Chapter 301

Chapter 301. Spotlight (3)

“So?”

“And so… it turned into this sort of escape game where no matter how we caught them, they managed to escape. After a while, it became repetitive, and I sort of gave up.”

The events that Kim Yul, kneeling neatly before me, recounted weren’t all that complicated.

It had all happened during the production of content for his UTube channel.

“Sigh…”

Over the past fortnight, Kim Yul had been exposing the image of the Beastfolk and dwarves through visual media, as I instructed.

It all began when he visited the National Intelligence Service, ostensibly to retrieve some belongings he had left behind there.

‘To be precise, it was a lie made up to stage a coincidence for retrieving the belongings.’

There were no belongings left, but it served as a plausible excuse since the place where the Beastfolk stayed happened to be the dormitory where Kim Yul stayed.

During that visit, the Beastfolk children appeared on a live broadcast.

‘Were they captured while gnawing on drumsticks?’

From the sound of it, it seemed like a genuine coincidence.

After that, the video spread rapidly, igniting conversations online about the Beastfolk.

In response, the association identified the two races and announced that they had officially become affiliated with the association.

The association essentially vouched for their identities.

In a way, the association acted as their nationality.

‘Though the association doesn’t have territory, so the theory itself doesn’t hold.’

Still, thanks to the endorsement of the association, the two races were able to receive treatment equal to that of foreigners in various countries.

And with the announcement, the gag order on their information was also lifted.

Consequently, players began sharing their experiences with the Beastfolk.

‘That was exactly four days ago.’

Kim Yul also uploaded a pre-prepared video related to the Demi-human.

It was an introduction video showing their abilities in visible numbers, like game characters, with added graphics.

I remembered that the quality was quite decent.

The video, lasting about 15 minutes, garnered over a billion views in just one day.

Bolstered by this, several other content pieces were in production.

Today, as part of that effort, Kim Yul intended to create a video featuring Berta and other young Beastfolk.

Among the various content types, it was in the reaction genre, observing the responses of the Beastfolk.

To trigger those reactions, an animated movie called “Panda Kung Fu” was used.

And this is where the real issue began.

Among the characters in the animated movie, there was one modeled after a tiger.

Berta, who was engrossed in the character, couldn’t contain her excitement and started mimicking the character’s moves.

The other young Beastfolk, influenced by Berta, joined in the fun.

This resulted in a situation where they didn’t account for their extraordinary physical strength, leading to chaos.

The common meeting room of the dormitory was utterly devastated.

“……”

“……”

“……”

While I was quietly examining the destroyed items and space, Kim Yul and the filming team that contributed to this mess collectively kept their mouths shut, gauging my reaction.

Of course, there were those who weren’t as timid.

“Hey, K! Did you see me just now? I did this! Like, flip-flap, whoosh!”

“I did it too!”

“I’m an eagle, so I wasn’t there……”

“I can swish-swish with my tail like this!”

“Why am I a bear? I’d rather be a panda!”

And it wasn’t just one of them; there were several.

The main perpetrators of this chaos, the kids who got thoroughly absorbed in the animation and created a ruckus, were chattering noisily.

Just then, a light fixture hanging from the wall shook and finally fell to the floor.

Crash.

I broke the silence by addressing the shattered light I had been observing.

“How’s the video quality?”

“Umm… I think it turned out well… Right?”

Kim Yul had collected himself first and asked, prompting the filming team, still in a bit of a daze, to nod.

“Then that’s fine, keep it up. When the shooting is over, call the guardians.”

“Do you mean to call Horfe?”

“Yeah, it’s necessary to teach them that destructive behavior won’t be tolerated. The parents need to be informed for proper home education too.”

“Ah, I suppose… What about the damages?”

“We’ll process it as a loss compensation at the guild level. I’ll inform the finance team separately, so don’t worry about it.”

“Got it.”

There was enough money to cover the damages.

I had a comprehensive list of valuable resources from Biharin.

Recently, we raided the mages’ lair and will soon be able to hit the temple headquarters.

The loot obtained from Biharin has been steadily converted into money through the smuggler Choi Seongwu, and most of it is being used for guild operations.

A significant portion has already been spent supporting the settlement of the Biharin, and more will be spent in the future, but funds weren’t exactly tight. The number of exclusive missions I held was quite large.

Thus, I didn’t foresee much difficulty in resolving this issue.

‘I need to fix problems that arise while they’re doing tasks I assigned.’

Having reached a conclusion, I was about to put down Berta.

“Wait, please!”

But before I could, an urgent objection stopped me.

Curious, when I turned my head, a woman holding a camera had approached Berta and me.

She immediately started giving instructions.

“Berta, do it like this, cutely.”

It seemed she was using the translation magic tool borrowed from the dwarves, as there didn’t appear to be any communication issues between her and Berta.

“Cute?”

This might explain why Berta understood and responded to her.

“Bring your arms inward, clench your fists under your chin… Pull your legs together towards your belly… Yes, like that!”

“Like this?”

Kyaah! Cute!

After her cry of admiration, almost unbelievable to my ears, the woman fixed her gaze on me.

“Umm, if you could just, err, uh, your, your arm…”

As I stared at her with a blank expression, she swallowed nervously and struggled to finish her sentence.

“It seems the angle’s a bit off, so if you could pull your arm to the side, just a little…”

I was filled with disbelief and frustration, wondering if I really had to do this, but…

‘This is a situation entirely of my own making, who else can I blame?’

