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* AndThenWhat: The comic version of Seo-eun went mad trying to destroy South Korea as a MisanthropeSupreme after the successful destruction of the Han-Eun group who tortured her and killed her friends.
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* AndThenWhat: AndThenWhat:[[spoiler: The comic version of Seo-eun went mad trying to destroy South Korea as a MisanthropeSupreme after the successful destruction of the Han-Eun group who tortured her and killed her friends.]]
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* ArcWords: Egostic referencing The Joker about how Stardus completes him as a villain, as well as her being a CosmicKeystone due to her theoretically infinite potential.
to:
* ArcWords: Egostic referencing The Joker about how Stardus completes him as a villain, as well as her being a [[spoiler: CosmicKeystone due to her theoretically infinite potential.potential]].
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** Mist was an avid watcher (and possibly commenter) on Egostic's streams before he recruits her.
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** Mist [[spoiler:Mist]] was an avid watcher (and possibly commenter) on Egostic's streams before he recruits her.
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* AudienceAlienatingEra: InUniverse, it was the Stardust! Arc where Moonlight Shaman ravaged Seoul over a dozen times where the heroes could do nothing about it, giving it a depressing tone.
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* AudienceAlienatingEra: InUniverse, it was the Stardust! Arc where Moonlight Shaman [[spoiler:Moonlight Shaman]] ravaged Seoul over a dozen times where the heroes could do nothing about it, giving it a depressing tone.
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* BerserkButton: For Stardus, it's other women getting along with Egostic, as she gradually becomes {{Yandere}}.
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* BerserkButton: For [[spoiler:For Stardus, it's other women getting along with Egostic, as she gradually becomes {{Yandere}}.]]
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* BirdsOfAFeather: Icicle liking Egostic and the two so easily getting along at first, in contrast to the OppositesAttract mutual attraction between him and Stardus.
* BlessedWithSuck: Egostic's powers, when overused, are really bad for his health.
* BloodFromTheMouth: A perpetual problem Egostic gets from using his powers too much. Gets him suspected of an IncurableCoughOfDeath.
* BlessedWithSuck: Egostic's powers, when overused, are really bad for his health.
* BloodFromTheMouth: A perpetual problem Egostic gets from using his powers too much. Gets him suspected of an IncurableCoughOfDeath.
to:
* BirdsOfAFeather: [[spoiler: Icicle liking Egostic and the two so easily getting along at first, in contrast to the OppositesAttract mutual attraction between him and Stardus.
Stardus]]]
* BlessedWithSuck:Egostic's [[spoiler:Egostic's powers, when overused, are really bad for his health.
health.]]
* BloodFromTheMouth: A perpetual problemEgostic [[spoiler:Egostic]] gets from using his powers too much. Gets him suspected of an IncurableCoughOfDeath.
* BlessedWithSuck:
* BloodFromTheMouth: A perpetual problem
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* CastFromHitpoints: Egostic's powers work like this when he pushes his limits, leading to HeroicRROD and BloodFromTheMouth.
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* CastFromHitpoints: [[spoiler: Egostic's powers work like this when he pushes his limits, leading to HeroicRROD and BloodFromTheMouth.]]
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* CosmicKeystone: Egostic repeatedly proclaims this about Stardus, with her virtually unlimited potential. This is why he is so serious about training her through adversity, because she must eventually face down PhysicalGod enemies that threaten the world.
to:
* CosmicKeystone: Egostic repeatedly proclaims this about Stardus, with her virtually unlimited potential. This [[spoiler:This is why he is so serious about training her through adversity, because she must eventually face down PhysicalGod enemies that threaten the world.]]
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''I Became The Villain The Hero Is Obsessed With'' is a comedic Korean WebSerialNovel published on Novelpia and completed at 425 chapters. A man named Da-in, wakes up [[MediaTransmigration inside the universe]] of his favorite SuperHero comic, ''Stardust!'', and decides to dedicate his life to his favorite titular superhero ... as her ArchNemesis! Using the powers of MindOverMatter and PsychicTeleportation, along with his knowledge of future events, and a sense of theatrics, Da-in adopts the pseudonym of Egostic and begins systematically paving the way for her future, murdering her worst villains, and [[EngineeredHeroics presenting staged challenges]] to make her grow in power in a way that won't be so painful for her as her bleak comic story-line. Along the way, he recruits several colorful villains to his side using his knowledge of interfere in their StartOfDarkness, and earn their loyalty.
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''I Became The Villain The Hero Is Obsessed With'' is a comedic Korean WebSerialNovel published on Novelpia and completed concluded at 425 chapters. A man named Da-in, wakes up [[MediaTransmigration inside the universe]] of his favorite SuperHero comic, ''Stardust!'', and decides to dedicate his life to his favorite titular superhero ... as her ArchNemesis! Using the powers of MindOverMatter and PsychicTeleportation, along with his knowledge of future events, and a sense of theatrics, Da-in adopts the pseudonym of Egostic and begins systematically paving the way for her future, murdering her worst villains, and [[EngineeredHeroics presenting staged challenges]] to make her grow in power in a way that won't be so painful for her as her bleak comic story-line. Along the way, he recruits several colorful villains to his side using his knowledge of interfere in their StartOfDarkness, and earn their loyalty.
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Spell My Name With An S has been cut/disambiguated.
Deleted line(s) 227 (click to see context) :
* SpellMyNameWithAnS: DiscussedTrope. Stardus submitted her hero Identity to the government as Stardust, but they insisted on it being Stardus because it flows better in Korean characters (and thus better for publicity).
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''I Became The Villain The Hero Is Obsessed With'' is a comedic Korean WebSerialNovel about a man named Da-in, who wakes up [[MediaTransmigration inside the universe]] of his favorite SuperHero comic, ''Stardust!'', and decides to dedicate his life to his favorite titular superhero … as her ArchNemesis! Using the powers of MindOverMatter and PsychicTeleportation, along with his knowledge of future events, and a sense of theatrics, Da-in adopts the pseudonym of Egostic and begins systematically paving the way for her future, murdering her worst villains, and [[EngineeredHeroics presenting staged challenges]] to make her grow in power in a way that won’t be so painful for her as her bleak comic story-line. Along the way, he recruits several colorful villains to his side using his knowledge of interfere in their StartOfDarkness, and earn their loyalty.
to:
''I Became The Villain The Hero Is Obsessed With'' is a comedic Korean WebSerialNovel about a published on Novelpia and completed at 425 chapters. A man named Da-in, who wakes up [[MediaTransmigration inside the universe]] of his favorite SuperHero comic, ''Stardust!'', and decides to dedicate his life to his favorite titular superhero … as her ArchNemesis! Using the powers of MindOverMatter and PsychicTeleportation, along with his knowledge of future events, and a sense of theatrics, Da-in adopts the pseudonym of Egostic and begins systematically paving the way for her future, murdering her worst villains, and [[EngineeredHeroics presenting staged challenges]] to make her grow in power in a way that won’t be so painful for her as her bleak comic story-line. Along the way, he recruits several colorful villains to his side using his knowledge of interfere in their StartOfDarkness, and earn their loyalty.
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Updating Link
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** Seo-eun’s Starbuster MiniMecha armor series is clearly based on the ''Franchise/IronMan'' Hulkbuster suits.
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** Seo-eun’s Starbuster MiniMecha armor series is clearly based on the ''Franchise/IronMan'' ''ComicBook/IronMan'' Hulkbuster suits.
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Hurting Hero is a disambiguation
Deleted line(s) 117 (click to see context) :
* HurtingHero: The A class heroes of Korea all seem to have major {{Angst}}, in contrast to the relatively better adjusted Ego Stream. And that’s despite Egostic going around having SetRightWhatOnceWentWrong.
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* WhatKindOfLamePowerIsHeartAnyway: It’s mentioned a few times that the most common superpowers are pretty useless in battle, things like reversing plant growth or heating an area.
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Added DiffLines:
''I Became The Villain The Hero Is Obsessed With'' is a comedic Korean WebSerialNovel about a man named Da-in, who wakes up [[MediaTransmigration inside the universe]] of his favorite SuperHero comic, ''Stardust!'', and decides to dedicate his life to his favorite titular superhero … as her ArchNemesis! Using the powers of MindOverMatter and PsychicTeleportation, along with his knowledge of future events, and a sense of theatrics, Da-in adopts the pseudonym of Egostic and begins systematically paving the way for her future, murdering her worst villains, and [[EngineeredHeroics presenting staged challenges]] to make her grow in power in a way that won’t be so painful for her as her bleak comic story-line. Along the way, he recruits several colorful villains to his side using his knowledge of interfere in their StartOfDarkness, and earn their loyalty.
Knowing everything about the Hero, in order to make her play into his schemes, and [[{{Troll}} for the thrill of her anger]], Egostic repeatedly taunts her, while occasionally giving her advice and encouragement. [[ObliviousToLove Unbeknownst to him]], Egostic being a MasterOfTheMixedMessage begins to drive a {{Yandere}} obsession in the hero Stardus/[[SecretIdentity Shin Haru]]…
----
!!Provides examples of:
* AffectionateGestureToTheHead: Egostic repeatedly gives Seo-eun these since he sees her like a daughter.
* AllPsychologyIsFreudian: Averted. GuileHero Icicle practices Jungian Psychology in the form of MBTI profiling.
* AllWomenAreLustful: Downplayed. When trying to threaten female hostage in Egostic’s terror schemes, inevitably it ends up being a FanGirl of his. One of whom fakes being scared, to which his livestream chat is filled with women saying they wish they were her.
* AndThenWhat: The comic version of Seo-eun went mad trying to destroy South Korea as a MisanthropeSupreme after the successful destruction of the Han-Eun group who tortured her and killed her friends.
* AnimalThemedSuperbeing: The villain Crocodile Man is a house sized crocodile-man hybrid from an experiment gone wrong.
* AntiClimaxBoss: Since Egostic is using MediaTransmigration foreknowledge to prevent the worst disasters, sometimes they end like this, such as the huge black mass of writhing tentacles that dissolves into a river before it can do anything.
* ArchNemesis: Invoked. Egostic’s plans revolve around simultaneously protecting and drawing as much attention as possible from Stardus.
* ArcWords: Egostic referencing The Joker about how Stardus completes him as a villain, as well as her being a CosmicKeystone due to her theoretically infinite potential.
* AscendedExtra: Icicle and Shadow Walker are talked about on occasion, but only really come into play later in the story.
* AscendedFan:
** Da-in was a mega-fan of the Stardust comic and then one day found himself inside of it. He still fanboys at her.
** Mist was an avid watcher (and possibly commenter) on Egostic’s streams before he recruits her.
* AscendedMeme:
** The scene where Stardus visits a festival incognito references the “[[HeadTurningBeauty Distracted Boyfriend]]” meme.
** Considering how heavily this work is inspired by {{Imageboards}} and such with the livestream and fanclub chat rooms. There’s the scene where, after Egostic platonically shares a huge hotel bed with the underage Seo-eun, and armed men kick down the door shouting “FBI, open up!”.
