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Translator: Vine
Chapter Title: Uninvited Guest
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Watching the ice cream topple towards me, I found myself deep in thought.
What did I ever do to deserve such a trial?
...Of course, I'd made plenty of mistakes. Plenty, indeed.
But this? This was almost as if the world itself was itching to devour me whole.
What were the odds of going to a festival and coincidentally running into someone desperate to catch me?
And what were the odds of *their* companions getting entangled with me?
This was absurd. There had to be some sort of conspiracy against me.
In that very brief moment.
In the fleeting seconds it took for the precarious ice cream to collapse onto me, I had already perfectly envisioned the future.
The ice cream would smear all over my body.
Then, naturally, given her personality, this Chaehyun woman would ask for my phone number or bank account details to compensate me.
Both were serious personal information leaks. Any information handed over like that would, given enough time, likely flow straight to Stardus.
Then, without a chance to move, it would be checkmate.
And it would also be a problem if I just bolted without giving her anything.
Wouldn't that be incredibly suspicious? If my entire body was covered in ice cream by someone else, and I just ran away without asking any questions or making any demands?
Ultimately, the issue was whether Stardus would sense something about me.
To others, they might wonder how much she could have possibly seen of me in such a short time, or why she'd suddenly become suspicious.
But from the perspective of someone who'd read the original story, it was a different matter. I didn't know how developed Shin Haru's sixth sense, her extrasensory perception, was at this point, but it definitely had to be somewhat developed. I, who had reread the original dozens of times, was certain she would have looked at me with a puzzled expression. I was sure of it.
My thoughts concluded.
The tower of ice cream was now just moments away from touching my body.
The moment it made contact, my life could twist in a terrible direction.
Do you know that when a person is on the verge of death, they can summon strength they didn't even know they had?
My situation was exactly like that.
I had to move.
If I didn't move, I would die.
"Hmph!"
"Whoa!"
Using insane reflexes, I dodged the woman wielding the ice cream as she approached me.
Egoistic's Ultimate Secret Art, Shadow Clone Jutsu...!
It was a success. I had evaded it!
"Oops."
...It would have been even better if I hadn't tripped right after.
Roll, roll, roll.
Dust coated my coat and face.
But sometimes, a man has to not be afraid of looking like a mess. For my future, for the happiness of this world.
So, I wasn't embarrassed. Really...
"Oppa!"
"Dain-ssi!"
As I suddenly tumbled across the ground, a startled Seo-eun and Subin-ssi rushed over.
"Ah, I'm fine. Really, I'm fine."
I brushed off my clothes as I stood up.
...Truth be told, I was covered in dust from head to toe, so brushing myself off was pointless.
Still, I did it for appearances. I just wanted to run away.
"Oh dear... Are you alright? I'm so, so sorry. It was, it was my clumsiness..."
Kim Chaehyun approached me, her eyes glistening with tears.
Her triple-scoop ice cream, thanks to my super-dodge, was now splattered on the ground. Squashed flat on the ground, it looked like a giant rainbow worm. The more I looked at it, the more relieved I felt that it hadn't landed on me.
First things first, I needed to get away from this tearful Kim Chaehyun. Why was she suddenly crying? *I* was the one who wanted to cry. I didn't want to get involved with her any further...!
Behind her, Shin Haru was approaching, looking flustered. No! Don't come closer! Don't remember my face!
Normally, I'd be the one telling those who cry first to win that tears solve nothing in this world, but now wasn't the time. It was obvious that nothing good would come from staying here any longer. Now was the time to act not as the crazy villain Egoistic, but as sweet Civilian A.
"It's quite alright. Anyone can make a mistake. I suppose I overreacted a bit. Haha, I should have just dodged slightly."
"Sniff, b-but still..."
"It's fine. Really, it's fine."
By now, tears were streaming down her cheeks. Calm down, please. The more you drag this out, the more I'll be ruined. Shin Haru is already watching me from behind!
"Alright, Seo-eun. Shall we go...?"
I said, trying to hastily make my exit.
But Seo-eun was glaring at the crying Kim Chaehyun. Her face showed deep displeasure. Subin-ssi's expression wasn't much better.
Kids, what's with you...?
This isn't the time for this. We're all going to die if we keep this up!
Just as I was about to say 'Let's go' once more.
CRASH—
Suddenly, a tremendous roar echoed from one side of the festival.
"Aaaaaaaah!"
People screamed.
CRASH— CRASH—
Sounds that shook heaven and earth.
Suddenly, the peaceful festival erupted into screams, as if a war had broken out.
What the hell? What is it now?
"K-hahahahahahahahaha!!!!!!"
A tremendous roar, like something you'd only hear at an idol concert.
A voice that vibrated your brain within your skull, like when you accidentally turn up Bluetooth earphone volume to full blast.
"Stardus!!!!! Stardus, show yourself!!!!!!!!"
CRASH—. Another sound of something breaking.
Everyone began screaming and fleeing in all directions.
I immediately looked out for Seo-eun and Subin-ssi first. Both looked utterly startled. Since they were powerless, it was my absolute responsibility to protect them.
"Stick close!"
