Chapter 19

EP.19 The End of the World

Tying people to the train tracks, if it continues on this path, five people will be hit. If you pull the lever, only one person tied to the other track will die. Would you pull the lever?

A difficult question posed by Egoistic.

In fact, it's a well-known, famous philosophical dilemma.

The trolley problem.

If the train continues, it will hit five people. But if you pull the lever, it will only hit one. Utilitarianism would suggest pulling the lever, as you can save four people.

But can you really do it?

It's a tragic accident if the train hits five people. Here, it might be a tragic terror. But if you pull the lever, it's no longer an accident. The five people die by accident, but if you pull the lever, that one person is killed by you. Someone who wouldn't have died will die because you pulled the lever.

...That's the kind of dilemma.

And I implemented this dilemma in the real world.

Stardus, who could not solve a mere theoretical dilemma, brilliantly broke through the situation with action.

Without pondering which way to direct the train by pulling the lever,

She took the initiative and stopped the train herself.

Stardus is a superhuman with dual abilities.

Like me, a dual-ability user. She is very strong and can fly. Her exact abilities are super strength and flight.

And because she is a dual-ability user like me, her abilities have some flaws, though not as much as mine.

People with super strength alone can collapse buildings on their own. Those with flight alone can fly at supersonic speeds. Of course, these are heroes in America.

Stardus is not at that level. Her super strength is strong, but not enough to collapse a building with one hit, and her flight ability allows her to fly, but not at supersonic speeds.

...Of course, even though she is a dual-ability user with serious flaws like me, she is much better... Still, it's undeniable that she is somewhat lacking.

Of course, dual-ability users are very rare, and the interaction between super strength and flight is good, so she is A-rank, but it's a bit disappointing, about 2%.

But she is the protagonist of this manga.

Her unique feature, different from other superhumans, is that her abilities evolve.

She becomes even stronger through hardships and adversity.

That's why I prepared a strength enhancement event this time.

Make Stardus Great Again.

In reality, she couldn't originally stop a speeding train, but when the actual situation arose, her determination to save people made her explosively stronger.

And her popularity also improved.

Somehow, her popularity, which had declined due to our confrontation, rose again this time. Her act of throwing herself in front of the train to stop it deeply moved the people watching on TV across the country.

It was good that Stardus regained her popularity.

But why did a dating rumor break out?

***

I am watching TV with a sense of futility.

After barely escaping and using teleportation to return home, I slept deeply in the fatigue recovery device and woke up.

Seo-eun grabbed my hand and dragged me to the sofa to watch TV.

The large title of today's broadcast on the TV.

[Egoistic-Stardus Dating Rumor]

"What the hell is this?"

I shouted as soon as I saw the TV.

But no matter what I said, the people on TV started to speak.

"Yes, this is Entertainment News! These two are very hot right now. The villain Egoistic, who enjoys the highest popularity in Korea, and the rising new star hero Stardus! Their dating rumor is sweeping the Korean entertainment industry. Mr. Park, what is the reason for the dating rumor?"

A terrestrial entertainment news program.

The female anchor asked a male reporter who looked professional.

"Yes, we can see this from Egoistic's actions."

Suddenly, a man holding a panel appeared from below and placed it in front of him.

A panel with a white background and a sticker.

At the top, in pink, "Egoistic♡Stardus" was very eye-catching.

"The first reason is Egoistic's public courtship."

The panel had a white sticker, and when he peeled it off, folded letters and photos were revealed.

[1. Egoistic's Love Letter.]

The man continued speaking with a very serious expression. Dressed in a suit, with an all-back hairstyle and horn-rimmed glasses, he looked like a CEO giving a performance report at a shareholders' meeting.

Of course, what came out of his mouth was not that, but a ridiculous tabloid story.

"Egoistic's first move was the murders of S-rank villain EnjoDiac and A-rank villain Rhino. But that's not the important part. The important part is this."

