Troubled Heart
Troubled Heart
Older people had always given the same advice.
No matter what, your health comes first. Take care of your body. Your body is your greatest asset—stuff like that.
And each time, I realized it all over again.
Their words were never wrong.
"..."
"..."
The sky overlooking the city streets.
The mood there turned icy in an instant.
Ah, shit. This is why I shouldn't push myself.
I had brought the car almost right up to the site, so I hadn’t expected such a short teleport to make me bleed.
At least I hadn't coughed up blood. I supposed that counted as fortunate.
Anyway, the atmosphere got weird for no reason.
Stardus was staring at me with a flustered expression.
Yeah, of course she'd be flustered. The villain hasn't even started fighting yet and he's got a trickle of blood running down from his mouth. Anyone watching would think she'd already landed a few hits on me.
Stardus's face stiffened as she watched me floating in the air without having done anything, blood dripping from my mouth. I wondered how incredulous someone had to be for their face to freeze like that. She was definitely thinking, 'What is wrong with this idiot?' Perhaps she thought I'd bitten my tongue.
But this was exactly when I could not panic. A professional laughed off an unexpected crisis. I wiped the blood from my chin as naturally as brushing away dust, then opened my mouth again as though nothing had happened.
"...Anyway, you really surprised me this time, Stardus! To think you’d stop the surprise attack I prepared to commemorate the last day of the holiday so easily—as expected, you’re beyond imagination. Cough. Excuse me for a moment."
I coughed at the last second and naturally covered my mouth with one hand. Then as I lowered my arm, I casually checked my hand, and sure enough, there it was—blood had come out.
I knew it. If I hadn’t covered my mouth, I would have coughed up blood in front of the entire nation.
After lowering my arm, I subtly moved my hand behind my back to hide it. Stardus's gaze followed my hand down, then returned to my face. What? Why was she watching my hand?
In any case, if I remained here any longer, I might keep coughing up blood, and Stardus could lunge at me at any moment. I needed to finish quickly.
I cleared my throat again.
"Now that I've definitely gauged your strength this time... next time won't be like today. Well then, adios!"
With that, I snapped my fingers and at the same time fired the smoke bomb I'd prepared in advance.
Gray smoke burst into the air in an instant, swallowing my body.
Stardus, who'd been staring blankly at my hand with a stiff expression, lunged toward me—but I'd already teleported away.
I didn't know why Stardus had been so dazed, but since it gave me an opportunity to escape, I took it.
Haa, what a rough day.
Let's go home. Home.
***
The terrorist attack Egostic carried out on the last day of the holiday.
It had been roughly three months since my last attack.
The main stories were about the newly appeared Star Breaker, and the combination of Electra and Death Knight this time, but...
As always, people also focused on the little incident that happened at the end.
*
[Egostic, for real, isn't he sick or something?]
He was standing there fine, then blood just started running from his mouth.
Would that happen if his body were actually okay?
He barely even did anything that day, so why would it happen?
[Kinda worried.]
= [comments] =
[When he kept coughing earlier I was already a little worried, but seeing him bleed for real gave me chills]
[Mango has to live a long, long time, so that really did make me worry]
[But honestly, villains and heroes bleeding isn't that big a deal... is what I'm telling myself]
└[That's true, but this time Mango didn't do anything other than scattering bombs, right? If he suddenly bled, it just seems like something's wrong with his body]
[Come to think of it, lately he hasn't been doing the terrorist attacks himself and his members do them instead, right? Could that be the reason? Gasp...]
[Silence!!!!!!!!!!]
└[Whoa, why are the theories evolving like this]
[What if Egostic is terminally ill? People who cough up blood and stuff are often terminally ill, you know]
└[For real, cut the crap]
└[This one's a bit of a delusion lol, why don't you just curse him while you're at it?]
└[Anyone would think he coughed up blood or something lol]
*
[An article even came out???]
---
[Breaking: Egostic Health Scare?]
[A-rank villain Egostic’s health has come under scrutiny. During yesterday’s attack around 4 p.m., broadcast live nationwide, a trickle of blood ran from Egostic’s mouth. Netizens are expressing concern that he may have a health problem. Egostic had been carrying out an attack with three villains from his faction under the broadcast title “Commemorating the Last Day of the Holiday” before A-rank hero Stardus defeated him and he fled.]
-Yujung News Reporter Lee Ki-young ([email protected])
---
There were quite a few comments, too.
= [comments] =
[Is the reporter a Mango shipper?]
└[Other communities already covered this incident quite a bit...]
└[No, it was a live broadcast on the three major networks, so of course a lot of people saw it lol]
└[Aren't the comments on the news article all elderly people? Wouldn't they be cursing Egostic?]
└[No. Looking at the comments, they're sad that Egostic-themed stocks will drop and they're telling Mango to get well soon.]
