Gathering Storm
Gathering Storm
The Fall of Brazil.
In the Original Work, that was when the world started going to hell.
The number of ability users, once no more than a handful, kept climbing. Villains multiplied to match, formed alliances, and launched invasions overseas—a complete madhouse.
Until then, Behemoth, Han-eun Group, and the Moonlight Church had devastated only Korea. From that point on, everyone would suffer together. Globally. And naturally, our country would get hit twice as hard.
And I had absolutely no intention of letting that happen.
Even if I lacked the intelligence to cover overseas events, if I threw myself into the fire, I could at least protect a small peninsula like Korea, right?
Anyway. The international community's about to descend into chaos.
To survive this war, you obviously need military force.
And since this world relies entirely on ability users for all of that force, in the end, talent is the most important resource.
Meaning, it was a fight over which faction could secure even one more capable person.
"..."
And I'd already assembled a talent pool more impressive than anyone else's.
The greatest hacker and inventor Seo-eun. The unkillable living weapon Death Knight. Eun-wol, who wields magic, a power operating on entirely different principles from superpowers. I took them all in before they could fall into darkness like in the Original Work.
On top of that, I'd even gone all out to recruit a few villains who would appear later. Prime examples were Choi Se-hee, that precious elemental ability user, and Lee Ha-yul, the healer who would only become more crucial as time went on.
Sure, this group alone was already plenty strong, but there was no such thing as too much talent. Especially when I thought about the late game of the Original Work... I was still hungry.
But here's the thing.
As the scale grew, so did the need for things besides raw talent.
Villains and heroes—it was all people fighting people. Monsters would appear in the late game, but until then, humans were behind every attack.
Which meant politics mattered too.
And since political maneuvering required a faction, that was exactly why I had formed the villain alliance.
"...Should be soon now."
The world map on the wall.
Staring at it intently, I muttered quietly.
After the Fall of Brazil, society had initially been shaken but eventually found stability again. But I knew that stability wouldn't last long.
If events followed the Original Work, the next incident would come soon.
The first global-scale attack. The largest terrorist incident in Earth's history up to that point: Latis's worldwide coastal invasion.
And.
"...Could I find a way to get just Korea excluded from that?"
That was the plan I'd been formulating.
***
Latis's worldwide coastal invasion.
Monsters would emerge from the sea on all three coasts of South Korea at the same time and turn every coastal city into a wasteland.
At a glance, it looked like any other routine terrorist attack from the Original Work. Just main-event scale.
But it was a different story when the same thing happened across the entire planet at once.
Japan, China, India, Russia, Europe, America. The shock was that it was a terrorist attack carried out in every major nation on Earth at once. A scale of atrocity the world had never once experienced before.
And there was not much time left before it began.
"...So you're saying, soon, terrorist attacks will happen simultaneously on coastlines all around the world?"
The Ego Stream meeting room, open again after a long while.
Seo-eun responded after hearing my explanation.
"Yeah. It's practically confirmed intel."
"...How does big bro even know that?"
"A reliable informant told me."
For reference, that reliable informant is my brain.
Despite looking a little unsatisfied with that, Seo-eun nodded and answered anyway.
"...Well, I guess big bro's information has never been wrong, so it must be true."
While Seo-eun was generously convincing herself, Choi Se-hee, who'd been listening quietly, suddenly asked me a question.
"No, hey. But how are we supposed to stop it?"
"...I didn't say we were going to stop it yet."
"You're gonna try to stop it anyway."
"...Yeah, true."
Choi Se-hee smirked at my answer like she'd expected it.
...I feel like my identity as the leader of a 'villain' alliance is starting to crumble.
Anyway, while I was clearing my throat and trying to think of a reply, Eun-wol, who'd been sitting with us, seemed to work up the courage and spoke a bit louder.
"...Sounds good! We'll protect the world! What do we do first?"
She clenched her fist as she said it.
Her eyes were sparkling too—she looked genuinely full of enthusiasm. Cute.
I explained kindly.
"We negotiate."
"...With who?"
"Who else? The villain group Latis."
"Uh... you mean we talk with villains?"
"Yeah. We're villains too. Villain to villain, we'll settle this peacefully through dialogue."
"...Ah."
Eun-wol seemed a little crestfallen, like she'd been expecting to fight the bad villains.
Sorry, Eun-wol. In the adult world, we solved everything with words, not fists.
...Wait, come to think of it, wasn't Eun-wol an adult?
In any case, the time had finally come to make proper use of the fact that we were villains rather than heroes.
"All right, here's the plan..."
The whole point of this operation was to settle everything by running our mouths.
And so I laid out what we needed to do.
***
Well, time passed.
