The Hero Gets Roasted (2)
Pierre Baumann was one of the few people even the Special Class couldn't treat lightly. As the eldest son of a count and a recognized genius throughout the kingdom, he was widely expected to achieve a third awakening someday. Yet the hero had just called him out in front of everyone.
The students watched with a mix of worry and anticipation, wondering if a fight would break out. Pierre had his own pride, after all. But...
“Tch.”
To everyone's surprise, Pierre shut his mouth at the hero's words. No matter how celebrated a genius he was, the other party was still the hero. He couldn't easily talk back. Besides, people like him—bullies who picked on the weak—tended to fold against real strength. With a visibly displeased expression, he lowered his head. It was probably the first time he'd ever been scolded like that.
Sighs of disappointment rippled through the room. Even with his reputation in tatters, the hero was still the hero. He'd just reminded everyone of that fact. I caught the slight upward twitch at the corner of his mouth. He seemed to enjoy the current situation—silencing Pierre with nothing but words. Then he casually turned his head toward me.
Grin.
He flashed me an outright mocking smile, as if to say, “You can't do anything like this, can you?”
Ha...!
I was speechless. The way he suddenly picked a fight with me was irritating. It made it painfully clear just how much the hero was conscious of me. Of course, I wasn't about to sit still. Letting his influence grow any further would be bad for me.
Let's see... If there's any Magic Paper nearby, it should be the Study Gallery, right?
I pulled a sheet of paper from my pocket. At the top was written “Everyday,” and below it, in smaller letters, “Study Gallery”—a name I'd mixed from famous Korean community sites. The paper was lined for easy writing.
This is the one.
A long post was already written on it. Someone had transcribed what the professor had said earlier. That was right. Surprisingly, I'd created paper that shared everything everyone wrote. If I wrote “Hero is an idiot” here, every student holding Study Gallery paper would see it. It was essentially a medieval-style community. Every post people wrote was automatically saved to the central server(?) in my room, letting me gather information.
Anyway, most of the students in this classroom were holding Study Gallery paper. That was why they'd been making such a racket earlier. I smiled wickedly. It was time to start chipping away at the hero's reputation.
So he started the fight first, huh?
I began writing on the Study Gallery. Everyone was still too shocked to post anything new. I lowered my head and wrote quickly. I started with something simple. Of course, I didn't forget the nickname. I wrote the content along with the name I'd prepared in advance.
It was an outright attack on the hero. People around me gasped in shock. A post suddenly badmouthing the hero had appeared, so their reaction was understandable. I kept writing.
Simple slander wasn't enough. The best approach was to take real facts and exaggerate them slightly. That was a truth I'd learned from my long community experience. Soon, someone reacted. It was Pierre, who'd just been shut down by the hero. I could see him writing quickly.
Oh, he already caught on?
He was a fast learner, probably because he was young. Soon, others started joining in.
StrongestGenius—no, Pierre—started writing excitedly. He seemed unable to contain how fun it was.
I knew he'd take the bait.
It didn't stop there. Pierre began posting his own attacks on the hero.
At that moment, the hero raised his hand and asked the professor a question.
“Then, since our skin is white, does that mean we're the most superior?”
“Oh! Your comprehension is excellent! Of course. We're far superior to those yellow people from the Eastern Continent!”
“I knew it. Haha! White people are the best!”
He laughed brightly while openly spouting racism. It was a rather repulsive sight. Of course, it was perfect material for me. I wrote immediately.
Pierre reacted instantly to my words. Naturally, he probably believed white people were superior too—that was the common view in Newpan. But he pretended to be different, acting noble while relentlessly roasting the hero.
I smiled at the gallery's reactions. Before long, the Study Gallery had turned into a hero-roasting gallery. Everyone holding Study Gallery paper had been making noise earlier. The sudden appearance of Magic Paper had shocked them. But because of the hero, they'd all been forced to shut up. None of them had good feelings toward him.
Then another user(?) posted something interesting.
What I'd said to the hero in the cafeteria hadn't been that loud. But apparently someone had heard it. The comment caused an immediate stir in the classroom.
“Pfft.”
“Puhehe.”
Everyone was holding back laughter, faces turning red. Her post must have been pretty funny. Of course, the hero—who didn't know about it—stepped in again. He'd already confirmed his power. Naturally, he had nothing to fear. He stood up from his seat and spoke loudly.
“I told you to be quiet. Do my words mean nothing to you?”
“......”
“......”
The classroom fell silent once more at his words. He glanced around the room once, then sat back down with a satisfied expression. But...
His actions only made the Study Gallery burn hotter.
New users kept appearing and joining the roast. I nodded at the sight. At this point, I didn't need to get involved anymore.
Good. With this, the hero's reputation will keep falling.
The gallery's atmosphere was controlled by whoever posted first. If it started like this...?
It means the Study Gallery has become the dark hero-roasting gallery from now on.
I'd successfully corrupted one gallery to my liking. If I gradually took over more galleries this way, public opinion of the hero would steadily worsen. And I could do it.
Because I can manipulate things from the central server.
I could delete posts, edit them—powers even modern community admins didn't have. I hadn't poured money and effort into creating this community for nothing.
Whoa—!! Look at this—!! It's amazing—!!
Sounds started coming from the next classroom. They must have discovered the community too. I lowered my head and smiled again.
Does this make me the academy's shadow ruler?
Of course, it would cost a lot of money. The maintenance fees were no joke. But... the effect was more than worth it.
As expected, the community spread rapidly through the academy. Not a single student walked around without Magic Paper. A new space for anonymous communication had appeared for medieval people. It was practically revolutionary. Magic Paper sold out in an instant. Some people even started buying it with money. Among them, Study Gallery paper traded at the highest prices. It was the first gallery to lead the culture, and it had an especially high number of Special Class students. Its popularity was inevitable.
Thanks to that, several users in the Study Gallery became named users. Some even became more famous by their nicknames than their real names. Naturally, I became famous too. More precisely, my nickname “Trickster” became well-known rather than the name Jace Allen. Since I'd been the first to post with a nickname, I received a lot of attention. Some even called me a pioneer.
Everyone loved the new community. Even the professors showed interest. Armel, in particular, was apparently researching day and night to uncover the magic behind it. But there was one man who couldn't smile in this situation.
“Ha... Who the hell is this StrongestGenius bastard?!”
It was the hero, Franz, grinding his teeth while staring at the Study Gallery alone.