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Translator: Vine
Chapter Title: The Ego Show
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Weeks before the day a plane fell from the sky and Stardust saved it.
At the underground base, I solemnly declared,
"Alright, let's do this. An airplane terror attack."
At my words, the two nodded.
And so, we began planning the airplane terror attack.
"Oppa, which flight should we target?"
"Definitely a domestic flight. Something like one going to Jeju Island should work."
"What about international flights?"
"If we attack a flight going abroad, there's a very high chance foreign heroes will show up. Especially if there are foreigners on board, who knows what could happen? So we have to attack a domestic airline flight, one carrying only Koreans, going from Korea to Korea."
"Ah, I see... That makes it tricky. No night flights either?"
"Of course not. If we did, that Shadow Walker guy would just teleport onto the plane, mass-teleport everyone, and it'd be over."
"Got it. Let's see... I think attacking around this time would be good."
"Let me see. Hmm... Yes, this time would be perfect. So we need to prepare in advance. What do we need to prepare?"
"You said something about a death-defying nonsense quiz. Go find some nonsense quizzes."
"Find nonsense quizzes? Seeun, I already know a lot. Do you know what a monk's path down the mountain is in six letters?"
"...No, I don't. What is it?"
"Illegal download (佛法 Down Road)! Hahahaha!"
"....Oppa, please, find something else. While I'm still asking nicely."
Seeun's cold reaction.
'Illegal download' is funny, why...?
As I was about to crack another dad joke, Subin, who was next to me, spoke up.
"Dain, should I look into bombs? Can I get them through the same route we used for the train terror attack last time?"
"Ah, Subin. We don't really need bombs this time."
At my words, both Seeun and Subin looked puzzled.
"But Oppa, you said we were going to blow up the plane?"
Ah, I hadn't explained this to them.
"Hmm... Right, I'll explain it in detail from the very beginning."
The Ego Show execution plan.
A nonsense quiz show will be held on the plane.
If no one answers all 10 questions correctly, the bomb will explode.
"The point here is that I'm going to crash the plane no matter what. But if we use a bomb, the plane would shatter into pieces in the air, right? So we won't use a bomb; we'll just crash it."
"What? What on earth are you talking about?"
Seeun's tone suggested she didn't understand.
"No... there's more than one strange point here. First, you said you'd crash the plane no matter what. But what if someone answers all 10 questions correctly? Will you still drop it?"
"Not exactly. Though I doubt anyone will answer all the questions correctly anyway... Still, just in case, I've already set up a mechanism for that."
"What mechanism?"
"The last quiz will have two correct answers. So even if they get one right? I'll just declare the other one the correct answer and drop it. If even that doesn't work, I'll just be stubborn about it."
"Wow... Oppa, I never knew until now, but looking at it this way, you're quite devilish."
Seeun stared at me as if dumbfounded.
What, punk?
That's just how the world is! It's either deceive or be deceived!
"Dain, but what do you mean by crashing it without using a bomb?"
"Oh, that. If we use a bomb, the plane's fuselage could be damaged and shatter in ways we don't expect, right? So we'll just *pretend* a bomb exploded, and in reality, we'll just make the plane descend diagonally downwards. But if it falls from the sky without a landing point, well, that's a crash, isn't it?"
When I said that with a shrug, Seeun asked again.
"Ah... So, our goal is to make Stardust catch the plane after we crash it, right?"
"Exactly! It raises my intimidation factor and Stardust's popularity. Isn't that killing two birds with one stone?"
"Um... but Dain, can Stardust stop an airplane?"
Subin, who had been searching and calculating something on the computer, asked me.
As I looked her way, she continued speaking.
"Crashing the plane was my idea, but... Stardust's greatest achievement so far was stopping that runaway train last time. Stopping that train was amazing, but a train and an airplane are completely different. It looked like Stardust really pushed her limits to stop that train, but an airplane... it's not just dozens of times faster, but when you consider gravity, weight, and energy, it's hundreds of times harder."
Subin's reasonable doubt.
It was, in fact, a doubt anyone might have.
It was like a child who learned addition and subtraction yesterday saying they'd attempt question 30 of the college entrance exam's calculus section today.
That's the conventional wisdom.
How could Stardust, who barely stopped a train, stop an airplane?
But I simply replied:
"Stardust can do it."
That's what the protagonist of this comic is.
In the latter half, this world is flooded with enemies who can stop time, control space, and single-handedly cause natural disasters. Later, it becomes a crazy world where divine beings appear and try to destroy Earth.
And in that world, Stardust, the hero who single-handedly protected South Korea, protected Earth.
She is the protagonist.
In essence, you could say this world revolves around her.
And there's only one thing that makes this possible.
There's no limit to how much her abilities can grow.
The protagonist doesn't die.
Interpreted in reverse, any pain that doesn't kill her makes her stronger.
