Became a CyberPunk Tycoon - Chapter 176



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Episode 176. Eyes and Ears (17)

The office is deserted. The young reporter can do nothing but sigh deeply in the face of the sudden increase in work.

“I’m sorry, but you said this article had to come out today. How could it not……”

“I’ll try. But I don’t know if it will work out or not, so don’t expect too much.”

He wanted to shout, “Does it make sense for me to do this all by myself?” but the young reporter couldn’t bring himself to say anything bad.

The person who immediately came to give him instructions on his work also looked quite clumsy. It seemed that there was a lot of personnel turnover even in the upper echelons.

The reporter, after drinking a cup of coffee, began to write the article with difficulty, moving his heavy fingers.

“I have to write a self-reflection paper now, even though I never wrote one in school.”

It was inevitable. Even if all those responsible for the incident were being investigated, the company ultimately had no choice but to take moral responsibility.

And the young reporter, who could be seen as part of that company, could not apologize for their sins either.

There is nothing to say. That is understandable, because the police swept through it without giving any room for the ‘controversy over the crushing’ to arise.

As soon as it was revealed that General Techina was scheming, all the media and companies froze.

When the reporters were first arrested, there were those who tried to frame it as ‘police suppression of the press’, but now they had no choice but to keep their mouths shut.

“Anyway, I’m sorry, and I hope something like this won’t happen again… um, I hope not.”

A comprehensive investigation was conducted on all reporters. Reporters who had complacent thoughts like, “I have nothing to do with Hansan or General Techina, so I can get away safely,” were swept away along with the incident.

“Hey, manager. Should I eat this while I do this?”

“Don’t tease me, senpai. No, you look comfortable. Are you free?”

“I thought you weren’t supposed to touch the article until the internal investigation was over? Well, they said it’ll be over by the end of today, so don’t worry too much.”

There were too many people involved.

The young reporter was a man recognized for his abilities. His articles received a lot of views and his reputation was not bad.

But while that ability was so great that it allowed him to beat out numerous senior reporters and quickly become the head of the social affairs department, the reality was that even he himself was left shaking his head.

A large number of journalists were arrested. The excuses that it was a custom or a normal thing among journalists did not work.

Because so many people were arrested that the excuse of ‘Why are you arresting me and leaving that kid alone!’ doesn’t work.

General Techina, as well as numerous Megacorps, and even reporters who had received money from Hansan in the past were captured.

In reality, less than half of the reporters who are investigated are actually found guilty, but being investigated itself is incredibly stressful.

“Why only me…….”

In the media outlet where the young reporter was working, not many reporters survived. Like a mountaineer climbing an empty, uninhabited mountain alone, he leisurely took on the position of head of the department.

But things didn’t change. The higher-ups said they would send a new employee as soon as possible, but the reporters who had not much time left before the interview had to see it.

“I’m going to go back…….”

It might be a worry for the rich. In reality, he was no different from others in that he received Hansan’s money, and he didn’t have to worry about going to jail or losing his job right away.

“Ugh, Hansan is scary. Isn’t that right?”

“That’s true. No, isn’t that a bit too much? I treated you so well, and now you’re giving me death from overwork as a reward…….”

They collect money a little more ‘politely’ and use that as a standard to suppress the companies that ‘disrespectfully’ spend money and the reporters who receive it. It was a quiet move.

“That’s true. Other people probably don’t even know that we’re doing this here.”

“Right?”

Since the old days, journalists’ corruption was not easily exposed. No matter who exposed it or who was investigated, it could be buried simply by ‘not reporting’.

And this situation, if I may say so, was nothing more than exposing the journalist’s incompetence. There was no need for the remaining journalists to reveal the fact that numerous journalists had been arrested.

If public opinion had been a little more swayed toward the reporters, it might have been different, but it would be useless to argue for the frame of press suppression when evidence is already coming out one after another.

“what…….”

So, people won’t notice how the media is changing.

Naturally, reporters who wrote articles favorable to Hansan somehow survived. Not only this ‘young reporter’ but also many pro-Hansan reporters would have risen to important positions.

It was a serious matter that General Techina was being beaten up, but to the young reporter, what was happening to the reporters now was equally serious.

General Techina negotiated with Hansan. He only handed over several of the ringleaders, including senior executives, and some of the working-level staff to the police, but did not give up his influence in Stella City.

