Just My Imagination
Just My Imagination
I sighed as I looked at my phone.
How was there not a single person who thought my destroying the bridge and stopping the disaster had merely been a coincidence...?
Everyone was convinced I had known everything and blown up the bridge on purpose. That was really troublesome.
They had been twisting everything against me until recently, so why were they blindly praising me now?
...Honestly, their guess was right. I had known everything and destroyed the bridge on purpose. How they were so certain about it was the real mystery.
No matter how I thought about it, that was because of the Apple Mango incident. If only I'd properly hidden my identity then...
Then stuff like this wouldn't be showing up on my fan cafe...
*
[Today I withdraw my support for Mangostic.]
Today I withdraw my support for Mangostic.
From today, I step away from mere support.
Mangostic and I become one.
An attack on Mangostic will be considered an attack on me.
If there are seven billion Mangostic fans in the world, I will be one of them.
If there are one hundred million Mangostic fans in the world, I will be one of them.
If there are ten million Mangostic fans in the world, I will still be one of them.
If there are one hundred Mangostic fans in the world, I will still be one of them.
If there is only one Mangostic fan in the world, that person will probably be me.
If there is not a single Mangostic fan left in the world, only then will I no longer exist in this world.
Mangostic, my love.
Mangostic, my light.
Mangostic, my darkness.
Mangostic, my life.
Mangostic, my joy.
Mangostic, my sorrow.
Mangostic, my pain.
Mangostic, my rest.
Mangostic, my soul.
Mangostic, me.
=[Comments]=
[This is making my head spin.]
[After reading this, I went to the neighborhood fruit store and bought up all the mangoes]
[Let's get this to the front page.]
[Send mangoes to the National Assembly]
[I support this]
[South Korea is protected by mangoes]
[Just from this post, I can't tell whether this is an Egostic fan cafe or a club for people doing mango mukbangs lol]
[This is a mango viral ad; Del Monte, you bastards!!]
[Mangahahahaha]
*
The fan-cafe post Seo-eun showed me made my head spin.
Even for a post on a fan cafe full of people who liked me... wasn't this a little much?
It felt like I'd become a god in some cult.
Well, I could let it slide since my supporters had been through a difficult time.
The real menace was Seo-eun.
"Mangostic, my light. Mangostic, my soul..."
"Aagh! Stop it!"
"Why? It's fun. Mangostic, 'me'!"
"Please... don't actually say that out loud..."
A lazy afternoon.
I had been sprawled out peacefully in the living room when a mental attack suddenly began.
Seriously, why does she keep checking my fan cafe?
"Soo-bin, save me! This little bean keeps tormenting me."
"What? Bean?"
"What? You're a little bean—agh!"
"Don't you dare use telekinesis."
"Can't even call a bean a bean... Fine, fine!"
"Aren't you coming here?"
I dodged the cushion Seo-eun was swinging and ran into the kitchen, where Soo-bin was cutting melon with a smile.
She's gotten violent. Guess I raised her wrong...
Whew. I was the adult here, so I had to let it go.
"Haha, stop fooling around and come eat some fruit. Seo-eun, want some?"
"Yes, big sis."
She was shooting daggers at me, but to Soo-bin she was all polite. Why me!!!
"The kids should be home any minute now..."
Just as Soo-bin murmured that, the children came right on cue, climbing the stairs.
"We're home~."
The siblings returned from school, still in their uniforms.
Seeing them, Seo-eun waved.
"Big sis, Cha-yun is back."
"Kids, go wash your hands and come eat some fruit."
"Yes~."
The kids trotted off to wash their hands.
I quietly watched the scene, then cautiously asked Seo-eun beside me, who was munching on melon.
"Seo-eun, do you really have no intention of going to school?"
"Huh?"
She stopped eating her melon and shot me a look as if to ask what I meant.
She quickly chewed and swallowed the melon in her mouth, then looked up at me.
"You're on about that again? I told you, I have no intention of going. I already know everything they teach there, so why would I go? It's a waste of time."
"Still, school isn't just about studying. You can make friends too..."
As I continued, Seo-eun shook her head and replied.
"Forget it. If I go, who will help big bro? I handle the hacking, the fund management, and the detailed attack plans."
Well, she wasn't wrong.
But I felt bad that because of me she couldn't even attend school and was stuck at home with me all the time.
Maybe she read my expression.
Seo-eun worked her mouth for a moment, then spoke to me in a quieter voice.
"...And anyway, I don’t need anyone else. Big bro and big sis are enough for me..."
She stopped there, her face turning red as she whipped her head to the side.
Oh man.
That's... that's so adorable!
I smiled fondly and patted Seo-eun's head.
"Aww, little Seo-eun. Are Soo-bin and I all you need?"
"Tch. Be quiet! And stop patting me."
Despite her protests and red face, she subtly tilted her head toward my hand to make it easier to pat her.
Seriously, are you a cat?
I couldn't believe this kid was already in high school.
Seo-eun, honestly, middle school suited you better than high school.
As I patted her head for a while longer, I was lost in thought.
Well, since my plan was to fill this large house with people, she would have plenty of chances to meet all sorts of people in the future.
...Though the people who'll be coming are mostly pseudo-villains. Is that really okay?
Come to think of it, Seo-eun was a villain in the original work too, so it should be fine, right?
