Chapter 274 – That is Me (2)

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Translated by Heavenly Cat

Read it only at Novelbyu.com & Utoon.net

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The highest priority thing to check before reporting?

Naturally, it was fact-checking.

Even more so if it’s news that cannot be easily believed.

Moreover, VBC is not some unknown small or medium broadcasting station. After the cataclysm, riding the tide, it was reborn as a large broadcasting station standing shoulder to shoulder with terrestrial networks.

Camera Director Yoon Jong-jin was experiencing that fact firsthand.

Because even players who acted arrogantly would visibly soften their attitudes when a camera bearing the VBC mark was shoved at them.

Perhaps thanks to that, his expression was quite complicated.

“No, Senior. Is it okay to go ahead with this like this?”

The place the question headed was the studio in the midst of rehearsal.

There was PD Hyun Yong-seok who was surveying the overall state of the studio.

Hyun Yong-seok answered without even looking.

“What are you doing? Not standing by.”

“No, Seniooooor.”

“Why drag out the end of your words so disgustingly? What, why?”

Hyun Yong-seok looked at Yoon Jong-jin only then.

And let out a hollow laugh at the desperate expression.

“You look exactly like a puppy needing to pee, you.”

“I can’t help it!”

“……?”

As he raised his voice, surrounding gazes poured in.

Yoon Jong-jin quickly grasped the mood, lowered his vocal cord volume, and whispered.

No matter how much he thought about it, this was too hasty.

“Senior, simply put, we’ve only been kicking shitballs lately.”

“Look at this guy, look at the way he talks?”

“No, let’s speak frankly.”

Today’s Arcana.

Their recent viewership trend couldn’t be called good no matter who looked at it.

It couldn’t be helped.

Unlike broadcasting stations, the trend after the cataclysm turns rapidly.

“In the Zero Mountain Range, we get pushed back by personal broadcast transmissions on a guild level. That said, to bite onto the baits floating around in reality, there’s nothing to pour out except official-sounding brain-fictions. If we deliberate deeply and push forward, we end up failing to cast panels…….”

Yoon Jong-jin’s words were entirely true.

In the era of cataclysm, there was no place for broadcasting stations to step in. The reason was simple. Because baits that could at least hook viewers had completely gone stale a long time ago.

“World Unification, I understand our Senior was stressed because of those bastards. Me. Because I heard it tiresomely while clinking glasses of alcohol together. Thrashing those bastards.”

World Unification’s moves.

Even without digging deep, just handling it superficially guaranteed topicality.

The problem was that the higher-ups didn’t want that, though.

“Just how unimaginably high up are they entangled with? I don’t know why they forbid even bringing up the words. I also understand Senior being heartbroken because the project Senior prepared was entirely blown away. But, can you handle even this consecutively?”

News uploaded on the player community.

The identity of the Dark Dragon is Lee Ho-yeol!

Facts weren’t revealed.

The circumstantial evidence was also only one, the players’ testimonies. Even that was merely a message popped up restricted to players who witnessed the abnormal phenomenon captured above the Mage Tower.

“They say the message isn’t even ‘Ho-yeol-ssi is the Dark Dragon’? They say it’s simply an achievement message that they witnessed the return of the Dark Dragon.”

However, to push forward a special broadcast like an established fact.

Hyun Yong-seok’s expression did not budge.

Yoon Jong-jin swallowed a sigh and asked.

“Still, you are certain, right? Then it’s fine.”

Since it could be the intuition of a genius producer as well.

However, Hyun Yong-seok shook his head.

“No? Meaning it’s not like that.”

“……wh-what do you mean no?!”

Seriously, why is this older brother being like this?

Yoon Jong-jin was flabbergasted to the point of wanting to tear off his rank badge and ask.

If it were the past when they had absolutely nothing, this would have been okay.

Simply put, it would have been passed over with a single written apology.

“But, to do so, VBC and Senior have grown too big. We have a lot to lose, and you might end up taking the entire blame out of greed to deliver the news a step faster than others!”

Furthermore, the size of the blame wasn’t ordinary.

The Dark Dragon, the existence for which a whopping dozen dragons had howled.

In a way, the day the Earth was closest to destruction was exactly that day.

“At this rate, truly our necks…… ”

“Jong-jin-ah.”

“Yes, PD Hyun-nim.”

“Wouldn’t I know something you know?”

“……Were you even thinking?”

Hyun Yong-seok shook his head back and forth.

