Chapter 1738 S: Major Apocalypse Event (5) _1

As everyone knows, there's a term in the idol community called "sasaeng fans" which refers to fans who blatantly disregard personal boundaries and obsessively invade the personal lives of the idols they adore. This includes, but is not limited to, stalking, setting up chance encounters by booking the same hotel as the idol, even spying on the idol's room with a high-powered telescope from across the building.

This type of fan is intensely disliked by both the normal fans as well as the idols themselves. Even though some idols have explicitly expressed their distaste for such fans, the fans continue unabated.

This is actually a common psychological issue, simply put, a case of "attention-seeking disorder." These individuals constantly yearn for the attention of others; whether it's affection or disgust, they'll interpret it as them being special, further justifying their stalking and harassment.

Many stalkers suffer from similar syndromes. In their eyes, they are not the harassers but, rather, they believe that the repulsion expressed by the person they're harassing is due to their recognizing their brilliance. Even if they are misunderstood for now, as long as they attract attention, they feel superior to others.

The saying that "shamelessness knows no bounds" holds true; it's hard to rid these attention-seeking disease victims, and Joker could be classified as one of them. As long as he can get Batman's attention, the lives of himself and others are unimportant.

The biggest weakness of these attention-seekers is that they do not allow anyone to belittle their idols. For their unique attention to be worth it, the person they stalk must be strong and have high societal status.

Think about it this way - no one cares about the attention of a beggar on the street. Only when it comes from someone with a high status can they convince themselves that they are being loved by an important figure. If their idol falls from grace, their efforts and judgement will be ridiculed.

So, the best way to defeat such people is to tell them, "You have poor taste. Is this person even worth pursuing?"

Joker can take Batman's hits and curses, he's even ecstatic about the chance of Batman killing him, but he can never accept anyone treating Batman as a tool. Especially the fact that the darkness in Batman is a machination of some god- he can never accept such reality.

Because, if Batman is just a pawn in the plot of a god, then who is he?

When a person starts to question who they are, the answer can never be pleasing. Philosophy always brings confusion and pain, and one way to solve this problem is to eliminate the question itself.

Never mind if there's a conspiracy behind Batman, as long as the conspiracy fails to come to fruition, Batman is still Batman and not anyone's tool.

Joker always manages to find his own path through these distressing philosophical questions: if he kills all the owls, Batman will still be his Batman. Just like how if an idol leaves a misfortunate economic company, he is certainly still the shining idol.

Inside the Arkham Asylum office, Harley Quinn is listlessly playing with her hammer. The sound of remodeling can be heard from both upstairs and downstairs, and truckloads of construction waste are being transported away from this hospital.

Currently, Arkham Asylum is being transformed into a temporary control center for a magic protective shield. To accommodate the operation of magic, some parts of the building structure have been modified, with almost the entire hall and the basement being used to house the Core Pulse Device.

After a while, one of Doll Master's puppets pokes its head out the window. Harley Quinn turns to look, the puppet mumbles a few words, and Harley Quinn nods, "Another meeting, huh? Give me five minutes, I'll be right there."

When Harley Quinn arrived at the meeting room, the villains were all gathered. However, a few usual faces were looking grave, at least graver than their usual craziness and joy.

"It's really bad, I can't find the source of this dark power. Normally there should be a god responding to my summons, but now there's no reaction..."

"I've said it before, if you could explain the principle in detail, we might be able to replicate this power..."

"Magic is not as you imagine..."

"What's happening?" Harley Quinn walks in chewing bubble gum, seemingly puzzled by the dispute in the room, she really doesn't understand what there is to argue about.

"Bad news." Scarecrow sneered, "The energy hidden in the metal is finite, and the quantity is rapidly decreasing. We haven't found a way to obtain more of this energy for now."

Wizard Felix looked at the magic array he had drawn on paper with a frown, he sighed and said, "The problem can't be with my array, it must be the summoned that's the issue. Their lack of response could mean they're busy, or they couldn't hear the call."

"So the way you wizards summon gods is the same as humans making phone calls, and if the other party doesn't answer, there's nothing you can do?" Harley Quinn asked as she slouched down in a chair nearby.