I Became The Villain The Hero Is Obsessed With

Chapter 408:

Inky

In that clay-like darkness, I slept next to dying embers that were about to go out soon.

A flame burning precariously, as if the end were near.

I wonder how long that flame can burn like that.

How long can it keep its faint glow?

I seemed to think, dazedly.

And then, slowly, it was time to wake up.

I thought I heard a voice saying.

***

"…Pa. Da-in? Oh….. How are you?"

"…In? Da-in. You….There."

"Here…. Get him…."

Ugh. What the hell does this mean?

…Somehow, after what felt like a deep sleep, I woke up groggily to the loud noises around me.

"Uh!!! You're awake!!"

I struggled to open my eyes to the bright light, and all I could see was.

"Egostic!! Hmph, you're finally awake…"

"…I told you, Egostic would wake up."

"Da-in!!! Hmph, hmph, hmph. Thank God, hmph. Thank God…"

"Da-in…You're awake, are you okay?"

Stardus, standing beside me, sobbing and holding my hand.

…Celeste, wearing a nonchalant expression, but visibly relieved.

Seo-Eun, sobbing into my chest, looking up at me.

Soobin, who is looking at me with a tired expression, full of dark circles.

"Da-in. Finally…I'm so, so relieved."

"You're finally awake. I… I thought you'd never wake up, you know…"

With an equally tired look on her face, Ha-yul smiles faintly at me.

…and Choi Se-hee, looking down at me angrily and crying.

"Everyone, what's going on…? Ugh."

Looking up at them like that, I tried to get up, but the pain I felt instantly made me lie back down.

"Da-in, don't strain yourself, don't move, doctor, when is the doctor coming?"

"Egotistic…Thank God, hmph."

Lying there in bed, looking at the white walls and people's expressions, I finally remembered.

I must have passed out.

"…Patient, you're awake? Let's see!"

After that, I rubbed my eyes as I heard the doctors rushing over.

…Apparently, there were a lot of things I needed to hear.

***

"…What, it's been a week since I collapsed?"

"That's right."

After a quick checkup by the doctors, I was told that I was fine, except for a little weakness.

And the most shocking thing I heard was that I had been down for a week.

After I vomited up blood and collapsed, I couldn't wake up no matter what I did, so I was in a panic for a while.

…I don't know how this information got out, but it got out, and Korea was in a panic.

Of course, that wasn't what I wanted to know.

"…The angels, they're all gone?"

"Yep. After I defeated their apparent overlord, they all turned to light and disappeared."

So much for the massive angel attack.

Fortunately, when Stardus captured their boss, who looked like a white Buddha statue, they all burst into light and disappeared.

It was a surprise attack, and everyone took a lot of damage…but it's a good thing it was over.

For reference, Seo-Eun's one-line comment about the white Buddha statue-like monster she showed me was.

"…Hmm."

Who the hell is this guy?

Even I, a true fan who has memorized the original manga, couldn't figure out who he was.

…He resembles Buddha, which makes sense since the setting of this world is one where all religions are influenced by Trinitarianism, the gods of the sun, moon, and stars.

That doesn't mean I saw this guy in the original.

"…."

So, naturally, this was an issue that got me to pause.

An all-out assault of angels that wasn't in the original….and a new sun god beast that wasn't in the original.

Clearly, things were going in a different direction.

The only question was.

‘…This?’

How did they do it?

As I understand it, in the original, the Sun God had already used the limit of his power to attack.

That's why Stardus was able to defeat him in the ending scene.

…Of course, the world had already been destroyed by then, so it was effectively a victory for the Sun God.

‘After all, in the original story, the Sun God was not annihilated, but rather had used up most of his power and disappeared…’

Of course, it was a de facto defeat, but whatever.

In the original, when the Sun God admitted defeat and retreated, it was said that he had continued to use his power to the limit.

In other words, if he could have done this, he would have done it long ago in the original.

‘Of course, the angels had stopped attacking for the time being, so you'd think they'd have gathered their strength and attacked all at once…’

Indeed, that was what everyone was thinking right now.

…I, who knew the original story, thought differently.

That's how much power it took to release so many angels and the new creature?

No. This wasn't the kind of raid that could be organized in a few days. It was clearly an offensive that exceeded the original.

The number of angels that came all at once was probably more than the number of angels that would have come steadily at this time in the original, and the White Buddha seemed really strong.

How on earth did the Sun God generate power beyond his own limits?

