A Peaceful Daily Life
A Peaceful Daily Life
The ruined streets.
The collapsed buildings.
"No... please... Urgh... Li..."
"...Quick... brother!!! Get up!!! Hurry... try..."
"...I can't... do it... anything... with my... power..."
And noises drifting in from somewhere.
And then.
"Cough... I'm... sorry..."
"...rap... third line... definitely..."
Muttering, and weeping that followed.
"Don't... die, aren't you dying??? Hic... hic..."
"..."
"...Sorry..."
"...I can't give up... I can't let you go..."
Screeeeeeeeech.
Aaaah!
Huff, huff.
I bolted upright in the middle of the night, jolted out of sleep.
...No, what the hell? What time was it?
"...Three in the morning."
I muttered with my eyes still half-shut.
Once my head cleared, I noticed my back was drenched in cold sweat.
...I didn't remember it, but I must have had a nightmare.
At my age, jolting awake from a nightmare.
Haaah...
I sighed without meaning to.
...Was I carrying some kind of anxiety deep down without realizing it? Why had I dreamed something like this?
Come to think of it, lately I'd been flinching even when I was just sitting still. A sudden chill.
Had my energy actually been depleted? Maybe I had a ghost clinging to me or something.
If this kept up, I would have to visit that witch again and ask for an exorcism. This world contained almost everything imaginable, so a ghost genuinely could have been attached to me.
Ugh. In any case, I was already wide awake.
I raised my head and looked at the window on the wall beside me.
My room, lit only by the bright moon shining between the dark mountain ridges.
...It was one of those nights that suddenly brought on late-night sentimentality. Three in the morning was peak emotional hour for a guy.
Everyone else was probably fast asleep then.
...Yeah, I was awake, couldn't fall back asleep, and no one was around.
Maybe I should start writing that down in advance.
I got out of bed, turned on the light, and sat down at my desk.
Then I pulled out one of the books wedged into the bookshelf.
A plain-looking diary with metaphysical patterns drawn on it in pale green.
Right. It was the notebook the Green Witch had given me, which no one could open without my permission.
The only way to open it without my permission was for me to die.
Hmm...
And then, inside it,
I began writing in it, one by one,
the major events likely to happen in the future and anything that might trigger the world's destruction if left unchecked.
I added important setting details too—such as the one-time event that rewound time, or a method of resurrection...
It was best to write these things down in advance. There was no telling what might happen. A first-rate villain prepared for everything!
I could call the book the Ego Stream Emergency Manual.
I stayed up all night writing, then dozed off over breakfast the next morning and got scolded by Soo-bin.
...I'd stayed up late working. It felt deeply unfair...
[The government has approved redevelopment for the districts in Busan that were bombed during the last terrorist attack. With regulations lifted for the first time in ten years, residents are in an upbeat mood.]
A peaceful morning.
I was sprawled on the sofa in the living room, zoning out to the sound of the TV drifting in from the distance.
"Dain, what are you doing?"
"Ah... I'm sunbathing..."
The warm sunlight streamed through the window and fell across me on the sofa. It felt as though I was recharging.
I'd loved soaking up sunlight like that since I was little. A guy had to get his vitamin D.
"Here, have some fruit."
"Thank you."
Soo-bin handed me a plate of fruit.
I picked up a piece of Korean melon and took a bite.
Nice and crisp.
"Soo-bin, is Seo-eun still downstairs?"
"Yes. Se-hee went down with her, too."
"Really? What are those two even doing..."
Lately, the two of them had been whispering together and holing up in the basement every single day.
It seemed Seo-eun was building something and Choi Se-hee was helping her. Eugh. As long as they weren't making anything strange.
Anyway...
I turned my head toward the window beside me.
One wall of the living room was all glass, giving a clear view of the surrounding scenery. Just looking at it felt refreshing. It had been what I liked most when I first moved into this house.
So I lay there, staring blankly at the TV, waiting for a phone call.
The news on the screen was still buzzing with the commotion Icicle and I had caused. One unusual detail was that the anchor was pouring all their passion into explaining just how amazing and capable Icicle was and how she was in no way inferior to Stardus.
...Had Lee Seol-ah already taken over the broadcasting stations too?
While I was having that idle thought, my phone finally started ringing.
I looked at the screen and there it was: "Lee Seol-ah."
I answered immediately.
[Hello?]
"Oh, hey. Hello?"
[Haa, I finally got a moment. I'm sorry. The Association and the reporters have been hounding me nonstop. I've been crazy busy. There are things I need to push forward right on schedule, too...]
"Yeah, yeah. I know. Obviously I know you've got no time. Anyway, just tell me what happened. Yesterday, at the end, Stardus — Shin Ha-ru — suddenly showed up. What was that about?"
[...Haa, Ha-ru. Don’t even get me started. I was so tense, thinking she’d figured out the relationship between you and me.]
"She didn't figure it out, right?"
