Chapter 363:

Chapter 363:

A message from Stardus out of the blue.

...Virtually the first contact since our last meeting, I swallowed hard and texted.

[What's up?]

A few moments later, a message came back to me with a beep.

>[Just...missing you].

"Huh..."

I gulped at Stardus' reaction.

Ever since she'd confessed her feelings to me, she'd become distant. I wonder if it's a reaction to all the time she's been holding back.

>[What are you doing not sleeping?]

When she asked me that, I simply replied.

[....I just couldn't sleep, I was thinking about this and that.]

>[Really? What's wrong?]

...Before I could even ask Stardus why she wasn't sleeping, the reply came quickly.

What's going on...?

[Nothing much. I'm just wondering what to do next. I've got a lot on my mind.]

I thought as I sent it.

...Now that I think about it, I should also tell Stardus that the powers of those with abilities will soon run out of control. That way, she won't be surprised when that day comes.

That's when I thought to myself.

>[If you have any concerns, please let me know.]

>[I'm your... girlfriend now]

>[(embarrassed teddy bear emoji)]

"Pfft."

I gulped down my water, my throat burning unnecessarily at her response.

Girlfriend... Girlfriend...

"Girlfriend... I guess."

I fanned myself with my hand, feeling my face heat up slightly.

...Stardus. That Stardus is my girlfriend.

Girlfriend. It's been years since I last heard such a cute word.

[I get it, haha]

>[Nods]

>[(nodding teddy bear emoji)]

I looked at the white bear emoji she was using, and momentarily stifled a laugh.

Stardus...Was this how she sounded online? It was so cute, unlike in real life, where she was a bit of a cold-hearted beauty queen.

‘No... Now that I think about it, was she cute in real life?'

As I seriously thought about it, I realized that she was right and this was my chance.

A chance to tell Stardus what's going to happen next. Phase 4's ability power-up. The "Inflation" event, as it was originally called.

[Oh, and Stardus, there's something else I want to tell you.]

>[What? And don't call me Stardus, call me Haru...]

[Yes, Haru, lol. Anyway, that's what I heard...]

With that, I told her what was going to happen.

Roughly speaking, experts in the dark say that the abilities of all villains will suddenly be enhanced in the future.

As such, the world could become chaotic.

>[Okay, this is bad....]

And she easily believed me.

Of course, I assured her that she had nothing to worry about. Of course, I didn't mention LL Seola, because I'm sure she and I would do our best to clean up the mess...

Anyway, with that reassurance, we continued talking into the wee hours of the morning.

And finally, when it was really late and it was time to go to sleep.

>[You know....]

>[When will we see each other again?]

Things moved very quickly.

[(Breaking News) Yuseong PMC talents register as heroes en masse. ‘From now on, I want to work for the country.' South Korea has hundreds of B-class and below heroes...Record number per capita?]

[(Breaking News) Hero Association promises to improve treatment of heroes under a massive salary hike. ‘We will build an Association that will be strong for 100 years' speech by the President of the Association]]

*

[(Rekka) Yuseong Group and Hero Association sign a partnership. Group President Lee Seola says, "We promise our full support."]

(A picture of the association president shaking hands with Lee Seola and smiling brightly)

A sudden what?

The number of heroes has increased dramatically...Yuseong Group says they're supporting the Association...

=[Comment]=

[???? suddenly there are hundreds of heroes in Korea? Wasn't it originally less than half of half of half that number?]

ᄂ[ᄋᄋ There isn't a single person in Class A... but it's still the highest number ever lol. What's happening all of a sudden?]

[The number of heroes has increased...Is it good? Isn't it Stardus' one tool show anyway?]

[The local and C-class or lower jobbers are still handled by other heroes...You can think of it as an increase in the police force]

[(Statement of belief) Even if the number of heroes increases by hundreds, one Egostic can protect Korea.]

ᄂ[This is correct]

ᄂ[100 heroes VS 1 villain]

ᄂ[Mango, where are you, please come back~]

ᄂ[The really scary thing is that this is true]

[Still, it's good that they're increasing the number of heroes... it's a win-win]

*

The Republic of Korea had built a solid foundation for the Association against catastrophic power inflation.

And rightly so.

This increase in heroes had reached Stardus.

"More heroes."

~The Heroes Association office~

She heard from the president and read about it in the news.

Stardus smiled broadly at the news of more Heroes, and thought to herself.

‘Egostic said that power inflation would soon cause chaos. It's good to be prepared.’

Seola helped.

Interesting. What perfect timing. What a coincidence... This...

"...."

...Coincidence.

A coincidence?

That's all she thought.

Her eyes grew cold for a moment, and she silently thought to herself with a strange intuition.

Did Seola really just happen to have the right timing?

"........"

It was strange.

It was too well timed.

It was as if Seola knew that chaos was coming.

Of course, she could have gotten the information from another source, or it could have been a coincidence, but...for some reason, she had this intuitive feeling.

As she pondered this, she realized something and muttered quietly in a cold voice.

"...Wait."

When I didn't know Da-in was Egostic.

When I first met him on the beach, who was the person who introduced him to me?

"...Seola."

Stardus muttered that in a cold voice.

It was a moment when a misunderstanding...(?) occurred.