* AudienceAlienatingEra: InUniverse, it was the Stardust! Arc where Moonlight Shaman ravaged Seoul over a dozen times where the heroes could do nothing about it, giving it a depressing tone.
* BackingAwaySlowly: A Supehero Association employee sneaks out after walking in on Stardus splitting her desk in half out of frustration.
* BadGuysDoTheDirtyWork: One of the main reasons Egostic is a SuperVillain is so that he can ShootTheDog without having to worry about being SlaveToPR like the heroes are. He will kill supervillains who can’t be redeemed before they get a chance to commit their worst crimes. Something Stardus really struggles with him doing, waffling back and fourth on the issue.
* BerserkButton: For Stardus, it’s other women getting along with Egostic, as she gradually becomes {{Yandere}}.
* BetterTheDevilYouKnow: Egostic cites this as part of the reason why he wants South Korea to fall under control of Icicle.
* BewareTheNiceOnes: The TeamMom Soobin is the Ego Stream member Egostic is most afraid of, despite being TheTeamNormal, what with her PsychoSupporter moments.
* BirdsOfAFeather: Icicle liking Egostic and the two so easily getting along at first, in contrast to the OppositesAttract mutual attraction between him and Stardus.
* BlessedWithSuck: Egostic’s powers, when overused, are really bad for his health.
* BloodFromTheMouth: A perpetual problem Egostic gets from using his powers too much. Gets him suspected of an IncurableCoughOfDeath.
* BreakTheHaughty: Metel’s arc.
* ButForMeItWasTuesday: The psychopathic cult leader of Wolgwanggyo reacts like this to Moonlight Shaman being defeated, as she was a disposable pawn.
* BystanderSyndrome: Shows up after the murder of Teleporter, with civilians in a crowded street just taking out their phones instead of taking a showdown between Stardus and Egostic seriously.
* TheCartel: It’s mentioned one of the supervillains led an army into Mexico to try and take these over before getting thrashed and coming back to South Korea.
* CastingAShadow: Shadow Walker’s powers, most notably including teleportation, make him nearly unstoppable at night.
* CastFromHitpoints: Egostic’s powers work like this when he pushes his limits, leading to HeroicRROD and BloodFromTheMouth.
* CatchPhrase: DiscussedTrope in narration how using these is somewhat awkward and embarrassing, but a key part of the superhero setting.
* TheCavalryArrivesLate: Happens several times, most notably with the Hotel Raid as the cavalry are an even bigger problem for our supervillain protagonist.
* ClickbaitGag: Press coverage about the events of the series inevitably involve Gukppong Youtube videos with clickbait headlines talking about how other countries react to events.
* CollateralDamage: Notable for a supervillain, Egostic does the best he can to limit civilian casualties, and has a function on his website to apply for damages compensation. Holding hostages is the main way Egostic keeps the vastly stronger than him Stardus from breaking him like a twig (besides PsychicTeleportation), taking advantage of her concern for it. The American hero Metel has less qualms.
* ColorCodedSecretIdentity: Seo-eun scolds Egostic for wearing black while incognito.
* CombatStilettos: Metel’s presence is proceeded by the sound of hers.
* CombatTentacles:
** The Han-Eun giant blob monster was made of black ones.
** The Behemouth LivingWeapon lets Egostic use these. Of course Egostic ends up wrapping them around Stardus…
* CombinationAttack: This is how Egostic deals with Metel, who’s used to supervillains being out for themselves.
* ComfortingComforter: Egostic occasionally ends up doing this to his female supervillains.
* ConvenientlyEmptyBuilding: Justified, as Egostic goes far out of his way to minimize casualties.
* CooldownHug: Egostic gives some of these to Stardus, and one to Moonlight Shaman when recruiting her. Shippers online go crazy each time.
* ContemplateOurNavels: Sections of chapters are dedicated to Stardus or Egostic doing this, contemplating the nature of hero morality.
* CorruptTheCutie: Stardus starts worrying about this once she can’t help but think “Mango Stick” when seeing her favorite flavored drinks. Egostic’s influence on Stardus making her go from visceral hatred at messages he writes to her in the blood of supervillains, to happy, which shocks her.
* CosmicKeystone: Egostic repeatedly proclaims this about Stardus, with her virtually unlimited potential. This is why he is so serious about training her through adversity, because she must eventually face down PhysicalGod enemies that threaten the world.
* CouldntFindAPen: Egostic introduces himself to the public by leaving a message in the blood of a supervillain addressed to Stardus.
* CriminalFoundFamily: Ego Squad/ Ego Stream and it’s main members act more like a family than anything, and is certainly seen by Egostic like this. Seo-eun using affectionate honorifics plays into it.
* DaChief: The President of Korea’s Hero Association is basically a well meaning but incompetent man who likes Egostic for making his job easier, much to the frustration of Stardus.
* DeadManWriting: Egostic keeps a magically sealed guidebook on what to do if he dies, which includes resurrection methods (apparently DeathIsCheap in the Stardust! comic).
* DistantPrologue: Egostic putting up his cape and Stardus begging him to stay.
* DoNotAdjustYourSet: Egostic has Seo-eun take control over Korea’s television channels repeatedly for his “terror attacks”. Despite efforts to reinforce against this, there never seems to be too much trouble for her. It’s a good thing they don’t think of going analog.
* DirtyCommunists: A Red German S-class supervillain leader of the Red Motors who threatens Egostic in an international LegionOfDoom meeting.
* DoubleThink: In Stardus’ mind, is Egostic a hero, or a villain? It can change minute to minute. If someone criticizes him, she’ll argue he’s a hero, if someone praises him, she’ll argue he’s a villain. This is a realistic condition as [[ShellShockedVeteran it stems from trauma.]]
* DraggedByTheCollar: Mist isn’t too enthusiastic about her supervillain training. Kissing Egostic also gets her this from some of the women in Ego Stream.
* EarlyBirdCameo: The MadScientist supervillain Kim Sunwoo is repeatedly brought up in Spam messages in Egostic’s livestreams, pleading to free him.
* EcoTerrorist: Atlas, the King of the Ocean, engages in these schemes on a global scale due to sea pollution.
* ElementalPowers: Recurring but not especially common:
** Lee Seola/Icicle: AnIcePerson.
** Choi Seehee/Elektra: ShockAndAwe
** Seo Jayoung/Mist: PlayingWithFire (that’s purple.)
** Metel: DishingOutDirt.
* EmbarrassingHobby: Both Egostic and Stardus have the embarrassing hobby of hanging out on each-other’s fansites. Stardus justifies it to herself as looking for evidence, and fights addiction to it. Egostic downplays his participation even while downloading new material of Stardus for his personal collection.
* EmbarrassingNickname: The most frequent RunningGag is Da-In forcing embarrassing nicknames on others, and also facing them himself. He is a big fan of superhero comics, after all.
* EmotionalPowers: Rooms tend to get cold when Icicle is angry.
* EnemiesEqualsGreatness: Egostic keeps this in mind and makes sure to give Stardus VillainRespect in his broadcasts.
* EngineeredHeroics:
** Egostic specializes in doing this, but on BEHALF of Stardus, not himself. And it often backfired in one way or another.
** Icicle, when making a deal with Egostic, explicitly asks for and gets this.
* EpicFail: Pretty much any plan Egostic comes up with to either make the public at large, or Stardus in particular, hate him. He pays a bunch of money and tampers with media algorithms to spread hostile news reports about Egostic, only for Stardus to leave a comment defending him.
* ExploringTheEvilLair:
** The Han-Eun MadScientistLaboratory under Seoul, and it’s mutant HumanoidAbomination subjects.
** The Weapon Master’s armory.
* FantasticRankSystem: The Hero Association ranks powered individuals on a letter scale, and it’s much easier for supervillains than superheroes to get an S rank. The agency gets a lot of flak in-universe for the inconsistency of the ranks.
* FlyingWeapon: Egostic typically fights with MindOverMatter lifted guns.
* FoeRomanceSubtext: As the title says, it’s pretty much the premise of the whole series.
* {{Foil}}: Stardus and Egostic are like this with their strict and pragmatic methods of heroism.
* ForcedIntoEvil: The Moonlight Shaman at the behest of the evil Leader of the moon cult Wolgwanggyo, via curse.
* ForcedToWatch: Ha-yul’s comic villain StartOfDarkness was being BoundAndGagged while watching a gang murder her little brother in reaction to her pickpocketing their leader. This is prevented in style by Egostic.
* ForeignCultureFetish: Gukppong youtubers are repeatedly referenced (with their clickbate titles being a RunningGag). These basically seek to validate Korean national pride by finding foreigners praising the country.
* FriendlyEnemy: The Egostic and Stardus dynamic is full of this.
* GrailInTheGarbage: The magical ring that contains Death Knight was sold at an auction house as if it were junk.
* TheGenerationGap: Early on, it’s noted that Gen Z are the most accepting of Egostic with his being willing to kill supervillains rather than putting them in a CardboardPrison. Egostic is a live-streaming super-villain, after all.
* GenreShift: It’s explicitly mentioned to be happening at the seeming introduction of a LoveTriangle between Stardus and Icicle. However, things don’t really change that much.
* GeometricMagic: The magical sigils traced into the ground in Seoul by Wolgwanggyo buff Moonlight Shaman and de-buff heroes.
* GoodNeedsEvil: Egostic muses that based on his comic knowledge, if he just gets rid of all the threats to Stardus, the complacency would just leave her weak when threats too big for Egostic to handle on his own show up, dooming the world. So he sets about managing her entire career as TheChessmaster.
* GossipEvolution: Some of the celebrity relationship gossip surrounding Egostic follows into this. An entertainment channel mentions how the “scandal” of him being close to Elektra was an embarrassing overreaction.
* GratuitousEnglish: Shows up in character names and other puns.
* GreenEyedEpiphany: Repeatedly subverted. Stardus proves, it IS possible to be {{Yandere}} and in denial of your feelings at the same time if you keep making excuses.
* GutFeeling: Comes up frequently with Stardus (who’s noted to have it as a latent super power), and Egostic claims to have one that saves him from women’s jealousy.
* HeadTurningBeauty: Stardus repeatedly gets this reaction without noticing.
* HeroicRROD: These happen frequently, especially if you count Egostic.
* HeroesRUs: Each nation in the setting has it’s own Superhero Association, subordinate to the International Association. The President of the South Korean association is a well meaning buffoon most notable for getting out popcorn whenever Egostic appears. The International Association is synonymous with the American branch.
* HeroWithBadPublicity: Egostic notes in the comics that Stardus had a big problem with this later in the story due to villainous schemes. An argument Egostic has with her in public has the effect of negative publicity for her, which Egostic takes measures to remedy.
* HeroWorshipper: Egostic is a dedicated one to Stardus and can’t help but gush at her, and he gets some reactions like this from his fanclub. This leaves Egostic exasperated several times, when things happen like an entertainment reporter screaming about how Egostic and Stardus are true love, or some of his hostages being a FanGirl van asking for his autographs.
