Chapter 69: I touched what shouldn’t be touched

“S-Shina… Shouldn’t we go back now…?”

“Lee Yeonwoo, what are you talking about! Do you think I’d just stand by and let this ridiculous broadcast air as is?!”

Shina, a girl with sky-blue hair tied tightly in a ponytail, was waiting with Yeonwoo in the waiting room for the cast.

The reason Shina and Yeonwoo came to MBS Broadcasting Station today was,

“Even if they can’t say good things about Phantom, I won’t tolerate a broadcast that tries to make people think negatively of him in any way!”

It was to defend Phantom on a live program airing shortly.

Of course, Yeonwoo had been dragged along by Shina.

She was trying to shake off her anxiety by eating sweet snacks.

“Om nom nom… I-I know Phantom is a good urban legend, but this is a program that a lot of people watch… And it’s live. What if I make a mistake?”

“You’re the one Phantom wiped tears for, so why are you so timid? Straighten your shoulders! Stand up tall! And stop eating snacks!!”

–Smack! Smack!

Shina lightly slapped Yeonwoo’s chest, which particularly stood out.

“Ah…! Shina, don’t hit my chest…”

“Seriously, Yeonwoo, do all your snacks go there? It’s amazing every time I see it.”

“It’s just uncomfortable for me… It’s a burden when guys keep staring, and it’s so heavy that I keep hunching over.”

“Well, I understand, but don’t say that anywhere else. Girls will get jealous. And who knows? Maybe Phantom saved you first because of your chest? Hehe.”

“T-That can’t be…! Shina, your chest is big too, why are you only teasing me? So, was Phantom’s reason for saving you last time also because of your chest?”

“Hehe, I wonder? Phantom seems like a noble being who wouldn’t be interested in such things… But if he does like big chests, I’d actually be happy to learn about Phantom’s more human side, wouldn’t I?”

“Shina, you’ve really fallen for Phantom, haven’t you? You used to give a flying kick to any guy who looked at you weirdly, and now you’re even making eyes like that? Hehe.”

–Knock, knock.

Just then, a junior staff member came to the waiting room, knocking on the door.

“Yoo Shina-nim and Lee Yeonwoo-nim, the live broadcast starts in 10 minutes. Please get ready.”

“Yes, got it.”

Click.

After the staff member closed the door and left, Shina adjusted her clothes.

Today’s live broadcast was openly designed to make Phantom a public enemy. Here, Yeonwoo and Shina had to defend Phantom and survive.

–Slap!

Shina slapped her cheeks with both hands, steeling her resolve.

“Yes, Yeonwoo, you’re right. Ever since Phantom saved me at the department store, I’ve completely fallen for him. I don’t really know if he’s a transcendent being like an urban legend or not. But… if he has even a shred of human emotion, he’d be hurt seeing a broadcast criticizing him. I want to repay him for saving me. I’ll definitely defend Phantom with all my might today!”

“I-I don’t know if I’ll be much help, but I’ll do my best too…!”

“Hehe, just having you by my side makes me feel at ease. And Phantom will definitely remember you. He’d be thrilled to know that the high school girl he saved at the convenience store came out for him, wouldn’t he?”

“R-Really? Hehe.”

“Of course! Alright, let’s go. Don’t let go of my hand and follow me closely.”

“Mhm!”

Shina took Yeonwoo’s hand and left the waiting room.

Today’s program was a meticulously planned live broadcast by PD Park Jincheol, designed to maximize attention on Phantom and boost ratings.

The two girls voluntarily stepped into the middle of such a jungle, full of hyenas.

Solely for the man who had saved them.

****

“Hey, you bastard! How many times have I told you to bring the lighting?! That’s why you’re always an assistant director, you idiot!”

Thud!

“S-Sorry! I just had so much to prepare today that I forgot!”

“Does ‘sorry’ finish the broadcast? Just bring it quickly!”

“Y-Yes, sir!!”

As always, PD Park Jincheol was nitpicking everything, creating a hostile atmosphere on set.

A piece of trash. Worse than an urban legend.

Infamous among the staff and cinematographers, PD Park was a director who lived with unspeakable criticism.

