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Translator: Vine
Chapter Title: Collision Course
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"Haru, over here! Over here!"
In front of the Ice Cream Festival venue.
Shin Haru, who had just gotten off the bus, met her senior.
"Oh, Unnie. You're already here?"
"I just got here too! Let's start looking around!"
"Yes. Sounds good."
Watching her senior giggle and chatter adorably upon seeing her, Shin Haru found herself quietly smiling.
The two of them had decided to explore the festival together today. The weather was lovely, after all.
As they walked together, Haru watched her senior, who was brightly smiling and chatting, with an affectionate gaze.
Though Chaehyun Unnie was a year older than her, her short stature and bright personality made Haru feel like Chaehyun was her younger sister.
"Unnie, want to try this? They say it's rice-flavored ice cream."
"Sure!"
Seeing her senior happily eating the ice cream, Haru felt her own mood lighten.
She wasn't actually a big fan of ice cream, but spending a relaxed outing with a close unnie after a long time, she felt her spirits steadily rising.
Truth be told, Shin Haru didn't have many friends. Ever since she was little, she'd been so consumed by her studies and hero life that she'd built a wall between herself and others. Even in college, if Chaehyun Unnie had not actively approached her, she might have lived without anyone close.
Of course, she did have friends she'd made through her hero identity. Shadow Walker and Icicle, both A-rank heroes, were prime examples. However, contact with these two had become sparse.
Shadow Walker, in fact, only operated at night, making him difficult to meet as he slept during the day and was awake at night. Icicle, on the other hand, was always busy covering the southern half of the Korean Peninsula by herself. As a result, their group chat was almost always silent. Though Stardust herself was also busy because of Egotistic...
Lost in these thoughts, she walked alongside her senior.
Of course, as they walked, they attracted a lot of attention. While her senior, Kim Chaehyun, possessed a charming beauty, it was Shin Haru, with her unusually tall height for a woman and her flowing blonde hair, who truly stood out.
Anyway, after wandering around and eating their fill, Shin Haru and Kim Chaehyun slowly made their way towards the event area.
"Wow! Look, they even have Egotistic-flavored ice cream over there!"
Her senior, smiling brightly, suggested they go there.
Haru's face stiffened at the thought of encountering Egotistic again, even though she had come out to forget him, but her senior, already deep into the "Mango Faction," didn't notice.
And so, the two stood in line to buy ice cream.
Haru could only sigh and take pictures of her senior, who was happily smiling and eating.
And watching her senior, a bitter feeling welled up within her. Still, she was relieved that Chaehyun hadn't shown any signs of badmouthing Stardust to her. There were some truly malicious members of the Mango Faction who cursed Stardust... She'd searched Stardust on Google and read it herself, so the shock had been immense.
After taking photos and strolling through the remaining streets, quite a bit of time had already passed.
It had been a while since she'd spent so much time with Chaehyun Unnie, so it could be considered a quite beneficial time.
Though the unsettling feeling she got when thinking of Egotistic still lingered...
"Let's just do that last thing before we go!"
Chaehyun Unnie pointed to a game booth where you threw darts to pop balloons. They said if you hit a balloon, you'd get a special three-scoop ice cream cone.
"Sounds good."
And so, they slowly walked towards it.
The booth was designed to accommodate two customers at a time.
Another customer had already taken one side.
At first, she thought it was a family outing.
A mom, a dad, and their daughter out having fun, perhaps.
But the mom and dad had black hair, while the daughter's was white? Was it dyed?
It was her first time seeing silver hair, so curiosity got the better of her. Looking closer, the daughter seemed to be a middle schooler, but the parents looked too young. They didn't seem like a family, so what was their relationship?
As she was thinking, she felt a sense of puzzlement. Since when had she become the type to scrutinize others like that?
Was it because the silver hair was unusual...? But then again, she was the type to just glance and move on even if there was a Black man with green "Apollo" hair next to her. Yet, strangely, this "pseudo-family" caught her interest.
Especially that black-haired man. He felt strangely familiar...
Well, it's probably just my imagination.
Shaking off the stray thoughts, she decided to just watch Chaehyun Unnie throw darts.
By then, she had approached right in front of the booth and called out to the staff.
"Excuse me!"
***
Oh, damn it.
"Excuse me!"
"Yes, customer!"
"Please give me ten darts."
"Certainly!"
What in the world is happening?
Why is something like this happening to *me*, when all I wanted was to just enjoy the festival normally?
I felt my hands and feet trembling.
Cold sweat was already breaking out on my back.