* HighSpeedMissileDodge: Egostic invokes this, as a form of IAmNotLeftHanded, and to make entertaining spectacle while fighting with Metel.
* HobbesWasRight: Da-in borrows this as a philosophy for his Egostic persona specifically to get under the skin of Stardus. Da-in’s actual ideology seems more like simple pragmatism, even if his trying to get South Korea under his control by proxy does fit with Hobbesian thinking.
* HolographicDisguise: Face scramblers are common for both heroes and villains in order to wear aesthetic costumes without exposing their SecretIdentity.
* HolographicTerminal: Egostic uses this to read his youtube livestream comments without missing a beat.
* {{Homage}}:
** Generally speaking, the prevalence of the IncrediblyLamePun is this to superhero comics.
** Ego explicitly bases his first terror attack on the climactic scene of ''Film/TheDarkKnight'', with ArcWords of Egostic saying how Stardus “completes him”. This would be at least manageable to re-write into LightNovel form to avoid copyright issues, something that can’t be said about many SuperHero based WebNovel contemporaries.
** Seo-eun’s Starbuster MiniMecha armor series is clearly based on the ''Franchise/IronMan'' Hulkbuster suits.
* HostageSituation: The standard means of villains preventing superhero intervention. Specifically used by Egostic because he knows he can’t defeat Stardus on his own and has to keep her at bay. But his hostage situations are essentially fake, he makes sure no matter what happens that they don’t die.
* HufflepuffHouse: American superheroes and the synonymous International Association.
* HumanResources:
** The head of the orphanage that raised Ha-yul tried to traffic her healing powers, and was killed by her.
** Han-Eun’s mutants and the Behemoth project were all made out of human corpses.
** And then there was the Weapons Master and his plan to kidnap people to turn into cyborgs.
* HumanoidAbomination: The mutants left behind in the abandon Han-Eun labs.
* HumongousMecha: Kim Sunwoo and TheRemnant of Han-Eun launch a TakingYouWithMe suicidal attack on Seoul with one.
* HurtingHero: The A class heroes of Korea all seem to have major {{Angst}}, in contrast to the relatively better adjusted Ego Stream. And that’s despite Egostic going around having SetRightWhatOnceWentWrong.
* IdentityBreakdown: A good chunk of page time is dedicated to Stardus being torn apart inside due to her moral code conflicting with her intuition and feelings about Egostic.
* ICannotSelfTerminate: Due to a curse, in the Comic story, Moonlight Shaman wanted to kill herself over the destruction she caused at the behest of Wolgwanggyo, but could only beg Stardus for a MercyKill, which she received.
* IgnoredEnamouredUnderling: Downplayed RunningGag with the women in Ego Stream. Ego just can’t get Stardus out of his head, though there’s some room for interpretation how much of it with the members of Ego Stream it’s just wanting attention and validation versus actual romantic interest (Egostic himself sees them more like family members.)
* IllPretendIDidntHearThat: Icicle responds like this to Stardus wondering aloud if she should post confidential information on the Egostic fansite about a new hero coming after him.
* ImaginaryLoveTriangle: The gossip rags and shows reporting on Egostic and the women he interacts with can hype these up.
* ImpededCommunication: Inside the Han-Eun MadScientistLaboratory under Seoul, MissionControl is out of reach, allowing for some arch nemesis bonding.
* ImplacableMan: The villain Crocodile Man. Even gas isn’t enough to do him in.
* IncrediblyLamePun: Many of the names, both actual and Super Identity, are these in Korean and {{Engrish}}. The Ego Show quiz is based entirely on these.
* IndirectKiss: Soobin blushes and freaks out over sharing an ice cream with Egostic, as he remains oblivious.
* IndyPloy: Egostic, realizing he just ran out of energy and is surrounded by all the A class heroes in Korea, buys himself time by pretending to be an S-class hero they don’t know. The name? Apple Mango!
* InnerThoughtsOutsiderPuzzlement: Mist commenting on Egostic’s mumbling to himself after he has a chapter length InnerMonologue. Which is the author LampshadeHanging his own writing quirk.
* InstantlyProvenWrong: A RunningGag with Egostic, since his low self-esteem convinces him that people won’t take him seriously enough.
* InternalizedCategorism:
** Moonlight Shaman sees herself as a monster for the mass carnage she delivers to Seoul, despite being raised as a TykeBomb and controlled by a cult and curse to do such.
** Gukppong youtubers run into an issue after one of Egostic’s terror attacks that they can’t find clips of foreigners praising South Korea, due to the fact seven million South Koreans aided in one of Egostic’s terror schemes tarnished their image, and many Koreans feel guilty about that besides. Of course, Gukppong runs on perceived cultural hierarchies in the first place.
* InvokedTrope: Egostic admits to invoking the Suspension Bridge Effect when recruiting female Egostream members to ensure their loyalty. Of course, all of his EngineeredHeroics are built on a lot of superhero tropes.
* ItAmusedMe: Seo Jayoung/Mist’s super villain origin was… she was bored!
* IncorruptiblePurePureness: A random hostage Egostic interviews during his bridge terror attack, causing Egostic’s chatroom to feel guilty for helping him carry it out.
* IncurableCoughOfDeath: Egostic is suspected of having this.
* IsThisThingOn: Egostic when festively challenging Crocodile Man.
* JustFriends: When it comes to women in Ego Stream, Egostic can only see them as LikeBrotherAndSister.
* JustToyingWithThem: When Stardus bumps into Egostic in the labs under Seoul, she clearly enjoys just intimidating and making him squirm, as for once there are no hostages to restrain her.
* KneelBeforeZod: Egostic commands this in reaction to being set up [[spoiler:to meet Stardus incognito by Icicle.]]
* KryptoniteFactor: Both the Behemoth LivingWeapon and the flames of Mist act like this for ShadowWalker.
* LampshadeHanging:
** The fact that superpowers work so well when unleashed in the form of punching baffles multiple people. Egostic thinks to himself, it’s because it’s a superhero comic universe, and so RuleOfCool is built into things.
** Mist making fun of Egostic for mumbling to himself lampshades the lengthy InnerMonologue segments the writer gives Egostic and Stardus.
* LargeHam: DiscussedTrope as both Egostic and Stardus play up their super personas like this despite it being somewhat awkward.
* LaughingMad: Egostic regularly pretends to be this as part of his supervillain persona.
* LegionOfDoom:
** Egostic creates one, tentatively called Ego Squad and eventually properly named Ego Stream. More technically it’s an AntiHero team or AntiVillain one.
** And then there is Cathedral, the international legion of S-class supervillains led by Celeste.
* LevelGrinding: Egostic’s EngineeredHeroics on behalf of Stardus are compared to this.
* LightIsNotGood: TheMedic Ha-yul as a supervillain in the comic wore a white priest outfit.
* LikeBrotherAndSister: This is how Egostic sees the women in his LegionOfDoom, as he only has eyes for Stardus.
* LikesClarkKentHatesSuperman:
** Stardus is afraid of her friend Chaeyun expressing this feeling, considering she’s part of Egostic’s Mango Union fanclub.
**Da-in hires a destitute reporter to make anti-egostic content to help turn around public opinion about him in Korea. She is very grateful, but doesn’t know it’s being done by the very person she passionately raves against.
* LivingWeapon: Han-Eun’s secret Behemoth project made from human test subjects created a mass of tentacles to wear on your arm that can be controlled by thought. Mainly used for a powerful punch.
* LockedInARoom: Stardus and Egostic in a power nullifying lab under Seoul.
* {{Lunacy}}: The Wolgwanggyo moon cult has magic based on the moon.
* MadScientistLaboratory:
** Seo-un’s is appropriated by Egostic as his beginner lair.
** The Han-Eun laboratory hidden just south of the Han river. Complete with hideous mutants.
* MakeAnExampleOfThem: To prevent future incidents of copycat terrorism, Egostic brutally executes most of the copycats.
* ManaMeter: Egostic explains his power like this for why he doesn’t use it for the MundaneUtility of getting a drink without getting out of bed. Essentially, when he runs out and keeps using powers, it’s CastFromHitpoints causing fatigue and BloodFromTheMouth.
* MediaTransmigration: Da-in is sucked into his favorite super-hero comic book, which he read many times.
* MegaCorp: Being based in South Korea, these are naturally present in the form of Chaebol:
** Han-Eun, a VillainWithGoodPublicity company run by EvilutionaryBiologist types and fond of PlayingWithSyringes.
** Yuseong Enterprises, run by third generation oligarch, and superhero Lee Seola/Icicle. Has ambitions of taking over Korea, seemingly for the greater good.
* MeteorSummoningAttack: American S-Class superhero Metel specializes in this.
* MiniMecha: Sao-eun eventually develops the Starbuster series of mechs so she can get some of the fame during attacks.
* MiseryBuildsCharacter: Egostic repeatedly thinks to himself how, both mentally and physically the superheroes in the story need challenges to grow, and using his foreknowledge, he surgically removes the most disproportionate causes of suffering (like people StuffedIntoTheFridge). He nearly changes his mind at the last minute when leaving Stardus to fight Moonlight Shaman, his resolve being broken by seeing her cry.
* MoodDissonance: Egostic interrupting another villain’s terror attack by playing upbeat rock music and dancing to it.
* MookHorrorShow: Egostic rescuing the bound Ha-yul and her brother from a gang is presented like this, picking them off one by one in a dark house.
* MuggleBestFriend: Stardus has one in college, Kim Chaeyun, mainly serving to keep Egostic on her mind and fuel her obsession with him. She falls out of the story to be replaced by the more plot relevant superhero Icicle as her best friend.
* MundaneObjectAmazement: Moonlight Shaman is especially prone to this, considering she was raised as a TykeBomb by a psychopath led ReligionOfEvil.
* MundaneUtility:
** Egostic using his teammate’s GadgeteerGenius abilities… to display youtube livestream comments on his visor via hologram.
** Subverted when Seo-eun asks why Egostic doesn’t use MindOverMatter to get a drink, and he explains his powers basically work like a ManaMeter and he’s saving them for when he needs them.
** During the Bridge terror incident, Egostic uses his teleportation power to fetch sweet bread for a hungry hostage.
** Apparently the beach of the BeachEpisode is maintained with the help of a super with a heat creation power.
* MurderTheHypotenuse: Stardus has thoughts along these lines when seeing or being reminded of how affectionate Egostic acts with his female supervillain recruits.
* MyDefenseNeedNotProtectMeForever: This is how the confrontation between [[spoiler:Egostic and Metel]] goes.
* MyLifeFlashedBeforeMyEyes: PlayedForLaughs with the 10 scoop ice cream falling towards Da-in.
* NoSell: When Egostic has someone alter the GeometricMagic glyphs to buff him instead of Moonlight Shaman when he finally moves to confront her, he casually flicks away her attacks that pummeled the superheroes on previous days.
