Let's Set Off on a Journey
Let's Set Off on a Journey
"Alright, let's roll!"
We piled into the SUV I'd bought a while back and pulled out of the house.
Destination: Busan.
Seo-eun had mentioned she'd never actually seen the ocean, so we figured this was as good a chance as any.
"Big bro, could we still take the KTX instead?"
Seo-eun was already grumbling from the back seat.
"Seo-eun. You see those bags in the trunk behind you? That's all guns and stuff. How exactly do you expect me to take that on a train?"
"Oh, come on. We're only there three days, two nights. Why'd you pack all this?"
She twisted around and started poking through the bags.
Why was she doing something so dangerous while I was driving?
"Big bro, what’s this mask? I’ve never seen it before."
She pulled a mask out of one of the bags.
It was not the half-mask I usually wore, but one that covered my entire face.
"You never know what might go down while we're out there. Gotta bring something to cover my face, just in case."
Soo-bin, in the passenger seat next to me, gave me a quizzical look.
"Didn't you use Perception Inhibition before we left?"
"Oh, I didn't. Neither Seo-eun nor I have ever shown our faces to the public."
"Ah..."
Soo-bin let her voice trail off.
Hang on. Now that I thought about it, Soo-bin was the only person on this trip who had to use perception inhibition.
And I was the one who broadcast her face live to the whole world.
Yeah.
Let's stop talking about this. I felt bad...
In the back, Seo-eun played on her phone without a care in the world. Must be nice.
And so we drove on to Busan.
Five hours of driving was exhausting...
***
"The ocean!"
We made it to Haeundae.
Seo-eun was happy, so I was happy.
She ran off to play, and I spread out a mat under a parasol and sat down.
Standing's too much work. Gotta sit for a bit.
Soo-bin sat down beside me and handed me one of the two drinks she'd bought.
The sun was shining, and the beach was not crowded. Nice.
This is why you take trips on a weekday.
Soo-bin took a sip through her straw and tucked her hair behind her ear, then spoke.
"The last time I saw the ocean... I was very young. It's been a long time for me too."
"Same here. Been a while."
It seemed this was the first time I had seen it since falling into this world.
Of course, the ocean was just the ocean... but looking at it still made me feel refreshed.
In this world,
I'd personally dealt with four villains.
Pulled off three terrorist attacks of my own.
Been way too busy.
Causing chaos was fun, but sometimes I needed to relax like this too.
"...I'm always grateful to you, Dain."
As I stared out at the ocean—what did you call this? Ocean-gazing? Water-gazing?—
Soo-bin spoke quietly beside me.
"Grateful? What for?"
"Just... everything. Thank you for not killing me when we first met—for sparing me... and for treating me so well."
"Haha, what are you talking about? I'm the one with more to be grateful for. You take care of all the housework and help Seo-eun too."
"Thank you for saying that."
Soo-bin smiled faintly as she said that.
What was with this mood?
Was this some kind of flag?
In manhwa, people who say things like this always die or betray you in the next volume, don't they?
I'm scared!
Before I could ask what was suddenly up with her, Seo-eun came bounding back from her solo ocean tour.
"You're back already? Done looking?"
"Yeah. But after looking at it for a while, it doesn't seem that different from the oceans I've seen in games. It just feels kind of familiar."
Unbelievable.
She had seen the ocean so many times in games that the real thing felt familiar.
Was that... a positive effect of gaming or a negative one?
I was not sure, but when we got home, I needed to put some limits on her gaming.
"Still, it was cool walking barefoot in the sand. I'd give it a three out of five, maybe?"
...A kid who comes to the beach and gives it a star rating. That's a first.
And what a stingy score! At least give it a four!
"So, should we go get something to eat?"
Let's do that.
***
We found a gukbap place.
When in Busan, you had to eat gukbap.
"Big bro, it says here to pour the radish-kimchi juice into the gukbap. Is that true?"
"Uh... if you want to eat it that way, go ahead."
I wasn't doing it.
Seo-eun went right ahead and poured the radish-kimchi juice into her gukbap. Why on earth had she done that?
"It's edible."
Surprisingly, Seo-eun's verdict was that it was edible.
Really? It was simply a matter of taste, I supposed.
Well, it was nice to see her eating well.
A person can't just eat home-cooked meals every day. Gotta get out and blow on a hot stone bowl like this sometimes.
This place packs in a lot of meat, too. Nice.
The news was playing on the TV hanging on the wall.
[The Hero Association issued a statement condemning A-rank villain Egostic, saying they were "doing their utmost to apprehend him." However, the investigation was reportedly being hindered by the suspect's ability to teleport and his skill at manipulating information networks. Online reactions included "Egostic is terrifying" and "Did you see the Stardus versus Egostic fight? It was legendary..."]
Of all things, they happened to be talking about me. But something about this news seemed a little strange...
I was chewing on a radish kimchi cube, staring at my own face on screen, when Seo-eun, eating across from me, asked a question.
"Big bro, why did you name yourself Egostic?"
The radish kimchi nearly shot out my nose.
What was she talking about so loudly in a crowded restaurant?!
I flicked my eyes around in a panic, but fortunately nobody seemed to be paying us much attention.
When I stared at her in alarm, Seo-eun looked back as though wondering what my problem was, then went, "Ah!" and pulled something from her pocket.
"Don't worry. After big bro told me not to discuss identity-related things in crowded places, I made a Sound Blocker and brought it with me."
Then she placed something resembling a tiny walkie-talkie on the table.
"What is this?"
I asked cautiously, and Seo-eun shrugged.
"It keeps other people from hearing what we say to each other."
"Oh? When'd you make this?"
"After big bro told me not to discuss identity-related things in public, I searched through the schematics at home and found it. The Han-eun Group people really had everything."
