C66: Wrong Encounters

Confusion.

My first encounter with the Stardus was embarrassing.

Why were you coming out here?

You werent here in the original!

But I couldnt say that.

We were strangely facing each other without saying anything.

.Wait, I didnt think Id suddenly come across her in this deep underground, a place which is hundreds of meters from the ground.

Stardus, who had the same embarrassing expression as me, quickly wrapped up her expression and returned with a cold expression.

She asked me coldly.

You. Why are you here?

Thats what I want to ask.

No, Stardus. Why are you here?

I am a hero. Of course, there are monsters and dangerous substances in here that threaten citizens, so of course, I should come and deal with them.

She answered as if I was asking something obvious.

Yeah, thats right. Youre right but

You were never supposed to be here!

I closed my mouth shouting without a sound.

She grinned suddenly and began to snap her hand.

And Good for me. Its an unexpected harvest.

Wow, its the first time Ive seen Stardus smile in this world.

The way she smiles while clenching her fists is simply a goddess.

I wish that laugh wasnt coming out trying to catch me.

It wont hurt much when you are caught naturally.

She jumped at me at the same time as she said that.

Yes, teleportation.

I teleported behind her as she ran towards me.

However, as expected, she turns her head and swings her arms back.

I had no choice but to move further back.

Wait!

What do you mean Wait?

Despite my desperate cry, she kept flying to me with her blonde hair flying.

What the hell are you doing in this narrow hallway?

Wait, lets do this. Time out!

As I kept teleporting away from her, now she finally gave up catching me and clenched her fist.

Hey, youre crazy! If I get punched by you, Ill die instantly!

Excuse me, Ms. Stardus! Just calm down a little!

But as if she couldnt hear me, she flew straight to me and punched me.

Fortunately, I managed to escape by teleportation, but the innocent wall on my behalf hit her fist instead.

THUMP-.

The wall roars and shakes when she touches the wall, even though she must have controlled her strength before hitting it so that I wont die.

Thanks to that, the ceiling shook, dust was scattered, and the lights blinked and went crazy.

Dont you have something to take down here? Please calm down a little bit and listen to me!

The shaky underground

It wasnt until half of the hallway was destroyed, that Stardus calmed down.

What are you talking about?

Oh, is she going to listen to what Im going to say?

Fixing her sky blue eyes on me, she put one arm around her waist as if she would not attack for a moment.

Well, now I have to speak up here.

Or Im going to be dragged away

First of all, I have no intention of fighting. Didnt we come in without knowing that wed meet each other? Why dont we each do what were supposed to do?

You want me to go around when theres you, a villain, in this low-class security facility?

Well, I dont think this is right either.

No, I didnt come here to do anything anyway. I was just going to do the broadcast because I was disgusted by the HanEun Group.

I showed her the camera.

You did a broadcast here?

Her expression is getting worse.

Was it a miss, too?

I hurriedly opened my mouth as Stardus seemed to be ready to attack me with her fist again.

Wait! How about forming a temporary alliance?

Temporary alliance?

Despite the way she looked at me as if I was talking nonsense, I opened my mouth firmly.

Stardus, dont you know how dangerous it is here? Now, things are already like this, why dont we form an alliance and go together until we get to the deepest point? Actually, even if you try to catch me anyway, I just need to teleport and run away. Rather, its fate that we met like this, right? Were going to help each other. Im also curious whats down here.

Well, I think it sounds bullshit too.

Theres nothing strange if she gets mad and runs toward me while saying, You want me, a hero, to form an alliance with you, a villain?/

What should I do now? Should I just run away? My Behemoth, my power up, goodbye

By the time I had already made a decision in my mind, she frowned for a moment and suddenly relaxed her expression.

Then she replied.

Okay, lets do that. Just go together until we get down here.

What?

Why are you surprised when youre the one who suggested?

I panicked, and she turned her head with a slight smile.

Follow me. I couldnt get rid of it by myself, so you should help me.

What? Oh, yes. All right.

Looking at her leading the way down there again, I had no choice but to follow her.