* ObliviousToLove: Egostic with regard to Stardus, thinking her feelings are simple hatred, because he specifically tries to do things she hates. And Stardus being in denial of her own feelings by some point.
* OnceDoneNeverForgotten: Egostic coming up with his panicked super hero identity of “Apple-Mango”.
* OnlyKnownByTheirNickname: Death Knight tries to give out his real name, but gets cut off each time by Egostic and forced to go by Death Knight.
* TheOnlyOneAllowedToDefeatYou: Stardus’ obsession with Egostic as her ArchNemesis has her thinking like this as an excuse for her {{Yandere}} like feelings about Egostic getting along great with Icicle.
* OppositesAttract:
** Stardus and Egostic.
** After Icicle’s character is developed, it’s apparent this is how her friendship with Stardus works.
* OrphanageOfFear: Ha-yul and her brother escaped from one of these after the headmaster tried to profit off of her healing magic, ending up living as a pickpocket in the slums.
* ParentalAbandonment: Stardus’s motivation for super heroics was supervillains killing her parents as she was a child.
* PassThePopcorn: A RunningGag, especially done by Egostic when watching Stardus live. DaChief of HeroesRUs gets in on it when Egostic shows up.
* PentUpPowerPeril: Electra’s ShockAndAwe abilities cause severe stress when not let out. This is what caused the original comic version of her to be basically DrunkOnTheDarkside, and for her to have the comic readers FanNickname of "Bully".
* PersonOfMassDestruction: Egostic’s first moves are to murder the unredeemable supervillains like this. S-class villains generally have this level of power regardless of alignment.
* PlayingBothSides: Both Egostic and Icicle do this by cooperating with each-other as Supervillain and Superhero.
* PlayingWithSyringes: Pretty much everything the EvilutionaryBiologist Han-Eun MegaCorp and Kim Sunwoo do involves this. That’s how Seo-eun got her super intelligence (and grudge against them).
* PoliceAreUseless: B class heroes. The best they can do is be mentioned in the same breath as normal police helping evacuate civilians.
* PortmanteauCoupleName: InUniverse. Celebrity focused media and online fan clubs use these in their gossip and ShipToShipCombat arguments about who goes best with Egostic.
* PostVictoryCollapse: Egostic, frequently, bonus points for BloodFromTheMouth.
* PowerDyesYourHair: Stardus’s hair changed to blonde when her superpowers awoke.
* PowerNullifier:
** A facility in the Han-Eun MadScientistLaboratory under Seol allows for Egostic and Stardus to be LockedInARoom.
** GeometricMagic symbols etched into Seoul by Wolgwanggyo, serve to dampen Hero’s powers amongst other things in preparation for Moonlight Shaman’s attacks.
* PrincessCarry: With his love of theatrics, Egostic does this several different times during public broadcasts, giving fuel to entertainment network and online shippers.
* PrivateMilitaryContractors: Egostic sets up some of these with an intermediary in order to organize some more minor potential heroes and villains to help face stronger threats in the future. The Hero Association doesn’t have very good pay, after all.
* PsychoSupporter: The group of copycat terrorists that emerge after Egostic’s first attack. Soobin emerges from that group, saying she was just following the crowd… though she does have her scary moments occasionally.
* PuppetKing: In the comics South Korea ends up being puppeteered by Icicle, and things head in that direction in the new timeline.
* RefusalOfTheCall: Subverted with Mist turning down Egostic’s recruitment offer purely to {{Troll}} him.
* RightForTheWrongReasons: Shadow Walker makes some surprisingly accurate assumptions about Egostic, it’s just the WHY that was wrong.
* RequiredSecondaryPowers: Notably averted with Stardus’ flight. It’s said if she does it without her special suit, the friction of flight would tear her up.
* ResurrectiveImmortality: Death Knight, as he’s basically a ghost.
* RivalryAsCourtship: The main premise, between Egostic and Stardus.
* SadisticChoice: A number of Egostic’s terror attacks are based on these, accurately counting on Stardus to TakeAThirdOption before faking a VillainousBreakdown. The first is ripped from ''Film/TheDarkKnight'', and the second is the famous Trolley Dilemma. The bridge one is a unique take of asking Koreans to take an offer of free money, and if enough take it, he’ll blow up the bridge. Which ends up hurting South Korea’s reputation abroad, to the public’s chagrin.
* SamaritanSyndrome: This is noted to be a major part of South Korean culture when it comes to superheroes, that they blame heroes for failing to prevent damage just as much as villains, hence Egostic’s popularity. In the original comic, Stardus suffered from this guilt tremendously.
* SensualSpandex: Naturally, Stardus wears this which protect her from the friction of flying at high speeds as a FlyingBrick.
* SetRightWhatOnceWentWrong: Pretty much every plan came up with Egostic is this, using his knowledge of the comic world he found himself in. It’s played with, in that, he has to replace the suffering Stardus would have suffered with EngineeredHeroics to strengthen her enough for coming battles.
* SerialEscalation: DiscussedTrope. Using his knowledge of the original comic, Egostic points out this pattern of escalating power and destruction of enemies he has to manage in one way or another, be it by taking care of the threat himself, or by strengthening Stardus through struggle to prepare her.
* SheIsNotMyGirlfriend: Both Egostic and Stardus have the same reaction to Entertainment News declaring them to be lovers, throwing their remote at the TV. Eventually Egostic has to clear up that he’s not dating Mist after she kisses him to {{Troll}} Stardus.
* ShipperWithAnAgenda: Icicle scheming to get Egostic and Stardus together to keep him closer to her than to Ego Stream members. Backfires.
* ShipToShipCombat: InUniverse, Egostic’s live streams and fanclub site often have debates about this, because of the overly affectionate ways in which Egostic interacts with female Ego Stream recruits, as well as Stardus. Amusingly, Stardus gets directly involved at least once using the anonymity of the internet, despite being in denial.
* ShockAndAwe: Choi-Sehee/Electra’s powers.
* ShoutOut: After playing mind games with someone to hide his SecretIdentity, Da-in thinks to himself "JustAsPlanned", in a shout out to ''Manga/DeathNote'', as that exchange would have been right at home between Light and L.
* ShownTheirWork: The author repeatedly displays an in depth understanding of how trauma effects people. An off-hand thought by Icicle suggests he is part of the MBTI typology scene.
* SmugSuper: S-Class superhero Metel, a Type 2 {{Eagleland}} stereotype.
* SneezeCut: A RunningGag near the end of chapters, not necessarily taking the form of sneezing.
* SoulEating: The {{Kaiju}} released by Wolgwanggyo do this, and conveniently return the souls after being defeated. They apparently can evolve into a more powerful form if they absorb enough.
* SpellMyNameWithAnS: DiscussedTrope. Stardus submitted her hero Identity to the government as Stardust, but they insisted on it being Stardus because it flows better in Korean characters (and thus better for publicity).
* StalkerShrine:
** Egostic keeps a more modern equivalent: An online photo and video collection of Stardus he updates daily.
** Stardus eventually starts a more traditional one in her house of Egostic.
* StandardSuperHeroSetting: The setting is generic enough, and there are enough references to the status quo in America and how that differs from Korea, one could easily imagine this taking place in the DC or Marvel universes.
* StatusBuff:
** The magic sigils placed around Seoul buffed Moonlight Priestess making her unstoppable, until Egostic interferes with them.
** Elektra can use electricity to boost Death Knight.
** Ha-yul can temporarily buff the powers of supers within a certain category of superpowers, doubling their power for hours, at the cost of exhausting herself.
* StuffedIntoTheFridge: Egostic SetRightWhatOnceWentWrong and prevents a number of these in order to get help from Super individuals either sooner or later, typically playing the long game.
* SuperhumanTrafficking: The head of Ha-yul’s OrphanageOfFear was planning to sell her and her healing abilities for profit, prompting her killing of the headmaster and escape alongside her little brother.
* SuperRegistrationAct: These are announced all over the world as a result of nation-scale villain attacks. South Korea has the least push for it because of Egostic’s interference in the timeline. Even before any talk of this, it’s noted that countries are reluctant to send their heroes across borders for fear of talent poaching.
* SupportPartyMember: It’s quite a while before Egostic’s team gets anyone who’s not just this.
* SustainedMisunderstanding: Egostic simply thinking Starus hates him, not realizing how much her personality has changed from the original timeline.
* TakeAThirdOption: Stardus stopping the Trolley Dilemma train. Which is JustAsPlanned by Egostic because he knew her personality and that her doing so would increase her strength.
* TakingTheBullet: [[spoiler:In the underground labs, Egostic, while dueling with Stardus, takes a hit from a monster for her and nearly dies. This leaves her with major trauma.]]
* TantrumThrowing: Stardus does this multiple times out of frustration when seeing Egostic get along too well with other women, damaging her phone or desk.
* TermsOfEndangerment: Egostic’s public displays towards Stardus sometimes include these to {{Troll}} her.
* ThreePointLanding: Egostic marvels at Stardus doing this at their first meeting.
* ThrowDownTheBomblet: Egostic does this at the start of one of his terrorist attacks, seemingly taking inspiration from The Green Goblin.
* ThisLooksLikeAJobForAquaman: Shadow Walker and night time, since his powers are limited in the day.
* ThirteenIsUnlucky: The 13th international ice cream festival of course means trouble.
* ThrowAwayCountry: Bye bye, Brazil!
* ThouShaltNotKill: One of the biggest differences between Egostic and Stardus is her belief in this, which is also part of several ContemplateOurNavels sequences where she wonders if he’s a hero or villain for killing PersonOfMassDestruction supervillains. Apparently she killed multiple supervillains in the comic though.
* TickleTorture: This is implied to be how [[spoiler:Egostic "reforms" Metel.]]
* ToBeLawfulOrGood: Stardus struggles with this all the time, since when left on her own, she hates vigilantes and killing. But her intuition superpower and emotional attachment to Egostic go counter to this. Eventually trauma breaks her down to the point of DoubleThink on the subject.
* ToneShift: DiscussedTrope relating to the Stardust! Comic, as the second half became bleak and dark, with Korea physically being ruined and Stardus having her mental health devastated.
* TranslatorMicrobes: Meetings of international villain leagues a magical equivalent, that doesn’t always keep up.
* TraumaButton: Soe-eun starts with some fear of men due to the PlayingWithSyringes conducted on her by Han-Eun. Soobin has episodes when her terrifying recruitment by Egostic is brought up. Stardus eventually gets a double bind trauma from [[spoiler:Egostic betraying her and then TakingTheBullet to save her.]]
* TriggerHappy:
** The President of South Korea proves a little too happy to press the BigRedButton and launch mass explosives at Seoul.
** The American S-class superhero Metel is quite cavalier when it comes to CollateralDamage.
* {{Troll}}: Egostic makes it clear early on that he derives great pleasure from the glares and anger from Stardus.
* {{Tsundere}}: Ego’s stream commenters call him one, causing him to almost fall. Considering he has the tripartite motives of reducing the suffering of Stardus, increasing the power of Stardus, but also just trolling her for his own thrills, it’s not hard to see why.