"Impressive."
"So, big bro. Why did you name yourself Egostic?"
Seo-eun asked with a mischievous grin. Wait, had she not asked me this before?
"I told you, I took it from Egoistic, meaning selfish. Isn't that the first thing you think of when you hear it?"
"No, it just sounds like you added 'stick' to something... Why did you drop the 'i' in the middle?"
"Why'd I take it out? I just... took it out, okay?"
Stardust was shortened to Stardus too.
Why could Egoistic not be shortened to Egostic?
"And Stardus... Honestly, I don't get why they dropped the final 't' there either. You should've just dropped 'tic' from the end and called yourself Egois. That sounds much better."
"Pity. If I'd been around when you picked the name, I probably could've helped come up with something better."
Soo-bin, who'd been quietly eating, chimed in from beside us.
"If you keep this up, I'll change my name to Mangostic. At my next attack, I'll stand in front of the camera and say, 'Welcome to Mangostic's Mango Show.'"
"That sounds cute, though. I'm in favor!"
Seo-eun smiled brightly, and my heart tore in two.
I was joking... it was a joke...
The news on TV wrapped up my segment and moved on to the next story.
[Breaking news. A-rank hero Shadow Walker has reportedly collapsed. The Hero Association said it was caused by "excessive daytime use of his ability during a special operation" and promised to ensure he received treatment as soon as possible. Online reactions included "The Hero Association's incompetence scares me," "Isn't he just faking it?" and "The Association president should take responsibility for this security vacuum and resign."]
"Why did he suddenly collapse?"
I stared at the television in disbelief. Don't tell me shuttling Stardus all the way to Jeju and back had done that to him. If that was what had happened, I'd feel rather bad...
[Membership in Stardus's fan cafe, "Stardus Fandom," is rising rapidly. Created after the recent airplane incident, the cafe surpassed 100,000 members in just a few days. It is highly unusual for a hero fan cafe to appear in South Korea.]
"Oh!"
I stopped mid-bite and locked onto the TV.
Yeah, I believed in you! So running myself ragged like a dog really did pay off!
"You're happier about this than when your own fan cafe was created. Seriously. Anyone watching would think you were Stardus's father."
Seo-eun grumbled at me from across the table. Yeah, was I that obvious?
[In other breaking news, experts have released a preliminary analysis of Egostic's recent airplane incident stating that 'the bomb appears not to have detonated,' causing a stir. The aircraft is currently submerged at sea, preventing exact confirmation, but experts say no evidence of an explosion can be seen in the final photographic data. The sunken plane is being salvaged and further details will be released as they emerge...]
"How the fuck did they figure that out?"
The world is out to get me.
"Big bro, just give up. The number-one real-time trend right now is '#Mangostic_We_Believed_In_You.'"
Seo-eun showed me the horrifying truth on her phone.
No. There was no way this was reality...
"Wait. Bomb or no bomb, I still made the plane crash. And there are people defending me?"
"They say you must have had some larger plan. They're arguing that there were no civilian casualties this time either. The Mangostic fandom's support is incredible."
"How does that make sense? After what I did?"
"I'm amazed too. Are they all on drugs? This level of support isn't normal. Look at this."
"What?"
I took the phone from Seo-eun.
===
[Mangostic <--- if you believed in him, upvote this lol]
Starting with me lol
[Upvotes] 1355 [Downvotes] 32
[For real lol. There isn't anyone who still doesn't believe in him, right?]
[Why do you think he didn't use a bomb? He was trying to save everyone lol]
[Big-picture plan confirmed]
===
"Seo-eun... where exactly are you finding these posts..."
"Dain, look at this. It's from my school community."
"What's that now...?"
===
[Author] Anonymous
[Title] Passenger interviews are out!!
(Reporter) How was it for you?
(Passenger 1) Oh, it was scary. But once we got off and thought about it, I think it was still a meaningful experience. Reminded me how precious life is, you know? Like a slightly scary roller coaster?
(Passenger 2) I thought it was kind of fun. The final plunge was terrifying. But we reached Jeju safely in the end, so I enjoyed the trip and went home.
Roller coaster lmaooo
[Anonymous 1] Those passengers have nerves of steel. Damn.
[Anonymous 2] South Korea, land of real men
[Anonymous 3] Seriously lol. You can't tremble in fear over a roller coaster lol
└ [Anonymous 4] roller coaster lmaooo
===
My reaction was simple.
"The world has actually lost its damn mind."
End times. Absolute end times.
*
After we finished eating, we spent the day checking out spots around the city.
We visited the International Market and stopped at some other good restaurants.
Before we knew it, night had fallen while we were having fun.
"Seo-eun, did you book us a hotel?"
"Of course! I booked us a five-star hotel."
"Oh yeah? What's the name?"
"It's called the Signature Hotel."
"Yeah? I think I've heard of it..."
"It's the biggest, most famous, most expensive hotel in Busan! It was hard to get a reservation, too."
"All right, good job. Let's get there fast and crash."
I was beat—done, completely wiped out.
Just want to collapse in bed and sleep.
Still, after spending every day running around staging attacks, it was nice to finally rest.
Should be nothing but smooth sailing for a while, right?
***
A dark space.
People armed to the teeth with guns stood in formation.
The man who appeared to be their commander spoke.
"Tonight, we raid Busan. Understood?"
"YES, SIR!!!"
"Where did I say our unit was attacking?!"
"THE SIGNATURE HOTEL IN BUSAN, SIR!!!"
The soldiers' shouts filled the room.
***
Huh.
Smooth sailing, right?
"Something feels wrong..."
"Big bro, stop muttering to yourself and hurry up."
"Fine..."
Right. Even if something happened, at least it would not be tonight.