Ch.601Chapter 23. Patriotic General Do Ji-hwan (5)

“I never thought I’d use a finishing move that’s usually only seen in dramas.”

“Pardon?”

“No, just thinking out loud.”

I covered my face with my hands at Yoon Yi-seon’s question.

“Did people look at you strangely?”

“Well, they were directing more comments at you than at me, sir.”

Yoon Yi-seon pointed to the press conference footage on TV.

-D-did he actually do it?! First Baek Seol-hee, and now Yoon Yi-seon too!!

-If the condition for creating S-class heroes is patriotic… no, if it leads to the creation of life…!

-Gasp…! Are the others already…?! Could Red Rider also be pregnant…?!

“I’m sorry. I made people misunderstand even more.”

“Don’t worry. That was the original purpose, and if they misunderstand to that extent, they’ll understand once we give them a reasonable explanation.”

Our main objective was simple.

That having patriotic relations with Do Ji-hwan makes you stronger.

Not just once, but the more ‘consistently’ you do it, the stronger you become.

And if that relationship isn’t just pursuing physical pleasure between a man and woman, but a process of creating future possibilities.

Then like Yoon Yi-seon, you can ‘awaken’ to become an S-class being, or even aim for something beyond that.

“That’s what we’ll put on the wiki.”

“Yes.”

The truth is different.

The sequence of events is wrong.

Yoon Yi-seon already had S-class abilities, and our relationship began after she had already risen to mid-S-class.

What worried me was how it became distorted into the narrative that ‘Yoon Yi-seon became stronger through patriotic relations,’ but Yoon Yi-seon didn’t particularly care.

Instead, she attempted a head-on approach, dropping two nuclear bombs in succession to silence everyone.

-Th-th-that…! A non-virgin who can’t even ride a unicorn!

They could have insulted her like that.

Before the second nuclear bomb dropped.

-My god, she’s even pregnant?! This filthy… huh?!

-Be careful! You must never provoke Yoon Yi-seon!

-Mmph, mmmmph…!

There are beings in this world you should never mess with.

Just as Hollywood crime movies avoid showing children being killed, there are beings considered taboo to touch.

In this world, pregnant women are such beings.

Especially if the pregnant woman is an ability user.

And even more so if she’s an S-class ability user hero who’s pregnant!

“Even during the height of Haeguneul’s rampage, they couldn’t touch the pregnant Baek Seol-hee. The same will apply to you. If anyone dares to mess with you, let me know immediately. Under the ‘Special Demonization Act,’ they can be summarily executed.”

“I haven’t received a single DM. Instead, people were apologizing or immediately backing down.”

“Hmm….”

“It’s fine. It’s a lie, but no one knows whether it’s a lie or not. At least at this stage.”

Yoon Yi-seon lightly tapped her smooth lower abdomen.

“I’m the one with the phantom pregnancy.”

That’s right.

Yoon Yi-seon is currently pregnant.

In her imagination.

The world now knows her as a pregnant woman and will be extremely careful around her, but after about four months, everyone will start to wonder.

Why isn’t her belly growing?

Even for an ability user, shouldn’t it be at least a little more swollen by that time?

Could she be suppressing her body somehow with her ability?

Though they might not say it openly to her face, people must be gossiping about Yoon Yi-seon’s pregnancy in places where others can’t hear them.

It’s only natural.

Out of the four female S-class ability users in the country, two are supposedly pregnant.

The natural progression after pregnancy is “retirement.”

“Hehe, I didn’t want to go to the World Cup anyway, so this worked out well.”

Yoon Yi-seon has temporarily stepped back from being a hero.

She could certainly return after giving birth, but again, Yoon Yi-seon is not actually pregnant.

She used pregnancy as an excuse to deceive people.

Not only did she deceive the public, but playing around with future possibilities might make the will of Hwan say “this guy.”

However, if a situation arises where even Hwan’s will might say “that’s understandable,” then even if the phantom pregnancy is exposed, no major problems should occur.

“Yi-seon.”

“Yes, sir.”

“Who’s worse: people who call someone a slut for having patriotic relations once, or…”

“Obviously those people are worse. A fangirl getting caught in a scandal with a celebrity deserves criticism, but that fangirl was genuinely happy, right?”

“……”

“The people who criticize that are the bad ones. Don’t they do the same things? Ah, even if they can’t, they shouldn’t criticize. I just acted according to my heart. And…”

Yoon Yi-seon boldly expressed her thoughts to me, just as she had at the press conference.

“Isn’t it the world that says one S-class woman is more valuable than one A-class virgin?”

Yoon Yi-seon’s logic was simple.

