The house is just located underground.

In that deep underground.

If you go down hundreds of meters from the ground, an enormous space will appear.

Dozens of rooms, armed with all sorts of high-tech gadgets and amenities.

At the moment, the most influential villains in Korea.

The most attractive person to teenagers.

Top 1 on ‘This Man is Amazing’ list of Forbes.

It’s a secret underground area where Korea’s unprecedented villain Egostic lives, the one that has thousands of fans.

It’s called Ego-base.

And I, the head of this place.

I was working on a plan at the moment.

“Now, if you have any good ideas, tell me!”

One of the numerous rooms in the house.

On the big blackboard on the wall there.

[Third large-scale terrorism conference], it said.

I wrote it.

“What’s the purpose of this terrorism? You’re already popular, so are you going to raise the pressure?”

“That’s right. A lot of people seem to think that I’m a hero right now, and I want to fix their mind. So they can think of me as an impulsive and twisted madman!”

“Uh… Actually, to a certain extent, I think everyone already has that thought but… alright. But can’t we just grab anyone and slaughter them?”

“Seo-eun!”

I was surprised and looked at Seo-eun.

I raised the child the wrong way, she said such a horrible thing like it was nothing!

…If you think about it, Seo-eun was originally a villain. Her personality has softened since she start living with me. In the original comic, all she can think about is to destroy Korea.

Anyway, I need to educate her about this kind of thing.

I cleared my throat and spoke up.

“What kind of disgusting and terrible idea is that? What guilt that the citizens have committed? You cannot just try to kill someone.”

“Why are your conditions so strict? It’s funnier to call yourself a villain when you kill no one.”

“Nuh-uh, I killed some of the other villains, I eliminated Soobin’s friends with my own hands.”

When I said that, I could see Soobin fumbling for a moment.

I’m sorry, Soobin. Don’t shake your hands while holding a mug.

“Hmm… Okay, I got it for now. Then why don’t you slaughter criminals in prison? They’re not even citizens.”

“Uh… Hmm…”

I don’t have anything to say.

No, I have one.

“Seo-eun, if you look at people’s reactions these days, we can get even more popular. It will be dope.”

“Really?”

“And it’s not just a random terrorist attack. You think that there’s a way out if you do well? You can’t get out of it and everyone dies. There needs to be a situation like that. Look at what I have done so far. A prisoner’s dilemma, the trolley dilemma. Of course, it’s not a dilemma, but we should use our head to create a terrorist attack.”

“Hmm… It’s difficult.”

Right? It’s hard, right?

This is not easy. What kind of terrorism do we plan?

I was just an ordinary little citizen.

In other words, I have never thought about what kind of terrorism I would cause while staying at  home by myself.

Seo-eun was thinking hard about the next terrorist attack. Soobin, who was next to her, also seemed to be thinking quietly.

Originally, I planned the previous two terrorism from the beginning to the end, so the two of them just needed to carry them out. Not that I have run out of ideas, I have to use the power of collective intelligence. So help me!

Oh, but I didn’t tell them yet.

“Oh, and it has to be a desperate situation where a hero should appear and save them. Right before everyone dies, the hero suddenly comes out and saves them.”

Seo-eun couldn’t hold back her anger and became irritated, and Soobin, who was listening quietly, said a word for the first time.

“…And the hero is Stardus again?”

“What? Well, yeah.”

“Hmmm…”

She heard that far and took a sip of water from the mug she was holding.

Slurp-

“Stardus, Stardus. Why don’t you start living with Stardus instead of us? People might think that you guys are already married.”

With a sulky face, Seo-eun was being sarcastic with her chin on her hand.

Uh, I have seen this in a book on childcare.

The body that I dreamed of becoming a teacher.

I think I have seen something similar in Emile*, a must-read for aspiring teachers. *TN: ‘Emile, or On Education’ by Jean-Jacques Rousseau

Did it say that kids get jealous when their parents show more interest in others than them?

Anyway, I think I was told to say this in this situation.

“Gosh, Seo-eun. I only call myself up in my opposite position, why would I do things for her? Of course, my family and Seo-eun come first.”

“Hmph.”

Seo-eun turned her head as if she was upset, but I can see the corner of her mouth going up.

It’s not easy to raise a child.

If your child is a senior in middle school, she’s not a kid, right?

But actually, Seo-eun…

It is all for Stardus.

I hid the bloody truth deep down, and we continued our meeting.

While coming up with one idea and another, Soobin came up with an idea.

“All the terrorist attacks that you have done so far. Ship, train. Only two, right?”

“Then it’s simple. Let’s terrorize the plane next.”

“Plane?”

Well, ships, trains and airplanes.

Is it a transportation trilogy?

It’s not bad

“It’s not bad. But how do I drop the plane? I know, it’s easy to drop it. Before that, you have to show a little bit of a dilemma or a brilliant show then drop it. And we have to give hope that everyone can live.”

“Oh, how about this?”

Soobin continued with her explanation.

After hearing it…

“Soobin, are you a genius?”

“Haha…”

That’s how our next terrorist attack was decided.

I have warned Stardus about the terrorist attack next month.

Before that, let’s prepare it perfectly.

***

A plane bound for Jeju Island from Incheon.

It was a small plane because it was a domestic flight, but it was still a plane bound for Jeju Island due to its own circumstances.

During the short flight time, people were doing various things.

Like taking a nap, reading a book, or watching a movie on the screen in front of their seats.

They were spending time in their own way.

Yeah, they were.

Until all the lights on the plane suddenly went out.

“…?”

In fact, people didn’t mind much about it.

But suddenly, all the screens in front of their seats were turned on, and the same video was sent to everyone.

At that time, everyone was surprised.

[THE EGO SHOW]

[Now Live]

“What’s this?”

In the sudden situation, the people complained that the movie they were watching was cut off.

People who were quietly doing their job began to look at what was going on when the screens in front of them were suddenly turned on.

And all of sudden, from the speaker that was originally used to announce,

Not the captain, but someone else’s voice began to come out.

[Hello, everyone! The biggest quiz show on Earth at the height of 25,000 feet. No! The biggest quiz show in the sky! Welcome to the Ego Show!]

A man’s voice suddenly can be heard from the speaker.

At the end of his words, applause began to come out of the speakers like a gag program.

[Wow- Clap, clap, clap, clap, clap]

The bright sound from the speakers contrasted with the cold sound of the plane.

“What are they doing now? Flight attendants! Where are they?”

But there were no attendants.

When the passengers finally felt something was wrong.

In the announcement, voices continued to flow.

[Now, now! Well, for the sake of the show’s dramatic tension, the plane has bombs on it! If you do something stupid… Boom! Oh, my. It’s better to be careful, right?]

People were screaming everywhere even before he ended his sentence. Anyone who has ever heard of Egostic knows that he’s not talking nonsense.

In the midst of numerous screams, he only smiled and continued to speak on the speaker.

[Let’s start the game!]

***

[Stardus, are you watching Egostic’s live? He’s terrorizing again.]

“Yes, I’m watching it now.”

What the hell is he doing?