Magic Circle
Magic Circle
[Breaking news. Today a terrorist appeared at a downtown Seoul subway station, throwing citizens into chaos. Fortunately, the hero Stardus arrived in time to apprehend the suspect with no casualties. Our own Nam Sang-min has the details.]
Just because Ego Stream was taking a temporary break didn't mean South Korea had suddenly become peaceful.
We were well past the beginning of the story, and as we entered the middle, villains would truly begin pouring out.
If the Original Work had held true, Stardus would have been getting knocked around and living through her own misery-porn arc by then... but perhaps I'd strengthened her too much, because she was taking down other villains without breaking a sweat.
At that point, it honestly seemed as though no one except Ego Stream could even challenge her.
I'd recruited or eliminated the genuinely powerful villains ahead of time, so naturally the ones left over were mostly second-rate. That was exactly why the people in my Villain Alliance were the real treasures.
So what were those peculiar bastards doing then—the ones powerful enough to pressure Stardus even in the Original Work?
"Seo-eun, Se-hee. Who picks out beans like that while eating? Look at Ha-yul and Cha-yun—now that's how you eat."
They were being scolded for picking the beans out of their rice.
There they were, pitifully scooping up the beans they'd pushed to the sides of their bowls. I mean, Seo-eun was one thing, but Choi Se-hee—at her age, and she was still picking out beans?
...Of course, I'd avoided that entire tragedy by serving myself fewer beans in the first place. I couldn't stand them either.
In any case, despite its ordinary appearance, the people sitting at that dining table were anything but ordinary.
Starting with me, I knew everything that would happen in the future. Seo-eun, choking down her beans beside me, was a genius hacker. Choi Se-hee was an A-rank villain.
Across the table, Ha-yul was the only healer in South Korea.
Soo-bin was a one-woman army who could handle computers and operate every kind of vehicle. Even Death Knight, who was out sweeping the yard, had been an S-rank villain in the original story.
Seriously, simply looking at this lineup made my chest swell.
Add partners such as Vine Witch and the Lepis Squad, and... yeah. All the work I'd put into this world didn't feel wasted. In a world like this, nothing mattered more than exceptional people.
"I'm done!"
"Me too."
While I was lost in thought, Seo-eun and Choi Se-hee emptied their bowls and stood.
"Big bro, you said we’re going out tonight, right?"
"Yeah."
"Then I'll be in the basement with big sis Se-hee until then. Call us when it's time!"
"Yeah, go ahead."
And with that, the two of them bolted off toward the basement.
"Haah... how long are they going to keep this up?"
Soo-bin let out a heavy sigh, watching them go.
I didn't blame her. Those two had been holed up in that basement practically every day since last time. Except for meals, they were down there tinkering away at something.
...At first I just figured they knew what they were doing and let them be, but the longer it went on, the more suspicious I got. Especially since they were whispering among themselves and hiding it even from Soo-bin.
Still, I decided to watch for the time being.
Honestly, they were scheming so openly that they couldn't have been building anything strange, right? I looked forward to whatever useful surprise they were probably preparing.
"Thanks for the meal!"
Cha-yun finished eating and immediately headed out to the yard to help Death Knight with the cleaning. A truly good kid.
...Although really, Desik had simply grown tired of being cooped up in the ring and come out to sweep even though nothing actually needed sweeping.
Still, they seemed to have grown closer, so that was good.
That left Soo-bin and me at the table, plus Ha-yul, who looked gaunt—probably because she was a high-school senior by then.
"Ha-yul. How's the studying going lately?"
"Ugh... don't even ask. It's not easy..."
Ha-yul looked increasingly exhausted as the college entrance exam approached. It made sense. She'd barely opened a book in her life before then, so beginning that late couldn't have been easy.
Still, she had Soo-bin, a Seoul National University graduate, helping her, so I figured she would manage reasonably well.
Looking around at everyone living in this house, one by one, a thought suddenly came to me.
I had spent my days running toward a future that prevented destruction, resolved to devote everything to Stardus.
But as I gathered people one by one, I had ended up with quite a few who trusted and relied on me.
And then Lee Seol-ah came to mind, too.
...She also seemed somewhat fond of me.
Honestly, I wasn't sure why. Perhaps she'd simply liked the intelligence I'd given her as a gift. Lee Seol-ah had always brimmed with ambition, so that might have been all it was.
But because I did not know much about her for certain, I had been building our relationship cautiously.
Still, she was so openly friendly that I told her my name, and now she kept pestering me to let her visit the house. That was a real problem.
...Maybe I could invite her over after the next main event. Honestly, by then, I figured she would be reluctant to consider betraying me.
In any case, that wasn't the issue at the time.
I had to prepare for the next major event, which would arrive early the following year.
To stop the Moonlight Church bastards from pulling off their plan.
***
The Moonlight Church.
