Ch35 - Behind the scenes

Starting a few weeks ago, on the day where Stardus saved a falling plane on the sky.

In the underground, I declared with determination.

"Well, let's give it a try. Airplane terrorism."

The two of them nodded at my words.

That's how we got to plan a plane attack.

"Oppa, where should we attack the plane?"

"We have to choose a domestic flight. We can just go to Jeju Island."

"Why not an international flight?"

"There is a high possibility that foreign heroes will come if we attack planes going abroad. I don't know what will happen if they're on the plane. That's why we have to attack a Korean airline's plane that only Koreans ride within Korea. "

"Aha… You're nitpicking again. You can't even fly at night, right?"

"Of course not. Then the Shadow Walker would teleport to the plane and end it all."

"Okay, let's see… I think we can attack the plane at this time."

"Let me see. Um… Yeah, that period of time would be perfect. Well then, we need to prepare it in advance. What do we need?"

"You said you were going to do some death nonsense quiz. Go think of some nonsense quizzes."

"You want me to search for some nonsense quizzes? Seo-eun, I already know tons of them. Do you know how to say a monk goes down in 6 letters?"

"…I don't know. What does it mean?"

"Illegal Download ! Hahahaha!" *TN: There is no 'L' in Korean alphabet, so Korean often pronounce words starting with 'L' as 'R'. In this situation, 'Download' would be pronounced as 'Down Road'.

"…Oppa, please look for something else. When I still ask you nicely."

Seo Eun gave me a cold reaction.

Illegal downloading is fun. Why…

When I was about to make such a different old man joke, Soobin next to me talked to me.

"Da-in, shall I just look for some bombs? Do I just need to search for the route that we bought during the train attack last time?"

"Oh, Soobin. We don't really need a bomb this time."

In my words, both Seo-eun and Soobin looked suspicious.

"Hey, I heard you're going to detonate a bomb on the plane"

Oh, I didn't explain this.

"Well… Yeah, I will explain it in detail from the beginning."

Ego show implementation plan.

A non-sense quiz contest will be held on the plane.

If no one gets all 10 questions right, it is said to detonate a bomb.

"The point here is, I'm going to crash the plane no matter what. But if you use a bomb, the plane will be shattered from above, right? So we won't use bombs, we will just crash it down."

"What? What does that mean?"

Seo-eun sounded like she didn't understand.

"Well… There are a lot of weird points. You're going to crash the plane. But what if someone gets all 10 questions right? You are still going to drop it?"

"I won't let that happen. I will act like I wonder if there's anyone who can get all the questions right… Still, I already set things up ready just in case."

"Set what up?"

"I'm going to give them two answers for the last quiz. So even if they get it right? I can just tell them the other one is the correct answer and drop the plane. If it doesn't work, just force it."

"Wow… I didn't know until now, but you look a little devilish now."

Seo Eun looks at me like she's bewildered.

What, kiddo?

This is the way the world is! The world is all about trick or be tricked!

"Da-in, what does it mean to crash without using a bomb?"

"Oh, that one. If you use a bomb, the plane can break down into pieces at unexpected directions So we're just going to pretend that the bomb went off, and we're actually going to just point the plane down at an angle. But if you don't catch a landing point in the air, that's a crash."

As I shrugged my shoulders and said so, Seo-eun asked once again.

"Oh… So, if we crash a plane, it's our goal to get Stardus to hold it, right?"

"Exactly! Increase my sense of power, increase my Stardus' popularity. Isn't it killing two birds with one stone?"

"Well… Da-in, can you stop the plane?"

Soobin, who was searching for something on the computer and calculating it, asked me.

Let me look that way. She continued to speak.

"It's my plan to crash the plane, but… The biggest achievement Ms. Stardus has ever done is to stop the running train she last time. It's great to block the train, but there's a huge difference between the train and the plane. I think Ms. Stardus really squeezed her way to the limit and stopped it, but the plane…. It's not just ten times faster, it's hundreds of times harder considering gravity, weight, and energy."

Soobin's reasonable doubt.

In fact, it is a suspicion that anyone would has.

It's like a kid who learned to add and subtract yesterday saying that she will challenge 30 calculus tests today.

Speaking orthodoxly.

How can Stardus, who barely blocked the train, block a plane?

So I only answered them like this.

"Stardus can do it."

That's what the main character of this cartoon is like.

In the second half of this world, enemies who can stop time, dominate space, and cause natural disasters alone are going to pour out.

It becomes a crazy worldview where divine beings pop out and try to destroy the Earth later on.

And Stardus will be the hero who protected Korea and the earth alone in that world.

