Chapter 9

EP.9 Her Daily Life

Shin Haru.

A third-year student at Yeonhee University.

Apart from her blonde hair and a face that turns heads, she appears quite ordinary. Of course, being pretty in itself isn't exactly ordinary, but...

Anyway, few people know that she is a hero.

It's a secret that only a few members of the Hero Association and her fellow heroes are aware of.

Thus, she can enjoy a relatively normal college life.

...Of course, the number of days she is absent is relatively higher than that of other students, to the point of being suspicious.

It's not just that.

She missed the opening ceremony, orientation, MT, after-parties, festivals...

She hasn't participated in any school events, which is why she has very few close friends.

Of course, it's partly because she deliberately keeps her distance from people.

However, she does have some close seniors and peers, so it's not a problem.

In this way, she manages to lead a double life as a college student and a hero.

Terrorism in Seoul isn't that frequent.

Maybe once every two weeks?

Actually, even that is quite frequent, but this world is inherently chaotic, so it's manageable.

So far, there haven't been many strong villains in Korea.

Of course, in the United States, the world's strongest country, terrorism is rampant every day, according to what she's heard.

However, there are many S and A-class heroes to maintain a balance.

They say that in the U.S., A-class heroes are as common as the buildings in the city.

Considering that there are only a few A-class heroes in all of South Korea, the U.S. is indeed impressive.

Therefore, she doesn't think her A-class status is particularly special.

What is her ability, really? She is very strong and can fly, but that's about it.

Because of this, she was helpless when Egoistic went on a rampage last time.

"....."

Tap. Tap.

She tapped the glass of mango smoothie she was drinking with her fingers.

Egoistic.

At first, she was enraged by the sight of him killing villains.

At that time, she thought of Egoistic like this:

A naive kid who got power and started causing trouble.

Her guess was this:

Just a show-off who got power and thought,

'Hey, if I just use this to kill all the bad guys, it'll be fine,' and started killing other villains excitedly.

Instead of officially applying to be a hero and becoming part of the judiciary.

A brat who uses excessive power and acts as if he is justice.

Once they get power, they get obsessed with private enforcement and revel in the attention they get from the public.

They are deluded into thinking they are 'heroes' rather than 'conventional heroes.'

She despised this type the most.

Show-offs.

This thought was solidified when she saw her name, Shin Haru, written in blood at the murder scene.

Disgusting guy.

He probably just wanted to show off his face.

And what was he doing, writing in blood so savagely?

At that time, she was determined to put him in jail.

...Of course, she didn't know how to find the hiding place of an A-class villain who concealed his identity.

Yeah, at that time, no one knew.

That this guy was such a lunatic.

[Yes, there are bombs attached to both of these boats. Bang! Then everyone on both boats... will leave without saying goodbye to their loved ones.]

[The time limit is 30 minutes. As long as the detonation buttons for both boats are not pressed within that time, everything will be fine.]

He wasn't just a kid who was drunk on power.

He was a clear villain who planned large-scale terrorism.

And a psychopath who played with people's emotions.

Though she didn't show it, she was inwardly shocked.

How could a human think of such inhumane things?

Actually, if she heard this story, Egoistic would probably claim that it was an homage to a movie from his previous life and feel wronged, but she didn't know that.

He revealed his name as Egoistic.

In the community, people analyzed that his name was derived from the English word 'Egistic' (egoistic), meaning selfish.

The connection between his name and the statement that humans are selfish.

This alone shows that he is not a normal person.

And last week.

When she first heard that Egoistic's supporters had caused a bomb attack, she only sighed.

When one lunatic appears, other villains follow like a domino effect.

Somehow, Egoistic's supporters carried out a terrorist attack the very next day after he caused one.

A terrorist attack so meticulously planned that it could only have been premeditated.

However, because it mimicked Egoistic's actions, she had to admit it.

A fanatic who genuinely followed Egoistic appeared in just one day and was so proactive that they carried out a terrorist attack the very next day.

Before the association even discussed measures to prevent copycat crimes of Egoistic's bomb attacks.

