Chapter 251 - 244. Out of the Bag
[The Truth Behind Trinity’s ’Valiant’ Guide]
Zein raised his brow. What the hell is this--was his first reaction. What truth? What ’valiant’? And then he started to read while Jock guided him to walk toward the car.
His brow stayed arched the whole way. The article came from a pretty big news media, and it was written well, unlike the gossip and rumors circulated before. It talked, first, about Zein’s journey while he was in Trinity; the new concept of strike guide, the survival textbook, and the ’speech’ he made in the guide conference. The writer showed what kind of image Zein had in public from his few appearances.
And then they dropped the bomb.
[...but recently, we received disturbing evidence about this elusive guide’s past. It might allude as to why Trinity kept the guide’s mysterious past guarded, and limited his movement outside the formal setting. After all, a big name like Trinity and Mortix would be careful to hide the fact that they employ someone who used to work for a rogue guild...]
Ah...Zein scrolled the news, and the article continued by explaining what was a rogue guild and their heinous crime. It told the reader about Umbra and what they did in Araka--effectively, painted Zein as someone who also did that kind of thing.
It ended in an essay questioning the validation behind Zein’s moral preaching and so on and so forth.
Which was funny because Zein never felt he was preaching about anything.
"Well, we can’t say it’s a lie," Zein shrugged, letting Alma, who had been reading behind him, had the tablet.
Zach frowned at the guide’s nonchalant reaction. "It’s not a lie, but it’s manipulating the truth."
"Look at this! Where in this article had they ever said why you ended up in Umbra? They didn’t write about how you are under a slave contract!" Alma yelled angrily. "They didn’t write about how you are sold there when you’re just ten by your father--"