Chapter 353:
Chapter 353:
Chapter 353:
I went out with Seo Ja-young and when I came back I was scolded by Choi Se-hee for going out alone with her.
"Then stay with me for the rest of the day!"
I nodded at Choi Se-hee's confident words….I'm not flattered by Choi Se-hee, who talks in a nervous mood.
"Uh, yeah."
Anyway, as a result, I ended up accompanying Choi Se-hee today…and what Choi Se-hee wanted to do was…
"Manifest your powers?"
"Yeah. I've been piling up a lot lately. I need you to help me release it."
She rolls onto her back and stretches her arms upward as she speaks.
…At least the training grounds were right in front of us, so we didn't have to travel far.
Before she did, she was hand-in-hand with our healer, Lee Ha-yul, getting buffed.
"Sis, don't push yourself too hard, okay?"
"Yeah, yeah. Don't worry."
With her brown hair tied up in a ponytail, Lee Ha-yul stood in front of Choi Se-hee, hands clasped in front of her, speaking in a worried voice.
And when I saw Choi Se-hee responding to her words with a cool smile, I felt something heartwarming.
That's right. If you think about it, Choi Se-hee and Lee Ha-yul were always together in the original, as the villains Saint and Electra.
Even though I ruined the original story, as a fan, when I see something similar to the original, tears of emotion flow…
"Come on, let's go!"
Anyway, that's how the two of us traveled further into the forest.
I don't know how far we flew.
"Is that it?"
I said, flying in the blue sky, looking at the gray golems walking through the green forest below.
"Uh, that's one of Seo-Eun's… What's it called? She said it's a test robot. We just need to take him down."
That's how she explained it.
Apparently, Seo-Eun had built a solid robot that calculates damage to check the power of our Egostream, and she had scattered it in the mountains behind us.
I asked, "What if we get caught doing this?" She explained that it doesn't matter because we've also sprayed this place with a recognition deterrent.
"Anyway, I'll be right back!"
"Okay. Bye."
I said and grabbed the towel and water bottle that Choi Se-hee handed me.
"Haha…Let's play, shall we?"
She pounded her fist as blue lightning flashed from her eyes and her orange hair whipped around as she slid down.
Then, streaks of lightning emanated from her body.
"Haaaaaaaaaah!"
Kwagga kwagga kwagga kwagga kwagga-!
I stuck my tongue out at Choi Se-hee, who was shredding the forest with blue lightning bolts, destroying the robots.
…Choi Se-hee looks the most excited when she's using her cognitive abilities to unleash her lightning bolts due to her insatiable appetite.
In fact, there were very few people who had to use their abilities as regularly as she did. If she doesn't shoot lightning, her body gets nervous and she can't control her impulses. I wonder if she's really building up electricity in her body.
That's why she became a villain in the original because she couldn't control her impulses.
I've gotten used to that side of Choi Se-hee….although she was still a little crazy.
"Kahahahahahahaha!"
Boom-boom-boom-boom-boom.
I nodded as I looked at Choi Se-hee, who was still smashing up the forest with blue lightning bolts shooting out of her eyes.
…Apparently, Choi Se-hee did power up. First of all, her lightning color changed from yellow to blue.
Probably due to a combination of a low percentage of buffs that awakened buff abilities beyond her existing abilities, and her enthusiastic use of the most abilities of the existing Egostream members.
It's impossible for an ability to become stronger in absolute value by itself, but it can become stronger by mastering combat skills and how to utilize abilities.
Maybe after the start of Phase 4, if she really goes through a power-up event, she could become the next strongest member of the Egostream.
By the time I was thinking about it, it was finally over and the lightning had stopped striking.
When I looked up again, I saw Choi Se-hee, sweating profusely.
"Ha, ha, I need some water…"
"Here."
With those words, I handed her a bottle of water, as she tied her orange hair back in a tight bun, tied a towel around her neck, and started gulping down the entire bottle.