But journalists are different. Most of them are just individuals who depend on those in power, and they have seen with their own eyes what happens when they bet against Hansan.

He will surrender to Hansan not out of loyalty, but out of survival instinct.

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No one will be able to uncover Hansan’s corruption. Even if Hansanwoo gets drunk in broad daylight and assaults someone, no one will be able to point out the absurdity.

In this incident, there was indeed the intervention of ‘General Techina’, but the next incident will not necessarily require an ‘incident that actually happened’.

If Hansan simply claims that those who criticize Hansan and reporters who dig into Hansan’s affairs were ‘intervened by another company,’ Hansan will gain an overwhelming advantage in the battle of public opinion.

It’s happened once already. Considering that reporters are going around looking for people to eat for interviews or sources, it’s more unusual for them not to have a relationship with a human being from another big company.

In this case, even if it was a false accusation, the issues raised by the reporters were not contrary to the facts. Even reporting based on the truth will be plagued by numerous questions and ‘verification of purity’.

“Well, so what?”

The young reporter chuckled and then continued writing his apology.

It’s none of his business. He just has to write whatever articles people want, as he always has.

The sound of typing on a keyboard filled the empty office.

“Ooh, move! We have to find it somehow!”

By the time they left the city, their dark suits were covered in yellow dust blown by the sandstorm.

“Traitors…….”

The man thought of the old man who was locked up in the detention center. The head of the Stella City branch of General Techina, the boss he followed more fervently than anyone else.

“General Techina is also rotten. The Hansan guys did it!”

The temples of General Techina were, at the same time, citizens of Stella City.

Of course, there were those who wanted to protect the city, but there were also those who wanted to burn it down.

“Is it just a day or two that we have been oppressed because of Hansan? If we had just closed our eyes once, we could have repaid you……”

“From the very beginning, the armistice terms were far more disadvantageous to us! You bastards of Hansan, you don’t even think about fighting fairly and winning, you’re just using cowardly methods?”

In their minds, General Techina’s guilt did not exist.

Using stupid reporters to condemn Hansan in a ‘fact-based’ way was already a just act in their eyes.

It may not have been entirely ‘righteous’ to cooperate with Evan, to commit terrorism, and to try to provoke conflict, but I also thought that it was inevitable.

Hansan is suppressing them. It is trying to reach out to workers and companies for autonomous contracts by bringing up ridiculous regulations.

All the companies are using the tax money they pay for privately and wasting it on show-off events that are supposed to help the poor of Blakron.

He has no intention of cooperating with other companies and acts as if he is the only one who is good. It was all Han San-woo’s fault for being foolish.

“If we really give him this… will that kid do as we wish?”

“Even though he was weak, he still hates Hansan just like us.”

They were clutching the new implants they had managed to steal from the company’s secure facility in their bags.

Evan was already armed with the General Technase Implant. He would surely be able to use this one as well.

“How long will it take if I plug it in?”

“It wasn’t made for humans to use in the first place. But still… that kid should be able to last a week.”

They didn’t want Evan’s power, they wanted indiscriminate destruction.

“There are means to call… but why can’t I see anything?”

“What the hell are you talking about? We still have a long way to go before we reach Blacrohn.”

“No, that’s not it… Are you saying there was a bar nearby? It should be visible by now….”

“Have you ever seen anything like that? Why is there a bar in a place like this?”

“No, if you go along the road, you’ll come across something that looks like a rest area. It’s dangerous to go directly into Blakron, so I was going to make contact there-.”

The car stopped.

The man driving had no choice but to close his mouth at the sight of the huge hole in the distance.

“That… what is that?”

The place where the bar should have been was completely wiped clean, as if nothing had ever been there.

A human-shaped, soot-filled body was buried on the ground. Pieces of charred bodies appeared here and there.

“This is… that’s it. Hansan’s….”

The engineers at General Techina used to make fun of Hansan’s inventions when they were bored.

‘It’s a very stupid bomb that doesn’t even use cutting-edge technology, and only increases the amount of gunpowder to increase its explosive power.’

But a bomb that fell on a person rather than in a laboratory didn’t seem so funny.

The Hansanmok was moving. In a slightly rougher way than the humans outside the city would think.

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