Honestly, even from before.
Shin Haru was suspicious of Egostic.
Yeah, after the plane attack, to be exact.
His phone call to her was the decisive trigger.
He believes in her.
He said she could stop the plane.
What villain would say that to a hero?
Can she call him a villain?
It has been since then.
Stardus personally investigated on Egostic.
He caused three attacks in total.
A ship, a train, an airplane.
Zero casualties in all.
Perhap, this was also a coincidence.
As the so-called Stardust Union, which supports Stardus herself, claimed that Egostic was intended to kill, but Stardus blocked it all. That's why there were no casualties, they said.
But what others don't know, she knows.
Egostic caused the plane terrorist attack last time, no one was killed or injured.
In fact, when the plane crashed and broke down, he contacted her to save it.
In other words, this made her wonder.
Even the previous terrorist attacks, maybe Egostic had something set up?
In fact, isn't all terrorism designed to prevent deaths?
Then the question that comes up here is this.
Let's assume. If it wasn't for the purpose of causing casualties or demanding money and valuables.
Why did he do that?
Why did he plan the attack?
The most common answer is…
Because he's an attention seeker. Because he's crazy. He’s out of his mind
Yeah, that's the most common answer.
But she wondered.
Is that the only reason?
Of course, she doesn’t really deny that… he’s a little crazy.
But her intuition.
Her intuition is whispering to her.
There is more to it.
She doesn’t think that's simply the whole reason.
So she looked into it.
Things that have changed since the attacks.
She read newspapers, the National Statistical Office, and articles…
That's how she figured it out.
Explosive inspections have been checked in the vehicles. Cyber security of various companies, including the government and broadcasting companies has been improved.
And the crime rate of villains has decreased. From the beginning, Egostic himself dealt with three villains. Because villains won’t be active when other villains are active, the rate of terrorism has decreased during Egostic period.
But these are too far fetched to say, "Did Egostic intend them?" As it is comfortable, they cannot escape criticism that it is fitting in favor of Egostic.
In fact, Mangodan, Egostic's fan club, justified his terror with a similar logic as above.
In fact, there is one thing she feels the most out of all the changes caused by the Egostic.
She’s gained much more power. She’s gotten a lot stronger.
"….."
Press.
She clenched her fist.
Blocking the train, and stopping the plane.
Through these two things, her power grew unrecognisably stronger. The association has already considered promotion to S-class.
Of course, the promotion is very tricky. It is judged by the International Hero Association Association, not the Hero Association of Korea, so it’s not easy getting promoted. And there’s no one ever gone from class A to class S before.
So it’s a great thing to talk about.
Her strength, she grew stronger than ever before.
More than anyone else.
And who should she attribute this to?
That Egostic guy?
"…Gosh, what am I even saying?"
That's not true.
Just luckily, things worked out so well that it happened.
Is Egostic the one who knew that Stardus was becoming more capable in a crisis and started terrorizing her to build up her strength?
"Man… What kind of delusion is that?
She just laughed it off as she thought it was a ridiculous thought.
[Yes, Ms.Stardus. You've done a good job. In a way I never imagined. I didn't expect to save everyone in that way. It's your victory.]
[So come forward. Clench your fists. Strain your legs, and fly into the sky to save people. You can do it. Because it's you.]
"…."
It’s ridiculous.
Even though she doesn't know what he knows and believes that she can grow her ability.
When she thinks back to what he said before, she feels uneasy.
‘I'm sure it was some villain’s saying… It's even his own terrorism.'
How come what he said cannot get out of her head.
She flung her head over her thoughts.
It's just delusions of grandeur.
And Egostic, this guy wasn't just a terrorist in the first place.
He shot three villains dead. Including his followers who caused the attacks, he killed quite a few.
Removing villains without hesitation. Private sanctions. They see him as an anti-hero because he’s good at talking, killing people without proper laws is just murder.
But…
She turned her eyes away from the screen and looked at the laptop.
What she was looking at, the data she had obtained security clearance from the president of the association.
Although it is said to be confidential that only the top security personnel and only the president of the association can see it, it is a file that has been ripped from the president of the association. Secrets that have barely been approved, insisting on the right to know, emphasizing that they are A-class heroes.
