episode_0083

“What?”

Han Se-jun, who was behind her, frowned and asked Jang A-hyeon. As if I had heard a ridiculous and bad joke.

And that was the general reaction.

Jang Ah-hyun, who was the first to hear the absurd news, also had no time left to devote to Se-jun.

“Yes. Then, let’s stop spending this extra money.”

“Now, wait a minute, Grandpa!”

She manages to stop the call that is about to be disconnected.

Chairman Jang Tae-san’s cackling voice, as if he was very happy about the rapidly changing situation, was heard through the receiver, making Jang A-hyun frown.

“Hehe, I thought Ahyeon would be interested in you as well.”

“… What you just said. What on earth do you mean by that!”

Jang Ah-hyun’s voice becomes louder as she feels extremely uncomfortable. I came out of the beach and took a shower, but it felt like sand was sticking to my feet again.

It was a rude behavior that she would not normally have shown to her grandfather, but Jang Tae-san seems to not be that concerned and proceeds to explain in a light tone.

“You know that, Hwang Gyu-sik suddenly held a press conference. haha. He said he had been investigating Northmund’s background and gathering information for a long time, but because he couldn’t bear it anymore due to this incident, he was revealing everything.”

“… What was the reaction of people who saw it?”

Jang Ah-hyeon’s voice is trembling. Someone is trying to paint their beloved idol with black ink.

She shakes her head desperately. Hwang Gyu-sik. He probably didn’t do it on his own accord. Hwang Gyu-sik, whom I met in person not long ago, was not the type of person to do anything alone.

The president she saw was incompetent and just a moderately corrupt politician who only cared about his own interests.

The fact that he met Hwang Gyu-sik, who had become famous as a talented person, was clearly the kind of person who wanted to use it to increase his own popularity.

‘Who is it. ‘Who on earth would do this behind your back!’

Her head was spinning, but the answer was clear. No, there was no reason to think about anything else.

Circular bridge. It’s their doing.

“What. Don’t worry. After all, there aren’t only fools in the world, and people must have noticed that Hwang Gyu-sik was a bit strange. He was shaking a lot.”

“That… .”

I can hear Jang Tae-san’s sly voice. At those words, Jang Ah-hyun makes a foolish noise as if it is absurd.

As if Jang A-hyun’s voice could be heard through the receiver, Chairman Jang Tae-san laughs even louder and says that he can see our A-hyeon’s expression right now.

Yes, if you think about it logically, her grandfather is right. In fact, very strange timing.

This is something that would be too difficult to announce in a situation where a global disaster has suddenly struck.

Even though she didn’t see the press conference, she could tell right away that it was a lie just by hearing what her grandfather said.

‘but.’

The world doesn’t work very logically. Perhaps the forces of the Ring Bridge were also aiming for that.

Even if 99 out of 100 people say it is not true, if just one person is deceived, the unity of the 100 people will be broken.

Even if the majority of society believes it is not true, if there are even a few who believe it, discord is bound to arise.

And the feud tarnishes Elm Northmund’s face.

The black paint sprayed on Elm’s face will leave a huge stain on his pure, noble will.

… It should never be like that.

A sound is heard. This is because her grip was so strong that the smartphone’s screen cracked.

Chairman Jang Tae-san must have heard that sound and could be heard chuckling.

“Ahyun, I told you not to worry about that. Anyway, since the world is in such a state of chaos right now, are you worried about how many people saw that press conference? Plus, this extra money is already putting in a lot of effort.”

“… Grandfather.”

“Yes, yes. Don’t worry, I’m putting all my effort into stopping that strange rumor. And take care of yourself. Since Ho-yeon has become his partner, if something goes wrong with you as well, our Taeseong will be finished.”

The call ends with a message that doesn’t sound like a message. At the same time, the sound of Jang Ah-hyeon clicking her tongue was heard.

In her helpless hand, the only thing holding is a smartphone with a broken screen.

She was about to break the phone with her fist in a fit of anger, but then sighed and lowered her hand. Even if you do that, nothing will change.

Her grandfather is now trying to burden her dear principal. You will end up condescendingly saying that you helped stop the rumor and helped.

It will have to be prevented to some extent, but it will not be completely nipped in the bud. Occasionally, that seed of disquiet will bloom again, reminding me of it and continuing to burden my heart.

Because that is the most basic principle of business. Because it is a way to create business partners that will last forever.

“Hey, are you okay?”

Suddenly, a voice comes from behind her. Han Sejun was talking to her.

“I didn’t listen to the entire call, but I only heard a brief snippet. But that’s complete bullshit. So don’t worry.”

“That’s right, Ahyeon. It’s just dirty sabotage of the ring bridge.”

“Yes, leader. It’s not worth saying. It makes no sense that the dean is the devil.”

“Cluck cluck.”

