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Translator: Vine
Chapter Title: The Demon's Castle
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Hero.
A hero is a being who protects citizens and upholds justice in society.
Shin Haru believed that the powerful abilities they possessed, unlike others, were given solely to protect people and eradicate evil.
Therefore, heroes must be fair to themselves and stricter with evil than anyone else. Even if everyone else found villains appealing, heroes alone had the duty to judge and punish them with an impartial standard.
To a hero, a villain was merely an entity to be dealt with.
Therefore.
Her current thoughts were wrong.
"....."
Egoistic.
Shin Haru was thinking about him today, just like any other day.
Was Egoistic a bad guy?
If asked, she could answer yes.
From the numerous terror attacks he orchestrated, holding hundreds of lives in the balance, to his arbitrary killings of villains who hadn't even stood trial, and even forming a team of other villains.
He was indeed a bad guy, yes, but...
"Haa..."
...Why didn't he *feel* like a bad guy? Was it okay for her, a hero, to harbor such thoughts about a specific villain?
Of course, there was a reason for her confusion. While Egoistic was a bad guy, he hadn't *only* done bad things. In fact, if you looked closely, Egoistic hadn't killed any civilians yet, and considering his actions regarding Behemoth, Han-eun Group, and the Moonlight Cult, couldn't it be argued that he'd actually saved more people...?
"No, what am I thinking again..."
Shin Haru muttered, pressing a hand to her forehead.
Right, let's stop thinking about it. My head's been messed up lately because Egoistic keeps appearing in my dreams.
Egoistic was a villain. A villain she had to capture.
That was all.
And besides,
'...He might even become hostile towards me now.'
Shin Haru thought to herself with a bitter smile.
...Wasn't that true? She'd called Egoistic her arch-nemesis, then nearly killed him without recognizing him.
Of course, Egoistic had started it by suddenly deceiving and terrorizing her... but seeing him lying there, covered in blood, none of that seemed to matter.
Shin Haru. She had wanted to capture Egoistic, not half-kill him.
"...."
The next time they met, even if Egoistic was more hostile towards her than before, she would endure it. It was only natural for a villain to be hostile towards a hero. Rather, it was Egoistic who was strange for supporting her, his enemy, by calling her 'his hero,' taking a knife for her, and stepping up when she was in trouble.
However.
The thought of him looking at her with an expression of contempt...
Somehow, it hurt her heart.
Unbeknownst to herself, she thought this with a bitter feeling.
Right. No more thinking about Egoistic. I'm a hero. Protecting South Korea from other villains. That's all I need to focus on.
"Stardus. Here are the additional investigation results regarding the Moonlight Cult, who caused the terror attack last time."
"...Ah, yes. Understood. I'll check them."
Right, let's just focus on work, work.
She steeled her resolve.
[Breaking News: Korea International Trade Center occupied by villain... transforms into a demon castle-like appearance.]
Finally, another terror attack arrived.
A rather big one.
***
Korea Hero Association.
They were used to frequent terror attacks, to the point where they wouldn't even bat an eye at most villains. But at this moment, the place was utter chaos.
"Damn it! Have all the people evacuated?"
"Yes! Since the invasion happened gradually throughout the dawn, it appears there weren't many civilians at the terror site to begin with."
"Phew, that's a relief at least... What on earth is going on?"
Early in the morning.
The Association President, who had rushed to work at the sudden news that broke during dawn, sighed deeply and wiped his sweat. As if he didn't have enough hair to lose already, he felt like even the little he had left would fall out.
After finally settling into his seat at the control center, he suddenly seemed to remember something, and asked a nearby staff member with a glimmer of hope.
"But tell me... Could Egoistic have caused this terror attack?"
"Investigation results already indicate it appears to be the sole act of a villain calling himself 'Demons,' and there seems to be no connection to Ego Stream."
"Ugh, damn it. Of course my life wouldn't go that smoothly. We're screwed, what are we going to do about this?"
The Association President muttered, sighing.
And as he received the report, looking ten years older, Stardus finally arrived.
"...."
Stardus wasn't in a good mood, having dreamed again last night of Lee Seol-ah hugging Egoistic and laughing heartily.