When she asked why he didn't tell the heroes and shared it only within the association, she only received a ridiculous answer that he couldn't help it because of security.
‘Tsk… He thought of us as hounds or something.’
Anyway, this material succeeded in exploiting.
This is a summary of the villains of Class S to B.
Materials that say "class 1 classified" on the site.
She searched there for villains that Egostic has dealt with so far.
***
His real name is Jeon Jaehyuk.
An S-class villain.
Sorcerer.
After killing eight people, he was caught trying to conjure them up as a sacrifice.
The danger is that his limits of magic are unknown.
Class 2 Confidential Information: The earthquake on 20.03.24 was caused by him, but it was declared a natural disaster after [devastating] records.
*As long as there is enough sacrifice, it can cause any disaster, so it is designated as S-class. Heroes from the International Hero Association are also being searched. Don't say anything to domestic heroes except /immediate shootings /command.
Processed by A-class Villain Egostic.
***
In addition, she learned one thing from other villains that Egostic shot, including Rhino and Teleporter.
The villains he actively killed had something in common that even those who have not caused any problems so far had the ability to cause "large-scale disasters" someday.
FYI, she planned to look at how Egostic was recorded in that data, but she couldn't because there was [class O classified information] that no one could see except for the president of the association or the Council of the International Association. The only answer to the president of the association is that he doesn’t know because it is designated by the League of Nations above him.
Something was off, but she fell for it.
The important thing is the Egostic. From the way he behaves.
‘It's hard to call him a villain…’
They are villains when it comes to committing massive terrorism.
But there was a lot of ambiguity in his moves. There were many strange things, such as killing followers and stopping Crocodile Man, not to mention suspicious terrorism that never resulted in casualties.
And that's what this Apple Mango thing is all about, adding confidence to her suspicions.
"…."
Apple Mango.
As a matter of fact, she noticed that he was Egostic as soon as she saw him.
How can she not recognize when his voice, height, and behavior are the same?
Of course, she's the only one who's seen Egostic in person, so the other two don't seem to have noticed it.
He even called himself Apple Mango in the first place… He didn't seem to be trying to hide his identity.
But the important thing was.
Why was he there?
The previous incident was intended in the first place.
The plan was to deliberately leak information to the media that Shadow Walker has collapsed after they heard information that there would be a massive air strike in Busan.
It was planned to suppress terrorism safely with Shadow Walker who is good at interpersonal warfare as there are probably many hostages.
Apple Mango is already… Well, Egostic took care of the common soldiers, so there was no particular opportunity to step up.
Egostic had left his seat talking nonsense to the end.
Should she have attacked and caught him on the spot?
"…."
Okay.
She had no choice but to admit it.
Her suspicions about Egostic became a kind of certainty.
Why did a villain save people from the spot?
He's a madman himself, but if she follows everything he's done so far… As netizens say, he is also seen as a hero pretending to be a villain.
Then, he should be a hero or an anti-hero. Why did he cause terrorism?
Is he painting a big picture that everyone including her doesn’t really know?
In fact, he's just doing what he's up to, and maybe she's doing an enlarged interpretation.
But
Highly developed intuition, in itself, is a rational inference.
She's been suspicious.
With this Apple Mango incident, the suspicion is almost certain.
Egostic is not just a villain.
Never a hero, but nevertheless.
It's ambiguous to say that he's an enemy, and he's not an ally, but he's helping them as a result.
She suspects this guy is making a big deal out of something.
Stardus had no choice but to.
She didn't sleep well that day.
‘What the hell is this Egostic guy up to? Is he actually on our side? No, that's definitely not the case. What if he’s the real hero wearing a villain costume? What are you saying, Haru? You're finally crazy.'
She couldn't sleep with such complicated thoughts. In the next terrorist attack he's going to cause, he's determined to identify himself.
But why did he call himself Apple Mango? Is there a hidden meaning behind this?'
***
"I’m fucked…"
"Why did you say Apple Mango? Tell me, Da-in. You pretended to hate mango so much, but did you actually like the nickname?"
"Please be quiet… Please…!"
I’m feeling so embarrassed that I want to bury myself.
