My Students Regret It After I Retired

28 – Swayed Public Opinion

There are famous sayings about lies.

People can easily see through a 100% lie, but if you mix 1% truth with 99% lies, people are easily deceived.

Sedition can be done with just one line, but to refute it, you need hundreds of documents and evidence, and by the time it’s completely refuted, the public has already been swayed.

Leos, now checking the Interrunner site, was feeling the truth of those words to the bone.

[Is the Feren Empire really out of their minds? Fucking hell, we’re trapped here and they’re gonna kill us all?]

[Isn’t this a forged document? It doesn’t make sense. How could a top-secret document like this spread on the Interrunner?]

[It’s an inside leak. Fucking hell, can’t you see the Emperor’s seal right there? Can’t you see the names of the officials from the agency listed there!]

[Even so, believing something without any evidence is a bit…]

[Evidence, my ass. You’re from the Imperial Agency, aren’t you? Did the Emperor tell you to stir up public opinion or something?]

[No, what nonsense are you talking about?]

[That b*stard was suspicious from the start. I’ll treat you like an Emperor’s dog until you reveal your location, so shut your mouth.]

Extermination Plan. Naturally, as it was a top-secret agenda of the Empire, there were people who doubted the fact that it had spread on the Interrunner, but the seal on the document, as well as the names of the officials who actually existed, and furthermore the systematically constructed documents were enough for people to believe the truth.

Those who argued that the Empire wouldn’t do such a thing, that they wouldn’t dare to take an action that could cause a massive riot, were all branded as Imperial dogs. That’s because the Executioners were simultaneously manipulating public opinion on the Interrunner.

The leader of the Executioners, Racart, spoke to his subordinates.

“Those who defend the Empire, brand them as dogs of the Imperial Agency. And consistently write angry and suspicious posts. Post simultaneously in various galleries using different patterns. For the next three hours, repeat the same process. Be careful not to duplicate the wording, spelling, and sentences. Every time you use a new Distance, you become a different person.”

As Racart gave the order, the Executioners, with hundreds of Distances spread on the ground like a workshop, began to write posts and comments. Leos, stunned by a method he had never imagined, stared blankly at him.

“Why? Did you think that we, as Executioners, wouldn’t use such a tactic?”

“To be honest, it’s unexpected. I thought you wouldn’t even know how to use Distances.”

At Leos’s words, Racart laughed and said.

“Killing a person is easy. But there are many things needed to conceal it afterwards. For example, if the target has written posts on the Interrunner or left records of contact with acquaintances, we have to create an alibi based on that and manipulate the murder scene and location once again. That is why we have always studied and mastered the usage of the Interrunner and Distances. Though I never thought they’d be used like this.”

These people systematically manipulating comments. The posts that were simultaneously flooding multiple galleries at an incredible speed, were so unbelievable that even Leos, seeing it with his own eyes, could hardly believe it.

[I heard the Empire was moving a large military force, is that related to this?]

[We need to find a way to resist too. Or we’ll all die.]

[How could they say they’ll kill everyone at once? Those fucking b*stards…]

[My family… My family is still in Red Gate…]

[If the Empire is gonna act like a bunch of lunatics, we can just return the favor.]

[Just saw it, there’s another insider leak?]

[Shit… Looks like it’s real. I didn’t believe it, but now I have no choice but to.]

A flood of posts, rising every few seconds at a furious pace. All of them typed by the extermination squad members. Since it was an anonymous community where you could deceive yourself as much as you wanted, as long as you maintained your distance, this kind of public opinion manipulation worked incredibly well.

“Okay, that’s enough.”

After about two hours, even without the extermination squad posting, the explosive rage of the public was spreading across the Interrunner. Some were posting proof that they were gathering weapons to resist the Empire, and the entire Interrunner top 10 trending list was filled with posts calling for rebellion.

Not only those trapped inside the Red Gate vortex, but also those whose families were trapped there, were in a frenzied uproar – all thanks to the Empire’s attitude.

[Those goddamn b*stards. They filled the area near the Imperial Palace with all those high-grade, floating artifacts, they never had any intention of solving the Red Gate vortex and were just looking out for their own asses!]

The lukewarm stance of the Empire. They had tried to purge the Red Gate vortex several times, but they had failed repeatedly, and to conceal those disastrous failures, they pretended like there had never been any attempts to begin with. But ultimately, that became the knife that stabbed them in the back.

From the citizens’ perspective, it was only natural to conclude that the Empire had taken no action at all.

“Perfect.”

Rakatr wore a wry smile as he looked at the Interrunner. Leos, watching the man, asked.

“Did you know this was going to happen from the beginning?”

“Of course.”

“What if the public opinion is suppressed later? The Imperial family will surely release information.”

“Hahaha! Even if the Imperial family releases information, will anything change? The large-scale massacre plan was something they were going to use only as a last resort, but it was still one of the methods the Emperor considered. The document is real. Even if they say that truth out loud, will the public understand it?”

“They wouldn’t.”

“Exactly. And if they had to distribute false information, that wouldn’t be a problem. Since public opinion has already been formed, whatever evidence they present will be subject to suspicion. It’s a thousand times harder to prove your own innocence than to point the finger at someone and call them guilty.”