* UnderwaterCity: Lantis, the domain of the boisterous supervillain Atlas.
* UngratefulBastard: It’s noted that South Koreans in particular are harsh on their country’s superheroes, blaming them for being too late to prevent damage. Which plays into the public liking Egostic more, since he has MediaTransmigration foreknowledge to work from.
* {{Unishment}}:
** One of Egostic’s motivations for being a supervillain and launching terror attacks is making Stardus glare at and threaten him, which he greatly enjoys.
** Mist is thrilled when Egoistic uses MindOverMatter to carry her outside to do sparring, saying it’s comfy.
* TheUnmasking: Apparently there was an arc about Stardus going through hell from this in the comic, to which Egostic warns her against doing after she nearly does it.
* UnnecessaryCombatRoll: Egostic nearly blows his cover by doing this to escape a towering ice cream cone. Getting covered in dirt in the process.
* UnwillingRoboticisation: The Weapon Master S-ranked supervillain’s plans for Seoul were to kidnap people and do this before attacking using said monsters.
* UseTheirOwnWeaponAgainstThem: Egostic using telekinesis to pick up Mooks guns to shoot them.
* VigilanteMan: De facto what Egostic acts as, being a hero without the shackles of the law that bind conventional superheroes. Knowing that Stardus hates these types, blinds him to the complicating factors in her perception.
* VillainsActHeroesReact: This is part of why Egostic chooses to become a supervillain, to have agency instead of being leashed by the Hero Association. It doesn’t help that Stardus isn’t the investigative type, and so is always being led around by others, be it the association or Egostic.
* VitriolicBestBuds: Relationships amongst Ego Stream members sometimes develop along these lines. Especially their constant teasing of Egostic.
* VillainsOutShopping: Depending on how you define “Villain”, much of the series could count as this. The Ice Cream Fair is the most traditional example, from Stardus’ perspective.
* VillainWithGoodPublicity:
** The Han-Eun MegaCorp manage to keep good public relations until one of their lab experiments escapes and they evacuate Korea.
** Egostic becomes very popular, due to a combination of showmanship, preventing civilian casualties, and being willing to ShootTheDog by killing supervillains instead of putting them into CardboardPrison. This is seen as a problem by him, as he wants to boost and not worsen the reputation of Stardus.
* VoiceWithAnInternetConnection: Seo-un and the President of the Hero Association act as this for Egostic and Stardus, respectively.
* WantsToBeHated: Egostic specifically wants to be hated by Stardus, so that he can give her the challenges she needs to grow stronger in a manageable way, as opposed to her comic storyline enemies who systematically destroyed her mental health.
* WeakButSkilled: Egostic’s powers aren’t too powerful in their own right, so he depends mostly on cleverness and strategizing to succeed. This is why he is left as an A-Rank supervillain despite having S-ranked ones under him.
* WeaksauceWeakness:
** ShadowWalker is as good as powerless in the daylight.
** The {{Kaiju}} tentacle monster that escapes from Han-Eun’s labs is weak to plain old water.
* WhenAllYouHaveIsAHammer: Stardus relies on raw strength to handle most situations, in contrast to her foils Egostic and Icicle. Her lack of guile leaves her just reacting to Egostic, to her frustration. Meanwhile, other villains who would have given her the slip in the comic are dealt with by him, so she doesn’t develop the practical or emotional skills to cope with a recurring villain.
* WholePlotReference: Egostic’s first terror attack is explicitly a partial recreation of the climax of ''Film/TheDarkKnight''.
* WoundedGazelleGambit: Subverted when Egostic pretends to be more injured than he is [[spoiler:to guilt Icicle for having him meet Stardus out of disguise]], only to get back to base, take out his IV, and be scolded for it.
* YourHeadASplode: Egostic’s early method of assassinating supervillains was doing this with MindOverMatter. He’s disgusted by it, so switches to guns after.
* ZeroApprovalGambit: Egostic goes out of his way to make Stardus hate him so that he can take the place of her comic villains, for a sort of LevelGrinding in his encounters with her to prepare her for the future, and because he enjoys her angry reactions. Egostic specifically hires a reporter to make anti-Egostic content for her to watch, to which she replies by leaving a comment supporting Egostic.
* ZeroPercentApprovalRating: The President of South Korea is noted to have a 9% approval rating, and that’s before he’s accused by several people of being TriggerHappy with nuclear missiles.
----
Knowing everything about the Hero, in order to make her play into his schemes, and [[{{Troll}} for the thrill of her anger]], Egostic repeatedly taunts her, while occasionally giving her advice and encouragement. [[ObliviousToLove Unbeknownst to him]], Egostic being a MasterOfTheMixedMessage begins to drive a {{Yandere}} obsession in the hero Stardus/[[SecretIdentity Shin Haru]]…
----
!!Provides examples of:
* AffectionateGestureToTheHead: Egostic repeatedly gives Seo-eun these since he sees her like a daughter.
* AllPsychologyIsFreudian: Averted. GuileHero Icicle practices Jungian Psychology in the form of MBTI profiling.
* AllWomenAreLustful: Downplayed. When trying to threaten female hostage in Egostic’s terror schemes, inevitably it ends up being a FanGirl of his. One of whom fakes being scared, to which his livestream chat is filled with women saying they wish they were her.
* AndThenWhat: The comic version of Seo-eun went mad trying to destroy South Korea as a MisanthropeSupreme after the successful destruction of the Han-Eun group who tortured her and killed her friends.
* AnimalThemedSuperbeing: The villain Crocodile Man is a house sized crocodile-man hybrid from an experiment gone wrong.
* AntiClimaxBoss: Since Egostic is using MediaTransmigration foreknowledge to prevent the worst disasters, sometimes they end like this, such as the huge black mass of writhing tentacles that dissolves into a river before it can do anything.
* ArchNemesis: Invoked. Egostic’s plans revolve around simultaneously protecting and drawing as much attention as possible from Stardus.
* ArcWords: Egostic referencing The Joker about how Stardus completes him as a villain, as well as her being a CosmicKeystone due to her theoretically infinite potential.
* AscendedExtra: Icicle and Shadow Walker are talked about on occasion, but only really come into play later in the story.
* AscendedFan:
** Da-in was a mega-fan of the Stardust comic and then one day found himself inside of it. He still fanboys at her.
** Mist was an avid watcher (and possibly commenter) on Egostic’s streams before he recruits her.
* AscendedMeme:
** The scene where Stardus visits a festival incognito references the “[[HeadTurningBeauty Distracted Boyfriend]]” meme.
** Considering how heavily this work is inspired by {{Imageboards}} and such with the livestream and fanclub chat rooms. There’s the scene where, after Egostic platonically shares a huge hotel bed with the underage Seo-eun, and armed men kick down the door shouting “FBI, open up!”.
* AudienceAlienatingEra: InUniverse, it was the Stardust! Arc where Moonlight Shaman ravaged Seoul over a dozen times where the heroes could do nothing about it, giving it a depressing tone.
* BackingAwaySlowly: A Supehero Association employee sneaks out after walking in on Stardus splitting her desk in half out of frustration.
* BadGuysDoTheDirtyWork: One of the main reasons Egostic is a SuperVillain is so that he can ShootTheDog without having to worry about being SlaveToPR like the heroes are. He will kill supervillains who can’t be redeemed before they get a chance to commit their worst crimes. Something Stardus really struggles with him doing, waffling back and fourth on the issue.
* BerserkButton: For Stardus, it’s other women getting along with Egostic, as she gradually becomes {{Yandere}}.
* BetterTheDevilYouKnow: Egostic cites this as part of the reason why he wants South Korea to fall under control of Icicle.
* BewareTheNiceOnes: The TeamMom Soobin is the Ego Stream member Egostic is most afraid of, despite being TheTeamNormal, what with her PsychoSupporter moments.
* BirdsOfAFeather: Icicle liking Egostic and the two so easily getting along at first, in contrast to the OppositesAttract mutual attraction between him and Stardus.
* BlessedWithSuck: Egostic’s powers, when overused, are really bad for his health.
* BloodFromTheMouth: A perpetual problem Egostic gets from using his powers too much. Gets him suspected of an IncurableCoughOfDeath.
* BreakTheHaughty: Metel’s arc.
* ButForMeItWasTuesday: The psychopathic cult leader of Wolgwanggyo reacts like this to Moonlight Shaman being defeated, as she was a disposable pawn.
* BystanderSyndrome: Shows up after the murder of Teleporter, with civilians in a crowded street just taking out their phones instead of taking a showdown between Stardus and Egostic seriously.
* TheCartel: It’s mentioned one of the supervillains led an army into Mexico to try and take these over before getting thrashed and coming back to South Korea.
* CastingAShadow: Shadow Walker’s powers, most notably including teleportation, make him nearly unstoppable at night.
* CastFromHitpoints: Egostic’s powers work like this when he pushes his limits, leading to HeroicRROD and BloodFromTheMouth.
* CatchPhrase: DiscussedTrope in narration how using these is somewhat awkward and embarrassing, but a key part of the superhero setting.
* TheCavalryArrivesLate: Happens several times, most notably with the Hotel Raid as the cavalry are an even bigger problem for our supervillain protagonist.
* ClickbaitGag: Press coverage about the events of the series inevitably involve Gukppong Youtube videos with clickbait headlines talking about how other countries react to events.
* CollateralDamage: Notable for a supervillain, Egostic does the best he can to limit civilian casualties, and has a function on his website to apply for damages compensation. Holding hostages is the main way Egostic keeps the vastly stronger than him Stardus from breaking him like a twig (besides PsychicTeleportation), taking advantage of her concern for it. The American hero Metel has less qualms.
* ColorCodedSecretIdentity: Seo-eun scolds Egostic for wearing black while incognito.
* CombatStilettos: Metel’s presence is proceeded by the sound of hers.
* CombatTentacles:
** The Han-Eun giant blob monster was made of black ones.
** The Behemouth LivingWeapon lets Egostic use these. Of course Egostic ends up wrapping them around Stardus…
* CombinationAttack: This is how Egostic deals with Metel, who’s used to supervillains being out for themselves.
* ComfortingComforter: Egostic occasionally ends up doing this to his female supervillains.
* ConvenientlyEmptyBuilding: Justified, as Egostic goes far out of his way to minimize casualties.
* CooldownHug: Egostic gives some of these to Stardus, and one to Moonlight Shaman when recruiting her. Shippers online go crazy each time.
* ContemplateOurNavels: Sections of chapters are dedicated to Stardus or Egostic doing this, contemplating the nature of hero morality.
* CorruptTheCutie: Stardus starts worrying about this once she can’t help but think “Mango Stick” when seeing her favorite flavored drinks. Egostic’s influence on Stardus making her go from visceral hatred at messages he writes to her in the blood of supervillains, to happy, which shocks her.
* CosmicKeystone: Egostic repeatedly proclaims this about Stardus, with her virtually unlimited potential. This is why he is so serious about training her through adversity, because she must eventually face down PhysicalGod enemies that threaten the world.
