About three days since the second S-rank Tower raid.
Usually, public interest in any issue wanes after a single day. However, the buzz surrounding S-Rank Towers shows no signs of diminishing.
– Does anyone know Elaine?!
– If you have any information about the female Hunter who cleared the S-Rank Towers in Mungyeong Saejae and Ganghwa Island, please contact the production team at [Want to Know More].
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“People are really interested.”
The whole country’s attention was focused.
It was the same when the S-rank Tower at Mungyeong Saejae was raided, but after the Ganghwa Island raid, every media outlet was filled with interest in [Cosplay Maid].
Even the markets and local councils in Mungyeong and Ganghwa Island had banners saying things like, “We’re looking for the hero of our hometown”, in an effort to find Elaine.
Most of them were simply curious about her identity.
But some had other motives for finding Elaine.
The reason?
Of course, it was to bring her over to their side.
“Humans are the same wherever you go, nyah.”
While searching online, Kiharu, in her cat form, approached me.
“The more advanced modern civilization becomes, the more people hide behind the mask of anonymity to do all sorts of vile things. Without realizing the person they’re targeting could kill them with a flick of a finger.”
Despite being a cat, she could read the text on the screen, and if she wanted, she could even type on the keyboard and leave comments.
“Don’t you feel like showing off to the world, partner?”
“Showing off?”
“That you’re Elaine’s master.”
“Showing off, huh. I’d have to be an idiot to show off something like that… Hey.”
The post I wrote was—
[Elaine is lying on my bed right now.]
“Never post that.”
“What if I add, ‘This post was written by a cat,’ at the bottom, nyah?”
“If you post something like that, someone will track your IP. I’m already trying to limit accessing these communities.”
After deleting the draft immediately, I grabbed Kiharu’s head and gently squished it.
“You’re teasing me on purpose, aren’t you? Huh?”
“I was just doing it to remind you to resist the urge to show off.”
“You have to be careful. If you post something like this, people will really dig into your personal info.”
I searched and showed Kiharu a post written by someone else.
“Take a look at this.”
“Oh, someone claiming to be Elaine’s boyfriend has posted.”
Below the post from someone claiming to be Elaine’s ex-boyfriend:
[Sir, is this true? I’m a reporter from KCN…]
“See? People are taking this seriously and jumping in like it’s real.”
The comments were flooded with emails from reporters.
They weren’t memes like “Spicy Rice Cake News Reporter,” but actual journalists whose names you could verify on their newspaper’s website. And there were more than just a few of them.
“Look at this. It’s embarrassing to even have to explain in the comments that ‘this is a joke.'”
“…Taking a joke about a cat goddess seriously? Don’t these people ever engage with subculture mobile games, nyah?”
“Most people don’t. The situation nationwide is pretty serious right now.”
When an issue arises, especially one about a person, UTube videos and community comments are flooded with all sorts of content.
“This is completely different from when it was about Blue Lightning.”
“What was it like back then?”
Even for an S-rank Hunter like [Blue Lightning], one of the top Hunters in the country.
“There were claims from childhood friends, ex-girlfriends, and even pathological liars saying they had one-night stands with him.”
Things like how he bullied someone in school, or how he was a nerd before awakening and became arrogant after becoming an S-rank Hunter.
Or that he drove a Maser*** while discharging electricity everywhere, causing electric vehicles nearby to lose battery power and get into accidents.
The slander, fabrication, and malicious comments were far worse than what celebrities or public figures usually faced.
“Things calmed down after the government and Hunter Association announced they’d respond officially, but even then, people didn’t dig for information like they do now.”
“That’s because his life traces made it clear who he was, nyan.”
“Exactly. S-rank Hunters were like that. Elaine, who dropped from the sky and whose name, age, and residence are unknown, is a completely different case.”
A beautiful cosplay Hunter who cleared two S-rank Towers.
If someone just found out her real name or location and uploaded a one-minute video to the internet, it’d hit a million views within an hour.
Fake news videos exploiting this have been circulating, raking in views.
But now, those videos are deleted within an hour of being uploaded.
“It’s not just individuals playing around with bait. Companies and even the government are searching for Elaine as ‘work’, so no one dares post recklessly. Ah, here it is.”
