Chapter 375: Turning Weakness into Strength

The worst villain who could barely retreat even when faced with five S-class heroes who had reached the top of Europe. Castrum.

The so-called Master of the Citadel, he terrorized European society for a time with his unstoppable physical strength and overwhelmingly intimidating attacks.

He was finally defeated after a fierce battle…but by a single hero…in a matter of minutes.

And that hero was an S-class hero from a quiet country in the East.

S-class hero, Stardus, of the Korean Hero Association, took down Castrum with just a few punches.

In the blink of an eye, she made headlines around the world, including Europe.

[Breaking news! Europe’s worst villain, Castrum, who terrorized European society, is said to have been defeated, and it was a Korean hero named Stardus who defeated him, causing great shock. Who is she, and how did she take him down in a matter of minutes, when several S-class heroes couldn’t beat him? Stardus is the news today…]

It’s on every news organization’s prime time news right now, the first story.

The world has turned its attention to this superhuman hero who has appeared like a comet.

[Actually, this isn’t the first time the hero named Stardus has been in the news. During the last attack by the Moonlight Church, Stardus was the one who stopped it. She was already a ranked hero, but since she’s only been active in her own country, people didn’t know her strength…]

[Experts have said that after analyzing the footage, Stardus has “strength beyond common sense” and seems to be better at hand-to-hand combat than any other hero so far…]

Actually, it’s kind of funny that she burns like this just for taking down a villain. Because no matter how strong she is, it was just one villain, and that’s not enough validation.

However, a villain so strong that all of the top 10 European heroes could not defeat, even if they spent hours, was defeated by her, alone.

‘Hmph!’

‘Aaaaahhhhhhhhh!’

The mere sight of her fists flying off and collapsing into nothingness was enough to tug at the heartstrings of many people.

…Naturally, it was even more uproarious in her home country, where Stardus was known, especially the national TV channels.

[Shock][Horror]Why is the world so confused and shocked by Stardus, the great SSS-class superhero that Korea has produced? American expert “Stardus is one of the greatest people in the world… I would give the president of the United States to replace her!” Why is the world in tears over Stardus’ strength and crying just to see her face!!!]

[Seeing Stardus, Japan grabbed Korea’s crotch and poured out all the tears!!! Japanese Prime Minister’s secret file “I will declare Japan’s unconditional surrender. I will live in penance to Korea for the rest of my life.” Remarks exclusively obtained by Nara Country Love TV! Will Korea’s Asian Unification happen next month?!]

[America is stunned, Japan is afraid, France is stunned, Britain is furious, China is freaking out, India is freaking out, who is Stardus?! Stardus “I will remain in Korea…Korea is my motherland.” The Korean peninsula cried because of the patriotic girl Stardus!!!]

“Wow.”

Egostream living room.

I entered YouTube to see what the news was like there, and I rolled my eyes at the videos that appeared in the recommended videos.

…titles that made my head hurt just looking at them. I’ve never even seen that movie, so why is it in the recommended videos?

With that, I put my phone down, crossed my legs, sighed, and pondered.

…Actually, the contents of the TV may not be completely wrong.

Stardus is the center of attention right now. The whole world is probably watching.

The current buzz among people is

‘Stardus might be the strongest of all heroes.’

Heroes have different abilities. Some heroes specialize in strength, like Stardus, but there are also heroes with special abilities. Like Dungeon Maker, who has the ability to create and trap worlds.

As such, it was impossible to line up heroes based on strength alone. Up until that point, Ex Machina was the unofficial number one hero because he had the ability to reverse time, despite being completely powerless.

However, Stardus’ power was overwhelming.

It’s no wonder she was able to take on Castrum, a defensive and offensive specialist who was known for being a brutal thug, and beat him in a matter of minutes, with a punch or two.

‘Different.’

Everyone can’t help but think so.

That’s why the world was paying so much attention.

How strong is that Stardus, the hero, really?

In the Hero Ranking Board, where no other hero stands out, the top spot changes every time. No one has ever been as overwhelming as her.

“…Ugh.”

That’s what I was thinking.

…Seo-eun, who was conducting a poll on her smartphone under the couch, handed me her cell phone with a sob.

“…Haha, people are really going crazy, especially in your fan cafe, and everyone’s eating…Ugh.”

While saying that, she hands me her cell phone.

*

[If the thing you are most proud of in your life is being born in a country that owns Stardus, that’s great haha]

(a picture of Stardus doing battle)

If you think she’s just a rookie, you’re wrong.

=[Comment]=

[How come Korea is the number one hero ranking holder]

ㄴ[That’s confirmed, isn’t it?]

ㄴ[It’s confirmed in my heart]

[No I didn’t know it was that bad, but seeing her beat up that Castrum last time was really fucking awesome, he took like 3 hits and was out…]

[Just Stardus << I thought Korean villains were weak because she’s only beaten Korean villains so far, but apparently not lol]

ㄴ[Hahaha]

ㄴ[Now that I think about it, maybe the fact that there is only one S-class hero per country and things have been going well so far was just foreshadowing?]

[That’s because there is another one who is practically an S-class hero, right?]

ㄴ[Thinking about it, yeah, that’s true…]

ㄴ[Why are you leaving out the S-class hero Mangostick haha]

**

[The one who raised Stardus like that]

(A picture of Egostic with his back turned and his cape flapping)

Ha Mango… is that you again?

G O A T

=Comment.

[Great Mango]

[lol the one that keeps getting reevaluated…]

ㄴ[Even so, it’s becoming popular overseas haha. He kept running away without getting caught by Stardus like that haha]

[(Statement of conviction) I didn’t know why Mangostick liked Stardus so much, but now I know haha. How far ahead did you foresee, GOAT…]

[Mango has saved Stardust’s life more than once haha]

[Stardus Coin again haha]

*

“…..”

Since these were posts from my fan cafe, it was absurd that they ended with my praise for some reason…

‘Well, this is what I wanted.’

I thought to myself as I handed the phone over to Seo-Eun.

“Hey, Da-in. Didn’t you say last time that if Stardus became famous, other foreign villains might come in, and you weren’t happy about that? Is this okay?”

When Seo-Eun asked me that, I smiled and replied.

“Because things have changed now.”

“Changed?”

The change is that I’m now a member of the global villain alliance, Cathedral.

In the original game, South Korea had no villains in Cathedral.

This meant that any member of Cathedral could randomly attack you.

But now the situation has changed.

I’m a Cathedral executive, and I’m in a pretty important position.

This means that since I’m dealing with Stardus, no other Cathedral villains can come here without my permission, especially those who aren’t Cathedral…I don’t have to worry about that yet.

So it was better to reveal Stardus’ power now, considering my plan. Everyone needs to know about Stardus’ power now, especially…

‘For my own immediate benefit.’

My position within Cathedral is, in fact, very good. I’ve revealed advanced information, traveled with Atlas, conceptualized a way to hide my power, and now I’ve established myself as Celeste’s henchman.

The only question was, what the hell have I been doing in Korea for the past five years, fighting a single hero named Stardus? And I didn’t even kill a single civilian.

Now I’ve turned that weakness, or rather, reversed it, to make it look like I’ve been dealing with a very strong Stardus so far.

“So, now…different.”

Being Stardus’ arch nemesis is no longer an impediment to my accomplishments.

A more assured claim to be Celeste’s right-hand man, and further involvement in Cathedral.

Then, my plan to prevent destruction will be one step closer to completion…

“Now…let’s move in closer.”

To Celeste.

I thought, and prepared for the next Cathedral, smiling quietly.