Into the World
Into the World
Stardus was more dedicated than ever to catching me.
After Lee Seol-ah had called me personally to pass along that warning and urge me to be careful—
I was sprawled out on the sofa, resting.
"Hmm..."
Stardus is doing her best to catch me.
...But put another way, doesn't that mean she hasn't been doing her best until now?
"No way."
Our Ha-ru, with her ironclad sense of justice and zero tolerance for injustice? Obviously she's already giving it everything—and she'll give it even more going forward. Not much should really change. Lee Seol-ah was blowing things out of proportion, I figured.
As I sat there blankly mulling that over, the anchor on the TV kept talking.
[...With the recent sale of N&T Tech Co. Ltd., virtually every major corporation in South Korea now falls under the Yuseong Group umbrella. While voices of alarm have emerged in political circles, the Anti-Yuseong Group Monopoly Act ultimately failed to pass the National Assembly once again.]
Right as I was thinking about Lee Seol-ah, Yuseong Group news came pouring out of the TV.
I'd been staring off into space thinking about Stardus, but now I shifted my attention to the screen and started focusing on the anchor's words.
[Meanwhile, Yuseong Group Chairwoman Lee Seol-ah has remained strictly out of contact with the outside world aside from her hero activities, yet as Yuseong Group reached the pinnacle of South Korea, she has also claimed the top spot in the nation's wealth rankings. Amid growing unease over whether South Korea is becoming the country of Yuseong...]
Huh. Has Lee Seol-ah not gotten her hands on that media outlet yet? There are still channels running critical coverage of Yuseong Group.
I nodded to myself, a little curious.
Right. She's finally managed to swallow almost everything.
She'll probably gobble up the political sphere and the media soon, too. Then Yuseong Group will really be ruling South Korea. Everything except the Hero Association, anyway.
"..."
In the end, it played out just like the Original Work—even if it was a little late.
Lee Seol-ah's conquest of the Korean Peninsula was nearing its conclusion.
...To be honest, one person toying with an entire country was never good. If that individual single-handedly controlled the market economy, legislature, judiciary, and executive branch, it was a perfect recipe for national ruin. That was what I'd wrestled with early on: should I eliminate Lee Seol-ah from the beginning?
After thinking it through, I decided to leave Lee Seol-ah as she was and win her over instead. When everything went to hell in the latter half of the Original Work, having a powerful individual grip the reins actually reduced the chaos—and Lee Seol-ah herself never betrayed the country, even at the end.
Most importantly, it kept the Original Work's plot more or less intact, making events predictable, and allowed me to do far more through her—such as the PMC business I was about to launch.
While those thoughts were running through my head, a voice drifted up from the floor in front of the sofa.
"Ugh... why is the TV only playing news..."
"Hm?"
I leaned forward and spotted Seo Ja-yeong curled up in the corner of the living room.
...She was so completely passed out over there I'd forgotten she was even in the room.
"Can't we watch something besides the news???"
"Uh. Sure. Here, take the remote."
"...Yay."
Seo Ja-yeong snatched the remote I tossed her out of the air, flipped through a few random channels, then closed her eyes and went right back to sleep.
...What is she, anyway.
The channel she'd landed on was running international news.
...Come to think of it, isn't that still news?
[It's time for Global Weekly, bringing you news from overseas. Seunghee, what's the hottest story this week?]
[Well, this week's big issue is the return of America's S-rank villain, Celeste!]
[Celeste? You mean the woman considered the number one ranked villain?]
[That's right. She was chosen by the International Committee as the single most dangerous villain, and they say no one can even guess how many abilities she possesses. She's followed by dozens of S-rank villains alone—you can imagine the strength and the danger.]
[Indeed. It's been several years since she vanished—she once reigned as a lord of terror across the United States and parts of Europe—and now she's suddenly resurfaced. Hero associations in every country are already on edge. What she intends to do upon her return has yet to be determined...]
I'd been watching the screen without much thought, but this unexpected news made me focus.
Celeste's return.
...Has the time really come already?
Which meant that event would be coming up soon too.
I finished my thoughts quickly and got straight up from the sofa.
Time to start getting ready.
