Talent Recruitment
Talent Recruitment
Everything for Stardus.
After falling into this world and wandering for a long time, I had finally made that my purpose in life.
Ultimately, the protagonist of this world is Stardus.
Yeah. For her—my favorite character—I'd gladly burn myself to ashes.
The conclusion I reached for her sake was that I would wipe out every villain who tormented Stardus.
But then, who would Stardus fight?
Stagnant water rots. Could an inactive hero really still be called a hero?
And on top of that, Stardus grows stronger the more ordeals she endures, right?
...Yeah.
I would become a villain myself and give her only the trials she could handle.
That was why I'd kept staging attacks until now.
And now it was time to take things one step further.
"Do I really need to... carry out the attacks myself?"
Right.
Do I absolutely have to do this personally?
No. I didn't. As long as no one died and Stardus could grow stronger, it didn't matter whether I or another villain staged the attack.
So...
If I created some kind of villain alliance and had other villains stage attacks in my place...
Couldn't I just... retire?
That was why I needed to recruit another Ability User.
The current members—Seo-eun, Soo-bin, and even Ha-yul—were all Support-types. I had no muscle!
So I was on my way to sweet-talk another Ability User.
We were in a café.
I sat by the window, sipping coffee and sneaking glances at the counter.
"Big sis, try some of this too."
"Mm. The strawberry cake here is good."
"Cha-yun, rinse your mouth after you eat."
At the table beside me, Seo-eun, Soo-bin, Ha-yul, and Cha-yun were all gathered together, chatting away.
...Did the head of a household never get any personal time?
***
The person I planned to recruit this time was a woman named Choi Se-hee.
She was the one working behind the counter at the café.
"...That'll be 7,000 won."
Choi Se-hee, with orange hair and an expression that screamed that she was utterly fed up with the world, was taking orders.
This visit was purely to observe how she lived, so I was quietly camping out at the cafe.
...But when I said I'd swing by a café for some recruiting.
Since it was the weekend, everyone had insisted on tagging along.
Now they were all happily eating slices of cake.
"Big bro, you should have a slice too."
"Huh? Oh, yeah. Let me try a bite."
It was good.
I chewed on the cake and kept watching the counter.
"..."
Meanwhile, someone had asked her for her number.
Watching her scowl and turn him down was pretty entertaining.
"Hmm..."
After watching her for a while longer, I reached a conclusion.
Alright. It was about time to get started.
"Dain. Stop staring at the counter and eat more."
"Big bro, can we order another honey bread?"
"Uh. Yeah, go ahead and order whatever you want."
First, I would eat this and take a break...
I could handle it that night.
I ate my slice of cake and fell into thought.
Choi Se-hee.
She was an Ability User with an Electricity Ability that let her generate electricity.
In the Original Work, she had been one of the villains operating under the alias Electra.
Among villains, she was known for being prickly and extremely short-tempered.
She was one of the more popular characters among readers of the Original Work, who nicknamed her the Delinquent Big Sis.
She worked herself ragged every day without a moment to breathe until the accumulated stress finally made her snap.
Unable to suppress her Destructive Impulse, she let her electricity overflow in the middle of downtown one night and was immediately subdued by Shadow Walker.
She was sent to a detention center as soon as she debuted, disappeared from the manhwa for a while, and only returned during the Great Prison Break arc.
In any case, she had been designated an A-rank villain, and her Electricity Ability was extremely powerful. Elemental Abilities were generally excellent—just look at Icicle's ice ability...
In any case, I needed her.
So, well. Let's give it a shot.
***
It was a dark night.
Choi Se-hee trudged home.
"Haa..."
A life of nothing but work, day after day.
She worked from morning to night, then came home, collapsed, and slept.
"...Ugh. Shit."
She cursed as she walked through the night streets.
It wasn't that she lacked money. She wasn't exactly well-off, but she didn't need to work herself this hard.
There was only one reason she worked as though trying to forget the world.
A quirk she could never tell anyone about.
She did it to suppress the Destructive Impulse inside her.
"..."
Walking through the dark streets, she quietly raised her head and glanced around.
A back alley without a single security camera.
After confirming no one was there, she pulled her hand out of her pocket.
Then she raised her hand.
