My Students Regret It After I Retired

36 – Leos’ Identity Revealed, Bellen’s Endless Fall

Bellen stared at the comment made by a man named LEO, doubting her own eyes.

The Imperial Shadow Guard.

A secret organization existing within the Empire, like shadows that do anything for the Empire. It was normal for people to not even know of their existence unless they were directly connected to the Imperial family. But a mere community member was openly mentioning it. This was impossible.

‘What is this…? Who the hell is he…?’

She broke into a cold sweat. Up until posting the video, she had been confident.

Bellen, the former Gatekeeper. She had revealed her face and exposed that Leos had escaped solely to save himself despite having the ability to help, and she had anticipated a flood of public condemnation against Leos. Afterward, people on Interrunner would naturally report Leos’ location one after another, and with the massive collective intelligence, finding Leos wouldn’t be difficult either.

But what did she see now? Far from creating a negative opinion of Leos, she had instead been exposed as a member of the Shadow Guard. No, the existence of the Shadow Guard itself had been revealed to the world.

Just like when she was chasing Leos, the Shadow Guard were people who did countless dirty deeds behind the scenes. They considered other people’s lives and reputations mere accessories if it meant serving the Empire. That’s why the Shadow Guard should never, under any circumstances, surface. The public should never see their filthy work.

‘First… An explanation… Do I have to post an explanation?’

Beline, agonizing over how to break through this situation, checked the Interrunner. Countless posts flooded in.

[What’s the Imperial Shadow Corps? Did Leos do something wrong?]

[Isn’t Leos the former Gatekeeper? What’s with Beline being Shadow Corps? That girl was a Gatekeeper too.]

[Someone explain this, please]

Some were questioning, and others began to explain.

[I was a member of the Imperial Shadow Corps, so I’ll explain. The Imperial Shadow Corps are guys who do the dirty work behind the scenes under the Emperor’s orders. They manipulate public opinion, fabricate incidents, and even kill people. They always put the Empire and the Emperor’s interests first. That’s their belief and code of conduct.]

[Beline manipulating public opinion into thinking Leos assaulted her was also the Shadow Corps’ handiwork, under the Emperor’s orders. Beline, who was in the Shadow Corps, used her acting skills, as shown in today’s video, to corner Leos, and, using pre-selected judges and reporters, she manipulated and incited public opinion. And Leos was sacrificed. That’s all I know.]

Lakart, having started to post replies one by one, spoke to the members of the Elimination Squad around him.

“Some of what appear to be Imperial Public Opinion Manipulation agents have begun to act. Start releasing the information, photos, and documents regarding the Imperial Shadow Corps that we collected beforehand, one by one.”

Elimination Squad Leader Lakart had been plotting a rebellion for quite some time. Because of that, not only did he have a plan for the Red Gate whirlpool massacre, but he also began to secretly collect various documents that were classified as top secret within the Empire. The reason was simple: to not be defeated, even if the Empire manipulated public opinion.

‘I didn’t think this would be used like this…’

Information about the Imperial Shadow Corps was the Achilles’ heel of the Peren Empire. Despite having the information, he was wondering how to spread it, but just then, Beline strapped a bomb around herself and lit the fuse herself, so all the Elimination Squad had to do was add the flame.

[Do you believe in the Imperial Shadow Corps? Pathetic people. There’s no way such a thing exists.]

ㄴ You’re an Imperial Public Opinion Agent, still doing moronic things under the Emperor? I know all your faces, I’ll kill you all if we meet.

ㄴ Wait, there’s public opinion agents too?

ㄴ Yeah, look at the documents, they’re uploading in real-time. Imperial top-secret documents are pouring out now;

When opposing forces wage a public opinion war, the most important thing is evidence.

‘The Imperial Public Opinion Agents, until now, they’ve just been cautiously watching the situation, but as soon as talk of the Shadow Corps comes up, they’re trying desperately to stop it.’

Lakart faced a flood of conspiracy theories and countless comments and posts painting the information about the Shadow Corps as nothing more than stupid guesses or bait.

“We’re being overwhelmed. Upload with multiple accounts at once so the information doesn’t get buried.”

As Lacart’s command dropped, the execution squad members, after cycling through hundreds of distances, started uploading pre-prepared files to various community galleries. In an instant, imperial secret documents flooded the popular posts. Most of them were documents where the Emperor had approved the Imperial Shadow Unit’s filthy schemes. At this point, no matter how hard the Empire tried to manipulate public opinion, people couldn’t help but be suspicious.

[Wait…does the Imperial Shadow Unit really exist? These documents are serious, even the massacres that were considered terrorism, the deaths of high-ranking officials, the murder of the chairman of the Imperial Civic Organization Association, they’re all connected to this? It’s too detailed to be a lie…]

Popular posts were rapidly exchanged between those of the Imperial public opinion manipulation squad and those of the execution squad. But firmly holding the top spot was the video Belin initially uploaded. The comments on the video claiming that Leos abandoned the Empire and ran away to live alone were filled with comments denouncing Belin.