He pointed to a photo on the panel he was holding.

The photo showed letters that looked as if written in blood. The letters read:

To the one more evil than me, death.

To the one weaker than me, death.

To you, Stardus.

This headline, which the reporter didn't understand, was the result of my first time setting a concept and committing a crime in this world, where I lost control of how far I should take my concept.

Since it was my first time, I was very enthusiastic, and because it was my first murder, I had taken some drugs beforehand, so I was overly emotional. I had seen something similar before and thought it was a cool phrase, so I wrote it in blood.

But I didn't realize how cringeworthy it would look when I sobered up.

Now, I try to tone down my concept to a more appropriate level of cringe, but in the early days, I went overboard with cool-sounding phrases, leading to this. Ah...

At first, I was proud of the perfect rhythm of the phrase. Of course, when Seo-eun saw it later and burst out laughing, I realized something was wrong... Now, it's a black history that makes me blush just to mention. Seo-eun kept teasing me with "To the one more evil than me, a little death~" in front of everyone, which seems to have left a bit of a trauma...

Anyway, the reporter is now exposing the black history I want to erase. Seo-eun is laughing uncontrollably beside me. At least it's fortunate that Subin isn't here...

But the reporter himself, analyzing this black history, looked very serious.

"Can you see the message here? It's a message Egoistic left at the crime scene after committing the crime. The key point is the last line, 'To you, Stardus.' In fact, from the beginning, Egoistic consistently courted Stardus. After eliminating villains, he gave them to Stardus as gifts. Essentially, it's a public proposal."

Uh... It wasn't a gift, just a way to draw attention...

If I committed a crime and got assigned a strange hero instead of Stardus, what would I do? So I drew attention specifically to Stardus. She hates private justice so much, what is this...

But my words couldn't reach there, and the reporter continued with a very serious expression.

"The second reason is the terrorism. In fact, it's hard to call Egoistic's terrorism 'terrorism' since there were no casualties. However, the key point is that in both of his terrorist acts, he called out to Stardus, and Stardus brilliantly resolved both."

Footage of my terrorist acts appeared. Stardus giving a speech to the people on the ship and stopping the train with her own strength were shown as footage. Hmm, it is impressive.

"And the words Egoistic said afterward are also very meaningful. Let's listen to them."

And my voice played.

After the ship terrorism failed, I was surprised and said to her:

[It was because of you.]

[After hearing your speech, everyone suddenly united.]

[Yes, yes. It seems I underestimated you. Something that no one else could do. For you, enlightening the masses with just a few words is no big deal.]

Ah, I said that?

Before my confusion could subside, another voice of mine played.

This time, it was from the recent train terrorism.

[Yes, Ms. Stardus. Well done. In a way I never imagined. I never expected you to save everyone in that way. It's your victory.]

The reporter, who had been quietly listening to the audio he played, suddenly stood up.

Ignoring the shocked anchor, he suddenly started shouting loudly.

"Look at this!!! If this isn't love, what is it!!! When Egoistic said those last words and closed Stardus's eyes, Stardus finally fell asleep quietly!!! If they're not dating, what is dating!!!"

He started tearing his hair out and shouting!

That lunatic! Is this really a public broadcast I'm watching!!!

"What the hell is this!!!"

I shouted and threw the remote at the TV.

Seo-eun, who was watching with me, has been laughing so hard she can't breathe for a long time.

The broadcast ended with the anchor looking very flustered and the screen suddenly switching to an advertisement.

Seeing the subtitle [Broadcast Maintenance] appear, it seems there was a broadcast accident.

Damn, who in the broadcast called me MangoStick.

I could only bow my head in frustration.

No matter how I think about it, this Korea is crazy.

It was later revealed that the reporter was a member of my passionate fan club, known as the MangoTeam.

Despite causing a sudden accident and facing a demotion, he received a performance bonus because the broadcast achieved record-high ratings.

The world is truly at its end...