The Press Conference

In the endlessly refreshing scroll, the gallery's consensus boiled over with a mixture of horror and a strange, feverish excitement.

And among that flood of posts, one thread in particular was watching its view count rocket skyward.

Click.

The instant I heard the office doorknob turn, I reflexively flipped my phone face-down on the desk.

Almost got caught.

I painted a look of composure over my face and lifted my head.

The person who opened the door was my secretary, Han Yuri. The moment her eyes met mine she sucked in a sharp gasp of air, and then she started hiccuping.

"P-President…!"

"Is it done?"

"Y-yes! We found everything. But are you truly certain this is all right?"

Han Yuri's voice was shaking so hard it sounded like she might burst into tears at any second. Her reaction was only natural. What I had done in the inauguration square today could, if one were being generous, be packaged as a "purge of corrupt politicians."

Put plainly… did that make it a coup?

From the Commissioner General of the National Police down to the Prime Minister, every government ministry in the country would be in an uproar by now, preparing to storm the Association.

"Enough. You secured all of it, I assume? Without missing a single piece?"

"Y-yes…!"

Han Yuri swallowed hard and nodded.

"The Association's intelligence team and the Awakened from Internal Inspection… they really ran themselves into the ground hunting it all down. Everything was exactly where you indicated, President. They… they still can't believe it themselves."

"Well. I had to put in some work figuring all that out, too."

I took the file folder she held out. It had a satisfying, heavy weight to it.

Ugly catalogs of corruption belonging to the members of parliament who, a mere two hours ago, had ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠been dragged from the inauguration square with their bones crushed in my hand and cuffs on their wrists.

Secrets the police and the prosecution could have spent months chasing with search warrants and still never found.

The reason I had been able to sweep it all up in two hours was simple.

Because I read the novel.

The result, as anyone could see, was a complete success. From the Hunters' point of view, wouldn't it genuinely feel as though I had planned this from the very beginning?

I leafed through the documents, the corners of my mouth lifting. At this rate, those five would rot to death in a prison cell for the rest of their lives — not behind a parliamentary badge.

"Well done. Instruct them to issue a special bonus to the intelligence team."

"Yes…"

Han Yuri watched my face with extreme caution, then asked in a voice that barely crawled out of her throat.

"P-President. What do you intend to do now? There are rumors the government is assembling a special forces unit…"

"I suppose it's time for an address to the nation."

I toyed with the phone I had flipped over, and added,

"Yuri. Could you give me five minutes?"

"Y-yes! U-understood!"

Han Yuri startled so hard she nearly tripped over herself backing out of the office.

I turned the phone screen on immediately. Tap. Taptaptap. My fingers ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠moved with practiced ease, and I was on the Hunter Gallery in seconds.

Watching the degenerate comments roll in in real time, I smiled with deep satisfaction. The fatigue and stress that had been stacking up felt like they had been wiped clean away.

Five minutes passed like that, and I straightened my clothes until every line sat exactly where it should.

The door swung open.

I stepped out of the office first, and Han Yuri — who had been fidgeting in the hallway, waiting — flinched and snapped her spine ramrod-straight.

"The reporters. They're all assembled?"

"Y-yes…! In the first-floor auditorium — every major domestic network, and the foreign press as well. Everything is set!"

"Then let's go."

I started walking.

A sharp whine of feedback bled out of the microphone and died. In its wake, a suffocating silence settled over the entire auditorium.

Dohwa stood at the podium.

At that moment, every regularly scheduled broadcast in the country had been cut. The only thing going out over the air was the live feed of the woman on that stage. And it was not only Korea. Major foreign networks — CNN, the BBC, and the rest — had slapped provocative titles across the same footage and were carrying it live around the world.

Dohwa set the file folder down on the podium with a dull, unceremonious thud, and spoke.

Her voice was low, and calm. Nothing like the trembling one she had always used before.

Dohwa opened the file and lifted it to the angle the cameras would catch most cleanly. Original documents, undeniable — dense black text stamped with red seals.

Flashes detonated. Dohwa narrowed her eyes slightly against the glare, and went on, unhurried.

The corner of her mouth lifted, just slightly. As if the whole idea were absurd.

Silence.

In that heavy stillness, Dohwa slowly raised her head. Then she looked directly into the camera lens.

The instant the words major guilds left her mouth, the faces of the guild representatives observing from the very back row of the auditorium went ashen.

A roar of murmurs exploded through the hall.

The Eunha Guild. A power bloc that monopolized ten percent of the nation's entire magic stone distribution, and scattered enormous lobbying funds across the political and financial worlds.

The further she went, the more a cold edge crept into Dohwa's voice.

The air itself began to feel damp, heavy. Everyone in the auditorium felt the same single thing.

Suffocation.

It could also have been called pressure.

Dohwa's irises flared, burning a vivid, brilliant red.

There was not a single person in that hall who failed to understand what those words meant.

And then hundreds — thousands — of flashes went off at once, bleaching the auditorium white. In that storm of blinding light, Dohwa closed her eyes, then opened them again.

A gaze that did not waver by so much as a hair.

With that look in her eyes, Dohwa delivered her final sentence.