WeTried Translations
Translator/Editor: Hydrogen B
Discord: https://dsc.gg/wetried
Chapter 54: A Statement of Position
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The Blue House Assault Incident.
The incident in which Rimon Aspelder had stormed the Blue House alone, crushed the guards, and taken the President hostage.
It would not have been an exaggeration to say that the entire country had been plastered with that one story over the past few days.
Not only had it been a major incident, but there were countless angles to dig into.
The fact that the culprit was a national hero.
The unknown motive behind the crime.
The failure to stop Rimon.
The devastated state of the Blue House.
And even the relationship between Rimon and Lee Cheon-gi.
Every detail was filled with questions and implications worthy of headlines, to the point that some broadcasts were devoted entirely to discussing the matter.
“Hey, Reporter Kim. Got any good scoops?”
“Scoops? Plenty. Thanks to the Guardian Deity of Humanity, business has been booming lately.”
“Come on, not the usual stuff. I mean why the Guardian Deity of Humanity committed treason.”
“If I knew that, would I be here? I’d already be off writing the article.”
The members of the press were no exception in wondering about the truth of the incident.
No, they were even worse.
They had easier access to information than most, which gave them even more reason to be confused when they could not grasp what was happening.
“I’m starting to wonder if any of this is even real.”
“What are you talking about?”
“Think about it. Does it make any sense that he stormed the Blue House alone? There are several high-level Players among the President’s bodyguards alone.”
“He is the Guardian Deity of Humanity.”
“That was back before Players even existed. Isn’t he just an ordinary person who happens to be good with a sword?”
“Well...”
They had heard testimony from those who had fought Rimon at the Blue House.
The problem was that the testimony was too absurd to believe.
He had stopped artillery shells with the tip of his sword.
Bullets had dodged him on their own.
He had cut Skills apart with his sword.
Everything they said sounded like that, enough to make it seem as though they had all taken hallucinogens together.
Of course, everyone agreed it was more likely that the government had fabricated the testimony.
For people who believed that an ordinary person could never accomplish what Players could not, it was only natural to be suspicious.
“And what about the claim that he came in through the main gate?”
“Hm, they probably made that up because they didn’t want to reveal his actual route of entry.”
“Obviously. Unless their brains are made of udon, what lunatic would do something like that?”
Unfortunately, there were two problems.
Rimon was not someone bound by common sense.
And while his brain was not made of flour, he had been called a mad dog his entire life.
“I looked up old records mentioning Rimon Aspelder too, and they were ridiculous.”
“That bad?”
“Yeah. They were all about him splitting the sea with a single stroke or circling the Earth thirty-seven times in a day. Even fiction has limits.”
“Honestly, people in the past really did exaggerate...”
“Exaggerations like that probably worked back then. They could use them as propaganda, too.”
“That was back when people believed Hong Gildong[1] was real. Who would believe stories like that these days?”
That was why the members of the press had such headaches.
They were experts at turning one thing into ten and inventing facts that did not exist to create gossip and headlines.
But there were limits even to that.
With public attention already at its peak, even they found it difficult to present such absurd testimony and records as fact.
Never mind the public. Their own bosses would chew them out for calling that reporting.
“Damn it, the Blue House needs to issue a statement before we can decide whether to run an article. What’s with the news blackout when they haven’t told us anything?”
“Exactly. Normally, they would’ve at least trotted out some platitudes.”
There was another reason the press could not publish articles recklessly.
It was the government’s strange response.
When an incident like this occurred, the first thing the government normally did was issue a statement along the lines of, “The crisis is over. You can rest easy now.”
It did not matter if everyone knew it was a lie.
There would always be people reassured simply because the government was acting as usual by telling obvious lies.
And surprisingly, many people would believe those lies.
Yet when it came to this incident, the government was delaying its statement to a strange degree.
No, it had gone beyond that. It had discreetly told the various news outlets to watch what they said.
As though it feared that careless nonsense might get on someone’s nerves.