I gripped both of them tightly with one hand and spoke. Since I could teleport in a pinch, as long as we maintained physical contact, I felt somewhat reassured.
Both Seo-eun and Subin-ssi firmly grasped one of my hands. Seo-eun, in particular, was trembling. She'd always stayed at home, so it was probably her first time in such a situation, which must have startled her. Or perhaps an old trauma was resurfacing. Either way, it wasn't good.
Subin-ssi, at least, seemed a little calmer. She had, after all, personally instigated terror attacks, so she must have had far more experience with this kind of thing. Her usual sweet, giggling demeanor was gone, replaced by a hardened, cool expression as she scanned her surroundings. Seeing this, I couldn't help but reasonably suspect that her usual timid act wasn't an act at all.
I saw Shin Haru quickly pulling her senior, Kim Chaehyun, and running in the opposite direction of the noise. Her thought must have been to get her senior to safety first. That was a very Stardus-like thought, prioritizing people above all else.
"O-Oppa. We need to run, quickly. T-the warp. Hurry."
"Yeah, I'll do it. But just a moment, let me see who it is."
Seo-eun clutched my hand tightly.
Sorry, just wait a little longer.
How many times had I binged the original story?
What was certain was that I remembered even the detailed timeline almost perfectly.
And clearly, there were no villains committing large-scale terror attacks at this time.
The villains originally slated to appear at this time were Enzodic Evil and Rhino, but both of them had already been eliminated long ago.
I stealthily moved towards the source of the sound.
Going against the stream of people screaming 'Aaaah!' and fleeing felt like being a salmon swimming upstream.
Seo-eun was trembling so violently that I almost hugged her to reassure her as we went. Honestly, it would be great to just teleport her somewhere safe and leave, but that would drain too much of my energy. I didn't even know what I'd have to do yet, so it was no good to expend my strength. Sorry, Seo-eun, just bear with it a little longer.
So I rounded the corner, poking just my head out to see what was happening.
A green monster was smashing all the booths.
A massive monster, seemingly the size of a house.
It looked like a person of monstrous build, but its body was green, its face was like a crocodile's, and it was wildly swinging a tail.
I knew this guy well.
A-Class Villain, Crocodile Man.
But that guy, it wasn't his time to appear yet.
Why had he suddenly started his activities now?
"Stardus!!!!!! Show yourself!!!!!!"
The guy was still generating sound shockwaves that could burst eardrums.
Seo-eun and Subin-ssi had already covered their ears long ago. My own ears felt like they were bleeding, but because they were covering theirs, I had to take my hands off them, leaving my own ears exposed as my hands wrapped around their waists. Argh.
"....."
Anyway, it seemed I had to deal with that guy.
I began furiously racking my limited brain.
My blood type was A.
And I'd read somewhere that Type A blood types were quick-witted in emergencies. Or was that wrong? Never mind if it was.
Anyway, what was important was the predicted scenario.
That guy was calling for Stardus.
As someone who held a grudge against Stardus, it wasn't strange for him to call her out.
But the important thing was that Stardus probably wasn't in a state to come.
Being a hero wasn't easy.
For one, if your face became known, even your in-laws and distant relatives could become targets for villains, so it was natural to apply a perception-dampening device to your face before appearing.
And especially in Stardus's case, if she just flew through the air in normal clothes, she'd get hurt from the friction, so she had to wear a specially made latex suit.
But the important thing was that Stardus was here now, without any of her gear.
She'd have to go back to the association to get her equipment, and the distance from here to the association was, of course, quite far.
And with that guy wreaking havoc, casualties would continue to mount.
Right.
If it were the Stardus I knew, Shin Haru's personality.
In a situation like this, she would just jump in, prepared for her face to be revealed.
"No."
"Oppa?"
I muttered without realizing it.
That absolutely couldn't happen.
In the final arc, because of a similar situation, she ended up revealing her face, and how miserable she became because of it.
Everything I'd done until now was to try and make our Shin Haru happy, and now it was getting twisted like this?
Over my dead body would that happen!!!
"Uwaaaah!"
"Ack, Oppa!"
Whoosh.
I warped everyone to the underground base.
It wasn't that far a distance, but bringing two more people made it tiring.
"Huff, huff."
"Ah, we're here. Phew... Huh? Oppa, what are you doing?"
"What am I doing?"
As soon as we arrived, I immediately took off my coat and put on my robe.
Then I grabbed Egoistic's symbol: the mask that covered half my face.
"Seo-eun, Oppa's going to go do some work."
I grabbed my special black Ego-pouch, filled with weapons, and then warped again, this time for a medium-to-long distance.
Alright, I've rested for a week, so shall we play a little more?
***
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[BREAKING] Madman Rampaging in Middle of Ice Cream Festival LOL
[Stardus still hasn't shown up, where is she?]
[Seriously, a large-scale terror attack after so long, scary]
[OMG, how can a person be that big?]
[BREAKING!!!!! BREAKING!!!!!! BREAKING!!!! EGOISTIC IS LIVE!!!!]
[Yo, Egoistic's live on YouTube right now GO GO]
[Mangostick LIVE ON lolololol]
[Let's go~ Let's go~ Let's go~ Let's go~]
[Why is he suddenly broadcasting lolololol]
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