He walked slowly, then, raising a finger to the sky towards Leos, added:

“A sinner will one day meet a wretched end. Therefore, God exists. Do you know how many examples and tens of millions of letters it would take to refute that one sentence? Even if you brought all those examples, you still couldn’t completely refute it. That’s why it’s tens of thousands of times harder to prove something *doesn’t* exist, than it is to prove it does.”

Leos was silent. He agreed with Racart’s words. After being targeted by Belin, he’d pleaded with so many people, saying he was innocent, but in the end he had to be imprisoned as a vile criminal. He’d killed tens of thousands of mutant monsters, Leos, who could cut down dozens of people in front of his eyes with a single stroke, had to suffer helplessly. No matter what distance records or evidence he presented, it was all dismissed with a single word: manipulated. And he could do nothing but be subjected to it. Propaganda is an invisible weapon of war. That was what the Execution Unit was clearly demonstrating.

Racart slowly walked over to Leos and said,

“The way public opinion can be so easily manipulated, it’s a disgusting sight, isn’t it?”

“I was subjected to the exact same method.”

“Don’t take it too hard. We’re just giving the people who put you in this state, the same treatment.”

Leos briefly recalled the past, his face twisting as if angry. Yet, even as he did so, he quietly said:

“I hope those b*stards understand exactly how I feel. How fucking shitty it is to get caught up in this kind of propaganda.”

“Let out all your anger. And don’t worry. The Empire will receive a punishment that exceeds what they gave you. You got a prison sentence, but the only sentence they’ll receive is death.”

“With just this number of people? That can’t be possible.”

“It is possible, if you and we are together.”

Leos was about to retort that it was ridiculous, but after seeing the way public opinion had been manipulated just now, his assessment of him had completely changed.

‘The audacity to approach me completely unarmed, the ability to monitor me from afar without me even detecting it, even to the point of manipulating the Interrunner’s public opinion using hundreds of distances.’

He was no ordinary man. For some reason, the ridiculous thought that maybe he could truly get revenge on the Peren Empire if he was with this man, was increasingly being pulled into reality.

Leos took food from his inventory and threw it to them, saying,

“Eat it. It looks like you guys didn’t bring any food.”

But Racart shook his head, refusing it.

“We will not receive anything material from you. What we need is you, not your things or resources. We will acquire food on our own.”

“You mean you’ll be looting those around here?”

“No, we’ll just catch and eat the monsters. We’ve been doing that since we first came here anyway.”

Rakart added a word after a pause.

“Like I said, in this entire process of taking revenge on the Empire, we will put ourselves in the most dangerous places. We won’t accept any material support from you along the way either. However, there is one thing. There is something we need your help with.”

“What is it?”

“It’s too early to say. But I want you to promise one thing. That you’ll help us once, when we need it.”

Leos was silent for a moment, then turned away and said.

“Do as you please. And as for the food, it’s garbage, so take care of it.”

Rakart looked at the jerky and bottled water scattered on the ground, chuckled, and spoke to Faron beside him.

“Faron, he doesn’t seem like such a bad guy, does he?”

“You never know. He’s a man who has killed countless people. Just from what we saw, he killed more than 20 people, didn’t he? He even tried to kill all of us at first.”

Rakart shook his head and picked up the jerky that had fallen on the ground. He needed to gather it up and take it back to Leos, as leaving it here would attract monsters.

However, Faron, mistaking that Rakart was going to eat it, was startled and stopped him.

“Lord Rakart, the food could be poisoned. You should leave it be…”

Upon hearing this, Rakart immediately changed his actions and munched down the jerky right in front of him. Only after eating for a while, he smiled and said.

“Faron. I don’t doubt those I consider to be my people. You know? How I’ve been living.”

“…There will be a day you greatly regret that.”

“It’s better than regretting from distrusting, right? If I had doubted you, wouldn’t you be on the Empire’s side by now?”

“You could really die, you know.”

“I have many sins, so if I die like that, I’ll just consider it paying my dues.”

“…”

Paron, once an Imperial spy but now turned to Lacart’s side, found himself speechless, unable to retort. The truth was, he had been drawn to the man’s foolish charm.

“Eating garbage like those monsters, this is delicious. I’ll have to return the favor with something better later. I hate being in debt.”

*

Emperor Vermon of the Peren Empire summoned Keltazar, the head of the Imperial Shadow Unit. Several members of the Imperial Shadow Unit stood in a line beside him, including Kozarik and Belin.

Emperor Vermon shouted, his face full of fury.

“You’ve all received the report, haven’t you?”

Vermon drew his sword, holding it to Keltazar’s neck as he spoke.

“I’m giving you exactly one week. Resolve this situation within that time.”

“…Understood.”

Keltazar lowered his head, cold sweat trickling down his brow. The Emperor then glared at the Imperial Shadow Unit members behind him and coldly barked:

“One week. If you don’t resolve this properly within that time, you will all die by my hand. Find those who distributed the documents and spread the lies! Bring me the heads of those shameless b*stards!”

Belin started to tremble violently at the Emperor’s maniacal roar.

‘I don’t want to die…’

The fear of death was approaching her, clear and certain.