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Translator: Vine
Chapter Title: Stardust's Realization
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[BREAKING NEWS] EGOSTREAM OFFICIAL SITE LAUNCHED
Upon entering, you're met with a starkly clean, empty screen, just a logo on a white background.
Seeing 'LIVE' at the bottom, it seems they plan to broadcast from here now?
=[Comments]=
[Oh]
[Cool]
[Wait, what's this tiny text at the bottom right that says 'Damage Compensation Application'? Lolol]
ㄴ[Fr? Lmao]
ㄴ[Damn, they're really consistent, lolol]
ㄴ[This is a 'villain' alliance...?]
*
[I've been watching Egoistic live since his first broadcast, and it feels pretty surreal.]
He started out as just a somewhat novel villain,
then his terror scale gradually grew,
and now to see him even forming a villain alliance,
it just fills me with... a strange sense of pride (?), lol.
And it's legendary that he's made it this far with zero fatalities, lmao.
=[Comments]=
[This is so true, watching him grow makes me proud.]
[Egoistic is legendary....]
[Seriously, it feels like just yesterday he and Stardust were squabbling by themselves.]
[He's just been hitting new highs every day since the bridge terror, lol.]
[But seriously, zero casualties is rare even among A-ranks, right? If he gets promoted to S-rank, he'd be the first for real, lol.]
ㄴ[Ego's still A-rank? Why though?]
ㄴ[Fr, lol, I don't get it.]
ㄴ[It's not like the Association's incompetence is anything new, lol.]
ㄴ[I'm not an Association official, but I've heard that Egoistic's inherent combat ability is very weak, and he's maintained A-rank because there have been no fatalities so far. However, considering his hacking skills, influence, the seriousness of his terror acts, and the organizational power he's shown this time, his promotion to S-rank is being internally reviewed.]
ㄴ[Association employee, bro.....]
ㄴ[Thanks, Association employee!]
*
[Forget everything else, if Electra is <<
Starting with me, lol.
=[Comments]=
[Fr, lol]
[I support Ego x Elec!]
ㄴ[Hold it! Ego x Star is clearly the superior ship!!!]
[Honestly, the moment I saw her, "pretty" just popped out.]
ㄴ[She looks like the prettiest 'iljin' unnie at my school, lolol.]
ㄴ[Damn, why that comparison, seriously, lolol.]
*
[Honestly, Egoistic and Electra <---- it's a fact they're dating.]
Egoistic saving her the moment she's in danger.gif
Egoistic holding Electra tightly in a princess carry.gif
And especially this last scene:
When Egoistic says, "Electchu, One Million Volts!", Electra, who'd been pretending to be knocked out, gets up and shoots electricity, lol. Their chemistry is insane, lolol.
From today on, I'm supporting Egoistic x Electra... or EgoTra for short. Don't try to stop me.
=[Comments]=
[Honestly, their chemistry is good, lol. You only get that kind of vibe if they're genuinely close off-camera.]
[Nah, Egoistic belongs to Stardust~ Later!]
ㄴ[Stardust, what Stardust, lol. When was the last time Egoistic even called out Stardust?]
ㄴ[They just met this time, what are you talking about?]
ㄴ[Yeah, but I mean, when was the last time Egoistic directly called *her* out, not just met her? Lol, it was ages ago.]
*
[Why the Egoistic x Stardust ship is doomed to fail... Reason]
From a fan's perspective, when it comes to shipping,
a villain x hero pairing has a realistic chance of converging to zero.
Plus, Stardust's personality is all about justice!, making her Egoistic's complete opposite.
The only reason they were ever shipped was because Egoistic consistently called out Stardust, summoned Stardust, and mentioned Stardust from the very beginning of his activities.
But at some point, Egoistic stopped calling out Stardust.
So, just as it was getting hard to ship them, the radiant Electra appeared like a comet.
The intimacy of being villain x villain and tied together in an alliance,
and the subtly familiar attitude they showed in the last video...
Stardust is just going to be dumped, and he'll naturally end up with Electra, for real, lol.
So, EgoStar shippers, got it?
Pack your bags and get out of the fan cafe.
EgoTra shippers are taking over now.
=[Comments]=
[Nah, I can't let go of EgoStar~ My head was completely converted during that train terror~]
ㄴ[Seriously, new fans haven't seen Egoistic sweetly taking care of Stardust right after she collapsed during that train terror, that's why they're like this.]
ㄴ[Boomer.]
[No old-timers still pushing EgoStar, right?]
[Stardust cut!]
*
"...."
She nearly threw her phone, but took a deep breath and regained her composure.
Right, it's not worth getting *that* angry about. Why should she even be linked to Egoistic in the first place? And it's none of her business whether Egoistic gets involved with that Electra-whatever woman or not.
But why was she so annoyed?
"...I don't like it."
She looked again at Egoistic holding Electra in a princess carry and felt, without realizing it, a sense of discomfort.
Even the front-page photo of the newspaper zoomed in only on Egoistic and Electra, completely editing her, Stardust, out.