Thanks to that, all sorts of rumors were spreading.
That the President was already dead.
That Rimon had fled overseas.
That everything had been a government conspiracy.
There were countless wild rumors that the press would normally have spread or denied first.
Yet they could not properly cover such excellent material because they had to watch the silent government’s reaction.
It was enough to drive them mad.
“Let’s wait for now. There should at least be something plausible today.”
“There had better be. This is the first press conference since the incident.”
That was why they had expectations.
Depending on what was announced at the upcoming press conference, they would finally be able to write their articles.
A few reporters had even resolved to ask tough questions.
Blue House spokesperson or not, they would show the great power of the press to those who had dared ignore the public’s right to know.
Creak.
But a moment later.
The doors to the press conference room opened.
And the instant a man appeared.
From the cameramen filming the room with only passing interest to the reporters energetically delivering their on-camera lead-ins, everyone present froze with eyes that looked ready to pop out.
Step. Step.
As though questioning whether they were dreaming.
Ignoring the vacant stares of the reporters, the man calmly walked up to the podium.
The man in a white suit, with half his hair hanging down to cover one eye, lightly adjusted the new monocle he wore.
“What are you doing?”
A calm voice from an impassive face.
Yet that single question made the frozen reporters jolt in shock.
Looking at the broadcast cameras, the Infinite Monarch, Lee Cheon-gi, spoke quietly.
“Begin the press conference.”
* * *
It was chaos.
It was shock.
It was bewilderment.
Those were the feelings shared not only by the reporters in the press conference room, but by nearly everyone watching the broadcast.
The sight was that unexpected.
[Um, Infinite Monarch? I understood that this was being held for the Blue House’s official statement...]
[That is correct.]
[...Then why are you attending this press conference, Infinite Monarch?]
Perhaps unable to contain their confusion, one reporter hesitantly asked the question.
It represented everyone’s doubts.
Lee Cheon-gi was a Monarch who did not appear on broadcasts unless it was absolutely necessary.
Even at Infinity Guild press conferences, he usually sent a spokesperson. It was extremely rare for him to deal with reporters in person.
Yet he had appeared at a Blue House press conference.
It was utterly out of place.
A few reporters even looked around, wondering whether they had entered the wrong room.
But the moment Lee Cheon-gi spoke, they fell into a completely different kind of confusion.
[Today, I will speak on behalf of the Blue House.]
[...]
Question marks seemed to appear over every reporter’s head.
As though they doubted their ears.
Or as though their brains refused to understand.
They stood frozen with vacant expressions, as if they had all fallen under [Status Ailment: Confusion].
Once they finally recovered, they spoke with incredulous faces.
[What kind of nonsense is that?!]
Nonsense.
It was an apt description.
No matter that Lee Cheon-gi was a Monarch and the head of Infinity Guild, he was not a government official.
He had neither the right, the authority, nor the reason to speak for the Blue House.
It was like a movie star, athlete, or corporate chairman suddenly appearing as the Blue House spokesperson.
Their objection was entirely valid.
It was only natural for them to be bewildered.
But Lee Cheon-gi ended their confusion with a short question.
[Is there a problem?]
It happened in an instant.
The reporters who had all looked as though they were eager to protest clamped their mouths shut.
As though he were willing to hear any complaint, Lee Cheon-gi slowly looked over them.
The moment they met his endlessly calm eyes, all of them realized something.
Unlike ordinary celebrities, he was not someone whose qualifications they could dare question.
Few noticed that Skills such as 『Intimidation』, 『Overwhelm』, and 『Threat』 had subtly influenced that realization.
Even if they had noticed, it would have changed nothing.
The person before them was the Infinite Monarch.
One of the ten absolute beings who ruled this era.
[If no one has anything further to say, I will take that as there being no problem.]
It was a simple notification.
Not an acceptance of silence as agreement, but a declaration that forced agreement through silence.
Yet no one raised an objection.
In the silence he had obtained as though it were only natural, Lee Cheon-gi adjusted his monocle and continued.
