-----------------------------------------------------------------
Translator: Vine
Chapter Title: The Villain's Dilemma
-----------------------------------------------------------------
[Why is the new character in this incident so cute, lollll]
Seriously, watching it, I didn't think of her as a villain at all. It felt more like watching my granddaughter's talent show, lollll.
Her roasting Stardust by calling her 'Auntie' and calling Egostic 'Oppa, Oppa' was genuinely adorable, lol.
=[Comments]=
[Her saying 'I'm the first companion!!' was also genuinely cute, lolll.]
ㄴ[Right, like she was sad no one recognized her until now, lolll]
ㄴ[+And when she thought she defeated Stardust and excitedly bragged to Egostic, that was just priceless, lollll.]
[When Egostic uses polite language, it sounds so cool, but when she does it, it's just cute, lolll.]
ㄴ[Well, she's a high schooler, so it makes sense for her to use polite language with adults, lolll.]
[Seriously, a terror attack happened, and no one's talking about how scary it was, just how cute the terrorist is?]
ㄴ[Let's call it the 'main event' instead of a terror attack.]
ㄴ[It's a Mango concert, actually.]
*
[What kind of place is Egostream, anyway...?]
A genius hacker high school girl who brings out bioweapons (no lie, it's true).
A Death Knight who revives even after dying.
A Moonlight Maiden who NTR'd someone else's cult.
And even Mangostick, who's suspiciously influential...
On top of that, they're all as close as family...?
Damn it!! Mangostick, what have you created, you bastard!!!!
=[Comments]=
[Hero Association, watch out! Mangostream is coming through~]
[Do you think Egostic, Korea's treasure, is a joke?]
[Seriously, why is Electra, Egostream's first member, completely omitted from the main text?? What's up?? Are you trying to pick a fight?????]
ㄴ[You seem suspiciously angry, are you perhaps from the Electro-Mango Faction?]
ㄴ[Wow, the Egotra Faction is still around? Tough as nails, lolll.]
*
[The recent 'one house' comment is quite significant.]
Considering Egostic's comment that his members are like family,
and the hacker high school girl's comment that she hacked from the same house this time,
could it be that all Egostream members live together in one big house???
=[Comments]=
[Gasp!]
[This has serious potential, for real.]
[As far as confirmed, aren't there 4 female Egostream members? Gasp!]
ㄴ[Harem-stick, lollllllll.]
ㄴ[Is the Electra Faction making a fierce comeback?????]
ㄴ[The Moonlight Mango Faction is the one on the rise, who's even talking about electro-grilled chicken?]
ㄴ[Didn't you see her appear with the Moonlight Maiden this time? How can you say that after seeing him embrace her?]
ㄴ[Hey, rookie... the 'Ice Mango' ship is still alive....]
[You crazy bastards, stop fighting over pairings in my comment section, goddammit!]
ㄴ[Seeing you get angry, the original poster must be from the Stardust Faction, lol.]
[How did you know?]
ㄴ[LMAO, lolllllll.]
[If it's true that all the members live in one house, I wonder what they do together normally? I'm genuinely curious.]
***
Deep within a mountain range, where no one could find it.
In the heart of it stood a grand, imposing house.
This was the Egostream headquarters.
Beyond being Korea's top villain organization, it was now becoming Korea's premier gathering of superpowered individuals.
And I, the founder and leader of this organization,
was currently busy comforting Seo-eun, who was crying.
"H-hmph..."
"It's okay, it's okay."
Seo-eun, who had been unconscious for a night, woke up, sat blankly on the bed, and then suddenly tears streamed from her eyes.
Startled by her sudden crying right after waking up, I frantically tried to comfort her. Seriously, what could be so upsetting that she'd cry like this?
"H-hmph... I could have won..."
Ah, so that's what made her so sad.
...But Seo-eun, uh. It didn't really look like you could win...?
Seo-eun, still sniffling in my arms, then began to apologize to me.
"I'm sorry, Oppa... If I had just done a little better, I could have won..."
"No, it's okay, it's okay. And you didn't necessarily have to win."
"Sniffle, sniffle, sniffle..."
I continued to hold and comfort the crying Seo-eun, quietly thinking to myself.
Actually, Seo-eun... This was a fight you weren't supposed to win in the first place...
Egostream itself is an organization designed to periodically give Stardust challenges, and if we actually defeated Stardust, it would be a bit problematic.
...Or maybe not? Maybe if she loses, she'll try even harder?
As I was stroking Seo-eun, lost in thought, Ms. Soobin and Choi Se-hee's faces peeked out from the doorway behind Seo-eun.
They probably came because they heard her crying.
Choi Se-hee mouthed to me, 'Can we come in?' so I gave a slight nod.
Yeah. Help me comfort the kid.
Choi Se-hee, having entered the room, then spoke to Seo-eun from beside her.
"Hey, Seo-eun."
"Eek?!"
Seo-eun, startled by Choi Se-hee's voice suddenly next to her,
then quickly pulled away from my embrace and said,
"Oh, Unnie?"
"That's right. It's your Unnie. Stop crying and look at this."
Saying that, Choi Se-hee handed over her phone.
