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Translator: Vine
Chapter Title: A New Terror
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After her last battle with Death Knight, a member of Egoistic's Villain Alliance, Stardus and Shin Haru had been living a relatively peaceful life.
"My name is Papricana! I'll turn you into paprikaaaahhhhh!!!"
Sometimes, some nutjobs in tights would pop up, but she'd take care of them with a single punch.
"My name is Sarestein. Stardus, I've come to defeat you. Huhu, I'll break you here!"
…
"....Sniff, sniff, I'm sorry. Please spare me... Ugh! Don't hit me! This is excessive force!"
And even villains who attacked with special abilities were all dealt with equally, with a single punch.
"....."
She lived a peaceful life, eliminating villains like a machine, without any trouble.
"...Haa."
....And as this routine repeated, she felt herself becoming numb.
[After A-rank villain Egoistic's Villain Alliance last launched Death Knight, he has once again gone into hiding for a while. It's now widely accepted among experts that Egoistic commits an act of terror once per quarter. Cheol-gyu, do you think Egoistic will cause a terror attack this year?]
[Ah, that's impossible to predict. In truth, the quarterly terror attacks are just baseless rumors circulating among netizens. Egoistic's terror attacks are actually very irregular. However, looking at his terror cycle so far, there is certainly a pattern.]
[What is it?]
[It's that if he hasn't appeared on broadcast for too long, he suddenly makes a sudden appearance just as he's starting to be forgotten! And what he considers 'too long' is estimated to be roughly between three and four months. In other words, we don't know when he'll come. But if he hasn't appeared for about three or four months, then he'll definitely show up.]
[Ah, so a terror attack could happen a week apart, but at least it won't exceed four months compared to the previous one?]
[Exactly. And what's notable here is that it's not always a terror attack. He can appear in any way, whether it's introducing his own villain, or intercepting another villain's terror attack.]
[In conclusion, when can we be sure that we'll see Egoistic again?]
[Late this year or early next year. He'll appear before then, and if he hasn't by that time, he will definitely show up then.]
Beep-
Egoistic's story would sometimes flow from the TV. And whenever his story came on, Haru would quietly change the channel.
...Actually, rather than changing it as soon as it came on, she'd watch most of it before changing the channel, but anyway.
Lately, while dealing with petty villains, she had deliberately decided not to think about Egoistic.
As if to represent her resolve, she hadn't visited Egoistic's fan cafe even once recently.
"..."
Of course, sometimes out of habit, she'd unconsciously click the bookmark and enter. But even then, she'd just quickly skim the popular posts before leaving and doing nothing else.
'Haru. Aren't you focusing too much on Egoistic?'
That's what her friend, Lee Seol-ah, had told her, and it made her realize something. Yes. She had been thinking too much about Egoistic until now. To the point it interfered with her daily life.
To be fair, he was just another villain. There were so many villains in the world, and thinking about what a villain who wasn't even causing terror at the moment was doing was nothing but a waste of time.
So she began to reduce her thoughts about Egoistic.
Thoughts like what he did when he wasn't causing terror.
Thoughts like what his name was, and how he lived his daily life.
Thoughts like why he caused terror in the first place.
Thoughts like why he specifically targeted her from the beginning.
Thoughts like why he, a villain, supported Shin Haru herself, and even put his body on the line for her.
All of it, all of it.
She tried her best to tightly bind them deep in her heart, to stop thinking about them.
He wasn't causing terror right now. When he didn't show himself, there was no way to catch him anyway, so it was better to do other things rather than worry about him not appearing.
...Or so she tried to think rationally.
"Haa…."
Still, it was true.
Without Egoistic, her daily life flowed peacefully. In other words, monotonously.
Now her abilities had grown so strong that all incoming villains seemed like mere punching bags. She was reminded once again that only Egoistic made her go all out. Unconsciously, she awaited the new year.
'...Will he come next year?'
And so, a year passed.
***
And so, Egoistic didn't appear until the end of that year, and life flowed peacefully. A new year began.
"Alright. This letter. It's a tip-off that a terror attack will happen in Seoul on the day of the first snow. Frankly, it's highly likely to be a prank. But just in case, be thoroughly prepared that day."
And then, the words spoken at the regular Hero Association meeting. As per the tip-off at that time, indeed. On a Seoul evening when the first snow fell.
CRASH.
A terror attack actually occurred in the heart of Seoul. As soon as she heard it, Shin Haru wondered if it was Egoistic's terror attack, but seeing that the broadcast hadn't started, it was highly unlikely.
Just as she felt a bit deflated, the Association informed her not to worry, as Shadow Walker had already been dispatched. They even laughed, saying it had been a long time since a villain caused trouble at night.
Since Shadow Walker had never failed to quickly resolve an evening terror attack until now, she thought even as she put on her suit. She probably expected the incident to be over by the time she arrived.
However.
The situation when she actually arrived at the scene was drastically different.
Countless citizens screaming and evacuating. Buildings being helplessly destroyed.
"Ugh! Why isn't my ability working?!"
WHOOSH!
The city's night sky was filled with a bizarre pink glow and a storm of immense gales. In front of it, Shadow Walker was tearing at his hair, screaming, and utterly losing his mind.
Seeing the ominous pink light filling the sky, Shin Haru finally realized.
Something seemed wrong.
***
It hadn't been long since the peaceful city, enjoying the first snow, began to be ruined like this.
Just as usual, a woman in a white martial arts uniform walked into the middle of the quiet city street.
