CH 179

After pretending to be another villain without Stardus knowing and getting smashed, I sat leaning against a bed in a room in my house, still recuperating.

“Mmm… It’s sweet.”

In front of the window with a clear view of the forest outside.

I was drinking black pearl milk tea on the bed there, and I lightly shook the cup.

The ice cubes rattled and collided inside the cup.

Feeling the cold ice with my fingertips, I took another sip of milk tea through the straw.

A wickedly sweet taste spread in my mouth.

“How is it? Isn’t it delicious?”

“Yeah, it’s been a while since I had something sweet.”

I replied to Choi Se-hee, who was biting the straw in front of me and asking me.

Choi Se-hee chuckled at my answer.

Leaning back on the chair and resting her chin on her raised arm on the backrest, Choi Se-hee looked at me and then turned her gaze away slightly, frowning her eyebrows a little, and opened her mouth.

“But why are you lying here, Seo Ja-young?”

“Uh, I feel comfortable here.”

Beside the bed, there is a purple something, holding my blanket and rolling around.

Seo Ja-young, my companion who has settled down here because she found it more comfortable than the living room.

The bed I am currently lying on is a treatment room that Seo-eun, Soobin, and Eun-wol renovated by combining one room.

“I kept getting hurt, so I couldn’t stand it anymore and I just went ahead and built a whole new room. I took out the fatigue maintenance device from the basement and installed it here, and I even made a window in the room to let in sunlight, etc. As a result, Seo Ja-young, who liked it more than me, was using this place better. The bed was big enough for two people to sleep in, so I felt like I was raising a sloth.

While watching Seo Ja-young rolling around like that, I glanced over at Choi Se-hee and poked her lightly.

“No matter how much I think about it, I think I’m okay now…”

“No, you can’t. Rest until the end of this week.”

Then Choi Se-hee said that firmly.

No, I have to work…

Still, she was so stubborn with me that I couldn’t help but take a break. …Actually, I felt guilty after hearing from Seo Ja-young that Choi Se-hee cried and went crazy when I collapsed.

Anyway, these days I was spending my time resting peacefully. I comforted Lee Seol-a, who said she was worried and wouldn’t do that again and said she would visit me soon. I observed Behemoth, who was being restored in the experimental tank by Seo-eun in my place, absorbing the shock.

It’s not like I mixed up my ego… Anyway

“Hmm… I want to eat pineapple…”

“Pineapple?”

“Pineapple pizza…”

“…”

As I listened to the strange words muttered by Seo Ja-young, who kept covering her mouth with a blanket, I got lost in thought.

It’s just that now that my health is gradually recovering, there are things I can see.

“….”

Yeah, Stardus.

It’s time to think about Stardus’ abilities, which I tried to understand even when I was in a bad state.

I evaluated the last battle while taking another sip of milk tea.

…First of all, Stardus has definitely gotten stronger. Even more than I expected.

It’s a well-known fact that Stardus gets stronger the more it’s in a crisis, but even taking that into account, it was quite strong. After all, it eventually took me down.

So what’s the conclusion?

I’m just going to leave the next main event, which was known among fans as the Demon Incident, to happen as it is. In the original work, Stardus couldn’t handle it, so I tried to handle it in advance to prevent the terror itself from happening, but after directly clashing with Stardus, I realized that I could handle it.

“Pineapple?”

“Pineapple pizza…”

“…”

As Seo Ja-young muttered strange words, covering her mouth with a blanket next to me, I got lost in thought, using her words as a radio.

It’s just that now that I’m slowly recovering my health, there are things that I can see.

“….”

Yeah. Stardus.

It’s time to think about Stardus’s ability that I’ve been trying to grasp even in this situation.

As I took another sip of my milk tea, I evaluated the previous battle.

…First of all, Stardus has definitely gotten stronger. Even more so than I expected.

It’s a well-known fact that Stardus gets stronger in crisis situations, but even considering that, she was quite strong. After all, she eventually brought me down.

So, what’s the conclusion?

I’m just going to let the main event, which was called the devilish incident among the fans, happen as it is. The original Stardus couldn’t handle it, so I tried to handle it in advance to prevent the terror from happening, but when I clashed with Stardus directly, I realized I could do it.

Perhaps after this experience, Stardus will become quite strong, especially in a group battle.

…Of course, I’m a little anxious because the image of Stardus looking haggard in the original is stuck in my mind, but the current Stardus is different, so it should be okay.

Anyway, that’s it. Now all I have to do is wait.

Instead, I decided to think about something more important.

Stardus’ reaction on the day she hit me and knocked me down.

“…..”

“Oh, suddenly a serious expression.”

As I heard Seo Ja-young murmuring next to me, I thought about Stardus on that day.

‘….No, this can’t be happening…’

Yeah.

Stardus’ reaction when she saw me fall down was somewhat strange.

