A Sincere Apology (1)
A Sincere Apology (1)
Rewinding to when Yujin was grappling with Winterer.
The crowd of awakeners had kept their distance, wary of getting in the way of his hypnosis.
As the next S-rank and Korea's strongest villain clashed, they...
—Murmur, murmur.
"Aika... right? Is that really her?"
"Didn't you see earlier? Who else zips around at the speed of sound?"
"Why on earth is she in Korea?"
They paid neither of them any attention.
A walking Strategic Nuke, the No. 1 S-rank, was standing right beside them.
How could they waste time watching children fight?
They were too busy stealing glances at Aika and discussing her.
"Could she have come to teach Yujin?"
"He does use a katana, so it would make sense... Nah. No way."
"You think Japan would've allowed that?"
Had she really come to teach Yujin swordsmanship?
Would Japan, of all places, be crazy enough to do Korea a favor? That sounded about as likely as Korea handing over a major corporation's management rights to Japan.
"Did the Association President have some reason to meet Aika?"
"Oh. Come to think of it, Aika cleared that Gate yesterday. Maybe the President called her here...."
—BOOOOOOM!!!!
"———Disciple, what are you doing with a villain?"
"......!!!!!?"
Why was that actually true? Why were they master and disciple?
The awakeners' jaws dropped in shock.
But that was not the end of the surprises.
"Wait. This hostage Aika rescued... haven't we seen him somewhere before?"
"Isn't that the new prime minister, Nakanowatari, who just took office?"
"Eek."
While Aika was being scolded by Seol Hayeon,
everyone turned toward the man she'd been protecting.
Wait. That was Japan's prime minister?
...So the No. 1 S-rank and the prime minister came to Korea—to Seoul, no less—without a word?
The awakeners recoiled in alarm.
"Is war breaking out?!"
"I've gotta dump all my stocks right n—ah, the market's closed!!"
"Japan just dropped a nuke on Korea!!"
Tension naturally rose.
Their gazes toward the prime minister filled with hostility.
But the prime minister remained calm.
Arms crossed, a satisfied smile tugging at his lips. He looked at Aika with an air of ease, as if everything were going according to plan.
It was a bearing befitting Japan's leader.
—Thump, thump, thump.
'What was I supposed to do? How could I survive this?!! Mother in heaven, please tell me!!!'
Only his expression was solemn.
Inside, he was screaming.
I hadn’t meant to launch a nuke at Korea either.
I liked Korea. Bibimbap was delicious.
But the nuke had grown legs.
It had run away to Korea on its own, I was telling them.
It wasn’t my fault. Really.
What? Why had it run away?
Well, Japan had slashed the money it owed Ninomiya to a ridiculous degree.
The nerve it took to embezzle from the No. 1 S-rank.
'If I explained that, my head would roll!!!'
He couldn't explain the truth.
That would make him an incompetent prime minister who'd noticed neither the corruption nor the nuke's desertion.
Worse, he would become a destroyer of national dignity who'd been captured by a villain and sobbed his eyes out.
What if word reached Japan?
He would be lucky if it ended with his removal from office.
He'd probably never be able to show his face in Japan again.
No. In the worst case, he might even be assassinated.
One never knew what life might bring.
Something absurd could happen, like a former Self-Defense Force member breaking through his security detail and shooting him with a homemade gun.
'Think. I was the prime minister elected by the Japanese people. I could handle a crisis like this...!!'
So even while sweating buckets, he pretended to be a big shot.
The surrounding Awakeners could only shuffle anxiously without saying a word.
"Um, excuse me...."
—Droop. Mutter, mutter.
"Ugh... What if my disciple is disappointed in meee......."
"Eep."
Someone who spoke Japanese tried to step in, but Aika's return put an end to it.
So the crowd of awakeners simply waited.
They waited for Seol Hayeon and Seo Yujin, the two people who could communicate with them.
Afraid that a rash move might start a real war, they stayed put.
"This really is frightening. The terrorist attack alone was awful, but now Aika is Yujin's sword master, and even the prime minister is in Korea...."
—Pop.
"Is that true?"
"Huh? Well, of course... a mic?"
