I Became The Villain The Hero Is Obsessed With

387 – Towards the End of the Story

After parting with Egoistic,

“…Heh.”

In her office, Celeste was admiring the ring on her finger with a smile.

This ring is the relic of the Sun God.

…And also, the ring that Egoistic himself gave her.

Unaware if she liked the ring because it was a relic of the Sun God, or because Egoistic had put it on her, Celeste stared intently at the ring sparkling in the sun.

While she couldn’t wear such a precious relic outside,

At least she could see it anytime in her office.

While touching the silvery ring, Celeste recalled what Egoistic had told her.

‘That ring… according to ancient texts, is known as the Ring of Jealousy. And there’s a spirit within the ring.’

“A spirit…”

Celeste looked at the ring with a curious expression.

According to Egoistic, the spirit residing in the ring was a spirit of jealousy.

If the wearer of the ring was jealous of someone, the spirit would secretly dispose of that person on the wearer’s behalf. Then, it would make a contract without revealing the price.

And that’s a trap.

‘Thereafter, it kills the wearer. Because the price of the contract is, in fact, their life.’

After that, the ring goes to the person who was the subject of the previous wearer’s jealousy.

It would then coax that person to eliminate the object of their jealousy, make a contract, and repeat the killing.

In this way, the contract made with the previous wearer, ‘kill the one I am jealous of,’ was fulfilled.

And then it moves on to the next target.

“…..Hmm.”

…It was somewhat mysterious why such a strange spirit resided in this beautiful ring, the relic of the Sun God, but… Celeste decided not to think too deeply about it. Well, the Sun God must have created it with good intentions. Otherwise, the Sun God would be an evil god. hahahaha. That couldn’t be.

“Hmm… A spirit of jealousy.”

That doesn’t concern me.

I don’t have anyone to be jealous of.

With that thought, Celeste casually fiddled with the ring.

Still, she should see the face of the spirit once.

“…”

…But how do you summon it?

“…Ugh.”

After struggling for a while, Celeste realized, as she had done in front of the statue, that if she gave the power she felt inside her heart… what Egoistic called the power of the sun, it would work.

Eventually, she succeeded in summoning the spirit.

Poof poof

Smoke began to rise around the ring, and the golden stone turned pink. At the same time, a pinkish light burst from the ring.

And what popped out of the ring was,

“Heh heh heh. Greetings, master.”

A pink spirit, looking like a ghost, emerged from the ring.

“…Yes. Hello there.”

Celeste greeted the spirit that popped out.

This was her first time seeing a speaking relic of the Sun God, so she was curious.

And as she was observing the spirit with interest, the spirit introduced itself with a smile.

“My name is Invidia. I’m the one who removes the object of your jealousy.”

The spirit spoke just as Egoctic had described.

Celeste continued to gaze at the strange spirit in wonder.

…She was puzzled as to why the Sun God had created such a creature.

It didn’t even seem to recognize her, one of the Sun God’s saints.

‘Oh well. It doesn’t matter since no one is jealous of me anyway,’ Celeste thought lightly.

And understandably so. Celeste, she who always stood at the pinnacle above everyone else, with no one above her.

Just as Celeste was thinking this,

“…But you, don’t you have someone who is jealous of you?”

“…?”

Hearing the spirit’s words, Celeste knitted her brows in confusion.

What is this spirit saying?

“What are you talking about?”

When Celeste asked with a furrowed brow,

The spirit smiled mysteriously and dropped a shocking bombshell.

“You are jealous of a woman named Stardust, are you not?”

“…What did you say?”

And.

Upon hearing those words, Celeste was greatly shocked without realizing it herself.

Stardust? That S-Rank hero from South Korea with the power of stars?

Why would I be jealous of her? I have nothing lacking compared to Stardust.

Come to think of it, I barely even think about that woman called Stardust.

When she occasionally saw her on the news with Egoctic, she would quietly turn it off.

When reading the reports on Stardust’s actions that came up from below, if she saw too many scenes strangely intertwined with Egoctic, it would put her in a bad mood and she would stop.

She had prevented talk of Stardust from the beginning, getting annoyed whenever Egoctic brought her up and telling him to stop. So she hadn’t really paid attention to her.

‘…The relic must be faulty in some way.’

This was the only conclusion Celeste could come to.

Even the Sun God can make mistakes at times. As a faithful servant, she would quietly overlook even His mistakes with a devoted heart…

“What? I can see it all clearly. Whenever that woman Stardust is mentioned, you get annoyed! Hmmmph!”

“Oh dear… go back and get some rest.”

With that, she forcefully banished the spirit back and sighed as she took off the ring and placed it on her desk.

Oh well. She would store this ring along with the other relics.

However…

“…Stardust.”

Chewing over that name pointlessly, Celeste soon closed her eyes and thought quietly.

…Yes. She has the power of stars, so I should pay attention to her. Rumors say she’s the strongest of the heroes lately…

And especially, what’s her relationship with Egoctic… I’m a little, just a tiny bit curious.

“I should go see her in person.”

With that, Celeste opened her eyes again, flashing her cold golden irises as she murmured so.

And so, without anyone knowing,

The South Korea visit schedule was set for Celeste, the leader of Cathredal.

***

“…Hmm.”

I’ve got a bad feeling about this.

Egostric Mansion.

After returning from my date(?) with Celeste, I sat legs crossed on the chair at the table, lost in thought.

I was in an unfamiliar mood after hearing Stardust’s sincerity. Anyway,

“…I think this is enough with Celeste.”

I murmured as I looked at my diary.

My first goal for this 4th phase. Messing with Celeste.

…Or rather, getting Celeste on my side. Making her depend on me so that she chooses me instead of the Sun God when doomsday comes as foretold.

It seemed my grand plan had now entered the final stages.

From noble mtl dot com

To be honest.

‘…At this point, it’s not wrong to see Celeste as being on my side already.’

Since I’m the only one she trusts and relies on now, when she doubted and trusted no one in the original work.

Especially after confirming her reactions before the statue today… If I just speak well, she probably won’t destroy the world like in the original work.

So in other words, I can now focus on other things.

I thought this as I quietly looked at the calendar.

There was just over a month left until the doomsday declaration.

The day when God directly informs all humans worldwide ‘I will kill you all. Wash your necks and wait’.

In other words, after this doomsday declaration, what happened in the original work is:

1. Chaos and fear among people leads to societal collapse as command structures crumble.

2. As the Sun God gets closer to this dimension, some supernatural beings lose control of their powers which run rampant, leading to death.

3. Celeste and Cathredal, following God’s orders, start destroying the world.

…In short, it’s just the apocalypse.

Even before the Sun God arrives, the world brings itself to ruin.

So, what should I do to prevent this?

‘…First, I need to set society’s systems straight.’

After God’s judgement is declared, even the world’s leaders and heroes, in the end just humans, fall into extreme fear. Grabbing their assets and running, committing suicide…

With the upper echelons of society collapsing like this, naturally things below start crumbling as well. Citizens with no leaders to rely on are all thrown into chaos.

First I had to block this situation.

To do that, I needed the help of Seul-A and the Association.

My goal was to meet the International Association’s Prime Minister and Board of Directors, the control center of all the associations.

And before that.

“…”

I gazed at my mansion, sunk in silence.

Eventually, slowly, the story was finally nearing its end.

As such, I had to explain the situation ahead first and foremost to EgoStream, who had been with me until now. They would end up playing the most important role in South Korea, after all.

“…”

So, it was about time.

That I tell them.

My truth.

I thought this as I gazed outside my room.

Tomorrow.

I planned to tell them everything.