novelraw Chapter 23 : Chapter 23
Chapter 23 : Chapter 23
Chapter 23: The First Coverage
“I’ll let you off this once. But let me say this again. We Hunters never let go of the prey we've set our sights on.”
Gu Sanghyeok said threateningly with his arms crossed.
His gaze was directed at Jin Cheonglim.
“The one who refused wasn't me, it was Cadet Ryu Jinwoo.”
Jin Cheonglim waved his hands as if his gaze was burdensome.
“Hmph, cut the crap. You must have said something to Ryu Jinwoo. If you’re done with your business, get out. And don’t pull any more weird stunts.”
Gu Sanghyeok snorted and gestured for him to leave.
“Oh, and erase that picture. It might cause misunderstandings.”
“For a misunderstanding, it seems to have been quite effective. I’ll hold on to it for now.”
“Th-, this damn bastard!”
Jin Cheonglim smiled faintly and left the Hunters club room.
“Damn it, the Times bastards are always like this. Hey, Ryu Jinwoo. Are you thinking of joining the Times?”
When Gu Sanghyeok asked brusquely, I scratched my head.
While making an expression that said I didn't know what he was talking about.
“Even if you say that so suddenly…… It’s not like they offered to let me into the Times.”
“That ‘interview’ that Jin Cheonglim mentioned means they’re going to recruit you into the Times. Think carefully. You might not know, but those guys are very shady! They know all sorts of information, about what they're doing behind the scenes.”
I smiled awkwardly at the flood of complaints that followed.
‘That’s why I want to join.’
I couldn't say that out loud.
The Times knows better than anyone about the events that happen at Zero Academy.
In my position, where I have to clear a story full of variables, that information is what I need most.
And in the original work, if you join the Times, quests for all the events in the game open up.
In the form of [An incident is happening at this location. Go there and cover the scene.]
The moment I join the Times, notifications will come for all the events that I shouldn't miss.
The need to join several clubs also disappears.
If it weren't for the Times, I would have had to join about 15 clubs while attending the academy.
And that’s according to the timing of the incidents.
That’s crazy.
I can't possibly do that.
“Anyway, Hunters is always open. Contact me if you change your mind.”
He whispered lowly as he held out his business card.
“And that…… ahem, thing you saw earlier. You didn’t see it. Got it?”
The president's secret hobby, to be honest, I didn't particularly want to know about it either.
It was also a scene I wanted to erase from my memory as much as possible.
I nodded heavily.
I had to visit Hunters at some point anyway, so there was no reason to be on bad terms.
Gu Sanghyeok furrowed his brow and withdrew his hand.
“That bastard Jin Cheonglim, I'll have to deal with him properly someday. Anyway, you can’t trust the Times guys.”
After roughly agreeing with Gu Sanghyeok’s renewed complaints, I quietly left the Hunters’ club room.
“That was a close call. Wasn’t it?”
Jin Cheonglim, who had left first, greeted me lightly.
“Gu Sanghyeok-sunbae is a really persistent type. Once you get on his bad side, he’s the type to go all the way. But he values his image, so blackmail with pictures works well.”
“……”
“Ah, we don't always do that.”
Jin Cheonglim smiled awkwardly and continued walking.
As we stepped outside the building, the clamor of the festival could be heard from afar.
Just as the faint noise was tickling my ears, Jin Cheonglim stopped and looked back at me.
“Cadet Ryu Jinwoo, let's be honest. You knew about the Times too, didn't you?”
I nodded obediently.
“The performance you showed in the Hunters’ simulation was to attract our Times’ attention, right? It was quite effective.”
“I’d heard rumors about the Times.”
At my answer, Jin Cheonglim gave me an interested look.
“You can’t act like that based on mere rumors. You also made eye contact with me, so you must have had some definite information. You can be honest. From our perspective, we prefer that.”
I held my tongue.
Silence is a white canvas that stimulates the imagination.
If I left him alone, Jin Cheonglim would paint a plausible picture on it himself.
The longer the silence, the more a smile spread across Jin Cheonglim’s lips.
“Alright. You don’t have to be completely honest. Anyway-.”
Jin Cheonglim paused for a moment and looked around.
His voice lowered.
“Can I take it that you want to be with the Times?”
I met his gaze and nodded quietly.
