Villain Eaten By The Hero - Chapter 80
Following the secretary’s guidance, they headed to the meeting room. The CEO of Meteor Daily, who was seated, stood up and greeted Belze when they arrived. Belze casually shook hands with him and exchanged business cards.
Of course, the name on the card was not Belze but Liz, with the title of the division head, and the company name was DOT.
Though the business card was fake, the CEO did not catch on to Belze’s true identity. She had also created a website and spread a few articles related to the company using Seo’s money. It was unlikely that he would immediately figure it out.
Belze sat down as suggested by him, smiling brightly.
“I’m glad you made it all the way from the States. I’m sorry I didn’t get to pick you up, the city center’s been a bit of a mess lately.”
“No problem. Meteor City is considered safe. Even at its most peaceful, Oklahoma is louder than this.”
“Well, you’ve been through a lot. Shall we start discussing the contract? I thought you wanted to make a deal with the Meteor Daily.”
“Yes. Recently, there was a hero scandal issue.”
“You’re talking about Ravi. It seems like an issue that would attract attention even in the United States.”
“Personally, I found it interesting. I read all the articles your company covered.”
“Indeed. It’s a big deal, isn’t it? I mean, does it make sense, that a hero who’s supposed to be responsible for the safety of citizens slept with a villain?”
“Sometimes such things happen. It’s not that rare in the United States.”
Even without bringing up more open-minded discussions about the United States or Europe, just the talk about Hye-na would be enough for a lot of stories. Some people wanted to look good to Hye-na, not just those who flaunted their money, even among the personnel of the Hero Disaster Headquarters, they wanted to impress her.
Belze subtly hinted at it, but the CEO tapped the desk with his fingertips and shook his head.
“Ravi’s worse, though. Playing around with a villain he fought with everyday… That’s going too far.”
“Playing around, you say?”
That wasn’t the case.
Belze was about to deny it, but the CEO seemed to be trying to teach her something.
“Because you’re from the U.S., you might not know much, but he genuinely slept with her. He said he wanted to sleep with her every day. As you can see in the articles, he was exposed on live broadcasts with a lie detector. If it weren’t for that, everyone would have been fooled without a doubt. DDD caused quite a stir.”
“Of course, there must be reporting guidelines everywhere, but… seeing you talk like this, it seems this case is under your instructions, sir.”
The CEO nodded with a furrowed brow. A smirk played on his lips.
“The citizens have the right to know the truth.”
“I noticed from the articles that, instead of blaming Belze, you were focusing more on criticizing Kim Seo. Is that also your intention, sir?”
“It’s not criticism; it’s critique. Critique aimed at building a constructive society and creating responsible heroes. Isn’t it the role of the media to give sharp criticism to government agencies? Haha.”
“There seems to be a flood of criticism against heroes who pursue women… Citizens appealing to the need for ethical heroes… Still, from the hero’s perspective, the impact could be significant. They might feel unjustly criticized more than villains.”
Meteor Daily published a total of twelve articles strongly criticizing Hero Ravi’s misconduct, just in print for the past four days.
Three of them were on the front page with a large photo, and four were on the second page with a photo. Two articles mentioned Seo in an op-ed about heroes’ declining ethics. There were also three articles stating that Ravi’s sponsors were bewildered.
The online news pages featured twice as many articles. Three articles criticized DDD and Cheonha. All of them ended with ‘Some citizens argue that they should criticize DDD and Cheonha more strongly.’
There were separate articles about Belze, but they were more about reflections on what charm Belze had that captivated Ravi. Belze nonchalantly flipped through the articles mentioning Seo in Meteor Daily.
The broad-shouldered CEO chuckled.
“We can’t expect heroes to have ethical standards similar to villains, can we? It’s precisely because they are heroes that we criticize them more sharply. It means fixing the flaws and progressing further. Especially with Ravi, he’s been on the verge of constant scandals. he’s been on the verge of scandal
Belze gradually sensed a distortion in the evaluation.
