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Translated by BiasNil
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[Hello, everyone. It's the 9 o'clock news. This afternoon, there was a plane attack by a villain. Our nation's hero caught the falling plane and saved everyone. Reporter Jeon Jae-seung has more.]
[At 1 PM today, the screens of the three terrestrial channels suddenly changed.]
The TV screen that had been showing an entertainment program went black. Then, suddenly, footage from inside an airplane filled the screen. People were terrified—and Egostic's voice could be heard.
[Welcome to The Ego Show, the biggest quiz show in the sky!]
On TV, Egostic appeared on the hijacked broadcast, smiling wickedly.
[This is Egostic's third terrorist attack. After the previous two, he chose the air this time.]
And Egostic's voice came again.
[The rules are simple! There will be 10 nonsense-quiz questions—just answer them correctly! If even one of you gets a question right, quietly—and safely!—I'll let you go. But if everyone is wrong? The bomb will explode!]
Confused passengers took the quiz in fear.
[Panicked though they were, the passengers tried to solve the questions after he promised to spare them if they answered correctly—and to blow up the plane if they didn't. However—]
Egostic's playful voice returned.
[…was the wrong answer!!! That's too bad. Well then, tsk. The end. Goodbye!]
At the same moment—Bang!—with a loud crack, everything inside the plane shook.
People screamed, and the plane began to fall.
The camera changed.
The feed switched to a camera filming the sea from far away.
At first glance you might miss it, but if you look closely, you can see the plane descending at an angle.
As the plane continued to drop,
a small dot started flying toward it.
And that dot struck the plane.
Thud.
The impact was strong enough to rattle the camera.
The anchor continued.
[Then, a figure flew toward the falling plane. She is the A-class hero, Stardust. Waiting near the plane's expected crash site, she flew in alone the moment impact seemed imminent.]
[Many experts predicted she would fail, but the plane steadied and slowed as if to mock those predictions.]
In the footage, the plane's descent visibly slowed.
[The plane eventually stopped, and all passengers were rescued safely. Stardust later collapsed and was taken to a hospital; the Hero Association stated she fainted from fatigue and is not in serious condition. This has been reporter Jeon Jae-seung.]
After the report,
the screen cut back to the standing female anchor.
She spoke.
[Yes—hero. What is a hero? Justice, salvation, sacrifice, faith… What Stardust showed us this time was simply what a hero is. On behalf of our network, we would like to thank Stardust for protecting the citizens of Korea.]
The anchor bowed her head.
***
[Yeah, you can take a day off. Come down and see the sea. Just relax. Let's go for a run together like old times.]
"Okay, I'll go this time."
[Really? Promise! Promise?]
"Yeah, yeah."
The call ended.
Sitting in the chair at her desk with her phone in hand, she let out a deep sigh.
"…"
It had already been a few days since she alone stopped that plane.
She herself wondered how she'd stopped it—and how she was still alive.
Anyway, the important thing was that she saved people by stopping the plane—and she's still alive.
She clenched her right hand and released it.
Her strength had grown again.
It was different. Very different.
Seeing her unusual growth, the Association likely realized they had underestimated her power until now.
She had possessed that much potential, and no one had noticed.
In fact, that wasn't the only improvement.
When she flew to reach the plane, she had clenched her teeth and flown in desperation.
She had crossed another wall.
Somehow, her flight speed was far faster than before.
The Association explained that they must have underestimated her power so far.
But she knows her own power well.
It wasn't this strong in the past; it has clearly improved.
She wouldn't doubt it.
Indeed, her ability had become stronger.
How?
Did she face a situation her ability couldn't handle—and then it grew on its own to overcome it?
Does that make sense? How convenient.
Yet she couldn't deny it—because it had already happened.
But, actually—
she didn't care so much about how her power had grown.
What she was still thinking about right now was—
him. Egostic.
Many people who had indiscriminately followed Egostic as anti-hero fans backed off after the plane incident. Through it, people once again recognized that he is a villain officially designated by the Association.
Although there were no civilian casualties this time, many criticized him, saying countless lives would have been lost if Stardust hadn't stopped the plane.
But—
only Stardust, as the person involved, was thinking differently from the public.
A sudden contact when she stood helpless.
And he said—
Look at yourself. Stop that crashing plane.
'You have to fly up and save the plane.'
When she asked him how she could possibly stop it,
in a confident voice, he said—
'You can do it. Stop the plane from falling.'
When she asked if he was trying to kill her, he replied—
'Without you, what would life mean to me? Without you, I'm just a common villain.'
'You complete me.'
When she faltered at the sudden confession,
he spoke again, earnestly—almost pleading:
'So step up.'
'Clench your fists, tighten your legs, and fly into the sky to save people.'
'You can do it.'
''Cause that's you.'
Words she had never heard in her entire career—spoken as if he believed in her more than she did herself.
Had anyone ever believed in her like that, even once?
When she first worked as an A-class hero, she was so young. All she heard was criticism—that she couldn't resolve cases fast enough.
In the eyes of a public that didn't really trust heroes to begin with, she simply stayed quiet.
She had just kept working quietly to protect her own justice.
Yet the first person to say such things—to trust her completely—was her villain nemesis. How ironic.
And then it happened just as he said.
She still didn't understand how he could believe in her like that—but it worked.
Hitting a rock with an egg.
A suicide act.
Call it what you will—something that should have been impossible, actually happened.
As he foretold.
"Egostic…"
Alone in her home, she murmured his name softly.
He said he believed in her.
He told her to lift the plane.
But the point to note here isn't the part about believing in herself.
He told her to lift the plane.
Why?
He dropped the plane—and told her to save it?
Then why drop it in the first place?
There was something about him that didn't fit the picture of a simple psycho who kills people with his power.
That plane would have crashed if she'd done nothing.
But because he told her to save it, she did.
So why did he ask her to save it?
He wanted to stage a crazy death game where a plane crashes if people miss nonsense-quiz answers—but he doesn't want people to die?
All right. That's possible. It is—but…
her gut screamed no.
'Without you, I'm just a common—a normal—villain. You complete me.'
His words kept echoing.
Without her, he was just a common villain—so he needed her.
How does her existence keep him from being "common"?
Wouldn't any other hero do? Is it just because she's the only nearby A-class?
She didn't think so.
Her instincts kept insisting otherwise.
There had to be another reason.
Groundless, a leap of logic, absurd speculation—almost a delusion, honestly.
This time, she decided to trust her instincts.
"…I'm going to look into his tracks so far."
What has he done up to now?
How did each incident end?
If she laid out all his acts together, wouldn't a pattern emerge?
She rose from her seat and headed out.
Egostic. She suspected he was planning something—aiming for something through all this.
Not a reasonable suspicion, perhaps.
But she decided to make a guess.
So Shin Haru got dressed and went out.
Egostic. Whatever you're hiding—whatever you're planning—
I'll find out.
***
"Why do my ears tickle?"
"Oppa, isn't it because you don't clean your ears?"
"No, I don't think so."
What the heck. Is someone cursing me?