[First, as you all know, I will make an official statement regarding the minor incident at the Blue House a few days ago.]
‘A minor incident?’
‘A presidential hostage situation?’
‘In what way was that minor?’
The statement had not even begun, yet the reporters’ eyes were already darting around and their expressions had turned strange.
If those words had come from the presidential spokesperson, or even President Han in person, they would have unleashed a barrage of questions.
[To give you the conclusion first.]
But they did not know.
That had only been the introduction.
Compared to the shock brought by Lee Cheon-gi’s next words, it had been nothing.
[It was all a “show.”]
[...Excuse me?]
[I mean that it was part of an emergency response drill based on a hypothetical coup attempt by high-level Players and an invasion of the Blue House.]
The reporters’ jaws dropped open.
But whether their jaws hit the floor or not, Lee Cheon-gi did not care.
As always, he merely continued explaining with an impassive face.
[Out of concern for society’s indifference toward the recent increase in crimes by high-level Players, the government specially arranged this with PAB’s cooperation...]
It had all been a planned exercise.
The hostage situation itself had been staged.
The exercise had uncovered numerous problems with Blue House security and its emergency response system.
PAB would be reformed to correct those problems, allowing a smoother response to rampaging high-level Players in the future.
Infinity Guild would also take responsibility for rebuilding the Blue House, which had been damaged during the exercise.
There was quite a lot of long-winded explanation mixed in.
But the point was simple.
It had all been a fabricated “show,” so everyone should think of it as something that never happened and forget it.
In one sense, it was an extremely Blue House-like statement.
Which only made the absurdity of it all the more staggering, and the reporters erupted.
[You expect us to believe that?]
[What will you do if you don’t?]
[What do you mean by that...?!]
[Will you stake your careers as reporters on insisting that Lord Rimon Aspelder suddenly committed treason, that the government failed to stop him, and that he took the President hostage?]
The moment they heard that, the reporters were once again left speechless.
That version of events was even less believable.
And since the question of whether they would stake their careers did not sound like a joke, they naturally became cautious.
Taking responsibility and publishing an article.
That alone was far too unfamiliar and difficult for them.
To those who had worked with no interest in truth whatsoever, focused only on creating gossip and headlines, Lee Cheon-gi spoke calmly.
[If you do not intend to do that, then shut up.]
If they could not take responsibility, they should at least intend to.
And if they did not even intend to, they should not speak carelessly.
Lee Cheon-gi had conveyed it briefly, but clearly.
Anyone who ignored that warning and babbled recklessly would be held accountable by him personally.
Unable to bear it any longer, one reporter shrieked.
[Th-This is press suppression!]
[Suppression... That is an interesting word.]
But Lee Cheon-gi did not so much as twitch an eyebrow.
He merely looked at the reporter with an impassive face and continued.
[I only said you should take responsibility for your articles. If that is suppression, are you saying you intend to write only baseless rumors that you cannot take responsibility for?]
[...]
The reporter, who had spoken up for nothing and only ended up worse off, shut their mouth with a sickly expression.
Lee Cheon-gi looked away from them.
Instead, he surveyed the press conference room.
[Does anyone else have a question?]
It was a final confirmation.
The last chance he would give them.
But no one requested the floor.
They only flinched, turned their eyes away, and desperately tried to evade responsibility.
As though he had not expected otherwise.
Or as though he had known this would happen.
Lee Cheon-gi withdrew his gaze from the reporters and looked directly into the camera as he concluded.
[Then this concludes the press conference.]
Perhaps because the ending was too abrupt, even the cameramen, the studio staff, and the anchors were left stunned.
After Lee Cheon-gi finished the press conference and disappeared, the television screen continued showing the empty podium until the murmur of reporters began to fill the once-silent room.
The white-haired man gazed steadily at it.
Only after a long while did Rimon give his opinion on the press conference.
“...Wow.”
Footnotes:
[1] Hong Gildong: The hero of a classic Korean tale, cited as an implausible old story.
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