Counseling
Counseling
"Our Ha-ru actually believed the Apple Mango conspiracy theory... Gasp!"
Her friend, Lee Seol-ah, covered her mouth as she spoke.
When Shin Ha-ru glared at her with a sullen expression, Seol-ah finally lowered her hand with a grin.
"Hehe, kidding, kidding. Don't be mad."
"I'm serious."
"Oh dear, is little Ha-ru sulking? Whatever shall I do~"
Seol-ah continued teasing her with a bright smile, then cleared her throat, returned to her usual expression, and spoke.
"All right. Well, I'll admit it sounds strange when you put it that way. A villain who stages attacks but doesn't want people to die..."
Seol-ah paused, absently twisting a strand of her sky-blue hair, before continuing.
"...Couldn't that simply be how he is? Like an entertainer—the type who enjoys drawing attention? Maybe that's it. Yeah... how should I put this?"
She chose her words for a moment, then clapped her hands together.
"You could see him as a villain who wants to stage attacks but doesn't want civilians to die. He called you and told you to save the people who were about to die because of his own attack."
After saying that, Seol-ah folded her arms and nodded as though the problem had been solved.
Then she took another sip of green tea.
"...So you think he's harmless?"
"Huh? Harmless... well, he does destroy buildings and airplanes, so he's definitely a villain. Just a villain who dislikes civilian casualties. Could you even call that harmless? He's better than villains who try to slaughter everyone."
"And judging by his hacking skills and the way he handed out money this time, he clearly has serious capabilities. Honestly, hearing you explain it makes me feel safer. Someone with that much power who actually wanted to kill people would be far more terrifying."
Seol-ah took another sip of tea.
Then she saw that Ha-ru still looked troubled and smiled again.
"Ha-ru, is that what was bothering you? You called your big sis here for advice because you wanted to know whether that Egostic bastard is really a villain?"
"Who are you calling big sis...? No, it's just... something about him bothered me..."
"What's there to be bothered by? The world has all kinds of villains. There are villains who dismember five people for a ritual, so why couldn't there be one who dislikes killing? There's no need to agonize over it. Any future attack he launches will probably stay within a level where you can prevent civilian casualties. As for him killing villains... that's vigilante justice, but at least he isn't killing civilians."
Listening to Seol-ah speak as though the issue were simple—if his attacks killed no one, wasn't that actually a good thing?—Ha-ru felt strangely unsettled.
Yes. Logically, Seol-ah was right. Egostic was simply a villain who wanted to launch attacks without civilian casualties. Define him that way, and the issue was settled.
His reason for attacking could be dismissed as simple pleasure-seeking, like that of any other villain.
That was probably the normal interpretation of Egostic.
And yet she still had doubts. She could not explain them in words... only the powerful intuition inside her.
A feeling that he was not launching attacks merely for his own enjoyment, but for some other reason.
Whenever she watched him during an attack, it seemed as though he was pursuing something beyond the thrill itself.
A suspicion that he was launching each attack with some other purpose in mind.
What could that purpose be? Because she did not know, all her thoughts could still be dismissed as delusion.
Seeing Ha-ru's face cloud with thought again, Seol-ah laughed.
"Seriously, Ha-ru. You called me all the way here, so I thought it was something huge, but it was about a villain? What am I going to do with this workaholic?"
She shook her head as she spoke.
"Ha-ru, we're human too. When you're off duty, you need to clear your head and rest. Okay? You're a college student, so go to some events. How are you ever going to make friends like this?"
"...I have friends."
"Oh, that senior you mentioned? She's not just a friend. She's practically your sister! Anyway, rest when you can. How are you ever going to date anyone otherwise?"
"You've never dated anyone either."
Ha-ru had listened quietly, but her devastating counter made Seol-ah flush slightly.
"No, that's because the group controls my private life... If not for all the surveillance, I would have—"
"Sure, sure. Got it."
Seol-ah grumbled at Ha-ru's faintly amused reply, but soon started laughing too.
The conversation about Egostic faded away, and they began catching up on each other's lives.
The next subject Lee Seol-ah raised was a recent worry of her own.
"Ugh... having every little thing I do end up in the media is unbelievably stressful."
Lee Seol-ah.
Ha-ru's friend, an A-rank hero with ice abilities who was responsible for Busan.
At the same time, she was the daughter of the chairman of Yuseong Corporation, one of South Korea's major conglomerates—a third-generation chaebol heiress.
