BXBX NOVEL Chapter 258: Preparation
That was my new motto.
That said, now that the dust has settled and the Moonlight Gate disaster is just around the corner I have to focus all my attention on that one thing until the day of reckoning.
With that, I’ve stopped everything Stardus-related, and now I’m really running to prepare for this.
Stardus is already strong enough as it is. I just need to give it a final check and put it to work.
Therefore, I now devote all my remaining time to this scourge!
…With that said, it took me a month to travel the country and identify the magical circles that would stop the power of the Moonlight Church.
“….Is this the last one?”
“Uh, I think we’re pretty much done here.”
“Phew…Finally.”
In a forest somewhere in South Korea, where the deep green trees blocked the sunlight and formed deep shadows, Choi Sehee sighed and muttered to herself.
It’s been over a month since we traveled across the country to build this magic circle, and a lot has happened.
Since it became a long-term project, the members traveling with us have changed a lot.
Eun-woo and I were the only ones who were doing the magic circle, and the other members took turns following us. You never know what might happen along the way, so you have to have an escort.
“…..”
In the forest Eun-wool, with her black hair hanging down and her white shrine maiden outfit, her hands clasped together, closes her eyes and casts a magic circle.
Me and Choi Sehee sat on a nearby rock, feeling the cool breeze in the forest, waiting for her.
“Why did it took you a month to do this?”
Seeing Choi Sehee picking up a leaf nearby and burning it with electricity, I replied.
“Because I traveled all over the country.”
“…Still, haven’t you been traveling for too long?”
Choi Sehee stuck out her tongue like she was copying Seo Eun and said that. It was as if she was trying to emphasize her regret.
Seeing that, I couldn’t help but smile, and muttered to myself as I looked at Eun-wol, who was kneeling down and diligently creating a magic circle.
“…Still, it was something I had to do.”
“That aside…I don’t know.”
Having said that, Choi Se-hee rubbed her head, then turned to me and said in a slightly wistful tone.
“Without you, the atmosphere in the house is just… dull.”
“Huh…?”
It’s been a month since I left home and in that time, I’ve only been home a few times.
I’ve been traveling all over the country, and it takes too much time to get back and forth, so Eun-woo and I have been staying at whatever local lodging we can find.
I didn’t really know what the rest of the group was doing while I was gone.
“You know, Seo-Eun and Ha-Yul follow you a lot. At least Eun-wol was always with you. Without you, Soobin and Seo Jae-young are kind of lost.”
Choi Se-hee touched her hair and said,
Considering that Soobin and Seo Jae-young were also together in the middle, that’s three weeks of actual time apart…?
“It’s not just three weeks, it’s like three weeks.”
Choi Se-hee says in response to my question.
…No, is three weeks really that long? We didn’t see each other for three weeks straight but we had video calls every night…
Yeah. There must be a deep reason I don’t know.
…Seo-eun’s behavior didn’t make sense to me so I smiled and replied.
“Okay, I’ll try not to go as far as this time.”
“Hmph. Promise.”
With that assurance, I smiled back at Choi Se-hee, who was laughing hysterically.
…I hope that one day, I can keep this promise until the last moment.
“Da-in, sister, it’s over!”
Just then Eun-wool, who had just finished setting up the magic circle, stood up and said.
“Good job, Eun-woo, you did a great job.”
“Moonlight Church…I’m just trying to catch them, of course.”
As I stroked her hair absentmindedly, Eun-woo smiled quietly and replied to me.
…Oh, right. Eun-woo is an adult and shouldn’t be doing this. I keep forgetting because she’s always with Seo-eun and they’re the same height, I sometimes treat her like a baby…
Plus, Eun-woo is so nice that she doesn’t say anything, especially when she’s not supposed to.
“Okay, it’s finally over, let’s go home!”
Choi Se-hee, seeing that it was all over, jumped up from the rock and said so.
We had one last meal nearby and then headed back to our house.
That was the end of our month-long rental of the Wandering Villain’s Egostic.
***
Back home, after being reunited with the rest of the team and eating a delicious meal to celebrate the end of our work I now proceeded to explain the coming catastrophe to the members of the Ego Stream in detail, including the plan.
