This Isn't It
This Isn't It
[Author] Anonymous
[Title] Let's sort out the facts on A-rank Villain Egostic... for real
1. Eliminated S-rank Villain Enzodiac
2. Eliminated A-rank Villain Rhino
3. Broadcast the Cruise Ship Dilemma special, injecting some tension into the bored citizens of South Korea (zero casualties)
4. Suppressed a terrorist attack by his own followers and even paid compensation to the hostages
5. Eliminated A-rank Villain Teleporter. For the record, he was someone the Hero Association had officially declared extremely difficult to catch.
Honestly, I don't think Egostic is a villain lol
=[Comments]=
[Anonymous1]Villain where? All I see is a genuine "hero."
└[Anonymous2]fr lol
[Anonymous4]Honestly, I think Egostic is better than Stardus fr lol
└[Anonymous5]fr what has Stardus actually done so far? Caught one or two A-rank villains, maybe? Our GOAT Egostic already took down an S-rank lol
└[Anonymous6]That's a bit;; Even if you're hyping up Egostic these days, comparing him to a hero is kind of over the line. Crossing the line here...
└[Anonymous7]Stardus fan club spotted
└[Anonymous15]HA spy spotted
└[Anonymous16]What's an HA spy?
└[Anonymous17]Hero Association spy
└[Anonymous6];;;;
[Anonymous8]He takes out villains for us~ He provides entertainment too~ Honestly, I'm starting to like him lol
└[Anonymous9]Liking a terrorist lmao
└[Anonymous8]Oh yeah? So where are the casualties, then? lol
[Anonymous10]So why is Stardus getting hate? I genuinely don't know.
└[Anonymous11]Isn't it just because people compare her to Egostic and she comes up short?
└[Anonymous12]I think part of it's because she's had the least impact among the three A-rank heroes lol. Honestly, Shadow Walker and Icicle both rescue dozens or hundreds of people on their own, but Stardus hasn't really done much so far.
└[Anonymous13]Honestly, Stardus is just a pretty face lol. Let's just demote her to B-rank and make Egostic an A-rank hero.
└[Anonymous14]Hero Association, designate our Mangostic as the new hero, immediately!
*
"Tsk..."
The night I took down Teleporter.
I stared at the computer screen and let out a groan.
Things were going worse than I'd thought.
For starters, maybe it was a mistake chasing that bastard Teleporter into the city when he ran?
It seemed that, in people's eyes, taking out a villain had made me look like a hero.
Unbelievable...
"Whew..."
A grim look on my face, I logged into an online fan cafe.
A place labeled [Official Egostic Fan Cafe].
The membership count was already... this high?
"The future of South Korea is looking bleak..."
I stared off into space and sighed.
A nation where people support a villain—how can a country like this even exist?
Of course, that was a problem, but the bigger problem was Stardus.
My suspiciously ballooning fan club... or whatever it was... had started pouring out criticism aimed at Stardus.
It felt like they really, how should I put it... really hated Stardus, who was practically my designated hero by now.
"This isn't it... This isn't what was supposed to happen..."
I never wanted things to turn out this way.
No, wait, why would they even think to simp for me in the first place?
Had they already forgotten my cruise ship bombing event?
...Though, come to think of it, I felt my head spin when I watched a YouTube interview where someone who'd been on that cruise ship said, "Looking back, it was actually kind of fun."
It seems South Korea in this world is a bit unhinged.
I pulled all that ridiculous crap to raise the public's affection for Stardus, only to tank it instead.
What a sinful fan I was.
"This won't do. We move to the second terrorist attack immediately!"
I made a resolution.
I would show those ignorant masses just how terrifying a villain truly was.
And I would sear back into people's minds just how beautiful, righteous, diligent, adorable, and cool Stardus was!
"Seo-eun, the operation begins now!"
I strode out into the living room.
There, Seo-eun and Soo-bin were sitting on the sofa, watching TV.
"Ugh. How long has it been since you were groaning in bed? And you're already overflowing with energy..."
Seo-eun scolded me. My body had healed promptly after a few days of rest. The fatigue recovery machine really worked wonders.
I plopped down onto the seat next to Seo-eun.
Soo-bin, sitting on the other side of her, was peeling an apple while watching TV.
"Dain, you're on TV again!"
Soo-bin's eyes sparkled as she pointed at the TV.
We'd been living together for about two weeks now, and she'd gotten quite friendly with me.
Yes. She had realized it at last. What a harmless person I was.
Even though our first encounter had gone badly, my persistent gaslighting... no, my persistent kindness had made her open her heart to me.
