Chapter 314
Kim Daeik did have experience as a reporter before, but it had only been two years since he was selected as a news reporter. He gulped down water to calm his pounding heart. The voice of the division chief, who had been tormenting Kim Daeik from almost a month ago, was vivid in his ears.
KTT Broadcasting Station, which had recently been suffering from operational difficulties, was truly, quite literally, on the verge of bankruptcy. Even when they reported day and night on Gate- and Hunter-related news, which at least got decent ratings, it only became a brief hot topic at the time and did not stay consistent. Most likely, it was because their topicality fell behind the three major broadcasters, and because they had randomly fired off all kinds of tabloid rumors without reviewing them in order to raise ratings and views, so their credibility had dropped.
'If I’d known this place would be this shitty, I wouldn’t have joined!'
He was suffering as much as he could suffer, and the company was also on the verge of bankruptcy. Even if some corporation acquired it, whether his position would remain as it was remained questionable.
For a reporter from KTT Broadcasting Station, which was on such a downward trend, to be able to come to an official place where he could interview people at this Republic of Korea Integrated Awakened Competency Enhancement Boosting Camp, the state-hosted K-Hub, had considerable meaning. And the fact that none other than Kim Daeik could go to that place alone meant even more.
The division chief had spoken firmly to Kim Daeik.
“Go there and interview people who’ll definitely get attention. That, the popular one... if there are S-ranks like Im Haekyung or Tae Hyunjin, grab them no matter what. Otherwise, Kwon Taehan, who awakened this time, is fine too. And grab every Hunter with a lot of fans and get even one word from them. If any Hunters look decent, just take tons and tons of pictures!”
The plan was to turn the interviews he got that way into articles, into news segments, upload them to YouXube, and make them into short-form videos too. And if the response was good, they intended to use the same content, changing only the words, to produce second and third follow-up reports as well.
Thus, the interview target ordered by the division chief was, without question, one person. Im Haekyung.
And Kim Daeik, blasphemously, had an intuition as soon as he heard the division chief’s words. That the division chief had finally lost his mind.
Getting an exclusive interview with Im Haekyung, who was none other than the guild master of the number one guild in the country and wildly popular nationwide, through KTT rather than a major broadcaster, was impossible. The same went not only for Im Haekyung, but also for Tae Hyunjin, who led Clavis, or Kwon Taehan, who had newly awakened this time. To begin with, there was no way those prideful S-ranks would accept an interview request from a broadcasting station that might edit their words however it liked for the sake of bait.
And so, as soon as Kim Daeik’s participation in K-Hub was approved, he made a different plan internally.
'Please let Seo Jehyun show up. Seo Jehyun!'
He did not know who from Haeseong Guild would participate in the camp, nor did he know how many people would participate in total. But if, by any chance, Seo Jehyun came...!
'Views are absolutely guaranteed!'
Like the diligent reporter he was, Kim Daeik regularly checked internet communities, article comments, and YouXube comments to identify trending figures. Aside from S-rank guilds that steadily generated buzz or popular Hunters from famous guilds, there was one Hunter whose view counts were strangely high to an uncanny degree whenever any news about him appeared.
That was Seo Jehyun.
The first article where Seo Jehyun properly appeared was the rare “rank correction Hunter” article. And it was not even a rank correction of barely one rank or so. It was a rise from F-rank all the way to B-rank. In the article he clicked because the absurd content drew his interest, the topic continued once more because of Hunter Seo Jehyun’s photo.
Because of his tall height, good body, and handsome face with a somewhat chilly atmosphere, the discussion instantly shifted to his face. As for why the appearances of Hunters, people who did the work of eliminating Gates, mattered... well, the actual views showed that.
Compared to the photo released the same day of the A-rank Gate site cleared primarily by a B-rank Hunter, the view count on the photo of Im Haekyung smiling brightly while bending very far at the waist to match a reporter with a fairly large height difference was roughly seventy times higher.
Honestly, between the two, was the meaningful content not overwhelmingly the former? A B-rank Hunter clearing an A-rank Gate was strange and worth paying attention to, but what was so surprising about a man who was 188 centimeters tall bending down to listen to a woman who was 160 centimeters tall that it would get views?
When the news link was posted on a certain social media account, that photo spread instantly. He remembered an impressive reaction too.
HunterFreeViralAccount @ddax2121
fuck lol now if he’s not a Hunter he doesn’t even look like a man to me ah fuck this is so good lol
Aside from that, even when he ambitiously uploaded an article about Kwon Taehan, who had newly awakened, the contents of the article were pushed to the back.
