The Wrong Meeting
The Wrong Meeting
Bewilderment.
Bewilderment was the first thing I felt when I ran into Stardus.
Wait, why is she coming out of here?
You weren't supposed to go here in the Original Work!
But there was no way I could actually say that.
So we just stood there, silent, staring at each other in this strange standoff.
....I mean, who'd have expected us to suddenly run into each other hundreds of meters underground?
Stardus had looked just as flustered as I felt, but she quickly collected herself and returned to her usual cold expression.
Then she asked coldly.
"....You. Why are you coming out of here?"
That's my line.
"No, Stardus. I should ask: why are you here?"
"I'm a hero. There are monsters and hazardous materials down here threatening civilians. Of course I came to deal with them."
She answered like it was the most obvious thing in the world.
Sure, she had a point. She had a point, but....
You weren't supposed to come here!
While I was standing there, mouth clamped shut, silently screaming inside.
She suddenly smirked and started cracking her knuckles.
"And... perfect timing. What an unexpected bonus."
That might have been the first time I had seen Stardus smile since coming to this world.
The sight of her grinning while cracking her knuckles was downright divine.
It would have been fantastic if that smile had not come solely from the thought of catching me.
"If you come quietly, it won't hurt much."
She lunged for me the second she finished speaking.
Right, Teleportation.
The moment she charged, I teleported behind her.
But as if she'd expected it, she turned and swung an arm behind her.
I had no choice but to teleport even further back.
"Wait!!"
"What do you mean, wait?!"
Despite my desperate shout, she kept flying at me, her golden hair whipping through the air.
What the hell are you doing in this narrow hallway?!
"Hold on, time out! Time out!"
After I kept slipping out of her grasp with Teleportation, she finally gave up on catching me and clenched her fist instead.
Hey, was she insane? One punch from her and I was dead on the spot!
"Look, Stardus! Just calm down for a second!"
Ignoring me, she flew straight at me and threw a punch.
Luckily, I managed to teleport out of the way just in time, but the innocent wall took the punch in my place.
BOOM—
She'd obviously pulled the punch so it wouldn't kill me, but the wall still shook with a massive crash when she connected.
The ceiling trembled, dust rained down, the lights flickered—the whole works.
"Are you trying to bring the whole place down?! Calm down and listen to me!"
The underground complex was still shaking.
Only after she'd half-wrecked the hallway did Stardus calm down.
"...What is it?"
Ah, so she was willing to hear me out.
She fixed her sky-blue eyes on me, resting one hand on her hip as if signaling a temporary ceasefire.
Alright, time to talk my way out of this.
Otherwise, I was getting dragged away....!!
"First, I have no intention of fighting. We both came down here without expecting to run into each other, right? How about we just focus on what we came here to do?"
"...You're telling me, a hero, to let a villain like you roam freely through a Level 1 security facility?"
Hmm, guess that's a no-go.
"No, I mean, I didn't come here to cause trouble either. Han-eun Group pissed me off, so I only came to broadcast this place."
I showed her the camera as I said it.
"...You broadcast this place?"
Her expression soured even more.
That was a mistake too!
Stardus clenched her fist again, looking ready to attack, so I hurriedly spoke up.
"Wait! How about a temporary alliance?"
"Temporary alliance?"
Despite the look she gave me—as if asking what kind of nonsense I was spouting—I kept talking.
"Stardus, you don't know how dangerous this place is either, do you? Now that we're both here, how about we form an alliance just until we reach the deepest part? Honestly, even if you try to catch me, I can simply teleport away. Since meeting here must be some kind of fate, why not help each other out? I'm curious about what's down there too."
Yeah, even I had to admit that was complete nonsense.
It wouldn't be weird at all if she immediately snapped 'You want me, a hero, to ally with a villain?!' and lunged at me.
Ugh, what was I supposed to do now? Should I just run? My Behemoth, my power-up—goodbye....
Just when I had practically made up my mind, she frowned for a moment, then suddenly relaxed.
And then she gave this answer.
"...Fine. We can go together until we reach the bottom."
"What?"
"...Why are you surprised when you're the one who suggested it?"
When she saw my confusion, she smiled faintly and turned her head away.