So, as long as she has a desperate and earnest 'will'.
There's nothing she can't stop.
"Stardust can do it. So we just have to trust her and crash the plane."
When I said that with a serious face, Seeun asked, looking slightly pouting.
"That's ridiculous. What exactly do you trust about that woman?"
I merely smiled faintly, brushing off the question.
***
Preparations went smoothly.
We made fake bombs, secretly attached smoke generators to the wings to simulate an explosion. Before takeoff, I teleported inside the plane to set up various devices, arranged for the pilots to fall asleep mid-flight, and tampered with the instrument panel in advance...
The culmination of my plans, drawn from reading countless hero comics and movies, combined with the assistance of two geniuses.
Honestly, a terror attack of this caliber... wouldn't you say it's almost reached the level of art?
As long as the planning took, the attack itself was carried out swiftly.
It was my first time carrying out a terror attack remotely, so it felt a bit strange, but I had to accept that. I can't exactly be on a crashing plane, can I? Safety first. Good, good!
"Hello everyone! Welcome to the greatest quiz show on Earth, happening at an altitude of 25,000 feet. No! The greatest quiz show in the sky, The Ego Show Live!"
It flowed so easily when I was speaking to a camera in an open space.
But speaking into a microphone from a cramped room deep underground, I started to feel a bit embarrassed.
Seeun and Subin kept staring at me from the side, *please* stop looking.
It's so distracting! I can't get into character!
"The rules are simple! There will be a total of 10 nonsense quiz questions, and all you have to do is answer them correctly!"
"If everyone gets them wrong? *Bang*. The bomb will explode!"
I spoke enthusiastically into the microphone.
On the screen in the base, the people inside the airplane were being broadcast live in real-time.
For your information, this footage was also broadcast nationwide by hacking the three major terrestrial broadcasters. It seemed like all sorts of technicians had tried every possible measure to prevent signal hijacking... Yeah, Seeun and Subin just tore through them like dogs. Adios, amigo...
But honestly, I feel like even if we just uploaded a live stream to YouTube without going to all this trouble, they'd probably broadcast it as an emergency special anyway...
Whatever. It's tradition now.
"Alright! Then let's move on to the second question! What's the hottest fruit in the world?"
As I continued broadcasting the nonsense quizzes, I realized...
Why are these people so good at answering them?
Honestly, I thought everyone would be eliminated around the 7th or 8th question.
But they stubbornly held on until the 10th.
The last one standing was a bald old man. Let's see, his name was... Kim Deok-bae? How on earth did he keep getting them right...?
"Alright! Here's the 10th and final question! What's the oil that children love the most?"
With my final question posed, the answer "IU" was sent to me.
Honestly, whether they sent "IU" or "May 5th," that wasn't important.
What was important was that whatever they sent, it was definitely the wrong answer.
...But he actually got the last one right. It would've been a disaster if I hadn't prepared for multiple correct answers.
"Alright, let's reveal the answer. Let's see, you wrote 'IU.' The answer was... 'May 5th'! Too bad. Well then, farewell!"
After saying that, I pressed a button.
*Bang!* The pre-installed noisemaker activated, and the plane began spewing smoke and falling downwards. Although, in reality, it was just descending.
"Whew, it's finally over."
I turned off the microphone and flopped back onto the chair.
Just sitting there and running my mouth, it was so hard to maintain the energy...
As I lay there, Seeun, who had finished her operations next to me, spoke up.
"Oppa, what now?"
"What else? We wait until Stardust arrives."
"Do you really think she'll come?"
"Of course she will, who do you think Stardust is?"
And so, I waited.
"She'll be here soon."
I waited.
"She's probably left by now?"
I kept waiting.
"She must be on her way, right?"
After waiting for a long, long time.
"Aaaaargh!!! Why isn't she here yet!!!!"
I finally screamed!
Why isn't she here! If she doesn't come now, the plane will shatter into pieces!
"Ah! Oppa, why are you suddenly screaming and startling me?"
"Seeun! Quickly check what she's doing! Even if you have to hack nearby CCTV!"
"Yes, yes... I got it."
"Ah, found her. Oppa, Stardust is just watching the plane from the beach?"
"What?! Why is she doing that?!"
This isn't the Stardust I know!
"It looks like she knows herself, doesn't it? She's just staying put because she knows she'd be brutally killed if she went."
At Seeun's words, I nearly jumped out of my skin.
What?! No! Stardust is someone who can do anything if she sets her mind to it! I just need to get her in front of the plane, and she'll awaken and stop it!
"Damn it... What do I do? If it goes on like this, there's no way..... Right, earphones. In-ear earphones!"
I remembered!
Shin Haru always wore small in-ear earphones. If only I could communicate through them!
"Seeun, can you force a connection to the earphone in Shin Haru's ear? Quickly!"
