Chapter 363: Heroes and Misconceptions

A message from Stardus out of the blue.

…Virtually the first contact since our last meeting, I swallowed hard and texted.

[What’s up?]

A few moments later, a message came back to me with a beep.

>[Just…missing you].

“Huh…”

I gulped at Stardus’ reaction.

Ever since she’d confessed her feelings to me, she’d become distant. I wonder if it’s a reaction to all the time she’s been holding back.

>[What are you doing not sleeping?]

When she asked me that, I simply replied.

[….I just couldn’t sleep, I was thinking about this and that.]

>[Really? What’s wrong?]

…Before I could even ask Stardus why she wasn’t sleeping, the reply came quickly.

What’s going on…?

[Nothing much. I’m just wondering what to do next. I’ve got a lot on my mind.]

I thought as I sent it.

…Now that I think about it, I should also tell Stardus that the powers of those with abilities will soon run out of control. That way, she won’t be surprised when that day comes.

That’s when I thought to myself.

>[If you have any concerns, please let me know.]

>[I’m your… girlfriend now]

>[(embarrassed teddy bear emoji)]

“Pfft.”

I gulped down my water, my throat burning unnecessarily at her response.

Girlfriend… Girlfriend…

“Girlfriend… I guess.”

I fanned myself with my hand, feeling my face heat up slightly.

…Stardus. That Stardus is my girlfriend.

Girlfriend. It’s been years since I last heard such a cute word.

[I get it, haha]

>[Nods]

>[(nodding teddy bear emoji)]

I looked at the white bear emoji she was using, and momentarily stifled a laugh.

Stardus…Was this how she sounded online? It was so cute, unlike in real life, where she was a bit of a cold-hearted beauty queen.

‘No… Now that I think about it, was she cute in real life?’

As I seriously thought about it, I realized that she was right and this was my chance.

A chance to tell Stardus what’s going to happen next. Phase 4’s ability power-up. The “Inflation” event, as it was originally called.

[Oh, and Stardus, there’s something else I want to tell you.]

>[What? And don’t call me Stardus, call me Haru…]

[Yes, Haru, lol. Anyway, that’s what I heard…]

With that, I told her what was going to happen.

Roughly speaking, experts in the dark say that the abilities of all villains will suddenly be enhanced in the future.

As such, the world could become chaotic.

>[Okay, this is bad….]

And she easily believed me.

Of course, I assured her that she had nothing to worry about. Of course, I didn’t mention LL Seola, because I’m sure she and I would do our best to clean up the mess…

Anyway, with that reassurance, we continued talking into the wee hours of the morning.

And finally, when it was really late and it was time to go to sleep.

>[You know….]

>[When will we see each other again?]

She said,

“When will we meet again…?”

I closed my eyes as I listened to her words.

…Maybe, if my plan worked, we would get a chance to meet sooner than I thought.

I hadn’t originally planned to be on the front lines, but now things had changed.

Therefore, I replied to her as follows.

[Sooner or later, we will meet.]

Yes. Sooner or later, we will be able to see each other again.

>[Okay]

>[I look forward to it]

>[(smiling teddy bear emoji)]

With that, the last message I read from her, I turned off my phone, flopped down on my bed, and closed my eyes.

I was tired, but…but somehow, I couldn’t help but smile.

***

Anyway, the playtime was over.

Now it was time to really, really prepare for the inflation event.

And that’s exactly what happened.

“First of all, we need to turn Korea into a total hero centralized system.”

The large conference room at Yuseong Group.

There, with her light-blue hair tied back, Lee Seola declared boldly.

“…But wouldn’t that be bad for you? You’re practically running the country right now.”

“No, Mr. Da-in. What are you talking about? I’m a hero, after all!”

She giggled and formed an ice crystal in her hand.

“Fufufufu…When inflation comes, my half-assed ice ability will become S-class…”

I opened my mouth to ask, trying my best to ignore LL Seola, who was muttering something and smiling evilly.

“So, what exactly are you planning to do?”

“Hoo-hoo, listen up.”

With that, she pointed to the big screen.

“Okay, so once we have ability inflation, we’re going to have a problem with increased terrorism, and the solution is simple: we’re going to do what Da-in said, and we’re going to make a bunch of heroes.”

