Chapter 335: Towards the end

A terrorist attack on an entire department store, turned into a haunted house.

The attack was a great success.

Not only were there no casualties, but it was also one of the largest attacks ever perpetrated by the now world-famous Egostic. The attack garnered a great deal of attention.

*

[Live tread]

#1.Egostic

#2.Department store attack

#3.Broadcast of the attack

#4.Terror Broadcast

#5.Haunted department store

*

Egostic took over all the real-time keywords throughout the day.

*

[I’m back with a video from the haunted department store created by Egostic…(feat. Stardus)]

*

In particular, one participant who was a hostage in a department store became famous for the video he took inside, and it became the number one most popular video.

In particular, the scene where he wanders through a burned-out maze in terror and is about to be attacked by a monster, when Stardus appears with a beam of light and saves him, is said to be like a movie. It was as  if someone had intentionally manipulated the monster to create such a situation.

The video of the attack was then translated and spread around the world, with comments asking how much it cost to participate in the attack.

…Of course, I wonder  if it’s right to measure the success of a terrorist attack by its popularity.

In any case, the attack was a success.

I lay alone in my room at home, in a state of great shock.

In that state, there was only one thing on my mind.

“…Hah.”

…Stardus, of course.

At the end of the day’s terror, even then, she remained as cold as ever to me.

‘It didn’t take much for a scumbag like you to cause this.’

I could still hear the icy tone of her voice echoing in my ears.

‘…I had to work hard for it.’

I shook my head and thought to myself, “Yeah, who cares.”

It’s more natural for Stardus to be like that anyway. She’s always been uncompromising with all the villains, even in the comics, and to think that she’d only be nice to me? It was ridiculous in the first place. I knew it was all an act…

‘…No.’

…Actually.

Now, to be honest…I kind of expected it.

Maybe she has feelings for me, too, or something but I denied it because I didn’t think I could handle the shock  if I was wrong. I can’t believe I’m still alive. I just got dumped by my favorite girl.

…And in a way, I was right.

I was wrong after all.

Still, after all the terrorism I’ve done…I can’t imagine Stardus would have the heart to do that to me, haha.

That cold voice, it wasn’t an act…

…As I continued digging alone, it became late at night.

“This is not the time…”

After lying in bed for a long time, I shook my head and stood up.

…Right.

I don’t have time to be heartbroken over this. Even  if I did find out that it hurts more than I thought it would to be insulted by Stardus…Well, I guess this is what happens eventually.

My purpose was never to make things work with Stardus, it was to keep her alive and protect the world.

So let’s stop thinking about that and focus on what’s left to do.

We still have a lot of work to do.

“…Whatever!”

Isn’t it a good thing that I can part ways with Stardus more easily? Yeah. The more I think about it, the more I think so.

“…I wonder where I’ll be traveling to after this last attack.”

I muttered to myself, leaning out the window.

I have a lot of work to do. Defend this world until the end, and then rest… I’ll have done my part.

Stardus, whether she realizes it or not.

I, after all, had decided to go down the path I had decided to go down.

They say the path of a villain is a lonely one.

…Of course, now that I think about it, I have many allies, so it’s not so lonely. Good.

I shake it all off.

With a slight smile on my lips again, I opened the door.

‘…I’m hungry.

Let’s get some food.

With that thought, I stepped outside.

Now, let’s get ready for the final terror.

With that thought, I walked toward the members of my Egostream, who were greeting me as I stepped out of my room for the first time today.

I resolved to do my best before I retired.

And so I did.

A lot of time has passed since then.

I’ve done quite a bit of terrorizing.

…Actually, I was only going to do one or two at the end, but then I realized that I wouldn’t be seeing Stardus after this, so I ended up doing more.

…In short, I’ve been terrorizing almost every other week. Of course, since I didn’t have to worry about anything else, I was able to focus on preparing for the terror, and it turned out pretty well.

To be fair, after I finished the Stardus test, I reverted to puzzle-type attacks for the first time in a long time.

For example, I had to capture two politicians, expose their misdeeds, and then put them on trial by popular vote to see who got more votes. Of course, Stardus saves them both at the end… but it didn’t really matter since they were both going to jail anyway.

Of course, all the while, Stardus’ reaction was still cold.

“Ha, you scumbag, you’re having fun.”

She would say in a cold voice to me.

When I sometimes approach her with a joke, she seems to be so angry that she blushes.

…How did she hide it until now? She’s a professional after all.

Of course, now that I’ve gotten over it, I’ve become more tolerant, so she just smiles and talks back.

…Of course, my heart still aches from time to time, but whatever.

Anyway, that’s how I’ve been living lately.

“…Da-in, are you sure you want to retire?”

Then one day.

I was sitting at my computer, reliving the last attack, when a small, cold finger poked and prodded my cheek.

I turned around to see Seo Eun-eun pointing her finger at me with her cheeks puffed out.

When I opened my eyes, she wiggled her finger and spoke to me.

“Da-in… I don’t want to rush you, but… Don’t you think it’s a little weird to say you’re retiring and then start 7 terrorist attacks?

“Ahh.”

At Seo-Eun’s words, I smiled and said,

“Don’t worry. The next one will be the last one.”

“…! Really?”

At my words, Seo-Eun’s face turned bright red. I loved how simple it was.

She was so happy that she was jumping up and down, that after a moment of calming down, I said.

“So, can you call everyone else into the living room? I need to talk to you about the last attack.”

“What?”

“The last one…I want all of us to get together and do something big.”

“…Aha! Okay, I’ll be right there!”

I looked at Seo-Eun who hurriedly left at my words.

I smiled quietly and turned my head to look out the window.

…My long life as a villain and Stardus’ arch nemesis is over.

I’ll never have to deal with her again, and I’ll never have people talking about me like I used to.

“…”

I felt a twinge of regret at the realization.

Stardus has been through a lot with me, and it’s time to make her comfortable. I could tell she was having a hard time dealing with me.

“Let’s do it. Final Terror.”

I muttered, and picked up my mask in preparation for the big show, the last time I would face Stardus.

***

[I think we’re going to have to keep going like this]

“Hmm…”

‘…Something’s not right.’

Lee Seola, chairwoman of the Yuseong Group and Korea’s A-list heroine, muttered to herself while talking to her friend Stardus.

It’s been more than a month since Stardus came up with the concept of cold girl against Egostic.

And the problem was, she had a hunch that this wasn’t going to work.

‘…No, I said push and pull. Who told you to just push…!’

That was the biggest problem she saw.

…that Haru was too good at acting.

More precisely, she was so good that anyone who saw her would think, ‘Oh, Stardus hates Egostic.’

Feeling a little uneasy, Lee Seola called Da-in.

[Ah. Stardus? Well, she hates me. Isn’t it obvious? Hahaha…]

…When she heard his empty voice, she realized she was in trouble.

That’s why she was about to tell her to call it a day.

“…Wrong.”

Haru had already stopped listening to her.

The problem was, from the time she’d given Egostic the cold shoulder, he hadn’t stopped avoiding Stardu, but had actually increased his terrorism.

That was enough to make Stardus think her methods were working.

As a result, Haru, blinded, decided to stick with it…

“Haru, I really don’t think this is going to work…”

Still, she said it.

She seemed to calm down gradually.

[…Really?]

“Yeah. It might backfire…”

[Oh, wait, I’m sorry, I have to go now, because I’ve been told that Egostic has caused a terrorist attack.]

“Huh? Uh, yeah.”

-Ding.

Grabbing the phone, Seola sighed.

“…Haha, I hope it works out.”

And she didn’t know that the terror of that day would be the last terror that Egostic would cause.