Each member of the team helps each other out. Muriel did not continue speaking and just laughed, but suddenly a feeling of jealousy filled her.

Choi Byeong-gi seemed to be trying to say something with a light face, but he was struck by Han Se-jun’s sword sheath and his words were forcibly swallowed.

“That’s right. Thank you everyone.”

If she were not careful, she would have completely forgotten about what she was supposed to do and the mission left to her, and would have been swayed by Jang Tae-san’s tongue.

This was her own bad habit. When something shocking happens, you focus only on it.

It is a wrong habit that has been pointed out since childhood, but it still cannot be corrected.

“Yes. What we need to do now is to continue our mission. so… Ugh!”

She stopped talking, took a deep breath, and gathered the bullets in her hands. Not only she, but everyone else seemed to have sensed the strange situation as they picked up their weapons that had been put down for a while and looked around with caution.

This is because the air suddenly changed.

The concentration of magical power dissolved in the clearly blowing cold wind of early winter suddenly thickens, creating a very sticky and unpleasant feeling.

In this case, there is only one.

“Gate is appearing! Everyone ready for battle!”

Han Sejun screams and activates his supernatural ability. It’s the first gate in a while.

A gate in this situation! Sejun took a deep breath and opened his eyes wide. At this level, a fairly large gate will open.

It is a large-scale invasion of monsters.

‘Where is the gate!’

Well, the question was resolved.

Just as he thought. A truly huge gate was being created in the middle of the city.

Paaa!

Suddenly, a huge beam of light shoots down at them. A jet-black ray of light similar to Jang Ah-hyeon’s light bullet, but the exact opposite color of her light bullet.

“Everyone, avoid it!”

When Tania hit her barrier diagonally and bounced it away, a nerve-wracking sound was heard, like fingernails scraping a blackboard, or something that would make you cover your ears and frown.

Instead of being able to block it from the front, all they could do was tilt the barrier and bounce it off. Her barrier was broken, creating a noise.

They all stamped their feet quickly. The body reflexively follows the fighting techniques learned at the academy.

When facing a powerful enemy, you should never stick together. So, they will just be killed all at once.

First, spread out to divert attention and then launch a joint attack as trained.

“Muriel! See the opportunity in the shadow! Tania! Match it with Sejun in front! Sejun! Don’t stand in front too alone!”

“Okay!”

“Maintain the same formation! After visually confirming the enemy, I will give you a second action!”

Jang Ah-hyun shouts loudly. Although she usually uses honorifics, when entering a battle, she abandons the honorifics and gives orders to her teammates informally.

This was to quickly understand the battlefield and establish an efficient command system. And it has worked quite well so far, greatly helping the team survive.

And this time maybe…

Paaang!

The sound of tearing the air was heard once again. The same ray cannon attack as before from an enemy presumed to be a monster.

“… What?”

Jang Ah-hyun swallows her breath and opens her eyes wide, as if she doesn’t understand the situation.

She opened her mouth blankly as the bundle of rays suddenly split into multiple beams, increasing to the point where even if Tania blocked one with a barrier and then immediately used her powers elsewhere, she would not be able to block them all.

I instinctively kicked my feet. If you can’t block it, you should avoid it.

However, the ray of light has already arrived right before their eyes.

Then this.

─Isn’t this a really dangerous situation right before the beam hits them?

‘this.’

I had such dazed thoughts as I instinctively twisted my body to somehow avoid the death that was right in front of my eyes.

*

─So, I reveal the whole truth with a devastated feeling. There is not a single lie in the story I revealed, and what the National Intelligence Service uncovered after a long investigation…

“… Huh.”

I laughed and stuck my tongue out.

Now we are inside a private house and taking a rest.

While searching the area based on information obtained from Paul Holland, they entered a private house to take a rest.

The owner may have already evacuated, but there was no one in the house, so he was able to relax to his heart’s content without worrying about others.

I had a cell phone in my hand as I lay on the bed, and shocking content was coming out of it.

When I received a call from Helen from Elada, she cut off both the front and back of the horse and sent me a video file asking me to watch this.

And as you can see, the content is an expose about me. It talks about the identity of a person named Elm Northmund.

─Elm Northmund, who is considered the world’s hero, is actually from the demon world beyond the gate, and it was he who opened the gate to Earth. Actually, didn’t everyone find it strange? The gate broke out right after he appeared. Plus he had a clear idea of the date the next gate would open. From that point, our National Intelligence Service grew suspicious…

“Uh, what should I do, Professor?”

Yoon Shia stamps her feet and looks at me. Her hands were shaking, as if she had checked the facts on her tablet first.

“This is it.”

I sighed deeply.

Yes, I thought it would be revealed someday.

In fact, my lie was so clumsy that anyone would have doubts.

On the day I fell into this world, I simply came up with an excuse out of a whim.

