I Became The Villain The Hero Is Obsessed With

424 – If We Can Meet Again

The Underworld.

…A place where the sky maintains its pitch-black night with only a single tiny star shining desolately next to the moon.

Beneath where a chilly wind blows,

…Stardeus continues to walk with a blank expression.

Around her, continuously, other transparent souls sit with languid expressions.

Without even giving them a glance, walking the giant gorge’s path,

Stardeus, again today, wandered the Underworld following her intuition.

A long time had passed.

It had really been a long time since she arrived in the Underworld.

So long that she no longer remembered how long she’d been here.

‘…Ugh. Stardeus… I’m sorry. Please, be sure to find Mr. Dain…’

A while ago,

For a while, the Ego Stream members who had traveled with her, perhaps because they weren’t divine like her, had finally reached their physical limits and departed one by one.

From that time, Stardeus had been wandering this afterworld alone.

Just to find one person.

“…….”

Egoistic. Dain. The man who she valued more than anyone, who also possessed the power of the stars.

Therefore, Stardeus, who gained the ability to detect those with star power, wandered the Underworld again today, toward the direction her intuition pointed, where the soul with star power was felt.

Of course, every time she arrived with hope,

‘Hmm…? Oh, who are you?’

She met different people than she expected, which was problematic.

Souls.

These souls, taking on the most intact form before death, unlike humans, possessed distinct characteristics.

Besides their transparent bodies,

…they were here without all the desires they had while living in the mortal world.

So most souls, having forgotten all desires, just sat or stood with drowsy expressions.

Without pain or grudge. Appearing peaceful.

Even the somewhat active ones just occasionally conversed with the soul next to them. Most simply stood or sat. Except in very rare cases, they didn’t even move.

And seeing them, there was a time when she was pale, thinking what if Dain was in that state and didn’t want to go back.

…But now, all those worries were meaningless.

From the start. Finding Egoistic seemed futile.

A lot of time passed.

During that time, she met various people with star power.

She continued to meet those who were in this vast Underworld, each one separated by impossibly long distances, exceeding thousands.

Those people, all with various personalities,

Mostly, perhaps because they were children of the star god who loved humans,

Most of them had been noble heroes who saved humanity in their lives.

From noble mtl dot com

‘…Hmm? Did you come to find me, child? It’s been a long time since I met a star child like me.’

Meeting them like that,

At first, Stardeus, disappointed that they were not Egoistic, quickly moved to the next target.

…But after surpassing a hundred, star souls seeing her tired expression started speaking to her first.

And most of them thanked her.

‘Yes… You’re trying to find someone you love. I hope you find them. You can do it.’

Looking uninterested at the souls encouraging her like that, she had not found Egoistic all this while.

Wherever she felt star power, he was not there.

Even, while Egoistic wasn’t there, she did meet someone she knew.

‘…You.’

A Western man with blond hair, like most star children.

Laying surrounded by people, supporting his head with his arm, he mumbled blankly when he saw Stardeus.

Stardeus recognized him too.

…Ex Machina.

The one with the power to turn back time, a savior from her generation she saw on the news.

‘You failed too. …No, you’re alive. That’s fortunate. …This world survived, right?’

‘…Yeah. Yes. That’s fortunate. Really fortunate.’

Meeting a familiar face for the first time while wandering this vast world, she was amazed.

Ex Machina, softly asked her.

‘Looking at your expression… You’re looking for someone, aren’t you?’

And to that,

Stardust nodded,

speaking of searching for a man named Egoistic.

Somehow, either because she lived in the same era or because he seemed to know more than her,

she asked him a question upon his words.

In truth, he was a being from another world.

Could this point create a difference among other souls?

Ex Machina, with a sad smile, nodded and spoke.

He didn’t know much, but if Egoistic was a soul from another world, it wouldn’t be easy.

Even so, he would cheer for her.

Stardust accepted that, lifting into the sky once again.

And then, she thought quietly to herself,

“That was the last.”

The last star-powered soul she felt in this underworld.

Yes,

with Ex Machina as the last,

she had found all the star-powered souls she had sensed in this world.

And among them,

Egoistic was not found.

“…”

She did not believe it at first.

So she kept searching.

She kept revisiting the star-powered souls.

But still, the same ones she always saw were all that was there.

Egoistic was nowhere in this world.

“…Ah.”

In the middle of the underworld,

amongst numerous souls, with dead eyes,

she, alone and quietly, mumbled so.

“Now.”

Now… what to do?

Ever since she realized that fact,

in the peaceful underworld,

her own hell had begun.

Since then, she no longer flew through the sky to search.

She continuously walked without rest, examining the faces of nearby souls as she scoured the underworld.

Even though finding Egoistic among the star-powered souls had failed…

based on the belief that he must be somewhere in this world, unbeknownst to her,

she set out to find Egoistic, walking through the underworld for countless years.

In the process, she even encountered a few villains she had defeated herself,

by an enormous stroke of luck.

Even,

[“…Huh? Wait, over there! Yes, you! Stardust, isn’t it!”]

Meeting a villain… a soul? Death Knight.

The one in black knight armor, who stood beside a beautiful middle-aged woman,

…when she, surprised, approached him, he laughed heartily and spoke.

He had returned here to be with his wife.

And yet,

…he spoke with a stern expression.

[“And… seeing you here and that you’re searching for someone here, it must be that Egoistic, he’s dead, isn’t he.”]

[“I, having already broken the contract, don’t know his condition so I can’t be much help but… still, cheer up. I, too, will ask around amongst the souls.”]

[“…Hmm. They say his soul doesn’t feel present here. Yes… but still. You never know.”]

