Sudden Behavior
Sudden Behavior
Seo Ja-yeong.
By nature, she was the sort of person who lived solely for fun. She thought lying around the house was the most reliably entertaining way to pass the time, so she stayed in bed every single day.
Meaning she was pretty serious about having fun. Serious enough that if it seemed interesting, Seo Ja-yeong would follow a villain she'd just met to their hideout and live there.
So naturally, attacking Shadow Walker alongside Egostic was all for fun too.
And at the moment, she was having quite a good time.
"Hah, huff..."
She'd fought so hard that sweat plastered her violet hair to her neck. Breathing raggedly, she glared at the man in front of her.
Him. Almost invisible now, swallowed up by shadow.
She threw up a wall of fire and barely blocked the shadow lunging at her.
"Phew. Starting to think this is actually dangerous..."
But even that was reaching its limit.
She'd been fighting and moving for a long time now, and she could feel herself flagging.
She'd hoped to win, but beating an active A-rank hero with just a little training was apparently too much. Maybe she should've trained harder with Dain, like Se-hee had said.
With that thought, Seo Ja-yeong swung a hand and conjured more flame.
And it vanished, caught by the shadows closing in.
...Well. Now it really did feel dangerous.
She was sagging, strength drained, gasping for air, staring blankly at the shadow racing toward her—
—when someone suddenly yanked her backward, and the scene before her eyes changed in an instant.
The shadows were gone, replaced by the wide-open night sky.
Safe now, she spoke casually to the man holding her from behind.
"Hah, hah... you came?"
"Yes. Sorry I'm late."
The man smiled slightly as he answered her. Dain. Or rather, Egostic.
Seeing him, Seo Ja-yeong let herself relax, just a little.
Well. Not too late, at least.
While she was still resting limply in Egostic's arms, heroes began arriving one after another in front of them. Shadow Walker, breathing as hard as she was. And Stardus???
'Huh... she really came?'
This was the first time she'd seen the famous A-rank hero Stardus in person—the one she'd only ever heard about.
So Seo Ja-yeong found herself a little intrigued. She'd heard Egostic and Stardus had a surprisingly long history.
As the two of them drew closer, they didn't attack—maybe because of some device Egostic had set up.
And Egostic, still holding her from behind, addressed the heroes and the cameras.
"Sadly, the fight ends here! It seems the moment has come for us to part ways."
He announced it in a bright voice, like a notification.
"...Egostic, is it."
"Yes, Shadow Walker. You're quite strong. We'll have to bring reinforcements next time."
While the two men talked.
Seo Ja-yeong was secretly watching Stardus.
And.
...Huh?
She caught something very interesting.
There she was, still cradled in Egostic's arms.
Neither Egostic nor she herself cared about it at all.
But Stardus's expression, as she looked at them, seemed distinctly displeased.
Not the displeasure of looking at a villain, to be precise.
Was it because she saw him holding her...?
'...Wait. Could it be?'
Something sparked in Seo Ja-yeong's head.
Everyone knew Egostic only ever had eyes for Stardus.
And living with him, she knew even more. For instance, that he cared about Stardus enough to run her fan cafe.
So she'd naturally assumed it was one-sided, just Egostic.
But seeing it now, maybe that wasn't the case.
Maybe it was just her sensing it as a fellow woman, but that displeased look on Stardus's face was clearly—
'No matter how you look at it, that's kind of... jealousy?'
Or rather, an emotion Stardus herself didn't seem aware of.
Of course, Seo Ja-yeong wasn't a face-reader who could diagnose someone at a glance, but her gut told her so.
Why a hero would be jealous over a villain, she had no idea.
'...Whatever it is, that's fun, right?'
Yeah.
None of the rest mattered. It was fun. The situation itself.
It was probably just a wild guess.
...But she could always check, couldn't she?
If seeing them just holding each other brought out that kind of expression, then she'd give it a stronger push.
"Thank you all for enjoying Ego Stream's show tonight."
Seo Ja-yeong fundamentally pursued fun.
Which meant she'd do anything for it.
So, the moment Egostic said his goodbyes.
Seo Ja-yeong, held sideways against him, turned her head and pressed her lips to his cheek.
"Good job, babe."
And smiling, she said it.
"..."
"???"
At that moment, Egostic stiffened slightly and looked down at her, utterly bewildered.
Seo Ja-yeong turned her head, checked Stardus's thoroughly frozen face, and thought with a faint smile.
See.
I was right.
***
Shin Ha-ru.
She'd been waiting all this time for another Egostic attack. There was so much she wanted to ask him directly.
Why did you stop Latis?
What is your goal?
Why do you play the villain?
...And why did you cough up blood?
While Shin Ha-ru was waiting for Egostic to strike again.
Word came that Egostic had launched an attack.
At night. With yet another new woman.
"Shadow Walker has already been dispatched, so there's no need to..."