“This winter the Moonlight Church, led by their leader, will tear a hole in our dimension and the dimension of a monster-filled world and summon otherworldly beasts.”
“There will be countless of them, coming through portals called gates, and they will be all over the world, in France, in old Brazil, in England, in Africa, in Australia, in Russia, in the United States, everywhere, literally everywhere, urban and rural.”
“And what’s going to happen to the planet when that happens, it’s just going to be ruined.”
“That’s why we have to stop it.”
I looked at Shinryong and explained once again.
Okay, I’ve already told this story to everyone once.
Now the important thing is to explain how we’re going to stop it so I continued.
“First of all, we can’t stop the Moonlight Church Leader from opening the portal, because the preparations have already been made, and it’s going to happen even if he doesn’t.”
“In other words, we need to stop him after he opens the portal.”
I explained, drawing a building, a little man, a round portal, and a monster on the whiteboard.
“…But how do we stop him?”
Shinryong asked, puzzled by my explanation so I kindly answered her question.
“I had an idea that involved drawing magic circles around the country with Eun-woo, but the problem with this method is that it takes quite a while.”
“I don’t want the country to fall apart for the sake of our next terrorist campaign, so we need to be prepared. Especially with the bosses out there, we’re going to have to take out some of them.”
It’s not going to be an easy fight, that’s why I’ve trained the members of the Ego Stream so far.
“I guess it’s really starting now…”
Seo-Eun sighed, as if she could already see the struggle ahead and I tried to comfort her.
“Still, if we can get through this, we’ll be able to get some real rest for a while, so let’s just do our best.”
“…So we’re going to be traveling?”
“Yeah. Of course.”
In response to my answer, Seo Eun clenched her fists as if she was suddenly motivated.
“Okay, I’ll do my best.”
“We will, too, Da-in.”
Soobin replied while smiling warmly.
Then Choi Se-hee and Ha-yul nodded beside her.
…The atmosphere is energized at the mention of being able to take a break after everything is done.
“Okay, finally…something interesting.”
[Haha, a battle sounds like fun!]
Seo Jae-young and our Desik are getting into it…
Eun-wol was the only one sitting calmly.
Anyway, I sat down at the long conference room desk and looked at them all.
I rested my chin on the desk and said.
“So, from now on, I’m going to tell you what each of you needs to do.”
And just like that, from that day forward we, the Ego Stream, pulled out all the stops and began to put our full weight towards dealing with the Moonlight Church.
Yes. We’re done talking so now we must think about what Korea can do to avert disaster.
With that, I started making phone calls.
I already talked to Lee Seola, so, yeah.
[Association President]
Now, it’s time to meet the president once again.
***
The control tower of the Association’s main headquarters.
The Association’s secret sub-control center, far away from…Blue House Underground Bunker In the unenviable position of the Association’s hidden underground sub-control center.
The head of the association was secretly meeting with a figure.
“…So, why did you call me?”
The man wiping sweat from his bald head was the president and on the other side of him was a black hat and white mask.
“Greetings, Mr. President.”
It was Egostic, the highest-ranked villain in Korea.
Of course, he was not alone.
“Egostic, are you here?”
A woman with light blue hair that didn’t belong in a dark bunker was sipping a cup of coffee and giggling.
She was none other than the A-rank heroine, Icicle.
“…Egostic. Long time no see.”
Sitting across from her, nodding, was a man with dark circles, the A-rank hero Shadow Walker.
“Well…Two out of three of our A-rank heroes are with a villain. The world is coming to an end.”
“…Haha.”
And then, as the president of the association sighed in disbelief that his heroes were greeting an A-class villain in a friendly manner, Icicle smiled smugly.
Egostic turned serious and began to speak.
“The reason I’ve called you all here today is, of course, because there is a great catastrophe ahead, and I want the Association to help prevent it, if only for my sake.”
“So, let the explanation begin.”
Just like that, somewhere underground, in the Association’s control center three A-rank heroes and villains and the President of the Association were gathered, and the convention was about to begin.
***
“The Association President isn’t here…?”
“Yep. He went out somewhere after being contacted.”
“I see…”
“I haven’t gotten a call from Seola since earlier…
And that time.
Stardus, who was looking for Icicle and the President of the Association, was feeling a little lonely…