100. Perfect Timing (3)
100. Perfect Timing (3)
「Hunters」
─ The most influential media outlet of the Gate Era.
Even with such an arrogant label attached to it, no one could deny it or call it undeserved.
Simply put, whatever anyone said, modern Korea was the nation the whole world watched—the country that overcame the Gate Incident in the shortest time through Velvet Academy and the Hunter Management Bureau.
So it was no exaggeration to say that Hunters, Korea's flagship media outlet, shaped global public opinion.
Rrrrrrr─
"Yes, yes, I've transferred the call. Excuse me? That matter has already been confirmed on our end."
"Ah, you want the article taken down? If you submit a complaint through the proper form for a piece that's already been published, we will review and process it."
"We cannot assist you with contacting the Utopia Party!"
Inside the office, phone ringtones blared from every direction.
All around, all manner of metrics and graphs floated as holograms, rising and falling in real time.
Amid all that chaos, only one team preserved its silence.
"Assistant Manager Choi. That scoop you mentioned—you said it would come soon. When is it coming?"
A woman wearing glasses sat in her chair with her arms crossed, glaring at the man.
Her voice was thick with irritation.
"W-well, j-just a little longer, and it'll...."
His head hung low as he answered, his voice crawling downward as if it were shrinking into itself.
"...Ha. Look, Assistant Manager Choi. How many times have you said that now? You told me a bombshell was about to drop regarding the Hunter Management Bureau, and you do realize that my entire team has stopped all work based solely on your word, right?"
As if to underscore those words, a dozen or so staff members sat around her, hands poised on their keyboards, all staring at him.
She glanced around, sweeping her gaze over her juniors, and let out a long sigh.
Hah─
"Assistant Manager Choi. Let's really stop this. Need me to explain again how badly we got crushed last time just chasing follow-ups on the Utopia Party articles?"
Before the woman, who was pressing hard at the bridge of her nose as if nursing a headache, the man hunched his shoulders even more obsequiously.
"And it's not even like you went out into the field and dug it up yourself! Does it make any sense to just sit there waiting for a single phone call?! Seriously, is this source of yours even reliable?"
"...A-absolutely reliable!!"
The man nodded frantically.
"Who the hell is this person, anyway?"
"...I-I can't tell you that."
"Ugh. I might as well just die and get it over with."
Under the barrage of criticism, he kept swallowing his discomfort, but inside he was cursing up a storm.
'God damn it, you fat sow Ryu Jin-ju! You're supposed to call me the hell back!'
The truth was, the man was a Demonized Human who had infiltrated the media company.
By now, she should have checked the fabricated documents, and the bomb should've already gone off ages ago.
'I practically spoon-fed her contact numbers for reliable reporters with every single file. Why the hell hasn't she called yet...!'
But Ryu Jin-ju remained utterly silent.
The Demonized Human bit down on his lip.
According to the original design, Ryu Jin-ju was supposed to confirm the information and tip off this very media outlet immediately.
The plan was to use Hunters' firepower to ignite the media frenzy while hidden Demonized Humans supported her and seized control of the Hunter Management Bureau.
There were three benefits to be gained from this.
First, they could remove the troublesome current Director of the Hunter Management Bureau, Kim Ji-won, and her followers, and install the easy-to-handle, stupid Ryu Jin-ju as the next Director.
Second, by having her, the head of the Gate Field Management Department, take point, it could be handled as an internal Hunter Management Bureau matter, deflecting suspicion.
Third, the Hunter Management Bureau could be made to voluntarily harbor hostility toward Velvet Academy.
After all that painstaking effort, the opportunity to finally purge the Hunter Management Bureau had arrived—
—and yet, there was no word from the very person at the center of it, Ryu Jin-ju.
'Shit! Has something gone wrong? Don't tell me that simpleton ran straight to Kim Ji-won...!? Should I just write the article myself?'
Since he had fabricated and orchestrated all the materials, he carried the broad strokes of the information in his head.
But he had no choice but to shake his head.
'No, that would complicate everything. The source of the info would draw suspicion, and it would give Velvet Academy time to respond. The cleanest scenario is still Ryu Jin-ju tipping us off.'
That was when it happened.
"Huh!? Wh-what is this!"
The woman, who had been sitting in front of him with her legs crossed, glaring at her phone with an irritated face, went wide-eyed.
"...Corruption in the Hunter Management Bureau? Uh, w-wow, this material looks pretty credible? They even named real names.... Is Velvet Academy taking responsibility for this?"
At those words, the man couldn't hide his own baffled expression.
'That fat sow! I told her to contact us here, and she shot the story somewhere else!'
Still, it seemed Ryu Jin-ju had released the information. If so, their primary objective was achieved.
