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Chapter 220

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The Slanderer II

3

At some point, the "witch hunt" anomaly began sweeping across the Korean Peninsula.

It would have been fine if it had just ended with some stupid posts on the internet, but the terrifying aspect of this anomaly was something else entirely.

"I knew this would happen."

"What?"

"I knew this would happen."

"What are you blabbering about? You agreed to enter the Void too. Who could have predicted such a bizarre monster would appear..."

"I told you I knew this would happen. Seriously, the way you just jump into the Void without being prepared. Tsk tsk."

"......"

Conversations like these were happening all over the country.

Those infected by this anomaly tended to act like they "already knew" whenever something happened, pretending to be a fair and objective third party.

It was truly a bizarre anomaly.

Hadn\'t the scope of events that humanity could predict shrunk to the size of a palm since the world began to be engulfed by the Void?

Thus, the attitude required of people living in our time had become simpler:

"I didn\'t see that coming."

"Since I don\'t know, I\'ll prepare as much as possible."

"If I don\'t know, I\'ll learn by getting hit."

However, this newly emerged anomaly was defiantly opposing such a mindset.

"I knew this would happen."

"And I knew you\'d act like you knew everything."

"Ugh, I even knew you\'d act like you knew everything, thinking you knew everything!"

"I\'ve known for a very, very long time that the two of you would start acting like you know everything."

Even when new Voids appeared or unheard-of news broke, people, for some reason, confidently flaunted their knowledge.

At this point, I had to admit that this anomaly was far more formidable than I had initially thought.

But what was the point of admitting that?

I scratched my head and patted the shoulder of the strongest member of our internet strike force.

"Aryeon, you\'ve worked hard."

"Oh, uh, thank you."

"I don\'t think refuting every single slander is worth the effort. You\'ve done enough. Let\'s stop the operation."

"Ah, yes, Guild Leader... I, I knew this would happen..."

"......"

A small circle appeared on the back of Aryeon\'s head that day.

It would serve as a nice external conscience circuit for Sim Aryeon, who otherwise only nurtured triangles and squares in her mind.

In any case, the situation was slowly, very slowly, becoming more serious.

There were signs of internal division among the smaller guilds, operating smoothly until recently.

It had also become increasingly common to witness citizens arguing in the streets.

It was still tolerable for now. After all, this wasn’t a monster like the Ten Clans that slaughtered people outright.

However, it was clear that if left unchecked, the situation would escalate into something more severe.

"But, Guild Leader..."

"Hm?"

"I think this is a bit different from a \'witch hunt.\' Actually, I think it’s completely different."

Sim Aryeon said as she rubbed the lump on her head.

"Why do you think that?"

"Well, it\'s happening in reality, not just on the internet. A witch hunt usually happens more slyly... at least under the mask of anonymity."

"Perhaps, but modern witch hunts can happen in real life too. Have you heard of the Dreyfus Affair?"

"Drey-Dreyfus...?"

"It\'s a famous case, made known by Émile Zola’s \'J\'accuse.\'"

"Oh, that one... Yeah, I know. He’s that famous YouTuber with 100k subscribers... Émile Zola..."

No, seriously.

Anyway, Sim Aryeon mumbled to herself.

"Anyway, a witch hunt usually happens within a crowd, among the masses, right?"

"That\'s true."

"Yes, but this anomaly is a bit different. I mean, it’s targeting major figures like the Grand Demon King of the National Road Management or the Witch of the Three Thousand Worlds..."

"A bit?"

Sim Aryeon muttered.

"It feels... less underhanded, somehow."

"......?"

A question mark popped up above my head, but Sim Aryeon ignored it and continued with her thoughts.

"Even if people wear masks of anonymity on SG Net, there\'s still a risk of getting exposed by the Constellations. So, they don\'t cross the line too easily. It\'s even more so in reality. But... going after the two most powerful figures on the Korean Peninsula? It’s too brazen to be sneaky. It doesn’t have that foul stench."

"Aryeon, what are you talking about?"

"The Guild Leader is too caught up with the \'witch hunt\' keyword just because the Grand Witch of the Three Thousand Worlds was attacked."

What?