[Thankfully, no. She saw the two of us smiling, but it seems like she doesn't know the details. I managed to talk my way out of it.]
"Well, that's a relief. But still — why did she come?"
[What do you mean, why? She said that Shadow guy brought her.]
"...No, I mean, what reason did she have to come? There wasn't really any reason, was there?"
When I said that, I heard her give a faint, amused hum over the phone.
[...Who knows? Try thinking about it yourself. I don't really know either.]
"...What? Hey."
[Anyway, isn't that beside the point? Let's talk about the future. What do you plan to do next?]
Lee Seol-ah smoothly changed the subject and asked me about my plans going forward.
...That was suspicious, but I decided to let it slide this once.
I just answered her straight.
"What do you think? Now I need to strengthen my villain alliance. I'm going to focus on steadily bringing in new villains to Ego Stream, one after another."
[...Good. While you're doing that, I'll finish seizing control of the political sphere on my end.]
"...You probably don't have to rush that one."
[What are you talking about. If we don't get it done early, another surprise like last time could happen — the president firing missiles at you. This is all for your sake.]
For my sake, my ass. It was for her own ambition.
I simply chuckled at her transparent excuse. Well, I didn't dislike how easy she was to read when she spoke like that. That was part of Lee Seol-ah's charm.
We chatted a little longer. Mostly trivial stuff, like her saying she'd come visit my house sometime. Time passed, and we finally wrapped up the call.
And just before hanging up, Lee Seol-ah casually tossed one more remark at me.
[...And you — from now on, for a while at least, I think you'd better focus your attacks on Stardus.]
"Huh? Well, I was planning to focus on Stardus for the time being anyway... Why?"
[...Just because. I think it's for your own good. I'm hanging up.]
That was all she said before ending the call.
...The hell? Well, that was anticlimactic.
The call was over, so I got up from the sofa.
I stepped out through the veranda doors by the window.
Hmm...
In the Original Work, whenever Stardus had something on her mind, she'd always open her window and lean on it like this to think.
...So I tried it, too.
Letting the fresh mountain air and breeze hit me.
Leaning my arms on the railing, I thought over my plan.
From now on...
All kinds of powerful villains would keep appearing without end.
And the world would keep growing harsher. Enemies with all kinds of abilities—too much for Stardus to face alone—would continue to appear.
Of course, the situation was different now.
With me here, I would recruit some of those villains into Ego Stream before they fell, or eliminate them first. Things would be much better than in the Original Work—just like with the Lepis Squad in the last attack.
And Stardus had grown much stronger too.
Since her abilities were enhanced far earlier than in the original, she should be able to hold her own against most villains.
Well, things'll work out.
But that's not the point.
I stood there quietly, thinking it over.
Why did Stardus suddenly rush all the way to Busan?
Honestly, I thought Lee Seol-ah would tell me why, so I didn't dwell on it. But now it's something I should figure out.
Hmm...
I thought for a moment and reached a conclusion pretty quickly.
She must have considered me that much of a threat.
There wasn't any other plausible reason.
That was good news!
I settled on that conclusion.
If she sees me as a threat, all the better. If she thinks of me as her arch-enemy, she'll face me with all her heart and strength.
With that lightened mood, I closed the veranda door and went back into the living room.
As soon as I came back in, I spotted Seo-eun sitting on the sofa. Guess she came up from the basement.
The moment she saw me, Seo-eun made a weird face and spoke up.
"Big bro. Did you know you’ve picked up a new nickname?"
"What now..."
"Look at this."
Seo-eun handed me her phone.
On the screen was a post from my fan cafe.
*
[EgoStar? EgoTra?]
Everyone else can get lost lololol
Ice Mango is here!!!
(Photo of Icicle and Egostic laughing while fighting each other)
(Gif of Egostic praising Icicle)
=[Comments]=
[For real lol, the two of them look great together lol]
[Starting today I'm blindly backing Ice Mango]
[Ice Mango really rolls off the tongue too lololol]
[Yo Egostic, stop messing around in Seoul and come down to Busan]
[Mangostic, Busan suits you better than Seoul!]
[If you think Stardus < Icicle, smash that upvote lol]
[What are you talking about? Egostic's opponent is Stardus. Isn't it only natural to leave him to Stardus, the Egostic specialist? I don't think it's right to pair him with some unrelated hero.]
└[@newday313 Why's this one so heated?]
└[EgoStar squad making a tearful stand lmaoo]
└[Stardus arrested at her own residence]
└[Checked the profile—they're a dedicated member. So they were EgoStar squad? First time I've seen them comment lololol]
└[Completely losing it over the blue-haired, tanned delinquent lol]
[Ice Mango, holy shit lololol. That's today's snack.]
*
"Big bro, want some Ice Mango for today’s snack?"
Seo-eun asked with a snicker, and I pressed a hand to my forehead.
...Somehow, it felt as though my nicknames only kept multiplying.