After a brief silence, Jin Cheonglim spoke again.
“Hmm, actually, I want to let you in right away. To be honest.”
Jin Cheonglim stroked his chin.
While tilting his head upwards as if reminiscing about an interesting memory.
“Above all, the news that you beat that Jin Cheongha was quite interesting. Since we’re close, you see.”
Jin Cheonglim said in a sentimental voice.
As you can tell from their names, Jin Cheongha and Jin Cheonglim belong to the same family.
Jin Cheongha of the main family, and Jin Cheonglim, who belongs to a branch family.
In the first place, the hidden route condition for joining this club was 'refusing Jin Cheongha's offer to join the student council' because of Jin Cheonglim and Jin Cheongha's unique relationship.
Getting involved with Jin Cheongha is the first step to getting into Jin Cheonglim’s sight.
Of course, Jin Cheongha giving up the spar herself was not anticipated.
“The fact that I beat Cheongha-sunbae is actually-.”
“I know. You just cut her hair, but Cheongha gave up the spar on her own, right? She does that sometimes. Ah, it wasn’t Cheongha who told me. We’re in the same family, but we’re not that close.”
Jin Cheonglim said with a wink.
As if he had his own secret method.
In any case, it's good that he knows.
He was handling the unexpected variables from the original work well.
My trust in the Times went up a little more.
“I’ve gotten a bit sidetracked. I’d like to let Cadet Ryu Jinwoo in right away if possible, but there are procedures.”
He continued, crossing his arms.
“To get in, you have to take an entrance exam. If you pass, you’ll get the status of a rookie reporter.”
Zero Times has a hierarchical system that goes from rookie reporter, to official reporter, to department head, to deputy editor-in-chief and editor-in-chief.
Naturally, the higher the position, the more information you can access.
The same goes for ‘event-related notifications.’
I must be promoted to an official reporter within the first semester, and by the time I become a second-year, I must at least be in the position of a department head.
Of course, that’s a story for after I get in.
“The content of the entrance exam is free-form coverage. However, I want you to cover a special incident. To put it simply, get a scoop. The format will be…… a ‘reportage’.”
Dding-!
[A new task has arrived.]
[Task: Challenge! A Scoop Reportage!]
[Get a scoop and write a reportage article!]
“Yes, I understand.”
“Oh? This is the first time someone has accepted right away. Usually, people are vague and hesitant.”
It’s definitely a strange task.
There’s no topic, just to get a scoop.
And the format is ‘reportage.’
A reportage is an investigative article written by going to the scene yourself.
It meant that you couldn’t use information you had picked up, but had to capture the vivid scene that the reporter experienced firsthand.
Normally, I would have shaken my head at this point.
While thinking, ‘Where in the world am I supposed to find a scene like that?’
But.
“I’ll probably run into something if I just wander around. Something.”
I know.
The place where a very big incident will happen this weekend.
And that incident is also a main story that the player must intervene in.
***
“Woah- a dinosaur!”
A little kid holding an ice cream exclaimed as he looked up at a large dinosaur bone fossil.
“Hyeon-ah, your ice cream is melting. Let’s go inside now.”
The man who approached the little kid lifted him up and put him on his shoulders as he walked away.
The little kid was still staring at the fossil as if it were fascinating.
In the direction the father and son were headed, a banner that read ‘Demonic Beast Expo - To the Unknown World’ was fluttering in the wind.
“I knew it was a big event, but.”
I stopped for a moment and looked around.
The Demonic Beast Expo grounds were larger than I had expected.
Huge tents and exhibition halls were lined up around the central plaza, and the voices of the audience and all sorts of noises were loudly mixed together.
To the right was a large building displaying taxidermies and models of various demonic beasts, and to the left was a special area where you could safely view actual, specially treated demonic beasts.
The screams coming from afar were probably the cries of a living demonic beast.
The atmosphere of the event was peaceful, and for good reason, as in reality, it was no different from something that mixed a national museum and a zoo.
There were quite a few families who came to visit.
But in a few hours, this place would turn into a scene of chaos.
The only ones who know that are the ones plotting the conspiracy and me.
But there’s nothing I can do right now.
It's questionable whether anyone would believe me if I said a terrorist attack would happen, and even if things happened as I said, I couldn't reveal how I knew that fact.
