From Doubt to Conviction
From Doubt to Conviction
[Last Wednesday, cleanup work on Mapo Bridge, which the villain Egostic had destroyed, was nearly completed. The attack demolished the entire bridge down to its pillars, but A-rank hero Stardus prevented any casualties.]
[Experts estimate that rebuilding the bridge will take several years at minimum. Meanwhile, Seoul residents have complained of traffic congestion caused by the collapse...]
***
Shin Ha-ru.
If someone asked Shin Ha-ru who her arch-enemy was, she would answer without hesitation: Egostic.
The reason Egostic had become her arch-enemy was actually quite simple.
Simply because Egostic always singled out Stardus.
Egostic.
To be frank, if you had to pick the most famous and influential villain in South Korea, almost everyone would choose Egostic.
He had only been active in earnest for less than a year. In that single year, he had confidently taken first place, surpassing villains with decades of history. You would practically have to be a spy not to know Egostic.
If you thought about it, it was only natural. He had broadcast every terrorist attack he had committed so far live over all three major networks.
Of course, that was only why he was famous. If you asked why he was popular, there would be countless reasons...
But in the end, what mattered was that he was famous and popular.
And because of that, the popularity of his counterpart, Stardus, started to rise as well.
In fact, B-rank heroes without any popularity or recognition all hoped to fight him.
It was understandable, in a way. Anyone who became his opponent would be shown facing him live to the entire country, giving them a golden opportunity to make themselves known overnight. Become the rival of someone famous, and some of that popularity inevitably rubbed off on you.
But regrettably, no such chance existed for them.
Because in every attack, Egostic designated Stardus as the hero who would stop him.
Egostic's peculiar fixation on Stardus was already widely known. In the two villain assassinations that marked his debut, he had addressed Stardus both times.
The message he left at the crime scenes read, "To Stardus." It seemed to imply that he had presented those villains to her as gifts.
And then came the attacks he carried out afterward.
On the ship and on the train, he named Stardus as his opponent.
In those two incidents, Stardus thwarted his attacks with a speech and with force, respectively, and her popularity soared as a result.
Because of these events, more and more people began talking about Egostic and Stardus's relationship. There were even dating rumors... A video of Egostic closing Stardus's eyes after she collapsed from barely stopping the train was still listed among the most popular clips.
And that was about all the public knew.
But Stardus herself knew more than that.
"..."
He most likely knew who she was.
Her true identity—that she was Shin Ha-ru, not Stardus.
The attack that broke out at the festival she had attended.
It had been too late to stop by the Association for Perception Inhibition, and she had been about to step out despite exposing her face.
Then he suddenly appeared and suppressed the attack.
For the absurd reason that the villain had simply rubbed him the wrong way.
Yes, that much could be a coincidence.
But there was something others did not know—something only Shin Ha-ru knew.
The words he whispered so no one else could hear.
He had whispered that she should never think of stepping out with her face exposed again.
Otherwise, her life would become difficult.
The question she had as soon as she heard that.
Just how did he know she was about to expose her face?
Did he know she was there? So he stepped in? To buy her time?
She had dismissed it as conjecture at the time.
But then there was what he did after.
When he launched the airplane attack and she could only watch the plane fall.
When he called her and told her to save it.
Then there was his usual record... attacks with no casualties, assassinations of other dangerous villains, and suppressing other attacks under a different identity.
As these incidents piled up, she started to have her doubts.
Egostic. Was he really just a villain?
Lost in these various thoughts, she finally made up her mind.
The next time Egostic launched an attack, she would find out exactly what he was after.
But the problem was that he disappeared for four months without launching another attack.
And as the waiting stretched on, her doubts only grew. Like that nagging feeling when you've left the house but aren't sure you turned off the gas.
As she spent more and more time thinking about Egostic, she eventually began checking his fan cafe just to see when he'd appear again.
Then he finally returned with his fourth attack.
As soon as she heard the news, she put on her suit and flew straight to the Association.
