[Title: So who are the guy from Noah and the Masked Man]

Seriously, who are the guy from Noah and the Masked Man you guys keep talking about that’s making such a fuss? What’s with this information gap… I missed the bus because of overtime, and all the posts that were up have already been deleted. Every time I try to click one, it just says it was deleted by the admins. Even a post that went up 10 minutes ago was deleted the moment I clicked it LOL

Srsly… so let’s all get in on it together… I saw people saying the guy from Noah is idol material, but what’s the deal with the Masked Man? Why is he trending?

Comments

-It was chaos for a few hours, you really missed it…

OP: I pulled an all-nighter for a week straight ffs ffs ffs

A week??? Are you even alive? What’s your job?

OP: The famous game company, M Corp LOL… The one whose lights were on until 2 AM because of an update error lol… I was one of those lights.

Oof… Someone give this person a picture.

-Your ordered picture of the guy from Noah is here for delivery ^^ (link)

All I see is a picture of a bright light ;;

That is his face.

?

He shines so bright that’s all you can see.

OP: Ah ffs

-Two-shot of the guy from Noah and the Masked Man (link)

OP: OMG FINALLY

OP: You crazy bastards stop with the clickbait. Is it fun messing with someone who just got off overtime? ffs Did I ask for anything else? I just want to see what the guy from Noah’s face¹ looks like.

-LOL look how desperate the OP is… But you really can’t post it. A hero needs to appear…

OP: What does that mean?

Is the guy from Noah the son of some chaebol or something? The information control is insane. Even the pictures reporters took came down in a few minutes, and all the community posts were gone in an hour. Later, most of the community sites themselves crashed, and when they were back up, all the posts were gone. If you try to mention it afterward, you get your account suspended… All the suspended accounts were the ones that posted photos, so it seems everyone is reluctant to share them nowㅜ

What the? Why is this happening in a free democratic country?

I heard the Association is pulling some strings.

Can the Association do that all by itself? The search results don’t even show up, so it looks like the corporations have all teamed up on this too.

-Wow, that’s the first I’m hearing of that info in the comment above. But the guy from Noah does look rich ㅇㅇ Seems plausible he’s some chaebol’s hidden son?

Why would a hidden son LOL join Noah?

He’s in his rebellious phase.

Is this some K-drama or web novel LOL

But it would be cool if he were the hidden youngest son of a chaebol family.

-This comment has been blocked by an administrator.

Whoa, a picture.

Crazy, they actually posted it.

Wow, his face is insane, even seeing it again. Where did you get this? When it was all blowing up, I saw all the reporter pics and the ones on Twitter, but I never saw this angle.

Comment by a blocked user

Damn, did you take this yourself? You should switch careers and become a homma.²

Is homma a job? It’s just being unemployed.

Wow, this got blocked already? In 1 minute damn

–OP: FFS I missed it again. I’m just gonna go jump in the Han River. Nothing in my life ever works out, what’s the point of living anymore?

The face of the guy from Noah is worth living for.

ㅇㅇ I got a glimpse, and the Masked Man has a handsome vibe that even that weird mask can’t hide. Seems worth living a bit longer.

Is this supposed to be comforting, you lunatics? The OP is already dying of frustration from not seeing their faces LOL

-That’s it, let’s demand the Association release Noah’s profiles.

This is it.

Seems like a good idea? Didn’t the Association push Noah as representing the nation or something?

-Damn, I’m sending a fax right now.

-Sent one too.

-Call them too.

-There’s a contact form (link). We can just post inquiries here? Looks like there are already quite a few posts up.

-Wow… I don’t know about anything else, but just looking at people’s reactions, it seems like the guy from Noah really is an idol talent that the hunter world stole.

Fr fr lol They’re acting like total fangirls.³ He’s not a celebrity, just a civilian. If I were the guy from Noah, I’d be creeped out.

Uh, no. Some famous hunters already have fan clubs~ They even send gifts to their guilds. If you don’t know, just don’t show off your ignorance.

• But the Association is persistent, too. Didn’t they say the Masked Man was kidnapped during an official Noah event? If it were me, I would have first announced if he was safe, but it’s been over a week of silence. What is this, some idol agency that mismanages things? lol

“Ah, this is up again? I advised all platforms and communities to delete posts related to you as quickly as possible, hyungnim. This is that site, right? Pann?”

As I silently scrolled down, checking the status of the post which had over 120 comments, Gyeongjin came over, confirmed the phone screen, and asked. I gave a rough nod.

“This post went up five minutes ago.”

“I’ll tell them to delete it. I don’t get it, they blocked the comments, why didn’t they delete the post?”

“They’re probably running a program.”

I answered indifferently and went back to the text message window. The Association President, having confirmed with the ‘read’ receipt that I had seen his message, was practically begging.