She's the main character.

In fact, this world is rotating for her.

And there's only one thing that makes this possible.

That there is no limit to her ability to grow.

The main character doesn't die.

In reverse, the pain that cannot kill her will make her stronger.

I mean, as long as she's desperate and has will.

There's nothing she can't stop.

"Stardus can do it. So we can trust her and crash the plane."

When I said so with a serious face, Seo-eun asked with a slightly sulky face.

"It's funny. Why do you believe in her?"

I just laughed at the question and passed.

***

The preparations went smoothly.

We took fake bombs, and we secretly put smoke generators on our wings to pretend the explosion.

Before the takeoff, I teleported into the plane, set up this and that, set up the captains to fall asleep in the middle, set up the panel in advance…

My plans that I could squeeze out by reading so many hero cartoons and movies, and the result of the two geniuses' assistance combined.

Honestly, with this kind of terrorist attack… I must say that I already the reach the level of arts.

As long as the project took place, the terror itself was fast.

It was my first time doing a non-face-to-face terrorist attack, so I felt a little strange, but I will have to live with it. I can't get on a plane that is going to crash! Safety is good. Good, good!

"Hello, everyone! The biggest quiz show on earth at the height of 25,000 feet. No! Welcome to The Ego Show Live, the biggest quiz show in the sky!"

But when I was looking at the camera in an open space, it came out smoothly.

I started to feel a little embarrassed when I spoke to the microphone in a narrow room deep underground.

Seo-eun and Soobin keep looking at me, please stop looking at me.

It bothers me a lot! My energy isn't coming out!

"The rules are simple! There will be 10 questions for the nonsense quiz, so you just have to answer them correctly!"

"But what if everyone is wrong? The bomb will explode!"

I spoke diligently into the microphone.

On the screen in the base, people on the plane were being broadcast live in real time.

FYI, the video is also being shown nationwide as we hacked into three terrestrial broadcast stations.

It looks like all the technicians are clinging together and doing everything they can to prevent the hijacking…

Yes, I spent like water for Seo-eun and Soobin. Adios, Amigo…

But actually, I don't think it's necessary to do this, and just upload a live video on YouTube, people will send it as an emergency program.

I don't know. It's a tradition now.

"Okay! Let's move on to the second question! What is the hottest fruit in the world?"

I realized this while doing nonsense quiz…

Why are they so good at answering?

Honestly, I thought I'd be out of the 7th and 8th rounds.

The man endured with evil to the end and came to the tenth.

The last man to survive was a bald man. Let's see. The name is… Kim Deokbae? How do you keep getting it right?

"Now! Finally, the 10th and last question! What is kids' favorite oil?

That's how I asked my last question.

The answer IU was sent to me.

Actually, it doesn't matter whether I sent IU or May 5th.

The important thing is that whatever he sends it, it's definitely wrong.

…But he got it right to the end. If I didn't get 'revenge', I would have been in big trouble.

"Let's guess the answer. Let's see, he wrote 'IU'. The answer is May Oil (May 5th)! It's a shame. Well then, goodbye!"

I pressed the button.

Bang! The silencer that I set up in advance works.

The plane began to fall down with smoke. Actually, it's just going down.

"Phew, it's finally over."

I turned off the microphone and lay down on the chair.

It's so hard to keep up the tension because I just sit still and open my mouth.

When I was lying down like that, Seo-eun, who finished the operation, talked to me.

"Oppa, what are you doing now?""

"What do you mean, wait until the Stardus come."

"Will she come?"

"Of course, she will come. She's Stardus."

So I waited.

"It will be here soon."

I've been waiting.

"You must have left now, right?"

I kept waiting.

"She's on her way, isn't she?"

After waiting for so long.

"Arrrrrgh!!! Why isn't she coming?

I just screamed!

Why aren't sge coming? If she doesn't come by now, the plane will break into pieces!

"Oh! Why are you screaming?"

"Seo Eun! Hurry up and check what she's doing! I will hack into a nearby CCTV!"

"Okay, okay… Alright."

"Oh, I found it. Stardus is just watching the plane from the beach."

"What did you say!!! Why the hell is she doing that?"

This is not the Stardus I know!

"I think she knows it, too. She knows that they will die, so she just stays still."

I jumped at Seo-eun's words.

What! No! Stardus can do anything she wants! If she is put in front of the plane, she will be able to wake it up and stop it!

"Damn it… What should we do? If we keep going like this… Yeah, earphones. In-ear earphones!"

I came up with something!

Shin Haru always wore small in-ear earphones inside her ears. If only we could communicate there!