‘I should just do what I can.’
Seeing the families happily coming and going to the event grounds made a corner of my heart feel uncomfortable, but what can't be helped can't be helped.
“Shall we get going?”
The place I needed to be was already decided.
Because there was someone I had to meet separately.
A place where I could also take a picture worthy of submitting to [Zero Times].
[Mystery Hall]
I took a deep breath as I looked at the sign.
‘I’m going to be rolling in it today.’
In the end, as long as I’m in this world, I can’t avoid troublesome incidents.
‘At least if I join Zero Times, I’ll know when and where things will happen.’
A coverage quest occurs at the sign of every incident.
Thanks to that, I won’t have to worry about every single variable.
That was the reason I had to join the Times, no matter what.
As I entered the Mystery Hall, the atmosphere was distinctly different from the other exhibition halls.
From the entrance, the dim lighting was dreamlike, and the fog effect flowing on the walls created the illusion of entering another dimension.
Inside, the faint blue lighting created a mysterious atmosphere.
Along the walls were the ‘Unidentified Aquatic Monsters’ and ‘Unknown Land Monsters’ corners.
Deep-sea monsters, Bigfoot, the Loch Ness Monster, and other unidentified monsters from all over the world were displayed as models and sketches.
Among them, the ‘Paranormal Phenomena’ section in the center was the most eye-catching.
Phenomena that could not be fully explained by modern science and magic theory, such as ghosts, dimensional rifts, and unidentified energy phenomena, were introduced.
And among them, there was one exhibit that was particularly interesting.
[Mimic - The Perfect Imitator]
I stopped in front of it.
The videos and materials displayed beyond the transparent acrylic came into view.
A silhouette that vaguely looked humanoid changed into the form of a cheetah, and then soon changed into a square object.
Above the display board was the nickname ‘The Perfect Imitator.’
A moment later, the curator’s familiar voice once again filled the exhibition hall.
“Everyone! The being I will be introducing this time is the ‘Mimic.’ As its name suggests, it is a ‘being that imitates’.”
He pointed to the videos on the wall with a gesture.
In the video, the Mimic was imitating the form of an iron door, a doll, and even an animal.
“The Mimic was first discovered in the first dungeon and has since been reported in various forms. It usually imitates inanimate objects, but sometimes it takes the form of animals, and even people.”
He playfully threw a remark at the audience.
“Perhaps the person next to you right now...... isn't a real person.”
Laughter and murmurs spread among the audience.
“It is said that the Mimic has no sensory organs but somehow receives information from its surroundings and has the ability to replicate based on it. There are also reports that despite its low intelligence, it sometimes shows excessively elaborate imitations.”
On the panel next to the exhibit, a structural estimation of the Mimic and various eyewitness accounts were organized.
From common cases of being attacked after approaching what was thought to be a box, to a creepy story of thinking it was a mirror but the reflected image didn't follow the movement.
“Uniquely, some Mimics are said to even copy ‘actions’ or ‘knowledge.’ Just like a parrot imitates sounds. If it could copy the knowledge of the top student in the school, it would be worth being friendly with.”
As the curator added playfully, laughter erupted from the audience.
‘A Mimic, huh.’
A familiar silhouette comes to mind.
The crazy bastard I see every day.
A guy who fits the keyword ‘imitation’ very well.
Chwararak-!
[Keeheeheehee! It tickles! It tickles!]
And whether it was a coincidence or not, the moment I thought of him, the real thing appeared.
Spouting the same out-of-context nonsense as always.
‘I see him every day, but I still can’t figure him out.’
Just as I shook my head and turned my eyes away from the Mimic.
I noticed a suspicious-looking person next to me.
A tall woman with long black hair, wearing a mask that covered her nose and a hat pulled down low.
She was looking down, diligently writing something in a notebook.
Her speed was incredibly fast.
In an instant, she filled a page, and the sound of paper being turned without rest could be heard.
On the other hand, it felt somewhat familiar.
Her black hair that came down to her waist, her moderately tall height, and even the shape of her hand that I could glimpse.
“Seol Hayun.”
As I called her name, the woman flinched and turned her head toward me.
Her hand was still writing.
I met her ruby-red eyes.
It was 100% Seol Hayun.
Unless she had an identical twin.
At the same time, she was also the reason I had to be here.