Affair
Affair
There were many reasons I'd decided to cooperate with Lee Seol-ah.
At first, since she was a schemer, I'd actually considered simply getting rid of her.
But after thinking it over, I concluded that letting her control South Korea from the shadows would be more advantageous overall. In the Original Work, she had ruled while keeping within certain limits.
More importantly, leaving her as a hidden mastermind gave me the advantage of being able to use her.
Honestly, since hacking and terrorist attacks were basically my only two tools, I needed to borrow someone else's power to accomplish anything bigger. Lee Seol-ah was perfect for that.
So I made a proposal to cooperate.
A week later, she accepted, and our little hero-villain collusion was established.
"Mm, the coffee is good."
"Heh. You actually know how to enjoy coffee, I see. This is an Esmeralda Special. An extremely rare variety."
What the hell was that?
But I simply nodded along. Keeping my mouth shut was the safest bet. Esme... Matilda? I guessed there was such a thing.
"But you've been speaking to me informally this whole time. Quite naturally."
Lee Seol-ah gave me a sidelong glance as she said it.
Well.
"We're allies now. Wouldn't using formal speech be weirder? You can drop it too."
I shrugged, and she narrowed her eyes.
"No thanks."
She folded her arms. Well, I knew from the Original Work that she only dropped formal speech with Shin Ha-ru. Everyone else got polite speech. Nothing new there.
Anyway, although she was a little curt, she was surprisingly compliant. More precisely, she followed my lead without much resistance, probably because the USB I had given her had made quite an impression.
Lee Seol-ah. As far as I knew, she should have been focused on conquering the business world around then. With ambition like hers, she was bound to be busy devouring other corporations, especially after Han-eun Group's collapse.
Of course, it wasn't easy, and she'd probably been racking her brains when—ta-da!—I showed up and handed her the answer sheet. With the intelligence on that USB, she could solve problems that would normally have taken years. Of course, I'd had Seo-eun compile all that information. Thanks, Seo-eun.
Anyway, my little gift seemed to have lowered her guard considerably. The mood then was much easier than before. She'd probably calculated that I was serious about cooperating and that having me on her side would genuinely benefit her.
"Hey. I've written everything up. Read it."
Her voice came from ahead while I was lost in thought.
The top floor of Yuseong Group Busan Branch.
We were in a reception room, hammering out our mutual terms.
"Oh? Yeah. Is this the basic contract?"
"Yes. The rest will be verbal, so I only wrote down the essentials."
The contents were written in her neat handwriting.
Reading over it, the summary was basically: 'Let's help each other out.'
"Additional intel provision. Fine. I'll help as much as I can. We're on the same team now anyway. The better you do, the better for me."
"Really?"
"Yeah. You think I've lived my whole life getting scammed?"
I smirked at her sparkling eyes.
As expected, her ambition was seriously something else even that early on. That willingness to do anything for her dream was impressive, though it was a shame the dream was to conquer Korea...
"Also, if you have anything to add, say it now. Let's settle it all here."
"Oh? Then... from now on, meet me once a week."
"Excuse me?"
"Let's meet once a week and share information. We're allies, right? Allies need to see each other's faces often."
"...You want me to come down to Busan once a week?"
Hard pass.
As if reading my reluctance, she scoffed.
"If you don't want to, I can come up to Seoul instead."
The agreement we'd made was actually simple.
I would help her conquer South Korea, and she would tell me about any forces trying to obstruct me—the government, the Hero Association, or whoever else. That was it.
But did that really require meeting face-to-face every week? Once in a while seemed more than enough.
"Once a week is overkill. Let's meet once a month. That's just right."
"What's 'just right' about it? Don't be ridiculous."
She shot back, flabbergasted.
After some discussion, we eventually settled on meeting once every two weeks.
"...So, how's the 'Conquer South Korea Project' going?"
"Don't even ask. Sigh. You'd think they'd just let themselves be acquired quietly, but the pushback is something else..."
When I casually asked how things had been going, she told me everything. I nodded along as I listened to her complaints. Right, right. I see.
We talked for quite a while. Maybe it was because we shared the experience of hiding our true feelings and identities while publicly playing opposite roles, but we got along surprisingly well.
How long did we talk?
Carrying on with this and that, we eventually landed on the topic of Shin Ha-ru.
"Our Ha-ru... Haah. Oh, wait. You didn't know her identity, did you? Did I just leak it by mistake?"
"You think I wouldn't know? Stardus. Shin Ha-ru. I know everything."
"Well, I figured you would. But you know..."
She stopped there, then leaned her head closer to me, looking intensely curious.
"But... this is something I've been wondering for a while. Why are you so obsessed with Stardus?"
"Obsessed? Me?"
"Yes. You."
When had I ever been obsessed? Slander.
I played dumb, and she smiled with her eyes before speaking again.
"You're basically targeting our Ha-ru to make her grow stronger, aren't you? Like some kind of power-leveling service in a game. And your villain activities are just an extension of that. Right?"
Why was she so sharp?
As I hesitated to answer, she had already stood up and quietly approached my side.
She leaned her arm against the chair next to me and began speaking as if whispering in my ear.
"Honestly, I'm a little jealous of Stardus. You know. How much Ha-ru's popularity surges every time she fights you."
Saying that, she lowered her head and leaned her body toward me.
