Chapter 284: Acceptances

Chapter 284: Acceptances

Stardus walked silently in the labyrinth created by Dungeon Maker while holding tightly to Egostic hand.

"...."

She walked down the hall, pushing the sound of her pounding heart away.

She didn't know if her heart was beating faster or slower because of how wonderful it was to hold hands like this.

Only that her palm and his were pressed together, like they were glued together.

Feeling his cold skin slowly warmed by her warm hand and his fingers curl around the back of her hand made her heart throb.

Stardus was only silently aware that her heart was still beating for some reason.

...Thank goodness it was dark so he couldn't see her flushed face.

With that, Stardus walked down the darkened hallway, holding tightly to his hand.

As she watched him walk straight ahead, hand in hand, without hesitation, she silently thought to herself.

...Apparently, Egostic knows the system of this labyrinth and there were fewer things he didn't know before now.

That means he came here for her own good. He's always flown in when she was in danger, as if he knew.

Why is he doing this to me?

...What does he think of me?

Stardus held hands with him, feeling the warmth of his body slowly returning, just the two of them walking together, their bare flesh touching, in a place where no one else was.

Stardus wondered more and more about him and soon she decided to take this opportunity, which might never come again, to ask him the question she'd always wanted to ask.

"Hey, Egostic."

"...Yeah? What's wrong?"

He flinched slightly at her words, and answered.

Hearing him ask himself that question she paused for a moment, wondering what to say. Then she blurted out the question she'd been dying to ask.

"...Why do you keep me?"

That's what she wanted to ask.

What does he think of her, that he would go to such lengths for her? What purpose...Or some kind of emotion.

Today, she wanted to hear the answer.

"...Haha, what do you mean, what did I do to help you?"

Egostic scowled but she explained, quietly and carefully, everything he had done so far. From the Moonlight Church to his work in the basement of the HanEun Group, and why he would go to such lengths.

Stardus asked, turning to the Egostic who held his hand in hers, for once she wanted to hear the truth.

"......"

After a moment of silence at her question he opened his mouth again, and said nonchalantly.

"That's because you're my archnemesis."

"...That explains it."

Stardus was about to retort as usual but Egostic cut her off with a slight chuckle.

In the darkness, still holding her hand, he said.

"And because you mean something to me."

"..."

As his words echoed down the hall and before Stardus, dazed by the words, could reply, "No."

"I'm a villain, and you know it."

He was a villain, he said, but that wasn't the point.

"That's why you're important to me, Stardus, because, as I've said before, you make me complete."

"To me, you mean more than anything else, which is why I don't want you to get hurt, Stardus."

He smiles, speaking as if he's confiding in himself and Stardus could feel it in his words, could feel it in his gut, could feel it in the throbbing of his hand against hers that there was no falsehood in his words that he meant what he said, that she mattered, one hundred percent.

...In fact, it was absurd.

A villain valuing a hero doesn't make sense. If other heroes had heard this, they might have dismissed it as bullshit. Even if he meant it, they'd think he was a weirdo and be offended.

But

I wonder why.

"......"

Hearing his words, her heart beat even faster than before.

I was important to him.

He was right to think of me as special.

...I wasn't the only one.

And with that, every bit of insecurity she'd ever felt disappeared as Egostic assurance that she was special.

She could feel something warm in the pit of her stomach.

She knew this relationship wasn't normal and that a hero could feel this way about a villain...For a villain to feel this way about a hero.

Still.

'...Yeah. He's not a villain he's Egostic.'

Considering what he's done so far, even if he's a villain, he can't be called evil. In fact, he could be considered a good man because he protected the world.

That's how she justified herself.

She could only say, "Yes..." to his words since she wasn't sure what else she should say.

"...."

With that, Stardus walked hand-in-hand with Egostic for a long time feeling her own heart continue to pound and trying to calm her flushed cheeks.

***

It had been quite a while since Stardus had walked with his hand in hers.

A few monsters jumped out at them during that time, but other than that there were no major threats.

Finally, they reached a white room at the end of the corridor.

"Well, this place seems safe for now."

And so, now that they had finally reached the light source, she casually let go of his hand.

...Somehow, when she let go of his hand, the air against her palm chilled, and she felt like she missed something.

A little more...

'...What am I thinking?'

Stardus, who had been thinking such thoughts, said, trying to pull herself together.

She was keeping her expression as calm as she could right now. She mustn't break down here.

"...What is this room for?"

