“There is nothing to worry about regarding the way you took the evidence, right sir?”
Tyr Brzenk thought to himself that whatever he asked hereon would probably be meaningless. And Yu Jitae gave him the statement of affirmation.
“Of course not. He spoke with his own mouth and handed it over with his own hands.”
He couldn’t ask about the details either so Tyr Brzenk merely let out a bitter smile.
Meanwhile, Yong Taeha clenched his fist. In the past two months, all sorts of things and problems had come up during his time here which he couldn’t really share with anyone. He was so frustrated that he had cried himself to tears once but now, he was feeling all those buckled-up thoughts and emotions drain away.
“This, this… is perfect.”
It seemingly made Ling Ling emotional as well, and she quietly bit her lips with excitement.
“Sir. Thank you. Thanks a lott…”
“Ah. R, right! Thank you a lot sir.”
Yu Jitae waved his hand and didn’t accept their gratitudes as he wasn’t doing all this for these kids.
He looked at Kaeul who was still blinking her eyes in silence. As if in deep thought, her expression repeatedly turned brighter before becoming darker again.
“Anyways, this will be quite the sight to see when it gets publicised.”
“Huh? Now that you mention it, what would happen if this gets announced? I’m not that knowledgeable on how false reports and the Association work, you see.”
“Funnelling all the failed missions of minor squads into one group… This happens quite often in fact. Well, but it is my first time seeing 20 freaking funnelled missions in just 2 months.”
Tyr Brzenk continued while rubbing his chin.
“They simply did it way too much. If it was just one or two, other superhumans wouldn’t necessarily mention it but…”
“Why would they not mention it? Something this crazy…?”
“Why wouldn’t they. Ling Ling, how long do you think this was going on for?”
“How long?”
“At least dozens of years. The Association never changes their systems and the early superhumans who got some juice out of it at their own newborn superhuman competitions are now the ones judging.”
“Ah…”
Arms bend inward – people tend to be more generous and open-minded to the crimes they have committed themselves. It won’t explode until it’s properly grabbed and squeezed.
“How many false missions do you think they received, sir?”
“Above 20.”
“Too much, I assume.”
“Yes.”
The result would be different depending on the way he exploded it.
“There are a lot of ways you can go around it.”
Yu Jitae added.
“The biggest way to publicise it is right before the end of the ranking competition, when the ranks are mostly decided inside the Association. And you can explode it for the public to see right when there are the most number of spotlights on White.”
Tyr Brzenk gasped.
“…If that does happen, they would be completely ruined beyond repair. Let alone Team White, all the minor squads that sold failed missions for money, the agency behind Team White, MTA, and the Tower of Mages will all be involved. If the Association was to delve deeper into it, they would find even more involved people.”
“Won’t Team Coin be one of themm?”
“Most likely yeah.”
Their 30 million followers would also come back and bite them on their backs. Both their names and faces were all known already and after betraying everyone’s trust, they would no longer be treated as heroes.
They would immediately plummet all the way to the ground but actually, it would be fortunate for them if that was the end.
“It will be worse.”
“Even worse, sir?”
“Money. You have to think about money.”
Money – it was a very realistic word.
“The amount of money the Tower of Mages put in to nurture the historical genius called White McDonald, is astronomical.”
And naturally, that support wasn’t for free. White McDonald had to show some results that fit his framed image of an historical genius and had to create some sort of profit.
In other words, it was still a debt he had to pay.
“If White was to fall here, all the teams that got supported by the Tower, the teams that were in charge of their education, and the department inside the agency that supported them will all go bankrupt. All the sponsors that believed and sponsored White would naturally also fall to ruin.”
It wasn’t just a story of one or two people. At this point, the expressions of the kids started to change.
“All of his family would be out in the streets and it’s not a small amount of loan they have either. What kind of fool would sit back and watch when an astronomical amount of money has simply vanished into thin air?”
In the current era, human rights weren’t that valued and being murdered as a revenge wouldn’t even end up in the news. Considering all that, it was easy to imagine what would happen when a family with millions of dollars in debt was to be chased out into the streets away from the protection of the Tower.
There was a high chance of White’s family being murdered. Not because they did anything wrong, but for the murderers to ease their anger.
“It would be good for White if he could at least die with his family, but he won’t even be able to.”
The young superhumans here had heard some things of how ‘usable’ superhumans would be treated after committing crimes. Their best option would be to hide in the shadows. Their worst option would be being inverted into the dirty task force of a country, and being forced into the most dangerous and dirty missions until death.