Her message to those trying to criticize her was crystal clear.

“An A-class student council president who didn’t have patriotic relations with Do Ji-hwan and received a patriotic draft order, being pushed around by various men, versus Yoon Yi-seon who grew to S-class through patriotic relations with Do Ji-hwan and to S+ class through pregnancy. That’s what I’m saying. Hehe, it’s thanks to me, right? Your value has increased.”

“Yes, thanks to you… I heard there are now two Do Ji-hwan courses.”

The short course of Do Ji-hwan’s awakening, which involves simple enhancement or low-probability awakening, with a growth limit of S-class.

And the full course, which has the side effect (not really a side effect) of pregnancy, but allows one to rise not only to S+ class but possibly to the even higher SS class.

Currently, countries around the world are sending love calls to the Korean government and Hero Association to buy time with Do Ji-hwan, and the government, while claiming to be in a difficult situation, is smiling.

For good reason…

“Sir, are you really going to do it?”

“Of course not.”

The Do Ji-hwan course will actually be sold, and it will become Korea’s main source of income, acknowledged by both Baek Seol-hee and The Syndicate.

“If it were just selling one’s body, it would be illegal, but the taste of the patriotic champion’s pounding is a luxury.”

“What? Are you really going to do it?”

“No. I’m just going to let you watch the rice cakes.”

“Are you saying that because Ymir isn’t here?”

“No, seriously. This, this right here.”

I wasn’t making any strange jokes.

I handed Yoon Yi-seon the honey rice cake I was holding, and she popped it into her mouth.

“Korean traditional food. I won’t introduce it as ‘rice cake,’ just as ‘tteok.'”

“They’ll be surprised. I came thinking I’d wear victory underwear and do this and that with Do Ji-hwan, but all I’m doing is eating tea and traditional sweets while receiving ability consulting throughout the night.”

“You came thinking you’d leave with a body that could never ride a unicorn again, so I should at least do that much.”

The whole world believes it.

That Do Ji-hwan’s patriotic nights are serious acts that corrupt public morals, something minors under 19 should never witness.

But it’s different.

Those who know, know.

Just as with Yoon Yi-seon, women who receive Do Ji-hwan’s consulting don’t awaken their femininity through desire and pleasure, but rather awaken their intellect through personalized one-on-one consulting.

Just.

Among those who received such consulting, two Korean S-class female ability users formed deep relationships with me, one already three months pregnant and the other with a phantom pregnancy—that was merely outside the scope of business.

“A woman who isn’t prepared to be accused of having patriotic relations with Do Ji-hwan will only become a demon if her mentality wavers, even if she reaches S-class.”

If one cannot endure the contradictions of false propaganda and fabrications that try to bring them down, they will only become demons even after awakening.

-Yes, I had patriotic relations with Do Ji-hwan! So what! I can repay it through hero activities!

-(Actually, I never had patriotic relations)

Only a woman with the mental fortitude to proudly say this in front of people can truly take “responsibility” for the power she gains when rising from A-class to S-class and beyond.

The responsibility to not misuse the enhanced abilities gained from Do Ji-hwan’s consulting, and to maintain strong mental fortitude to avoid becoming a demon.

In that process, if this country gets criticized by other nations saying “You’re happy filling your national treasury by selling Do Ji-hwan’s body!” it’s just the jealous ramblings of those without resources.

Just as oil was once the world’s greatest resource.

“Sir. When everything is exposed, can you do like you did with Mir?”

“Huh?”

“If I say that instead of carrying Do Ji-hwan’s child, I did that kind of thing with Goblin…”

Yoon Yi-seon.

“If I say I had patriotic relations with Goblin and am carrying Goblin’s child… hehe, hehehe…!”

“Sure, whatever you say.”

She showed her determination to retire by pretending to be pregnant with Do Ji-hwan’s child, while suppressing her fandom for Goblin.

Later, if everything works out well, or if everything is exposed, she’ll act according to her heart.

“But Yi-seon.”

“Yes, sir.”

“Cutting in line isn’t good. Especially when it comes to ideas.”

“…Can’t we call it even since I took the criticism first?”

“That’s not for me to say. That’s something you should say to the original planner.”

No matter how powerful an ability user you are, you shouldn’t take someone else’s project file and announce it to the world under your name.

“Go apologize. The ones you need to apologize to aren’t your fans who mistakenly believed you were a virgin, but the woman whose turn was pushed back because you jumped the queue.”

“Yes….”

“Urgh!”

Originally.

The plan to retire due to misunderstandings about morning sickness wasn’t Yoon Yi-seon’s idea.