After greeting the Association President and taking her seat, Shadow Walker, who had been called in at dawn and was catching some sleep in the association's break room, also arrived, swaying as if he'd just woken up.
Once all the heroes operating in Seoul had arrived, the briefing began.
There, a professional-looking staff member with glasses, in charge of the explanation, began to speak in a calm voice, pointing at a large screen.
"First, the villain who identified himself as Demons is presumed to be in his 20s or 30s, and male. While not clearly visible when we restored the remaining video records, it appears to be a thoroughly planned operation."
As he spoke, he displayed the phrase 'Demons' Castle,' which the villain had scrawled onto a stone in front of the building with some black, viscous substance.
"As indicated by what he's commonly called the Demon's Castle, the entire above-ground structure of the Korea International Trade Center, and even its underground facilities, have been completely encroached upon by the black liquid he generated. Furthermore, the building appears like a demon's castle, as if created by an illusion."
After he finished speaking, the screen changed again.
It showed a long, wide building consumed by something dark. And on top of it, the shape of a castle with sharp, black spires drawn from darkness.
Standing incongruously among the gleaming skyscrapers, the pitch-black medieval castle was truly a bizarre and spine-chilling sight.
And as everyone's faces hardened at the sight, the staff member continued his explanation with a stern expression.
"Currently, this black, viscous substance is present throughout the building's interior and all underground facilities. However, it doesn't appear to be harmful upon contact with the human body... The problem, according to our exploration team's findings, is that monsters are being born from that black liquid."
And then the screen changed again, showing a video.
It captured the scene in the underground beneath the Demon's Castle.
Black tentacles spread across the floor, and the empty space had a dark atmosphere. And in one corner of the darkness, bizarrely shaped creatures were emerging one by one from the black liquid, forming and taking shape.
As everyone grasped the gravity of the situation at the strange sight, the Association staff member's explanation continued.
Although the above-ground floors of the Korea International Trade Center presented a menacing appearance like a demon's castle, in reality, it was an illusion. The true threat lay in the underground, which stretched out like a winding ant farm.
It seemed that countless monsters were being cultivated in that vast, complex, and intricately intertwined underground, and the perpetrator behind it appeared to be the villain known as Demons.
Therefore, if only that villain was dealt with, all problems would likely be resolved. That was the Association's conclusion.
"Tsk... Tsk. To think this happened right in the middle of Seoul, so we can't even fire missiles, and it's underground... This is troublesome."
The Association President muttered, clicking his tongue, and the agent nodded in response, explaining.
"Yes. It seems the most suitable method to resolve this incident currently is to eliminate the villain causing all of it... It's certain that he's somewhere underground, but we'll have to find his exact location ourselves. And..."
He continued, sounding troubled.
"According to our investigation conducted during the dawn before sunrise, it appears that this villain's black substance interferes with Mr. Shadow Walker's abilities."
"In other words, I'm useless again. Hahaha..."
He muttered self-deprecatingly with a haggard face, then swayed with eyes full of dark circles, before slumping back against the chair and lowering his head.
Shadow Walker, once known as the Night Emperor, suffered his third consecutive defeat.
Leaving him to his despair, there was ultimately only one hero who could resolve this situation.
"Stardus."
"Understood."
Stardus, Shin Haru, nodded briefly.
Naturally. It was her turn to step forward.
Thus, the detailed schedule was coordinated.
Demons was immediately declared an S-class villain, and the area around the transformed Trade Center, now the Demon's Castle, was completely restricted to civilians.
Hours later, on the desolate, empty street devoid of people.
Shin Haru arrived there and quietly stepped forward.
Her goal was to eliminate the monsters proliferating in the Demon's Castle's underground as she encountered them, and to take down the villain known as Demons, who was presumed to be in the deepest level.
Taking a deep breath, she slowly made her way into the dark place.
To that place where only she, the monsters, and the villain Demons would be.
***
Meanwhile, at Ego Stream headquarters, the Main House.
"Catch him!!!"
"Oppa, stay still!"
"....I'm sorry, Dain Oppa."
"Wait, wait! Just listen to me. And Eunwol? How about we stop drawing that magic circle for a moment and resolve this through discussion?"
Immediately after I revealed my intention to enter the Demon's Castle's underground, our Ego Stream headquarters became a little boisterous.
...Save me.