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Translator: Vine
Chapter Title: The Recruitment
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A rapidly changing political landscape, a gathering storm.
That's how the world, excluding South Korea, could be summarized at present.
Of course, Korea is still relatively safe compared to overseas, but that's only because I've been continuously holding things back from behind the scenes. If I were to step away, it would quickly devolve into chaos again. Though Stardust has grown stronger than in the original, so perhaps it wouldn't be quite as bad, but still.
In any case, the conclusion is that military strength will be crucial going forward.
Of course, our Ego Stream is strong even now. It is strong, but... if you really think about it, the only ones with substantial combat power are Electra, the Moonlight Priestess, and Death Knight. And since Deathy isn't even human, that leaves just two.
So, we need more strong individuals.
In other words, we need to keep recruiting new villains.
Especially as time goes on, proving how chaotic the world is becoming, more and more superpowered individuals will emerge. I'm even thinking of gathering them under a different identity and managing them myself. But that's not important right now.
For now, it's time to recruit a new villain.
Among the many villains out there, I narrowed it down to two.
One brown-haired man, and one purple-haired woman.
And when I asked Hayul's younger sibling who they liked better, they chose the woman next to her, so the final decision was made to recruit her.
"Heukryeong..."
A villain known in the original story by the neat name, Heukryeong.
One of the rather famous villains, with purple hair, purple eyes, and always wearing a black hoodie.
She was quite a popular villain, proudly showing her face despite any perception-hindering abilities, leading to 'Villain_Beauty_Nowadays.jpg' memes circulating. Her unique half-closed eyes and dreamy aura already made her popular among readers. In the grim original story, the atmosphere would lighten whenever she, with her quirky and cheerful personality, appeared. She also carried out attacks that, like mine, never resulted in casualties.
In the original story, she appeared at night, conjuring purple will-o'-the-wisps in the air. As seen from her nocturnal attacks, she was the third, after the Haneun Group and the Moonlight Cult, to effectively counter Shadow Walker's abilities. It was from this point that the reputation of 'Night is dominated by Shadow Walker' began to crumble.
Anyway, her ability itself is quite overpowered, making her one of the top recruitment priorities. Her main ability is will-o'-the-wisps, and like the saying that the less described an ability is, the stronger it is, her ability has infinite applications. She has the power to summon purple flames, which is quite a cheat.
".....So, the problem is how to go about recruiting her."
Right. That's the biggest issue.
How do I entice her to join our ranks?
"Oppa, are you trying to flirt with another girl again?"
...The word 'entice' made me flinch for a moment, recalling what Seoeun said to me this morning, but I quickly regained my composure.
That's not what's important. For now, I calmly reviewed how I had recruited our Ego Stream members so far.
Seoeun. I succeeded in recruiting her with the offer to crush the Haneun Group. Incidentally, she was the one who took the longest. It was almost like making three visits to a thatched cottage to persuade her. It wasn't easy to break through the barriers in Seoeun's heart. Now, well, we're the closest.
Hayul. Hayul... the original recruitment plan went awry, so it was almost like kidnapping her, but honestly, it was luck. How was I supposed to know Hayul's younger sibling would like me so much? Seeing the siblings study so diligently is heartwarming.
Choi Sehee. Sehee was recruited simply by giving her the freedom to use her electrical powers. Even now, she finds joy in blasting electricity everywhere to clear the trees on the back mountain. Imagine how stifled she must have felt trying to hold back before.
Deathy was simply bought at an auction, and Eunwol was successfully recruited by freeing her from the Moonlight Cult Leader's curse.
And now, this purple-haired woman, the flame ability user, Zayoung. The character who was called Heukryeong in the original.
Her personality, in a word, is eccentric.
You can tell she's unusual just by the fact that she loves being at home the most, stays cooped up, and then causes terror attacks because she's bored.
So, what was my conclusion after researching how to entice this woman?
'...Can't I just ask her to join Ego Stream?'
Right. That was it.
No, she was a character who caused terror attacks out of boredom in the original anyway. So, couldn't I just plainly suggest that she join us in our attacks to alleviate her boredom?
She's probably bored enough by now.
So, it's about time to go 'harvest' her.
"...Shall I go?"
With that brief thought, I teleported.
No way, this can't possibly fail, right?
***
"I'm bored."
That was Zayoung's conclusion.
She lay sprawled out on the warm floor, wearing only a black hoodie, with just a blanket spread beneath her.
With her back so warm, she felt a bit hot, so she was committing the eccentric act of turning on the air conditioner.
Warm below, cool above.
In any case, in that peculiar state, she mumbled while staring at the ceiling with her characteristic vacant purple eyes.