[Die.]

[You trashy b*tch. You’re working for the Shadow Unit?]

[You fucking piece of shit, I was rooting for you back then.]

[Leos is pathetic. He took on a student like you.]

[I said something to Leos back then, but looking at it now, Belin is the problem.]

[I’ll kill you if I meet you. So hide well.]

A barrage of hateful words and accusations. It was the first time in her life she’d received so much attention from strangers, and Belin’s heart pounded, her whole body breaking into a cold sweat. It wasn’t just the threats from unknown people making her so nervous. This public opinion was a sign that she was being pushed back by the Imperial public opinion manipulation squad.

‘N-no… no…no…’

The Imperial public opinion manipulation squad being pushed back meant that the existence of the Shadow Unit was beginning to be exposed to the world because of Belin. She knew clearly how great a crime it was to reveal the secret of the Shadow Unit, which had existed for hundreds of years, so she tried to remedy the situation somehow, but no ideas came to mind.

‘LEO…LEO, who the hell is this guy…’

Some connected LEO to Leos, but Belin still couldn’t imagine that Leos would do something like interrunning, so she never even considered the possibility that LEO and Leos could be the same person.

‘What’s clear…is that he’s high-ranking. He must have been someone within the upper echelons of the Empire. The only way to explain that he has both the internal documents of the Shadow Unit and influence nearly on par with the Imperial public opinion manipulation squad…that’s it.’

For a moment, Belin suspected Keltazar, the head of the Shadow Unit. Only Keltazar could possess this level of information and documents. But then she shook her head after looking at the list of posts LEO had written.

‘It’s all about gates and monsters… Keltazar doesn’t have that level of knowledge. So is this the work of one of the Shadow Unit members who held a grudge against me?’

It was hard to imagine that a mere member of the Shadow Corps would go around blabbing about its existence.

‘Who could it be… Someone who knows the identity of the Shadow Corps and has an absurdly deep knowledge about gates and monsters… Damn it…’

Unable to deduce the situation, Belin began to write a post, tearing at her arm. Now, Belin even wrote her real name instead of a nickname. She fought desperately to change public opinion.

[Belin]

[Title: Regarding the Current Situation]

[Content: It seems like someone who holds a grudge against me is spreading false information, but if you think about it for a moment, you know? There’s no way something like the Shadow Corps exists. I’ve been working as a gatekeeper for a long time and couldn’t do anything else. It’s impossible to manage the Shadow Corps in a situation where I have no time or leisure. I can bring all my colleagues to explain.]

Belin quickly uploaded the post without even taking a video. But then, a post from LEO followed.

[LEO]

[Title: Proof]

[Content: Belin learned about the existence of the Shadow Corps when I was working as a gatekeeper. From now on, I will expose the ugly truths about Belin that I have gathered. The reason I was unfairly expelled, and why I had to be in the middle of this ridiculous vortex.]

[Attachment: Photo.JPG]

Leos uploaded a photo of himself and then began to upload documents mixed with false information about Belin. Belin stared at it with blank eyes.

‘LEO… LEO was Leos…? Is the photo stolen? No… It looks like it was just taken…? More importantly… No way… I am indeed a member of the Imperial Shadow Corps, but… I didn’t do what’s in there…’

According to the documents, Belin had actively suggested and participated in the Red Gate Vortex Massacre operation. But Belin was certain.

‘No way… There’s no way anyone would believe this absurd information…’

But contrary to Belin’s expectations.

[Belin, that b*stard is truly vicious. He should be killed immediately.]

[Do you think you can live after killing us?]

[Not only are you a member of the Shadow Corps, but you also tried to kill innocent people?]

[Now that it’s spread on the interrunner, it’s only a matter of time before you die. Hide all you want, we’ll find you.]

[You tried to kill my whole family, is that it? I’ll make your family just the same.]

Beline started trembling violently. Words filled with such terrible malice.

And beyond that, the maddening fear of being accused of crimes she hadn’t committed.

Just as she was gripped by terror, someone walked in from outside the door.

“Beline.”

The person who entered was none other than Keltazar.

“Ke…Keltazar-nim, please help me… I was trying to act for the Empire…but now things have gone terribly…”

“Yes, I will help. But not us, you.”

Keltazar added, his expression utterly devoid of emotion as he looked at Beline.

“Beline, from this moment on, every lie posted about you on InterRunner will become the truth. You’re going to take all the blame for this incident. That’s the conclusion we’ve reached.”

Keltazar whispered, dragging Beline, who was trying to escape, by the arm.

“The idiotic stunt of spreading the existence of the Dark Shadow Order, is unforgivable even in death. From now on, things are going to get very interesting. You will become an enemy of the entire Empire, someone who cannot live anywhere. There is no place left for you in this Empire.”