Chapter 359: Her Excitement

~Korea Hero Association~

The atmosphere has become quite bright.

“Hello~”

“Haha…Yes, hello. Stardus.”

It was none other than Stardus, the only S-class hero in the country.

For almost half a year now, she’s always been cold and serious.

…Of course, that’s to be expected from a hero who’s always in the middle of life and death, but she’s always been somewhat quiet and edgy.

She’s changed.

“……”

She’s always smiling, and sometimes she even laughs out loud.

…Much to the dismay of the staff, who were used to seeing her cold and sharp.

“…Has anything good happened to Stardus lately?”

“I don’t know…but it’s good to see she’s cheerful.”

Of course, her cheerfulness lightened up the normally stiff atmosphere of the Association, and everyone was happy, even the president.

“Hmm. Stardus has been brightening up lately, hasn’t it?”

“That’s right, Mr. President.”

“…That’s good, haha, I’m finally going to live, haha, I was scared to death all this time…”

Saying that, the Chairman collapses into a  chair and wipes his shiny hair.

…He was quite relieved, as he had been tormented by the cold Stardus for some time now.

“Well,  if she’s suddenly looking like that, it must be a man, haha, whoever you are, thank you very much!”

Unbeknownst to the Association president, who was laughing hysterically while holding his stomach at the time…Stardus’ lover was the villain.

He would find out later, and realize that he was about to fall by the scruff of the neck…

Well. Whatever.

Stardus, Shin Haru had been in a good mood lately.

The best she’d ever been.

“I will never leave you again, I will always be by your side.

“…Mmm.”

At the end of the day Haru was in her bed, hugging the quilt and smiling with a slightly flushed face.

She had finally confessed her feelings to Egostic and he had accepted them.

What could possibly be better than this…?

“…Hmph.”

Haru smiled broadly.

…The anxiety, nervousness, and tiredness that she had been showing were almost gone.

In short, she was almost back to her old self.

Her brain was finally able to make rational decisions…!

And that’s why she still had a dramatic reaction whenever she was reminded of her past indiscretions.

“Ugh…”

…like now, when she remembered how she’d flown off in tears at the sight of Egostic.

She would feel unnecessarily ashamed…

‘…I was so crazy back then.’

I wish I’d taken it more seriously, but that’s because I wasn’t in control of my emotions.

On the contrary, that’s why it works well with Egostic…

“Mmm…”

With that, she blushed slightly, and unconsciously smacked her lips.

And then she felt her heart fill with a sense of fulfillment.

She wasn’t so much jealous of the Egostream anymore, but rather giggled at the thought of them.

‘…Of course.’

She was still uneasy about Egostic still living with them, but…it couldn’t be helped, after all, he had his own reasons.

In fact…she didn’t know it, but the guilt from when she thought he was a deadbeat still lingered deep in her chest, making her feel uncomfortable about leaving him behind.

Of course, cheating on her was unforgivable.

“Ugh…”

She brought her fingernails to her mouth with a deadpan look in her eyes, and then pulled them away in surprise.

…Okay. Let’s not think about such dark thoughts.

Instead, we should find a house where we can’t be seen, just in case. A basement would be good, so he can’t escape. No one can get to it.

She lay awake one night thinking about all this, and then she sighed and looked at the ceiling.

Of course, not everything was solved.

The biggest problem is that it’s hard to reach out. Stardus had agreed vehemently that it would be a bit of a problem  if the Egostream or anyone else found out about their relationship. There’s no telling what they’d do  if they found out about their relationship.

Of course, she had his contact information, but… It was sad that the chances of meeting up were slim.

Especially after how deeply they’d connected last time.

“I miss you,” she muttered, hugging the pillow beside her.

I miss him, I miss him, I miss him, I miss him.

She wished he were lying next to her; she wished he would hug her again like he did then; she wished he would smile at her; she wished she could kiss him again; she wished she could spend the night with him…

With these thoughts, Stardus rubbed her eyes and drifted off to sleep…waiting for the next time he would see the Egostic.

‘…Maybe I should talk to Seola, I can tell her…’

She thought to herself in her sleep.

Late at night, after Egostic left her office, Seola smirked, looking up at the moon in the night sky.

“Looks like the plan worked out after all.”

After all, she’d finally gotten through to Stardus, which meant she was finally one step closer to the big picture.

Much preparation had gone into this day.

She hadn’t actively denied to Haru that he was dying, and she hadn’t told him that Stardus was in such a state.

She was Haru’s best friend, and since Haru was also her best friend, she knew everything about her.

She knew that  if she let Haru think he was dying, she’d have a dramatic reaction when she saw him again. And the moment she cleared up the misunderstanding, she’d confess everything.

This was the right choice, because otherwise, they’d still be stuck in the same frustrating place….

In the end, she succeeded in bringing them together as planned, which means that the path is now open.

“…If only I had connected with the Egostream first…”

She might not have had a chance since the bond between them is strong but not  if Stardust came first.

She was her best friend.

‘Spice up my day, beat the Egostream…’

Good. Good.

That’s probably the best way to go.

She’s seen it before, the way the members of the Egostream…

They had the look of never giving up.

‘Ugh…’

Seola shuddered just thinking about it.

…She had to prevent Egostic from being kidnapped and split into ten equal parts.

It was for the greatest happiness.

…Egostic wouldn’t know, the tearful struggle behind her smile.

“Ha…Good.”

With that thought, she looked out at the lights of the city below her.

‘…I’ve got a lot of work to do, including taking into account the ability inflation that Egostic mentioned…’

She sighed as she organized the things that needed to be done.

It was a night of many thoughts.

***

The Sun God’s descent draws nearer and nearer, and as his influence grows, the abilities of all powers are enhanced and the world is thrown into chaos.

It was a shocking development that no one could have predicted in the original story, even  the reader.

I knew all of this beforehand, and I didn’t intend for the world to be so shocked by it.

‘…Seriously, the original writer was the worst.’

It starts with one of the heroes laughing off an attack from a much weaker villain, and then suddenly his head explodes. I was like, “Is this human?” I was really pissed off at how far they were going to take Stardust.

“….”

I swore to myself that I would make Stardus happy in this world, and that’s how I rolled the pen.

Actually, I shouldn’t have worried about Stardus’, because she’s the biggest beneficiary of Phase 4…

To put it simply, everyone’s abilities become stronger in Phase 4 as the Sun God’s descent approaches, meaning that her power has increased.

And Stardust, who becomes stronger in front of the power of the sun, becomes several times stronger in a situation where a god made of 100% pure power of the sun approaches the earth. In short, it means being in a state of constant awakening.

If other abilities’ enhancements were additive, Stardus alone could be said to be multiplicative. That’s why I said I wanted Stardus to be this strong by now. She’s already much stronger than she was in the original, and this would be enough to push her to the limit of her abilities. There’s nowhere else to go but up.

Why would such a strong Stardus be exhausted after Phase 4?

…The answer, of course, it’s because of other people. The empowered villains are so numerous that society descends into near-anarchy, and many of them die before the Sun God even arrives. I’m sure the Sun God had something to do with that.

Anyway, I wasn’t going to let the world go to shit like that and bring tears to Stardus’ eyes….Not now.

Which means I need to do something about Cathedral, the villainous alliance that spearheaded the destruction of the world and to do that, I needed to meet Celeste.

‘All for the sake of Stardus.’

I muttered to myself, donned my mask, and prepared to meet Celeste in the next Cathedral.

‘So this is the weight of pretense…’

I thought to myself.

Phew, that’s not easy.