I thought she would either attack me more happily or rush to catch me, but she seemed very surprised to see me.

Why was she surprised? It’s not like she was happy?

Well, it’s unlikely that she was worried about me as a villain. Maybe she was just surprised because I suddenly collapsed in front of her? She needed to gather more information, but I was about to die first?

That seems to be the most plausible explanation.

…Well, I think it’s understandable that one might be surprised even if there’s a reason like this. A villain who suddenly caused dozens of terror attacks and never got caught just suddenly appears and spills blood in front of you, so you could be surprised.

Well, I don’t think there’s much to worry about.

I thought lightly and passed it by.

By the way, what is Stardus doing right now? Is he regretting missing me and hitting the ground?

No. Maybe she’s sleeping like a baby after giving me a good punch?

That’s all I thought.

***

Since seeing Egostic fall with blood all around him, weakly smiling in his final moments,

Shin Haru has been haunted by nightmares for a while.

…Of course, in reality, it’s not that cruel and horrible of a dream.

Most of the content of the dream was about their past experiences with Egostic.

[Stardus. You can do it. Get up.]

Egostic who seriously cheered on himself who had given up.

[I owe you one.]

Egostic who laughed while bleeding from taking the attack in his place.

[Good job. I’ll take care of the rest.]

[…Don’t you think you should do at least this much for your archenemy?]

When she was in despair in front of an unbeatable enemy, Egostic would come up from behind and comfort her, taking the lead.

That dream only showed scenes of her time with Egostic up to that point.

However, at the end of the dream, it simply showed Egostic lying cold and still, pierced through the stomach and bleeding without a word.

Whenever she dreamed that dream, Shin Haru would wake up drenched in sweat, gasping with a pounding heart.

Fortunately, that dream disappeared completely after the news that Egostic was alive was spread, and her condition completely recovered.

“Umm…”

In her office that she had not visited in a long time, Shin Haru stretched while basking in the warm sunlight.

…Egostic must be somewhere now too.

“I wonder if he’s also resting under the sun like me, under the same sky.”

Lost in thought, Shin Haru startled herself with her own unconscious musings. “Why am I even thinking about him again? I must be crazy.”

After watching Egostic’s survival broadcast, Shin Haru had been feeling rather unsettled lately, particularly due to her behavior over the past five days. “Ugh, why did I act that way back then?”

Blushing, she absentmindedly twisted a strand of her blond hair as it glimmered in the sunlight. “No, Egostic couldn’t have died from something like that. Remember when she survived getting her heart pierced in the basement of the Haneun Group? Of course, she must have had some kind of medical facility in her own base.”

Upon hearing the news of Egostic’s survival, Shin Haru had finally regained her composure. However, whenever she thought back to her behavior just a few days prior, she couldn’t help but feel embarrassed.

After seeing Egostic collapse from her own hand, Shin Haru had felt a bit off for a while.

She found herself staring blankly at Egostic’s old videos.

“…It’ll be okay. It’ll be alright,” she murmured to herself at home.

One day, she found herself shedding a tear for no reason.

The association had stopped coming to work altogether.

“Ugh…”

Feeling embarrassed, she tried to think positively.

…Well, at least that’s something.

She knew that the association president and staff were too tired from fighting with Egostic and had taken a break, so she hadn’t gone out either.

…Not going out because she was thinking about Egostic was a grave concern.

“…..”

Of course, even now… Just thinking about Egostic, who had shed blood and collapsed by her own hands, made her momentarily stop breathing and dizzy.

No problem, she had just taken down a villain who was committing terrorism… no matter how much she thought about it.

“…Egostic isn’t just any villain…”

As such thoughts came to her, she grew melancholy.

She wasn’t sorry for the villain, or anything like that. But, she wasn’t not sorry, either…

With such thoughts, she found herself staring blankly at the ground again today.

That evening, as she stumbled back home, she had another dream.

[Only you complete me.]

The appearance of the egotist who used to say that to themselves.

[For my archenemy…]

The appearance of the egotist who smiled and said she was his archenemy.

[My hero, you are weaker than Stardus.]

The appearance of the egotist who confidently called Stardus his hero on the broadcast.

And then, the scene changes.

Suddenly, the egotist was in the arms of a woman with light blue hair,

laughing and sneering at him.

“Huh. Is that my archenemy, who didn’t even know it was me and was trying to kill me?

Stardus, you are no longer my enemy. My hero is now… Icicle.”

“Heh heh heh. Sorry, Haru. It turned out like this. From now on, I’ll deal with all the terrorism related to Egostic. You know that, right?”

As the laughter of Egostic and Lee Seola, who hugged him, echoed everywhere,

Shin Haru woke up from his sleep.

“Heek. Huh, huh.”

…No. What kind of dream is this?

Shin Haru unknowingly muttered to himself, holding his throbbing head.