VS the Association
Suyeon had never shown her face at an official event. This was her first time. I felt a little guilty for making her debut in a place like this. She could have introduced herself somewhere better, with a cleaner image.
Of course, her face drew attention no matter the setting.
"I research the reaction between Ttanttani and mana. But until Keeper Lee Jungmin appeared, my research made no progress at all. Ttanttani would only let mana flow through it—it never responded to any other force."
At first Suyeon's voice was slow and a little shaky, but it quickly settled back into her natural tone. Talk of research was her world. In that world she was a presence that surpassed even S-rank Keepers. There was no reason for her to be nervous.
"Only after Keeper Lee Jungmin appeared did I finally see a lead. Once I learned about 'Demonic Power,' the research accelerated. This is the result. First, I'll show you a video."
On the screen, Suyeon stood in a researcher's coat. She held two rods, then joined them into one. The silver rod began to flush pink—exactly the way Ttanttani reacted to sexual desire. It didn't blaze as brightly as when I used it, nor did it turn blood-red, but it glowed steadily.
"The rod glowing pink is one hundred percent Ttanttani. Since the Ttanttani reacted, you could say I used Demonic Power as well. For the record, I am not a Keeper."
The feed cut to the reporters' faces. Every one of them looked stunned, fingers flying across keyboards without pause. Online, millions of people flooded the chat with shock.
"Of course, you can't just walk around claiming you use Demonic Power at this level. I don't know how to control the power—I can only manifest it. And even that requires Ttanttani as an amplifier plus a Magic Stone."
A diagram appeared on the screen: a structural drawing of the Ttanttani rod and the second rod.
"The other rod is a simple tool that runs current through a Magic Stone to channel mana. The method for manifesting Demonic Power with both tools is just as simple. You send mana into the Ttanttani, then grip it while recalling an intense emotion. We tested twenty people—Keepers and civilians. Eighteen of them successfully manifested Demonic Power."
After the diagram came a split-screen of twenty clips. Twenty people stood holding the same two rods Suyeon had used, and each rod began to shine in its own color—red, green, yellow, white, blue...
"The color seems to change depending on the emotion recalled. Red for anger, yellow for appetite, that sort of thing—though we still need more research. The difference between the two who failed and the eighteen who succeeded appears to be how intense the emotion was. I suspect we could distinguish that with brain waves. That part also needs further study."
Suyeon then picked up a rod that had been prepared on the podium—the same one from the video.
"Is there anyone here who would like to try manifesting Demonic Power right now? If you've had an intense experience, simply recalling it should be enough. It's not difficult."
One of the reporters raised his hand immediately. He stepped up to the podium and took the rod from Suyeon.
"Join the two pieces... yes, flip the switch there."
A soft flash. The silver rod flushed orange at once. Soft gasps rose across the press room, and the chat scrolled so fast it was almost impossible to read.
"You must have been quite tense. You can turn the switch off now."
The moment the reporter flipped it off, the Ttanttani returned to silver.
"Anyone else care to try? I'll take two more."
A dozen hands shot up. Two more people came forward and tested the device. One produced a red glow; the other failed to make it light at all. Every second of it was broadcast live across the world.
"From now on, researchers studying Ttanttani all over the globe will use this method. Mana, intense emotion, and Ttanttani—it's an extremely simple combination anyone can use. I'll be releasing the research data, so please make sure you read the safety notes before trying it. All right—I'll take three questions!"
"Why are you releasing it?"
"Because if everyone researches it together, we'll get results faster. I hope this new way of using Ttanttani will make humanity safer and more convenient. I only know how to manifest it—I don't know how to apply it. I look forward to new applications appearing and being shared around the world. Honestly, the method is so simple it's almost embarrassing to call it a discovery."
"If it's that simple, why wasn't it discovered until now?"
"I'm not sure this answers it, but here's how I see it. Only a handful of people can research Ttanttani, and most of them stay locked in labs, so they fall into fixed ideas. Even I used to put Ttanttani inside measuring equipment and react it with mana—I never thought to hold it myself and experiment. In a way it's a simple shift in thinking, but that shift is harder than it looks. Without Keeper Lee Jungmin, it would have taken a long time to discover this new use for Ttanttani. Maybe we never would have found it even after a hundred years. I'd like to take this opportunity to thank Keeper Lee Jungmin for the enormous help he gave the research."
"Lee Jungmin has used Mjolnir without any Magic Stone tool. How do you explain that?"
