Alibi
Alibi
The restroom at the edge of the beach.
After getting Shin Ha-ru's permission, I went inside, turned on my phone, and contacted them immediately.
[Big bro! What do we do? Are you okay? Why is Stardus there? Did you get caught?]
"I'm okay, Seo-eun. For now. But I don't have much time, so listen carefully. Got it?"
[Yes! Go ahead.]
"First, Death Knight, Choi Se-hee, the thing called Star Breaker, and Eun-wol—I need all of them."
We were staging an attack.
Right now.
My plan was simple.
Shin Ha-ru suspected that I was Egostic.
So what's the solution?
Simple. While I was there, I had to prove that Egostic was carrying out a terrorist attack elsewhere. That would secure my alibi.
But it had to be staged on extremely short notice, and it could not leave Stardus with even a shred of doubt.
Which means the critical part is buying time.
So I quickly formulated a plan, relayed it to the Ego Stream members, and told them to execute it immediately.
Even with my sudden instructions, the members moved fast, like an extension of my own hands, without missing a beat.
Thank god. I really did pick good people.
Realizing that staying too long could invite suspicion, I got out of the restroom as soon as I'd conveyed everything.
Then I paused to take a breath.
Right. Then all I had to do was wait.
Having steeled myself, I stepped outside.
And there she was, sitting on a sunbed and looking troubled, as though something weighed on her mind.
...Wait, is she thinking about how to ambush me and lock me up?
I needed to look away before my thoughts got any stranger.
With that resolve, I approached her and struck up a conversation.
A little time passed.
Boom—
The terrorist attack began.
Then Shin Ha-ru got a strange call—probably from the Association—and hurriedly left.
Sure, things had become a little awkward at the end, but the important point was that we had parted ways.
And just like that, Shin Ha-ru vanished.
Standing alone on the unsettled beach, I collected myself.
Alright. Let's stick to the plan. Stick to the plan.
***
...What on earth is going on?
As she suited up and shot across the sky, Shin Ha-ru—Stardus—felt her mind spinning.
Egostic appeared? Really?
Then who was the man she had been talking to on the beach?
In a situation where she couldn't make sense of anything, Stardus had no choice but to move.
If a terrorist attack was unfolding right now, she couldn't just do nothing. She had to intervene immediately. That much was correct.
But...
"...It's weird. Something is definitely weird."
She muttered to herself as she flew through the air.
One person could not be in two places at once.
...
Right. Obviously not.
She must have been mistaken. It was far more likely that the Egostic who had just appeared was the real one.
But.
'Is he really?'
She almost never trusted her intuition.
But... but. This time, it was nearly certain. She felt it on a visceral level.
Yes.
This is strange. It doesn't add up.
Holding that conviction, she flew fast toward Egostic's reported location.
She'd lost a bit of time already, but still.
Flying with that urgency, she soon caught sight of him.
In the middle of some city center, flying around, hurling bombs—Egostic.
"....."
The cameras floating beside him.
The explosions booming in the background—and his unmistakable voice.
"Ahahaha! Everyone, do you enjoy bomb-shaped rice balls? Then you must enjoy bombs too, yes? Here—a bomb gift set!"
"..."
Right.
There he was, carrying out a terrorist attack so naturally you'd never believe he'd just been chatting and laughing with her on a beach moments ago. The black hat, the black cloak, the mask covering his face, the voice addressing the cameras. All indistinguishable from the usual Egostic.
And supposedly he'd been carrying on like this even before she arrived...
Right. That had to be the real Egostic down there.
Right. That's probably the real Egostic down there.
...Is it really?
Hovering in the sky almost unconsciously, she stared down at Egostic, still chattering away, still throwing bombs—seemingly oblivious to her presence.
...That's Egostic?
Intuition.
Her gut was telling her something was off.
A strange feeling. Yes.
The man down there should be Egostic.
So why...
Why doesn't he feel like Egostic?
Just intuition again. If someone asked why she got that feeling, all she could say was "it just felt that way"—something closer to conjecture or delusion, really.
But up there in the sky, the cold wind rushing past her,
She couldn't shake the odd sensation.
She couldn't accept it.
Egostic was definitely... on the beach with her.
So.
If she approached him—if she faced him directly from a distance close enough to touch and exchanged a few words—
Wouldn’t she be able to tell?
Wouldn’t she be able to confirm it?
Whether the man ahead of her really was Egostic or not.
Right.
As the one who had seen Egostic more than anyone else...
...and perhaps as the one who had been speaking with him in private only moments ago...
Simply standing face-to-face with him would be enough to tell.
Seized by that conviction,
she shouted toward Egostic, who was still hovering over one side of the street and throwing bombs or smoke grenades.
"Egostic!"
The moment he heard her voice, his body flinched. He stopped throwing bombs and spun around.
But as she watched him turn toward her, the strange sensation only grew stronger.
...That was supposed to be Egostic?
It was strange, but fine.
She would know for certain once she got close.
With that thought, she shot toward him like an arrow—
[Whoa—!!!]