Immediately, electricity crackled visibly at her fingertips.
Soon, electricity branched through the darkness like a tree, embroidering the air with stars.
Gleaming yellow branches spread from her fingertips through the air before her.
She was staring blankly at the spectacle she had created when—
"Beautiful."
Suddenly, a voice came from behind her.
"...!!"
Startled, she hastily cut off the electricity and spun around.
But behind her, there was only a pitch-black alley with nothing in sight.
"...Who are you?"
Now on guard, she stretched her hand into the darkness, ready to unleash electricity at any moment.
She remained on guard for a moment.
The sound of clapping echoed from the dark.
Clap, clap, clap—
"Crazy bastard."
Confirming that her opponent wasn't normal either, she shot lightning forward.
But as if there were nothing in front of her, the lightning simply cut through empty air.
Yet the clapping continued.
And then, someone emerged from the darkness.
"Good evening, Choi Se-hee."
The person who emerged from the darkness and greeted her was...
a man in a black hat, black robe, and black cape, wearing a mask over his eyes.
And this man was someone she recognized.
"...Egostic?"
As she called out his name with a grimace, he flinched for a moment.
After pausing briefly, he spoke again.
"...You know who I'm?"
"Of course. You're on TV whenever I turn it on, aren't you?"
"...I didn't expect you to know me."
After muttering quietly to himself, he cleared his throat and continued.
"Ahem. Then this will be easier to explain. Choi Se-hee, would you be interested in working with me?"
"...I'm not following. You stalk me at night and suddenly ask me to work with you? What are you talking about?"
"Ah. It seems my explanation was lacking. I'm talking about staging attacks."
"...Are you asking me to stage a terrorist attack with you?"
"Yes. Would you be interested in staging one with me?"
"This guy's completely insane. Get lost!"
Choi Se-hee snapped and fired electricity at him.
As if her life were not shitty enough already, now a terrorist had shown up to recruit her.
But the electricity she shot only cut through empty air again, because he vanished from the spot.
And once more, the voice came from behind her.
"Think it over. Have you not always suffered because you couldn't use your ability openly? With me... you'll not have to keep hiding your instincts..."
"I said get lost!"
She attacked him again, even more fiercely.
But by then, he had already vanished from before her eyes.
"I'll come see you again. Until then, I hope you'll think it over..."
"Didn't I tell you to get lost?"
Huffing with fury, she spun around again.
But again, the alley was completely empty.
In the alley, where nothing could be heard but her own breathing, she sighed again.
"Ha... fuck. Live long enough and you really do see everything."
Cursing, she kicked a pebble by the roadside. She might never become a hero, but becoming a villain had never crossed her mind. A terrorist approaching her to recruit her—the sheer absurdity of it.
Having vented her irritation, she briefly glanced behind her to see if anyone was following before walking the rest of the way home.
Come back again? What a joke. If he showed his face again, she'd fry it with electricity.
With her orange hair fluttering, she continued on her way.
"..."
Still walking, she suddenly raised her hand and stared at it.
When she had generated electricity in her palm and hurled it at that bastard, it had felt incredibly good. She had felt liberated, as though a weight had lifted from her chest.
For a moment, everything that had been constricting her seemed to disappear.
"..."
Did that mean she could always feel this liberated if she was with him?
"Shit. What am I thinking?"
She swore under her breath again and kept walking.
She was not some destructive maniac or psychopath.
There was absolutely no chance she would ever become a terrorist, no matter the circumstances.
***
"Dain. How's your plan to recruit the new member going?"
"Oh, that? It's going smoothly. She seems to be in denial right now, but it won't take long to win her over."
I said that as I lifted a mouthful of cup noodles with my chopsticks.
Frequent Teleportation was exhausting, so I had to refuel.
Slurping up the noodles, I turned on my smartphone.
Then I immediately logged into the Stardus Fan Cafe, where I was a manager.
Ahh, wrapping up the day by organizing Stardus posts. Now this was living.
Beside me, Soo-bin watched with a complicated expression. Why...?
Anyway, I thought about Choi Se-hee—the Ability User with the Electricity Ability I'd decided to recruit.
Considering her aversion to me and her stubborn refusal to stage attacks...
Hm.
A week should be enough.