Chapter 268: Those who meet must part (3)
There were several things that caused this situation. The first problem was the system in which superhuman ranks were given.
International superhuman ranks were affected by the four elements below.
1. Individual power level
2. Mission Outcomes
3. Number of rescued people
4. Public Image
Strong superhumans could prove their power in the form of having good results in missions. Besides, righteous superhumans would have a higher number of rescued people.
For example, BM with his individual strength that was at the top worldwide had done remarkable things during the Great War, and the number of people he saved both directly and indirectly was estimated to be around 24 million.
Besides, as a transcendent of Chaliovan and with a clean personal life as well as a healthy mindset, he created a good public image without doing anything funny.
That was why the Returnee, BM, was given Rank 2.
There was something strange about these standards, however. The standards focused not on their might as a soldier, but as a ‘hero’ that humanity could trust and believe in.
That was why the fourth element was ‘Public Image’.
Superhumans had to market themselves. Somewhat lacking superhumans would create a profile and stick to a concept, blabbering about the good things they had done. Putting their life on the line to participate in dangerous operations was one of the things they did for a good public image.
Sometimes, they would talk down on other superhumans or teams and slander them, in hopes of going up as much as they come down.
“But…”
With a worried voice, Kaeul opened her mouth.
“Can’t we, just retaliate…?”
Until now, Kaeul’s team had not publicised their own accomplishments. She wasn’t interested in her rank in the first place so Kaeul didn’t think much of it in the past.
But now that it had come to this, it was strange. It was strange for Tyr Brzenk to stay quiet in a situation like this.
“Of course not.”
“Uun?”
“Firstly, I’m prohibited from publicising any of my activities.”
“Why?”
“Because it might dishonour my dad.” Tyr Brzenk said with a frown.
The one and only son of the world’s Rank 1. There were a lot of gazes on Tyr Brzenk.
At Lair, Tyr Brzenk did not show himself in any of the Campus Competitions or Ha Sukmoo’s transcendent cadet exams. Because no matter how well he did, it would still be within the expectations of other people and if he happened to fail, it would create a dent in his father, Oscar Brzenk’s reputation and honour.
“Then what about you?”
Kaeul asked Yong Taeha.
“The thing is… it’s a bit bad for me too.”
“Why? You used to do them right.”
“In the past, I did but…”
Yong Taeha threw a glance at Ling Ling.
“He had a verbal fight with Zhou Luxunn…” Ling Ling interjected.
“…Nn. Sorry.”
This was how it went. He had been emotionally fighting against Erfan Guild’s Zhou Luxun and got caught by his father. The head of the Yong household, Yong Jungkook took his son and gave him a little advice.
“What I want to become is a superhuman with a characteristic presence. I’ve been talking about it since a while back and my father told me to stay away from SNS if that was the case…”
“You’re lyingg…”
“No. I’m not lying.”
“You were swearing a lot and got permabanned…”
Yong Taeha flinched before changing the topic. ‘No, but I could have made another account but I didn’t…’
Even Yong Taeha couldn’t retaliate against the SNS company’s banning system.
Kaeul turned towards Ling Ling who opened her mouth before she could.
“I can’t eitherr…”
“Why?”
“Well, because of Zhou Luxun, we got an order from the state…”
It was even worse off for her.
In the middle of his fight against Yong Taeha, Zhou Luxun accidentally revealed a military secret in order to display their power. It was an immature mistake.
Because of that, China’s Central Military Commission issued a verdict prohibiting the use of SNS for superhumans under the age of 30. At the same time, Zhou Luxun no longer received any support from the state and that was how Ling Ling who had been constantly on the rise managed to join Team Lair.
“The way they expressed it in the verdict was funnyy…”
“What did it say?”
“Little kids are prohibited from private communication until they experience the world… something stupid like that…”
‘Aht, I didn’t say anything.’ Suddenly, Ling Ling said that while covering her lips with her fingers.
Seeing that eased their mood a little and Yong Taeha chuckled lightly.
Before long, their gazes gathered at Kaeul.
Every cadet at Lair knew that Kaeul was extremely defensive regarding all sorts of communication media including SNS. She had shown herself a few times, but she refrained from standing in front of the public often despite there being several great opportunities to do so.
“And why can’t you do it?”