Gosh What just happened?

I thought it was nonsense even though I spit it out, but I was bound to be confused when I saw her readily accepting it.

What the? What is this supposed to mean? The Stardus I know arent that kind of person

Of course, I thought she would rush in, saying there was no compromise with the villain, but I was shocked because she suddenly accepted.

Thats how she and I, we walked underground together.

What the hell is going on here?

***

Stardus.

The things she encountered as soon as she came down to this underground were countless monsters.

The ones that had something in common that looked horrible as if they had melted down, and that they were all white.

They all turned into powder and disappeared under her fists, but it made her feel uncomfortable that each one had superpower.

And the feeling became stronger as she entered the lab.

Terrible records they studied.

The experiments that have been locked between the glass walls had long escaped, and only their records remained.

*

RKCB-0064

[Name] A cat in hell

[Precaution] Very fast. Be careful when feeding.

*

*

RKCB-1107

[Name] Teleportation

[Precaution] Can run away by teleporting, so keep A-Grade security at all times. Watch out for attacks from behind.

*

Thats terrible

Monsters that would have been born out of inhumane experiments.

She trembled slightly at the thought that if they had not been revealed in the accident, they would have continued to conduct biological experiments in the middle of Seoul.

If only the accident hadnt happened.

And if only Egostic hadnt smashed the bridge.

Terrible things must have happened.

..

So she kept walking forward, slowly getting rid of the visible monsters one by one.

When she went down deep underground, the signal was cut off, and the lights were blinking, creating an ominous atmosphere.

There are a lot of maze-like crossroads.

However, she was bold.

Because her intuition, which developed over time, led her to go this way.

In front of where her senses led her.

Ahhhhhh!

As she jumped out, Egostic was wielding a knife standing there in her amazement.

Okay.

To be honest, she was also very shocked.

Who knewEgostic would be here?

But she quickly regained her senses.

Yeah, she doesnt know what it is, but its an opportunity.

She doesnt know why he is here, but lets catch him first and think about it.

So she jumped at him.

Hold on!

Wait, wait, wait, wait!!

Thats how she rushed in to catch him, but he also ran around teleporting.

Eventually, she hit the wall and almost knocked down this cellar, before she stopped and listened to what he had to say.

He said that he came here for the broadcast.

Temporary alliance?

His suggestion that they should all go down in alliance until the end of this underground.

Hearing that, she smiled inwardly. Why on earth should she form an alliance with a villain?

She refused to do so and thought shed attack him again.

For a moment, that thought passed through her.

Wait. He can just run away with his power anyway, right?

Thats right.

Its true that she was overlooking it because he just teleported briefly, but in the first place, Egostic can run away from the basement in an instant if he wanted to. Hasnt he disappeared right in front of her after terrorizing every time?

She cant let that happen.

Will there be another chance to meet in a place where theres no one like here?

No, probably not.

Due to his personality, if they meet next time, it will be in front of the camera that will be sent to the whole country. On the stage he set up.

The only moment she can be with him without being swayed by him, maybe this is the only time.

Anyway, if I refuse here, he wont be caught and I wont find anything, and hell just run away.

In that case,

If she keeps him next to her, wont she get to know him more?

The questions shes had about Egostic, maybe It may be an opportunity to be resolved.

And if she let him go with her, shell know exactly why he came down here.

And he never showed any signs of hurting her in the first place. If he doesnt run away in the first place and fights one-on-one, its a landslide victory. Well, theres not much risk.

Yes, this is just to get information before that if youre going to let him off.

She told him, making excuses that she didnt know who she was doing it to.

Yes, thats good. Just go together until we get down here.

What?

His appearance of surprise when she accepted it kindly after he had suggested it first.

Thats funny, she guess he just threw it like that because he thought she wouldnt accept it.

Come to think of it, its my first time seeing him flustered. Because until now, shed always been caught up in his pace.

Why are you surprised when youre the one who suggested it?

Somehow, in a pleasant mood, she smirked unconsciously.