I draped a thin blanket over Seo Ja-yeong—she was passed out with her stomach completely exposed—and headed up to my room.
Seo-eun and the others had long since gone down to the basement to develop a new suit.
In other words, for the first time in a while, I had some time to myself.
Acting on that conclusion, once I was in my room I pulled a book off the shelf above my desk.
My journal. The one I'd been steadily filling out.
"Hmm..."
The day I'd have to write in it in earnest was coming up soon.
When I first started it, I'd wondered how long I'd have to keep going. It looked as though I'd be able to stop soon.
With that quick reflection, I took the book out.
I wanted to go back and check what I'd written in the early days, right after I fell into this world.
"Yeah, this is about the right time."
I murmured to myself.
Celeste, regarded as the strongest of all the S-rank villains. Her resurrection.
And the founding of the gathering of the world's villain alliance leaders—what they call Cathedral.
I looked at the journal entry where I'd underlined "Participate in Cathedral!" and jotted it down, then closed my eyes for a moment of thought.
Cathedral... Cathedral, huh...
As expected, only South Korea had shifted because of my interference. The international situation was still following the Original Work almost exactly.
And if my prediction held, Cathedral—the assembly of the world's villain-alliance leaders—would soon be formed and hold its first meeting.
"Hmm..."
I tapped my fingers on the desk and sank into thought.
Cathedral. In the Original Work, it was an organization no Korean villain ever participated in—so when it first appeared, it was only mentioned in passing.
But merely because it didn't matter in Korea didn't mean it was unimportant globally. When a collection of fiercely independent S-rank villains existed and the strongest among them gathered under one roof, anyone could see that it was both dangerous and significant.
Of course, in practice, nothing that earth-shattering happens. They just meet up now and then, trade information, occasionally cooperate on an attack. That's about it.
Of course, that changes when you get to the very end of the Original Work.
Anyway, the villain who gathered them all and formed the group is Celeste—the one rated the strongest of them all. She's the unofficial number one villain, and she also leads her own villain alliance, Eteria.
In other words, the other S-rank villains showed up because she said, "Everyone gather around~"—they figured there must be something to it. If anyone else had tried it, they wouldn't have given a damn. That's how much weight her name carries.
Regardless, Cathedral was where the villain leaders periodically convened. It became critically important in the latter half of the Original Work, and since it offered a chance to get involved in global affairs, I had to take part.
The problem was whether an internationally notorious gathering would even invite me. Everyone there wielded enormous global influence, while I'd mostly played around inside Korea. My name carried little weight overseas.
So yes, a moment of crisis.
But of course, I had a plan.
What are connections, really? Just like South Korea runs on school ties, regional ties, and family connections, this world works the same way—if you work your connections, any door will open.
Which meant I was going to pull some strings.
And conveniently enough, I happen to have some very solid strings to pull.
Decision made, I picked up my phone and went into my contacts. Let's see... where's Atlas's number.
Ah, there it is.
"Ahem, ahem."
I cleared my throat and got my English pronunciation ready.
Then I made the call.
"Hey there, Atlas! Long time no see. This is Egostic. Hope you've been doing well?"
Rule number one of a first-rate villain's strategy.
Use every single card you can play—every last one.
***
A vast underwater city, constructed deep in the North Atlantic.
The stronghold of the Latis legion: Atlas City.
In a great building at its center, a man sat upon a throne, looking down at the figure below him.
"...I see. So, the famous Celeste has invited me, Atlas?"
"That is correct. My master wishes to extend a courteous invitation to Lord Atlas, who commands the entire North Atlantic and holds tens of thousands of soldiers under his sway."
As Celeste's envoy in white robes delivered the message, the muscular man seated above—Atlas—stroked his beard and replied.
"Hmm, very well. Since the request comes from none other than Celeste herself, I shall bestir myself to make the journey."
"Thank you—"
"However, I have a condition."
The envoy, who had been bowing, paused mid-motion, a hint of puzzlement surfacing.
Atlas leaned back against his throne, a smile spreading across his face as if the mere thought delighted him, and asked the envoy before him a question.
"Tell me. Have you ever heard the name Egostic?"
"...Excuse me?"