Chapter 323: Planning for retirement

After I walked out of the room.

“Egostic, are you okay?”

“Yeah, yeah. Don’t worry.”

I joined Katana and Li Xiaofeng, our East Asian Villains League colleagues, who had arranged to meet separately after the meeting.

The conference room here is smaller than the round table we’ve been accustomed to, but still quite cozy.

…Technically, it’s a bunker for the Japanese government’s emergency response. For some reason, it’s currently occupied by villains… Well. Could be, I suppose.

“Please have a cup of tea.”

She, the shadowy, S-class villain Katana, who controls the Japanese government, hands me tea.

With her black hair tied back and dressed in a white robe, her demure demeanor as she handed me the tea was not at all indicative of the actual ruler of this Japanese archipelago.

…Well, of course, despite her appearance, she had overthrown the rotten Japanese government by force and sat on the throne.

History is the record of the victors, after all. Even though her villainous group, SamHyupPa, were the villains in the first place, they, like me, had the support of the people, and (seemingly) succeeded in getting the international community and the Associations to turn a blind eye to them because they had set up politicians who were not puppets in the background.

In fact, they were no different from the rebels in that they were the villains, not the good guys.

Of course, I provided the traitor and key information along the way, so it could have been different from the original.

In fact, in the original, Japan was destroyed by the Moonlight Gate incident, and the archipelago became a monster land, and I was always worried that monsters from over there would cross the water in Korea… I’m glad we’re a safe country now. Of course, Katana knew that, so she was always in my favor.

Of course, when the villainous group was taking over the country and I didn’t know how to control it, I introduced her to Lee Seola, who had a lot of experience in this dark field.

Thanks to that, she and Katana became close, and the relationship between the two of them grew closer. Now that they’ve gotten to know each other…

“Oh, yeah. Thank you.”

Anyway, I was offered a cup of tea by Katana, and I gulped it down. My throat was already burning. …It was a little hot, but it was fine.

And across from me.

“Hahaha! Comrade Egostic, now you’re even betting against Celeste.”

There was Li Xiaofeng, who said that with a chuckle.

Li Xiaofeng with his hair pulled back, smiling broadly as he spoke.

…He looked like he’d recently reunified the Chinese mainland and was in a very good mood. It’s a lifelong ambition, so it’s no wonder.

His group of villains, the Fire Dragons, have finally taken over China, but unlike Katana, they have yet to be recognized by the international community. He doesn’t seem to mind, though, as he knows they’ll eventually have to admit it.

In particular, he’s quite grateful to me for his conquest of China, claiming that I’m the one who gave him the Chinese government’s information.

Actually, to be honest, in the original work, he took advantage of China’s turmoil during the Moonlight Gate incident and easily conquered China…

In this world, I closed the gate early, so the country was relatively intact, so his conquest plan was further delayed. However, it is fortunate that this is a story from a parallel world that Li Xiaofeng will never know…

Anyway, that’s how the three of us got together.

Katana from Japan, Li Xiaofeng from China, and me from Korea.

We have formed the East Asian Villains League.

Today was the day that we all decided to meet together for a meeting while Katana was on her way to the capital.

“Haha, that’s too flattering. Anyway, it’s great to see you all after such a long time, and now that Li Xiaofeng is the head of China… In fact, you’ve got the heads of two countries here, except for me, this is very embarrassing.”

“What are you talking about, Egostic?”

At my words, Katana smirked and waved her hand.

Like her, Li Xiaofeng also laughed in disbelief and said,

“…Haha, Egostic. What a funny joke. You’re the one who helped us get this far, and aren’t you practically soul mates with Lee Seola, the head of Korea? I still don’t know how far you’re looking down on yourself.”

At his words, I only laughed as if he was joking. Since I had informed only these two that the Moonlight Church was going to happen last time, I felt that their trust in me was strengthened by the fact that they both survived the crisis and even benefited from it.

Anyway, in such a friendly atmosphere, the meeting proceeded.

Despite the name, the East Asian Villains League…

“Then we’ll give you our support.”

“Thank you. Considering the interest rates…we’ll take care of that. Ah, diplomatic relations…”

In effect, it felt like a meeting of the three East Asian leaders. We are villains, but we are also the leaders of a country, so there’s a lot of backroom deals going on here.

…I also received some documents from Lee Seola and was acting on her behalf.

Anyway, that’s all the important stuff out of the way.

It’s time for something a little lighter.

Well, it was just a quick catch-up. What I’m eating these days, if any of the powers that be have taken notice. How the situation in Europe might affect us here in East Asia, all the kind of small talk that friends talk about in a cafe.

Of course, they also asked me what the hell Celeste and I were doing together. I vaguely explained that we were just getting to know each other, and everyone seemed to be convinced….I don’t know why they were convinced.

We kept talking like this and the two of them seemed to value this time very much.

“…Time flies by just chatting with you and Mr. Li Xiaofeng like this. Haha, there’s a lot to keep an eye on.”

Taking another sip of tea, Katana says that with a smile on her face.

Well. Both of them are the final decision makers of a country, so there aren’t many people of the same status that they can talk to so casually. They have few friends with whom they can talk openly. That’s why she likes me so much, because they’re all beneath her…

Anyway, in such a relaxed atmosphere I remembered.

“Oh, by the way, I’m thinking of stopping being a villain. I’m going to retire and do something else.”

Without thinking, I said it and the two people who heard that were like.

“…What?”

“What did you say?!

Suddenly there was a frenzy.

…Now that I think about it, maybe it wasn’t something to say at a nominal villain meeting.

***

Just like that, the meeting of the East Asian Villain Federation that followed Cathedral was over.

“God, that was hard…”

I returned home and flopped down on the couch to rest.

…They were surprised that I was retiring, and it wasn’t easy to answer their constant questions. They were relieved when I told them that I was only stopping the terrorism, but still working underground.

Still, it was a big change just to stop terrorizing, because I was giving up one of my identities.

Of course, the Egostream is alive and well, and I’ll continue to do things behind the scenes, but I’ll eventually fade from the limelight. Maybe after some time, the name Egostream will be forgotten.

My biggest regret is that I won’t be seeing Stardus anymore.

“….”

I’m definitely sad to see her go, as we’ve been together for quite some time, and she’s been a big part of my life.

But it was time to move on. Maybe that’s the true role of a fan, to stay behind the scenes and quietly support her.

When I think about it, it’s been a long time.

I’ve been a Villain for almost five years now, and a lot has happened in that time.

…Still, it was time to leave. The all-important Moonlight Bridge is closed, and it’s up to Stardus to finish the job.

I’ll keep attending Cathedral in the meantime, preparing for the end.

And then I’ll get some rest, and then…

“…..”

Maybe it was time to start thinking about life after the Ending.

I’ve been so focused on seeing this world to the end that I’ve never really thought about it, not sure I’d make it this far… Now I feel I might have to start thinking about it. I don’t know if I’ll survive the final battle, but if I do, I think I’ll open a small cafe.

As for the Egostream members…I don’t know. For a moment, I wondered if we should remain good friends and go our separate ways… but then I realized that I could predict the reaction of the members of Egostream when they heard this, so I stopped myself.

I don’t know. Maybe once I retire, I’ll go on a trip with the members.

I closed my eyes as I thought about it.

For now, I had to take care of my bet with Celeste.

It’ll be my last show before I retire, a big, non-terrorist show.

“Angels…”

The cookie-cutter concept of phase three and the trailer for phase four, the “Angelic Descent” event was about to unfold.