Unable to hold back his curiosity, Yong Taeha asked. Until now, he couldn’t ask because it wasn’t something he could casually delve into.
“Me? I, uum…”
Kaeul pondered for the right words to say.
Ahjussi did not like media exposure.
In the past, she was quite disappointed by it but not anymore. She was slowly starting to realise the reason behind her guardian’s actions.
“Nothing. Just because of some household circumstances.”
Kaeul always went on the internet on her watch. In the past, only the fun and exciting things appeared in her eyes but from a certain point in time, her eyes started to catch more bad things than good things.
To Kaeul, the internet appeared as an extremely bizarre place. If handled well, one would be able to enjoy a tremendous amount of attention in real time but those attentions also tended to become poison in real time.
There were a lot of people she saw that fell from grace. With every passing day, several people had their privacy, problems and mistakes revealed and that would result in indescribable hostility of people travelling across the net.
Whenever that happened, Kaeul immersed herself into their positions.
The ones that are swearing? They are mostly people who experienced bad things. People whose trust and love was betrayed. It was naturally understandable for them to be upset and even she herself might be in their shoes depending on the situation.
Would everything be fine as long as I did everything well? Do I have the confidence in not making any mistakes?
No. She knew herself how careless she was.
What if someone swore at her? Would she be able to handle it?
She wasn’t confident about that either. It would probably ache her heart.
In the end, she came to the conclusion that the strict world of internet just wasn’t for her.
“But you know, who even is this Team Coin people?”
Yong Taeha changed the topic. Who even were these guys that were badmouthing them?
“I know that one, Taeha.”
“Who are they?”
“They are a little gofer of Team White.”
“What?” Yong Taeha asked with a frown.
The current estimate of the newborn superhuman team ranks was the following.
+++
1. Team White
2. Team Lair
…
5. Team Mochi
…
21. Team Coin
+++
Team White was the undoubtable first place. After all, it was a team formed by a current high ranker joining the newborn superhuman competition by using an expedient trick.
“Then what. Did White tell them to do it?”
“Who knows. But personally, I do think so.”
“Why?”
“Trying to bring us down so that they could remain at the top. Probably.”
“What a bunch of retards.” “A group of stupid asses…”
Yong Taeha and Ling Ling replied at the same time.
“Team Coin actually talked smack about Yu Yeorum’s team a while ago. You know that yes?”
In response to Tyr Brzenk’s question, Kaeul gave a nod. Team Coin had criticised Yeorum’s team for being a one-man team but that came back and resulted in a backlash.
Yeorum and Sophia openly retaliated in their SNS.
[Official Yu Yeorum of MZZ]
What the fuck lolol. I copied Team White though? Lolololol
[Official Sophia_MZZ]
For real lmao. Damn right we are a one-man team.
Feels good being carried by Yu Yeorum~~~ Haha
[Official Yu Yeorum of MZZ]
For real lol. Team White must be so pure rightt ^^~~
[Official Sophia_MZZ]
Their name explains it, they’re pure white ^^! Just like Yu Yeorum’s heart!
[Official Yu Yeorum of MZZ]
Freakinn bit*h ^^?
For them to criticise Team Mochi for being a one-man team, the top party that instigated them was the prime example of a one-man team and besides, Team Mochi had no qualms with being sworn at. Their public image was already like that so they received no damage.
It wasn’t a smart idea to attack any of the two teams…!
“I thought they were going to stop with all the backlash they got but…”
“An easy prey or something for them I guess… So now they’re taking me as some random bloke huh. These bastards.”
It left a bitter aftertaste in their tongues.
Team Coin had managed to strike at their weak points.
“Let’s wait and see for now.”
***
Team Coin’s weak point attack continued endlessly. Making fun of the fact that they weren’t able to publicise their raid results, they said that Kaeul’s team was ‘in fact playing around’, and ‘getting free points thanks to their parents’.
And when other broadcasting media let out articles complimenting Kaeul’s team, they even criticised those companies for giving out false news.
It was extremely obnoxious for Kaeul’s team because they had to sit still and watch the ones that were standing up for them get condemned.
At the same time, Team Coin sneaked in several articles that praised Team White. Team White was already estimated to be coming first and the raid outcomes that they shared were extremely good so the praising articles didn’t feel out of place. Their team value constantly rose up and their official SNS account even reached 30 million followers.