"———Hey, bring everything from the van!! Get the boom mic too!!"
"A scoop! This is a scoop!!"
The Awakeners' caution meant nothing to the reporters who'd already slipped among them.
The journalists had rushed over as soon as they heard there had been a terrorist attack.
But when they arrived, the atmosphere was strangely peaceful, so they'd approached to ask what was going on...
What? Aika and Yujin, and the prime minister?
'Yesterday's Gate incident was still No. 1 on the real-time search rankings. If word got out that Aika was Yujin's master....'
'Prime Minister Nakanowatari? As a political correspondent, I could tell this was one hundred percent tampering!!'
'Was Seo Yujin preparing to emigrate to Japan? To dodge military service?'
The jackals clutching cameras and microphones had a hungry gleam in their eyes.
Yujin, whose stock had been rising lately, was going to Japan?
That could replace every front page overnight.
Even people with no interest in Awakeners would click on it.
Koreans might normally show no interest in some company, but the moment they heard Japan was taking it, they rose up.
And most importantly,
Yujin's reputation would plummet overnight.
There was no more sensational news fodder than a celebrity's downfall.
'Reporters too? Haa... Time to brazen it out.'
—Murmur, murmur.
"Ninomiya. I understand how you feel, but please, for my sake—no, for Japan's dignity—would you play along? I'll give you anything later."
The prime minister smelled impending ruin and grew desperate.
But,
"......."
'I wouldn't mind if it was my disciple, but what if he recoiled and asked what an old woman like me was doing...? No, what if merely seeing this horrified him...?'
'Damn it. If Ninomiya wouldn't cooperate, I was finished no matter what I did. She was not listening to me....'
Aika's head spun with thoughts of acting shamelessly.
The prime minister despaired, thinking, Oh God, I was finished.
The reporters merrily filmed the two of them from a distance
as one bald man's political career ticked down by the second.
—Step... Rush!!
"Is it true that Aika taught you swordsmanship!?"
"Why on earth is Prime Minister Nakanowatari here...?"
As if announcing the end, Yujin approached slowly.
The pack of jackals surged toward him, hungry for views...
'Ah, it was all over. To the citizens who trusted me enough to elect me... I was sor—'
"Actually, my good friend Suguru tipped me off that Winterer was going to launch a terrorist attack."
'......? Did I just hear my name?'
The former No. 1 S-rank lied through his teeth.
* * *
A cluster of cameras and microphones crowded in on me.
It was such a majestic scene that Haru, standing beside me, asked, "Dad, are you going to sing?"
But I couldn't answer her.
I was too busy sending Telepathy to Master.
[Master.]
[......!!!? D-Disciple. What is it?]
[What did the prime minister say while I was gone?]
[The prime minister? If you mean this bald man, he has been putting on airs and trying to look impressive the entire time without saying a word.]
'...Oh-ho. I understood.'
Thanks to that, I understood the situation.
Master was clueless about this sort of thing and looked bewildered.
Suguru was bluffing for now, but judging by the earthquake in his pupils, he was one step from a panic attack.
And finally, me: the former No. 1 S-rank.
...In the First Round, I had been everyone's favorite punching bag, beaten whenever they got bored because I had built a harem.
I grinned, brimming with confidence.
'That old hag dumping this on me and running off was irritating... but I was the expert here.'
I knew exactly why they were so desperate.
Outrage always drew views.
They wanted to seize on any flaw, then flood the news with articles stoking anti-Japanese sentiment. Of course they did.
But...
As if I'd just sit there and take it.
If I got dragged through the mud, my wives would be dragged with me.
I had absolutely zero intention of letting the media tear me apart.
I accepted one microphone and spoke.
'It couldn't be helped. We had never met from his perspective, so I was sorry to drag him into this on our first meeting, but we needed to cooperate.'
"Suguru tipped me off about the terrorist attack."
I lied with my most good-natured smile.
Both Japanese men looked at me.
"......?"
[Wait, disciple. What do you mean?]
[Master. Please relay this to the prime minister. I'm going to pretend I'm close with him, so tell him to use that to his advantage.]
[...Understood.]
"......? ......!!!!!?"
