On Air
On Air
Dum. Dum. Dum.
A man stood in midair, accompanied by exuberant drumming from somewhere.
Black cape, black robe, black wizard hat—all glaringly out of place in broad daylight.
Smiling beneath the mask that covered half his face, he turned to the camera and shouted.
"Hello, everyone! I’m Egostic—ranked South Korea’s most influential villain by the Hero Association and named top villain by Forbes. Pleased to meet you!"
Framed against a massive bridge, he floated in the sky, removed his hat, and bowed to the camera with a flourish straight out of medieval Europe.
The broadcast went out across all three major networks and YouTube, and the reaction was electric.
The chat on Egostic's official YouTube stream scrolled so fast it was barely visible.
[Mangostic! Mangostic! Mangostic! Mangostic! Mangostic! Mangostic! Mangostic! Mangostic! Mangostic! Mangostic! Mangostic! Mangostic!]
[Is Egostic a god? Is Egostic a god? Is Egostic a god? Is Egostic a god?]
[Mommy, I wanna be a terrorist when I grow up! Mommy, I wanna be a terrorist when I grow up! Mommy, I wanna be a terrorist when I grow up!]
[Free Kim Seon-woo Free Kim Seon-woo Free Kim Seon-woo Free Kim Seon-woo Free Kim Seon-woo Free Kim Seon-woo]
[Let's fucking go! Let's fucking go! Let's fucking go! Let's fucking go! Let's fucking go! Let's fucking go! Let's fucking go! Let's fucking go!]
[LOL is this that famous EGOSTIC? Wonder if there is eng sub]
[shit, chat's a total clusterfuck lmaoooo]
[kinda glad to see him after four months lol]
[what the hell is he planning this time]
[Mango Punch! Mango Punch! Mango Punch! Mango Punch! Mango Punch! Mango Punch! Mango Punch! Mango Punch!]
[what's with that fucking hat lmaooo]
[The level of Korean villains lol Totally beneath our Great Empire of Japan lol]
[The Hero Association was happily preparing for a company dinner today, and now they're crying lmaooo]
[shit, now we've even got foreigners watching lmao look at this chat]
[so where is that anyway???]
"Glad you could all join me. Yes, I’m at Mapo Bridge right now. Ah, it’s nice to be back by the Han River after so long. This was where I made my debut, you know. It feels like only yesterday I carried out that attack, but has it already been almost a year? Time really does fly."
[that was already a year ago?]
[happened in spring and winter's almost here, so roughly?]
[A year with Mangostic lmaoooo]
[there's a bastard who disappeared for four months out of one year?]
[three large-scale terror attacks in one year, holy shit lol]
[sounds like he's up to something today too, so make that four]
[You... villain... how dare you... show your face... here! You insolent wretch!]
[gramps knows how to use YouTube chat lmaooo]
"Anyway—ta-da! I'll cut right to it: the Mapo Bridge beneath me is rigged with explosives! Heroes and Association folks—try anything funny and... well, you know the drill, right?"
Egostic waggled the detonator in his hand at the camera.
[detonator season 516731461 is here lmaooo]
[dude's nothing if not consistent about carrying bombs lmao]
[civil servants are screwed—after his boat, train, and plane bomb attacks, they started checking for explosives every morning, noon, and night lol now they'll have to patrol every bridge for bombs too lol]
[like civil servants are gonna do that—they'll just hire part-timers]
[Mangostic creating jobs too—what a guy]
[am I the only one noticing Mango's legs right now? isn't he just too sexy ugh TT]
[Mango, I'm dying TT]
[I'm literally dying, fuck, I'm at Mapo Bridge right now]
[shit, isn't that person up there literally about to die? lmaooo]
"Ahem. Heroes, I'd advise you to stay put if you don't want to see this bridge blown to pieces. Come to think of it, at the moment, isn't the only hero who could stop me Stardus?"
He paused, cleared his throat lightly, then continued.
"Yes. I recommend that you do not approach. I am somewhat short on patience, and I do not know what I might do if I see you."
He fidgeted with the detonator again, a warning layered into the gesture.
[Stardus disownment arc confirmed]
His body flinched slightly at something he saw.
But just as quickly, he carried on like nothing had happened.
"Everyone... ah, before that, one moment. Hm... hold on. Boom!"
The instant he spoke, a massive roar erupted from both ends of the bridge.
Something collapsed at the same time, blocking both ends of the bridge.
That done, he produced a large megaphone from somewhere and bellowed down at the cars still on the bridge.
"Everyone currently on Mapo Bridge!!! Please stop exactly where you're!!! If you try anything strange, I'll shoot!!!"
At Egostic's warning, the drivers eased off their accelerators and gradually brought their cars to a stop.
He hadn't simply blown the ends off the moment he appeared; he'd given them some time, so the bridge was nearly empty of vehicles.
Only two cars sat marooned there, carrying people who hadn't heard their radios or whose timing had been catastrophically bad.
His message delivered, Egostic sent the megaphone flying off somewhere and grinned at the camera.