But the reason he could still be the main PD of the program was,

“Hey, brother-in-law, is today’s broadcast really okay? A special appearance by an urban legend is frankly unprecedented.”

“Oh, brother! Don’t worry, just trust me. Have I only been broadcasting for a day or two? Today’s broadcast will definitely explode. I’m confident I can get ratings up to 10… no, even 20%! Haha!”

It was because his older sister’s husband was the head of MBS Broadcasting Station.

And contrary to his terrible personality, the programs PD Park created always generated undeniable buzz, whether good or bad, so the broadcasting station had nothing to lose.

“The station president will be watching this live too. Don’t make any mistakes. Got it?”

“Hahaha, how could I? I guarantee a ratings hit, so just prepare a generous performance bonus for me!”

“If the results are good, I’ll prepare even more, so don’t worry. But is it true you’re featuring ‘Phantom’? What kind of manipulation are you planning now?”

“Brother, manipulation? We call that dramatic staging.”

“If it were an edited version, maybe, but in a live broadcast, will people be fooled?”

“Hahaha, this ‘actor’ is on a different level. He’s an S-class actor with an ‘awakened ability’ that allows him to perfectly mimic Phantom’s appearance, aura, and even the black energy captured at the department store, so you can put your worries aside!”

PD Park boasted to the bureau chief and bid him farewell, saying the broadcast was about to begin.

In the studio, panelists were seated facing each other, with the host in the center.

On the left were three experts who regarded Phantom as an urban legend and believed he would betray humanity someday.

And on the right sat Shina, Bureau Chief Seo Jihun’s granddaughter, and Yeonwoo, the first girl saved by Phantom.

“Good evening, viewers across the nation. We would like to inform you in advance that our broadcast is being simultaneously aired on terrestrial TV and YouTube. Today, we will delve deeply into the topic of ‘What kind of being is the unknown entity known as Phantom?’”

With the host’s opening remarks, PD Park’s manipulated broadcast began to air.

****

About an hour after the broadcast began.

Someone from the side that considered Phantom an urban legend was speaking.

“—Ultimately, he may seem to be saving us now, but he is still just an urban legend, a monster. We don’t know when he might stab us in the back.”

“Just a moment! It’s one thing if it happened once or twice, but constantly condemning Phantom, who keeps saving us, simply because he’s different—”

“Please wait, Ms. Shina. The other side hasn’t finished speaking yet, so please take your seat.”

The host immediately cut off Shina’s attempt to refute.

Trembling.

Shina, unable to hold back any longer, slammed the table and stood up.

–Bang!

“What is this supposed to be? You’re not giving Yeonwoo and me proper time to refute, but you keep giving the other side the floor!”

“Ms. Shina, please take your seat. You seem to be having trouble controlling your emotions because you’re still young, but we are trying to accommodate both sides’ opinions—”

–Snap.

Finally, the thread of reason Shina had barely held onto snapped.

“Accommodate? Accommodate my ass, you f*cking bastards! Did you think I wouldn’t know you were trying to make a biased broadcast from the start?”

“S-Shina…! Th-This is a-a live broadcast…!”

“f*ck, I know that!! So what? Honestly, it’s a miracle I lasted an hour!! Viewers watching the broadcast probably know you’re making us look like idiots while praising the other side, don’t they? PD Park, that crazy bastard, I should have destroyed his plan when he sent it to Grandpa, saying he’d make a broadcast like this!”

Shina’s furious outburst, fully unleashing her true personality, was broadcast and spread as is.

However, PD Park didn’t remove Shina from the camera’s view or take any special measures; he merely watched her with a pleased expression.

‘I was hoping you’d make such a fuss. The infuriated appearance of Bureau Chief Seo, the core of Korea’s defense, and his only granddaughter! It’ll be a tremendous boost to ratings.’

Drawing attention with an unfair situation to provoke her anger first. That was the initial goal.

And now that the broadcast had matured to some extent, he intended to drive the nail in with his final hidden card.

That was to feature a fake Phantom, then broadcast the moment he assaulted the faction that criticized him.

“Honestly, it’s a completely rigged play, but the public are just pigs anyway. Even if they think it’s not real, if they see someone identical to Phantom brutally beating people, they’ll unconsciously think negatively of him.”