Something about seeing them look so affectionate made her irritable.
With an displeased expression, she sat still for a long time, scrolling through her new phone.
Suddenly, she thought.
Why am I annoyed?
She straightened her posture.
Right.
She'd been so consumed by her irritation that she'd forgotten.
Why, in the first place, was she so uncomfortable?
She clasped her head and began to think.
Right. The more she thought about it, the less reason she had to be annoyed. But why did she feel so bad?
Egoistic, what did that guy have to do with anything?
So she cast her mind back to Egoistic.
Egoistic.
The villain who appeared some time after she became a hero, just when she felt she was getting the hang of things. That was Egoistic.
He was different from other villains who merely destroyed cities or took hostages for ransom.
From the start, he only ever killed other villains, leading to early speculation that he might be a dark hero, but his subsequent acts of terror quickly silenced such talk.
And his first act of terror.
At that time, he specifically called out Stardust herself.
No, now that she thought about it, even before that. Stardust herself had been his target. Through the messages he left after killing villains.
And in his next act of terror, he also targeted her. As if it were obvious.
Moreover, when she was about to expose her face, he somehow knew and appeared to help her.
In the terror after that, he even contacted her directly, telling her he trusted her, and that she would complete him.
In the end, he even threw himself in harm's way to save her.
Right. Until now, Egoistic had always, every time he caused an incident, targeted Stardust, and he was always by her side at the scene.
As she replayed this in her mind, she suddenly realized.
Just as Egoistic always paid attention only to her among many heroes,
she, too, had paid the most attention only to Egoistic among many villains.
"....."
Right.
Thinking back, her life as a hero had, without her even realizing it, reached a point where it was difficult to discuss without Egoistic.
She could barely remember what she had done as a hero before meeting Egoistic. She'd just put one villain in a detention center, then another, and another. That's how she had lived.
But Egoistic.
He had really stuck around for a long time.
A villain who, with his overwhelmingly high mobility through teleportation, always escaped only to constantly cause more terror.
Yet, there were no casualties, he eliminated other villains, and sometimes even saved people under strange pretexts, a guy full of secrets,
and the one who always singled her out, and was always intertwined with her.
Without realizing it, Stardust, recalling him again, understood.
She couldn't imagine a life without Egoistic anymore.
Egoistic causing an incident, then calling her, and then her chasing him in his presence had become so familiar,
that at some point, she couldn't even imagine a life without it.
"...."`
Right. Thinking about it, Egoistic had always called only her until now.
Even when killing villains, and all three terror incidents.
But after that, he didn't call her.
Right. Specifically, the bridge terror. He completely blocked her access then.
Hadn't they met at other times?
Those were not instances where he directly targeted her; they were all accidental, circumstantial encounters.
He hadn't directly called 'Stardust', her.
Right. From a certain point onward,
he hadn't sought out Stardust.
As she thought this and scrolled through her phone, her eyes caught a post.
*
[Stardust is just a propellant, lol.]
She was just initial hype, a propellant for drawing attention.
People here keep saying Egoistic is obsessed with Stardust, that he only has eyes for Stardust.
What, lol? Is Egoistic really that kind of guy?
Egoistic only acted that way in the beginning because Stardust was the A-rank hero in charge of Seoul, so he drew attention by facing her to boost his own presence.
Nothing more, nothing less.
It's clear he hasn't mentioned Stardust at all lately, right?
He just used her for business and then dumped her.
He probably won't ever call out Stardust for his terror acts again, will he? He hasn't called her since the plane terror, actually, lol.
Stardust was just a fling,
while Ego is probably getting all cozy with Electra behind the scenes, yeah. All the attention he used to give Stardust has shifted to Electra.
Good work, EgoStar shippers, lol.
*
Having read that far, she finally couldn't take it anymore and threw her phone.
What did *they* know?
Egoistic had personally called her during the plane terror, and he'd even risked his life to save her in the basement of the Haneun Group.
He had always communicated with her where they couldn't see.
As she thought that, she suddenly realized.
Right, the reason she felt bad seeing those two was:
Until now, whenever Egoistic was involved, she had always been the one linked to him as his opponent.
And now, some other useless woman had suddenly, unnecessarily, inserted herself between the two of them.
"...."
Egoistic had once told her that she was his arch-enemy.
And now, she agreed with his words.
Like it or not, her greatest foe, her nemesis, was Egoistic.
And.
The bond between her and him, their relationship, had to be resolved by the two of them alone, without anyone else getting involved.
Her mind now cool again, she quietly got up to pick up the phone she'd thrown onto the bed.
Right. Regardless.
Egoistic had definitely told her he'd see her again soon. She would just deal with him then.
And.
Electra. That woman needed to be dealt with as soon as possible.
She vowed.
***
"...Damn it, what was that?"
"What? Why the sudden reaction?"
"No... I suddenly got a strange, chilling feeling..."
Watching Choi Se-hee rub her arms as if she had goosebumps, I tilted my head and said,
"That's weird, I had a similar unsettling feeling last time, just like you."
What is it? Is everyone feeling drained lately?