"Apologies. A terrorist attack is always more enjoyable with an audience, isn't it? I had to arrange some last-minute guests, so I lost my train of thought for a moment."
[he traps people who were just driving along and calls it “recruiting guests” lmao]
[crazy bastard... crazy bastard... crazy bastard... crazy bastard...]
[what did the people in those two cars even do to deserve this lmaooo]
[who cares, no one's ever actually died in any of his attacks lmaooo]
[for real, isn't this basically a prize? talk about a thrilling-chilling-heart-pounding-exciting terror experience lmaooo]
[ah dammit I should've been there]
[every time I look at this chat I can't tell if the world is insane or if I'm the insane one]
[you're the insane one]
"Alright, alright. Now that all the preparations are complete, I'd like to talk about something for a moment."
The lively background music that had been playing cut off.
A suspense track straight out of a medical drama began playing instead.
At the same time, Egostic adopted a tone reminiscent of an investigative-journalism anchor.
"Everyone, you know my name, right? Yes—Egostic. And does anyone happen to know where that name comes from?"
"It comes from egoistic, the English word for selfish. Why did I choose that name? Because I became a villain to prove just how selfish human beings are."
[someone was way too moved by The Selfish Gene lol]
[who the hell put The Selfish Gene on the youth required-reading list]
[Richard Dawkins really screwed up]
"Ahem. At any rate, I'm here today to live up to the name. How selfish are human beings? Let's run an experiment! If humans are indeed selfish, I win. If humans turn out to be less selfish than I think, I lose."
Viewers watching Egostic's explanation were uniformly baffled.
Test how selfish people are? How?
Egostic, completely indifferent to their bewilderment, launched into a tangent.
"This bridge—ah, Mapo Bridge. It is truly large and beautiful. How much do you imagine it cost to build? Tens or hundreds of billions of won, perhaps?"
He had suddenly started asking about the construction cost of Mapo Bridge.
"But of course, for all that money, it's served citizens conveniently and well, hasn't it? Without this bridge, traffic would be that much worse."
He paused, a wicked smile curling across his face as his gaze swept back to the camera.
Then he spoke.
"Now, allow me to explain today's attack."
"The method is simple. Send your bank account number through the address or link I provide, or by text, and I'll give you one hundred thousand won."
"The entire financial network has already been hacked, so you do not need to worry about being traced. Any South Korean citizen aged nineteen or older can send me an account number, and I will transfer one hundred thousand won with no questions asked. Free money."
"But."
"If more than five million people have taken one hundred thousand won from me by seven this evening..."
"I'll blow this bridge up—along with the people on it."
"Everyone, make your choice."
"Free money—one hundred thousand won? Or this bridge, which might actually explode?"
"Are humans altruistic enough to give up an easy one hundred thousand won for the sake of others? Or are they selfish people who take the money while thinking, ‘One person like me will not matter’?"
"Well, I suppose we'll find out today."
"Now, allow me to introduce a new form of nationwide participatory terror attack: one bridge, or one hundred thousand won—the size of a disaster-relief payment. ‘The People’s Choice 1 vs 10’ begins now!!!"
At the same time, thunderous applause began playing in the background of the broadcast.
The video ended with Egostic smiling and bowing toward the camera against the bridge.
It was replaced by a blank screen displaying nothing but the website, phone number, Katalk, blog, Twitter—every possible channel by which to send Egostic a bank account number.
At the top of the screen was a countdown showing the time remaining until seven in the evening.
[8h 56m 45s]
[8h 56m 44s]
[8h 56m 43s]
...
As the silent feed ticked on, a single message surfaced in the chat—the one that captured what everyone was feeling.
[He's insane.]
And so, on an ordinary day in South Korea, the unexpected Great Account-Collection Era burst into existence.
***
"......"
From the riverside, Mapo Bridge was visible at a glance.
Stardus gritted her teeth as she watched the standoff, with police surrounding the area and preventing anyone from entering.
Egostic.
She'd always known he'd attack again someday.
But she hadn't imagined an attack like this.
Her mood as she glared toward the bridge was foul.
Obviously. Because the bastard was committing an atrocity that deserved every curse under heaven, dragging the public into his malicious scheme.
...It was absolutely not because this was the first time since his attacks began that he had excluded Stardus from the picture.
Of course not. What did it matter whether the bastard called for her or not?
That wasn't what was bothering her.
She was definitely not bothered about that.
Or so she repeated silently to herself.
"....."
Ha. But still.
After calling for her so relentlessly every time before—
Why now, all of a sudden, was he telling her to stay away?
"Ridiculous..."
She muttered it alone.
Words no one else would hear, just to herself.
But still.
Last time he'd contacted her to rescue a plane.
Maybe that was what this was, too.
It didn't feel like he'd completely cut her out.
So she just kept circling those thoughts.
Thoughts she herself couldn't explain, useless thoughts running in circles.
***
"Big bro, are you going to mention Stardus in this attack too?"
"Hm? Oh, no. If the bridge blows, she just has to fly over and rescue the cars, so... This one isn’t meant as a trial for Stardus. There’s no reason to call her."
She’d probably be happy that I wasn’t causing her more trouble.