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Translator: Vine
Chapter Title: The Hunt for the Weapon Master
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In the original story, the final boss of Phase 2 was the Moonlight Cult.
Their power was truly overwhelming, boasting an unprecedented scale and marking the first time a Korean villain group launched attacks against the entire world.
It was also the period when South Korea, which had previously received little attention in the world of ability users, gained significant recognition, and it served as the catalyst for the emergence of disaster-level villains, each a force of nature.
But does that mean all villains before the Moonlight Cult were weak? Not at all.
Some individuals possessed abilities but hadn't yet fallen into villainy, while others were merely preparing for terror attacks without executing them...
And today, I came to find the guy who causes a large-scale terror attack in the early part of Phase 3.
"Oppa. Is this the right place?"
"Whoa, there's a place like this. That's wild."
Eunwol and Choi Se-hee followed behind me, one on each side.
Together with them, I was walking down a suspicious underground corridor beneath a residential house.
"Yeah... this is the guy we're targeting today. We're here."
I told them.
We had teleported directly to the hideout of the future S-rank villain, the Weapon Master.
A madman who calmly commits horrific acts like weapon development, kidnapping people, and then modifying them. For reference, he contributes significantly to making New Seoul, already in chaos due to monsters, even more of a mess.
In other words, we need to kill him now, while he's still just making weapons, before he can do any of that.
With that in mind, I left Desik to guard the house and brought Eunwol and Choi Se-hee with me. Now, standing before the guy's hideout, I pulled out my phone.
"Alright, before we go in properly. Let's start the broadcast first."
"Okay, Oppa."
"So you're going to explain, right? Good, hurry up."
After their words, I levitated my phone with telekinesis and started the broadcast.
I figured, why bother bringing a dedicated camera for something like this? A phone camera would be fine. It's just going up on YouTube anyway.
Anyway, after briefly tidying my clothes, as soon as I started the broadcast, only a few '?'s popped up for a moment, then chat messages began flooding in instantly.
Every time I see it, I wonder how so many people can flood in the moment I start streaming. Do they have notifications on or something?
"Hello, everyone. This is Egotistic!"
I grinned and greeted them.
Besides, it wasn't an official broadcast anyway, so I just waved casually. A quick flick of the wrist, like greeting a friend.
Yet, the chat messages were still pouring in at a rapid pace, like it was a terror broadcast.
But for some reason, the chat window was on fire.
*
[Why is the stream quality so bad this time lolol]
[Is he filming with a phone cam? Feels like an outdoor stream lolol]
[What's with a new stream only 2 weeks after causing a terror attack!!!!]
[I see Moonlight Priestess and Electra in the back, is this a new terror attack?]
[Forget all that, are you really dating Mist? That's what I'm most curious about, answer quickly, I'm getting dizzy]
[So are you dating Mist? So are you dating Mist? So are you dating Mist? So are you dating Mist? So are you dating Mist? So are you dating Mist?]
[Egotistic, explain yourself 🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥]
[Seriously, explain yourself for toying with your viewers' hearts!!!🔥]
[Mango Oppa, that's not true, right? Mango Oppa, that's not true, right?]
[🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥]
[Why are these guys so fired up lolololo]
[Explain yourself 🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥]
[Let's just get fired up first 🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥🔥]
[A villain's dating scandal setting the chat on fire... this is precious.]
*
Well, this was already the expected outcome.
For the past two weeks, they've been talking about me on variety shows whenever they had nothing else to do, so this isn't surprising.
...Though it seems to be even more fired up than I expected, which only made me grin wider, feigning ignorance, as I opened my mouth.
"Oh, right. I've been hearing some rumors lately. Like how I'm supposedly in a romantic relationship with Mist, our new Egotream member."
The chat window responded with 'oooo's, confirming my words.
To them, I declared.
"I don't know why you all are so interested in who I date or what I do, but unfortunately, Mist and I are nothing more than colleagues! All Egotream members are just my comrades, so I hope there's no misunderstanding. Mist just played a prank at the end of the last terror attack because she was curious about your reactions."
[Seriously?]
[Not lying?]
"And really, if it were true, why would I bother denying it? I'd just admit it cleanly."
"That's right. Ego Oppa and Unnie aren't like that."
My words, delivered with a chuckle, and Eunwol's assist from beside me, made the chat window suddenly calm down rapidly.
*
[Hmm... really?]
[Well, just this once? I'll believe you.]
[I believed in Ego Oppa from the start ^^]
[No Mango Squad members doubted our Mangostick, right?]