└[LMAO, those damn stocks are serious lol]
***
"..."
Shin Ha-ru stared blankly at her phone for a moment, then set it down on the sofa with a sigh.
Right now, her head was almost about to explode.
And of course, the reason was Egostic.
Letting the sound from the TV on the sofa wash over her, she sorted out her tangled thoughts.
Was the man at the beach Egostic?
Now she found it hard to be sure.
Once she returned home and thought it through, she realized there had been no evidence at all. It had only felt like he was Egostic, with no basis whatsoever. Once that sensation faded, what she had done looked like pure delusion.
And most importantly, while she was talking with him, Egostic was already carrying out a terrorist attack somewhere else. Actually, that alone proved he wasn't Egostic.
Her own groundless delusion versus a clear, concrete alibi.
As a hero—as a public servant paid with the people’s taxes—
What she ought to believe was already decided.
'...Yeah, it was just my imagination.'
Her intuition had never been right in the first place.
If he was just some innocent man, she felt sorry for interrogating him so aggressively.
...A certain unease remained, but with such clear evidence against her suspicion, pursuing an innocent man on nothing but delusion was not something a hero could do.
Besides, investigating Dain separately would have been like a high-ranking public official conducting surveillance on a civilian. She couldn't do that either.
Actually, there was something that bothered her even more than that.
The fact that Egostic, while carrying out a terrorist attack, had suddenly started bleeding from his mouth.
At first, just seeing that single trickle of blood from his mouth made her heart drop for some reason. Even she didn't really know why.
On top of that, though no one else seemed to notice...
When he coughed at the very end, it looked like blood was on his hand, even if only for a glimpse.
It could've been her imagination, but still.
...What was that about?
What if he overdid it?
"...Why am I even thinking about this."
Shin Ha-ru, who'd been so troubled, suddenly stiffened her expression.
...Here it goes again.
Get a grip, Shin Ha-ru. No, Stardus.
He's a villain, and you're a hero.
'But he did do good deeds, for a piece-of-trash villain.'
She ignored the rebuttal that surfaced in her mind.
Doing good deeds doesn't justify doing bad things.
Instead of thinking about arresting a villain committing attacks in real time, who was she to worry about him?
Worry about a villain who was literally carrying out terrorist attacks just a moment ago?
'...Right. Whatever happens to a villain, that's none of my business.'
Just as she was sitting there alone, suddenly reaffirming her resolve, a voice from the TV happened to reach her ears.
[...So, that's what I'm saying, that terrorist Egostic brought his gang along and committed yet another despicable criminal act. What is the government doing? What is the Association doing? Far from being able to throw that piece of trash in prison as soon as possible!!!]
[Now, now. You're too worked up. Please calm down.]
[Does it look like I can calm down right now! When I think about that psychopath running around the city with bombs, I'm too scared to even walk the streets! That piece of trash, right now...]
Listening to that, Shin Ha-ru simply picked up the remote and turned off the TV.
...He is a villain, sure, but he's not trash.
And that woman... she thought she had seen her on YouTube before.
"Sigh..."
Egostic is a villain, so there's no need to worry about him.
Whether Egostic was sick or not was not important to me.
Egostic was sick.
Why is he sick?
"..."
For a moment, the image of Egostic bleeding from his mouth yesterday overlapped with the memory of him bleeding after taking a monster’s attack in her place, and her heart sank.
She shook her head again. Why am I like this? Stop thinking about this. Stop thinking about Egostic.
...And just like that, once she stopped thinking about Egostic, she started thinking about Dain again.
The man who had laughed and talked with her on the beach. It had been a long time since she'd enjoyed talking with someone she'd only just met.
She'd concluded he probably wasn't Egostic, but...
No, but he really was similar.
"...Argh! Seriously!"
Realizing she was going around in circles like a hamster on a wheel, Shin Ha-ru found herself randomly smacking the cushion beside her.
...At this rate, she'd really go crazy. Her thoughts were all over the place with no rhyme or reason, but in the end it all came back to Egostic. She already had so much else to worry about—other villains like the Moonlight Church, for example—but she kept just thinking about this.
Right.
Come to think of it, whenever her head got this complicated, she'd always consulted Seol-ah.
And afterwards, things would get somewhat sorted out.
"...Maybe I'll give Seol-ah a call."
Having reached that conclusion, Ha-ru picked up her phone and called Seol-ah.
"...She's not picking up."
...Actually, she was also curious why Seol-ah hadn't come when Egostic carried out the terrorist attack yesterday. She'd wanted to ask about Dain a bit, too.
Is she busy right now?
***
-Ring.
"Seol-ah."
"Yes..."
"Did you do well or did you do badly?"
"...I did badly."
***
She was probably busy with work.
I would call again later.
That was all Shin Ha-ru simply thought.