* CouldntFindAPen: Egostic introduces himself to the public by leaving a message in the blood of a supervillain addressed to Stardus.
* CriminalFoundFamily: Ego Squad/ Ego Stream and it’s main members act more like a family than anything, and is certainly seen by Egostic like this. Seo-eun using affectionate honorifics plays into it.
* DaChief: The President of Korea’s Hero Association is basically a well meaning but incompetent man who likes Egostic for making his job easier, much to the frustration of Stardus.
* DeadManWriting: Egostic keeps a magically sealed guidebook on what to do if he dies, which includes resurrection methods (apparently DeathIsCheap in the Stardust! comic).
* DistantPrologue: Egostic putting up his cape and Stardus begging him to stay.
* DoNotAdjustYourSet: Egostic has Seo-eun take control over Korea’s television channels repeatedly for his “terror attacks”. Despite efforts to reinforce against this, there never seems to be too much trouble for her. It’s a good thing they don’t think of going analog.
* DirtyCommunists: A Red German S-class supervillain leader of the Red Motors who threatens Egostic in an international LegionOfDoom meeting.
* DoubleThink: In Stardus’ mind, is Egostic a hero, or a villain? It can change minute to minute. If someone criticizes him, she’ll argue he’s a hero, if someone praises him, she’ll argue he’s a villain. This is a realistic condition as [[ShellShockedVeteran it stems from trauma.]]
* DraggedByTheCollar: Mist isn’t too enthusiastic about her supervillain training. Kissing Egostic also gets her this from some of the women in Ego Stream.
* EarlyBirdCameo: The MadScientist supervillain Kim Sunwoo is repeatedly brought up in Spam messages in Egostic’s livestreams, pleading to free him.
* EcoTerrorist: Atlas, the King of the Ocean, engages in these schemes on a global scale due to sea pollution.
* ElementalPowers: Recurring but not especially common:
** Lee Seola/Icicle: AnIcePerson.
** Choi Seehee/Elektra: ShockAndAwe
** Seo Jayoung/Mist: PlayingWithFire (that’s purple.)
** Metel: DishingOutDirt.
* EmbarrassingHobby: Both Egostic and Stardus have the embarrassing hobby of hanging out on each-other’s fansites. Stardus justifies it to herself as looking for evidence, and fights addiction to it. Egostic downplays his participation even while downloading new material of Stardus for his personal collection.
* EmbarrassingNickname: The most frequent RunningGag is Da-In forcing embarrassing nicknames on others, and also facing them himself. He is a big fan of superhero comics, after all.
* EmotionalPowers: Rooms tend to get cold when Icicle is angry.
* EnemiesEqualsGreatness: Egostic keeps this in mind and makes sure to give Stardus VillainRespect in his broadcasts.
* EngineeredHeroics:
** Egostic specializes in doing this, but on BEHALF of Stardus, not himself. And it often backfired in one way or another.
** Icicle, when making a deal with Egostic, explicitly asks for and gets this.
* EpicFail: Pretty much any plan Egostic comes up with to either make the public at large, or Stardus in particular, hate him. He pays a bunch of money and tampers with media algorithms to spread hostile news reports about Egostic, only for Stardus to leave a comment defending him.
* ExploringTheEvilLair:
** The Han-Eun MadScientistLaboratory under Seoul, and it’s mutant HumanoidAbomination subjects.
** The Weapon Master’s armory.
* FantasticRankSystem: The Hero Association ranks powered individuals on a letter scale, and it’s much easier for supervillains than superheroes to get an S rank. The agency gets a lot of flak in-universe for the inconsistency of the ranks.
* FlyingWeapon: Egostic typically fights with MindOverMatter lifted guns.
* FoeRomanceSubtext: As the title says, it’s pretty much the premise of the whole series.
* {{Foil}}: Stardus and Egostic are like this with their strict and pragmatic methods of heroism.
* ForcedIntoEvil: The Moonlight Shaman at the behest of the evil Leader of the moon cult Wolgwanggyo, via curse.
* ForcedToWatch: Ha-yul’s comic villain StartOfDarkness was being BoundAndGagged while watching a gang murder her little brother in reaction to her pickpocketing their leader. This is prevented in style by Egostic.
* ForeignCultureFetish: Gukppong youtubers are repeatedly referenced (with their clickbate titles being a RunningGag). These basically seek to validate Korean national pride by finding foreigners praising the country.
* FriendlyEnemy: The Egostic and Stardus dynamic is full of this.
* GrailInTheGarbage: The magical ring that contains Death Knight was sold at an auction house as if it were junk.
* TheGenerationGap: Early on, it’s noted that Gen Z are the most accepting of Egostic with his being willing to kill supervillains rather than putting them in a CardboardPrison. Egostic is a live-streaming super-villain, after all.
* GenreShift: It’s explicitly mentioned to be happening at the seeming introduction of a LoveTriangle between Stardus and Icicle. However, things don’t really change that much.
* GeometricMagic: The magical sigils traced into the ground in Seoul by Wolgwanggyo buff Moonlight Shaman and de-buff heroes.
* GoodNeedsEvil: Egostic muses that based on his comic knowledge, if he just gets rid of all the threats to Stardus, the complacency would just leave her weak when threats too big for Egostic to handle on his own show up, dooming the world. So he sets about managing her entire career as TheChessmaster.
* GossipEvolution: Some of the celebrity relationship gossip surrounding Egostic follows into this. An entertainment channel mentions how the “scandal” of him being close to Elektra was an embarrassing overreaction.
* GratuitousEnglish: Shows up in character names and other puns.
* GreenEyedEpiphany: Repeatedly subverted. Stardus proves, it IS possible to be {{Yandere}} and in denial of your feelings at the same time if you keep making excuses.
* GutFeeling: Comes up frequently with Stardus (who’s noted to have it as a latent super power), and Egostic claims to have one that saves him from women’s jealousy.
* HeadTurningBeauty: Stardus repeatedly gets this reaction without noticing.
* HeroicRROD: These happen frequently, especially if you count Egostic.
* HeroesRUs: Each nation in the setting has it’s own Superhero Association, subordinate to the International Association. The President of the South Korean association is a well meaning buffoon most notable for getting out popcorn whenever Egostic appears. The International Association is synonymous with the American branch.
* HeroWithBadPublicity: Egostic notes in the comics that Stardus had a big problem with this later in the story due to villainous schemes. An argument Egostic has with her in public has the effect of negative publicity for her, which Egostic takes measures to remedy.
* HeroWorshipper: Egostic is a dedicated one to Stardus and can’t help but gush at her, and he gets some reactions like this from his fanclub. This leaves Egostic exasperated several times, when things happen like an entertainment reporter screaming about how Egostic and Stardus are true love, or some of his hostages being a FanGirl van asking for his autographs.
* HighSpeedMissileDodge: Egostic invokes this, as a form of IAmNotLeftHanded, and to make entertaining spectacle while fighting with Metel.
* HobbesWasRight: Da-in borrows this as a philosophy for his Egostic persona specifically to get under the skin of Stardus. Da-in’s actual ideology seems more like simple pragmatism, even if his trying to get South Korea under his control by proxy does fit with Hobbesian thinking.
* HolographicDisguise: Face scramblers are common for both heroes and villains in order to wear aesthetic costumes without exposing their SecretIdentity.
* HolographicTerminal: Egostic uses this to read his youtube livestream comments without missing a beat.
* {{Homage}}:
** Generally speaking, the prevalence of the IncrediblyLamePun is this to superhero comics.
** Ego explicitly bases his first terror attack on the climactic scene of ''Film/TheDarkKnight'', with ArcWords of Egostic saying how Stardus “completes him”. This would be at least manageable to re-write into LightNovel form to avoid copyright issues, something that can’t be said about many SuperHero based WebNovel contemporaries.
** Seo-eun’s Starbuster MiniMecha armor series is clearly based on the ''Franchise/IronMan'' Hulkbuster suits.
* HostageSituation: The standard means of villains preventing superhero intervention. Specifically used by Egostic because he knows he can’t defeat Stardus on his own and has to keep her at bay. But his hostage situations are essentially fake, he makes sure no matter what happens that they don’t die.
* HufflepuffHouse: American superheroes and the synonymous International Association.
* HumanResources:
** The head of the orphanage that raised Ha-yul tried to traffic her healing powers, and was killed by her.
** Han-Eun’s mutants and the Behemoth project were all made out of human corpses.
** And then there was the Weapons Master and his plan to kidnap people to turn into cyborgs.
* HumanoidAbomination: The mutants left behind in the abandon Han-Eun labs.
* HumongousMecha: Kim Sunwoo and TheRemnant of Han-Eun launch a TakingYouWithMe suicidal attack on Seoul with one.
* HurtingHero: The A class heroes of Korea all seem to have major {{Angst}}, in contrast to the relatively better adjusted Ego Stream. And that’s despite Egostic going around having SetRightWhatOnceWentWrong.
* IdentityBreakdown: A good chunk of page time is dedicated to Stardus being torn apart inside due to her moral code conflicting with her intuition and feelings about Egostic.
* ICannotSelfTerminate: Due to a curse, in the Comic story, Moonlight Shaman wanted to kill herself over the destruction she caused at the behest of Wolgwanggyo, but could only beg Stardus for a MercyKill, which she received.
* IgnoredEnamouredUnderling: Downplayed RunningGag with the women in Ego Stream. Ego just can’t get Stardus out of his head, though there’s some room for interpretation how much of it with the members of Ego Stream it’s just wanting attention and validation versus actual romantic interest (Egostic himself sees them more like family members.)
* IllPretendIDidntHearThat: Icicle responds like this to Stardus wondering aloud if she should post confidential information on the Egostic fansite about a new hero coming after him.
* ImaginaryLoveTriangle: The gossip rags and shows reporting on Egostic and the women he interacts with can hype these up.
* ImpededCommunication: Inside the Han-Eun MadScientistLaboratory under Seoul, MissionControl is out of reach, allowing for some arch nemesis bonding.
* ImplacableMan: The villain Crocodile Man. Even gas isn’t enough to do him in.
* IncrediblyLamePun: Many of the names, both actual and Super Identity, are these in Korean and {{Engrish}}. The Ego Show quiz is based entirely on these.
* IndirectKiss: Soobin blushes and freaks out over sharing an ice cream with Egostic, as he remains oblivious.
* IndyPloy: Egostic, realizing he just ran out of energy and is surrounded by all the A class heroes in Korea, buys himself time by pretending to be an S-class hero they don’t know. The name? Apple Mango!
* InnerThoughtsOutsiderPuzzlement: Mist commenting on Egostic’s mumbling to himself after he has a chapter length InnerMonologue. Which is the author LampshadeHanging his own writing quirk.
* InstantlyProvenWrong: A RunningGag with Egostic, since his low self-esteem convinces him that people won’t take him seriously enough.
* InternalizedCategorism:
** Moonlight Shaman sees herself as a monster for the mass carnage she delivers to Seoul, despite being raised as a TykeBomb and controlled by a cult and curse to do such.
