Chapter 481. Campaign |
When the reporter met those sambaegan eyes shadowed by dark circles, his breathing grew shallow.
"-_-"
Meanwhile—Kim Giryeo himself was also startled to unexpectedly run into a reporter.
"I've been working hard at this time just to protect the citizens..."
Despite all the difficult situations he'd been dealing with, Kim Giryeo calmly opened his mouth to speak.
"To think someone's been following me like this..."
For reference, that day, questioning tone was something that could easily intimidate others.
"I'm an alien doing good deeds here, so why treat me so harshly? I'm hurt.
In truth, that was the sentiment Kim Giryeo had intended to convey. But the moment he heard that voice, the person with the camera bag misunderstood on his own and began trembling like an aspen tree.
At the same time, the reporter, who had been trembling, suddenly raised his voice.
"I'm sorry, I'm sorry! I was wrong!"
He reacted as if he had come face to face with a man-eating alien. Fortunately, however, the one standing there was—relatively—a gentlemanly Archmage. Their conversation quickly shifted in a peaceful direction.
"I'll never do anything like this again!"
"May I ask which broadcasting station you're from..."
"A broadcasting station? N-no! That's not it at all. I mean, my workplace is so small you wouldn't recognize the name anyway!"
While Kim Giryeo scanned the reporter's outfit, searching for any information, the reporter—his face pale—hurriedly grabbed his camera. He then pulled out a small black chip and held it out as he spoke.
"F-first of all! Please take this. It's the memory card with all the footage I took of you, Hunter."
"A memory card?"
"But this—I want you to keep it. I'm g-giving it to you as proof that I'll never write an article about you, sir."
A man who called himself a reporter was handing over footage that was practically his lifeline without a second thought. What's more, the other party was a completely ordinary person, with not a trace of magic power leaking out. So, despite being exhausted from overwork, Kim Giryeo relaxed his brow a little and faced him calmly.
"Yes. But, reporter—was there anyone who might have hired you to follow me like this?"
Even if things had calmed down, this was something that needed to be made clear.
It might even be someone Hunter Kang Changho planted to gather information, considering his history of surveillance...
At that point, the blond man subtly revealed his suspicion toward a certain mammalian alien.
"Ah, about who sent me!"
The response that came back was surprisingly candid. Maybe it was because he had come face to face with those intimidating sambaegan eyes he'd only ever watched secretly through a viewfinder. Anyway, before any real threat even came his way, the Earthling spilled every bit of information on his own.
Apparently, someone had sent him money and instructed him to take photos of him. On the surface, they claimed to be an anti-hunter group, but in reality, it seemed that a political party in this country was backing them behind the scenes, or so he said...
"I've been in this line of work for a few years, you know. You think I couldn't dig up at least that much?"
"So even in this country, there are people in power trying to get ahead by rejecting Awakeners, huh."
"And besides, in front of someone like you, Hunter, only a lunatic would dare to lie. Ah, please—I'll tell you everything honestly, just please don't kill me!"
He hadn't even raised a hand, yet the other person kept acting like that, which made the alien feel a little wronged. Still, Kim Giryeo eventually calmed down. The reporter quickly made things clear by showing bank transaction records and DNS direct messages that identified the person who had hired him.
"It wasn't like I wasn't some strange like Kang Changho pulling something sudden."
The timid reporter couldn't even bring himself to meet the sambaegan eyes right in front of him.
"Well, I've benefited plenty from reporters as an intellect addict in my daily life, so maybe I can let this one slide."
So, taking the man's obvious fear as further proof of sincerity, Kim Giryeo chose to believe the reporter's promise not to publish any pointless articles—and let him go.
Click.And about a day later, he regretted it
***
[Exclusive] 5-Rank Awakened Kim Involved In Scandal Over Threatening a Civilian
• Kim Giryeo, Why Did He Mistreat a Fan Who Wanted to Write A Positive Article About Him?
***
The next day. The front page of the portal site I checked every morning looked strangely different.
"Ah, what is this now..."
Having just woken up from my first proper sleep in a while, I groggily picked up my phone. Then I tapped through the top headlines one by one.
"All of them are insults."
After trembling so hard while promising not to publish anything about me... he went and did it anyway. The articles that I went up that morning included a familiar photograph. More precisely, it seemed that someone had secretly re-photographed, from a distance, the very moment when this body had met the reporter face-to-face.