"Just a moment... Ah, this is a secure internal communication network, so it's a bit hard to hack... Unnie! Help me out."
"Got it!"
While the two of them huddled together, constantly trying on the computer.
Tap. Tap. Tap.
I restlessly bounced my leg. I was dying of anxiety.
An eternity seemed to pass.
"Oppa! We succeeded in breaking through!"
"Finally!"
I rushed over.
What appeared on the computer was a complex frequency graph.
"Oppa, but the important thing is, if she doesn't answer the call, we're out."
"It's fine. Then I'll just keep calling until she answers."
I replied and then sat down.
Taking a deep breath.
Hoo-.
Ring. Ring.
The call went through.
And then.
Click.
The call was answered.
I calmly, quietly opened my mouth.
"Good evening, Stardust. This is Egotistic."
[You piece of trash...]
Insults immediately returned as soon as the connection was made.
However, me being sworn at wasn't important right now.
"I was just curious, if you don't mind me asking. Why aren't you going to save them?"
Why wasn't she going to save them?
Why was she just standing there?
After throwing a few more light curses at my question, she finally spoke.
[How, am I, supposed, to stop that.]
[That thing falling at 1000 km/h.]
[Are you telling me to die?]
Upon hearing those words, I was more,
much more,
shocked than I expected. Greatly shocked.
So that's it. That's what she was thinking.
At exactly this point in time, this is what she thinks.
Just as I was about to think that the Stardust I knew wasn't like this, it occurred to me that Stardust at *this* time might very well be like this.
Stardust never giving up even when facing an unbeatable enemy is a story for the latter half.
In the early parts of the original, she only fought enemies she seemed capable of handling.
Because I twisted that, she was currently feeling frustrated.
However, the situation I presented was one she couldn't resolve with her current strength alone.
Faced with a sudden disaster for the first time, she had fallen into despair.
This can't be.
The Stardust I know isn't like this.
Even when faced with seemingly insurmountable situations, she gritted her teeth, raised her head, stepped forward, and broke through them head-on.
A person who trusts her own abilities, relies on her own will, and faces the enemy with indomitable spirit. That is Stardust, Shin Haru.
But why isn't she stepping forward this time?
Ah.
Did I give her too high a wall from the beginning?
I should have let her overcome walls little by little, giving her the confidence that she could break through the next one too.
Did an overwhelming wall simply break her will?
Then what do I do?
What do I do now?
...What do you mean, 'what do I do'?
I have to give her back her will.
I have to make her realize she can do it.
I have to make her believe in herself.
What did she say?
'How am I supposed to stop that? Are you telling me to die?'
Right. That's what she said.
Having collected my thoughts, I calmly, once again, opened my mouth.
"No, you can do it."
You can do it.
Because you are the protagonist of this world.
Because if you have the will, you are someone who can achieve anything.
"You can do it. Stop the airplane from crashing."
As I delivered my sincere words with gravity, her quiet voice came through.
[...Does that even make sense? Do you think I don't know you're just trying to eliminate me with this opportunity?]
Eliminate? Me? You?
I was dumbfounded.
Who was eliminating whom?
Losing my composure for a moment, I spoke to her with genuine sincerity.
"Why would I try to kill you?"
Why would I kill you?
"Without you, what meaning do I have?"
After realizing I had fallen into this damned comic book world, I wandered and agonized, only to vow to live the rest of my life for you.
"Without you, I'm just a common, ordinary villain."
I couldn't even call myself just a villain.
Without you, I'm merely an outsider in this world. An unnecessary component.
Losing all my family, friends, assets, social status, honor, friendships, love—everything—and living in this world, I am not myself.
In this world, what meaning would I have if I didn't live for you?
You.
Only you.
"You complete me."
So step forward.
Clench your fists, put strength into your legs, fly into that sky, and save the people.
You can do it.
Because that's you.
After saying all that, I simply cut the connection.
Looking beside me, I felt Seeun and Subin staring at me with surprised expressions.
Ah, now that I think about it, I just spilled my guts about how I feel about Stardust right in front of them.
Hmm. How embarrassing.
I merely offered them a faint smile and said:
"Alright, let's see what happens now."
I had done everything I could.
Now, it simply depended on what Shin Haru decided.
***
"Yes!!! Stardust!!! Has successfully!!! Landed the airplane!!! All passengers are safely!!! Disembarking!!! Fellow citizens!!! The Republic of Korea is safe!!!"
"Wow. Oppa. She really stopped it, just like you said. How did she do it? Oppa? Oppa!"
When Seeun called me, I was slowly sliding down from my chair.
"Seeun..."
"Oppa, what's wrong?"
"Let's go on vacation...."
Seriously, one terror attack takes so much out of me.
I need to rest.
I need to rest.
"One more terror attack and I'll be crippled, man..."
Since I've done three terror attacks in a row.
Let's take a vacation now.
This villain needs a break.