Resolution
Resolution
[Breaking: Ego Stream official website is up]
You go in and it's just this stupidly clean blank screen, white background, nothing but the logo showing
There was a LIVE button at the bottom, so it looked like broadcasts would be hosted there from now on?
=[Comments]=
[Oh]
[Nice]
[Wait, on the right side, way at the bottom, there's this tiny text that says 'Apply for Damage Compensation' — what the hell is that lol]
└[For real? lmaooooo]
└[f**k they're so consistent lol]
└[This is a 'Villain' Alliance???]
*
[I've been watching Egostic live since his very first broadcast, and it hits different now]
At first he was just a villain with a slightly novel gimmick
Then the scale of his terrorist attacks kept getting bigger
And now, seeing him even build a villain alliance
It just kinda makes my chest swell(?) lol
Plus, the fact that after all this the death toll is still zero is legendary lmaoo
=[Comments]=
[Real talk, it's honestly satisfying watching him grow]
[Mangostic is a legend...]
[For real, feels like just yesterday it was only him and Stardus squabbling one-on-one]
[He has been setting new personal highs ever since the Bridge Terror lol]
[But seriously, isn't zero casualties super rare even among A-ranks? If he gets promoted to S-rank he'd legit be the first lol]
└[Wait, he's still A-rank? Why though]
└[Seriously lol, doesn't make sense]
└[The Association being incompetent ain't new lol]
└[I'm not an Association official, but from what I've heard, Egostic's personal combat strength is very weak and since there haven't been any deaths yet, they're keeping him at A-rank. Although, given his hacking skills, his influence, the severity of his terrorist attacks, and the organizational power he just showed, they're internally reviewing a promotion to S-rank.]
└[Association employee spotted...]
└[Thanks, Association staff!]
*
[Forget all that, Electra <<< Upvote if you think she's hot lol]
Me first lmaoo
=[Comments]=
[Honestly lol]
[I support Ego X Electra]
└[Begone!!! Ego X Star is right there!!!]
[Honestly, the words "she's pretty" just came out the second I saw her]
└[Looks like the prettiest delinquent at my school lol]
└[Dude, of all the comparisons you could make, you had to go there lmaoo]
*
[Honestly, Egostic and Electra <---- those two are dating, fact]
Egostic saving her the moment she was in danger.gif
Egostic holding Electra tight in a princess carry.gif
And especially that last scene
When Egostic shouted "Electchu, One Million Volts!" Electra, who'd been pretending to be down, got up and fired lightning lol. Their chemistry is insane lmaoo
From today onward, I'm shipping Egostic X Electra... shortened to EgoTra. Don't try to stop me.
=[Comments]=
[Honestly, the chemistry between the two of them is real lol. Anyone can see that sort of thing only happens if you're close off-camera.]
[Nope, Egostic belongs to Stardus~ bye]
└[Stardus? What Stardus lol. When's the last time Egostic even called for Stardus?]
└[He literally met up with Stardus this time too, what are you on about?]
└[That's my point. Apart from meeting up, when's the last time Egostic personally called her name? lol. It's been ages.]
*
[Why the Egostic X Stardus faction is inevitably doomed...eu]
Look, even from a fan's perspective, when you're shipping them,
A Villain X Hero relationship has practically zero chance of becoming real.
On top of that, look at Stardus's personality, all JUSTICE! and stuff. She's completely incompatible with Egostic.
The only reason they got shipped anyway was because from early on in his career, Egostic kept singling out Stardus, calling for Stardus, mentioning Stardus, stuff like that.
But at some point, Egostic started to stop calling for Stardus.
Then, just as it was getting hard to ship them, Electra appeared like a comet—the classic homewrecker.
Same Villain X Villain, bound by an alliance, that closeness.
That weirdly familiar attitude toward each other they showed in the last video.
They just can't help but ditch Stardus straight away and get paired with Electra, it's inevitable lol.
So you hear that, EgoStar faction?
Clear out your rooms from the fan cafe.
This place is now occupied by the EgoTra faction.
=[Comments]=
[Nope, can't give up EgoStar~ I got my head cracked open during that Train Terror back then~]
└[For real, newbies say this because they never saw Egostic sweetly taking care of Stardus when she collapsed right after the Train Terror.]
└[-Boomer-]
[Are there still has-beens pushing EgoStar?]
[Stardus cut!]
*
"..."
For a moment, she nearly threw her phone. She took a deep breath and regained her composure.
Right. This wasn't something to get that angry about. Why was she even being linked with Egostic in the first place? And whether Egostic was linked with that Electra-something girl or not was none of her business.
But why was she so annoyed?
"...I don't like it."
As she looked again at the image of Egostic holding Electra tight in a princess carry, her mood soured without her knowing why.
The front-page photo in the newspaper was also a close-up of just Egostic and Electra, with her, Stardus, edited out of the frame.
Seeing the two of them looking so close irritated her.
She sat there for a long time, displeasure written on her face as she scrolled through her new phone.
Then, a thought suddenly struck her.
Why was I... annoyed?
She shifted in her seat.
Right.