With a creaking motion, I pulled my hand from Berta’s scruff and moved it to the side.

“Alright, let’s take the video now, Berta. Look sad, disappointed.”

“Uuu……”

It seemed like Berta was quite cooperative, perhaps because she had experienced this several times before.

And I’d have to be the same from now on.

‘Considering the debt I owe to the Beastfolk.’

I had feigned helping them only to borrow their strength for a deal, while leaving them without actual assistance.

Horfe, who could have criticized me over this, had never done so, but I felt it was unjust.

I must repay them—by empowering them.

The start was to form an influence that would help them protect themselves from humans on Earth, who tend to reject differences once all wars are concluded.

In fact, players from other countries who joined the Palao guild, just like Kim Yul, were also preparing to create content.

‘It looks like I’ll be busy in a different sense in the future.’

Only after some satisfactory videos were shot did I let Berta down and withdrew to a corner of the meeting room to observe the ongoing shooting.

* * *

“Democracy… human rights… socialism…”

Mumbling.

While going over notes from the camp’s educational course, a sudden ding interrupted her thoughts.

Rashar turned her head toward the now familiar sound.

Nearby, she saw Ahel eating while operating a tablet PC.

There were no more restraints visible on his neck or wrists.

Instead, Ahel carried that tablet PC with him 24/7.

It was one of the items included in the personal aid package K had sent.

Associational regulations overseeing the camp did not list personal aid sent by Earthlings as prohibited.

As such, aside from a few items not allowed, owning personal belongings wasn’t severely restricted.

Indeed, many Biharin with connections to players received personal aid this way.

‘If you search their names on the association’s data? Data base? It reveals the state they are staying in and the camp they belong to.’

Players who have formed bonds with them from Bihar are reaching out with such aid.

The fact that most receiving this additional support were combat personnel wasn’t entirely surprising.

There was some grumbling within the camp, given the perception of disparity.

‘Quick adaptation by those capable of combat leads to increased Earth fighting power.’

No wonder the association tacitly allowed such differential treatment.

Thanks to this, Ahel and others like Jordan, with excellent learning abilities, were starting to handle various electronic devices like Earthlings.

Next to Ahel with his eyes glued to the screen were rows of others dining in the mess hall.

Some were flipping through notebooks like Rashar, going over what they had learned.

Others were engaged in lively conversation with those around them.

A few were poking at their food with gloomy expressions or sniffling from tears.

It’s been two weeks since the rescue operation led by the association brought them to Earth, with no warning.

Some adapted quickly to the new environment, while others had difficulty adjusting to life here, unable to forget their homeland.

Reactions were bound to diverge drastically since not everyone had chosen this situation voluntarily.

That said, an overwhelming majority were trying hard to adapt.

For the life on Earth couldn’t be compared to that on Biharin; it was far more comfortable.

Everything that constituted the basics of life was met with amazement.

Rooms were warm, it was always possible to use hot water, food was varied and delicious, and clothes were soft and comfortable.

After a few days of enjoying such a life, everyone began realizing.

This is a very good place to live.

When most refugees gathered, they talked about such things.

‘A world where science flourished in the absence of magic.’

Even to Rashar, life on Earth felt comfortable.

That’s why it was understandable to see many refugees striving to adapt as soon as possible, to avoid being ousted or left behind.

‘I wonder how the atmosphere is in other camps.’

Rashar only heard about it, but she was told there were as many as 16 camps operating like the one she stayed in.

As many as 16 camps were set up in a country called Korea.

Hosting a million refugees at once would burden a nation, but hosting a hundred refugees reduced that burden significantly.

Thus, thousands of camps were set up worldwide to disperse the refugees, offering education suited to each country’s culture.

‘Whenever new refugees are rescued from new origins, they are assigned to different camps per structure.’

With Rashar in Korean Camp No. 2, the second batch of trainees already existed, and a third batch was expected soon.

Once in the camp, they completed a four-week initial training before leaving the camp to engage in economic activities and test settling down.

On Earth, rather than fully supporting the Biharin, they were empowering them towards self-reliance.

Those achieving self-reliance would become part of society’s workforce once more.

The by-products produced there would feed back into society, forming a cyclical economy.

Upon understanding this massive system, Rashar couldn’t hide her astonishment.

‘Though not everything runs perfectly according to theory, and side effects do exist.’

The mere establishment of such a societal structure was hard to believe.

‘Many of the outsiders are quite adept at numeracy it seems.’

Seeing this structure, a system they’ve grown up witnessing as normal, must have developed their thought processes unconsciously.

“Hmm? Breaking news?”

Just as Rashar was about to express admiration once again over this situation.

Ahel, who had been looking at the tablet PC, muttered.

“Oh, Palao guild seems to have destroyed a messeo.”

Startled by the seemingly familiar yet unexpected topic, Rashar’s shoulders jerked.

Jordan, who had been eating across from her, corrected Ahel.

“In Korean, the language of the Earth, where we are staying, it’s called ‘hole’. But in English, widely used globally, it’s pronounced ‘hole’.”

“Ah, right.”

“What does the news say?”

“It says they closed a hole.”

“Any casualties?”

“No mention of that… Wait, K is doing an interview right now.”

Rashar’s ears perked up suddenly.

Damned System

TL’s Corner:

Last 117 chapters. We’re almost there.