HunterFreeViralAccount @ddax2121
ah fuck are all S-ranks really built like this? our country has four S-ranks and is this visual lineup insane or what ever since I started stanning Hunters idols and actors and everything else don’t even catch my eye anymore
Kim Daeik @daeik1122
Why four? Hunter Sung Uijae is no longer a Korean Hunter.
He had asked because he was genuinely curious, but the reply came back firm.
HunterFreeViralAccount @ddax2121
Daeik, stop acting up and fuck off lol
Putting aside the fact that Kim Daeik shed tears of sorrow that day, since that was not particularly important, the appearance of Hunters played a large role in virality anyway.
Seo Jehyun was the same. No matter how drastic the rank correction was, if it had not been for Seo Jehyun’s appearance, would this level of steady interest have come out?
And just when that attention began to fade a little, his next move was also extraordinary. Namely, entering an S-rank Dungeon. No matter how high-rank an awakened person was—generally, people were classified as high-rank awakened people starting from B-rank—entering an S-rank Dungeon was not an easy decision. And yet he headed toward the Dungeon without hesitation. Maybe because his will was so strong that he had run there in one breath, not a single witness had even seen Seo Jehyun enter the Dungeon.
After he cleared the Dungeon and came out, just as it seemed attention might briefly shift elsewhere, the video of him grabbing Kwon Taehan by the collar spread far and wide exactly as it was.
Many speculations about the relationship between the two circulated around this situation, but public opinion shifted again because of the shocking rumor that arose afterward. Namely, a scandal... with Im Haekyung, the guild master of Haeseong.
In the Republic of Korea, a country full of prejudice, it was funny enough that an absurd scandal between two men reached the mass media through the mouth of someone close to them. But the subjects just had to be Im Haekyung and Seo Jehyun. Most public opinion, including Kim Daeik, treated it as nonsense and moved on, but here and there, there were also a few things mixed in that made people go, “Could it be?”
Of course, that too naturally degenerated into a meme as time passed.
For instance, on internet communities, people would upload several photos of Im Haekyung and post things like, “now that he’s dating his face is fucking glowing, shit.”
And Seo Jehyun’s view-count gangster acts did not end there. A few months after that, when Seo Jehyun rammed Kwon Taehan’s car, the video really circulated all day long across communities and portal sites alike.
Seo Jehyun, who was famous just like the already-famous Kwon Taehan, and who had a previous record of grabbing him by the collar... caused a traffic accident? Taken fragment by fragment, it was the one-sided act of a psychopath, but from Kim Daeik’s perspective, since he had already developed a strange trust in Seo Jehyun, he ended up thinking, “There must really be some incredible hidden circumstances.”
That was right. Kim Daeik, who had steadily followed Seo Jehyun’s actions in order to publish articles about him, had at some point started doing things that had slightly departed from his main job.
Even while causing all kinds of incidents, at some point Seo Jehyun would also diligently run Dungeons and settle situations, and although he acted without restraint, videos and interviews of him saving people kept pouring out. So, from a certain point on, Kim Daeik found himself bewitched by this strange harmony of sweet-and-salty... no, spicy-and-bitter, and clicking on articles about Seo Jehyun.
Even comments attached to articles like “crazy bastard” or “he’s living his one life fucking hot as hell” ultimately only looked like “honestly, I was so jealous” to him. And in reality, it was roughly like that too.
Thus, Kim Daeik, who had been following Seo Jehyun obsessively, had set out water every day after his camp attendance was confirmed and prayed that Seo Jehyun would appear and become a view-count bait machine....
“Yes, hello.”
The result had finally appeared today.
'Wow, why am I so nervous?'
Wiping his hands, which were drenched with cold sweat, on his pants, Kim Daeik waited for Seo Jehyun to come outside.
'I was prepared to kneel if he refused to give permission....'
It was already a miracle that he had come outside at all, and yet that Seo Jehyun had obediently given permission for an interview with him. Kim Daeik truly had the confidence to kneel in front of Seo Jehyun. Not only that, if Seo Jehyun wanted anything....
At some point, Kim Daeik, who had begun endlessly thinking of his inherent masochism, saw Seo Jehyun appear just then and walked over as if running, face brightening as he held the microphone.
A moment later, Seo Jehyun swept his hair back once and stood in front of the KTT Broadcasting Station camera. Kim Daeik asked a question as icebreaking to ease his own nerves.