“He will become a tool.”
A tool was an official word used in the superhuman industry. People commonly referred to that as becoming livestock. They had to do the most dirty and horrendous deeds that humans couldn’t even possibly imagine until their death and yet they weren’t even allowed to choose when to die.
Livestock weren’t treated all that differently from belongings – they would be severely brainwashed before being sent into a mission. When they weren’t sent into missions, they would be forced into hibernation, soaked in preservatives resembling formalin so that they could build up power until their next mission. Throughout that process, drugs that were effective but harmful to the body – and thus cost-efficient – would be used on them.
After he explained up to that point, the excitement died down a little. And the change in Kaeul’s expression was even more visible.
In any case, they would repeat brainwashing and removing the brainwash on the livestock for a reason. It was because the individuals had to have a decent mental capability for challenging tasks.
Because of that, although their physical capabilities would be at the minimum when they are ‘hibernating’ inside formalin, they would most of the time be awake. Since they were superhumans, only two or three hours of sleep was enough to keep their mind fresh.
According to research, ‘livestock’ in this status had egos and had their brains functioning at 95% of their normal capability.
Unable to move – unable to neither see or hear and their bodies locked up in foreign liquid. Their minds would be confined within the smallest jail cells in the world called their ‘bodies’. Livestocks would most likely think for days, months and perhaps even years and decades…
However, human rights weren’t of high value and no-one was interested in the thoughts of livestocks.
That was what Yu Jitae guessed would be the future of White.
He indifferently explained these facts but after hearing that far, the kids made rather flustered looks on their faces. Ling Ling especially was pale and she dropped her head with her eyes fixed on the ground.
Why, he wondered. Perhaps it was because they were young. These young superhumans might be thinking that a treatment like that was too much.
He couldn’t really understand it.
Why are they scared?
What was there to be surprised about with a person paying for their sins? Thinking that, Yu Jitae quietly thought to himself trying to figure out whether there was a part of his explanation that was wrong.
Ling Ling opened her mouth.
“Is, is there a reason to go that farr…?”
Yong Taeha immediately poked her with his elbow and Ling Ling startledly closed her mouth.
“Why. Is this too much?” Yu Jitae asked.
He was asking with a good intention and wasn’t expecting it to appear oppressive. The young superhumans, however, shook their heads in a fluster.
“So no objections then, I’m assuming.”
“Yes… sir.”
It was right when Tyr Brzenk was about to represent everyone else and put the full stop.
“Ahjussi.”
Kaeul opened her mouth with an extremely anxious look on her face.
“If possible…”
“Say it. Whatever you have on your mind.”
“Uum, uum… What if we only publicise it on White’s SNS… Would that be okay…?”
Although Yu Jitae didn’t show it on the outside, he was inwardly very surprised. He was constantly pondering on whether he should ask her for her opinion, but decided against it because she had kept her mouth closed. He thought it was still too early for her to formulate her own thoughts.
From the old BY of the past to the current Kaeul. It took a lot of time for the gold hatchling to form her own thoughts. And even if she were to formulate her own thoughts, she rarely ever let it out.
That was the biggest reason behind BY’s death – it’s because she rarely ever expressed her honest opinion.
That’s how it was but…
“Why did you think that.”
“Uum…”
Kaeul sneaked a glance at her friends before going on.
“Wouldn’t that be big enough already…?”
That indeed was right.
30 million followers – that was the most number of followers that a newborn superhuman group has ever had and there was an immense gap in popularity between them and the second place. They were at the centre of every type of newspaper and broadcasting channels, receiving the undivided attention of the media and not a single person in the entire world didn’t know them despite them being a new group of superhumans.
Their follower base would continue to grow larger. And therefore, even if they were to simply touch their SNS without publicising it, it would still be a great impact to White.
“Uum… even without the false missions, they still have over 50… he saved a lot of people… he did bad things to us but still…”
Kaeul started sharing her honest opinion. Her opinion which might appear to be trying to contradict Yu Jitae’s intention.
“And.”
“So… and, it’s not like, it’s that, that big of a bad thing to do right… It is bad but still…”
“Yes. And,”
“It’s not the person that’s bad, uum… I think the problem is with the SNS that was used in a bad way… he won’t even have a chance to repent if we…”
“And?”
Kaeul slurred the end of her sentence, before opening her mouth with extreme caution.
“It’s a bit too harsh… I think…”
Unlike other kids, Yu Jitae was inwardly delighted.