Wow, is it coming out like this? When did you guys ever praise him for anything? Even last time during the cruise scandal, you subtly stirred public opinion by mentioning unverified scandals.
“This is all for the good of the hero. And for a hero to hang out with a villain is to regress the human rights of the people, isn’t it? Should we worship heroes like kings just because the citizens fall short of monitoring them? Being a hero is a profession that requires a sense of responsibility to serve the people.”
But pretending to be moral while acting arrogantly? Advocating for human rights while talking about responsibility?
Paying a meager amount of taxes and making impractical demands.
Belze inwardly rolled her eyes at him who considered civil servants as slaves. However, her face continued to nod along as if agreeing with the CEO’s words.
“So, you want heroes to undergo self-censorship by facing public trials for every little thing.”
“That’s exactly it.”
Exactly what? You want to force heroes to self-censor when they’re already struggling?
No wonder rookie heroes can’t endure for more than three years and retire in droves. Whether they do well or not, being criticized and scolded without mercy makes citizens lose affection for them.
But she didn’t say that. Belze maintained a smiling expression and tucked her hair behind her ear.
“So, it seems that the direction of Meteor Daily reflects the opinions of the CEO, and I agree with you.”
Thanks to you, heroes who were doing fine end up retiring with emotional scars. Sometimes, newcomers even turn into villains.
“We always keep a close eye on things.”
Thanks to you, framing heroes and breaking their mental state is so much easier.
Belze chuckled inwardly.
“Haha, it’s even more gratifying when a young person like you says that. For a guy who pretends to be so squeaky clean, he’s a lot dirtier behind the scenes. By the way, what’s the deal with the contract related to this matter?”
“I’d like to propose a partnership with the Meteor Daily. A contract fee of about 1 billion for the first year would be good.”
“What kind of partnership are you looking for?”
“I’d like to become a director of the Meteor Daily.”
“If you mean you’d like to buy a billion worth of shares, you can do that at….”
“No, the 1 billion would be paid to me by the Meteor Daily.”
“Pardon?”
“One billion a year as a director’s salary. If you agree to that, we can settle everything peacefully.”
“What do you mean… You want 1 billion?”
“Let’s make it 1.1 billion now.”
The CEO’s face still had a lingering formal smile.
“Miss Liz, this joke has gone too far…”
“1.2 billion.”
“Secretary Kim! Come here! Contact the security company and lower the shutters!”
Feeling the crisis as the amount kept rising, the CEO called for his secretary. The nearby secretary pressed a button and hurriedly rushed over.
Meteor Daily was a valuable ally. As a major media outlet, just throwing a hint their way would cause them to eagerly latch onto it, creating chaos as they tore into the heroes. They didn’t like heroes very much.
“It seems the negotiation has broken down. Even if I wanted to help my family a bit, trying to make some money… there’s nothing we can do. My kid can support himself.”
But now? Unforgivable. How dare you joyfully tear down my Seo?
“Sir! The shutters won’t come down, and the security bell is not working!”
The secretary looked puzzled and hurriedly called out to those nearby. But Belze was much quicker.
In an instant, Belze opened her briefcase. As soon as the CEO and secretary saw the widely open briefcase, they instinctively crouched down.
The briefcase exploded, sending a thick cloud of smoke into the air. Employees outside the conference room, as well as those upstairs and downstairs, were startled by the loud explosion.
What was in the bag was not just a bomb. It was an EMP bomb, which generated high-powered electromagnetic waves and destroyed only electronic devices.
It destroys all nearby electronics, but leaving humans unaffected, the EMP bomb creates chaos within the building. However, because the bomb was camouflaged with noise and smoke bombs, everyone was busy running away from the scene in fear of what might happen. The interior of the office building was filled with screams and the sounds of people accidentally colliding with each other.
Only one person, a young man who happened to be near the meeting room, remained on the cleared floor with a bewildered expression, muttering in a dazed voice.
“Ms. Belze?”