** Gukppong youtubers run into an issue after one of Egostic’s terror attacks that they can’t find clips of foreigners praising South Korea, due to the fact seven million South Koreans aided in one of Egostic’s terror schemes tarnished their image, and many Koreans feel guilty about that besides. Of course, Gukppong runs on perceived cultural hierarchies in the first place.
* InvokedTrope: Egostic admits to invoking the Suspension Bridge Effect when recruiting female Egostream members to ensure their loyalty. Of course, all of his EngineeredHeroics are built on a lot of superhero tropes.
* ItAmusedMe: Seo Jayoung/Mist’s super villain origin was… she was bored!
* IncorruptiblePurePureness: A random hostage Egostic interviews during his bridge terror attack, causing Egostic’s chatroom to feel guilty for helping him carry it out.
* IncurableCoughOfDeath: Egostic is suspected of having this.
* IsThisThingOn: Egostic when festively challenging Crocodile Man.
* JustFriends: When it comes to women in Ego Stream, Egostic can only see them as LikeBrotherAndSister.
* JustToyingWithThem: When Stardus bumps into Egostic in the labs under Seoul, she clearly enjoys just intimidating and making him squirm, as for once there are no hostages to restrain her.
* KneelBeforeZod: Egostic commands this in reaction to being set up [[spoiler:to meet Stardus incognito by Icicle.]]
* KryptoniteFactor: Both the Behemoth LivingWeapon and the flames of Mist act like this for ShadowWalker.
* LampshadeHanging:
** The fact that superpowers work so well when unleashed in the form of punching baffles multiple people. Egostic thinks to himself, it’s because it’s a superhero comic universe, and so RuleOfCool is built into things.
** Mist making fun of Egostic for mumbling to himself lampshades the lengthy InnerMonologue segments the writer gives Egostic and Stardus.
* LargeHam: DiscussedTrope as both Egostic and Stardus play up their super personas like this despite it being somewhat awkward.
* LaughingMad: Egostic regularly pretends to be this as part of his supervillain persona.
* LegionOfDoom:
** Egostic creates one, tentatively called Ego Squad and eventually properly named Ego Stream. More technically it’s an AntiHero team or AntiVillain one.
** And then there is Cathedral, the international legion of S-class supervillains led by Celeste.
* LevelGrinding: Egostic’s EngineeredHeroics on behalf of Stardus are compared to this.
* LightIsNotGood: TheMedic Ha-yul as a supervillain in the comic wore a white priest outfit.
* LikeBrotherAndSister: This is how Egostic sees the women in his LegionOfDoom, as he only has eyes for Stardus.
* LikesClarkKentHatesSuperman:
** Stardus is afraid of her friend Chaeyun expressing this feeling, considering she’s part of Egostic’s Mango Union fanclub.
**Da-in hires a destitute reporter to make anti-egostic content to help turn around public opinion about him in Korea. She is very grateful, but doesn’t know it’s being done by the very person she passionately raves against.
* LivingWeapon: Han-Eun’s secret Behemoth project made from human test subjects created a mass of tentacles to wear on your arm that can be controlled by thought. Mainly used for a powerful punch.
* LockedInARoom: Stardus and Egostic in a power nullifying lab under Seoul.
* {{Lunacy}}: The Wolgwanggyo moon cult has magic based on the moon.
* MadScientistLaboratory:
** Seo-un’s is appropriated by Egostic as his beginner lair.
** The Han-Eun laboratory hidden just south of the Han river. Complete with hideous mutants.
* MakeAnExampleOfThem: To prevent future incidents of copycat terrorism, Egostic brutally executes most of the copycats.
* ManaMeter: Egostic explains his power like this for why he doesn’t use it for the MundaneUtility of getting a drink without getting out of bed. Essentially, when he runs out and keeps using powers, it’s CastFromHitpoints causing fatigue and BloodFromTheMouth.
* MediaTransmigration: Da-in is sucked into his favorite super-hero comic book, which he read many times.
* MegaCorp: Being based in South Korea, these are naturally present in the form of Chaebol:
** Han-Eun, a VillainWithGoodPublicity company run by EvilutionaryBiologist types and fond of PlayingWithSyringes.
** Yuseong Enterprises, run by third generation oligarch, and superhero Lee Seola/Icicle. Has ambitions of taking over Korea, seemingly for the greater good.
* MeteorSummoningAttack: American S-Class superhero Metel specializes in this.
* MiniMecha: Sao-eun eventually develops the Starbuster series of mechs so she can get some of the fame during attacks.
* MiseryBuildsCharacter: Egostic repeatedly thinks to himself how, both mentally and physically the superheroes in the story need challenges to grow, and using his foreknowledge, he surgically removes the most disproportionate causes of suffering (like people StuffedIntoTheFridge). He nearly changes his mind at the last minute when leaving Stardus to fight Moonlight Shaman, his resolve being broken by seeing her cry.
* MoodDissonance: Egostic interrupting another villain’s terror attack by playing upbeat rock music and dancing to it.
* MookHorrorShow: Egostic rescuing the bound Ha-yul and her brother from a gang is presented like this, picking them off one by one in a dark house.
* MuggleBestFriend: Stardus has one in college, Kim Chaeyun, mainly serving to keep Egostic on her mind and fuel her obsession with him. She falls out of the story to be replaced by the more plot relevant superhero Icicle as her best friend.
* MundaneObjectAmazement: Moonlight Shaman is especially prone to this, considering she was raised as a TykeBomb by a psychopath led ReligionOfEvil.
* MundaneUtility:
** Egostic using his teammate’s GadgeteerGenius abilities… to display youtube livestream comments on his visor via hologram.
** Subverted when Seo-eun asks why Egostic doesn’t use MindOverMatter to get a drink, and he explains his powers basically work like a ManaMeter and he’s saving them for when he needs them.
** During the Bridge terror incident, Egostic uses his teleportation power to fetch sweet bread for a hungry hostage.
** Apparently the beach of the BeachEpisode is maintained with the help of a super with a heat creation power.
* MurderTheHypotenuse: Stardus has thoughts along these lines when seeing or being reminded of how affectionate Egostic acts with his female supervillain recruits.
* MyDefenseNeedNotProtectMeForever: This is how the confrontation between [[spoiler:Egostic and Metel]] goes.
* MyLifeFlashedBeforeMyEyes: PlayedForLaughs with the 10 scoop ice cream falling towards Da-in.
* NoSell: When Egostic has someone alter the GeometricMagic glyphs to buff him instead of Moonlight Shaman when he finally moves to confront her, he casually flicks away her attacks that pummeled the superheroes on previous days.
* ObliviousToLove: Egostic with regard to Stardus, thinking her feelings are simple hatred, because he specifically tries to do things she hates. And Stardus being in denial of her own feelings by some point.
* OnceDoneNeverForgotten: Egostic coming up with his panicked super hero identity of “Apple-Mango”.
* OnlyKnownByTheirNickname: Death Knight tries to give out his real name, but gets cut off each time by Egostic and forced to go by Death Knight.
* TheOnlyOneAllowedToDefeatYou: Stardus’ obsession with Egostic as her ArchNemesis has her thinking like this as an excuse for her {{Yandere}} like feelings about Egostic getting along great with Icicle.
* OppositesAttract:
** Stardus and Egostic.
** After Icicle’s character is developed, it’s apparent this is how her friendship with Stardus works.
* OrphanageOfFear: Ha-yul and her brother escaped from one of these after the headmaster tried to profit off of her healing magic, ending up living as a pickpocket in the slums.
* ParentalAbandonment: Stardus’s motivation for super heroics was supervillains killing her parents as she was a child.
* PassThePopcorn: A RunningGag, especially done by Egostic when watching Stardus live. DaChief of HeroesRUs gets in on it when Egostic shows up.
* PentUpPowerPeril: Electra’s ShockAndAwe abilities cause severe stress when not let out. This is what caused the original comic version of her to be basically DrunkOnTheDarkside, and for her to have the comic readers FanNickname of "Bully".
* PersonOfMassDestruction: Egostic’s first moves are to murder the unredeemable supervillains like this. S-class villains generally have this level of power regardless of alignment.
* PlayingBothSides: Both Egostic and Icicle do this by cooperating with each-other as Supervillain and Superhero.
* PlayingWithSyringes: Pretty much everything the EvilutionaryBiologist Han-Eun MegaCorp and Kim Sunwoo do involves this. That’s how Seo-eun got her super intelligence (and grudge against them).
* PoliceAreUseless: B class heroes. The best they can do is be mentioned in the same breath as normal police helping evacuate civilians.
* PortmanteauCoupleName: InUniverse. Celebrity focused media and online fan clubs use these in their gossip and ShipToShipCombat arguments about who goes best with Egostic.
* PostVictoryCollapse: Egostic, frequently, bonus points for BloodFromTheMouth.
* PowerDyesYourHair: Stardus’s hair changed to blonde when her superpowers awoke.
* PowerNullifier:
** A facility in the Han-Eun MadScientistLaboratory under Seol allows for Egostic and Stardus to be LockedInARoom.
** GeometricMagic symbols etched into Seoul by Wolgwanggyo, serve to dampen Hero’s powers amongst other things in preparation for Moonlight Shaman’s attacks.
* PrincessCarry: With his love of theatrics, Egostic does this several different times during public broadcasts, giving fuel to entertainment network and online shippers.
* PrivateMilitaryContractors: Egostic sets up some of these with an intermediary in order to organize some more minor potential heroes and villains to help face stronger threats in the future. The Hero Association doesn’t have very good pay, after all.
* PsychoSupporter: The group of copycat terrorists that emerge after Egostic’s first attack. Soobin emerges from that group, saying she was just following the crowd… though she does have her scary moments occasionally.
* PuppetKing: In the comics South Korea ends up being puppeteered by Icicle, and things head in that direction in the new timeline.
* RefusalOfTheCall: Subverted with Mist turning down Egostic’s recruitment offer purely to {{Troll}} him.
* RightForTheWrongReasons: Shadow Walker makes some surprisingly accurate assumptions about Egostic, it’s just the WHY that was wrong.
* RequiredSecondaryPowers: Notably averted with Stardus’ flight. It’s said if she does it without her special suit, the friction of flight would tear her up.
* ResurrectiveImmortality: Death Knight, as he’s basically a ghost.
* RivalryAsCourtship: The main premise, between Egostic and Stardus.
* SadisticChoice: A number of Egostic’s terror attacks are based on these, accurately counting on Stardus to TakeAThirdOption before faking a VillainousBreakdown. The first is ripped from ''Film/TheDarkKnight'', and the second is the famous Trolley Dilemma. The bridge one is a unique take of asking Koreans to take an offer of free money, and if enough take it, he’ll blow up the bridge. Which ends up hurting South Korea’s reputation abroad, to the public’s chagrin.
* SamaritanSyndrome: This is noted to be a major part of South Korean culture when it comes to superheroes, that they blame heroes for failing to prevent damage just as much as villains, hence Egostic’s popularity. In the original comic, Stardus suffered from this guilt tremendously.