My eyes suddenly wavered uncontrollably.
Looking beside me, Seo-eun and Soo-bin's expressions had also stiffened.
Everyone here knows Stardust's bare face.
Which means, they all understand how dangerous the current situation is.
I swallowed.
I didn't know why Stardust was here of all places, but I had to escape immediately.
Stardust's abilities were superhuman strength and flight.
But this superhuman strength wasn't just simple strength.
More accurately, her physical power was immense.
For now, it was simply an absurd increase in power whenever she willed it, but later, she would gradually become a transcendent being, surpassing the human body.
Her five senses would develop, allowing her to see further and hear better than others.
In other words, while the Association, which still didn't fully understand it, had named this ability "superhuman strength," it was actually more accurate to simply view Stardust as a transcendent being.
Not just her five senses, but her sixth sense would also develop.
Meaning, she would instinctively sense when something was off. Effectively, super-senses?
Of course, according to the original timeline, this was still early on. It wasn't yet at the point where she'd see me and immediately think, "That's Egotistic!" But, of course, it was enough for her to feel "something's off...."
The conclusion was: I was in big trouble.
I have to run.
But I'd already received the darts.
If I suddenly took the darts here but then ran away without playing, wouldn't that make me even more suspicious?
"Hup!"
"Oh, Unnie, you're good!"
"Of course! I'm actually pretty good!"
The woman beside me, laughing and throwing darts.
Kim Chaehyun, Haru's close unnie.
In the original story, when she wasn't in hero mode, or rather, when she lived as a civilian, she was Haru's closest senior. She was a character who was quite popular due to her very bright and adorable personality. Though, that was how things became later in the story...
"Throwing darts, throwing darts~"
Beside me, she was wildly throwing darts and popping balloons. No, she was so good that for a moment, I thought it was Shin Haru throwing them.
"Sir, aren't you going to throw?"
The attendant cautiously asked, seeing me standing there blankly.
Ah, right. I need to throw quickly.
While Haru was still focused on Chaehyun's dart-throwing, I should quickly throw mine and leave.
"Oh dear, the person next to me was just so good that I found myself staring blankly. I'll throw now."
I quickly and quietly told the attendant, then grabbed a dart and began throwing.
"Haha, Seo-Seo-eun. Look here. Watch your oppa's dart-throwing skills...!"
"U-uh, yeah. Q-quickly, throw it."
As expected, Seo-eun was trembling as she replied to me. 'I wish she'd act better, why's she stuttering...?' But then again, I was trembling too, so I guess we're both in the same boat.
I just started throwing wildly. As expected, my accuracy was terrible since I was just flinging them. Meanwhile, Shin Haru's group next to us seemed to have already finished. They arrived later than us, too...
"Wow! I hit them all!"
"Oh, Unnie, how did you do that?"
"Prize please, prize!"
Wait, she hit all ten darts in the middle of all this?
The attendant chuckled, saying that she was the first person today to hit all ten. He told them to wait a moment, then went behind the booth to get an ice cream cone. After bringing it out, he started scooping ice cream from a tub in the refrigerator onto the cone.
So that's the prize, the three-scoop ice cream cone.
Kim Chaehyun received it and giggled, holding the cone in her hand.
Perhaps because it wasn't just one scoop but three, the ice cream swayed precariously above her hand.
This, I felt, was about to lead to something terrible any second now.
Just then, I finished throwing my darts too. Hit about four balloons, I think? No prize, of course. It would have been weird if I hit more, given how much my hands were trembling. Still, this was my chance. A chance to make a quick escape.
"Oh dear, what a shame. We'll be heading off now."
Saying that, I turned my body, trying to quickly slip away. I had to get out of here fast.
I turned my body to the side, thinking such thoughts.
The problem was, at that exact moment, Kim Chaehyun was standing right next to me, holding the three-scoop ice cream cone and taking pictures.
And she, too, happened to turn around at the same time as me, resulting in our shoulders colliding, and her body tilting towards me.
Along with the ice cream cone she precariously held in her hand.
And in that instant, I saw the future.
Splat.
"Kyaaaah!"
A terrible future where that ice cream would collide with my body.
Even just getting ice cream on my clothes was awful enough, but I knew that wasn't all. The real problem was that, judging by Shin Haru's senior, who was now flustered in front of me, I was about to get entangled with Shin Haru herself.
That's why, watching the ice cream slowly topple towards me in what felt like slow motion, I truly felt like crying.
...Was God really just deliberately messing with me?
What the hell. Why are you doing this to me?