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Translator: Vine
Chapter Title: A Villain's Health Concerns
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There was advice that elders often gave.
No matter what, health comes first. Take care of your health. Your body is your greatest asset, things like that.
And every time I realize it.
The elders are never wrong.
"....."
"....."
The sky, overlooking the city streets.
The atmosphere there suddenly turned cold.
Damn it. This is why you shouldn't overexert yourself.
I really didn't expect to bleed from my mouth after teleporting this much, especially when I'd brought the car right up to them.
Is it a relief that I didn't actually cough up blood?
Anyway, the atmosphere got weird for no reason.
Stardust was looking at me with a bewildered expression.
Yeah, how flustered must she be? The villain is bleeding profusely from his mouth without even fighting yet. Anyone would think she'd already landed a few hits.
Stardust's face hardened as she watched me just floating in the air, bleeding from my mouth, doing nothing. How dumbfounded must she be for her face to harden like that? She must be thinking, 'What's wrong with this moron?' Is she thinking I bit my tongue?
But precisely at times like these, you shouldn't panic. A professional smiles and brushes off unexpected incidents as if nothing happened. I naturally wiped the blood from below my mouth as if wiping away dust, then opened my mouth again as if nothing were amiss.
"....Anyway, I was quite surprised this time, Ms. Stardust! To think you'd block the surprise terror attack I prepared to commemorate the last day of the long weekend so easily, you truly are beyond imagination. *Cough*. Excuse me for a moment."
A cough escaped me at the last moment, and I naturally covered my mouth with one hand. When I lowered my arm and subtly checked my hand, sure enough, there was blood on it.
Yeah, I knew it. If I hadn't covered it, I would have coughed up blood in front of the entire nation.
After naturally lowering my arm, I subtly moved my hand behind my back to hide it. While I was doing that, Stardust's eyes followed my hand down, then back up. What the hell, why is she looking at my hand?
Anyway, if I stay here any longer, I might keep spitting blood, and Stardust might charge at me at any moment. Let's finish this quickly.
I cleared my throat again, "Ahem," and spoke.
"Now that I've confirmed your full power... next time won't be like today. Well then, Adios!"
Having said that, I snapped my fingers and simultaneously fired a smoke bomb I had prepared in advance.
A grey smoke instantly billowed into the air, obscuring my body.
Stardust, who had been staring blankly at my hand with a hardened face until then, frantically rushed towards me, but I had already teleported away long ago.
I don't know why Stardust was so dazed, but it was an opportunity to escape, so I just escaped.
Haa, it was a tough day.
Let's go home, home.
***
The terror attack Egoistic caused on the last day of the long weekend.
This attack, which occurred approximately three months after the last one, once again became a hot topic in hero and villain-related communities.
The main discussions revolved around the newly appeared Starbreaker, and the combination of Electra and Death Knight this time, among other things.
But naturally, people also focused on the incident that happened at the very end.
*
[Is Egoistic really sick or something?]
He was just standing there and suddenly blood started streaming from his mouth
Would he really do that if his body was normal?
He didn't even do much that day, so why would that happen?
I'm worried.
=[Comments]=
[I was already worried when he kept coughing, but seeing him bleed really gave me the chills.]
[Mango needs to live a long, long time, so I was genuinely worried.]
[But honestly, it's not a big deal for villains or heroes to bleed... that's what I'm thinking.]
ㄴ[That's true, but didn't Mango just scatter bombs this time? Seeing him suddenly bleed, it seems like his body just isn't well.]
[Now that I think about it, lately he hasn't been doing terror attacks himself, his members have been doing them instead, right? Could that be why? Whoa...]
ㄴ[STOP IT!!!!!!!!!]
ㄴ[Woah, why is this speculation evolving so fast?]
[Is Egoistic terminally ill? People who cough up blood like that are usually terminally ill.]
ㄴ[Seriously, stop talking nonsense.]
ㄴ[This is a bit of a delusion, lol. Are you just cursing him then?]
ㄴ[Anyone would think he coughed up blood, lololol.]
*
[A news article even came out???]
---
Breaking News) Egoistic 'Health Concern Theory?'
A new theory regarding A-rank villain Egoistic's health has come under scrutiny. During a terror attack broadcast live nationwide around 4 PM yesterday, Egoistic was seen bleeding a streak from his mouth. Netizens are expressing concern, asking 'Is there something wrong with his health?' On this day, Egoistic, under the broadcast title "Commemorating the Last Day of the Long Weekend," was leading a terror attack with three villains from his faction when he was defeated by A-rank hero Stardust and fled.
-Yujung News Reporter Lee Gi-young (gomusin@youjung.co.kr)
---
There were quite a few comments too.
=[Comments]=
[Is the reporter gay for him?]
ㄴ[Other communities have already covered this incident quite a lot...]
ㄴ[No, it was live on all three major networks, so everyone saw it, lololol.]
