· · ────── ꒰ঌ·✦·໒꒱ ────── · ·
Translated by BiasNil
· · ────── ꒰ঌ·✦·໒꒱ ────── · ·
Honestly, even from before—
Shin Haru was suspicious of Egostic.
Yeah, after the plane attack, to be exact.
His phone call to her was the decisive trigger.
He believes in her.
He said she could stop the plane.
What villain would say that to a hero?
Can she call him a villain?
Since then—
Stardust personally investigated Egostic.
He caused three attacks in total:
A ship, a train, an airplane.
Zero casualties in all.
Perhaps this was also a coincidence.
As the so-called Stardust Union, which supports Stardust herself, claimed: Egostic intended to kill, but Stardust blocked it all—hence no casualties.
But what others don't know, she knows.
Egostic caused the plane terrorist attack last time, and no one was killed or injured.
In fact, when the plane was crashing, he contacted her to save it.
In other words, this made her wonder.
Even in the previous terrorist attacks—had Egostic set something up?
In fact, weren't all the incidents designed to prevent deaths?
Then the question that comes up is this—
Let's assume it wasn't for causing casualties or demanding money and valuables.
Why did he do it?
Why plan the attacks?
The most common answer is…
Because he's an attention seeker. Because he's crazy. He's out of his mind.
Yeah, that's the most common answer.
But she wondered:
Is that the only reason?
Of course, she doesn't deny that… he's a little crazy.
But her intuition—
Her intuition kept whispering:
There's more to it.
She didn't think that was the whole reason.
So she looked into it.
Things that changed after the attacks.
She read newspapers, National Statistical Office releases, articles…
That's how she figured it out:
Explosive inspections have been implemented for vehicles. Cybersecurity across government, broadcasters, and various companies has been improved.
And villain crime rates decreased. From the start, Egostic himself dealt with three villains. Since villains avoid acting when other villains are active, terrorism dropped during Egostic's period.
But these are too far-fetched to say "Egostic intended them." It feels like stretching to favor Egostic.
In fact, Mangodan—Egostic's fan club—justified his terror with similar logic.
What she feels most, out of all the changes linked to Egostic, is this:
She's gained much more power. She's gotten a lot stronger.
"….."
She clenched her fist.
Blocking the train; stopping the plane—
Through those two, her power grew unrecognizably. The Association has even considered promotion to S-class.
Of course, promotion is tricky. It's judged by the International Hero Association, not Korea's Association, so it isn't easy. And no one has ever gone from class A to class S before.
So it's a big deal even to discuss.
Her strength—she's grown stronger than ever.
More than anyone else.
And who should she attribute this to?
That Egostic guy?
"…Gosh, what am I even saying?"
That's not true.
Things just happened to go well; that's all.
Did Egostic know Stardust becomes more capable in crises and start terrorizing to build up her strength?
"Man… what kind of delusion is that?"
She laughed it off as ridiculous.
[Yes, Ms. Stardust. You've done a good job. In a way I never imagined. I didn't expect you to save everyone like that. It's your victory.]
[So come forward. Clench your fists. Strain your legs, and fly into the sky to save people. You can do it. Because it's you.]
"…"
It's ridiculous.
Even if she doesn't know what he knows—or why he believes she can grow—
When she recalls what he said, she feels uneasy.
'I'm sure it was a villain's line… and during his own terrorism.'
Why can't his words leave her head?
She shook her head to scatter the thoughts.
It's just delusions of grandeur.
And Egostic wasn't "just" a terrorist in the first place.
He shot three villains dead. Including followers involved, he's killed quite a few.
Eliminating villains without hesitation. Private sanctions. People call him an anti-hero because he talks well, but killing outside the law is still murder.
But…
She turned from the screen to her laptop.
What she was looking at was data she'd obtained with security clearance from the Association president.
Although "confidential—top security only, president access only," it was a file she pried loose from him—barely approved, insisting on the right to know, emphasizing she's an A-class hero.
When she asked why it wasn't shared with heroes and only within the Association, she got the absurd answer: "Security—can't be helped."
'Tsk… he thinks of us as hounds or something.'
Anyway, she succeeded in accessing it.
A summary of S- to B-class villains.
Marked "Class 1 Classified."
She searched for villains Egostic had dealt with so far.
***
Real name: Jeon Jae-hyuk.
An S-class villain.
Sorcerer.
After killing eight people, he was caught attempting to conjure them as a sacrifice.
Danger: the limits of his magic are unknown.
Class 2 Confidential: The earthquake on 20.03.24 was caused by him, but it was declared a natural disaster after [devastating] records.
*Given sufficient sacrifice, he can cause any disaster—designated S-class. International Hero Association heroes are also searching. Do not brief domestic heroes; /immediate shootings /command.*
Processed by A-class villain Egostic.
***
From other cases—including Rhino and Teleporter—she learned one thing:
The villains he actively killed shared a trait: even those with no big incidents yet had abilities capable of causing "large-scale disasters" someday.
FYI, she tried to check how Egostic himself was recorded—but it was tagged [Class 0 Classified], visible only to the Association president or the International Association Council. The president's only answer: he doesn't know; designation comes from the body above him.
Something was off, but she tabled it.
The important thing was Egostic—how he behaves.
'It's hard to call him a villain…'
He's a villain when it comes to staging massive terrorism.
But there's ambiguity in his moves: culling followers, stopping Crocodile Man, and those suspicious attacks with zero casualties.
And this Apple Mango business only strengthened her suspicion.
"…"
Apple Mango.
In truth, she recognized him as Egostic as soon as she saw him.
Voice, height, manner—how could she not?
Of course she's the only one who's met Egostic in person; the other two didn't seem to notice.
He even called himself Apple Mango… he didn't seem to be trying that hard to hide.
But the important thing:
Why was he there?
The previous response had been planned from the start.
They had intended to leak to the media that Shadow Walker collapsed, after intel said a massive night attack would hit Busan.
The plan was to suppress the terrorists safely with Shadow Walker—suited for close-quarters—since there would likely be many hostages.
As for Apple Mango—well, Egostic had already taken out the grunts, so there wasn't much chance to step in.
Egostic left, spouting nonsense to the end.
Should she have attacked and captured him on the spot?
"…"
Okay.
She had to admit it.
Her suspicions about Egostic became a kind of certainty.
Why did a villain save people there?
He's a madman, yes—but if you line up everything he's done… as netizens say, he also looks like a hero pretending to be a villain.
Then what is he—hero, anti-hero? Why stage terrorism?
Is he painting some big picture none of them see?
Maybe he's just doing whatever he wants, and she's over-interpreting.
But—
Highly developed intuition is, in itself, a rational inference.
She'd been suspicious.
With the Apple Mango incident, suspicion hardened into near-certainty:
Egostic is not just a villain.
He's never a hero—but even so—
It's ambiguous to call him an enemy; he's no ally either, but in the end he helps them.
She suspects he's orchestrating something big.
Stardust couldn't help it.
She didn't sleep well that night.
'What the hell is Egostic up to? Is he actually on our side? No, definitely not. What if he's the real
hero wearing a villain's costume? What are you saying, Haru—you're finally crazy.'
With tangled thoughts, she couldn't sleep. In the next attack he causes, she resolved to identify him.
But why call himself Apple Mango? Is there a hidden meaning?
***
"I'm fucked…"
"Why did you say Apple Mango? Tell me, Da-in. You pretended to hate mango so much—did you actually like the nickname?"
"Please be quiet… please…!"