The same logic explained why she felt comfortable calling me by my name. Dain. It would've been strange to call me Egostic when we were living in the same house.
Dain. That was my name, a name with no connection whatsoever to Egostic. In this world, the only people who knew it then were Seo-eun and Soo-bin. Though, of course, I was far more famous as Egostic than as Dain.
After Soo-bin and I got on a first-name basis, she became incredibly proactive. She did the cooking, the laundry, the dishes—all of it! So Seo-eun and I lived comfortably without lifting a finger. Not that we were bad people. We couldn't help but let her do it because she begged us with tears in her eyes, saying, 'I should at least do this much...' Really.
The bottom line was that Soo-bin wasn't scared of me anymore. That was a good thing. It'd've been awkward if she was still scared of me while we were living in the same house, you know.
Anyway, I looked at the TV she was pointing at.
On the screen, a current-affairs debate—the kind shown at the end of a news program—was underway. The banner across the bottom read:
[Egostic, Becoming a New Icon for the MZ Generation?]
"..."
Good lord.
To think I'd see the term "MZ generation" in this world, too.
I smacked my forehead and groaned.
MZ generation—it was a term loosely used for younger people, regardless of its actual definition.
So what they were saying was that I'd become an icon for young people.
"Wow, big bro. You've gotten pretty popular, huh?"
Seo-eun teased me, laughing.
Yeah. I supposed I had gotten popular—and in a positive light, no less.
I watched the television while eating the apple Soo-bin had peeled. Let's hear what they had to say.
Soo-bin was also glued to the TV, just like me. No, she seemed even more focused. Why was she doing that? She was making me self-conscious... I wished she'd simply look at her phone like Seo-eun beside me.
[The fact that the MZ generation is following a villain so fanatically is slightly problematic. Right now, if you look at the portal's main news page, the overall tone of the comments is one of defending Egostic. This is an unprecedented situation. The fact that the MZ generation doesn't really like the established heroes is pretty well known, actually. Don't they have this image of just getting lucky with a power and using it to succeed? So there have been a lot of complaints about heroes not working, or being slow to respond when incidents happen.]
The middle-aged panelist finished speaking, swallowed, then excused himself and took a drink of water. Beside me, Soo-bin had even started taking notes as she listened. Soo-bin... what was she doing?
The panelist on TV began speaking again.
[But now, this villain Egostic has scratched exactly where the public was itching. Weren't many people frustrated that heroes merely subdued villains instead of killing them? People complained that criminals who deserved execution were simply locked up, that their sentences were too light. Then Egostic carried out an immediate execution on the spot. Some citizens found that cathartic.]
[Still, didn't this villain also cause a terrorist attack on the cruise ship?]
The panelist answered the host's question.
[That has been largely offset by the fact that he stopped his followers' terrorist attack last time. And that attack didn't cause any casualties, either.]
"That's right!"
I shot up to my feet and shouted, making Seo-eun and Soo-bin next to me jump in shock.
"You scared me! What is it?"
"We can't keep going like this. We have to execute a new terrorist attack right away!"
"Huh? Weren't we supposed to take down at least one more villain before the next terrorist attack?"
Seo-eun tilted her head and asked, but I shook my head.
"No. My image is getting better by the day. This cannot happen! I wanted to become a villain who opposes Stardus, and suddenly being treated like a hero out of nowhere was never what I wanted... I think we need to show the people of South Korea what a 'real villain' looks like. Right now!"
As I cried out, burning with passion, Seo-eun's face turned sour.
"Alright... Fine. So, what are we doing this time? Are we going with that Good Samaritan plan from last time?"
"No, we're going with something else. I need to go with something more evil."
"Ha... Okay. Guess I'll need to prep something new. Tell me what it is first."
"Right... The plan is..."
Wait for it, Stardus.
I'll make your popularity skyrocket again.
***
*
[Breaking) Egostic started a broadcast lol]
Everyone turn on your TVs right now lol
[Upvotes] 43 [Downvotes] 0
[??? How is this real?]
[??? How is this actually real?]
[Something big is here lmao]
[Here we go~ Here we go~ Here we go~ Here we go~ Here we go~ Here we go~Here we go~ Here we go~Here we go~ Here we go~Here we go~ Here we go~]
*
***
On a windswept bridge.
Standing there alone, I grinned at the camera.
Countless people are probably watching right now.
To them, I shouted out in a booming voice.
"It's been a while, citizens! This is your favorite villain, Egostic!"
Alright, let's put on a show once more.
Let's see if you can still like me after this.