He said that these kinds of posts had been appearing on various sites for over a week now, that it was difficult to block and manage all of them, and that at this point, it would be easier to just show my face once. Seeing that, Gyeongjin scoffed.

“We’re the ones doing most of the information control, and those guys are the ones whining about it?”

At his mocking response, the other executives also sidled over one by one to read the conversation with the Association President.

“You gonna do the press conference, Guild Leader?”

Yan asked, adding that it didn’t seem like my style. I swept a hand across the table and ran the numbers in my head.

I hadn’t expected people’s interest to be this high. I thought that me heading straight to Adelia’s Tomb with the other Awakened in front of the reporters would become an issue, but I didn’t think it would be this noisy.

The interest of the Korean public towards celebrities was not particularly steadfast. I thought it would be gossip for a few days and then gradually die down, but seeing that the last post was made five minutes ago meant that public interest in me and Han Geon-joo was still going strong.

It was an unusual situation.

Well, perhaps it was bound to turn out this way.

The scale of this incident was larger than others. To make matters worse, news that Adelia’s Tomb had been cleared was already spreading from foreign media, but only the Korean side was quiet, so it was understandable that rumors of media control and information dictatorship were starting to surface.

The Association President was right.

To handle this, it would be easier to show my face once and do a press conference, but…

“It’s good to have several cards to play.”

I had no intention of playing that card just yet. It’s not like I was a volunteer. Did I have to hold a press conference just to appease some noisy public sentiment?

A vicious smile appeared on my face for the first time in a while. I waved a hand as if to shoo them away. After the Night Rat executives who had been clinging closely moved back three or four steps, I finally called the Association President’s number. The call connected after just two rings.

• Kwon Sa-yoon!

Such a booming voice.

It seemed he had been quite anxious this past week. The voice was so ear-splittingly loud that I lowered the phone’s volume to the minimum. The Association President was so noisy that even on the lowest volume setting, his voice was loud.

“My, my, our dear Association President must have been very worried. I can feel the fatigue in your voice…”

• Are you in your right mind? In the past week, over fifty thousand posts related to you have been uploaded. Fifty thousand! And half that number in video media. And in that situation, you ignore my calls?

Oh, dear.

He seemed very angry.

I held the phone far away from my ear and waited for him to calm down. When he had quieted down a bit, I brought the phone back to my ear.

“You’re really angry, dropping all the formalities. But Min-cheol…”

My voice sank into a low, gentle tone. My fingertips drew a line on the wooden desk, as if wiping away dust. My eyes narrowed.

“You should know your place. I’m not your subordinate, and what’s more, I even joined Noah because you begged and pleaded. And this is how you treat me?”

• …Hah.

A dumbfounded sigh came from over the phone. I paid it no mind.

“It was a headache, and it was also Noah’s first move. I even cleared Adelia’s Tomb for you as a show, yet you show no sincerity.”

• Don’t give me that crap about sincerity! What’s the point of clearing Adelia’s Tomb! We can’t even release a single article because of you. Have you seen what the public is saying? They’re calling us an information-controlling, socialist association. What is this nonsense…!

His pride must have been incredibly wounded. I hadn’t called to listen to someone else’s whining. I frowned and tilted my head. I was about to hang up if he spouted nonsense for another minute when Min-cheol, as if he had come to his senses, spoke in a cautious voice.

• So, why did you call? Perhaps about the press conference…

“Go with the mysterious concept.”

• What?

“For me. Keep me with a mysterious concept. Don’t release any information, and control the photos just like you’re doing now. Just leave it like that, so no one knows where I’m from or what I’ve been doing.”

At my firm tone, which left no room for negotiation, the person on the other end fell silent. I could hear a low groan from time to time, as if he were holding back his anger. I also heard the sound of something being smashed. KWAANG!

He has anger management issues.

Just as I was thinking something that was a clear case of the pot calling the kettle black,⁴ the Association President opened his mouth.

• So, you won’t do the press conference?

“You catch on quick. You don’t like it? If you don’t like it, you can kick me out or fire me.”

• …

“Or, you can just announce that Kwon Sa-yoon of Noah was actually from the Night Rat organization. As for me, after it’s revealed, I can just skip overseas and wear a facial recognition-jamming artifact.”

I didn’t join Noah to do things like press conferences.

I swiveled my chair halfway around to face the window and relaxed comfortably. The silence on the other end lengthened. Just as I thought Min-cheol might hang up, unable to contain his anger, I threw out a suitable bait.

“Well, I could do an interview, but you can’t expect that for free, can you?”

I can’t give you what you want, but I can compromise to some extent.

As I directly showed my upper limit, a long sigh was heard, followed by the answer I had been waiting for.

• What do you want?

Grin. The corners of my mouth lifted.

The Night Rat executives who saw this whispered among themselves that I was taking out the anger that had built up because of Jaehee and Geon-joo on the innocent Association President.