"So bored..."
Indeed.
She was bored. Very much so.
In truth, just lying around at home is fun at first, but it's natural to get bored as the days go by.
Furthermore, since she didn't even bother with common things like the internet or games on her smartphone, her only pleasure was turning on the TV and idly staring at the ceiling.
Of course, she wasn't just staring at the ceiling.
"...Hmm."
In the middle of the living room.
There, she summoned purple flames into the air.
Heatless flames floated in the air like will-o'-the-wisps.
She created several of them, making them roll like a circle, then yawned and mumbled.
"Maybe I should clean... Oh, I've already finished cleaning."
Since she only stayed home and had no hobbies, cleaning was what she ended up doing. Cleaning is fun, right?
The marble floor in her house was already shining as if it had been polished to a brilliant gleam. Perhaps because she'd cleaned it so much.
And of course, while she often skipped meals and didn't eat much in a day, when she did cook, it was almost an art form.
"I'm bored."
And she mumbled 'I'm bored' again, almost unconsciously.
Soon, struggling a bit, she pulled her arms out from the oversized sleeves of her hoodie (which was a size too big), then used the remote to access YouTube on the TV.
She had entered the site planning to just play any recommended video that popped up on the main page, letting it run like white noise in the background.
What caught her eye on the main page was a video titled 'Ego Stream: Second Half Terror Highlights Compilation'.
"Hmm...?"
Terror, huh.
Intrigued, she operated the remote and played the video.
Soon, the Ego Stream villains appeared, flying through the sky and confronting heroes.
"....Looks fun."
For once, she turned her head and watched the video with vacant eyes, then offered that short remark.
Terror. Terror, indeed.
"Hmm..."
That was what she had been thinking about recently.
What if she tried a terror attack?
Since she was extremely bothered by the idea of going outside and moving her body, she actually had a conviction: if she were to make the effort to go out and exert herself, she had to make it worth her while, to get her 'money's worth' out of the trouble.
And if she were to do something like a terror attack, it seemed like it would be fun enough to justify the effort of going outside and moving her body.
"...But it's troublesome."
But that's only if she actually goes out.
For now, because it was troublesome, she had no intention of leaving.
Unless she got *really*, *really* bored and decided to go out. But for now, home was best. All her cooking ingredients were delivered, so why bother going outside?
The only problem was that the intensity of her boredom had been increasing lately. To the point where she was starting to feel like she wanted to go out and move her body.
"Right. Maybe I should try a terror attack..."
So, she had been pondering this lately.
She didn't know what logical circuits in her brain led to the conclusion that she should commit terror attacks because she was bored, but she was always someone who lived by her whims.
It seemed like it would be easy using her purple flames.
"But I'm bored right now..."
Even if she planned it for later.
What about the boredom right now?
She thought this, idly letting the sounds from the TV wash over her.
I wonder if anything interesting will happen.
And as she spent her days thinking such thoughts, something truly did happen to her.
"Hello. I am Egostic."
"...Didn't expect this."
She mumbled with vacant eyes, looking at the man standing before her.
A black hat, black clothes, a black cape, a gray mask. When you think about it, he's kind of interesting.
She was mixing chocolate powder into a cup of milk when she paused, staring blankly at the intruder who had suddenly appeared in her home...
"Want to drink this?"
She abruptly held out the cup and offered.
Just because. She suddenly wondered if villains also drank chocolate milk.
***
Zayoung.
Since she had already displayed all sorts of eccentricities in the original story, I steeled myself before meeting her.
And when I actually met her.
Just as described in the original: purple hair, purple eyes, and eyes half-closed, appearing vacant.
The moment I brazenly rang her doorbell and barged into her house, I saw her—a woman with a uniquely mysterious aura.
She looked at me and held out a cup.
"Drink it."
And just like that, I found myself inexplicably accepting chocolate milk.
...This is dizzying right from the start.
But she was watching me with such intense interest through her half-closed eyes that I had no choice but to drink it. Mmm, it's sweet.
"How is it?"
"It's sweet."
...What kind of conversation am I even having?
I had expected it, but the turn of events still surpassed my imagination, leaving me slightly flustered. I quickly regained my composure and reminded myself of my purpose here.
Right. Recruitment. I need to recruit her.
"Ms. Zayoung. Aren't you perhaps bored these days?"
"Hmm? I am bored, aren't I?"
"In that case..."
I then diligently spent ten minutes pitching my Ego Stream recruitment offer.
After listening to my words, she placed a finger on her lips, pondered briefly, then.
"No."
She simply replied.
...Hmm, not easy.