Will-o'-the-Wisp
Will-o'-the-Wisp
Choosing which of the Original Work’s many villains to recruit was a serious problem.
It was not easy to find villains who would fit into Ego Stream and had not yet fallen completely to the dark side.
I'd narrowed it down to two.
A brown-haired guy and a purple-haired woman.
Stuck between them, I gave up and asked Ha-yul's little brother which one he liked better.
"The woman beside him."
His instant answer sealed the deal. The woman standing in front of me now was my final pick.
And now.
The more I thought about it, the more I kept wondering if Ha-yul's little brother had picked badly.
"No."
The crisp, immediate rejection caught me off guard.
...Well. I didn’t see that coming.
While my brain was rebooting,
She let out a small laugh and answered.
"Kidding. I'm in."
"..."
I really wanted to flick her on the forehead.
***
Seo Ja-yeong.
She looked at the man in front of her with deeply intrigued eyes.
...Egostic. He’s the celebrity who’s always on the news.
From his videos, she'd always thought he seemed to be enjoying life, but she'd never expected to meet him in person.
And now he'd personally sought her out to recruit her as a villain...
'No idea what this is about, but...'
It felt as though her endlessly boring life was about to become a little more interesting.
With that thought, she fixed her gaze on the man talking.
She wasn't sure how he knew her name and ability, but sure, that could happen. It wasn't really important.
She was thinking about something else.
"So, what do you say?"
After wrapping up his explanation of Ego Stream, he flashed a grin and made his offer.
Watching him, Ja-yeong brought a hand to her mouth and thought for a moment.
"Hmm..."
She was drawn in. She couldn't deny it.
She'd been bored stiff just lazing around the house every day, and this really was the first interesting thing to happen in a while.
And somehow he'd figured out she'd been in the mood for some terror lately and offered to let her do some.
The deal was so good it was actually kind of sketchy.
But that didn't really matter.
She could pretty much beat anyone with her ability anyway.
That was why she had no sense of caution. She was confident that whatever happened, she could crush the threat and slip away unharmed.
But more than that.
She was curious how he'd react if she turned him down.
Would he go stone-faced and threaten her? Or try to talk her into it?
So she answered.
"Nope."
"..."
The moment she tossed those words out, his body froze.
"..."
"..."
He fell silent.
Half his face was hidden by a mask, and the rest was shadowed by his hat. She couldn't see well, but he clearly looked flustered.
At his reaction, the corner of her mouth rose before she knew it. Cute. More precisely, his reaction was funny.
Hmm... should I stop teasing him now?
"Kidding. I’m in."
So she simply told him that.
"...Thank you."
The man hesitated, then let out a small sigh.
She asked him what she'd been wondering.
"Cool. So what do we do now?"
Ja-yeong suddenly grew curious.
Learning that villains drank Jetti too was interesting, and joining Ego Stream was fine, but what happened now?
As if he'd been waiting to answer that question, he grinned.
"Follow me."
Things were getting more and more interesting. Her mood lifted a little.
Normally, she barely ever left the house and just lay around at home, but
This seemed like it'd be worth going out for. Worth the fun, anyway.
So Seo Ja-yeong took the hand he offered.
***
Okay. I might have short-circuited for a second there, but I successfully recruited Seo Ja-yeong.
...Actually, thinking back, she was probably the easiest recruit out of everyone so far. The whole thing was done in ten minutes flat.
The only problem was that you never knew when or why she might change her mind. So I decided to just bring her home right away.
After taking my hand and teleporting, she followed me without the slightest wariness—long purple hair, half-lidded eyes, and a blank expression.
Trailing after me in an oversized black hoodie with the sleeves hanging past her hands, she looked like she was just strolling around the neighborhood.
...She seemed incredibly defenseless. Though, when I thought about it, that might have come from complete confidence in her power.
Anyway, that's not the point.
I brought her to our Ego House.
"Whoa."
She let out a short breath of amazement at the big house spread out in front of her.
"What is this place?"
"Ego Stream headquarters. We all live here together."
"Oh. Is it okay to show me this?"
"Yes. You're one of us now, so of course it is."
I answered with a grin.
...The truth was that, since we had teleported here, she had no way of knowing the location. She was also barely online and didn't really know how to leak information, so I showed her openly, but I didn't need to mention any of that.
"...Not very cautious."
She murmured that in a dazed, sing-song voice. I simply laughed it off. It was fine by me if she thought that.
Anyway, I led her through the front door.
She looked around the spacious, open wooden mansion, swiveling her head in wonder. It felt a bit like giving a niece a house tour.
"Nice house."