[“If it’s him as I know him, he surely left a message for you to find him. He’s that kind of person. So, keep hope and continue searching.”]

After parting ways post that conversation, she kept searching but,

…naturally, Egoistic was not found, and

the underworld continued to stretch out endlessly.

Death Knight could not be found again either.

So now,

“……”

Step by step.

Somewhere in the underworld’s canyon,

she was wandering somewhere in the underworld again today.

There was no sense of time.

Has several years passed? Or several decades? There was no concept of time in the state of a soul.

But, such tireless steps,

finally reached their limit.

“…Huh.”

Even today, as she walked expressionlessly, she suddenly shed tears.

“…He’s not here.”

Not here. Not here.

Not here not here not here not here not here not here.

“…He’s not here. Hic… Hic…”

With that,

she crumbled to her knees on the ground, weeping.

…her soul, too, finally reached its limit.

In fact, she had realized it some time ago, but only now accepted it.

Egoistic was not here.

…No. Surely, she felt it. Now, having been promoted to divinity, capable of sensing all activities of star power, the faint starlight she felt, even in realms she hadn’t searched.

But whether his soul was hidden, or whether the soul had gone to another world, she didn’t know.

What was certain was,

he was not in this underworld, including reality.

Anywhere.

As his energy was not felt here,

“…Should I go back?”

Should I return?

From noble mtl dot com

Should she return, having found nothing, only realizing the desperate truth that he was nowhere in this world?

From here,

should she give up?

She thought quietly like this.

Now, truly realizing that there was no hope,

realizing he was not in this place,

still.

What is there when she goes back?

“….”

The Underworld.

There, Stardust, looking up at the pitch-black night sky, thought so.

Originally, it was a life that had meaning because Egoistic was there.

If she returns to a world without him, what meaning is there?

Maybe it’s right that she just stays here forever.

Absentmindedly, while Stardust thought so,

‘…Miss Stardust.’

Somehow,

words Egoistic had once spoken seemed to echo in her ears.

“Can be done.”

“Close your fists, energize your legs, and fly to the sky to save people. You can do it. Because it’s you.”

“…hahahaha.”

The words Egoistic had said to her during a plane hijack, when she was about to give up.

Those words might have been the starting point of all the relationships between her and Egoistic.

“…Yes. I can’t give up here.”

So,

…Stardust, who seemed like she could collapse at any moment, soon shook herself off, wiped away her tears, and stood up again.

If Egoistic isn’t here,

she can just chase him to another world.

As she thought this and looked up at the pitch-black night sky,

“…Huh?”

That’s when

she realized something.

The pitch-black night sky.

There, next to the bright, large moon, perhaps a realm of the Moon God,

…a faint, small star was shining.

“…A star.”

A star. Why is it there?

…Until then, she had thought that the star was simply cheering her on and never thought much about it.

But now,

‘…If that moon signifies the Moon God, who created this afterworld from another dimension.’

What would that star signify?

A small star. Another dimension.

The place Egoistic came from was the moon’s dimension.

So, what happened to his soul?

If it’s not here, the soul must have gone to another world.

But, according to Egoistic,

it’s certain that beings from another world can’t return.

“…However, certainly.”

The souls of this world, after the body dies, must be automatically sent here.

So, Egoistic’s soul,

…certainly tried to go to the world he was born into after he died.

But, if he couldn’t go?

If he’s lingering somewhere else without reaching his intended destination?

“…..!”

Stardust, having thought up to that point,

soon realized something.

From noble mtl dot com

From the start, she had been thinking wrongly.

If it’s the Egoistic she knew. If it’s Dain.

…He always reached out to her during her most desperate times.

So even now, certainly, if he knew she was like this, he would come to her first. Because he hated seeing her suffer the most.

“…Ah.”

So, only then did she realize.

The small star she saw when she first came to this world.

…was continuously, faintly shining at her.

As if signaling her to come this way. Dimly but clearly, guiding her from the sky.

If I know him, he certainly left a message for you to find him.

“…Ahahahaha.”

Seeing that,

Stardust, for the first time since she arrived here, burst into a smile.

With tears brimming in her eyes, she soared towards the sky.

Finally,

hope appeared before her.

***

And so, even after that, a long time passed.

She traversed all spaces following the guidance of the faint star, even visiting fragments of various dimensions connected to the afterworld.

And then.

Finally.

Whooooooooooosh

Clang-

She arrived at a space.

“…Haah.”

Somewhere beyond the broken dimension wall, in a crevice of a warped dimension,

she landed, adjusting her wind-tousled blonde hair.

Under a sky, shattered like a broken windowpane, a small space opened up to a golden wheat field fluttering in the wind.

And at the end of it.

“…..”

…a man was.

Standing, looking at the blue sky, leaning back.

His back all too familiar to her.

And towards him.

“….”

…Stardust walked quietly.

Because.

…if she walked even a bit faster here,

she wouldn’t be able to suppress the rising emotions.

So when she arrived behind him,

…finally.

He turned around to look at her, smiling.

“…You’ve arrived.”

He, gazing at her with the gentle smile she always knew, said.

Seeing him like that,

she, swallowing the surging sobs,

smiled brightly and said,

“Yeah.”

“…hahahaha. So you have. You took a long time. It looks like you’ve been through a lot.”

To him, saying such things,

Stardust took one more step forward,

towards the person she had been continuously seeking,

letting a single tear fall, smiling, she took his hand and said,

“Yes… it took a long time. Really, really a long time. So, so…”

“Let’s go home now. To our home.”

At those words.

…Dain, who had been looking at her,

quietly smiled and nodded his head.

And at the same time.

The world was enveloped in light.