"Keeper Lee Jungmin is also a mage. Because he can handle mana on his own, he can amplify emotion—or mana?—through Ttanttani without a Magic Stone tool... hmm, the distinction is a bit unclear. In any case, Keeper Lee Jungmin can trigger amplification through Ttanttani by himself."
The reporters' hands never stopped rising, but Suyeon didn't call on anyone else.
"We'll have a separate Q&A after the press conference, so if you have more questions, please wait a little longer. Director Kim Nari?"
Suyeon stepped off to the side of the room, and the Director took the podium again.
"Thank you for the presentation, Researcher Woo Suyeon. Thanks to you, it is now clear that anyone can use Demonic Power. That means we must govern Demonic Power—not reject it out of fear. It is simply another force we use, like electricity or mana."
Most of the reporters nodded without thinking. They looked overwhelmed by the appearance of a new power. The chat was the same.
The fact that you didn't need to be a Keeper seemed to excite people most. The privilege once enjoyed by only about 0.01 percent of Keepers might disappear. Of course, you still had to get past the price of Ttanttani first.
"Keeper Lee Jungmin of GGC simply used this new power earlier than anyone else. Branding him a 'demon' for that alone is unjust. Therefore we demand that the Association retract its claim that Keeper Lee Jungmin is a demon."
The screen cut to General Manager Lee Jayoung of the Association. Anger was written all over her face.
"Very well. But there still seems to be no proof that he is not a demon. We still believe it is necessary to investigate him and his companions. Is it not possible that he planned this entire affair?"
The General Manager was right. I had no evidence to prove my innocence. The Association had no evidence to brand me a criminal either—but they had the power of public authority. That was why I had dug up their corruption. Only by dragging them down from those seats would this problem be solved. Dropping the Association President's and General Manager's scandals right here and ending the conference would have been a clean picture. Still, a proper finish was needed.
Keira, Elena, and I stepped out of the secret space and into the press room.
Flash! Flash-flash!
A barrage of camera flashes hit us from the front. I forced my eyes open against the glare and climbed onto the podium.
"Hello. I am Keeper Lee Jungmin of GGC."
"You demon! How dare you show your face here!"
It was Han Seongmin. The man had a face thicker than armor. After everything he had pocketed behind the scenes, after everything that had happened because of him, he still had the gall to shout.
"Do you even know who cleaned up your mess before you came here?"
"I know! It was your own staged play, wasn't it? You summoned the undead so that knight behind you could clean them up and raise your reputation!"
That was the Association's official line. They had even released footage of Elena using Turn Undead—though the quality was so poor that the Elena on screen looked nothing like a holy figure. Even her pink light had looked dim and murky.
"I'm glad you at least know who cleaned it up. Before I defend myself, I want to clear the name of the knight who resolved the city hall incident—Elena. Watch this first."
"There's nothing to watch! A demon is a dem—"
On the large screen in the press room, ultra-high-definition footage recovered by the National Intelligence Service began to play. The distance was considerable, yet the sword and armor glowing pink were captured with perfect clarity. Not everyone would feel Elena's sanctity through a screen, but the video made one thing unmistakable: she stood nowhere near the undead—or anywhere near the image of a "demon" people carried in their heads.
"..."
Han Seongmin's mouth shut on its own after watching. Obtaining that footage had been difficult. I suspected the Association had locked down every video uploaded to social media that day.
"As you can see, Knight Elena is not a demon. She is a Holy Knight who stands at the opposite pole of demons."
"...How can you tell just from a video..."
There was no need to play along with Han Seongmin's nitpicking any longer. Elena walked out from behind me and stood before everyone. She lifted the visor of her helmet. That alone left the entire press room stunned. Sanctity overflowed from her face. The Association had known that—which was why they had carefully edited Elena's face out of Park Sena's footage.
Here, for the first time, Elena revealed her full face. To help with her historic debut, I quietly drew up my lust and opened a small Gate so she could receive divinity.
"Hello. I am Elena Ru, Thirteenth Sword of Ru, the God of Compassion and Love."
She placed one hand over her heart and bowed with perfect formality. A natural halo appeared behind her. The effect of Divinity Stat 5—the dignity belonging to the Thirteenth Holy Knight of Ru. Anyone present had no choice but to believe she was a Holy Knight.
The reporters were already completely entranced. Even the General Manager and Han Seongmin looked half-dazed, caught in Elena's charisma. Of course I was no exception.
Elena was seriously cool.
Nuna, take me already.