"!!!"
A shadow suddenly loomed in front of her, an ominous feeling crashing over her. Shin Ha-ru frantically halted mid-flight and yanked herself backward.
And then—
Boom—
With a colossal crash, something massive blocked her path.
[Hahaha! Old lady, your opponent is me!]
A huge, heavy mechanical suit, so enormous it brought a monster to mind.
Gleaming in pristine silver, it had landed from the sky.
At its center was an emblem: a star shattered in half by a red slash.
And in stark contrast to its giant, imposing appearance, the voice of a young girl rang out through the external speakers.
[Stardus? It’s been a while! I, South Silver—your new archrival, Star Breaker—will stop you!]
The triumphant shout clearly came from a girl, presumably inside the mech.
The voice stirred something inside Stardus.
...My archrival wasn’t you. It was Egostic.
So.
"Get out of my way."
But as if determined never to yield, the mechanical suit planted itself in front of Egostic and spread its arms wide.
Stardus swallowed her fury and clenched her fist.
...Fine. Finish this quickly and then go to Egostic.
Missiles also launched from its mechanical arms.
And it, too, produced missiles from its mechanical arms.
The battle had begun.
***
"Hello, everyone. Egostic here!"
[Mang-ha (short for Mangostic hi~)]
[Egostic! Egostic! What took you so long TT]
[I've been waiting, Mango!]
[The king has returned... all the small-fry villains will tremble in fear]
[The OG has entered the chat lol a big one's here lol]
[Honestly, the moment I see a Mango Broadcast alert I just start smiling lol]
[I missed you... it's been a while since the last terrorist attack too...]
[Living in the same era as the one-and-only G.O.A.T. of attack livestreams, Mangostic—I am happy again today]
[Ah lol so what's on for today lol]
[Wait, the stream started a little late this time lol why aren't you turning it on right as the terror starts TT TT]
The broadcast went live.
What the viewers saw was Egostic, hovering in the sky, tossing bombs at the street below as if scattering feed for chickens.
He paused his bombing to greet the viewers.
He seemed to be floating in the sky as usual, speaking in a cheerful voice.
In reality, of course?
A wide-open expressway.
Inside a black limousine speeding across it, I was speaking into a microphone.
"Yes! It’s been a while, everyone! One moment, I’ll toss a few more bombs while I wait for Stardus!"
[Ah lol, Stardus really can’t resist.]
[EgoStar stocks about to skyrocket???]
[Info) There is a villain who commits terror while waiting for the hero?]
[At this point, is Stardus basically an Ego TV regular guest or what? lol]
[The Mango x Star combo is guaranteed top-tier content lol]
[Wait, why is he so sure Stardus will come? lol]
[For real, Lee Seol-ah is supposedly near Seoul. Couldn’t Icicle show up instead?]
Yeah, she couldn’t make it.
I kept one eye on the overexcited chat while watching the situation.
Good. Nobody had noticed, right?
I cut the mic and asked Soo-bin, who was driving up front.
"Soo-bin! How much longer till we arrive?"
"Almost there!"
Right.
At that moment, I was inside the car, racing toward the site of the terrorist attack.
One teleport would get me there instantly, but my body was already a wreck. If I teleported now, there was a ninety-nine percent chance I would pass out the moment I landed—forget staging an attack. I had no choice.
Then who was the Egostic throwing bombs in that video?
That was my illusion, conjured by Eun-wol, who had flown ahead using moon magic. It didn’t replicate my voice, so I was transmitting the audio through the mic from here.
"Big bro! I think Stardus is getting close to the site before we are!"
"She is? Then hurry up and launch the Star-whatever!"
"It’s Star Breaker! Also, this is my first time remote-piloting it, so it’s hard!"
Seo-eun was beside me, hammering away at her laptop like crazy.
I got ready to hand the mic over to her.
She has to talk too.
"...Hey, is this actually going to work?"
[Right, Dain. It's too... chaotic.]
"Making the impossible work is our job. Se-hee, Desik. Both of you, just get ready to fight."
I checked my own outfit one more time. Hat, mask, cloak. All in place?
Whew. I took a deep breath.
Knowing Stardus, the moment she saw that illusion of Egostic up close, she’d spot the deception immediately. I had to block her approach for as long as possible, then swap places with Eun-wol before she caught on. She had already seen through my Perception Inhibition and nearly identified me as Egostic; there was no way an illusion would fool her at close range.
In other words, the race against time had begun.
Would Stardus detect the illusion before I arrived?
Or would I get there first, pull off the swap, and establish an airtight alibi?
That's the whole fight.
"Soo-bin! Just floor it! No one else is driving here anyway!"
"Even faster? Ugh, fine!"
"Eeek!"
And so the car carrying all of us began to hurtle forward, as if testing the absolute maximum of what a four-wheel-drive vehicle could achieve.
Once I approached the site, I would teleport the rest of the way even if it wrecked my body.
Alright, let's go.
I could do it.
And just like that,
A time-attack that only Stardus was unaware of had begun.