ㄴ[Won't the news comments all be from older people cursing Egoistic?]
ㄴ[No. I saw comments saying "If this happens, Egoistic's themed stock will drop," and wishing Mango a speedy recovery.]
ㄴ[LOLOLOLOL, that damn stock, seriously lololol.]
***
"....."
Shin Haru stared blankly at her phone, then sighed and placed it on the sofa.
Her head was almost bursting right now.
And naturally, the reason was Egoistic.
She let the sounds from the TV in front of the sofa wash over her as she organized her tangled thoughts.
Was the man at the beach Egoistic?
She found it hard to be certain now.
Thinking it over carefully after returning home, there was actually no evidence. It was just a feeling... no basis, but she just felt like he was Egoistic. In fact, after that feeling disappeared once she was home, she realized it was just her imagination.
And most importantly, when she was talking to him, Egoistic was already causing a terror attack somewhere else. In fact, this alone proves that he wasn't Egoistic.
Her baseless imagination versus clear, actual alibi.
As a hero, an individual on the nation's payroll.
What she should believe was clear.
'...Right, I must have been mistaken.'
Her intuition had never been right in the first place.
She almost felt sorry for having questioned an innocent man like that.
...Of course, a certain lingering uneasiness remained, but in a situation where there was clear evidence to the contrary, pursuing it based solely on her imagination was something she, as a hero, couldn't do.
Moreover, investigating Dain separately would be surveillance of a civilian by a high-ranking public official, which wasn't allowed.
In fact, there was something else that bothered her more.
It was Egoistic, who was causing the terror attack, suddenly bleeding from his mouth.
Initially, just a single streak of blood from his mouth made her heart sink for some reason. She didn't quite know why.
Furthermore, though no one else seemed to notice.
When he coughed at the end, it looked like there was blood on his hand, if only for a glimpse.
It could have been her imagination, but still.
...Why was that?
Did he overexert himself, somehow?
"...Why am I even thinking about this?"
Shin Haru, who had been so distressed, suddenly hardened her expression.
....Here it goes again.
Snap out of it, Shin Haru. No. Stardust.
He's a villain, and you're a hero.
'For a scumbag villain, he's done some good deeds.'
She ignored the rebuttal that popped into her head.
Doing good deeds doesn't justify doing bad ones.
Instead of trying to capture and defeat a villain who's actively causing terror, who's worrying about whom?
Worrying about a villain who was just causing terror moments ago?
'....Right. Whatever happens to a villain, it's not my business.'
As she sat quietly, suddenly steeling her resolve, a voice from the TV reached her ears.
[....So, that terrorist Egoistic brought his cronies and committed yet another wicked criminal act. What is the nation doing? What is the Association doing? Instead of throwing such trash into prison as soon as possible!...]
[Now, now. You're too agitated. Please calm down.]
[How can I calm down now?! Just thinking about that psychopath running rampant with bombs in the city makes me afraid to walk the streets! That trash should be immediately...]
Shin Haru picked up the remote and simply turned off the TV.
...He is a villain, but he's not trash.
And that woman, she looked like someone I saw on YouTube before.
"Ugh...."
Egoistic is a villain, so there's no need to worry about him.
Whether Egoistic is sick or not, it's not important to me.
Egoistic is sick.
Why is he sick?
"....."
In that moment, the image of Egoistic bleeding from his mouth yesterday, and Egoistic bleeding from being attacked by a monster in her place a while ago, overlapped, and her heart sank.
She shook her head again. What's wrong with me? Stop thinking about it. Stop thinking about Egoistic.
...And when she stopped thinking about Egoistic, her thoughts turned to Dain again.
He, who had laughed and talked with her on the beach. For her, it was a rare instance of enjoying conversation with someone she had just met.
She had decided that he wasn't Egoistic, but...
No, but they really were similar.
"...Argh! Seriously!"
Realizing that she was just going in circles, like a hamster on a wheel, Shin Haru ended up hitting the cushion next to her for no reason.
...This is really going to drive me crazy. My thoughts are just a disorganized stream of consciousness, and it all comes back to Egoistic. I already have so much to worry about with the Moonlight Cult and other villains, but these thoughts just keep coming.
Right.
Now that I think about it, whenever my head was this complicated, I always consulted Seol-ah.
After that, things usually cleared up somewhat.
"...Should I call Seol-ah?"
Having reached that conclusion, Haru picked up her phone and called Seol-ah.
"...She's not answering."
...Actually, I was also curious why she didn't come when Egoistic caused the terror attack yesterday. And I wanted to ask her about Dain too.
Is she busy right now?
***
-Ring ring.
"Ms. Seol-ah."
"Yes..."
"Did you do well? Or did you do wrong?"
"...I did wrong."
***
She must be busy with work, I guess.
I'll call her again later.
Shin Haru simply thought that.