…Something about her reminds me of Il-jin, the sister I used to see in the alley when I was in school. She used to dye her hair that color, wear sweats, and looking like this.
The difference was that Choi Se-hee wasn't in school, and her orange hair was due to her ability, not dyeing it…
When I was looking at Choi Se-hee with such emotion, she must have felt my gaze, because she finished her water and said with a frown.
"Hey, what are you doing, I thought it was weird."
"…You reminded me of someone I knew."
"What?"
Our flirting soon led to Choi Se-hee's lament.
"…I know how I look, but I can't stand it if I don't use my powers. Am I weird?"
"You're weird, aren't you?"
"Wow. I'm so frustrated. I honestly can't believe there's a normal, normal person like me in this house."
At her sincerity, I shook my head and replied.
"…Is there?"
"Uh. Honestly, they're all a bit extraordinary, you know, like a moon god's saint, the daughter of the world's second-ranked villain…"
Choi Se-hee had a point.
Seo-Eun is a survivor of a bio-experiment, having been kidnapped as a child and used as an experiment by the HanEun Group. Not to mention Eun-woo, Ariel, and Ha-Yul, a healer who now looks like a normal college student, was the girl head of a family of orphans who had been taken from an orphanage.
"And honestly, Soobin isn't normal either, she's the one who came up with the idea to go out with you all…"
Choi Se-hee realized what she was saying and closed her mouth.
"….."
…Choi Se-hee, whose face was bright red from sweat or something else, smiled and turned her head to the other side.
"…"
"….."
"…"
The silence continued for a while until we were on our way back.
"…Ugh."
Choi Se-hee couldn't stand the silence, so she clutched her towel tightly and shouted with a red face.
"Yes!!! I like you! Okay??"
After saying that, she became embarrassed and quickly flew forward, outpacing me.
Then, standing in front of me, she looked back at me with a deep red face and said.
"Wait and see. One day I'll force you to accept it. Let's see how long you can keep your eyes on Stardus!"
And with that, she flew off into the distance.
"….."
‘…It's only fitting.’
And I was left behind, alone, thinking to myself.
***
Time passed after playing with Choi Se-hee and the peaceful days continued.
…Except that whenever Choi Se-hee saw me, she would blush and quickly get up and run away. By the way, Seo Ja-young teased Choi Se-hee when she saw that…
Even such peaceful days were going to end because something big was coming soon.
"…Next Monday, the event is finally here."
Sitting at my desk, I took one last look at what the next week would bring.
As usual, I didn't have to do much, but the now fully-powered Stardus could handle it…
"Hmmm…"
But first, there was the matter of casualties, and she needed something from me, so I had to step in.
The last thing I was thinking about was whether to go in my Egostic costume, or to go in a different costume, pretending to be someone else…
‘I'll defeat him soon anyway, so it won't be a big deal.'
So I decided to go in my old costume.
It wouldn't matter anyway.
And then…
‘I need to find out how Stardus is doing.’
…To be honest, I did want to see Stardus…but not for that reason this time.
Stardus has been acting emotionally unstable and self-destructive lately. I wanted to find out what was wrong with her.
What the hell is wrong with her?
Whatever it is…
‘I'm going to fix it, whatever it is, no matter what.’
Because that's what a true fan does…!
Until that moment, I didn't really know what I was doing.
Why Stardus was in the state she was in?
…Until that day, until I met her. Not at all.
"….."
~A dark city~
On the rooftop of a building, a woman with long blonde hair stood, staring out into the night with a blank expression on her face.
Her name was Stardus and she was thinking.
‘…I wonder if I should be living like this.'
The meaning of her existence.
It had been days since she had slept without nightmares.
Since his departure Stardus had felt his absence so acutely.
‘What if he's really dead…?’
Would there be any point in living?
With her deathly eyes, she found herself thinking such thoughts.
‘Egostic…’
If only she could see him one last time.
She closed her eyes, silently, and thought.
It was two days before she would see him again.