"Assistant Manager Choi, is this what you were talking about...?"
"Ah, y-yes! I-I think that's it! But why... did she leak it to another outlet instead of us...."
The Demonized Human nodded hastily.
Right, it was flustering, but they could just chase it with follow-up articles.
He had reporters ready and waiting to pour fuel on the fire.
"This... is an article submitted by Velvet Academy?"
"...Excuse me?"
'What? Ryu Jin-ju tipped off those materials to Velvet Academy? No matter how stupid she is, she made that choice?'
The documents he'd handed Ryu Jin-ju explicitly detailed how Velvet Academy was oppressing the Hunter Management Bureau.
And she tipped them off to Velvet Academy?
Assistant Manager Choi felt the situation slipping sideways into something strange.
But before he could voice any objection, the woman's eyes went cold.
"...Ha. An exclusive, you said. I'm the dumbass for trusting you. Fine. It's still a scoop about the Hunter Management Bureau. We might not get the solo byline, but we'll be the first to follow! Everyone, get ready!"
"""""Yes!"""""
The reporters whose hands had been poised over their keyboards answered in a thunderous chorus.
"Assistant Manager Choi, what are you doing? Get over there and start your own shit-stirring."
Clack-clack-clack-clack—!!!
The sound of typing poured down like a rainstorm.
Against that backdrop of noise, the Demonized Human scrambled to his own seat.
And as he clicked his mouse and checked the article that had gone up, his eyes bulged.
'...Uh, wh-what the hell happened here...!'
*
It was a nuclear bomb that dropped one day, without warning.
One of the two pillars supporting Korea.
Articles about the Hunter Management Bureau came flooding out.
And unlike the usual editorial tone, these articles meticulously laid out all manner of corruption with detailed data, point by point.
『Hunter Management Bureau Gate』
『The Corruption Hidden Within the 'Hunter Management Bureau' Is Exposed.』
『The 'Truth' About the Hunter Management Bureau That Everyone Was Hiding, Finally...!』
『Bribery Allegations, Hunter List.』
『A Hotbed Within the World's Greatest Hunter Management Bureau? Military Service Scam: 'Secretary-General Yoon Do-a's' Daughter Posed as an Awakened Despite Not Being One....』
『The Trash Blocking Director Kim Ji-won's Path.』
┖ Wow, these bitches are insane.
┖ The Hunter Management Bureau was skimming this much off the top?
┖ Military service scam? Don't tell me that bitch was faking being an awakened when she's not?
┖ And she was even bragging about planning to enroll at Velvet Academy.
┖ But she got rejected, didn't she? I looked it up—besides the daughter, she has a son who was supposed to enroll next year through the Male Quota System. Need to check that little shit out too.
┖ Fuck, what a goddamn waste of tax money.
┖ I feel so bad for Kim Ji-won. If this is true, she was basically alone with almost nothing she could do on her own.
┖ Yeah, that's why Kim Ji-won proposed voting to appoint Hunter Management Bureau personnel before, but the elders completely ignored her.
┖ Burn all those coffin-dodgers down!!!!!
The public's rage over the incident grew uncontrollably.
It was fortunate that this happened while the glow of the Hunter Management Bureau's past salvation of Korea still shone, however dimly.
In truth, though they hadn't voiced it openly, ordinary citizens had harbored considerable resentment toward the Hunter Management Bureau's administrative handling for a while.
And when major media outlet Hunters concentrated its firepower on the story, it ignited like fuel poured on a blaze.
On the other hand, it was something of a relief that a few specific individuals' names were clearly named,
and the concentrated fire landed on the corrupt individuals rather than on the Hunter Management Bureau itself.
In the original world line, the fabricated information would have broken first,
and the clarifying follow-up articles the Demonized Human Extermination Squad released later would have been taken down one by one by Demonized Humans.
But because Jin Yu-ha and Baek Seol-hee had moved one step faster, the order of events was reversed.
On top of that, the major media outlet the Demonized Humans had incited went all in on providing firepower, so there was no way to stop it.
The board that had been set to bring down the current Director of the Management Bureau, Kim Ji-won,
had been turned on its head into a board purging the trash within the Hunter Management Bureau.
Truly exquisite timing.
And as the situation backfired completely against its original intent,
one Demonized Human screamed in silence.
'...N-no! How the hell did this happen!!! S-stop...!!!!!'
But once the reporters had sunk their teeth in, their hands could not be stopped.
"Why aren't you writing?! Assistant Manager Choi, get those fingers moving, faster, faster!!!!?"
* * *
Meanwhile,
Swish, swish─
A hand stroking my hair.
'Mm, but Instructor... just how long are you planning to keep petting me...?'