"This is practically the spread of false information, isn't it?"
And as for the captions written beneath the photo—what were those supposed to be? One media outlet had compared the posture of an ordinary citizen bowing deeply with my own rigid, unbending stance, and added the following commentary. It claimed that Mr. K, a figure currently making waves in the hunting industry, had brought a struggling reporter to the brink of tears the moment he discovered he was being followed.
It wasn't exactly a lie, but the account felt exaggerated in more ways than one.
"That man just started crying on his own the moment he saw my face."
It really did seem like there were groups out there intent on tarnishing an Awakener's reputation.
"There's quite a reaction from Earthlings."
Tuk.
I absentmindedly scrolled down to check the comments below the article.
[**#1674: Of course an 5-rank Hunter's going to attract media attention—they're famous. But does he really have to treat an ordinary person like a rat just for taking one photo? —----]
[Likes: 72 Dislikes: 30]
[**#174: It's only natural for a reporter to follow someone as influential as an influencer. Honestly, this hunter really handled it poorly]
[Likes: 63 Dislikes: 34]
But this was a bit strange too.
The comments in the BEST section have an unusually high number of dislikes. Normally, those numbers stop at around four or five at most.
Setting aside the odd ratio—which was rare to see in the first place—something about it felt off.
[**#14: LOL I was wondering why such a dumb comment was getting so many reactions. Hey, you part-timer bots, it's a post literally says to delete the part before copying it = =]
[Likes: 40 Dislikes: 0]
Part-timers. Without spacing, that word clearly referred to temporary hired workers—in this case, the kind used for online manipulation.
[Que**#52: I keep seeing the same accounts topping the comments in other articles too. They're obviously work accounts, boosting each other's votes to manipulate public opinion.]
It seems the person who wrote that comment is probably right. The series of opinions soon so far were clearly written by someone receiving monetary compensation. The actual reactions from real citizens appear to differ from the negative tone portrayed.
Now that I look, the article's views aren't that high. And it hasn't even been reprocessed and uploaded on any video streaming sites...
A few fleeting thoughts passed by.
I got the answer. Most mammals aren't interested in this issue.
Meanwhile, as I was lost in thought, a somewhat welcome message arrived on my phone.
Dring, dring.[010-XXXX-XXXX]
To explain briefly, the identity of this mysterious sender was none other than the reporter I had met yesterday while being followed. I'm not sure how everyone manages to get a hunter's contact so easily. Anyway, when I answered the call, a voice I had heard before immediately shouted through the speaker.
Hunter Kim Giryeo! This is really Hunter Kim Giryeo's number, right? I'm so sorry! No, I didn't even realize there was someone filming me. But anyway, I'm really sorry!It was a thoroughly apologetic tone.
"Could this also be some elaborate setup using the recording function to trick me?"
Moreover, the reporter who got through not only apologized but also promised to take follow-up measures. I can't expect the reporter to expose every political contact who wired them money. But at the very least, they promised to issue a correction for this morning's incident.
I can't expect them to expose the political figure who wired them money. Of course, at least for this morning's incident, the reporter promised to issue a correction.
"That's about as much effort as an ordinary citizen could reasonably give."
Well then, the apology was perfectly received. Anyway, since this article didn't really damage my image, there's no need to fuss over it too much.
"-_-"
Swish. Swish.
I lingered for a while in the portal site's news section.
[Comprehensive News Live Chat]
[Wow, that celebrity bought another building...]
[I'm jealous.]
[My stocks got crashed again today]
[Why are there so many trashy hunters these days without any sense?]
[Most of the comments trashy hunters were generated by AI or just copy-pasted...]
I skimmed through the lines on my phone screen and drifted into thought for a moment.
I did get an apology from the person who followed me, but thinking it over, this issue isn't just about that one human.
At that moment, a wave of pessimism I'd kept buried for a while suddenly surfaced.
"Somebody out there is taking advantage of the situation, badmouthing all awakened humans for their own gain."
Yesterday, it was like this. The day before that, too. Even just this past week, I worked so hard I broke a sweat.
No matter how much I felt the urgency due to the absence of the Gisimche, the reason I handled dungeon breaks so diligently was fundamentally for the safety of mammals.