"I mean, hero work is fun, and it has a positive effect on the company, which is nice... but why is everyone so interested in what clothes I wear...?"
She stretched her arms across the table and sighed.
All Ha-ru could say was, "That must be tough."
Unlike Stardus, who thoroughly concealed her identity through measures such as Perception Inhibition, Icicle made no particular effort to hide hers.
Even before she awakened her abilities and became known as Icicle, she'd already been widely known as Lee Seol-ah, a third-generation chaebol heiress.
So she did not hide her identity. Even during hero work, she operated openly under the name Lee Seol-ah, showing her bare face without using Perception Inhibition.
"Still, since I started this, they don't interfere as much as they used to. That's a plus. Honestly, it's probably because they think I'm good for the company's image."
"You've got your own struggles too..."
"Yeah. At least Busan gets fewer attacks than the capital region. If it were as bad as what you deal with, honestly..."
Lee Seol-ah trailed off, clicked her tongue, and pulled out her phone. After reading an article, her expression crumpled.
Ha-ru looked at her, puzzled.
"What is it?"
"You know our competitor, Han-eun Group? There was a lunatic named Kim Seon-woo who used to be one of their technical advisers. Apparently, he's been released. He was arrested for human experimentation, so how the hell did he get out? They must have lobbied hard again."
"Kim Seon-woo..."
"Ugh. Nothing has been going right lately."
Seol-ah clicked her tongue and set her phone back on the table.
They continued talking.
Before they knew it, the hours had passed and it was deep into the night.
Outside, rain fell steadily.
"Should we head out?"
"Yeah."
They decided to part ways there.
When they stepped outside the cafe, a line of bodyguards in suits and sunglasses stood waiting.
"Miss Lee. Please get in."
"Yeah. Ha-ru, want a ride? It's raining."
"No, I'll walk for a while before heading home. You go ahead."
"Okay...? Fine. But do you have an umbrella? Could we get one spare umbrella?"
Ha-ru accepted an umbrella from one of the suited men and thanked him.
"Ha-ru, I'm heading out. If something bothers you again, call me right away. Got it?"
"Yeah. Get home safe."
She watched her friend leave in the black limousine.
Once the car was out of sight, she turned and began walking home.
Raindrops struck the umbrella.
Relying on that single umbrella, she walked through the night streets with only the sound of the rain around her.
It had been good to see her friend after so long.
Seol-ah was also the only friend with whom she could speak openly.
Walking slowly, she raised her head and looked at the sky.
It was nearly dawn, and the sky was pitch-black.
Looking at the sky, where only the moon hung alone, she sank back into thought.
In the end, Seol-ah had merely advised her not to pay much attention to Egostic.
He was simply a villain who disliked hurting people—nothing more and nothing less.
But Ha-ru was still preoccupied with him.
She felt that both she and Seol-ah were overlooking something.
Her intuition told her that everything he had done so far was part of some larger plan.
And the baseless, absurd thought that he might not be as bad a person as she had assumed... continued circling in her mind.
Without realizing it, Stardus was using her Hyper Sense to try to see through to Egostic's true nature.
Of course, because she still did not know his true identity, all she felt for now was a lingering unease and preoccupation with him.
"Haa..."
Looking up at the dark night sky, she could only sigh.
While she was this troubled over Egostic...
That bastard was probably lying comfortably at home with a full stomach, living well.
***
"Cough, hack."
"Aaaah!! Big bro, what's wrong with you?! Shouldn't we go to the hospital? Let's go!"
"Seo-eun, how am I supposed to go to a hospital? Cough. I'll be fine in a little while. Cough."
"You're vomiting buckets of blood! What part of that is fine?!"
"You can’t die, bro... Sniff."
Deep in the mountains stood a large mansion.
Inside, I lay vomiting what felt like buckets of blood.
The mansion's residents had crowded around me, watching with worried expressions.
By the door, Ha-yul stared at me, her face drained white.
Ah, fuck.
I guess I had overdone it at the bridge.
"Cough."
More blood came up.
I could die from the sheer unfairness of it. How much power had I even used to end up like this?
What a fucking useless ability...
After collapsing the bridge, I came home, immediately passed out, and woke three days later.
The moment I woke up, I started vomiting buckets of blood.
I was dying.
Would the day ever come when Stardus learned that I had been working myself to the bone like this for her sake?
No. Probably not.
Good grief...
"Cough, hack."
"Aaaah!"
And Seo-eun, please stop screaming...