Chapter 154 – GOY 154
#154
“Lee Yeon-soo, you need to eat.”
“No, I’m fine.”
Even after returning home, I had absolutely no appetite. Joo Seung-hyuk was likely undergoing an intense investigation by the Inspection Division right now. Just thinking about it made my stomach churn, leaving me with no desire to eat anything.
“In-ho, you go ahead and eat first.”
“You’re just saying that, but you’re not going to eat.”
“…….”
“Eat. If you starve, my salary gets cut.”
“You get a salary?”
“Of course. I never do unpaid labor.”
Kang In-ho spoke with a dead serious expression. He seemed to truly despise unpaid labor.
To be honest, it was unexpected. Since Kang In-ho was an A-Class Esper who hadn’t signed a contract with any organization, I had the impression that he was indifferent to money.
However, if he was in an employment relationship with Joo Seung-hyuk, he probably received more money than most large guilds, so my initial image of him must have been wrong from the start.
“Just take one spoonful. I don’t want to get chewed out by my employer.”
“…Alright.”
I couldn’t stubbornly refuse when someone as indifferent to others as he was went to such lengths. Besides, I felt like he would starve too if I didn’t eat.
I ordered food through a delivery app and tried to force myself to eat. But two spoonfuls were my limit. As I tried to take a third bite, I realized I couldn’t do it and set the spoon back down on the table.
Kang In-ho gazed at me silently. However, he didn’t press me any further.
After finishing the meal, I went into my room and turned on the TV. Immediately, a photo of Joo Seung-hyuk filled the screen.
“The public is in shock as it has been revealed that Esper Joo Seung-hyuk orchestrated Esper Park Geon-woo’s car accident.”
The reporter announced the news of Joo Seung-hyuk’s arrest in a solemn voice.
“The allegations against Esper Joo Seung-hyuk do not end here. Suspicions have also been raised that Esper Joo used illegal drugs to manipulate his matching rate with Guide Lee Yeon-soo. The Inspection Division of the Psychic Central Control Center is currently investigating this matter and is searching for additional crimes beyond the matching rate manipulation.”
And then, news about me was reported as well. Honestly, I was surprised.
Joo Seung-hyuk was arrested on charges of orchestrating Park Geon-woo’s car accident. Since this was the kind of provocative news the media loves, I expected them to rush to report it.
However, the investigation into the matching rate via drugs was a matter the Inspection Division was handling secretly. They likely lacked decisive evidence. Therefore, they probably intended to detain Joo Seung-hyuk for the accident first and then investigate the drugs.
Yet, a case that had been handled covertly by the Inspection Division was reported on the news within a few hours. While the existence of the ‘Special Red Rune Flower’ or Abite Island wasn’t mentioned, it was still information that no one outside the inner circle should have known.
Who on earth leaked the information to the reporters? Did the Inspection Division spread it on purpose to sway public opinion in their favor?
No. The orchestration of Park Geon-woo’s accident alone would be enough to draw public attention, and a barrage of fierce criticism would rain down on Joo Seung-hyuk.
Would there be any reason to leak a matter where the evidence wasn’t even certain? There would be no benefit other than further destroying Joo Seung-hyuk’s image.
Starting with the news report, the TV and internet were plastered with articles about Joo Seung-hyuk.
The matter was still under investigation. [visit our site]However, people were already convinced that Joo Seung-hyuk was the culprit and poured out immense condemnation. Among them were countless insults too foul to utter.
Reporters also became increasingly overheated, racing to pour out provocative news.
They wrote articles claiming that all of Joo Seung-hyuk’s power was created through drugs, or they spliced his interview clips to claim that he had been so jealous and hateful of Park Geon-woo that he wanted him dead. They even picked apart past words and actions completely unrelated to this incident to conclude that he must have developed illegal drugs.
Articles even broke out claiming that Joo Seung-hyuk was not Chairman Joo’s biological child. It wasn’t true, nor was it related to the current case.
But the comments didn’t care. People poured out blatant insults, saying things like, I knew it, No wonder he reeks of vulgarity, Dirty blood can’t be hidden, and so on.
The people who had once praised his looks, saying that no matter what he did, he was just a spoiled chaebol son and that he looked wealthy despite his bad personality, turned on him in an instant.
I only looked at the internet news on portal sites. But not just the comments—the articles themselves were becoming increasingly severe.
I thought it couldn’t get any worse than this, but the trash reporters knew no limits.
[Joo Seung-hyuk, Plotting an S-Class Gate Break in Seoul]
Contrary to the provocative headline, the content was nothing more than a speculation post written by a netizen.