[Free Bulletin Board]
[Anonymous 1: So what if public opinion is manipulated?? Anyway, even without major fabrication, KGR was a school bully and as a minor [underage], caused a ton of trouble trying to buy cigarettes at a convenience store run by a classmate's grandmother lol]
[Anonymous 19: Haven't those all been clarified as false ages...]
[Anonymous 3: Honestly, I just don't like Kim Giryeo->]
Watching humanity's reactions quietly, I suddenly felt something refreshing.
"Feels like I just got smacked on the back of the head a little."
Ahn Yoonsung, Jeong Hasaeng, Seonwoo Yeon. Ou Seohyeong.
Maybe my senses had dulled because I'd kept only good examples like them close by until now. In any case, the species known as humans that occupies this planet had maintained clear traits from the very beginning. Short lifespans.
Soft, fragile bodies that weren't properly protected by magic.
"Such pitiful little e*tards..."
In fact, many of these individuals simply had bad temperaments.
It's annoying enough that my dreams of a jobless life have gone down the drain, but now these Earthlings are starting to get on my nerves."
Still, what could I do even if some people annoyed me? If I wanted to keep the people I had grown attached to alive, I had no choice but to maintain this lifestyle for a while. While analyzing the gates, I also wanted to devise a way to control the anomaly known as Dungeon Shock.
In other words, as an Archmage, I wanted to somehow take the reins of control.
***
Several dozen minutes later.
By the time the summer insects outside the window had quieted down, I having finished my work preparations, stepped out of the usual seaside villa and checked my phone.
"The damn Monday."
Fortunately, the recent surge in "high-level gates" had subsided, staying within a range that hunters could handle. However, there was no guarantee that this wouldn't escalate into a major incident, so I refocused on investigating the anomalous phenomena.
"There are no more S-rank gates now, so I can just take my time checking out the scattered A-rank dungeons in the provinces."
Moreover, after spending a few calm days, genuine ideas finally began to form.
"What is the cause of the dungeon shock that descended upon Earth?"
What worried me most was if the answer to that question turned out to be 'Super Alien'. Anything more intelligent and technologically advanced than an Alphaurin, who had amassed a fair amount of magical knowledge... if such a thing truly existed, that would be the worst-case scenario.
Yet, reasoning calmly and logically, the Solar System fundamentally can't support an independently advanced magical civilization, right?
"Do they call units larger than a system a "galaxy" here?"
The right words welled up from within this flesh.
"If I were to express it in Korean—then, there was only a single planet in this galaxy where mana was detected."
As I was thinking just now, surprisingly few planets in the universe actually contain mana. It seemed almost as rare as the probability of a planet having life—so that basically said it all.
Of course, the old binary systems—including Alphaurin—were rare cases; unusually, they had several nearby mana-rich planets, which naturally even led to invasions by magical aliens.
"Is it really something to be proud of, this kind of peculiarity?"
Earth.
From the perspective of magical energy resources, this place is astonishingly a backwater in the universe. Above all, even when scanning at the galactic cluster level, there were no nearby sources of mana.
And I was actually drawn to this isolated, island-like characteristic of Earth, which is why I chose to start a second life here. But as explained so far, it was a situation in which it would have been extremely difficult for any magical civilization to arise nearby.
"The probability that an enterprise surpassing Alphaurin could have flourished in this area is extremely low."
From now on, it was purely speculation based on common sense. The ones who raided this planet could very well have been the aliens from that binary star system I know. The evidence for this comes from the Alphaurin creatures that occasionally appear in the dungeons. The only thing that comes to mind is that the previous Gisimche settled in an environment with no real competitors and developed adaptive defenses.
"Could it be that those things underwent unexpected evolution, significantly altering the traits of their main form?"
For the time being, I planned to keep all other plausible scenarios open while carrying out my activities.
I don't know."
To gather more information, I'd need to track down Korea's third S-rank hunter and have a conversation. And if I'm going to leave the country, I first have to deal with the dangers currently emerging domestically.
"First of all, let's give it our best today, too."
I steeled myself and set off.
"Come to think of it, isn't it about time to pay the health insurance fee?"
But as I was about to step over the fence at home, a minor task suddenly caught my attention.
"What day is it today?"
I pulled out my phone to check the date. At that very moment, around the same time, a call came in on the small electronic device.
"A call?"
For now, I decided to take it. But I had no idea I'd be having this kind of conversation so early in the morning.
Hello? Hi, sir. I'm an investigator from ** Police Station △△△.