Her cascading sky-blue hair veiled my vision as her voice dropped even lower, whispering from right beside me.
"...So I have a favor to ask. Could you stage an attack on me too? We're partners. Call out, ‘Icicle, come out!’ and do one for me too. Please?"
Her voice had gone completely honeyed now. I turned my head toward her.
Lee Seol-ah was looking at me from so close our breaths nearly touched.
Her smiling face filled my vision, and as she drew closer, my hand rose toward her almost on its own.
I flicked her forehead.
"Ahk!"
She reeled back, clutching her forehead from the surprise attack.
Her face flushed red, tears welling at the corners of her eyes.
"What are you doing?!"
She cried out as if the world had wronged her. I just snorted and answered.
"What do you think? That's me telling you to snap out of it."
"What does that even mean?! Th-this is sexual harassment! I'll report you!"
"'A-rank hero sexually harassed by villain in her own home, left in shock.' There's your headline."
I just laughed quietly as she glared at me, eyes still a little watery. Such a drama queen for such a light tap.
...She was probably overreacting out of embarrassment too. I mean, what had that atmosphere just been? I didn't know why she'd acted like that. I understood that she was comfortable around me, but so suddenly? Had she been trying to seduce me or something?
Actually, seeing how red her ears are, that's probably it. She's still pretty green after all.
Anyway, let's revisit her request.
An attack. She probably meant Busan.
"...Anyway, no terrorist attacks."
"What? Why?!"
She snapped back.
Why? Because my attacks were reserved for Stardus. That was why.
I was about to answer, but then I thought that raising Icicle might not be such a bad idea either. By handling Behemoth myself, I'd deprived her of a major power-up event from the Original Work, so I did bear some responsibility.
...But does it have to be right now?
I changed my wording.
"...Alright. I'll do it. But not now. Later."
"Later when?! Give me a concrete plan."
There isn't one.
I quickly changed the subject.
"...Anyway. You're close with Stardus, right?"
"Ha-ru? We're close. But why bring that up out of nowhere?"
Before she could scramble back to the original topic, I kept going.
"Nothing much. From now on, badmouth me a little in front of Ha-ru."
"...Excuse me?"
She tilted her head, momentarily failing to process my words. And not missing the moment her brain stalled, I hammered the point home.
"Keep talking shit about me behind my back."
"...Why. Are you a pervert?"
What is she saying.
*
"So, you want me to insult you in advance, before Ha-ru starts suspecting you, to firmly cement her perception of you as a villain?"
"Yeah."
"...Uh, I don't think that's going to work."
"No, it will."
Who am I? The Stardus expert.
I was one hundred percent certain this would work.
Who was Shin Ha-ru? A girl made of nothing but solid justice.
Besides, she was not especially quick on the uptake and was easily influenced by her friends. If the people around her kept reminding her what a heinous villain I was, she would never grow suspicious and would keep treating me as an enemy.
Even if Lee Seol-ah in front of me looked skeptical. No, trust me!
"...Well, fine. I'll try my best."
"Thanks."
I stood up, having said everything I needed to say.
Done. Let's go home.
As I rose, Lee Seol-ah, who had been sitting across from me, also sprang up and spoke.
"Leaving already?"
"Yeah. We settled everything, right? Let's meet again in two weeks. We swapped numbers."
"...Wait! What about my attack?"
I would do it someday. Someday.
Just as I was about to say that, a thought flickered through my mind.
Come to think of it, isn't that event happening in Busan soon?
If that was the case... maybe... I didn't necessarily have to step in myself...
I changed what I was about to say.
"Fine. Alright. I'll contact you soon, so pick up. Got it?"
"Really? You'll do one for me soon too, right?"
"I said really. Have I ever lied to you?"
I smiled without realizing it as I looked at the delighted Icicle.
Seriously, a hero nagging a villain to stage an attack on her. What even is this. This isn't match-fixing.
This is the adult backroom world that kids don't know about. In politics, people tear into each other in public, then drink together like old friends behind the scenes.
After that additional agreement was wrapped up, I was finally able to leave.
Well, seems like it went pretty well.
...Almost too well?
***
"Miss, did something good happen?"
"Huh? Oh, it's nothing."
Backseat of the car heading home.
Leaning against the seat and reviewing the day's events, Lee Seol-ah felt a smile creep onto her lips without her knowing.
Egostic. Her meeting with him went extremely well.
Watching him on broadcast, she'd expected a simple madman. But in person, he was far better than she'd imagined. To a shocking degree.
Especially as someone she could actually talk to, after so long without anyone but Ha-ru. He understood everything she could never discuss with Ha-ru.
"...I like him."
She muttered to herself, eyes glinting.
Lee Seol-ah had taken a strong interest in Egostic. He was capable, easy to talk to, and trustworthy. In short, he had caught her interest.
With absolute faith in her own judgement, she was certain.
Yes. She had to make this man her ally, no matter what. It was decided.
Ever since childhood, once she set her mind on having something, she would get it by any means necessary. So she was confident.
And so, in the dark backseat of the car.
Only her eyes glinted in the darkness.
Egostic.
She would make him hers.
***
"...Something feels off."
Shin Ha-ru muttered to herself without thinking.
For some reason, the unease wasn't going away—it was only getting worse.
What is this?