Meanwhile, Stardus defeated two new villains. Lee Seol-ah somehow acquired and merged several more companies. And the public forgot the Brazil incident and returned to peaceful daily life.
And me?
I was lying on a makeshift sunbed I'd built on the roof of our huge mountain house.
No, listen. That time I lay on a sunbed at the beach and took in the view, it felt amazing.
So I went ahead and built something on the roof—soft, plush, like a sunbed—and I was lying up there.
In my hand: a glass of wine.
A 1947 Cheval Blanc—one of the bottles Lee Seol-ah had given me when she said she was quitting drinking.
A taste with deep, rich flavor.
Yes. A fitting reward for myself after completing something major.
Over the past while, the Ego Stream members and I had been busy. Truly.
And the result of that was:
Ego Stream concluded a non-aggression pact with the Atlantic-based villain group Latis.
The key point of the pact was that Latis and Ego Stream would not act with hostility toward one another.
Meaning, naturally, the pact also includes a clause stating neither group will turn the other's affiliated nations into a wasteland.
"...Why does this old guy keep texting me?"
There was one minor problem. Maybe I had messed up the affinity grind, because ever since our last meeting, the American leader of Latis kept sending me inspirational English quotes. But that was the kind of problem you solved with a [:) b] and moved on.
I was alone, basking in the pride of having protected South Korea again and kept Stardus safe, when a gust of wind swept past. A magic circle bloomed, and—pop!—Eun-wol appeared with Seo-eun clinging to her back.
"Big bro! We've been looking everywhere for you. What are you doing up here?"
Seo-eun detached herself from Eun-wol and bounded over toward me.
I swirled my wine glass at Seo-eun as I answered.
"I'm lying up here alone, trying to have some adult ti—"
"Whoa! The view's amazing up here! Should we put something like a rocking chair up here so we can sit next to big bro? Right, Eun-wol?"
"Yes. I think that would be nice."
Eun-wol chuckled softly as she answered.
...No. My private space...
Regardless of what I was thinking, Eun-wol asked me with a curious look.
"So... Big bro, is it really over now?"
"Yeah. Korea will be safe. Oh, right. And Seo-eun, good timing since you're here. Let's do some work."
"Ack."
Seo-eun's face said she'd just walked into a trap, but tough luck. You came here on your own.
Just this one update.
Remember that photo we took during the handshake?
***
A hero's daily routine is monotonous.
When there's no active terrorist attack, the main job is sitting in the office waiting. Especially on rainy days like today, all activity stays indoors.
And during that time, Shin Ha-ru was clicking her mouse, looking something up.
[coughing up blood]
[coughing up blood health]
[illness when a man in his 20s coughs up blood]
"Even a small amount of blood when coughing can indicate a serious underlying illness. There is a high chance of a physical abnormality, so a hospital visit is recommended???"
Having murmured search results with a grave expression, she eventually sighed, closed the window, and naturally navigated to a site she frequented often.
The moment she loaded it, a real-time trending post appeared.
Shin Ha-ru clicked on it without thinking.
*
[BREAKING) A NOTICE CATEGORY HAS BEEN ADDED TO THE MANGO STREAM HOMEPAGE!!!]
(homepage_screenshot_before.jpg)
If you look, you'll see that originally the Ego Stream homepage only had the main screen, member profiles, and that tiny damage compensation request link at the bottom, right?
(homepage_screenshot_after.jpg)
But now they've added a new 'Notices' category lol What does this mean? Doesn't it mean they're going to communicate with the viewers outside of broadcasts now???
(Ego_Stream_logo.jpg)
Ego Stream <<<< world's strongest villain organization, upvote if you agree lol
[♡]851
=[Comments]=
[Mango Stream! Mango Stream! Mango Stream! Mango Stream!
Mango Stream! Mango Stream!]
[Oh, this is actually huge news]
[Wow lol this is insane lol]
[I never thought Egostic would do something like this, this is unexpected. Looking forward to what kind of notices they'll post lol]
[No but really, I've never seen people get this happy over a notice category being added lol It's like they've all been collectively hypnotized lol]
└[Ah lol]
└[This is all Mango's fault for not having regular communication with us in the first place... ugh he's messing with my brain]
└[No but why would a villain need regular communication in the first place lol]
[Is something big coming??? Is something big coming???]
*
Just as Shin Ha-ru's interest was piqued by this rather intriguing news, her office door suddenly flew open.
"Stardus!!! We have a huge problem!!!"
At the panicked expression on the Association staffer's face, Shin Ha-ru's own face hardened.
...Just like the comments said. Something big did come.
"Right now! The entire world is in chaos!!!"
Something way too big.