CH 181

Hero.

A hero is someone who protects citizens and upholds justice in society.

Their powerful abilities, different from others, are given to them to protect people and eliminate evil, thought Shin Haru.

That’s why heroes must be fair to themselves and more strict with evil than anyone else. Even if others feel attracted to villains, heroes have a duty to eliminate them according to a fair standard.

To a hero, a villain is just a target to be dealt with.

So.

Her thoughts right now are wrong.

“…..”

Egostic.

Shin Haru was thinking about him as usual today.

If someone asked her if Egostic was a bad guy, she could say yes.

Starting with numerous terrorist acts in which he weighed the lives of hundreds of people 

To kill unreceived villains and form a team of other villains.

He is a bad guy, but…

“Haa…”

…Why doesn’t he give off a bad-guy vibe at all?

As a hero herself, is it right for her to have such thoughts about this specific villain?

Of course, there was a reason for her confusion. Egostic is a bad guy, but he hasn’t only done bad things. In fact, if she considers Behemoth, HanEun group, and Wolgwanggyo incidents, he may have saved more people than he killed.

“No, why am I thinking like this again…?”

Shin Haru murmured, touching her forehead.

Yeah, let’s stop thinking about it. Her head is messed up these days since Egostic keeps coming out in her dream.

Egostic is a villain. A villain she must catch.

Nothing more than that.

And, anyway.

‘…He could also turn against me and become an archenemy.’

Shin Haru smiled bitterly as she thought to herself.

…Isn’t that right? After calling him an archenemy as she looked Egostic, she almost killed him without recognizing him.

Of course, Egostic was initially a terrorist who deceived and attacked her, but seeing him lying there, covered in blood, it didn’t seem to be important anymore.

Shin Haru didn’t want to kill Egostic, she just wanted to capture him.

“….”

The next time they meet, even if Egostic is more hostile towards her, she will endure it. It’s natural for villains to be hostile toward heroes. Instead, Egostic was the strange one, who had supported her as “his hero,” took the stab for her, and stood in for her when she was in trouble.

However, just the thought that he might look at her with a contemptuous expression hurts her.

She thought bitterly without realizing it.

That’s right. Let’s not think about Egostic anymore. I’m a hero. I’m protecting Korea from other villains. Let’s just focus on that.

“Stardus, the results of the additional investigation into the Wolgwanggyo terrorist incident are out.”

“…Oh, yes. Let’s check it out.”

Yes, let’s focus on our work.

She gathered her thoughts.

[[Breaking News] The Korean Trade Center occupied by a villain… Turning into a devil-castle-like appearance.]

Finally, another terrorist incident occurred.

A bigger one.

***

The Korean Hero Association.

They were the type of people who wouldn’t bat an eye at most villains due to frequent terrorism, but the current situation was truly a mess.

“What the hell! Did everyone evacuate?”

“Yes! We believe that it eroded little by little overnight, there weren’t many citizens in the terrorist scene in the first place.”

“Phew. Well, that’s a relief… What’s going on here?”

Early morning.

The association president, who rushed to work in a hurry due to the sudden news that was heard overnight, wiped his sweat while taking a deep breath. As he was feeling like he didn’t even have much hair left to lose these days, his remaining hair seemed to be falling out.

He finally sat down at the control center with difficulty and asked the employee next to him with a little hope.

“By the way… Could this terrorism be caused by Egostic?”

“According to the investigation results, it appears to be the sole action of a villain called ‘Demonz’ and there seems to be no connection with EgoStream.”

“Haa… Damn it. My life can never be that easy. I guess we’re screwed. What should we do now?”

The president murmured in frustration.

And as he felt like aging at least ten years older while listening to the report, Stardus arrived.

“…”

Stardus wasn’t feeling well after dreaming of Lee Seola hugging and laughing with Egostic yesterday.

After greeting the president and taking her seat, Shadow Walker, who had just woken up as if he had been sleeping in the association lounge, arrived, also muttering with sleepy eyes.

After all heroes in Seoul had arrived, the briefing began.

The professional-looking employee with glasses in charge of the explanation started speaking calmly, pointing to a large screen.

“First of all, the villain who identified himself as Demonz is estimated to be in his 20s to 30s and is believed to be male. Although it’s not very clear from the remaining video records, it seems to be a thoroughly planned event.”

Saying so, the employee projected the phrase “Demonz Castle,” which the villain had carved on a stone in front of him as if he were scrawled with something sticky black.

“As you can see from the fact that he named it Devil’s Castle, he created the entire building and underground facilities of the Trade Center.”

The screen switched again as he continued speaking.

There, a tall spacious building was eaten by something dark. And above that, an image of a castle with a black pointed spire painted in darkness.

Between the towering buildings, a black medieval castle stood out, giving a chilling and eerie atmosphere. 

And everyone’s expression hardened as they saw the image, 

The employee continued to explain with a stern expression on his face.

“Currently, this sticky black substance is present in the entire building and underground. Although it doesn’t seem to harm humans, it is where monsters are believed to be born.”

The screen switched to a video.

It depicted a gloomy underground scene beneath the demonic castle, where eerie creatures were emerging from the black liquid.

Black tentacles on the floor, empty in a dark atmosphere.

And on one side in the darkness, there was something like bizarre living creatures coming up one by one from the black exchequer.

When everyone realized the severity of the situation from the bizarre scene, the association staff continued to explain.

Although the above-ground floor of the Trade Center had a threatening appearance like a devil’s fortress, in reality, it was an illusion, and the real structure was a complex underground network resembling an ant colony.

It appears that numerous monsters are being cultivated in the vast and complicated underground network, and the villain responsible for this seems to be Demonz.

Therefore, the association’s conclusion was that solving the problem would likely involve dealing with this villain. 

“Hmm… Tsk. This is hard since this incident is happening right in the middle of Seoul, and we can’t just launch missiles, and the underground makes things even more complicated.”

The association president muttered with his tongue out, the agent nodded and explained.

“Yes. As of now, the most appropriate way to solve the incident seems to be to eliminate the villain who is responsible for all of this… We know for sure that he’s somewhere in the underground, so we need to find him ourselves. And…”

He trailed off with an expression of difficulty.

“From our investigation before sunrise, we found that the black substance of the villain seems to interfere with Shadow Walker’s ability.”

“In other words, I’m useless again. Hahaha…”

Muttering in a dejected tone with a bitter expression, he eventually leaned back and hung his head on the back of the chair with dark circles under his eyes.

Once called the Emperor of the Night, Shadow Walker had lost three times.

Leaving him frustrated, 

The only hero who could solve this situation was ultimately one person.

“Stardus.”

“I’m on it.”

Stardus, Shin Haru, nodded briefly.

Of course, it was her turn to take action.

And so, the detailed schedule was arranged.

Demonz was immediately announced as an S-class villain, and the area near the Devil’s Castle Trade Center became off-limits to the citizens.

A few hours later, in the deserted street as if it were a ghost town.

Shin Haru, who arrived there, quietly stepped forward.

Her goal was to eliminate the proliferating monsters in the Devil’s Castle underground and the villain known as Demonz, who was believed to be staying in the deepest area.

After taking a deep breath, she slowly moved her feet into the darkness.

To the place where only she, the monsters, and the villain Demonz was.

***

At that moment,

At the EgoStream headquarters, the big house.

“Catch him!!!”

“Da-in, calm down!”

“…Sorry, Da-in Da-in.”

“Wait, wait! Listen to me. And Eun-wol? Shall we stop drawing the magic circles for a moment and talk this out?”

After I said that I would go into Demonz’s underground, our Egostream headquarters became a bit noisy.

…Help.