Seo-eun took it and, with eyes still slightly red from crying, read the posts displayed on the screen.
".....Unnie, what is this?"
"What do you mean 'what'? These are posts from this recent incident saying how cute you are. How about it, does it cheer you up?"
"...Hmph. Unnie, I'm not a grade-schooler. Do you really think looking at something like this will suddenly make me feel better? I'm not the type to care what others think."
Seo-eun. It would have been better if you'd just wiped that smile off your face before saying that.
Seo-eun kept looking at the phone for a long time, even scrolling through other posts. She was so engrossed that Choi Se-hee, standing in front of her, even said, 'Uh... maybe you should give it back now?'
After diligently reading the posts from my fan cafe, Seo-eun's earlier crying face was nowhere to be seen. Suddenly energized, she clenched her fist and declared,
"....That's right! This wasn't my only incident; there are more to come, so I can just win next time!"
Seo-eun, who had suddenly spoken with such confidence, then quietly and determinedly whispered to me, still sitting in front of her with her fist clenched.
"....Oppa, my Starbuster 2.0 will be different from last time. Because I'm going to make it that way."
"Uh... okay. Fighting?"
"Perfect! Unnie!!!"
"U-uh, what?"
"Follow me, to the basement! We're making a new Starbuster starting today!"
"Hey, wait a minute!"
Choi Se-hee frantically chased after Seo-eun, who had suddenly burst from the bed, brimming with enthusiasm.
"..."
Well.
At least she's cheered up, so I guess it's a good thing... right?
By the way, Seo-eun, who was running, got caught by Ms. Soobin in the living room and got scolded. Ms. Soobin asked her what she was doing running around right after waking up from being unconscious.
Oh dear.
***
"Phew..."
With Seo-eun's issue well resolved.
After seeing Seo-eun lying in bed, chatting amicably with Eun-wol and Choi Se-hee, I returned to the living room, plopped down on the sofa, and picked up the remote to turn on the TV.
[Egostic caused another incident this time, what's the public's reaction?]
[Yes. As expected, there were no unusual developments this time either. There were no casualties, and all hostages were safely released. In fact, one of the hostages even stated that they were a long-time fan of Egostic and couldn't have been happier.]
....Let's stop watching.
I casually flipped through channels until I found a movie, then let out another deep sigh.
"Sigh..."
"Dain Oppa, why are you sighing so much?"
At that, Lee Ha-yul, who was in the nearby kitchen, scurried over.
She looked at me with a worried expression.
I honestly told her my concerns.
"It's just... I clearly caused an incident to lose popularity, but I haven't gained anything from it..."
It's truly incomprehensible.
Since when did locking people in cages, threatening them, and brandishing guns become completely unproblematic?
Indeed, something is wrong with South Korea in this world. I diligently and faithfully caused incidents, so it's the people who don't recognize that who are strange.
At my words, Ha-yul's expression became somewhat ambiguous as she said,
"....Uh, Oppa. Honestly, it seems like your popularity will just keep going like this unless someone actually dies in one of your incidents. It is a bit strange that there are never any casualties in your incidents, you know..."
She finished her frank opinion, her voice trailing off.
I cut her off sharply.
"...Killing people is not allowed."
It was one promise I made to myself when I decided to become a villain here.
I wouldn't kill civilians. If I could help it.
...No, actually, casualties or not, I've committed attempted murder dozens of times by taking hostages. Why does no one seem to care or even pretend to notice?
"Sigh... But that's precisely the problem."
"Oppa. You look tired. Shall I give you a heal to clear your head?"
"Oh? Yes. I'd appreciate that. Thank you."
As soon as I finished speaking, Ha-yul sat me down on the sofa and began massaging my shoulders.
...?
"Wait, Ha-yul, weren't you going to use your healing ability?"
"It's more effective to use my ability while massaging like this, so just stay still."
"Uhm... okay. Thank you."
Ha-yul's massage was refreshing.
...I don't even remember how I ended up getting a massage, but anyway.
***
That night.
Alone at my desk in my room, I browsed a video-sharing site.
"Wow... seriously, there are so few of them?"
When I typed 'Egostic' into the search bar, all the videos criticizing me seemed to have disappeared, replaced only by videos that treated me like some celebrity.
Things like 'Egostic_Highlights,' 'Egostic_Mad_Movie,' 'World-Shocking K-Villain Egostic.'
...There are really so few people who criticize me?
It was at that moment that I felt a great sense of alarm.
No, in the hero movies I'd seen before, even a good hero who only shot spider webs was relentlessly criticized by some old man in the media, but in this world, there's no one criticizing *me*, a villain?
Thinking that, I searched for 'Egostic criticism.'
The search results drastically decreased.
Even the few videos that remained were mostly from the early days of my incidents, practically nonexistent now.
As I scrolled down with a serious expression, at that moment.
"...There's one."
There was exactly one.
A video of a woman asking, 'Isn't Egostic a terrorist?' looking bewildered.
Watching that video, which had, predictably, been 'dislike-bombed.'
Something clicked in my mind.
"...Right."
If no one is going to criticize me unfairly...
Then shouldn't I just create a broadcast that criticizes me unfairly, just like in those hero movies?
.....
....I might be a genius.