Certain he would call for her again, as he had in the last three attacks.
But.
Her prediction was spectacularly off the mark.
Instead, Egostic conducted a kind of social experiment on the public, warning that he'd blow up the bridge immediately if any hero approached.
He went on about giving away one hundred thousand won or something...
Hearing that, Shin Ha-ru was reminded of his first terrorist attack.
Humans are selfish, blah blah blah...
Right. During his first attack, he'd told her to make some kind of speech. She guessed he might do the same this time, but...
Nothing happened. He merely joked and flirted with someone claiming to be his fan on the bridge, as though Stardus had not crossed his mind once.
Bastard.
She had spent day after day waiting and thinking about him, yet he seemed not to care about her at all.
He had dragged her into this swamp of doubt, only to act as if it had nothing to do with him.
And then, in the end, he blew up the bridge.
Well, she'd expected that. Egostic did whatever he wanted.
She had been waiting near Mapo Bridge at the announced time of 7 p.m. The instant the bridge exploded, she flew into action. As a hero, saving people came first.
Egostic, watching her as he floated in the air.
Hah. He'd not acknowledged her at all until now, and only then did he look her way.
She didn't like the way it looked as though she were cleaning up his mess, but she did what she had to do.
Just as she saved the first car and flew toward the second.
She realized it.
She could not save that one.
She managed to get right up close—right in front of it—but...
The moment she reached out, instinct told her she was one step short.
Despair washed over her.
But at that moment...
The car falling just beyond her fingertips stopped for an instant.
And she succeeded in catching the falling car that had seemed beyond her reach.
For a moment, she wondered if she had seen it wrong.
But the car really had seemed to stop falling in front of her for an instant.
And there was only one person here capable of doing that...
Holding a car in each arm, she snapped her head up.
What she saw was Egostic looking her way as he lowered his arm.
Their eyes met. As if nothing had happened, he turned away, wrapped himself in his cloak, and vanished through teleportation.
...Did he not realize that meeting her eyes and then suddenly fleeing at that exact moment only made him look more suspicious?
This time, she had no choice but to be almost certain.
That guy... was he not just a villain after all?
***
Of course, such a hasty assumption was extremely dangerous.
First of all, Egostic was a villain who had carried out four large-scale attacks involving property destruction and threats against the public. Even if, by coincidence, there had been no casualties.
...Although, looking back now, it was hard to tell whether that had been coincidence or whether Egostic had intended everything. In any case.
What mattered was that it was dangerous for her to think this through alone. If she was wrong, she could end up underestimating a villain and cause a serious problem later.
She needed someone to discuss it with.
A friend who knew her secret and with whom she could discuss Egostic.
And she only had one such friend.
A fellow A-rank hero and her childhood friend, raised alongside her like a sister: Lee Seol-ah, the hero Icicle who was responsible for Busan.
Late at night, they were seated in an empty cafe.
When Ha-ru said she needed advice, Lee Seol-ah came from Busan to Seoul via Shadow Walker's teleportation.
They rented out the entire cafe and sat on the second floor, where the night view was faintly visible through the windows.
Seol-ah quietly sipped green tea and listened to Shin Ha-ru.
Ha-ru confessed her suspicions to her.
Egostic's attacks without casualties.
The Association records showing that every villain Egostic had killed had posed an enormous threat.
And the two other attacks he'd suppressed.
On top of that, she told her things she had never told anyone: his phone call during the airplane attack, and how he'd stopped the falling car this time so she could catch it.
She told her everything.
Seol-ah quietly drank her tea and listened as Shin Ha-ru talked at length.
When the story finally ended, Seol-ah raised her head.
She set down the tea she had been holding.
Then covered her mouth with both newly freed hands.
And said to Ha-ru.
"Oh my god, Ha-ru...! You actually believe that theory that Egostic is the dark S-rank hero Apple Mango?"
Seeing her friend stare at her with wide, disbelieving eyes, Shin Ha-ru was already beginning to regret it.
Ah. Maybe I shouldn't have asked her.