-----------------------------------------------------------------
Translator: Vine
Chapter Title: Unleashing the Power
-----------------------------------------------------------------
While it would be good to immediately launch a terror attack and confront Stardust again,
To do that, there's something essential we need to do.
"Come inside."
"....Where is this?"
Choi Se-hee looked at me, her guard up.
Late at night, I had teleported us here, holding her, to a private house.
More precisely, it was the place with the underground base beneath it.
"It's my house."
"....Right."
She followed quietly, in a strangely resigned state.
What on earth had turned such a strong-willed woman into this?
I couldn't quite grasp what had happened in just one week.
Well, I guess it's for the best. Better than her constantly resisting.
As she docilely followed me into the house, I was about to show her a whole new world.
"Alright, step in here."
"Uh-huh..."
Choi Se-hee and I entered the teleportation device located in the room.
Her head tilted slightly at the sight of the extremely strange-looking machine sitting inexplicably in the middle of the house, but she entered the capsule without a word.
With the device activated.
With a slight dizzying sensation, we emerged from the capsule.
When we entered, the surroundings had clearly been a residential house.
But when we came out, a magnificent mansion nestled among mountains stretched out before our eyes.
"....Where is this now?"
"This is my real house."
I have two houses.
I said that and headed towards the forest in front of the mansion.
She glanced at the mansion, then followed me.
And so, a man and a woman entered deeper into the forest, in the middle of a dark mountain valley.
She, who had been following me without a word, stopped when I did. It was as if she'd do whatever I told her to.
....No, seriously, what's wrong with her? This isn't her usual character. No matter how I think about it, it makes no sense for her to have changed so much in just one week. It feels awkward, really.
"Ahem."
Anyway, having stopped in the middle of the forest, I spoke to her, who was staring blankly at me, looking a little eager.
"Alright. There's no one here right now. It's just the two of us, and there's nothing watching us either."
"So?"
"Here, you can use your power to your heart's content. Electricity, try releasing it as much as you want."
"....Didn't you say we were going to launch a terror attack?"
"Who said we're doing a terror attack right away? We need to go through preliminary preparations first. Try it out to your heart's content. Full power."
"To my heart's content?"
"Yes."
When I told her to unleash her power completely freely, as much as she wanted, she hesitated instead.
Right, of course. She'd never used her power to its fullest in her life. It must feel new to finally do it. A little scary, a little thrilling.
I nodded, encouraging her as she hesitated slightly. "Go on, hurry!"
Seeing me, she soon took a deep breath and began to extend her hand.
At the same time, sparks began to fly from her hand.
"Haaah..."
As she finally let go and unleashed her power freely, electricity flashed from her fingertips.
Simultaneously.
Crackle—.
To everywhere around her.
Electricity shot out from her entire body, like lightning.
Streams of electricity surged forth, like a fountain.
Not stopping there, her entire body began to be engulfed in electricity.
Then, as if something had snapped inside her.
Sparks, like lightning bolts, began to flash and extend throughout the entire forest.
"Oooh...."
And I watched, admiring it from a distance.
It was such a spectacle that I almost wished I had popcorn.
Electricity poured out around her like a giant dome, and doing so in the dark night made it look like a fireworks display. Only black and yellow were visible before my eyes.
Streams of electricity branched out and scattered into the air, completely destroying the surrounding trees, creating utter chaos.
Of course, I wasn't just admiring it. I was also simultaneously checking the power of her electrical attacks. And the conclusion I reached was.
'As expected, she's strong.'
The power was considerable.
Even with years of pent-up power, continuously emitting that much current was incredible. And the sheer force of it, capable of shattering a tree with a single burst, spoke for itself.
Having lived for decades without being able to release that much electricity, struggling alone, it was only natural for her to be stressed and sensitive. Like a crane among chickens, such talent cannot be hidden forever.
After the fireworks display, which had lasted for a while, ended.
Now, having apparently released enough to be satisfied, she reabsorbed all the electricity.
I, who had been standing at a distance, only approached her after it was all over.
"Haa... haa..."
She was slumped on the ground, gasping for breath.
To her, I handed over a bottle of mineral water I had prepared beforehand.
"Are you satisfied? Here, have some water."
"Oh? Uh, thank you."
Sweating and with slightly unfocused eyes, she had been sitting slumped, but as soon as she received the water bottle I handed her, she immediately gulped it down.
Her face flushed red, she took her mouth from the water bottle.