"Follow me. I was having trouble dealing with them alone anyway. You can help me."
"Huh? Ah, yes. Sounds good."
I watched her take the lead deeper underground and followed in a daze.
Wait... what?
I thought it was an absurd suggestion even as I said it, but seeing her just accept it left me completely bewildered.
What's this? What's her angle? The Stardus I know wouldn't act like that.
I had expected her to charge in, declaring that there could be no compromise with villains. Her suddenly acting that way threw me for a loop.
And so, the two of us ended up walking through the underground complex together.
...What the hell is going on?
***
Stardus.
The moment she descended underground, she was met by countless monsters.
They looked grotesque, as if melted, and all shared the same feature: they were entirely white.
Each one was reduced to dust by a single punch from her, but the fact that they all possessed some kind of ability still made her shiver.
That feeling only intensified when she entered the lab areas.
The horrific records of their research.
The test subjects once kept behind the glass walls had long since escaped. Only their records remained.
*
《RKCB-0064》
[Tentative Name] Hell Cat
[Precautions] Extremely fast. Exercise caution when feeding.
*
*
《RKCB-1107》
[Tentative Name] Teleporter
[Precautions] Can escape via teleportation, so maintain A-rank security at all times. May attack from behind; exercise caution.
*
"This is horrifying..."
Monsters born from inhuman experiments.
The thought that they would have continued conducting biological experiments in the middle of Seoul if this accident hadn't exposed them made her shudder.
If this accident hadn't happened.
And if Egostic hadn't destroyed the bridge.
Horrific things would undoubtedly have happened.
"....."
She kept walking, steadily eliminating every monster in sight, one by one.
As she descended deeper, communications cut out and the lights flickered, creating an ominous atmosphere.
On top of that, countless branching paths twisted together like a maze.
But she never hesitated.
Her intuition, sharpened over time, guided her toward the right path.
And where her senses led her...
"Aaaagh!!!"
Egostic stood there, startled by her sudden appearance and swinging a sword.
Right.
Truthfully, she was very flustered too.
Who would have expected Egostic to appear here?
But she quickly regained her composure.
Whatever the reason, this was an opportunity.
I didn't know why he was there, but I would catch him first and think about it later.
So she lunged at him.
"Wait!!!"
"What do you mean, wait!!!"
She tried to catch him, but as expected, he kept teleporting out of reach.
Only after she punched a wall and nearly brought the underground complex down did she stop and hear him out.
His claim that he had come here to broadcast the place.
"Temporary alliance?"
His proposal that they form a temporary alliance and descend together only until they reached the end of the underground complex.
She scoffed inwardly. Why on earth would she ally with a villain?
She was about to refuse and attack him again, but...
But a thought suddenly crossed her mind.
'Wait. That bastard can just escape with his ability whenever he wants, can't he?'
That was true.
She'd overlooked it because he'd only been using short-range teleports, but Egostic could escape the entire underground complex in an instant if he wanted. Hadn't he vanished right before her eyes after every terror attack so far?
....That could not happen.
Would she ever get another chance to meet him alone in a deserted place like this?
No, probably not.
Knowing his personality, the next time they met would probably be in front of a camera broadcasting to the entire nation, on a stage he had set himself.
This might be her only chance to spend time with him without being swept up in his pace.
'...Anyway, if I refuse here, I won't be able to catch him. He'll just run off, and I won't find out anything.'
In that case...
If I kept him nearby, perhaps I could learn more about him.
This might be her chance to answer the questions she had always had about Egostic.
And if she kept him by her side, she could discover exactly why he had come down here.
Besides, he'd never actually shown any sign of wanting to harm me. If he ever stopped running and fought me one-on-one, I'd win overwhelmingly anyway. So the risk was minimal.
'Right. This is only to gather information before he inevitably slips away.'
Making excuses to no one in particular, she spoke to him.
"...Fine. We can go together until we reach the bottom."
"What?"
He looked shocked when she readily accepted, even though he'd made the suggestion himself.
...Funny. He must have thrown it out there expecting me to refuse.
Come to think of it, this was probably the first time I'd seen him flustered. Until then, I'd always been the one caught up in his pace.
"...Why are you surprised when you're the one who suggested it?"
Feeling strangely amused, she smiled despite herself.