He had known her for 60 years at the very least, and he could say with certainty that this baby dragon sharing such a detailed and sincere opinion this early into an iteration had never happened before.
She wasn’t immersing herself in BY’s emotions either, so how much courage would she have needed to let out such words? It made him realise again how much Kaeul had psychologically grown after coming out onto the field.
“Do you guys think the same?” He asked others with a slightly more pleased tone. Fortunately, the other kids seemed to have thought the same and they all gave a nod.
“Right. Got it. Let’s just do moderate damage to their SNS.”
Only then did the bizarre atmosphere covering the entire office ease up.
“And as you said, let’s give them a chance as well,” he added while looking at Kaeul who then nodded with a slightly brighter look on her face.
Of course, they won’t change even if they were given a chance.
That night, Yu Jitae sent an anonymous message alongside a donation of a thousand dollars to Team White. The reason he bothered to donate is because they might not see his message otherwise.
The message read like the following.
[Ihavefoundevidenceofyourillegalnegotiationsandfakemissionswithminorsquads. HidethetracesyourselfandceasealltypesofSNSactivitiesincludingthedealwithTeamCoin]
It was his first time threatening someone with a message but it appeared quite threatening. Yu Jitae was relatively satisfied with the outcome.
Meanwhile, the young superhumans tilted their heads thinking it was slightly weird but they couldn’t say anything after sensing Yu Jitae’s satisfaction. Besides, they weren’t going to forgive them that easily in the first place.
Whatever the case, the message had gone through.
On one hand, he was quite curious about how they would respond.
It seemed that he really did regain the daily lives – Kaeul had given them an opportunity with an anxious mind so even if they didn’t get punished according to their wrongdoings, he would still be okay since it meant that Kaeul’s kind heart was being rewarded.
But unfortunately, such things did not happen.
“Have they responded?”
“Yeah.”
“What did they say?”
Yu Jitae quietly turned on the hologram display mode for them.
[Ey listen. Who might you be, and why are you donating to say such nonsense? We are Team White, that always seeks to complete missions the right way, so a message like this is very disappointing to see. Minor squads? Fake missions? If you try to circulate false rumours like this again, then we will have to bring this to court. Please use this money to find yourself a lawyer if that happens.]
The donation was returned.
Although they were somewhat expecting such a result, the young superhumans were once again upset from their shamelessness.
They lost their last chance at survival.
***
Immediately after receiving the message, Team White contacted all the minor squads that they had made a deal with. They then got the message that they didn’t come into contact with any outsider.
The moment they started doing these things, they had readied themselves for rumours to spread like this but they thought a strict warning would be enough to solve the problem.
The superhuman influencer team had a shocking number of 30 million followers. It was the highest number of followers in the history of newborn superhuman teams and there were therefore a lot of small-fries that came up with nonsense.
Of course it was rare for them to say nonsense with a large donation like this but…
In any case, there was a large event planned ahead for them so Team White decided to shake their mind away from the small-fries.
“Today is an important day. Don’t make mistakes.”
“Yeah.”
“Got it.”
White encourages his comrades.
At last, it was the day of their first live broadcast.
It was their first time doing a live stream with people as heroes and influencers. It was in the form of an online fan convention.
Since they had a lot of influential power, they also received a lot of attention from the media as ten or so of reporters brought forth their cameras.
Sitting in a row behind a long table, the members of Team White began communicating with their fans in real time.
“Hello. We are a newborn superhuman team, Team White!”
“For humanity!”
Hundreds of thousands of people gathered the moment they began the broadcast and before long, there were more than 3 million fans watching the video live. It was a number that allowed others to realise just how popular Team White was.
After their greeting and when they were communicating about this and that with their fans,
From somewhere came a flying paper airplane.
“Nn? What’s this I wonder?”
The team leader, McDonald, tilted his head looking at the direction the paper airplane had come from. Although they were outside, it was bizarre since he hadn’t sensed anything with his senses.
“Was it sent by a fan?”
“Probably. Ohh? Something’s written on it.”
“Haha. What does it say there?”
There was a strange array of letters written on the paper airplane.
[@Search_me_Plzzz]
“What do you think this is, everyone?”
The leader, White McDonald, made a grave mistake of showing that on live without any concerns. Since it resembled an SNS ID, some of the curious viewers searched for that ID on the SNS.
And they came across a shocking account.
[Search_me_Plzzz]
Here we expose Team White’s trickery
It exploded like a bomb.