K-Villain
K-Villain
"Gyaaaaaaaahhh!!!"
The crocodile bastard screamed in agony and collapsed.
He staggered as though drunk after inhaling the poison gas.
Then, at last—thud.
Down he went.
"..."
He did not move after that.
Hmm. Was he dead?
An anticlimactic exit, considering the entrance.
The poison gas had been a perfect counter, after all.
"...There you have it, everyone! Another one sent straight to hell. Thank you. Thank you."
*
[Mangostic! Mangostic! Mangostic! Mangostic!]
[Villains these days: when another villain launches an attack, Mangostic shows up and takes them out instead]
[Hero Association, designate Mangostic as a hero this instant. I've said it 3216 times.]
[Lol I can already see the 9 o'clock news headline lmao]
[YouTube is about to be flooded with patriotic clickbait videos lol]
*
The chat had already started overflowing with praise for me again.
I'd only stepped in because I was afraid Stardus would expose her face during this incident and begin a full misery arc, but the viewers knew none of that and were busy praising me.
I could not exactly tell them the truth—'I stepped in for Stardus.' If I did, we would appear on Entertainment Relay that very night for dating-rumor season two.
That left only one option: brazenly insist on my own story.
Anyway, he had picked a fight with me first, so I had gotten angry and killed him. That was all.
"Now, now... everyone. I didn't take this man out for the public good. He publicly insulted me, so I merely dealt with him. Do you honestly think I would act for your sake? When my followers gathered before and again today, I crushed them because they crossed a line I had drawn. There was no other reason. Understood?"
I pitched my voice lower and spoke with dead seriousness.
*
[Yeah, yeah, sure you did lol]
[Thank you for loving the villain Egostic. From now on, we'll be seeing you as the hero Mangostic. Thank you.]
[Tsundere lol]
*
Obviously my viewers aren't the type to take me at my word. Fine. Keep thinking that way.
I merely gave the chat an enigmatic smile. Would they all still be saying that next month?
"Hmm... first, someone should hurry over and clear away that poison gas. Though I have no idea how they're supposed to do that."
Crocodile Man still lay unconscious amid the billowing clouds of poison gas. Maybe he was dead? Eh, he probably was.
I rummaged through my bundle, found a gas mask, and put it on. This was why it paid to be prepared. I was weak enough that breathing that gas would kill me.
I began packing the firearms back into the bundle one by one. It would have looked cooler to use telekinesis, but my body had reached its limit. I could no longer use it.
How much had I put myself through that day? I'd dropped off Seo-eun and Soo-bin, then teleported from home to here and back. That hadn't been easy. I was this close to total battery drain. And on top of that, I'd kept teleporting during the fight with the crocodile bastard.
As a result, my body had submitted a status report: one more use of my ability and I would collapse on the spot. If I used even a little more telekinesis, I might pass out and wake in the Eastern Superpowered Detention Center, also known as East Carceres. Seo-eun could probably come crashing in and rescue me, but it was not yet time to end up there.
So, like the women in The Gleaners, I was picking up each gun with my own hands and placing it in the bundle. Ugh, this was exhausting.
*
[Lmaooo he was practically flying around earlier, why's he picking them up by hand now]
[Right lol no clue what he's doing either]
*
Shut up, all of you.
There are deep, hidden circumstances you don't know about...
By the time I'd nearly packed up all the guns—
I spotted something flying in from the far sky.
It was Stardus, her blonde hair streaming behind her as she flew in.
She must have flown over in a tremendous hurry; sweat was pouring off her.
"Huff... huff..."
The moment she landed, she looked around wildly. First she spotted Crocodile Man collapsed on the rooftop. Then me, wearing the gas mask.
Perhaps she only realized after arriving that everything was already over. Her expression went blank as she looked again at the fallen crocodile bastard.
"...You're the one who took him down?"
"Yes, that's right. I took him down."
I didn't bother denying it and answered readily. I had no reason to deny it.
When I nodded without a fight, her expression tightened slightly. Like she couldn't understand.
"...Why?"
"Well, I was just relaxing at home when the broadcast suddenly showed some thug causing a scene. He was calling for Stardus and everything, so I cracked open some popcorn, thinking, 'Wow, our Star has gotten popular lately~.' Then, wouldn't you know it, he mentioned me. Apparently you and I were busy sucking face or something. That annoyed me. What had I even done?"