[Aw, what, I thought they were dating.]
[Mist, the prankster ㄷ]
[Now that he says no, it's kinda... disap?pointing lolol]
[Damn, I knew it!~~]
[The Ice Mango ship is still alive!!]
[Why are these bastards calming down so fast lolol]
[No way, the chat just became docile like it was hypnotized lolol]
[This is probably going to be in the news again lolol]
[F*ck, why are we asking a villain who's streaming to explain his dating rumors, and why is he actually explaining it lolololo]
*
Everyone changes their tune so quickly.
Anyway, having achieved my initial objective, I naturally changed the topic and spoke.
"Anyway... well, that's enough about that. The reason I started this broadcast is none other than to announce something."
With those words, I re-aimed my phone to show the corridor ahead.
Meanwhile, curious reactions like '[Where is this?]' popped up in the chat.
After switching the camera back to show my face, I spoke to the curious viewers, telling them what I was about to do.
"At this hour today, I'm going to hunt another villain who won't listen to me. It's been years since I last caught the Teleporter, so this is the first time in a while."
*
[Oh???]
[Villain hunt??]
[Does this mean Egotistic's fundamental villain-hunting content, which new viewers don't know about, is back??]
[Wow, why are streams so packed lately!!!!]
[I can't, I have to watch this with popcorn.]
[Everything's good but please do something about the quality, what's with the phone cam]
[This is awesome lolol]
*
While the viewers were brimming with anticipation for what kind of broadcast would follow.
I then informed them of the cold reality.
"Yes! So, well, you'll probably see the results on tonight's news. Now that I've made the announcement, this is where my broadcast ends today. Thank you!"
*
[?]
[???]
[Wait, ending the stream here, what's going on?]
[After making us all excited, how could you do this!!!!!]
[No, come back, come back, come back]
[This isn't reality!!!!]
[I'm sorry, it's okay if the quality is bad, I won't complain, please]
[? I just finished popping all the popcorn, and you're??? ending??? No!!!]
*
It's happening.
After waving my hand like that, I turned off the broadcast.
It could get subtly dangerous here, so keeping the broadcast on is too much of a risk.
"I feel kind of bad for the people..."
Only Eunwol, with her kind heart, said that.
"Alright, that's done. Let's get going again."
"Yawn... is it over? Okay, let's go."
With the broadcast over, Choi Se-hee, who had been leaning against the wall and yawning, stretched her arms and pushed herself up.
After confirming Eunwol was also ready, we walked down the corridor.
"Whoa... this place is wild."
As soon as we walked a little, warehouse-like rooms immediately popped up.
Inside, all sorts of guns were piled up. From common military firearms to some kind of white-plated space gun.
And on a blue screen hanging on the wall, there was some kind of weapon blueprint displayed in front of it. Piled high nearby were various types of bombs.
We continued walking through this place, where all sorts of weapons were laid out in rows.
As we delved deeper into the underground, Choi Se-hee, who had initially followed, looking around curiously, began to stiffen her expression.
"...Whoa, this place. Why are there so many weapons? It's creepy."
"I told you, this is a weapon specialist's hideout."
"Whoa, insane. Is something that big a bomb?"
And the deeper we went, the more all sorts of perverse weapons started to appear.
Finding a blood-stained mace on the floor was pure horror. Eunwol had already been clutching my arm tightly for a while, terrified. ...Eunwol, you're much stronger than dozens of maces.
"Ugh, it's kind of eerie."
"Maybe it's because it's underground. Why do all villains make their hideouts underground?"
The Haneun Group, this place too. They've all dug something underground like ant tunnels. And one of the villains who will appear later also built his hideout underground like this.
...As I was thinking that, I remembered that our Ego-Base was also originally underground, so I decided to keep quiet. Hmm, well. Underground can be warm and nice.
After passing through that eerie path, we suddenly came to a fork in the road.
Standing there, I spoke to Choi Se-hee and Eunwol.
"You two go that way. I'll go this way."
"Huh? You alone?"
"No, Dain Oppa. It's too dangerous!"
Persuading the two who looked at me with concern, I finally managed to split up.
They hesitated, looking at me until the very end, but still.
Walking alone down the gloomy corridor, I thought to myself.
...Alright, you bastard. It's just me now. What are you going to do?
As I thought that, I glanced at a hidden black CCTV camera.
He's probably watching, so he should make a decision before it's too late, right?
With that thought, I prepared to unleash the black tentacles hidden inside my clothes at any moment.
...My Behemoth, it's been a while since I've used it.