I Became The Villain The Hero Is Obsessed With

358 – Another Beginning

After capturing the Phantom Dragon that appeared in Seoul…

…and going through various events…

A week later, I was in my room, organizing my chaotic thoughts and preparing for the next plan.

‘It’s finally the 4th phase…’

The final chapter of the original work, where the true reason why Stardust and Shin Haru were the protagonists is revealed.

This final chapter, being the last phase, unfolds an unprecedented chaos and power inflation compared to what has happened so far.

And the reason is, of course, because the final boss of the original work, the Sun God, is gradually approaching.

And the result is a hyper-inflation where the abilities of all heroes and villains evolve to the next level.

“Until now, an ability user who could create a simple lighter-like flame can now create a massive fire capable of burning down buildings.

An ability user who could already create massive fires can now create a meteor of fire capable of destroying a city.

A festival where all ability users’ powers evolve from B-class to A-class, and from A-class to S-class.

…At the same time, it was a harbinger of the literal end of the world.

Think about it. A-class villains have become S-class villains. What about the villains who were already powerful, like Atlas? Their growth is beyond belief.

Rumors circulated in the fan community that the author was finally throwing in the towel on the work, as the world was becoming a serious mess due to these events.

This is why I despaired when I received telekinesis and teleportation and fell into this world, thinking my abilities were weak. I had no confidence in surviving this power inflation.

Anyway, in the original work, the world loses control and becomes chaotic.

Although heroes also become stronger, the balance of power is not maintained. Initially, ordinary citizens with B-class and A-class abilities evolving their powers mostly became villains rather than heroes…

‘After all, if the number of uncontrolled, powerful ability users increases, it’s natural for the world to become chaotic.’

Anyway, due to this, the world becomes even more chaotic with the increase of more powerful villains.

In the center of it all was the villain alliance, Cathedral.

Emerging from a secretive organization, they finally reveal themselves and incorporate all the exponentially increased villains under their control as if they have become a villain association. Considering the actual association becomes insignificant after the fourth phase, it’s ironic.

And of course, the reason for this is the already powerful Celeste becoming even stronger.

…Anyway, the conclusion is that soon there will be a day when all ability users power up. That’s the beginning of the fourth phase.

At this chaotic time, I had no intention of sitting idly by.

At the very least, I had to protect Korea.

So I went to find Lee Seol Ah.

‘Oh, Da In. You came?’

The president’s office of the Yoo Sung Group.”

I half-laid down on the sofa and greeted Lee Seol-ah sitting there.

Seeing me like that, Lee Seol-ah smiled as if she had a secret.

“Things have been peaceful lately, so I’m starting to enjoy life. Oh, and… Haru’s expression has been really bright these days. Do you happen to know why?”

“Uh… Uh? I’m not sure.”

“Hehe…”

Avoiding the eyes of Lee Seol-ah, who was half-lying on the sofa and smiling as if she knew everything, I leaned on the desk next to her.

…Last night.

Although Haru confessed her feelings to me, nothing had really changed between us.

She was busy as a hero in the first place, and I was also busy as the leader of Ego Stream. We haven’t met since that day.

However…

“….”

I leaned on Lee Seol-ah’s desk without realizing it.

I recalled what had happened that night.

*

The evening when the stars adorned the night sky.

“Haah, haah…”

After finishing our kiss, Stardust, who was catching her breath while leaning on me with her disheveled posture, soon calmed down and looked up at me quietly.

“…Honestly, I wanted to ask you a lot of things. Why do you keep acting like a villain when it’s different from your true intentions? Why do you keep terrorizing and taking the side of evil?”

“But, there must be a reason for you as well. I’m a hero, and you’re a villain… Yes. I won’t ask too much right now. However…”

She looked up at me with her slightly moist blue eyes and said,

“…At least, can you show me your true self now? I want to see your real face without the mask…”

As she said that, she turned her head and muttered.

“No. Is this too much to ask? Never mind. It’s okay. I’m sorry.”

