CH 165

Ep.165 Gang-up

S-class hero Metel came all the way to Korea to catch me.

As soon as I heard the news, I began to investigate Metel.

“Hmm…”

Metel, an S-class hero from the United States.

A cold and arrogant woman with long, gray hair.

Her main ability is to summon rocks.

[ROOOAR-.]

In the video that captured her heroic deeds, she was confronting villains. Countless large and sharp rocks were pouring out from between them, tearing them apart.

“Phew. She’s tough.”

After watching several other videos, I came to that conclusion.

She was strong. Very much so.

As an S-class hero, that was only natural.

There might not be much difference between S-class villains that are littered everywhere, but in reality, not all S-class heroes are the same.

Generally, the association is very strict in assigning high ratings to heroes and lenient to villains, so being an S-class hero is impressive. Considering that A-class heroes can defeat several A-class villains and also take on S-class villains… one can roughly estimate how strong S-class heroes are, especially since S-class ratings are given after careful consideration and multiple assessments.

In particular, the S-class heroes in the United States are rumoured to be exceptionally strong among the numerous S-class heroes. Since there is no SSS-class hero above the S-class, once a certain threshold is crossed, they are all the same S-class heroes. It is said that if there were an S+ rating, all American heroes would have that rating.

Anyway, leaving all that aside.

This Metel who came to Korea this time is clearly powerful.

“Da-in… look at this.”

A YouTube video of S-class hero Metel.

In the video, Metel stood with her arms folded on top of a forest, looking down below.

Villains who were rebelling in the forest.

From above them.

[…Under the sky, all of you will be judged.]

She spoke confidently with an arrogant gaze.

At the same time.

[Roaaaaar]

A giant boulder, no, a meteor fell from the sky.

The forest was destroyed with a loud noise, and villains were swept away without even a chance to resist.

“…”

“…”

Seo-eun, who had witnessed the terrible scene with me, asked me with a worried look.

“…Da-in, can we win this? It seems a bit hopeless…”

Seo-eun seemed a little uneasy.

Looking at her like that,

I smirked.

“It’s actually better that way.”

“What do you mean?”

“Well, the opponent has to be strong for the dumpling to taste good.”

I stroked Seo-eun’s head as she was taken aback by my sudden confident tone, then got up.

“Seo-eun, call the others. Let’s go.”

“Where are we going?”

“Where else? The strategy meeting room.”

We have to hunt down an S-class hero.

***

In fact, there are many ways to deal with this hero named Metel.

Since I have a reliable assistant named Seola, I can just find out his location and ambush him, or I can just carry out remote terrorism and wait.

However, those are the actions of third-rate villains.

As a first-rate villain, I was already looking at this situation.

“….”

Why did the American Association send him to catch me, a villain who only operates in Korea?

Maybe it’s because I attended the villain summit at Cathedral

Now that I think about it, it’s suspicious that there’s an A-class hero between the S-classes.

Anyway, there is only one conclusion.

“This time, we’ll just take down the hero from America named Metel.”

Inside the meeting room.

I stood in front of a whiteboard, sitting on a chair, declaring to our EgoStream members who were watching me.

…Actually, I said it confidently as if it was something that came to me on the spot, but it was a conclusion that came after some rational thinking.

First of all, to understand this conclusion, you need to know about the International Association.

The International Association oversees all hero associations worldwide. By the way, the headquarters of this International Association is in the United States. In other words, it’s practically the same as the American association.

And whether it’s the American Association or the International Association, their common policy is that “each country takes care of its own affairs.” In other words, they don’t provide heroes to other countries like the International Association claims to be. Sending a hero to another country and having them come back dead causes many problems, and the other country’s association may be tempted to steal the hero.

So, sending an S-class hero to Korea this time is a rather unusual decision. I don’t know why they didn’t pick me, who is only A-class, even though I think about it so much.

Well, as I said earlier, it’s probably because of the Catastrophe participation. Or maybe it’s because of the alliance with Latis.

But the reason doesn’t really matter.

What’s important is that someone else’s dog entered our yard.

And if we don’t make a fuss about the dog, it will surely come back again.

We should do some training beforehand.

So my goal is simple.

I will beat the S-class hero who entered our house, and send them back to the United States in disgrace.

Then, since the International Association values self-preservation the most, they won’t send another S-class hero again, especially since one has already been defeated. Actually, it’s not even their country.

…That’s the superficial reason.