I showed Kiharu a post I had found.
“This… is an archive?”
“The original was deleted. It was taken down by a government agency.”
The post, titled [I Just Got Back from the Police Station], had a tone that didn’t match the community’s usual vibe.
“The person claimed to be Elaine’s ex-husband, posted online, deleted it within a minute, and then got a call from the police after they tracked it through the server.”
“Isn’t that an invasion of privacy, nyah?”
“That’s how serious the efforts to track Elaine are right now. Even the government is flipping out, and the President is supposedly tearing into his subordinates.”
It was a metaphor.
The President probably wasn’t yelling, “Find me that cosplay Hunter!” while kicking ministers.
More likely, he was politely requesting, “For the dignity of the nation, we must locate her.”
Or perhaps using every hotline connected to the U.S. and other countries to track her down.
“Kiharu, take a look at this.”
“This… isn’t this a travel channel? A vlogger?”
“Look at the views on their most recent video. Their other videos usually get 10,000 to 20,000 views, but this one, filmed and edited here, hit 2 million views.”
“West Virginia… A video believed to be Elaine’s hometown is this popular?”
“Exactly.”
The rumor that it was the President’s hometown.
Because of it, some people even flew to the United States to wander around West Virginia.
Thanks to this, the area is experiencing an unexpected boom, with some people showing strong support for the President and even waving maid costumes like national flags.
“My friend in the U.S. contacted me, saying they’re probing everyone, from senators to representatives, even reaching out to former CIA directors and low-level staff.”
That friend in the U.S.?
His name is Eisen A. Luigi.
I only have one friend in America.
“Are Koreans pressing the U.S. this much?”
“No, the whole world is.”
“Wow.”
Kiharu’s eyes sparkled as she moved the mouse herself.
“Even knowing she’s an American and under the President’s protection, people are still trying to bring Elaine to their country. They’ll probably try the most basic approach—money.”
“Exactly.”
This world is capitalist.
And globally, Hunters operate under capitalist logic.
Thus, they usually move according to [Guilds] rather than nationality.
In Korea, having four S-rank Hunters who haven’t left the country is rare.
But they chose something other than money.
To put it nicely, patriotism.
To put it bluntly, well, it varies, but if you pick just one, it’s gullibility.
“Take Blue Lightning, for instance. The only male S-rank here. He gets 200 billion won a year.”
“A walking power plant?”
“I heard China offered 2 trillion won for him to naturalize as a Chinese citizen.”
“Whoa…”
Kiharu stuck out her tongue in surprise.
“He gave up 10 times the amount to stay in Korea?”
“Yeah. That’s why people say things like, ‘If it were me, I’d take the 2 trillion and go to China. Why is he staying here for 200 billion? Is he a fool?'”
“A fool-nyan?”
“Who knows? On the surface, he just looks like a typical S-rank Hunter. Not like I want to dig deeper, either.”
“How could you find out?”
“Wouldn’t it be easy to find out if I asked here?”
I pointed to a profile on SNS.
“Are you planning to ask the U.S. President directly?”
“If necessary, yes. I don’t know what kind of intelligence they’ve gathered in the U.S., but they probably have the most information in the world.”
Originally, the profile picture for Eisen A. Luigi was just his upper body.
But now, it was a concept photo taken with me.
Next to him, Elaine’s maid costume was faintly visible—just enough to hint at her presence without revealing too much.
It was as if to show the “equal footing” of the person speaking with him.
If the U.S. President gave the order, “Gather information about this Hunter from Korea”, that information would come to me instantly.
That’s the kind of relationship I currently have with Luigi.
The internet world is overflowing with all sorts of information.
To suppress and control such information, you need experts.
Someone who can hack the whole world alone would be perfect.
“Someone who’s neither male nor female, has personal combat ability, and can protect our information from global intelligence agencies. A smart hacker.”
“Is it this one-nyah?”
“Yeah.”
We found it.
A human-like doll.
An android.
“Partner.”
When I opened the game screen, Kiharu tapped her tail against the screen, her eyes gleaming meaningfully.
“This character here—why is their chest size different in every illustration?”
“That’s proof that this friend is an expert.”
This android is a master of electronic warfare.