Dating Rumor
Dating Rumor
[Hello and welcome to Entertainment~ Relay! Today we have a truly scorching piece of news—and it's none other than a dating rumor involving the villain Egostic!]
[Whoa! A dating rumor for Egostic! But Chae-ryeong, hasn't he had a few of these before?]
[That's right. This isn't the first time. The very first one was a dating rumor with the hero Stardus. Let's take a look at that clip!]
The video appeared as the host finished speaking.
In it, Egostic was kneeling beside Stardus, who had collapsed after stopping a speeding train, and he was speaking to her.
["Well done, Stardus. You pulled it off. In a way I never even imagined. That you would save everyone like that—I truly didn't see it coming. This is your victory. I'll take my leave now. Get some rest. The other heroes will be here soon."]
The clip ended with his words.
Back on screen, the hosts picked up the conversation with heated voices.
[Did you all catch that, folks? When the hero was drained and collapsed after stopping his attack, instead of attacking her, he knelt and offered warm encouragement! It really got a lot of people's hearts pumping.]
[Yes! And that's when the rumor started—could the two of them actually be dating behind the scenes? Of course, the Association and the hero issued strong denials, so it was concluded to be false.]
[This was Egostic's second-ever terrorist attack, so it was quite a while back already. Now let's check out the next dating rumor!]
The screen changed and a new clip played.
It showed Egostic grinning as he carried Electra in a princess carry.
[Chae-ryeong, how did a dating rumor get sparked this time?]
[Right! Seeing Egostic holding Electra like they were lovers, a lot of people started saying they must be dating. Of course, as Egostic carried out more terrorist attacks later, the consensus gradually became that it wasn't true. And naturally, when you see the dating rumor this time around, it's almost embarrassing to even call it a dating rumor.]
[Whoa! Just what is this latest rumor like for you to say that?]
[A picture is worth a thousand words! Let's watch the clip together!]
With that, another video played.
Against a dark night sky, Egostic was holding Mist from behind.
And in that moment, Mist turned her head and pressed a kiss to Egostic's cheek.
Smiling a mesmerizing smile, she whispered to him.
["Good job, babe."]
The clip ended, and the camera focused back on the two hosts.
[Oh my, oh my! Even I'm getting flustered just watching this.]
[Yes. Honestly, at this point, dating rumor or not, it just looks confirmed! And the online response has been absolutely explosive because of it. As of right now, every internet community is buzzing about this.]
[After all, Egostic is the most talked-about popular villain in South Korean history, and since this moment was broadcast live across every station, it's become an even bigger sensation. So, Chae-ryeong, what's your take?]
[I mean... isn't it basically confirmed? Anybody can see there's definitely something going on between the two of them. And the internet reactions back that up.]
[Oh, as we speak! A new detail has just surfaced. On this screen here—do you see the ring on Egostic's finger? Netizens have just noticed that this looks like a couple ring. Specifically, he wasn't wearing a ring before, but started wearing it after Death Knight joined. People are saying that's roughly when they started seeing each other.]
[The evidence keeps piling up! Ah, and speaking of internet reactions, there's something I wanted to mention. I heard that the Mangostic Fandom, Egostic's fan cafe, is currently in absolute chaos.]
[Oh, why's that?]
[Turns out the fans who've been having fun pairing Egostic with all sorts of people are in a state of shock. They're going wild, saying they can't accept that some woman who suddenly appeared has snatched the spot of his lover.]
[Oh, dear.]
...What do you mean "oh, dear"?
"...This is a real shitshow..."
Night.
The living room of Ego House.
Sitting on the sofa and watching TV, I felt a throbbing headache building the more I looked at the screen.
No, seriously. Why the hell did Seo Ja-yeong pull a stunt like that back there...
Right after Seo Ja-yeong's impulsive action made me jump out of my skin and hurry back home.
Before I could even ask why she did it, Seo Ja-yeong had already been caught by Seo-eun, Eun-wol, Soo-bin, and Choi Se-hee—who were all smiling terrifying smiles—and dragged off somewhere.
She cast a pitiful glance at me before being hauled away, even stretching out a hand begging me to save her, but she ended up getting dragged off a long time ago. And so, Seo Ja-yeong was taken somewhere into the Room of Spirit and Time.
...Well, the ending was a bit weird, but the terrorist attack itself wrapped up pretty successfully, all things considered.
So while I left the others who'd vanished somewhere to their own devices, I cleaned myself up and sat down on the sofa to rest my exhausted body.
And the moment I turned on the TV, I was greeted by exactly that mess.
...But honestly, I had to wonder whether it was really such a major issue. There was nothing between Seo Ja-yeong and me in the first place, and even if there had been, would it really have mattered that much? I couldn't understand why people were so interested in a villain's love life. I was a terrorist, not a celebrity.