…Was there a factor other than the original? Did he hide his power? Did someone else support him? Or…

While I was sitting on the bed in the hospital room, pondering these unanswered questions with a serious face.

"…Da-in, are you thinking about work again?"

That stern voice that I heard at that time.

The voice woke me up from my thoughts, and when I looked up, I saw Soobin with an unusually stern expression approaching me and saying.

"…No, the patient needs to rest, come on. Lie down on the bed and don't think about anything."

"Uh, wait…"

"Quickly."

With that, Soobin gently pushed my shoulder, and I was forced to lie down on the hospital bed again.

…From what I heard, Soobin nursed me back to health for a whole week while I was down.

Maybe that's why it was so hard for me to resist.

Eventually, as I leaned back on the fluffy bed, I heard a voice beside me agree.

"…Soobin is right, the patient needs to rest."

In the chair next to my bed, Stardus sits and nods.

She's been coming every day, except when she was doing hero stuff while I was down.

I feel a little guilty for worrying everyone so much, especially since they're counting on me.

"The others are coming right after work."

Anyway, as I flopped down on the bed, Seo-eun, still tapping away at her smartphone with red eyes, said.

“Hmm. If Egostic is better, they should come right away. I don’t know what they’re doing.”

And Celeste, dressed in a saint's robe, crossing her arms and muttering that, as if that's not bad enough.

I looked at her, and suddenly realized something.

…Come to think of it, we're all here now, aren't we?

Stardus is sitting next to me, her hand on my arm.

Celeste is standing next to me along with Seo-eun and Soobin while Ha-yul is dozing off in the chair in front of me.

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As a side note, Ha-Yul tried to heal me as much as she could with her healing powers, but it didn't work at all. But thanks to that, I guess the trauma isn't visible. ƒreewebηoveℓ.com

Anyway, seeing them stick together so naturally, I was hopeful. Had they gotten closer while I was down?

"Da-in. Da-in, you may look fine on the outside, but you're not on the inside, and I can tell you that because I've been around you for the past few years."

"…You put an odd emphasis on years?"

"Ha. It doesn't matter how many years I've been with you, it's how close you've been to me recently."

"Yeah. You're right, but I've been living in the same house with Da-in for a lot longer than you guys have, haha."

…Or is it?

I shivered as I watched Soobin reply with a smile….That's right. She wasn't the kind of person to lose.

…Still, even though they were trying to stare each other down with fire in their eyes, they were definitely closer than before. After all, with physical distance comes psychological closeness, and if they get closer like this, everyone will be fine without me.

As I was thinking about that, Seo-eun, who had put down her cell phone, spoke up.

"…Whatever. Stop thinking about the world for a second and tell me about your body. What kind of power did you use? I just saw a black spider web fly out."

"Oh."

That's what happened.

At Seo-Eun's words, I silently thought back to the day we were attacked.

…The attack itself was definitely unlucky.

It happened so quickly, in just about three minutes, with no heroes nearby.

Still, it was only a few minutes after I went down that another hero came to our rescue, but it was too late.

…Of course, my lack of preparation was also my fault.

First of all, the existence of teleportation caught me off guard. Even if angels appeared, all it took was teleportation.

The problem was that I never summoned Halo, my bodyguard, or Behemoth in front of the angels because I didn't know what would happen to Halo, who was the captain of the angels in the original story, if she came into contact with them…Behemoth is kind of like a bulletproof vest in the first place, so it's not much help against hundreds of angels.

Anyway, in that situation, I reached out to use telekinesis to save Seo-eun and Soobin.

…For some reason, instead of telekinesis, a black light emanated from my body.

A black light that I had seen once before, the day I heard Stardus' true intentions.

…I wonder if this is my new power, awakened in preparation for the Sun God.

‘……'

The sensation I felt when I used my powers, as if my life force was accelerating in real time.

When I thought about it, it was quite…dangerous…especially since I coughed up a lot of black blood when it was over.

I really thought I was going to die.

Still, it's good to have new powers, I suppose, and I'll have plenty of use for them in the future!

I abbreviated it and summarized it for those in front of me.

Soon after I finished.

"….."

There was a moment of silence, and then Seo-eun muttered with dead eyes.

"Da-in, don't leave this hospital until the Sun God comes."

No, why?

I protested in disbelief, but the other women nodded in agreement.

…It was so unfair.

Just like that, against my will, I was locked up.