I paused there, shrugged, and continued.
"And according to my personal dictionary, anyone who plays games with my name needs a little education. I figured I'd make an example of him, so I played with him for a while."
Her face relaxed, like oh, that was why. She seemed to accept that a lunatic like me would absolutely do that.
Right. That was good enough. After everything I'd done, I could go home. I really could.
Hmm.
I debated whether to say it.
I hesitated for a second.
The decision was quick.
Yeah. I would say it.
Someday, something like that might happen when I couldn't step in.
I muted the camera recording us for a moment.
Now no one but her could hear me.
I turned my back to the camera and spoke in a quiet voice, meant only for her.
"...And since the audio is muted, I'll tell you this: never even think about going out there with your face exposed like you considered doing today. The moment you do, your life will become extremely difficult."
My words left her bewildered.
She stared at me, shocked. I paid her no mind and simply unmuted the camera.
"Alright! That's all for today's broadcast. I had to rush out without any plans, so I'm exhausted. Something big is coming next month, so look forward to that. Until next time. Bye~."
I smiled at the camera and gave a small wave. By then, I was practically a professional broadcaster, wasn't I?
"Wait!..."
I cleanly ignored her voice behind me and teleported straight home. After ending the broadcast first, of course.
*
[Ego-bye~]
[Ego-bye? That is pushing it...]
[TSP]
[Today's stream was packed.]
[Wait I think it got muted just now what's going on??]
[Gasp... their secret communication...]
===[Broadcast has ended]===
*
Thump.
I arrived somewhere deep underground in Seoul.
The moment I teleported home, the first thing I did was—
"Cough."
I coughed up blood.
I dropped to my knees and collapsed. Ah, fuck. I felt like death.
"Cough, cough."
One hand braced against the floor, the other clutching my chest, I kept coughing up blood.
Ah... am I actually going to die like this?
Did I push it too far...
My head spun; the world began to fade.
Before I collapsed completely, I heard a distant voice calling, 'Dain...!'
And with that, I blacked out.
***
[[Official] Korean Association of Superpowered Individuals confirms Ice Cream Festival terror suspect's name: 'Crocodile Man'. Suspect's life not currently in danger... in custody]
[Hundreds injured in today's attack... property damage in the astronomical range. Fortunately, no fatalities]
[Hero Association's inadequate response controversy intensifies... At the harrowing scene, not a single hero came to help]
[[Lee Jae-beom, Opinion] A society where villains do better than heroes—can we truly call that a healthy society?]
[Poison gas spread through the heart of downtown... Association claims 'cleanup complete; the toxin wasn't that strong']
[[Kim Gyeong-jin's Issue Plus] Egostic—who is he? Speculating on his identity]
[Villain Egostic warns 'something big coming next month'... hinting at yet another terrorist attack?]
[Egostic fan cafe membership skyrockets... 'all-time high']
[15 TMI facts you didn't know about Egostic]
[The world is stunned by K-Villain Egostic! He single-handedly took down an A-rank villain—why the Japanese Hero Association President was left speechless! Currently #1 on Japan's real-time trends! 'A nation with a villain like Egostic is itself the world's strongest power.' In-depth analysis of Japanese netizens' reactions!]
[Good evening. This is the 9 o'clock news. Today, an A-rank villain appeared at a festival in Seoul and carried out an attack, but another villain showed up to stop him. Choi Da-hye reports.]
The Egostic fever was rocking South Korea once again.
A terrorist attack that even the heroes had failed to stop promptly had been stopped by a villain who suddenly appeared. That alone was enough to become a national sensation.
While countless people were busy talking about Egostic,
Shin Ha-ru was also thinking about him.
'...And since the audio is muted, I'll tell you this: never even think about going out there with your face exposed like you considered doing today. The moment you do, your life will become extremely difficult.'
She kept going over those words.
How had he known I'd been prepared to do that?
How had he known I'd been in a situation where exposing my face seemed unavoidable?
Why had he given me that advice? What had he been thinking?
Shin Ha-ru's thoughts only grew deeper.
Right. Something about that day had been strange...