Once she said that, she looked around and said so.

...With a sense of regret that she'd already been separated from her Egostic.

Yeah.

Still, she'd gotten to know him more today: she knew he was sincere, and that he cared about her.

Just as she was thinking those thoughts.

-BANG.

The door they'd walked through together was slammed shut by a white door that descended from nowhere.

Just like that, she and Egostic were trapped in a closed room.

'...What is it?

She wondered in disbelief.

An electronic board on one wall of the white room suddenly began to glow and then, just as suddenly words popped out, words that spelled out the terms of her escape.

When Stardus saw it,

".....?"

For a moment, her thoughts came to a standstill.

*

[A room where you can't leave without kissing each other.]

*

"Wait, what is that...?"

The words came out of the wall, shining proudly and it took Stardus a moment to realize what they meant.

So, if you want to get out of this room, kiss...? With Egostic?

The moment she understood the words, Stardus felt the blood rush to her head.

"...?"

Shin Haru's head was already broken.

She had no tolerance for this kind of thing, so she blushed and started thinking all sorts of things in her head.

".....Uh, yeah. Um..."

No, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no... No, it's not, isn't it? Even friends kiss each other these days. Is it okay? It can't be okay. But, uh, if it's the only way to get out of here, I have to. I have to, yeah, I have to do it, right? I don't want to do it, but if I have to, yeah. I have to. I have to. I have to... Yeah, just once, as a villainous gesture, I'd like to... I'd like to... I'd like to...Even if it's just a kiss.

As she thought about it, her face reddened and her eyes glazed over.

She glanced in his direction.

"...."

And so it was with Egostic, who was standing, arms crossed, jaw set, thinking about something.

Their eyes met and he walked towards her.

"Stardus."

"Uh, huh?"

Seeing him walking toward him with such a serious look on his face Stardus felt her heart beating like crazy, her face flushed, and her mind racing.

Ha, am I doing it, right here, right now? I've never done it before, I don't know how to do it... Still, with Egostic...Mmm...

And that's when she stumbled backwards and touched the wall, her hands clasped across her chest, her face flushed to the tips of her ears and her eyes trembling as she looked up at him and tried to close them.

He stood in front of her.

"...I found it."

And with those words, he suddenly clenched his fist against the wall and threw a blow.

-Kaaaaaaaahhhh.

With the sound of something collapsing, the wall behind her collapsed.

"...?"

Stardus' eyes widened as she looked behind him, not yet comprehending the situation.

Egostic, who had walked over, looked in her direction and chuckled.

"Stardus, there's a path here, follow me!"

"...?"

Seeing that smiling expression on his face, Stardus suddenly sobered up and asked.

"...Is it a condition that we have to kiss...?"

"Of course you don't have to, thank goodness, haha. I'm sure Stardus wouldn't want to lock lips with me either, right?"

Seeing Egostic say that while smiling Stardus felt something drain from her body.

No. Then my resolve and thoughts are....And.

Maybe that's why, lost in thought, Stardus pressed a finger to her lips and muttered.

"...I don't mind, as long as it's with you."

"What?"

"Oh, it's nothing."

She looked at Egostic, who, as usual, didn't seem to hear her.

Stardus shook her head and followed him out.

"...."

Okay, good. Thank...God.

I'm glad I don't have to.

Stardus thought to herself as she followed Egostic into the strange unknown.

Quietly, she thought to herself.

...That's good, isn't it?

I'm glad. I'm... glad.

Why?

Why do I feel so disappointed?

***

As usual, I've found a loophole in the villain's perception and smashed through the walls of the Labyrinth.

I'm walking toward the exit, looking ahead, with Stardus trailing behind me.

"....."

-Pounding. Pounding.

'...I don't mind, as long as it's with you.'

I thought of Stardus' muttering, which I had just heard so I stumbled forward, trying to suppress the pounding in my chest as best I could.

...I must have misheard her, right?

Surely...

***

*

[???????]

[Is she finally going crazy? Why is she holding her head and leaning against the wall?]

[I don't know what it is, but she looks like a dog...]

[Dungeon Maker<<<<<Is she bipolar? Why is she giggling to herself and then suddenly shotgunning the wall?]

[What the hell happened in there to make her look so bad?]

[I don't know why, but it feels good anyway lol taste the pain of a million viewers!]

[(Scary fact) Somehow I have a feeling that what happened in there isn't exactly a good thing for us either...]

*