The ultimate reason he specifically sought to tarnish the image of Phantom, who was regarded as a savior.

While boosting ratings by drawing attention was one reason, there was a separate, fundamental purpose.

“The incompetent higher-ups wouldn’t welcome a savior-like figure. They only want to dismantle powerful urban legends and use their abilities in war, so a powerful being like Phantom having a good image? That gets in the way. They needed a legitimate reason to eliminate Phantom without public backlash. That’s why they made this d-dirty request to me.”

The government, coveting the powerful abilities of a being who never harmed humans, needed to tarnish Phantom’s image to gain a legitimate reason for his subjugation.

“Well, I just need to be in the middle and reap the benefits, so there’s no reason for me to refuse. And Phantom never touches humans. Even if he knew about this manipulated broadcast, he wouldn’t even pay attention, so there’s no fear of retaliation!”

PD Park gave an instruction over his radio to the youngest staff member to bring in the fake Phantom.

–Clap!

As soon as the host received PD Park’s signal, he clapped and began introducing the guest.

“Alright, alright! Everyone, please calm down and direct your attention to the back! We have succeeded in inviting an unprecedented special guest in broadcasting history! After the department store incident, a being we painstakingly discovered through our thorough investigation, it’s Phantom!”

Shina had already seen the name Phantom on the cast list and expected PD Park to have orchestrated some kind of manipulation.

But even though she knew in advance, the moment she saw the ‘fake’ walking out from behind, she couldn’t help but be shocked by how identical he looked to Phantom.

–Whoosh!

A black suit and a white mask. And most importantly, even the pitch-black aura surrounding him. It was incredibly identical.

‘f*ck, did he prepare a doppelganger or something? There’s no way a mere broadcasting station could have found Phantom when the Urban Legend Countermeasures Headquarters and the Guild couldn’t track him down for months.’

But no matter how absurd the deception, there are always people who will fall for it.

‘Even if only 10% of the people watching this broadcast believe it, the impact will undoubtedly be enormous.’

Unfortunately, it’s an immutable truth that a bad image spreads much faster than a good one.

If people start to think negatively of Phantom, he might become disillusioned with humanity and leave this place.

‘I have to prevent that situation, no matter what.’

With the thought that she absolutely had to stop the fake, the moment Shina stood up.

–Zzzzzzt!

Crash!

The brightly lit studio lights flickered, then began to shatter one after another.

“What the f—! Hey, lighting team! What are you—”

“P-PD-nim…! Th-The actor…!”

–Crunch!!

–Crack!

With grotesque sounds, the ‘fake’ that PD Park had painstakingly prepared began to twist and shatter in various places without even a scream.

–Squelch!

As if the very space surrounding him was being crushed, he continued to twist, and within seconds, the fake Phantom turned into a fragmented corpse.

“W-W-What in the world…?”

As the PD, panelists, and staff were bewildered by the sudden situation, blood-red letters appeared before their eyes.

Ding!

[Divine punishment for the ignorant insects.]

After this sentence was broadcast, not a single person involved in the plan remained alive.

–Crunch!!

****

At the same time, a small sedan was driving on the highway.

Inside the car were Sihyun, driving to leave for their honeymoon, and Luna.

The silver-haired princess seemed to have relaxed after their morning skinship and was fast asleep.

“Mmm… Sihyun is a pervert, but… I like it…”

“Hahaha, Luna always falls asleep next to me when I drive. I guess that means my driving skills are excellent, right?”

Ding!

[Hehe, of course! Sihyun-nim is good at everything!]

“Alright, alright, thanks. While Luna’s asleep, keep me company. By the way, what have you been watching on my phone? YouTube?”

The Notification Window had been holding Sihyun’s phone and watching something for the past hour.

–Crunch!

–Crack!

“What’s that crushing sound? Are you watching a hydraulic press video or something?”

[Hehe, it’s nothing! I’m just watching a video of tiny bugs being squashed. Kih-hee-hee…]

‘I didn’t know the Notification Window liked videos like that.’

Because he was driving, Sihyun didn’t notice that the Notification Window’s UI had turned a distinct blood-red color.