“Actually, you tried to refuse once earlier. May I ask the reason...?”
At that, Seo Jehyun pretended to think for a very brief moment, then immediately answered.
“Our Guild Master doesn’t seem like the type to particularly like unexpected behavior from team members.”
It was subtle, but if they were going to draw bait with it, it was an answer that could draw enough. The signs were good from the beginning. Kim Daeik turned over the question sheet with trembling hands.
“A few months ago, you transferred from SH Guild to Haeseong Guild. Please tell us what change of heart made you decide to transfer, and whether there are better aspects to Haeseong Guild.”
At that, Seo Jehyun spoke without even a moment of hesitation.
“Change of heart? It was closer to a change of circumstances. Guild Master Song was injured, so the guild blew up, didn’t it? Everyone scattered, so I had to leave and find a way to live too. Among the places I could go, Haeseong looked the best, so I went there.”
He really was... an insanely unrestrained lunatic. It was a plain listing of facts, but how could he say those plain facts like such a son of a bitch...!
'Really... wow, my precious view-count gangster....'
Soaked in emotion, Kim Daeik continued the questions.
“Yes.... Mr. Gangster, then regarding whether Haeseong Guild’s vision suits you well too....”
“Gangster?”
“Ah, ah! I’m sorry. The pronunciation was similar.... Hunter Seo!”
Kim Daeik’s expression, after making the sudden slip of the tongue, instantly filled with embarrassment. Chills ran down his back, and he swallowed hard, worried that this crazy bastard might beat him or something because he did not like it.
But Seo Jehyun answered with a calm smile.
“I just joined because of the Guild Master. Haeseong Guild? Haeseong Guild is good. It’s number one in the country.”
“Wow....”
The moment he heard the answer, he knew. That audio just now would remain forever as a clip and wander the internet.
“Is Hunter work all right for you?”
“It suits my aptitude well.”
What exactly suited his aptitude? Beating monsters?
Kim Daeik laughed and fluttered through the question sheet.
'This is....'
He had tried to stick as much as possible to public questions, but inevitably, some private questions for bait had been inserted. Kim Daeik glanced at Seo Jehyun’s expression and hesitated, then asked.
“Um, there were many rumors about you and Hunter Kwon Taehan. That you grabbed him by the collar, that you deliberately caused the traffic accident, that you entered the S-rank Dungeon to save each other.... Could you tell us what the real truth is?”
“The truth? Hm....”
At that, Seo Jehyun, who had been answering without hesitation all this time, stalled for quite a long time for the first time. Rather than choosing his words, it felt like... how to put it... he was really thinking seriously about the question.
'As expected, they aren’t simply friends? More like enemies, maybe....'
Roughly ten seconds of silence passed like that, and Seo Jehyun slowly opened his mouth.
“I don’t know. I thought he hated me, but he says he doesn’t, so well.... I guess he doesn’t. I won’t answer regarding the traffic accident.”
“Then you were friends...?”
“Were we? Yes, well, something similar. About halfway between strangers and friends?”
That was... what kind of relationship was that supposed to be?
Kim Daeik first nodded with a troubled expression. In any case, no matter how it was processed, the answer was enough to secure topicality.
'Let’s move on.'
At any rate, there were still quite a few questions left after that. Kim Daeik asked several more questions he had prepared, and Seo Jehyun answered diligently each time, setting off a fanfare of views.
Kim Daeik, on the verge of shedding tears of emotion, asked the final question.
“If there is anything you would like from the Association, which hosted today’s event, please say a word.”
“I don’t think they’ll particularly accept it just because I say it.”
The fact that Seo Jehyun’s words would not be accepted was probably more of an issue with KTT’s firepower than with Seo Jehyun himself, though.
Seo Jehyun looked at the camera and answered with great insincerity.
“Let’s live kindly. If you’re an association that saves people.”
“.......”
It was an answer that sounded strangely suggestive. Let’s live kindly. Did that mean the current Association was plotting something dirty?
Kim Daeik asked again carefully, his expression tense.
“Could you perhaps explain what you mean by that just once....”
“It’s just my motto.”
“Ah.”
The interview was over.
Kim Daeik felt an inexplicable dizziness as he watched Seo Jehyun’s back as he walked away into the distance. Still, one thing was certain. No matter how they processed and uploaded it, the views were guaranteed.
The handsome view-count gangster who could be seen at a glance even from far away was smiling, truly brightly and radiantly... like a gangster bastard.
'Thank you, Mr. Gangster Bastard...!'