A cult that believed the absurd claim that a Moon God from another dimension would descend, cleanse the world, and create a new one.
...Or that was what I wanted to say. The problem was that it was partly true. Something resembling a Moon God really did exist, and so did other dimensions. That was the kind of world the Original Work had built.
In short, they were lunatics trying to bring the Moon God directly into this world and destroy it. Their cult leader in particular was completely insane.
If Han-eun Group had been the main villain of Phase 1, the Moonlight Church was the main villain of Phase 2. From the midpoint onward, they fielded the Moon Priestess—a woman with virtually no weaknesses—and repeatedly finished ruining Seoul, which Han-eun Group had already half destroyed.
Stardus naturally tried to stop her, but the Stardus of the Original Work could never beat someone even the current Stardus couldn't defeat. Armed with all kinds of magic circles and a special power called Moon Magic, they were overwhelming. By the time Stardus barely discovered how to drive her away, Seoul was already ruined.
Worse, they tore open dimensions and caused monsters from other worlds to pour onto Earth. But that was not the immediate problem. The immediate problem was that the Moon Priestess would stage her first attack in only a few months.
Right.
In a few months, a large-scale attack would erupt in the heart of Seoul.
The Moon Priestess's first attack for the Moonlight Church.
Beginning with that, she would stage nearly ten attacks and single-handedly devastate Seoul. She did it by creating something like a magical storm in the city center.
Why couldn't the heroes stop her from the very beginning? Simple.
The Moonlight Church had spent months or even years drawing magic circles throughout Seoul before the attacks.
There were circles that activated Moon Magic, circles that weakened heroes' abilities, and circles that erased the memories of anyone who approached. With preparations that thorough and enhancements that overwhelming, they brought Seoul down where no one could stop them.
The Association eventually discovered the truth and managed to corner and kill the Moon Priestess somewhere without a magic circle... but by then it was too late. Seoul was already ruined.
That was the point: we had to prepare for those magic circles in advance. And who was going to do it? Me.
Which was why I was standing right in the middle of a Seoul street at this late hour, with Seo-eun and Choi Se-hee.
"So, what are we looking for again?"
"Magic circles."
"Magic circles?"
Choi Se-hee frowned, as if I'd just said something completely out of the blue.
I gave her a friendly explanation, simple enough for a beginner to grasp.
"Across this whole area, there are magic circles drawn so huge you'd need a satellite image to see them. And, uh, we've got to find them."
"...What is a magic circle, exactly, big bro?"
Seo-eun looked just as confused.
Magic circle, huh...
"Think of it as a kind of superpower. When activated, the neighborhood covered by the circle receives a kind of buff."
It was not actually a superpower. This was magic related to the moon, an entirely different category.
But explaining all the religious stuff about the sun, the moon, and the stars right here and now would be a pain, so I just put it that way.
"Who drew them?"
"A group called the Moonlight Church. They're planning to stage an attack here soon, so they should already have drawn the circles. We need to find them in advance."
"...Isn't that the heroes' job? Not ours as villains?"
"Isn't it a little pointless to split hairs about that now? Just help me look. We're looking for the circumference. The lines are so big they'll probably look like ordinary rows or streaks."
"But it's nighttime? Are we actually going to see them?"
"No people around makes it better. Seo-eun, you brought them, right? Good. Put these on. We're looking for something that glows brightly, so it should be easier."
I handed everyone night-vision goggles and, seeing that the time was about right, called out.
"Alright, move out!"
"...Honestly, I'm not sure we'll find anything with these."
Leaving Seo-eun's grumbling behind, we set out on our search.
To find magic circles in the middle of the city.
...I wondered whether we could even find one before the end of the night.
***
A short while later.
[Big bro, I think I found something similar.]
"Really? Let me see."
I ran over at Seo-eun's words, and at last—there it was.
A long, slightly curved line drawn across the dirt like graffiti. And inside it, those distinctive arcane symbols.
"Yes! I knew they'd have these laid down by now! Well done, Seo-eun!"
"Eek! Put me down, big bro!"
I lifted Seo-eun, spun her around in the air a few times, then left her swaying behind me while I examined the symbols in the magic circle.
This inverted triangle inside another triangle... I thought it was the device that suppressed heroes' abilities.
"Nice! We just need to find a few more now. Let's keep it up!"
"Wait. This wasn't the only one?"
Uh. There are quite a few.
Those bastards really love their doping.
And so, over several days and nights, we scoured Seoul and managed to locate several more of those enormous magic circles.
"...Honestly, Stardus should be bowing to big bro. You're doing everything she should be doing."
"Haha."
I simply patted Seo-eun's head as she complained.
And so, little by little.
The next main event was drawing near.
The day when Stardus, Icicle, and even Shadow Walker—despite it happening at night—would all be left helpless.
And the day Egostic returned to livestreaming.