Whoosh-
Suddenly, a pink storm began to blow around her.
And a little later, a pink tornado began to spin rapidly at an incredible speed.
Whoosh-
CRASH!
At the sudden appearance of a pink vortex, visible even from afar with the naked eye, citizens, already accustomed to terror, screamed and quickly began to flee.
With screams and sirens echoing through the city, the peaceful night gradually became engulfed by a growing, massive pink tornado.
Like a dreamlike CGI effect, a pink tornado, growing large enough to swallow the entire city, appeared in the middle of the bleak gray cityscape.
And gradually, one by one, purple star-shaped objects began to appear in the air.
As the typhoon made it impossible for people to even stand, the purple stars that had suddenly appeared within the typhoon began to fly around with physical force, indiscriminately destroying the city.
CRASH.
CRASH.
The evening city instantly turned into chaos. But people weren't as flustered as one might expect. Because it was a terror attack at night. Because Shadow Walker, who was invincible at night, would take care of everything.
And now, Shadow Walker was merely flailing wildly in front of that pink typhoon.
***
"So. If you get close to that pink typhoon, your power weakens?"
"Yes. My secret technique, Shadow Step, doesn't even work!"
The heart of Seoul was dyed pink. Thanks to the Association having pre-positioned agents and lower-tier heroes throughout the city as per the warning letter, civilians had already evacuated. There, the heroes stood on the street, holding a serious meeting.
Icicle tilted her head in confusion in front of Shadow, who was passionately explaining.
"No. Is it really that bad?"
"Yes. Strangely, the closer you get to the center of that typhoon, the more your strength drains, and your abilities become unusable. If you get hit once by those purple star-shaped spheres flying in the air, your body gets flung back."
"…This is bad."
Icicle, who had come up to Seoul from Busan by Shadow Walker's request, made a serious face as she looked at the pink typhoon dominating the city.
If it was an opponent that could defeat Shadow Walker at night, could she even stand a chance?
"Oh, right. Stardus, where's Haru?"
"She said she'd go in and check."
And the moment Shadow said that.
Thud.
From inside that pink typhoon, Stardus was flung out as if she'd collided with something and crashed to the ground.
"Haru!"
Icicle, startled, quickly rushed towards Stardus, who was wiping the blood from her mouth as she rose.
"Are you okay? You…"
Icicle, who was quickly examining her, met Stardus's eyes and was startled.
Stardus's eyes, looking towards the typhoon. Those eyes were almost burning, filled with fierce determination.
"Move. I'll try again…"
"Uh. Uh…"
Lee Seol-ah stepped back at her words, uttered with a biting intensity. And passing her, Stardus entered the typhoon.
Icicle, after a moment of hesitation, followed her in.
***
'Again.'
Shin Haru gritted her teeth as she entered the typhoon created by the villain. Her long hair flew wildly, and the strong winds made it difficult to even open her eyes and walk.
And strangely, her power rapidly weakened the moment she entered.
"Ugh."
Shin Haru barely managed to open her eyes, barely punching away a large purple star-shaped object that flew fiercely towards her.
CRASH. CRASH.
The wide city was covered in pink wind. And between it, unidentifiable purple stars floated and flew towards her.
And after several attempts, when she finally managed to break through them and approach the center.
Zzzzzzzing-
From somewhere unseen inside, a purple beam of light was shot out.
-CRASH!
"Ugh…"
She tried to brace herself with her arms crossed over her chest, but weakened as she was, there was no way she could withstand it.
In the end, she couldn't overcome the recoil and was flung back.
"Kyaaaah!"
Seol-ah's scream echoed beside her.
Both of them, barely flung back from the barrage of attacks, gasped for breath. Shadow Walker was still struggling to push through the typhoon. Shin Haru gritted her teeth.
Yes. She had thought things were too peaceful lately. Why hadn't she known? That this world was filled with malice. And that an enemy stronger than her always lurked somewhere.
The despair of being unable to do anything, even with a villain in front of her, destroying the city and harming people.
Was this punishment for the past years of arrogance, solving every villain with a single punch?
Frustration and powerlessness, which she hadn't felt since Egoistic dropped the plane, filled her.
And now, Egoistic wasn't here to tell her to muster her strength.
And that villain wouldn't retreat with a smile, like Egoistic.
And of course, Egoistic hadn't appeared now.
She clenched her teeth even harder. This was real combat. And in such a situation, she realized once again.
Egoistic had been going easy on her all this time. The terror attacks with him had just been a game. Real terror was like this.
"…This is bad. What should we do… Huh? Haru, are you crying?"
And at Seol-ah's words beside her, she finally came back to reality.
"…What are you talking about?"
At Seol-ah's words, she wondered what she meant and put a hand to her face. And only then did she feel it.
A single tear was streaming down her cheek without her realizing it.
***
"Oh my goodness!!! Sob sob sob Haru-yaaa!! I'm sorry!! I'm coming now!!"
"Oppa, are you crazy? Calm down!"
"Hey, what's wrong! Sit down!"
"Dain, calm down! You said you'd just watch today!"
While watching TV, I unconsciously burst into a flood of tears and rose from my seat, but the people beside me forcibly held me back.
No! How can I just sit still when our Stardus is crying?! She's crying because she's upset!
"No! Stardus-yaaa, I'm comingggg!!!"
"Unnie! It's no use now. Shoot Oppa with some electricity!"
"Let go! I'm going… AAAAAAAAH!"