Yeah, she didnt expect to catch him today.

Instead, here.

It may be an opportunity for her to address the questions she has always felt about Egostic.

***

Stardus accepted the offer of a temporary alliance, so we went into the maze together.

What the hell is she thinking? I still dont understand.

I didnt lower my guard, I followed her.

Its not like the villain would be worried about the hero hitting their back, but the hero should be worried about the villain stabbing behind their back, right?

Going deep inside, nothing really happened between us.

Sometimes the approaching experiments were not even scary, as she handled it with a punch. I was a little nervous when I was alone.

Sometimes when I joked, she just ignored it and it happened a few times.

Of course, it was kind of cute when she smiled sometimes because she failed to hold her laugh, and then to quickly wrap up her expression and stare at me, Be quiet. I know all your humor codes.

Its getting closer and closer to the end, and countless laboratories are starting to appear.

She rummaged through the papers with a serious look.

What did I do?

I just looked at her because she didnt let me see where the villain was trying to see the secret.

Well, actually, seeing my favorite for so long up close, maybe this is a kind of reward?

Stardus scouring the lab in a tight red hero suit with blond hair hanging down was worth seeing.

Its good, its great.

How could we have figured something out?

We headed back inside. Why is there no end here? Its not an ant cave.

Whats more interesting was Stardus, who moved as if she knew where to go.

Did she check the geography of this place in advance?

Dont tell me hersuper-sense is already advanced. No way.

Anyway, this time, I felt like we really came to the end. Because I felt the wind blowing from somewhere.

.But how does the wind blow underground?

What weve been facing all along is [Top-Secret Area].

And next to it, there was a passage plastered with red.

What is this place?

To her question, I only answered with a shrug.

Lets go in first.

Hmm

She chose to go in after much thought.

So we went in together.

As I walked through the aisle, I found a small room.

Room to suppress superpower?

She murmured at the notice posted in front of the room.

Suppress superpower? Does it mean that you cant use your ability in this room?

No, did the HanEun Group have this kind of technology?

This is a serious technique.

I was looking with such a serious expression, Stardus, who was in front of me, looked back at me, nodded her head.

Egostic, you go in first.

Me? Why would I?

She quietly raises her fist when I say so.

Yeah, yeah. Im going in.

All right, okay. Im going in.

Thats how I ended up in a small room which is only nearly 7 squares.

A secret room covered in white on all sides, except for a clock or something, theres nothing.

So, I cant really use my powers here, right?

As a demonstration, I tried to use telekinesis for the bag I brought.

What?

Oh, it really doesnt work.

What about teleportation?

I tried to concentrate, but nothing happened.

This is interesting.

How is it? Are you sure you cant use your powers?

Yes, thats right. I wonder what principle it is?

By the time I looked around like that, she came in as if she was going to experiment.

It really doesnt work.

So when she was testing her abilities, I was looking at one side of the room.

If people use this well, its going to be awesome. Whats the principle?

As I was doing a wise exploration activity looking at the wall, suddenly a banging sound came from the back and the room shook. What is it?

When I looked back in amazement, I saw Stardus punching the wall.

No matter how suppressed the ability was, the wall was recessed in the shape of a fist, perhaps because of its strong original strength.

When I looked at her with an expression of absurdity, I saw her avoiding my eyes awkwardly.

No, Im really trying to make sure everything is contained

Well How can you hit the wall so stupidly?

If it went wrong, we would have drowned here!

Just as I was going to argue, suddenly there was an alarm in front of the door we entered.

The opening of the open room was blocked by a shield coming down from the cast.

Boom.

What, what?

She was shocked by the sudden situation.

Of course, shes not the only one. Im also panicked. What is happening all of sudden?

Suddenly, the cement barrier came down and the space that was connected to the corridor was blocked.

..

Uh

I mean, it is now.

All of a sudden, this deep underground became the same size as a walk-in closet.

With Stardus, the two of us were fairly trapped while losing our abilities?

..

..

In such a small room, there was only silence.

Well.

Were fucked.