Actually, I have a hidden motive.

‘If I completely destroy the S-class hero who crossed over, wouldn’t Stardus’s popularity increase as a result of the backlash?’

I can already hear Korean TV shows popping up in my head.

[Egostic, who ruthlessly defeats America’s S-class hero, why does he keep losing to Stardus? Stardus has already surpassed America’s S-class heroes! The only thing that can restrain the wicked villain, Egostic, is Stardus! If she wasn’t there, Korea would already be doomed!]

Something like that.

…Maybe I’ll do YouTube after I retire. I think I’m pretty good at coming up with titles.

Anyway, through this entire process, the conclusion was reached that I will confront Metel.

I will also warn the International Association not to mess with me in Korea in a quiet manner…

“…I thought for sure one of the heroes would be corrupted into a villain again this time, but it’s surprising that they’re just going to fight fairly and squarely.”

“No, when did I say that? You’re mistaken.”

“Hmm…”

There was some negativity from Seo Jayoung in the middle, but whatever. It was just nonsense negativity that I decided to ignore. It sounded strange to anyone…

“That’s right. Thank goodness.”

“Soobin…?”

I made a betrayed expression at Soobin’s agreeing and nodding, but she smiled and said lightly.

“Haha, I was just kidding.”

Soobin had been joking a lot lately.

…Or was it a joke?

I cleared my throat for a moment and then spoke in a serious voice again.

“Anyway… we need to think a lot about how to catch this guy. Especially since according to Yi Lee Seola, he doesn’t care about hostages, so we need to be careful about that too…”

No, thinking about it again, it’s ridiculous. What’s a hero? Isn’t it someone who protects people, so if you give up on people, how can that be heroic?

As always, the more I meet kids like that, the more I realize how great Stardus is.

…And Metel. Her problem is not just that.

Her signature move in the video, the giant rock throwing, looks no different from meteor. That’s also a problem. Since there’s no need to use that in a crowded area, we need to carefully choose the location for the attack.

I explained that, and Seo-eun, who was planning with me, tilted her head and asked.

“Da-in, but how are we going to take down Metel? She looks pretty strong…”

“Oh, how are we going to take her down?”

“Yes.”

“Well, that’s easy.”

I extended my arm and pointed at our Ego Stream members with my finger.

“Just hit her with all six of us. No matter how high she flies or crawls, how could she win against six people attacking at once?”

And with Ha-yul’s buff now, there’s nothing more to add.

I raised my thumb towards Ha-yul.

“Ha-yul, I only trust you!”

“…Da-in, when you laughed so wickedly and spoke, you really looked like a villain.”

“Well, I am a villain, so what?”

I replied with a sly grin.

There’s nothing that wicked villains can’t do in the midst of beating up heroes of justice.

Whether you’re a hero or not, getting beaten up is a one-way street.

In fact, although it might seem like Eun-wol will be sorted out on the front lines, there’s no one better than gang up to completely destroy them in a short amount of time.

Ignoring Seo-eun’s desolate gaze, we began to make detailed plans.

“…It would be difficult if we did it all at once, so let’s divide it into two parts.”

“It wouldn’t be a bad idea for the first terror attack to involve just me and Eun-wol with a short preliminary fight…”

“Phew, I need to finish the Star Buster as soon as possible. Oh, but the opponent isn’t Stardust, should we call them Yankee Buster?”

As time passed, the plan became more concrete, and we even received information about Metal’s plan from Isola.

Finally, the plan for a major S-class hero terror attack was complete.

Now that the fishing rod was ready, it was time to bait the hook and wait for a bite.

To catch a whale.

***

Metel, an S-class hero from the United States, walked the streets of Seoul, eating grilled chicken skewers from a street vendor.

She had been hiding her identity and sightseeing in Seoul, without much concern about Egostic until just before the terror attack.

“I mean, what’s an A-class villain…we need to catch them quickly.”

Although she had heard that there were several S-class villains under her command, how strong could those below A-class really be?

With a record of killing numerous villains with her own hands, she didn’t think that villains in this country, which wasn’t even America, could be so formidable.

As she was munching on her chicken skewer, something happened.

[Metel! Egostic has caused the terror!]

“Oh really? Okay. Let’s go now. Wait for me in advance.”

She threw her stick into the trash can upon hearing the news she had been waiting for and flew up into the sky with her arms folded.

In her mind, there wasn’t even a thought that she could lose to Egostic.