"Besides, Guild Leader, even though you pull off villainous deeds on SG Net, you\'re just a \'Romance of the Three Kingdoms\' maniac... You\'re not really adept at genuine troublemaking. This isn’t a witch hunt."

"Then what kind of anomaly do you think this is?"

"Here."

Sim Aryeon pressed her smartphone screen. It displayed a comment on SG Net.

Anonymous: I knew this would happen.

This phrase, most commonly found during our investigation of this anomaly.

Pointing at it, Sim Aryeon spoke.

"This is the core. Acting like you know everything. Pretending to be someone important. So, it\'s not a \'witch hunt\' anomaly... It\'s more like a \'fake expert.\'"

"\'Expert?\'"

"Yes, yes. Maybe we should call it a \'pseudo-expert\' anomaly. They love showing off, don’t hide in crowds but stand out, and constantly act like they know everything... It’s more like a \'pseudo-expert anomaly.\'"

That was the diagnosis of self-proclaimed internet expert, Sim Aryeon.

4

One thing I, as Doctor Jang, am good at is listening to experts.

Just as a broken clock is right twice a day, even an "Elderly Villain" can offer something to learn from.

Sim Aryeon, thoroughly enjoying the situation, was teaching me something about this anomaly.

"Of course, I understand why the Guild Leader might be confused. At first glance, it does seem like a witch hunt... There’s manipulation, a bit of evasion of responsibility. And then there’s the fact that, no matter how Young you try to act, Guild Leader, there are limits..."

A brief moment of external conscience circuit reattachment ensued.

"It\'s probably because the anomaly is evolving in real-time. Soon enough, it\'ll develop into something bigger under the category of \'internet culture.\'"

"Yes, yes."

Though I couldn\'t quite grasp why it had spread from the internet to reality as well—Sim Aryeon whispered, "I don’t know either"—I could only imagine the terrible consequences if this were left unchecked.

Humanity would eventually turn into creatures like the \'Forest Friends,\' and both Awakened Supremacists and Awakened Deniers would grow immensely stronger.

Just thinking about it was horrifying.

"The psychic brainwashing of all humanity!"

A chill ran down my spine.

Surely, humanity deserved a more dignified end than this.

Immediate suppression was necessary.

“How should we deal with this? Please, share your expert opinion, KoreanVillage.”

“Hehe, ehehe...”

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Sim Aryeon rubbed her fingers together in excitement.

“Hmm, the best way is to crush them so thoroughly that the so-called ‘self-proclaimed experts’ can’t even squeak!”

“Crush?”

“Yes! So that they can\'t even say, ‘I knew this would happen!’ Show them something so incredible, so outlandish, that only the Guild Master could pull it off. Something grand and outrageous that no one could dare criticize!”

“Outrageous.”

“Yes! It has to be something no one could have predicted! Not ‘I knew it,’ but ‘I never saw this coming.’ Something shocking, a massive event!”

“Shocking, huh.”

Hmm.

I mentally opened a notepad and jotted down Professor KoreanVillage\'s words.

In the meantime, a somewhat frantic voice echoed telepathically in my mind—Saintess, speaking from the other side of my eardrum.

[Wait a second. Doctor Jang, even if Sim Aryeon is an expert on internet culture, isn’t it problematic to take her advice so literally…?]

At that moment, Sim Aryeon drove in the final nail.

“If it weren’t for you, Guild Master, I wouldn’t even suggest such a strategy. After all, the world runs on so-called ‘experts’ pretending to know about everything, even Admiral Yi Sun-sin.”

“Hmm.”

“But Guild Master, aside from me, you’re the greatest person on Earth! You’re sure to show an unpredictable solution that no one could have seen it coming!”

“Hmm.”

“I believe in you, Guild Master!”

Sim Aryeon clenched her fists with determination.

I nodded.

“Alright. Trust me, Aryeon. This Guild Master will deliver a scene no one in the world could have expected.”

“Hehe, yes!”

The Saintess, who must have been watching the same scene through my eyes, sighed softly.

[Why is it that Doctor Jang torments Sim Aryeon every day, but loses his cool and gets swayed by her when it matters most…?]

The Guild Master is making his move!