In reality, it was just a very weak and unfounded story. Grand Duke of Grandis? Imperial Magic Tower Lord? Even when I think about it, it’s at the level of putting on a blanket at night. Aren’t your hands and feet shriveling?

“Is this sabotage of my social image?”

That’s why I’ve refrained from talking about myself as much as possible. Because when logic is weak, it is best not to bring up the story itself.

If you say something for no reason and get caught, you have to lie again to make up an excuse, and the more and more lies will inevitably lead to suspicion.

“School, professor.”

“Be quiet. It’s nothing to make a fuss about.”

But is that also a limit now? Has a lie with so little basis finally been exposed?

It was foolish to think that the world would be fooled by my clumsy lies in the first place. Because it was a story that immediately made you suspicious the moment you heard it.

‘It’s just that they kept their mouths shut due to the necessity of the situation.’

Suddenly a strange large red lizard appears and says I am the Lord of the Imperial Tower. Is that right in front of him? If you nod your head but turn back, is it really true? It is natural to have doubts.

A being called a Dragonian that has never been seen before, the essence of the occult science of magic used right in front of your eyes, and an invading force called a monster that can only be hit properly by weapons mixed with magic.

The situation was just like the Trinity, so everyone was just thinking that would happen.

“… How are you so calm! This is not the case right now! This is what the professor said.”

“Huh.”

With Hwang Gyu-sik’s revelation coming from the phone’s speaker, something surprising was happening once again.

She was shooting at me with her fists clenched, both hands folded to her chest, and trembling.

Her first rebellion.

She had always obediently followed everything I said, but she was beginning to deviate for the first time.

The cute situation, like a Sagorzab puppy barking, struck me as uncontrollably cute and made me burst into laughter.

It’s as if I’m trying to forget my current difficult situation.

Yeah, maybe it was.

This is a story that I, who live a life full of lies, had to come to terms with at least once.

It may be a lie to me, but it is believed to be true by the woman in front of me. That’s probably why he’s making such a troubled expression.

“Well, don’t worry. Because the world is wide.”

“… Yes?”

“Even if things go wrong, wouldn’t there be a place for you and I to hide in this wide world? If it doesn’t work out, that’s okay.”

“… Ah.”

Her face turns bright red and she takes a step back with trembling feet.

I could roughly imagine what kind of expression she was making, and even if I couldn’t imagine it, I could understand it by the waves of magic emanating from her, so I didn’t bother to look at her.

For your information, I like Gukkwang more than Hongok. They say it’s hard to see the national light these days.

okay. Apples have to be a little sour to taste good.

“… Ugh, ugh.”

After hearing her muttering, I got up from the bed and put my feet into the dress shoes below.

Now that I’ve had enough rest, I have to start again.

For now, we must focus our efforts on killing the Corruptor rather than those rumors.

I searched all around the area Holland mentioned, but I couldn’t find any monsters. Even though I tried to concentrate and feel the monster’s energy, I couldn’t feel any energy at all.

If you think about it, it’s natural. More than four days have already passed since the Corruptor appeared.

It was an error to think that the Corruptor would stick a stake in the place where it was summoned and stay still for four days. It must have moved somewhere.

‘But we probably haven’t gotten that far yet.’

Its body is very weak. It is said that it does not even have a proper defense mechanism other than mental attacks that cause devastating damage, and its physical armament is no better than that of a low-level monster, Slasher.

So even if I moved as much as possible, I wouldn’t have gotten very far.

‘Let’s find an area with a lot of infected people nearby.’

I don’t mean to ignore this country, but the internet penetration rate is surprisingly low. In addition to the Internet, there were many rural areas where TV was not available due to lack of repeaters.

So, if you think about it, there probably aren’t many rural areas that watched the broadcast of the conductor called Bright. There is little chance that people in villages without television will watch the live broadcast on NewTube.

‘There is a high possibility that the Corruptor encountered at least one village while moving.’

Therefore, if you think about it logically, the method I came up with had a fairly high success rate.

So, I nodded and was about to leave the door when I heard movement behind me and turned around.

“What should I do? We have to leave now.”

“No, that’s… .”

The girl with dragon horn hair standing in front of me was crossing her fingers with a somewhat sad expression on her face, and I couldn’t understand why she was doing this.

Yun Sia is wearing a beige long-sleeved blouse, a beige knit, and a casual set-up jacket.

Now that I think about it, something felt strange ever since I laid down in bed.

He blushed for no reason and showed a strange reaction. There was also a strong peach scent lingering by his bedside.

‘hmm.’

First of all, there is no way for me to understand her thoughts, but since I had no reason to think about it, I send her a urging signal.

It’s probably a useless idea anyway. That’s why I opened my mouth bluntly towards the girl standing behind me.

“Come quickly. We need to kill the Corruptor quickly. There isn’t much time.”

“… Yes, sorry.”

After hearing my words, she eventually lowered her head and slowly began to walk after me.