“Even though I look like a crazy bastard, I don’t move without thinking. Still, well, I’ll admit what needs to be admitted. As you said, I did kick shitballs recently.”

World Unification.

Because of those damn bastards.

Coverage taking several months completely blew away.

He didn’t know what kind of tricks they used, but to think they blew influence from China all the way to a mere broadcasting station in South Korea. He realized anew what kind of influence the world’s best guild possessed.

Hyun Yong-seok raised the corners of his mouth into a smirk.

“But, since we kicked it anyway, shouldn’t we kick it to those bastards?”

Lee Ho-yeol, there was no certainty that he was the Dark Dragon.

As Yoon Jong-jin also said.

At the present moment, the only evidence was the testimonies of the players.

Even that did not become concrete evidence.

‘If it goes wrong, chop.’

He might suffer having his neck cut at VBC which he had grown attached to.

However, a single hit was desperate for Hyun Yong-seok.

Not to mention a single hit that will blow away the recent slump.

A big hit to blow to World Unification and the higher-ups entangled with them……!

World Unification.

And different from the likes of Liu Ouzhunchun.

It meant that it’s the timing to put forward the true ‘Monarch’.

Scribble scribble─

Hyun Yong-seok scrawled his pen onto the cue sheet.

“Look, how’s this for a title?”

“……What title suddenly?”

“Even if it’s a special programming, we have to attach a subtitle.”

“Hah, seriously…….”

When Yoon Jong-jin shut his mouth, Hyun Yong-seok finally erased the playfulness from his face. Then he brought up the words Yoon Jong-jin and the staff would want to hear the most.

“I believe, Jong-jin-ah.”

What did he suddenly believe in.

That Ho-yeol is the Dark Dragon?

No, the majority would be thinking so.

To say nothing of the fact that quite a few players wouldn’t have a reason to lie.

Because a player worthy of being called the Dark Dragon truly could not be thought of other than Ho-yeol.

However, that was merely a speculation in the end.

So he was keeping his mouth firmly shut, but.

Hyun Yong-seok brought up unexpected words.

“I believe he will be different.”

……Different?

“Different from what to what, Senior?”

“It means Ho-yeol-ssi will be different from that bastard, Liu Ouzhunchun.”

“……Why Liu Ouzhunchun suddenly? A grudge?”

Hyun Yong-seok shook his head.

It is not a simple grudge.

Because he actually believed it.

Because the moves Ho-yeol showed so far became the basis of his belief.

“Ho-yeol-ssi has never once hidden his moves till now. There was a clear reason for all actions, and he proudly revealed it to the world. Of course, only when there was a formal question.”

So Hyun Yong-seok was certain.

“No one else, but if it’s Ho-yeol-ssi, he will without a doubt reveal it with his own mouth. That he is the Dark Dragon, proudly in front of the whole world. The planning intent of our broadcast is precisely waiting for that moment.”

“Waiting for the moment……?”

“Simply put, it’s a standby broadcast for Lee Ho-yeol’s major announcement.”

“!”

If, by any chance, Ho-yeol doesn’t make a move…….

The special broadcast was no different from utterly flopping.

Because there would also be a limit to killing time having called the anchors and panels.

But if it unravels just as thought…….

“We could blow it up for sure, whatever it becomes.”

There was only one thing left to decide now.

“In that sense, everyone give some opinions. What to do for the subtitle.”

“……What Senior wrote isn’t bad either though?”

“Really? Isn’t it too cringy?”

“Cringy also depends. To Ho-yeol-ssi, actually whatever we take and stick onto him would probably suit him? Simply put, he pulls off even the alias ‘Infinitely Deep Darkness’, you know?”

“Come to think of it, that’s true? By any chance, anyone with another opinion?”

Although different opinions occasionally came out.

They just went a step further than that.

There were no such things as opposing opinions.

And so the title of the special broadcast was decided.

『Dragon Monarch, Dark Dragon Lee Ho-yeol. Howls Towards the World.』

Bang bang!

*

Truly, fucking damn thankful, System……!!

Everything is probably due to my reputation rising excessively.

Why, the completely different world, Arcana Continent.

Even in the Empire’s capital, Antonium.

Wasn’t I one who received hospitality to the point I couldn’t dare raise my head?

‘Under that state, my reputation probably rose even further.’

Let’s think of the contribution points piled up while restoring the Empire’s territory.

A whopping 1 billion.