—Nod, nod.
I used that opening to establish a hotline over Telepathy.
That began a nationwide con with Japan's prime minister as my accomplice.
[Please interpret everything I say for the prime minister in real time.]
"Actually, the prime minister, you see...."
I launched into the lie without blinking.
A few days ago, the prime minister contacted me in secret.
He said he'd learned that the Grade 1 Villain Winterer was planting bombs around Seoul and warned me to be careful.
Of course, I didn't believe him at first. I assumed it was an impersonator.
But then he sent me a photo of himself with Aika Ninomiya to prove it.
I asked why he was telling me if it was real.
Why would the Japanese prime minister tell a mere cadet like me...?
"You know what he said? Even though our nationalities are different, aren't we all still fellow human beings? 'I don't want to play politics with people's lives,' he said."
When lives were at stake, politics could go to hell.
It would take forever for Japan to notify Korea officially, so he had contacted me directly.
Without anyone else's knowledge. Acting alone.
"When I asked why he chose me, he said he could tell I was someone who believed human life knew no borders. Just like my good friend Suguru."
"You looked like a decent young man. I'll trust you with this."
At that point, I put on a deeply moved expression!
—Click, clack.
"I apologize for the considerable trouble my visit to Korea has caused the citizens of both nations. However, in an emergency where lives were at risk, immediate action was necessary before diplomatic procedures could be followed. That was why I personally took action."
Suguru read the cue and jumped in with something plausible-sounding, though I couldn't understand the Japanese!
The almost honeyed glances he kept sneaking my way...
Yep. That wasn't acting. He was genuinely grateful.
The performance, mixed with sincere emotion, made the reporters falter.
"...Even so, allowing Aika into Korea without any notice is still questionable."
"Didn't you see what happened earlier? Without Master, the Association President might've been killed when fifty villains attacked her at once."
"......."
I threw in another unblockable move.
Why had they brought a Strategic Nuke into Korea?
Because without her, our country’s own Strategic Nuke would have nearly died.
How could anyone criticize that?
"About Aika Ninomiya being your master..."
"Well, I use a katana, and Master uses one too. She taught me while we were together, and that was how we formed a master-disciple bond."
Moreover, that Strategic Nuke had taught swordsmanship to Korea's future Strategic Nuke.
Every gaze swung toward Master.
As if asking, Is this for real?
"Ahem. Th-that is what happened."
"......."
'Master was still so bad at lying~ Adorable.'
Then came the No. 1 S-rank's seal of approval.
The credibility of this nationwide con job shot right up.
The skeptics gradually changed their expressions.
"Th-that is impossible. Why would a Japanese prime minister..."
"I thought Japanese prime ministers being anti-Korean was ‘common sense’...?"
"Anyway, that's what happened. I'm tired, so let us save the rest of the interview for another time."
I took the opening and made a quick escape.
If I lingered and someone dismantled my story, I was done.
"W-wait!! Just one last question..."
"———There are also the hidden contributions of my two friends Alice and Yoo Sia, both of whom have S-rank Innate Talents."
"......?"
"———Or how Winterer wasn't actually a villain."
"......!!!!!?"
I didn't forget to redirect the aggro before fleeing.
I might be S-rank this and that, but my wives had S-rank Innate Talents too, you know?
And would you believe it? Winterer wasn't a villain.
Well? You wanted to know more, right?
"Is that really..."
"I'll be going inside now!! Maybe it is because I used hypnosis on Winterer dozens of times, but I feel like I could collapse at any moment!!"
—Dash.
With that, I fled.
I might not be on the level of Công or the Chairwoman, but I could pride myself on having made an exit worthy of the former No. 1 S-rank, in my own way.
"Get in for now. We'll discuss the details in the Chairwoman's office."
"Yep."
And so the Winterer incident and the unexpected visit by Aika and the prime minister truly came to an end.
This was a pretty decent ending.
* * *
"Yujin. You worked hard..."
—SLAM!!
"———Ninomiya!!!! I'm sorry!!!!!!"
"Suguru!!?"
...I mean, we handled everything just fine.
Why were you suddenly on your knees, Suguru?