The terrorist attack happened so quickly that she had no time to prepare and could only be caught off guard.

But after doing nothing and only feeling guilty and anxious for a while,

Egoistic himself appeared.

To be honest.

She was extremely nervous.

Scared? Yeah, she decided to admit it coolly.

A little scared. A little. Not very scared.

A lunatic who did unpredictable things came to the scene himself? And to a place with hundreds of hostages?

It would be strange not to be worried.

So, all the heroes, including herself, who were on standby, watched in silence.

...Of course, they could only watch through his broadcast. Even though his face was obscured, she watched, suppressing the urge to rush over and hit him.

And he, as expected, proved that he was a lunatic.

He told his followers to stop causing chaos and shot them all.

Then he released the hostages. Even gave them money, as he promised. It's said that the money was actually deposited into the victims' accounts, though it couldn't be traced.

And that's not all. He even apologized. For the chaos caused by his followers. In front of his own broadcast.

At that point, she was truly confused.

What is this guy doing? If he's a villain, he should act like one.

And to be honest, if you only look at his actions that day, he actually seemed heroic.

...Of course, allowing private enforcement is absolutely not acceptable. But since the association had already allowed the killing of the villains to save the hostages, they were already doomed.

So, she found it strange.

There was no villain like Egoistic among the villains she had encountered so far.

Indiscriminate killings, bombings, arson, kidnappings, terrorism.

These kinds of villains were very common.

But a villain like Egoistic, who seemed to have some 'belief'?

It was the first time she had seen such a case.

Of course, there might be similar cases globally, but at least in South Korea, it was the first.

*ding*

Having finished her homework, she came out of the cafe.

A nice day with warm sunlight enveloping her body.

She habitually stretched her arms.

"Hmm-."

As she stretched, passersby glanced at her, but she didn't notice.

"Egoistic..."

'...He knows the locations of villains, can kidnap through broadcasts, can find the accounts of hostages he's never met, and has a lot of money.'

What is this guy doing?

In her mind, Egoistic had already become the number one target of highest concern.

So, that means.

Egoistic, whether good or bad, now occupies a significant part of her mind.

'...I will definitely expose your true identity.'

***

"Who's talking about me?"

"Bro, it's because you haven't been showering lately, isn't it?"

"Seo-eun. I know you're a girl, so stop calling me 'Bro'..."

"Bro. Be quiet."

"Okay..."

"...Water, do you want to put it down?"

"No, why are you doing this, Su-bin? You can just stay there and do nothing. And I shower every day. It's slander, slander."

"...Okay."

"Why don't you believe me? It's really slander!"

In the heart of Seoul.

A secret base dozens of floors underground in what looks like an ordinary house.

Egoistic's base, or Ego-Base for short.

"Bro, why do you name other people's houses without permission?"

"Seo-eun, between you and me, what's the difference between your house and mine? Your house is my house, and my house is your house."

"Bro, you sold your house, so you don't have a house anymore."

"......"

Yeah, I moved.

To Seo-eun's underground secret base.

Since I have a lot to do from now on, it's better to live and work here where all the equipment is gathered. And Su-bin is a problem too.

Seo-eun also agreed readily.

Though I don't know how deep it is, it's bright and nice with LED lighting. Plus, it's huge with many rooms, so it's not a problem.

Thanks, Seo-eun.

When I looked at Seo-eun with gratitude, she frowned as if to say, "What are you looking at?" That brat.

My top confidant and genius hacker, Han Seo-eun.

A very small girl with short silver hair. She's only in the third year of middle school. I thought she was in the first year at first.

She keeps calling me 'Bro' and insisting she's a boy...

Seo-eun, I know you're a girl because I read the original work...

I never thought I'd be called 'Bro' by a middle school girl...

But it's not just me and Seo-eun living here.

A woman who claimed to be my follower, whom I sort of kidnapped?

"...?"

She, Su-bin, who looks scared and looks up at me, also lives here.

...How I ended up with her is a long story.

"Haa..."

It feels like the number of people living with me is increasing, but maybe it's just my imagination.