* SensualSpandex: Naturally, Stardus wears this which protect her from the friction of flying at high speeds as a FlyingBrick.
* SetRightWhatOnceWentWrong: Pretty much every plan came up with Egostic is this, using his knowledge of the comic world he found himself in. It’s played with, in that, he has to replace the suffering Stardus would have suffered with EngineeredHeroics to strengthen her enough for coming battles.
* SerialEscalation: DiscussedTrope. Using his knowledge of the original comic, Egostic points out this pattern of escalating power and destruction of enemies he has to manage in one way or another, be it by taking care of the threat himself, or by strengthening Stardus through struggle to prepare her.
* SheIsNotMyGirlfriend: Both Egostic and Stardus have the same reaction to Entertainment News declaring them to be lovers, throwing their remote at the TV. Eventually Egostic has to clear up that he’s not dating Mist after she kisses him to {{Troll}} Stardus.
* ShipperWithAnAgenda: Icicle scheming to get Egostic and Stardus together to keep him closer to her than to Ego Stream members. Backfires.
* ShipToShipCombat: InUniverse, Egostic’s live streams and fanclub site often have debates about this, because of the overly affectionate ways in which Egostic interacts with female Ego Stream recruits, as well as Stardus. Amusingly, Stardus gets directly involved at least once using the anonymity of the internet, despite being in denial.
* ShockAndAwe: Choi-Sehee/Electra’s powers.
* ShoutOut: After playing mind games with someone to hide his SecretIdentity, Da-in thinks to himself "JustAsPlanned", in a shout out to ''Manga/DeathNote'', as that exchange would have been right at home between Light and L.
* ShownTheirWork: The author repeatedly displays an in depth understanding of how trauma effects people. An off-hand thought by Icicle suggests he is part of the MBTI typology scene.
* SmugSuper: S-Class superhero Metel, a Type 2 {{Eagleland}} stereotype.
* SneezeCut: A RunningGag near the end of chapters, not necessarily taking the form of sneezing.
* SoulEating: The {{Kaiju}} released by Wolgwanggyo do this, and conveniently return the souls after being defeated. They apparently can evolve into a more powerful form if they absorb enough.
* SpellMyNameWithAnS: DiscussedTrope. Stardus submitted her hero Identity to the government as Stardust, but they insisted on it being Stardus because it flows better in Korean characters (and thus better for publicity).
* StalkerShrine:
** Egostic keeps a more modern equivalent: An online photo and video collection of Stardus he updates daily.
** Stardus eventually starts a more traditional one in her house of Egostic.
* StandardSuperHeroSetting: The setting is generic enough, and there are enough references to the status quo in America and how that differs from Korea, one could easily imagine this taking place in the DC or Marvel universes.
* StatusBuff:
** The magic sigils placed around Seoul buffed Moonlight Priestess making her unstoppable, until Egostic interferes with them.
** Elektra can use electricity to boost Death Knight.
** Ha-yul can temporarily buff the powers of supers within a certain category of superpowers, doubling their power for hours, at the cost of exhausting herself.
* StuffedIntoTheFridge: Egostic SetRightWhatOnceWentWrong and prevents a number of these in order to get help from Super individuals either sooner or later, typically playing the long game.
* SuperhumanTrafficking: The head of Ha-yul’s OrphanageOfFear was planning to sell her and her healing abilities for profit, prompting her killing of the headmaster and escape alongside her little brother.
* SuperRegistrationAct: These are announced all over the world as a result of nation-scale villain attacks. South Korea has the least push for it because of Egostic’s interference in the timeline. Even before any talk of this, it’s noted that countries are reluctant to send their heroes across borders for fear of talent poaching.
* SupportPartyMember: It’s quite a while before Egostic’s team gets anyone who’s not just this.
* SustainedMisunderstanding: Egostic simply thinking Starus hates him, not realizing how much her personality has changed from the original timeline.
* TakeAThirdOption: Stardus stopping the Trolley Dilemma train. Which is JustAsPlanned by Egostic because he knew her personality and that her doing so would increase her strength.
* TakingTheBullet: [[spoiler:In the underground labs, Egostic, while dueling with Stardus, takes a hit from a monster for her and nearly dies. This leaves her with major trauma.]]
* TantrumThrowing: Stardus does this multiple times out of frustration when seeing Egostic get along too well with other women, damaging her phone or desk.
* TermsOfEndangerment: Egostic’s public displays towards Stardus sometimes include these to {{Troll}} her.
* ThreePointLanding: Egostic marvels at Stardus doing this at their first meeting.
* ThrowDownTheBomblet: Egostic does this at the start of one of his terrorist attacks, seemingly taking inspiration from The Green Goblin.
* ThisLooksLikeAJobForAquaman: Shadow Walker and night time, since his powers are limited in the day.
* ThirteenIsUnlucky: The 13th international ice cream festival of course means trouble.
* ThrowAwayCountry: Bye bye, Brazil!
* ThouShaltNotKill: One of the biggest differences between Egostic and Stardus is her belief in this, which is also part of several ContemplateOurNavels sequences where she wonders if he’s a hero or villain for killing PersonOfMassDestruction supervillains. Apparently she killed multiple supervillains in the comic though.
* TickleTorture: This is implied to be how [[spoiler:Egostic "reforms" Metel.]]
* ToBeLawfulOrGood: Stardus struggles with this all the time, since when left on her own, she hates vigilantes and killing. But her intuition superpower and emotional attachment to Egostic go counter to this. Eventually trauma breaks her down to the point of DoubleThink on the subject.
* ToneShift: DiscussedTrope relating to the Stardust! Comic, as the second half became bleak and dark, with Korea physically being ruined and Stardus having her mental health devastated.
* TranslatorMicrobes: Meetings of international villain leagues a magical equivalent, that doesn’t always keep up.
* TraumaButton: Soe-eun starts with some fear of men due to the PlayingWithSyringes conducted on her by Han-Eun. Soobin has episodes when her terrifying recruitment by Egostic is brought up. Stardus eventually gets a double bind trauma from [[spoiler:Egostic betraying her and then TakingTheBullet to save her.]]
* TriggerHappy:
** The President of South Korea proves a little too happy to press the BigRedButton and launch mass explosives at Seoul.
** The American S-class superhero Metel is quite cavalier when it comes to CollateralDamage.
* {{Troll}}: Egostic makes it clear early on that he derives great pleasure from the glares and anger from Stardus.
* {{Tsundere}}: Ego’s stream commenters call him one, causing him to almost fall. Considering he has the tripartite motives of reducing the suffering of Stardus, increasing the power of Stardus, but also just trolling her for his own thrills, it’s not hard to see why.
* UnderwaterCity: Lantis, the domain of the boisterous supervillain Atlas.
* UngratefulBastard: It’s noted that South Koreans in particular are harsh on their country’s superheroes, blaming them for being too late to prevent damage. Which plays into the public liking Egostic more, since he has MediaTransmigration foreknowledge to work from.
* {{Unishment}}:
** One of Egostic’s motivations for being a supervillain and launching terror attacks is making Stardus glare at and threaten him, which he greatly enjoys.
** Mist is thrilled when Egoistic uses MindOverMatter to carry her outside to do sparring, saying it’s comfy.
* TheUnmasking: Apparently there was an arc about Stardus going through hell from this in the comic, to which Egostic warns her against doing after she nearly does it.
* UnnecessaryCombatRoll: Egostic nearly blows his cover by doing this to escape a towering ice cream cone. Getting covered in dirt in the process.
* UnwillingRoboticisation: The Weapon Master S-ranked supervillain’s plans for Seoul were to kidnap people and do this before attacking using said monsters.
* UseTheirOwnWeaponAgainstThem: Egostic using telekinesis to pick up Mooks guns to shoot them.
* VigilanteMan: De facto what Egostic acts as, being a hero without the shackles of the law that bind conventional superheroes. Knowing that Stardus hates these types, blinds him to the complicating factors in her perception.
* VillainsActHeroesReact: This is part of why Egostic chooses to become a supervillain, to have agency instead of being leashed by the Hero Association. It doesn’t help that Stardus isn’t the investigative type, and so is always being led around by others, be it the association or Egostic.
* VitriolicBestBuds: Relationships amongst Ego Stream members sometimes develop along these lines. Especially their constant teasing of Egostic.
* VillainsOutShopping: Depending on how you define “Villain”, much of the series could count as this. The Ice Cream Fair is the most traditional example, from Stardus’ perspective.
* VillainWithGoodPublicity:
** The Han-Eun MegaCorp manage to keep good public relations until one of their lab experiments escapes and they evacuate Korea.
** Egostic becomes very popular, due to a combination of showmanship, preventing civilian casualties, and being willing to ShootTheDog by killing supervillains instead of putting them into CardboardPrison. This is seen as a problem by him, as he wants to boost and not worsen the reputation of Stardus.
* VoiceWithAnInternetConnection: Seo-un and the President of the Hero Association act as this for Egostic and Stardus, respectively.
* WantsToBeHated: Egostic specifically wants to be hated by Stardus, so that he can give her the challenges she needs to grow stronger in a manageable way, as opposed to her comic storyline enemies who systematically destroyed her mental health.
* WeakButSkilled: Egostic’s powers aren’t too powerful in their own right, so he depends mostly on cleverness and strategizing to succeed. This is why he is left as an A-Rank supervillain despite having S-ranked ones under him.
* WeaksauceWeakness:
** ShadowWalker is as good as powerless in the daylight.
** The {{Kaiju}} tentacle monster that escapes from Han-Eun’s labs is weak to plain old water.
* WhenAllYouHaveIsAHammer: Stardus relies on raw strength to handle most situations, in contrast to her foils Egostic and Icicle. Her lack of guile leaves her just reacting to Egostic, to her frustration. Meanwhile, other villains who would have given her the slip in the comic are dealt with by him, so she doesn’t develop the practical or emotional skills to cope with a recurring villain.
* WholePlotReference: Egostic’s first terror attack is explicitly a partial recreation of the climax of ''Film/TheDarkKnight''.
* WoundedGazelleGambit: Subverted when Egostic pretends to be more injured than he is [[spoiler:to guilt Icicle for having him meet Stardus out of disguise]], only to get back to base, take out his IV, and be scolded for it.
* YourHeadASplode: Egostic’s early method of assassinating supervillains was doing this with MindOverMatter. He’s disgusted by it, so switches to guns after.
* ZeroApprovalGambit: Egostic goes out of his way to make Stardus hate him so that he can take the place of her comic villains, for a sort of LevelGrinding in his encounters with her to prepare her for the future, and because he enjoys her angry reactions. Egostic specifically hires a reporter to make anti-Egostic content for her to watch, to which she replies by leaving a comment supporting Egostic.
* ZeroPercentApprovalRating: The President of South Korea is noted to have a 9% approval rating, and that’s before he’s accused by several people of being TriggerHappy with nuclear missiles.
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