It reported that some netizen had written an analysis on a famous online community, questioning whether Joo Seung-hyuk had intentionally attacked Lee Yeon-soo during the Horaitron Gate incident to trigger a ‘Gate Break,’ and that the post was gaining traction.
The article concluded with the reactions of netizens condemning Joo Seung-hyuk.
It was disgusting how the reporter acted as if they were merely introducing a trending topic from the internet, while posting such an irresponsible article.
They were the ones who took a post circulating online and put it on the main page of a portal site to inform the entire nation, yet they refused to take any responsibility for the fallout caused by the article.
As expected, the comments on this article were filled with insults, and among them were many people who were surprised, saying, I thought it was just a netizen’s guess, but since it’s in an article, it must be true.
Even in this situation, the reporter did not delete the article. Rather, other newspapers, not wanting to lose out, began writing articles claiming that Joo Seung-hyuk had tried to cause a Gate Break. And at some point, the explanation that it was a “speculation post” disappeared from the internet, and this rumor became the truth.
In just a few hours, Joo Seung-hyuk had become a psychopathic murderer who not only orchestrated Park Geon-woo’s accident and manipulated his matching rate with me, but also obtained S-Class abilities through [stolen content]drugs and [unauthorized copy]attempted to open an S-Class Gate Break in the middle of Seoul.
People were swept up in madness, condemning Joo Seung-hyuk, and the comments were flooded with demands for his immediate execution.
Knock, knock.
The door opened with a knock. And Kang In-ho walked in.
The person who always opened that door and walked in was Joo Seung-hyuk….
“Lee Yeon-soo, it’s 9 o’clock.”
“Ah, I’ll get ready.”
Looking at the clock, it was already 9. Between the black blackout curtains and the all-black interior of the room, I hadn’t even realized it was daylight.
“Did you stay up all night by any chance?”
“Yeah….”
“Were you looking at the internet?”
Kang In-ho looked at the smartphone in my hand.
“Yeah, a bit.”
“Why bother? You don’t usually look at that stuff.”
“Just….”
If it were a story about me, I would have ignored whatever people said. But I couldn’t do that when it concerned Joo Seung-hyuk. Moreover, since he was under investigation, he would be completely unaware of this situation. Therefore, I had to keep my wits about me and grasp the flow of events.
“Ignore the mean words. And I’ll have a lawyer handle the malicious comments about you.”
Because of this incident, there were people insulting me too.
Some said Lee Yeon-soo was an accomplice because he dated Joo Seung-hyuk for money despite knowing what kind of guy he was, or they claimed it was incomprehensible to date someone who tried to kill you, calling me creepy and psychopathic.
But those were only a few; the majority of people said that Lee Yeon-soo was a victim and shouldn’t be dragged into it. So, the malicious comments didn’t bother me much. Besides, the problem right now wasn’t me.
“More than that, there are too many bad articles about Seung-hyeok. The fake news is serious.”
“Don’t worry about that guy,” Kang In-ho said nonchalantly. He must have seen the news and articles too, so how could he be so composed?
“But I heard Chairman Joo collapsed.”
I had just seen an article saying that Chairman Joo Won-chan had collapsed from the shock of this incident and was rushed to the emergency room at Seong Han Hospital.
Honestly, I had no interest in the human being known as Joo Won-chan. However, to resolve Read on Read BL Novelsthis situation, [visit our site]Chairman Joo’s power would definitely be necessary.
“Joo Seung-hyuk expected it, so there’s nothing to worry about.”
Joo Seung-hyuk knew that Park Geon-woo and the Inspection Division were investigating him and planning to arrest him. That was possible. Since Joo Seung-hyuk had excellent intelligence capabilities, he might have planted someone in the Inspection Division.
But how did he expect Chairman Joo to collapse? That wasn’t a matter of information; it required precognitive abilities. Did Chairman Joo have some chronic illness?
I was confused about how exactly the situation was unfolding.
“More importantly, why don’t you skip school today? You look very tired.”
“I’m fine with this much.”
“If you go to school, everyone’s attention will be on you. Plus, today is the start of the mock battle, so the entire student body will be gathered in one place. Reporters will also flock to you under the pretext of the mock battle.”
“That’s exactly why I have to go. If I’m absent, people will think the [stolen content]wild rumors going around are true.”
If I didn’t show up today, they would think I was absent because I was shocked by the incident. They might whisper that the side effects of the matching rate drug had kicked in.
It wouldn’t stop at them just chatting among themselves; there was a high probability that trash reporters would turn that news into a scoop.
For the sake of both Joo Seung-hyuk and myself, I had to go to school.
“Lee Yeon-soo, don’t overdo it.”
“I’m not overdoing it. I’m going because I want to. I’ll get ready quickly.”
“…If that’s what you want, I won’t stop you.”
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