Still, I was glad Seo-eun felt better after Han-eun Group went completely bankrupt. Soo-bin looked a little conflicted, but a good outcome was a good outcome. All that remained was dealing with the executives in hiding, led by Kim Seon-woo. I could think about that later.
First, I should plunder Han-eun Group's treasures.
The Han-eun Group Behemoth Project.
An ambitious project to create a lifeform that could transcend humanity — in other words, a biological weapon.
They had previously tried to turn ordinary humans into ability users through human experimentation and failed spectacularly. This was the new plan they launched afterward.
Instead of giving superpowers to humans, they'd first build an army out of lifeforms that already had superpowers.
In short, they were trying to create a monster army. It seemed they wanted to conquer Korea or something.
Anyway, they created all sorts of monsters.
Monsters with blade-like bodies, teleporting monsters, flame-spewing monsters, monsters with ten eyeballs on their backs...
The problem with those things was... well, because they had been made artificially, they all looked horrific. They had a grotesque, gore-soaked look—not lively creatures, but half-finished experiments that seemed to have crawled out of hell. The kind that looked as if they were begging someone to kill them.
But then they finally made Behemoth. It could block Shadow Walker's darkness, the greatest obstacle to conquering Korea, and its body was made of a miraculous substance that, unlike the other fragile experiments, could withstand even a nuclear blast.
Shouting 'Eureka,' those bastards began copying it and growing it like crazy. Unlike the tiny original, they enlarged the copied black gummy worm through repeated replication and named it Behemoth. What difference was there from the original, anyway...?
Anyway, the problem with the creature they had poured their ambition into making for the conquest of Korea was that it worked perfectly in every respect except one: it was weak to water. That was a serious problem in a country surrounded by sea on three sides and plagued by long rainy seasons.
So to overcome that weakness, they tried a lot of things. They made it even bigger, so ridiculously massive that a little water wouldn't even leave a scratch, and kept experimenting —
Uh-oh. It had developed a clear sense of self?
And then it escaped. Smashed everything.
Fortunately, I had sent it crashing into the river.
Anyway, the conclusion was this:
The Han-eun Group Underground Complex was now a monster lair. That insane giant gummy worm, Behemoth, had smashed its way upward, leaving most of the systems that restrained the other monsters destroyed.
All kinds of monsters were now roaming around down there. Fortunately, the final security system had somehow held, and its barrier was barely keeping them confined underground.
And I planned to enter that labyrinth.
"Did you wash your hands? Come have some."
"Yes, big sis."
"Yes, big sis!"
"Eep."
While I was patting Seo-eun's head and lost in thought, Ha-yul and Cha-yun had already washed their hands and come over. Startled, Seo-eun hurriedly smacked my hand away. For all her attitude, she was pretty shy.
"Thanks for the food~"
Watching Ha-yul smile brightly as she speared a piece of melon with a fork and offered it to her younger brother first, I sank back into thought.
The Han-eun Group Underground Complex, teeming with monsters.
In the deepest part of that labyrinth, a treasure was hidden.
The original specimen from which the giant gummy worm had been made: Behemoth.
That tiny thing made of little black tentacles was still trapped down there.
Hm? You might think it was merely a miniature version of the Black Disaster, but it was completely different.
It had been created without a will of its own, solely to obey human commands. Calling it a mass of tentacles was almost misleading; it was more like a black nanosuit.
You could wear it, concentrate it around your right arm to strengthen it in combat, or form black wings with it and fly.
It was literally a particle suit made of tentacles that its wearer could manipulate freely.
In the Original Work, a few months later, Dr. Kim Seon-woo snuck in and stole it, then later fought Stardus with it.
During the fight, he stretched out his hand and the black substance coating his body shot forward in the shape of a fist—the dream of every man: a rocket punch.
...Though honestly, it looked more like one of those “a black flame dragon dwells in my right hand...” things. Anyway.
Yeah. I wanted it.
Trying to protect myself with only telekinesis and teleportation was already killing me, so wouldn't having that make life much easier? At least I'd be less likely to die screaming from a gunshot.
Of course, that was merely wishful thinking—I had no intention of actually trying it because it was far too dangerous. Going into that labyrinth was a bit...
But recently, after recruiting Ha-yul, my thinking changed.
Even if I got hurt, as long as I didn't die, Ha-yul could simply heal me, right? Right?
So perhaps I could afford to be reckless with my body?
That was what I decided.
Yeah, let's go. I would enter that monster-infested underground labyrinth and steal the black suit.
Time for a power-up!
According to the Original Work, the heroes would not go down there because the Association opposed it on the grounds that its safety hadn't been verified.
That was fortunate. Imagine exploring down there alone and suddenly running into Stardus. Things would get awkward as hell.
My plan was perfect!
The sooner the better, so I would go the next day.
It wasn't as though things would get tangled up and go wrong, right?
Like, say, Stardus going down there contrary to the Original Work and the two of us running straight into each other.
Haha, what was I even saying? As if anything like that would ever happen.
There was no way the world would screw me over like that.
***
"Understood. Stardus, I approve your exploration of the Han-eun Group Underground Complex. When do you plan to depart?"
"I'll leave tomorrow."
"...Very well. Understood."
***
"Big bro, why are you shuddering?"
"Huh? Oh, it's nothing."
At the table, eating melon with the kids, I shivered at an ominous feeling.
Why did I have such a bad feeling...?
It was just my imagination, right?