Still, seeing a photograph of Seo Ja-yeong kissing my cheek displayed as the lead story on a major portal was dizzying. Shouldn't the focus have been on the fact that a terrorist attack had occurred? Why was that the headline image?
"...Oh, right. They said my fan cafe's a madhouse too."
I'd vaguely heard something like that on the TV earlier, so I decided to check into my fan cafe for the first time in a long while.
Let's see. What kind of stuff are they talking about...
The moment I entered the main page, I was met with a flood of posts.
I skimmed through the titles and felt my mind going kind of blank.
*
[yeah whatever you fucks say purple mango is already canon lmaooooo]
[upvote if you think Mist is pretty and cute lol me first lol]
[the true queen is EgoStar and you're all talking bullshit loool]
[IceMango still has a shot...]
[loool look at all the koits who still can't accept reality]
[our Egostic Fan Cafe officially recognizes MistMango as the one true pairing]
[everybody shut up our Ego would never!!!]
[fuck while you were all arguing about star or icy or moon or lightning mango already crossed the finish line with Mist lmaoo]
[yeah bite me that was just a trick it's actually EgoStar~~]
[no matter what you say the ^kiss on the cheek^ beats everything~]
[did you not see how obviously flustered Egostic was? it was clearly just a prank;;]
[the way you're all collectively losing your minds is so fucking funny lol]
[the early adopters already boarded the MistMango coin get on quick]
[it's not even a coin anymore it's basically listed currency lmaooo did you not hear "good job ^babe^"?]
[no fuck my brain was running purely on mango and now you're telling me some chick I never shipped who popped up out of nowhere is dating him i can't breathe]
[please do a statement stream please say it's not true please]
[none of you give a single shit about the terrorist attack or Shadow Walker you're all just farming pairings lmaooooo]
*
"..."
I flicked through the posts and instinctively hit the home button to close it.
...There's definitely a reason I never come in here.
Just as I was having that thought, the door over there suddenly burst open and Seo Ja-yeong came stumbling in.
"Ughh..."
"You're back."
"Yeah... haah, I managed to get out by throwing Stardus under the bus..."
No sooner had she arrived than she flopped facedown onto the living room floor.
I rested my chin on my hand and asked her.
"No, really, why did you do that? Right now the TV is showing nothing but you and me..."
"Why? Because it'd be fun, obviously... And also I was curious how the people in front of us would react. Why, did it make your heart flutter?"
"Yeah. Fluttered so bad I almost flicked you right in the forehead on the spot."
"Hehe..."
Just as I expected, she did it because she thought it'd be funny.
Yeah, I figured... Seriously.
She was still lying on the floor in her black hoodie, and after answering me like that, she suddenly started giggling to herself.
"...Hehehe."
"What are you laughing at now?"
"Nothing, I was just thinking about Stardus's face back then and it clicked and now it's so funny..."
"What are you talking about?"
She kept giggling and muttering things I couldn't understand.
I walked over to Seo Ja-yeong and grabbed her cheek.
"Aaaahhh..."
"Are you going to pull surprise stunts like this from now on, or not?"
"Ugh, fine, I won't. Let go..."
I sighed and let go.
Seo Ja-yeong was still laughing.
"Sheesh... I'd better get a statement stream going."
"Need help?"
"You staying still is the best help... Actually, I don't really even need to do it, but if I don't, they'll just keep going nuts about it. I should mention it during the next broadcast..."
"Mm... Suddenly I feel a little sorry now."
"Maybe say that after you stop laughing?"
"...Hehe. Ah, hey, Seo-eun's coming..."
Our conversation was cut off by Seo-eun and Soo-bin walking this way.
But honestly, it wasn't a major issue. What did it matter if the public thought we were dating? I just had to keep staging attacks properly.
It wasn't like the earlier incident with Lee Seol-ah, when she'd tried to expose my identity. I could simply laugh this much off and let it pass.
This won't change anything whatsoever.
All I had to do was keep launching attacks against Stardus.
***
BANG—
"Eek?"
A hallway inside Hero Association headquarters.
An Association staff member walking down the hallway with a stack of documents startled at the sudden noise and dropped her papers.
'...What was that? It sounded like it came from inside Stardus's office...'
She glanced around and spotted Stardus's office.
The door was half open, so the staff member cautiously peeked inside. She caught a glimpse of Stardus's desk, half-smashed as though Stardus had slammed her hand down on it, and quietly turned on her heel.
...Hmm, well. Looks like something must've made her mad...
'I should call downstairs and ask them to send up a new desk...'
Thinking this, the staff member walked away with quick steps.
Having worked at the Association for a long time, she'd long since learned the lesson.
When a hero is angry, the best move is to avoid them, not mess with them.
And so, another day drew to a close.