Ch.562Chapter 21. Blood Pack (22)

-[Breaking News] President: “Deeply sorry about my child’s education.”

“I apologize for raising my child poorly, but I won’t apologize for anything else. I’m facing this head-on.”

Armored Taejo’s statement at the press conference turned the K-Confucian nation upside down.

“I definitely shouldn’t register as a hero. You can’t freely say what you want to say.”

Ymir kept clicking her tongue in disgust as she observed the public opinion that had been flipped by Taejo’s remarks.

“In America, dropping the F-word is nothing special.”

“In the land of Eastern courtesy, there are two things you must never do. One is disrespecting your parents, and the other is speaking inappropriately in public.”

“But Taejo did both.”

“Yes. But because of that…”

I showed Ymir screenshots of reactions from Taejo’s fan cafe.

“Trust was built.”

-That’s our oppa for sure!

-Honestly, if the Syndicate had brainwashed Taejo, he couldn’t have said that at a press conference. Agree?

-Never thought I’d see a hero drop those words at a press conference.

ㄴThat just shows how sincere he is~

The rumors about Armored Taejo being brainwashed plummeted instantly.

With just one statement, Armored Taejo successfully established his credibility as both an S-class reader and a young person.

“Who could have said anything more after that? Even the reporters’ minds were blown, and the whole press conference exploded.”

Even the hyenas waiting for prey couldn’t have predicted this.

It’s fundamentally difficult for those born before the Great Cataclysm to understand the mindset of ability users born after it with open minds, since their learning environments were completely different.

“And how could anyone ask further questions there? Like who he had patriotic sex with? Could he reveal who it was? Anyone asking that would immediately get criticized.”

“By women, right?”

“Exactly.”

If he had to reveal who his patriotic partner was to provide an alibi, he would immediately be scolded with “How could you pry into such private matters!”

“And if nothing else, he showed a manly image.”

After staking his mother’s honor, Taejo clearly stated in front of everyone:

“He’d rather quit being a hero than reveal the identity of the woman he was with. How could any real man do such a thing?”

“Oh…”

“His alibi lacks credibility, but his head-on approach earned people’s trust and belief.”

Though he was an unfilial son who implicated his mother, Taejo successfully regained most citizens’ trust by showing himself as a man who protects his partner.

“He might be a bit wild, but he’s not irresponsible. He is the Armored Taejo we knew.”

“……”

“And he was being patriotic, Mir. Even Hwan’s will would acknowledge this.”

“Right? Patriotism is truly the way. If he’d said he was doing something else, everyone would have been curious…”

“Taejo, patriotism, plausibility. Case closed.”

This is why image is so important for people.

“Trust varies depending on what image you’ve built. Look at me. Even though I acted as the Goblin, people are still spreading rumors about Goblin division.”

The same goes for me.

“So the Goblin has a successor too? Wait, could Black Taejo be real? Maybe the Syndicate can actually clone S-class ability users?”

“Mk.3…”

“Same with her.”

I pointed at the white cat lying on my thigh.

“She’s normally a charismatic cold-blooded assassin, but who would think she fights while meowing whenever someone fights wearing cat gloves? And she does it herself.”

Nyaaang.

The white cat yawned long.

I stroked its body, following the black patterns marked on it.

“Yes, you did well. You worked really hard blocking the Battle God’s attack.”

“I knew it. You were fighting in unison.”

“Of course.”

From the moment I intervened to block the Battle God, I was in unison with Hyun Se-rin.

That’s how I could pull off the crazy feat of taking the Battle God’s attack head-on.

Me taking the Battle God’s attack with pure strength?

Nonsense.

Unless you’re wearing gloves with reflection abilities, facing someone like the Battle God who overwhelms with mana quantity and physical power head-on is utterly foolish.

“Thanks to you, Se-rin used quite a bit of mana, but there weren’t any major problems.”

When Hyun Se-rin was fighting at the scene while meowing, she was alive based on Ymir’s doppelgänger.

But when I unified with her, she abandoned the mana gold body and left the doppelgänger.

As a spirit body, she dwelled within me again, unifying with me and allowing me to freely use her magical power.

Thanks to that, now a white cat with black patterns—looking like a deformed “white tiger”—

The appearance is just the boss’s preference.

Despite having the alias Taowu, why does she have a white tiger appearance? She would answer, “Explaining the reason wouldn’t be sophisticated.”

“Thanks to both me and her meowing enthusiastically, the heroes who took the bait are now on our side. Want to see this?”