This was an unprecedented amount of attention for a newborn superhuman team and was followed by various news articles yet again.
On their SNS account, they uploaded a video of a congratulatory party.
– Ah, I would like to add my best wishes for the 2nd place, Team Lair as well. Things would be easier if we were as gifted as them but…
– We will always put in more and more effort instead of becoming complacent!
The team leader of Team White, White McDonald added such words near the end of the video.
That day just happened to be Ling Ling’s birthday. The other three bought a cake to carry out a small party with the four of them for Ling Ling. However, she was unable to control her emotions after seeing that video and threw the cake on the ground before crying out loud.
No-one condemned Ling Ling for doing such a thing.
With falling tears, Ling Ling cleaned up the cake with her own hands.
Team Lair was in a very bad mood all around.
– Are you going through our raid records? We are trying our best so please take good care of us.
– For humanity!
– For humanity!!
The video full of pretence was transmitted to places all around the globe, including the watch of a certain man who was sitting on the couch of his house.
***
The refreshing morning breeze flowed in from the window.
Chirp chirp ?
Kaeul opened her eyes from the morning alarm of Chirpy’s voice. Ling Ling, who had cried throughout yesterday, was still on her bed and Kaeul wasn’t in a good mood herself after seeing that.
She was in the process of forming her sense of identity and there were a lot of things she learned during it. Kaeul gradually realised that times like this were essential for her Amusement but she still didn’t want to see the people around her in pain.
“Are you upp…?”
“Un un. Did you sleep well?”
“Yes…”
“Stay on the bed. I will order some food.”
“Sorry about yesterdayy…”
“Ehew, no no it’s nothing…! Rest up~”
With the delivery application, she ordered some Chinese food but continued fidgeting with her watch even after ordering the food. This wasn’t her first time contemplating while looking at Yu Jitae’s number.
Whenever things were rough, she had always been helped by Yu Jitae. He always helped her without saying anything else and told her to seek his help no matter the time.
However, relying on him even after leaving the house made her somewhat feel like an immature and hopeless child.
Chirp ?
She was constantly worrying about it but that was when the baby chicken walked up and gave her a nudge. A bright smile appeared on her lips.
“Are you hungry?”
Chirp!
“Then, give me your hand!”
She didn’t make him do this very often. Therefore, Chirpy glanced at his wings and at his foot, seriously contemplating which one of them should be called a hand. Seeing that, Kaeul laughed despite the situation.
Kaeul gave him the food. Watching the baby chicken indulging itself in its feed relaxed her heart a little bit. She always felt her worries disappear whenever she was with Chirpy.
Ding dong! That was when the bell rang.
“Ohh.”
It must be the food delivery. Kaeul went to the door and opened up the intercom display. She then tilted her head.
Someone she was all too familiar with was standing outside.
“Huh…?”
Kaeul widened her eyes.
*
Yu Jitae waited outside the door for a long time. It had been quite a while since he rang the bell but no-one was opening the door, so he tried pressing it one more time. There was still no response but they should be inside considering that it was still early in the morning.
That was when the security guard standing in the distance suspiciously gazed at him.
The old guard slowly walked towards him with extremely cautious steps. He glanced across Yu Jitae from the top to bottom, before raising a vigilant question.
“Who might you be?”
“I have acquaintances inside.”
“Which acquaintances…?”
“Superhuman soldiers.”
“Soldiers…? Which unit?”
“205.”
“What? You… Who are you!”
Suddenly, the guard lowered his body and took out something resembling a baton in caution.
When Yu Jitae looked into his eyes, the guard became visibly nervous but nonetheless stood his ground. It might be because that was the last responsibility the old man had left in his life.
“There are no superhumans inside that house! Who are you!”
Yu Jitae wondered what was wrong with him before remembering that superhumans acted in secret.
In Unit 205 were Kaeul and Ling Ling. They just happened to be small and immature-looking kids so the security guard must have thought that the house was being occupied by two young girls.
“Hey listen. It’s a misunderstanding.”
“Ah like I said, tell me what you are! Or get out!”
However, the misunderstanding was soon resolved.
Kwang! The front door opened with a thunderous thud.
“Ahjussiiiii—–!”
And Kaeul immediately ran up and jumped into his arms.