The Association had made the mistaken judgment that Shadow Walker could handle it without provoking Egostic, which briefly delayed her deployment. But the moment she saw Shadow Walker being pushed back, she headed out fast.
...If she missed him now, who knew when she'd get another chance to talk to Egostic.
She flew to the scene, and at last she met him.
"Good evening, Stardus. I knew you'd come."
"...Egostic."
Up in the night sky, where the shining stars were faintly visible, he greeted her with his cape fluttering.
"Even nicer to see you after so long. Have you been well?"
Looking at him smiling as he said hello, Shin Ha-ru fell silent for a moment.
Knew you'd come, he said. He'd known she would?
Why?
"Well, naturally, since Shadow Walker couldn't finish the job, you came yourself, didn't you?"
"...Right. That's right..."
Egostic answered as if it were obvious, and Shin Ha-ru hid her true thoughts and nodded.
...Good. He didn't seem to realize she'd come because she wanted to meet him and talk.
"Ah, right. And as always, you know I've brought the detonator, yes? If you attack me, I'll press it immediately, so please be careful."
She watched him pull the detonator from his pocket and wave it, warning her off in case she lunged at him. Shin Ha-ru simply nodded. Sure... even if he said that, the man she knew wouldn't press it anyway. She'd figured that much out by now.
Then, seeing Egostic just looking at her blankly, as if he'd said his piece.
Shin Ha-ru didn't miss her chance and immediately asked what she'd been wondering.
There'd been a little confusion, but this was it.
"Latis. I asked why you stopped their attack. Why you did something like that."
Yes.
Why on earth had Egostic stopped that attack?
...He was a villain. Supposedly a villain.
So why.
He looked a little startled, like he hadn't expected her to say that.
Then he started in on a long answer.
"I told you, and only you, what my goal is. Have you forgotten? My aim is to create the largest villain alliance in South Korea and stand against the Association. If small fry like that steal all the public's attention, it puts me in a slightly awkward position. So, well, I did pull a few strings. To maintain Ego Stream's monopoly. Not for South Korea's sake, obviously."
To sum it up, he'd done it for himself.
She liked the part about telling only her, but that wasn't the point.
The point was what her gut told her.
No matter how she looked at it, these words seemed like a lie.
"...And you expect me to believe that?"
"No, I only told you the truth, *cough*. The truth, and yet you come back at me like that, which puts me in a bind."
Just as she was about to press him.
The moment she saw Egostic cough like his throat hurt, Shin Ha-ru stopped without meaning to.
...Right. There was something more important.
So she finally got to ask it.
At last, she could ask the question she'd most wanted to ask since meeting him.
"...Anyway, fine. Forget that. You... coughed up blood last time, didn't you?"
"...Um, blood?"
"Yes. Blood. You can't fool my eyes. During that last attack, didn't you cough up blood? Is there something wrong with your body?"
...She wasn't asking out of concern. She was just, just... in case. She was only asking because it'd be a problem if he suddenly dropped dead. Yeah.
"...That was just a momentary strain. My body's perfectly fine, no need to worry. I won't stop until I'm on the verge of death—I'll keep attacking. Please look forward to it."
He answered with a smile, and she caught herself feeling a little relieved. Right... so he wasn't going to stop attacking.
...Wait, why did hearing that relieve her? Had she lost her mind?
Shin Ha-ru was internally scolding herself and about to ask the next question when—
"Anyway! This was a lovely chat. Now, I'll be off to rescue my colleague!"
"Huh? Hey, hold on..."
As if his time was up, Egostic abruptly vanished from in front of her.
...She still had questions left.
Fine. Still, he'd announced he'd keep attacking, so there'd be plenty more chances to ask.
Accepting that to herself, Shin Ha-ru moved to where Egostic had gone.
...Now that she thought about it, Shadow Walker and that woman had been fighting off to the side this whole time. She'd been so focused on Egostic that she hadn't even noticed.
And what Shin Ha-ru saw as she approached was—
Egostic, holding some woman she'd never seen before, affectionately, from behind.
"..."
A chill washed over her before she could stop it.
Ha. Physical contact with women sure was a daily routine for him, wasn't it...
...Fine. Still, he'd said with his own mouth that his colleagues were like family, so it wasn't that kind of relationship.
Even so, she didn't feel good.
Thinking that, Shin Ha-ru wore a displeased expression while listening to Egostic's final words. And until this moment, she had no idea.
Mwah.
That she was about to witness such a thing.
'...Wait.'
Just now, what did I.
What did I just see?
***
[This time it's for REAL. #1 real-time search, real-time trending tag, real-time rising video <<Egostic X Mist Dating Rumor>> What is the identity of the cheek kiss that's making even me flutter?! Tune in to tonight's Entertainment Relay to find out!]
The next day. South Korea was once again blanketed by an Egostic dating rumor.
This was already the third one.