She apparently liked it.
But that's not the point right now.
"Okay, let me introduce you to the other members first."
"Ah. That Electra and Moonlight Priestess?"
"...You know them?"
"Yeah. I've seen them on YouTube a lot."
At her answer, I felt a small shock.
Incredible. A girl who normally lay around staring at the ceiling knew them. Ego Stream really had gotten big.
I was soaking in that feeling as I stepped into the living room, and a familiar voice greeted me.
"Huh, big bro? Did you bring a new member?"
When I entered the living room, Seo-eun spotted me and Ja-yeong and came over, looking surprised.
"!!!"
Ja-yeong's eyes widened a bit when she saw her.
"...Cute."
"Huh?"
Seo-eun tilted her head at Ja-yeong, who had suddenly stepped close with sparkling eyes.
Ja-yeong’s abrupt comment and the sudden turn of events left Seo-eun flustered.
Anyway, Ja-yeong looked pleased. She'd apparently taken an instant liking to Seo-eun.
"I like it here..."
Seo Ja-yeong murmured that, her gaze moving from Seo-eun over to the veranda where warm sunlight was streaming in.
And I didn't miss that opening. Anyone who'd read the Original Work knew Ja-yeong was a total oddball. So I also knew the smart move was to seize the moment while she was in a good mood.
So I made my pitch immediately.
"Oh, right, I didn’t mention this. Do you want to live here too? All the other Ego Stream members already do."
"Here?"
As she answered, she scanned the room.
I whispered a devil's temptation right next to her.
"If you live here, we can cook and eat three meals a day together..."
"With this many people around, you won’t have time to be bored."
"Nice house, free room and board, and a chance to live with tons of ability users. You'd pass that up?"
"Hmm..."
She looked like she was thinking it over, but anyone could tell she was already sold.
She mulled it over for a bit longer, then gave a cool answer.
"Okay."
"Got it."
I answered with a grin.
Seo Ja-yeong was smiling a satisfied smile herself. She probably thought she'd made a reasonable choice. Or, knowing her personality, maybe it just looked fun.
Whatever the case.
...Now that you’ve set foot in our house, you’re not getting out.
I smiled wickedly to myself.
...I'd successfully tied down an S-rank villain from the Original Work in exchange for free room and board.
She still looked as though she had no particular thoughts about it, but living here would naturally bring her closer to everyone. Eventually, she would become a true companion.
Given her personality in the Original Work, she was not the type to betray us. Still, you never knew. It was safer to make her family early.
Anyway, that was how it went. Swift and smooth.
I mean, we'd moved her in and everything.
And just like that, Ja-yeong officially became a member of Ego Stream.
Nice. S-rank villain recruitment, done. Easy, right?
***
A week passed.
She was spacey, almost like a houseplant, but perhaps that was exactly why she fit in so quickly. Her blunt way of speaking kept things from becoming awkward.
Anyway, back to the point.
On a chilly, breezy evening, I was standing with Ja-yeong in the woods in front of the house.
She had her usual blank expression on.
"Alright, let's see how strong you're!"
And Se-hee was there beside us.
When I'd mentioned Seo Ja-yeong was powerful, she'd apparently gotten curious just how strong.
"...Then, should I start?"
"Yeah."
The moment my words ended,
Right in the middle of the dark green woods, with her purple hair hanging loose and just that one black hoodie on,
She raised her hand.
That instant.
Fwoosh—
The air in the forest
Filled with tiny purple flames, like will-o'-the-wisps that had just materialized.
"Oh... whoa."
The small flames flickered right in front of us, making it hard to even move around.
While Choi Se-hee marveled at the ability, I nodded. Yeah, the output was strong too. If Ja-yeong learned to apply it properly, this could be incredible.
"Do more?"
"Yeah."
She gave a short nod and manipulated the purple flames again, doing all kinds of things.
As far as I knew, those flames could even ignore Shadow Walker’s ability.
So.
"Good."
Watching her show off, I reached my conclusion.
The next attack should target Shadow Walker. That was the right choice, just like in the Original Work.
Stardus... I could skip her this time.
What could possibly go wrong?
***
"...When is Egostic going to launch his next attack?"
Meanwhile, Shin Ha-ru was caught up in those thoughts.
When it happened, she'd obviously be the one responding.
...Maybe this time, she should try talking to Egostic. Ask him a few things. He would probably answer most of them.
These precious chances to meet Egostic came only a few times. Was there any way to use the next one better?
...To figure out who he really is.
She spent her time thinking about that.
And like that, the date of Egostic's next terrorist attack drew closer and closer.
It was summer.