That was to the point the Emperor clearly revealed the underlying assets of the Empire to me. Although no message stating reputation rose popped up particularly. The status of [Legend, Dark Dragon Lee Ho-yeol] probably rose alongside it.

‘And that aftermath manifested as a message in reality…….’

To output a message to the players near the Mage Tower.

And that too, returning so normally.

At this rate, there’s no meaning in having manifested a portal in the Mage Tower, right?

While someone is dying from severity, my runaway mouth is unaffected.

“Did I end up howling unintentionally.”

Seriously, what did I howl, that you say I howled……!

However, the problem was that there are people responding to my runaway mouth.

Harkon let out a guffawing laugh.

“I was certain. As expected, there could be no one but you, Sir, suited for the alias Dark Dragon. So what kind of heroic tales have you exactly written for fifteen days and returned?”

Everyone, their eyes are sparkling very brightly.

Fifteen days in the time of reality.

Approximately two months in the time of the Arcana Continent.

Yes, looking back, there really were many events.

I genuinely hate to say it with my own mouth, but…….

In response to formal questions, one must respond in whatever way.

I opened my mouth.

“Ascertaining their place to tens of millions of demons.”

From the very first word, it is smeared with Granfel’s way of speaking.

[Natural Enemy].

Due to the particularity of the class called Demon Hunter.

I only made the demons tremble in fear.

Anyway, when it comes to packaging, it’s the best.

“The vow of a long time ago to the old dragon.”

Here, the old dragon was Yunakersus, and the vow was a story regarding the setting entangled with dragons and the Claudi family.

As I spat it out, I prayed earnestly.

‘Please, do not ask.’

If they formally pose a question, what that vow is.

I would gladly, Claudi…….

Ending up blabbing about my dark history.

But fortunately, there was no one in the seats who interrupted my words.

Of course, the next sentence also became a sufficient problem, though.

“An amusement within frozen time with the ice dragon.”

To package a death struggle with one’s life on the line as an amusement.

Because my life on the Arcana Continent is exactly the same as the days when Chronicles of the Arcana Continent was merely a game. Looking back, it could be seen as an amusement, but…….

As expected, it is shameless.

At my words, the expressions of those present turn serious.

“……You faced tens of millions of demons?”

“Old dragon and ice dragon. They weren’t all the same dragons.”

“Don’t tell me, fifteen days, because of the frozen time……?”

However, since there were no false words, I couldn’t correct them and pass over it.

Moreover, compared to the last words.

The remarks so far would merely be a drop in the bucket.

So I wish everyone would just listen without getting surprised…….

“Lastly, I disciplined the dragons who had lost their pride.”

“……!!!”

I expected it, but those expressions are heading towards astonishment past surprise. Even Harkon, who would believe me even if I said I made fermented soybean lump from red beans if it were my words, asked back.

“Y-You disciplined the dragons? The educating ‘disciplining’?”

Had I rather returned alive at the end of a death struggle, everyone would have been able to accept it. Because the bubbles that bloomed thanks to my miserable struggling were exceedingly abundant.

But disciplining is a different realm. Above all, to say I ‘did’ it meant I succeeded in the disciplining. Except for a few including Nam Tae-min and Hisagi.

“Pride, as expected.”

“There probably is no impossibility to pride.”

“……What is he saying?”

I understand not being able to nod one’s head easily like Leoni.

Actually, that is the natural reaction.

If not for Claudi’s halo, even conversing would have been impossible for me too, after all.

However, there might be exaggeration, but everything is true.

If asked where the proof is.

……Yeah.

I hated saying it with my own mouth even if I died, but.

I suppose there is no way out here.

I softly opened my mouth.

“That is correct. Just as your words say.”

“……?”

“I am precisely the one who had been contemplating and coordinating them from behind.”

Taking an utmost long pause, I continued my words.

“The Dark Dragon.”

……You finally committed it, Ho-yeol!!

.

.

.

A special broadcast begins on TV.

Its title.

“Dragon Monarch, Dark Dragon Lee Ho-yeol. Howls Towards the Worldaaah? Isn’t this truly crazy?!”

Twitch twitch.

Despite being astonished, her mouth corners don’t stop.

The enemy, Lee Ye-rim, first left evidence.

Click─

“I feel like I heard something similar to that long ago too……? Did this kid play games this well since then? Hah shit, I can’t remember. Starting next year, I really need to cut down on drinking.”

Muttering words that would make Ho-yeol’s heart drop if he heard them.