“What is it?”

“The baited heroes are starting to claim the clone theory.”

I played a video that was trending on V Tube.

“Fenrir is alive?”

“Just a clickbait title.”

Beep.

-…I confirmed it myself while facing them! They clearly used the ability of ‘Fenrir,’ who was once an S-class hero of Korea, though he defected! The Syndicate must definitely have a way to secure S-class ability users’ powers or something!

“Hero ‘Yurina’s’ whistleblowing. It should have been censored, but…”

“This isn’t the original, is it?”

“It’s not the original but an archived version uploaded from a burner account, and now it’s trending with subtitles…”

Beep.

The video playback stopped.

When I refreshed, the message “This video is unavailable” appeared.

“They censored it.”

The cat said.

Pop!

Creating a slight breeze, the cat instantly transformed into Hyun Se-rin.

“You can already form a physical body?”

“Using magic at maximum efficiency is my specialty. I recover quickly. Hmmm!”

Hyun Se-rin stretched while sitting sideways on my thigh and yawned deeply.

“Anyway, that Yurina is pathetic. Pretending to be a whistleblower to find me, then claiming to be my disciple while trying to take my ability. Tsk tsk.”

Hyun Se-rin openly showed her disgust toward the whistleblower Yurina.

“If I were to give it to anyone, I’d rather give it to Kim Yoon-ji.”

“Kim Yoon-ji…?”

“Thunder Empress.”

“Ah.”

“Mir, don’t you think it’s a bit much to only recognize heroes by their aliases?”

“Hehe… Her alias just rolls off the tongue so well. What about you, oppa?”

“If someone’s alias clearly expresses their personality, it’s fine to just call them by it. Like Park Mi-ja.”

Ymir suddenly looked at Hyun Se-rin, and Hyun Se-rin glared at both of us.

“I’m not Park Mi-ja.”

“Then who is Park Mi-ja that oppa mentioned so meaningfully?”

“Bathory.”

“Ah.”

Ymir snapped her fingers.

“Since she’s a Zenros person, not an S-class ability user, we should call her by her real name now instead of her alias. Is Bathory’s real name Park Mi-ja?”

“Yes.”

When she was in Korea, her name was Park Mi-ja.

“It wasn’t on the wiki.”

“Usually, records of people who were Korean and then defected to other countries get erased. Officially, they become nameless entities. She too…”

“Goblin ahjussi? Should I call you by your real name too?”

“…His original name was also erased and no longer exists. Same with Park Mi-ja. Park Mi-ja is officially ‘Elizabeth’ now, I think.”

“Hmm…”

Ymir crossed her arms and tilted her head, seemingly dissatisfied with something.

“So what happens to this Park Mi-ja? Since she’s Elizabeth and Hungarian, will she be tried in Hungary?”

“She’ll probably be handed over to the International Ability Criminal Court. Hungary is in chaos right now. Crimes even more horrific than Bathory showering in Korean blood have come to light.”

“Crimes worse than showering…?”

“The crime of kidnapping Korean travelers and forcibly extracting their blood.”

“……”

Ymir’s expression grew increasingly dark.

“Mir.”

“It’s okay, don’t worry. I appreciate that you might be suggesting patriotic sex to help me, but this isn’t enough to make my head so complicated that I’d suddenly want to have patriotic sex, so I’m fine.”

That’s a relief.

I was worried that the illegal blood smuggling might raise Ymir’s meteor counter, but fortunately, she had built up enough tolerance that this level didn’t greatly disturb her.

“I’m actually more bothered by Se-rin unni’s former junior targeting unni’s bone powder.”

“They all want to inherit abilities. The ability users in Korea must be frantically searching for Black Taejo who’s hiding somewhere.”

I played the latter part of the press conference.

“Taejo himself says it. If he can catch those Syndicate bastards who stole his ability, he’d be fine with them killing the ability thief and drinking his bone powder.”

Armored Taejo.

“He said he’d take all responsibility, so whether they gain abilities or not, he just wants them to eliminate the impostor who’s copying his exact face.”

He put a bounty on Black Taejo and issued a hit request to the whole world.

“When an ability user stakes his own ability on his words, what could give the world more certainty than that?”

“But didn’t Taejo stake his mother?”

“Ah, that.”

Hyun Se-rin gave a hollow laugh and slumped against my body.

“Anyway, Taejo’s mom, that woman Min Ji-young, is really a—”

“Stop.”

Sometimes, even truths shouldn’t be spoken carelessly.