“And with those heroes? We’ll just enroll all of our Yuseong PMCs in the Association, since we’re already overflowing with B-class abilities.

I nodded at Lee Seola as she spoke.

I nodded. That’s exactly what I’ve been thinking from the beginning.

Considering that after inflation, all B-level talents will become A-level talents, the idea is to turn all those bought at low prices into heroes.

In fact, the work won’t be much different than when I was at Yuseong PMC, but public perception is important. In a chaotic society, we have a lot of heroes. So, having a lot of heroes can be very reassuring for them.

Our Yuseong PMC is now in its fifth generation, which means that not only are there a lot of them, but they’re also very tight-knit, which means they’re less likely to go off and become villains. If they’re grouped together as heroes, they’ll be under the envious gaze of others, making it hard for them to break away.

“That way, it might make other superhumans want to be heroes.”

I nodded and said.

“Right. We’re going to take this opportunity to increase the pay and treatment of heroes, and we’re going to promote it relentlessly, so that the public will think, ‘Huh? Heroes aren’t so bad?”

She said with a wicked grin.

…It was evil, but it was all for the good of the country. Perhaps….

“Then we can provide funds to the Association…Is there more?”

“No. This should be enough.”

I nodded and said, “Okay.”

…Actually, this was easy because we had prepared in advance for various events such as Moonlight Gate…In fact, it was difficult.

In the original story, the Korean Association was completely disorganized.

It was amazing to have so many B and C level heroes in this small country in the first place.

“Well, I’ll start the job this week, I just need to convince the president, and I’m sure he’ll agree because it’s good for the Association, right?”

“Yeah.”

And so it was.

Things moved very quickly.

[(Breaking News) Yuseong PMC talents register as heroes en masse. ‘From now on, I want to work for the country.’ South Korea has hundreds of B-class and below heroes…Record number per capita?]

[(Breaking News) Hero Association promises to improve treatment of heroes under a massive salary hike. ‘We will build an Association that will be strong for 100 years’ speech by the President of the Association]]

*

[(Rekka) Yuseong Group and Hero Association sign a partnership. Group President Lee Seola says, “We promise our full support.”]

(A picture of the association president shaking hands with Lee Seola and smiling brightly)

A sudden what?

The number of heroes has increased dramatically…Yuseong Group says they’re supporting the Association…

=[Comment]=

[???? suddenly there are hundreds of heroes in Korea? Wasn’t it originally less than half of half of half that number?]

ㄴ[ㅇㅇ There isn’t a single person in Class A… but it’s still the highest number ever lol. What’s happening all of a sudden?]

[The number of heroes has increased…Is it good? Isn’t it Stardus’ one tool show anyway?]

[The local and C-class or lower jobbers are still handled by other heroes…You can think of it as an increase in the police force]

[(Statement of belief) Even if the number of heroes increases by hundreds, one Egostic can protect Korea.]

ㄴ[This is correct]

ㄴ[100 heroes VS 1 villain]

ㄴ[Mango, where are you, please come back~]

ㄴ[The really scary thing is that this is true]

[Still, it’s good that they’re increasing the number of heroes… it’s a win-win]

*

The Republic of Korea had built a solid foundation for the Association against catastrophic power inflation.

And rightly so.

This increase in heroes had reached Stardus.

“More heroes.”

~The Heroes Association office~

She heard from the president and read about it in the news.

Stardus smiled broadly at the news of more Heroes, and thought to herself.

‘Egostic said that power inflation would soon cause chaos. It’s good to be prepared.’

Seola helped.

Interesting. What perfect timing. What a coincidence… This…

“….”

…Coincidence.

A coincidence?

That’s all she thought.

Her eyes grew cold for a moment, and she silently thought to herself with a strange intuition.

Did Seola really just happen to have the right timing?

“……..”

It was strange.

It was too well timed.

It was as if Seola knew that chaos was coming.

Of course, she could have gotten the information from another source, or it could have been a coincidence, but…for some reason, she had this intuitive feeling.

As she pondered this, she realized something and muttered quietly in a cold voice.

“…Wait.”

When I didn’t know Da-in was Egostic.

When I first met him on the beach, who was the person who introduced him to me?

“…Seola.”

Stardus muttered that in a cold voice.

It was a moment when a misunderstanding…(?) occurred.