Right. She hadn't expected to catch him today anyway.
Instead, this might be...
...a chance to resolve the questions she'd always had about Egostic.
***
With Stardus accepting the temporary alliance, we entered the labyrinth together.
...What the hell is she thinking? I still can't figure it out.
I followed behind her on high alert.
Isn't it messed up that the villain's the one worried about getting backstabbed by the hero, not the other way around?
Nothing much happened as we went deeper inside.
The occasional test subjects were dealt with by a single punch from her, so it wasn't frightening at all. I had been just a tiny bit scared when I was alone, though.
I'd crack a joke now and then, she'd ignore it—that was the pattern.
Sometimes she failed to suppress a laugh, snickered, quickly composed herself, and glared at me as if telling me to shut up. It was rather cute. I knew exactly what made her laugh.
Maybe we were nearing the end, because more and more labs began appearing.
With a serious look, she rifled through various documents.
What was I doing?
She told me a villain had no business looking at classified documents, so I just stood there watching her.
Hm, actually, getting to see my favorite character this close for this long... maybe this is some kind of reward?
Stardus rummaging through the lab in her skin-tight red hero suit, her blonde hair cascading down, was a sight worth seeing.
Nice. I liked it.
Maybe she had found what she was looking for.
We headed deeper in. Seriously, does this place have no end? It's like an ant colony.
Stranger still was the way Stardus moved without hesitation, as if she knew exactly where to go.
Did she scout this place beforehand?
...No way. Her Hyper Sense can't have developed that much already. Nah.
Anyway, this time it really felt like we'd reached the end. I could feel a breeze from somewhere.
....But how was there wind underground?
We eventually came upon a door marked [Top Secret Area].
Beside it was a corridor slathered in red paint.
"...What's this place?"
In response, I just shrugged.
"Let's find out."
"Hm..."
After a moment of deliberation, she chose to go in.
So we entered together.
We followed the corridor to a small room.
"Superhuman Ability Suppression Room...?"
She muttered, reading the sign posted outside.
Superhuman Ability Suppression? Did that mean abilities could not be activated inside this room?
Wait, Han-eun Group had technology like this?
This was seriously dangerous technology...
While I was staring at it with a grim expression, Stardus, who was ahead of me, turned around. She tilted her head and spoke.
"...Egostic, you go in first."
"...Me? Why me?"
She silently raised her fist when I said that.
...Fine, fine. I would go in.
"Yes, yes. Understood."
So I stepped into the small, two-pyeong room.
A sealed chamber, all four walls pure white. Other than a clock on the wall, it was completely, utterly empty.
So, this really means you can't use abilities in here?
I tested my Telekinesis on the bundle I had brought with me.
"Huh?"
Oh, it really doesn't work.
What about Teleportation?
I focused, but again, nothing happened.
This is fascinating.
"Well? Are abilities really disabled?"
"Yes. They really are. What's the principle behind this?"
While I was looking around, she stepped inside, seemingly wanting to test it for herself.
"...It really doesn't work."
As she tested her ability, I examined one side of the room.
This could be incredible technology if used properly. What was the principle behind it...?
While I was busy with my very scientific investigation of the wall, a sudden BANG—rang out behind me and the room shook. What the—?
Startled, I spun around and saw Stardus, her fist planted in the wall.
Even with her abilities suppressed, her raw strength had left a fist-shaped dent in the wall.
When I stared at her in disbelief, she looked away, slightly sheepish.
"I was just... checking if it really suppresses everything..."
"Even so, why would you punch the wall that recklessly?"
We could have been flooded and killed down here!
Just as I was about to chew her out, an alarm blared from the doorway we'd entered through.
Then a Shield Barrier suddenly dropped from the ceiling, sealing the open entrance.
THUD—
"Wha— what?"
She was flustered by the sudden turn of events.
She wasn't the only one. I was just as baffled. What the hell was going on?
A cement barrier had dropped down, completely blocking the space that led back to the hallway.
"....."
Uh...
So, let me get this straight.
Suddenly, in a sealed room deep underground,
I was trapped alone with Stardus, both of us without our powers?
"....."
"....."
In that cramped room, only silence hung between us.
Hm.
Well, we were fucked.