Seeing her sullenly leaning in my arms and saying that…

…In that situation, there was no man who would not take off his mask.

“…No, it’s not. Here.”

And so, I quietly took off my mask with my other hand.

She definitely turned her head, but her eyes were subtly looking at me. When she saw my bare face without the mask, she smiled brightly and said,

“Wow… So this is what you looked like… huh?”

As she touched my face, she suddenly murmured as if something was strange.

“…Wait. I feel like I’ve seen you somewhere before. Huh?”

Stardust, who had been speaking up to that point, seemed to recall something and said,

“Wait! Hey, you. Aren’t you the person I met at the beach that time?”

“…Haha. That’s right.”

“No way… Wow. Really…”

It seemed like she finally came to her senses, and then she laughed awkwardly and said,

“…I can’t believe you were Egoistic like I thought… You kept denying it…”

“Haha…”

…Anyway, that’s how we revealed our names to each other.

I mean, I already knew hers from the start.

“…And from now on, call me Haru instead of Stardust. Got it?”

“Yes, I understand… Haru.”

We talked a bit more, and then we shared one last kiss before parting. She hesitated as if she didn’t want to be apart from me, but… we both had things to do.

Still, seeing her smile a little at the end, it seemed like she was feeling much better. She would probably be more energetic the next time we meet.

…As I recalled up to that point, I quickly opened my mouth, seeing Lee Seol-A smiling at me.

“…Anyway, that’s not what I wanted to talk about.”

“Hehe? Are you saying you’re not done yet?”

“Be quiet and listen…”

That’s how I explained it to Lee Seol-A.

The events that would occur once the 4th phase began, the growth of the Ability users, and the chaos in society that would be expected as a result.

And after hearing all that, Lee Seol-A said,

“No way… Wow. Wait a minute.”

Her laughing face from before was gone, and she held her head as if it hurt, closing her eyes tightly.

“…So you’re saying the abilities of the Ability users will suddenly become much stronger? Something that could never be achieved no matter how much they trained in the past?”

“Yeah.”

“Ha…”

Lee Seol-Ah seemed to have mentally calculated something several times in her head, and with a somewhat embarrassed expression, she said, “The increase in terror attacks would be inevitable. And the influx of new heroes… doesn’t seem like it’ll be enough. Wow, what should we do?”

To Lee Seol-Ah, who said this, I smiled and answered, “It’s simple. We need to strengthen our country’s association.”

“How?”

“We’ve raised a lot of talented people in the PMC so far, right? Incorporate them all into the association as heroes in advance.”

“…?”

At my words, Lee Seol-Ah seemed to think for a moment, and then she said as if she had realized something, “You don’t mean…”

“Yeah. You have a lot of influence in the association now, don’t you?”

“…Not a bad idea.”

She nodded her head in agreement.

In South Korea, being a hero is not only underrated but also dangerous, making it an unpopular profession. In such a situation where talented people don’t want to be heroes, we created PMC, also known as Egos Squad.

In short, we gathered orphaned or abandoned talented individuals, paid them a lot of money, and formed another hero association as mercenaries.

Soon, they will become incredibly strong too. If we make all of them part of the association and explosively increase the number of heroes before the power inflation event happens…

…With the media play and manipulation of the Meteor Group that has taken control of South Korea, we could potentially gather people who have suddenly become superhuman around the association. It’s only natural to pay them more. People want to follow others, and they want to belong to a group, don’t they? It’s about exploiting that psychology.

This was the conversation I had with Lee Seol-Ah.

The goal was to stabilize the regime centered around the Korean association. It was my desperate effort to stabilize Korea, which Stardust must protect, even if I didn’t know about other countries…

“…I understand. I should start preparing soon.”

“Yeah. I’ll visit again.”

With that, I began to prepare to leave.

There was so much to do now that the 4th Phase was just around the corner. I also needed to meet Celeste one more time.

“Yes, Dain. And…”

As I was leaving, Lee Seol-Ah smiled and said one last thing to me.