Her orange hair was plastered to her neck with sweat, and she had been gasping for a while, clearly exhausted... but her expression looked incredibly refreshed.
Right, how good must it feel to finally unleash her powers without restraint for the first time? In the original story, she didn't get this chance and ended up doing this in the middle of the city late at night, which led to her being captured and sent to a detention center.
Now, she had fully indulged her destructive instincts, smashing every single tree around her. The grass on the ground was all scorched black.
To her, still sitting on the ground, I extended my hand and said.
"If you join me... you won't have to hide your abilities anymore, not ever again. You're not an ordinary person. You can never live by suppressing your own talent. Only by being with us will you truly be able to live as your authentic self."
"....The 'terror' you're talking about, it's not about harming people, is it?"
"No. I'm a pacifist, you see."
"For someone who says that, you've done quite a lot already, haven't you?"
Even while retorting sarcastically, she took my hand and stood up.
To her, I simply said with a smile.
"Welcome to Ego Squad, Choi Se-hee."
"What's Ego Squad now...."
***
So, we've got the ability user, let's launch a terror attack right away!
...That's what I wished for, but reality isn't that easy.
Before a terror attack, there's a lot to do: preliminary preparations, time analysis, planning, and so on.
And Choi Se-hee also needed training for her abilities.
"....You can fly by shooting electricity at the ground?"
"Yeah. Imagine yourself wrapped in electricity, then shooting it towards the ground."
"Uh-huh.... Oh, it works?"
Under my special training, utilizing knowledge from the original story, she grew rapidly.
She hadn't used her abilities for so long that she didn't even know how to utilize them, so I stuck by her and coached her.
Of course, we dropped the honorifics ages ago. We'd be seeing each other every day from now on, and maintaining a formal speech pattern... my patience for it was wearing thin...
"Haa, haa."
"Here, a towel."
"Unnie, here's water!"
"Hmph. Thanks."
So, while undergoing special training for her abilities, she also ended up staying at my mansion for a while.
Becoming friends with Seo-eun was a bonus.
"Hey. Go wash up quickly. You stink."
"What did you say? Why are you picking a fight?"
Avoiding her glaring eyes, I pretended not to notice and turned to head back to the mansion. By the way, she'd also gotten much closer to me than before. It would be stranger if we *didn't* get close after spending all day training together.
Just then, electricity grazed past me. That crazy bitch!
"Ack! Hey! What are you doing shooting that at me! I'm a civilian!"
"Bullshit. Why are you a civilian? Come here, I'll show you the difference in our power today."
"Seo-eun, save me! She's trying to kill me!"
"....Se-hee unnie. Just blast him with 100,000 volts."
"Even you, Han Seo-eun!"
It felt like there were fewer and fewer trustworthy people in the house!
Anyway, time passed quite quickly like this.
Choi Se-hee wasn't as adept at using her abilities as I'd expected, so sticking by her and coaching her every step took more time than anticipated. Well, time was something I had plenty of anyway. There was still a long way to go before Kim Seon-woo pulled his stunt, so taking our time wasn't an issue.
Choi Se-hee adapted quite well to life in the house.
Since she had worked in the service industry right after graduation, she got along well with everyone, not just Seo-eun, but also Ms. Su-bin and Ha-yul. Especially since she had quit her part-time job and was wandering, unsure of what to do, she fell prey to Seo-eun's devilish temptation and became engrossed in gaming.
"....Playing games is fine, but shouldn't you be sleeping at night?"
"Yes...."
"We're sorry, Unnie...."
Of course, there was also the incident where they both stayed up all night gaming and got caught and scolded by Ms. Su-bin. Idiots. They should've escaped around 5 AM like me.
"But Dain Oppa also played with us until dawn."
"....Dain, really?"
...
Of course, I got scolded along with them, thanks to the traitor.
Anyway, a month had already passed since Choi Se-hee started staying with us.
Finally, after a long time, I gathered everyone in the meeting room below the underground base.
...
Four pairs of eyes watched me.
Before them, I opened my mouth and declared.
"Alright. Today, finally, let's prepare for a new terror attack."
The curtain rose on Egoistic's new concept of outsourced terror.
The era of solo terror attacks was over.
The era of collaboration terror was coming.
And so, I explained the plan to them.
Once she had heard everything, Choi Se-hee opened her mouth and said one thing.
"....Isn't this just me doing everything from start to finish?"
"Yep. That's right."
I need some rest too.
This time, you do it.