* * *

First, I captured the people most severely contaminated by the ‘expert anomaly.’

A total of 360 individuals. The number wasn’t a coincidence—it was intentional.

When Socrates was sentenced to death in ancient Athens, 360 people voted for his execution.

In short, 360 symbolized ‘mob rule’ and ‘mass psychology.’

Not stopping there, I even carved out pillars of aura and built a Greek-style temple.

Whether the plague was defined as the self-proclaimed experts or a witch hunt, this place had become the perfect shrine for summoning the anomaly.

“Doctor Jang! How could you just kidnap us and tie us up? I knew this would happen!”

Grumbles.

The people I had randomly captured and bound were now in an uproar.

“No matter how lawless things are these days, this is too much! I knew this would happen!”

“This is tyranny by awakened ones! I predicted this!”

“I knew it ever since you rigged the system with the Chief and took over the Korean peninsula. Tsk, tsk.”

“Did the political head order you to do this? I knew it! I knew it!”

“See? Worshipping a war hero eventually leads to dictatorship. I knew this would happen.”

What is this? Did a bunch of people suddenly develop prophetic powers without me noticing? Last I checked, there were only two prophets.

‘This is definitely an abnormal reaction.’

These people, who had survived the apocalypse, should have had keen judgment and sharp instincts.

If Doctor Jang captured them, tied them up in a weird Greek temple, they should’ve sensed that something was seriously wrong.

But instead, they were all too busy complaining about my actions, claiming they had predicted everything.

It had to be the anomaly contaminating their minds.

“Everyone, please be quiet.”

I made a paper megaphone and shouted.

“What? Quiet in this situation?”

“Are you trying to silence the voices of the citizens?”

“Dictator! Dictator! Dictator!”

“Go ahead! Try killing us!”

They shouted in unison. I filtered out the repetitive ‘I knew this would happen’ remarks and continued.

“How could I kill you? But…”

I gestured to my side.

Standing there in silence was the head of the National Road Management\'s operations team, the silver-haired psychopath, Yoo Jiwon.

“If this Yoo Jiwon here goes berserk and kills someone, there\'s nothing I can do.”

“...”

“...”

Dead silence.

Most psychopaths usually masked their psychopathy behind a veil of social etiquette, but Yoo Jiwon here operated on a different level.

Once she was assured that top figures like Noh Doha and the Time King wouldn’t abandon her, she didn’t hesitate to unleash her sealed nature.

Yoo Jiwon sliced people up without hesitation as long as justification and necessity existed.

This was one of the reasons why, even in the apocalypse, law and order in Korea remained relatively intact.

“Now, look at this aura.”

I lifted my sword high into the sky.

And I poured all my aura into it.

―――!!

Dark aura consumed the very noise, piercing the sky.

The clouds it cut through were dyed into stormy blackness. Though it was still broad daylight, a small fragment of night seemed to tear through the sky like a hole.

This was the result of me putting all my aura into the strike.

“...”

“...”

Clap.

Clap, clap, clap.

Amidst the silence, small claps echoed.

There was no need to turn around. Yoo Jiwon was the one expressionlessly clapping her hands.

Ignoring Yoo Jiwon’s sarcastic applause, I looked back at the 360 people.

“Well? How is it?”

“...Using force to intimidate civilians?”

“Hah, this is nothing more than showing off your aura. No different from flexing muscles.”

“Research shows excessive aura actually reduces efficiency in real combat situations…”

“I knew this guy was like this from the start.”

The anomaly wavered momentarily but soon regained control, letting the contaminated people wag their tongues again.

More accurately, it was manipulating them to speak.

I muttered to myself.

“So this isn’t enough.”

“Should I execute them all, Your Excellency?”

“These are people who were unlucky enough to get contaminated. No executions. Let’s move on to the next step.”

If the aura display wasn’t enough, then I had no choice but to bring out the big guns.

Korea’s strongest assets weren’t limited to just the KoreanVillage villain.

I spoke the name of the second ultimate weapon.

“Jiwon.”

“Yes.”

“Bring out the Sword Maiden.”

If the aura display wasn’t enough, fine.

Now, I’ll show them the Sword Maiden’s jaw-dropping ‘rejuvenation performance.’

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