"Seo-eun, can you contact Shin Haru from the earphones in her ears?" Hurry up!"

"Wait a minute… Oh, this is a security network connected by an extension, so it's a little hard to get through… Soobin! Please help me."

"Okay!"

While the two of them stick together and keep trying on the computer.

Tap. Tap. Tap.

I shook my legs like crazy. I'm so nervous.

After that ridiculous time.

"Da-in! I succeeded in getting into it!"

"Finally!"

I ran in a hurry.

What's on the computer is a complicated frequency graph.

"Da-in, but the important thing is that if she doesn't answer your call, you're out."

"It's okay, then I can keep calling until she picks up."

I answered that and sat down.

Take a deep breath.

Phew-

Ring. Ring.

An outgoing call

And.

Pick up.

She picked up.

I spoke up calmly, quietly.

"Hello, Stardus. It's Egostic"

[You garbage…]

She cursed at me as soon as we connected.

However, it wasn't important that I was criticized now.

"I'm just curious. Why aren't you saving them?"

Why aren't you saving them?

Why are you standing still?

After a few more mild curses at my question, she eventually spoke up.

[How can I… stop that?]

[That thing that's falling at 1,000 kilometers per hour.]

[You want me to die?]

As I heard her words,

More than I thought.

I was shocked

Much more than I thought.

I suppose. That's what she was thinking.

Exactly at moment like this, that's what she thinks.

Just when I thought Stardus I knew wasn't like this.

Come to think of it, I realized Stardus at this time could be like this.

In second half of the story, Stardus never gives up even if she meets an enemy she cannot win.

At the beginning of the original comic, she only fought against enemies who seemed to be able to compete with her.

She was feeling frustrating, because I twisted it.

However, the situation I have suggested is a situation that cannot be solved by her current power alone.

The first sudden disaster left her frustrated.

It shouldn't be like this.

The Stardus I know are not like this.

Even if you encounter a situation that seems insurmountable, you clench your teeth, raise your head, step forward and break through the situation.

A person who believes in her ability, trusts her will, and goes forward with an indomitable will toward the enemy. That's Stardus, Shin Haru.

But why isn't she stepping up this time?

Ah.

Did I give her a wall that is too high from the beginning?

Little by little, she had to cross the wall and give herself confidence that she could break the next wall.

Did she break her will against the overwhelming wall?

What should I do?

What should I do now?

…

How what.

I have to give back her will.

Let her know that she can.

She has to make them believe in themselves.

Now, what did she say?

'How am I going to stop that? You want me to die?'

Yeah, that's what she said.

After organizing my thoughts, I opened my mouth again in a calm voice.

"No, you can."

You can do it.

Because you are the hero of this world.

Because you're the person who can win anything if you have the will.

"You can do it. Stop the plane from falling."

Her quiet voice came as I delivered it with a heavy heart.

[…Does that make sense to you? You think I don't know you're just going to take this opportunity to eliminate me?]

Me? You?

I was dumbfounded.

You mean who's getting rid of who?

I lost my mind for a moment and told her with all my heart.

"Why would I want to kill you?"

Why would I kill you.

"Without you, what would life mean to me?"

After I realized that I had fallen into this damn world of comics, I wandered and agonized and vowed to live the rest of my life for you.

"Without you, I'm just a common villain."

It cannot simply be referred to as a villain.

Without you, I'm just a stranger in this world. An unnecessary accessories

Living in this world without all my family, friends, assets, social status, honor, friendship, love, everything, I am not myself.

What's the point of me not living for you in this world?

You.

Only you.

"You complete me."

So step up.

Clench your fists, strain your legs, and fly into the sky to save people.

You can do it.

Because that's you.

I just cut off contact like that.

Looking to the side, I could feel Seo-eun and Soobin looking at me with a surprised face.

Oh, come to think of it, I recited my feelings for Stardus in front of those two.

Well, I'm embarrassed.

I only smiled lightly and said to them,

"Now, let's see what happens."

I did everything I could.

Now, it just depends on how she decides.

***

[Yes!!! Stardus!!! Has succeed in landing!!! The plane!!! All passengers are safe!!! They are getting off!!!! Everyone!!! Korea is safe!!!]

"Wow, Da-in. Just like you said, she stopped that. How did she do that? Da-in? Da-in!"

When Seo-eun called me, I was sliding straight from my seat.

"Seo-eun…"

"What's wrong with you?"

"Let's go traveling…"

It's really tiring after every terrorist attack.

I need to rest.

Really need to rest.

"If I do terrorism one more time, I will get sick…"

Since we did three consecutive terrorist attacks.

Let's take some time off now.

This villain needs a break.