She'd been so distracted by this irritated mood she'd forgotten.
In the first place, why was she feeling so uncomfortable?
She cradled her head in her hands and started to think.
Right. The more she thought about it, the less it seemed like something worth getting annoyed about. But why was her mood so bad?
Egostic. What did that bastard matter to her?
So she started to recall her memories of Egostic.
Egostic.
A villain who had appeared some time after she became a hero, just when she had begun to feel accustomed to the job. That was Egostic.
He was different from the other villains she'd known up until then, the ones who wrecked cities or simply took hostages and demanded money.
From the start, that guy had only ever shown a pattern of killing other villains, so early on some people even called him a dark hero, but after his first terrorist attack, that talk died down fast.
And that first terrorist attack of his.
Back then, he had singled out Stardus—her, specifically.
No, thinking back, he had singled her out even before that, through the messages he left after killing villains.
And in his next terrorist attack, he'd singled her out again. As if it was the most natural thing in the world.
On top of that, when she'd been about to go public with her face, he'd somehow known and shown up to help her.
In the terrorist attack after that, he'd even contacted her directly, telling her he believed in her, that she was the one who completed him.
In the end, he'd even thrown his own body into danger to save her.
Right. Whenever Egostic caused an incident, he had always singled out Stardus and appeared beside her at the scene.
Mulling it over, a sudden realization hit her.
Just as Egostic, among all those heroes, always seemed to care only about her,
she, among all those villains, had always paid the most attention to Egostic.
"..."
Right.
When she thought about it, her life as a hero had, without her even noticing, reached a stage where it was hard to discuss without mentioning Egostic.
She could barely remember what she'd done as a hero before meeting Egostic. A villain appeared, she sent them to a detention center; another appeared, she sent that one in too. That was how she'd lived.
But Egostic.
With him, things had lasted a long time.
A villain who used his overwhelmingly mobile teleportation ability to escape every time, then kept right on committing terrorist attacks.
Yet there were never any casualties, he took out other villains, even occasionally went out of his way to save people under some weird pretense, and he had so many secrets.
A guy who always singled her out, who was always tangled up with her.
As Stardus found herself thinking back on him again without realizing it, she understood.
She couldn't really imagine a life without Egostic anymore.
She had grown too accustomed to the pattern: Egostic caused an incident and called for her, then she chased him at the scene.
That, somewhere along the way, she couldn't even picture a life where that went differently.
"..."
Right. When she thought about it, up until now, Egostic had always only called for her.
When he killed villains. All three attacks. Every time.
But after that, he'd stopped calling for her.
Right. To be exact, the Bridge Terror. He'd completely blocked her from coming near him back then.
Hadn't they met at other times?
Those weren't times he had directly singled her out. They had all met by coincidence, brought together by the circumstances.
He hadn't personally called for “Stardus”—for her.
Right. From some moment onward.
He had stopped seeking out Stardus.
As she thought that and scrolled down her phone, a particular post caught her eye.
*
[Stardus was just propellant lmaoo]
She was only bait to build momentum in the early days.
I saw posts here saying that Egostic had fallen for Stardus or was pining for her, among other things.
What, lmao. You think Egostic is that kind of guy?
Back in the early days, he just did that because Stardus was the A-rank hero handling Seoul, so he clashed with her, drew aggro, and boosted his own presence.
Nothing more, nothing less.
The fact that there hasn't been a single mention of Stardus lately makes it pretty clear yep
He just used her for business and then tossed her aside.
Bet he'll never single out Stardus again in any future terrorist attacks, right? He hasn't called for her since the Plane Terror anyway lol.
Stardus was just a fling
Behind the scenes, Egostic is probably living it up with Electra, yep. All the attention he used to give Stardus now goes to Electra.
Good work, EgoStar faction lol
*
After reading down to that, she couldn't hold back anymore and finally threw her phone.
What did that person know to talk like that?
Even during the Plane Terror, Egostic had personally called for her, and what's more, in the Han-eun Group underground, he had even risked his life to save her.
He had always communicated with her in places no one else could see.
When her thoughts reached that point, she suddenly realized.
Right. The reason she had felt so bad looking at those two...
It was because, until now, when it came to anything related to Egostic, she had always been the one tied to him, his counterpart every single time.
But suddenly, some other useless woman had needlessly wedged herself between them.
"..."
Egostic had once told her that she was his arch-enemy.
And now, she found herself agreeing with his words.
For better or worse. Her greatest enemy, her arch-enemy, was Egostic.
And.
Their relationship had to be resolved by the two of them alone, without anyone else getting involved.
Her head had cooled again. She quietly got up to retrieve the phone she had thrown near the bed.
Right. Whatever else happened, Egostic had said they would see each other again soon. She could confront him then.
And.
Electra. That woman.
She resolved to deal with her as soon as possible.
***
"...Fuck, what was that?"
"What? Why are you acting like that all of a sudden?"
"No... I just got this sudden chill..."
Choi Se-hee rubbed both arms as if she had goosebumps. Watching her, I tilted my head and said:
"Weird. The same thing happened to me the other day."
What was going on? Had everyone been low on energy lately?