“How dare this bastard try to stab me in the back?”
Hoo~
Yoo Hangcheol muttered as he exhaled a puff of cigarette smoke.
He spat a thick glob of spit between his legs.
The smartphone in his hand was playing a video from ‘Freedom Guardian TV.’
“Not only was Bong Soohee involved in admissions fraud, but there’s also the fact that she received four academic warnings yet wasn’t expelled. Isn’t this clearly a special favor?”
“Students who receive more than four warnings can be reinstated based on a faculty meeting’s decision. This is fully within the school regulations.”
“Then why was Bong Soohee reinstated?”
“Because she was that talented. The school judged it to be more beneficial to keep her than to expel her.”
“This damn nonsense…”
Clicking his tongue, Yoo Hangcheol cursed at Wang Haksoo’s remarks.
Things had taken a turn because Bong Soohee’s mentor ended up winning the Wolf Prize.
Without the Wolf Prize, the controversy could have been kept alive.
But the professor’s words now carried too much weight.
Wang Haksoo didn’t stop at merely clearing Bong Soohee of suspicion.
“If Soohee returns to the field of mathematics, she’ll likely be the next to win an award.”
A math prodigy acknowledged by a Wolf Prize winner.
With the situation taking this direction, it was becoming increasingly difficult to find fault.
In the end, ‘Freedom Guardian TV’ quietly changed its title.
It used to claim they were “uncovering the truth” or “exposing corruption,” but now…
[Freedom Guardian TV]
(LIVE) Kang Jiwoo and Bong Soohee make a surprise appearance!
-Exclusive interview with Wolf Prize winner Wang Haksoo!
Viewer count: 31,274.
The channel had shamelessly altered the title to wag its tail at the unprecedented viewer numbers.
“Fawning bastards.”
YouTubers would always flock to where the money was, and Yoo Hangcheol knew this.
He just hadn’t expected them to switch sides so suddenly.
One appearance on the show, and they completely flipped.
‘…This is all my fault.’
If Yoo Hangcheol’s approval ratings had been more solid, this wouldn’t have happened.
The broadcast had continued with Kang Jiwoo showing off her recorder skills.
After briefly watching the impromptu performance, Yoo Hangcheol put his smartphone away.
He sat still, organizing his thoughts.
“It wasn’t fraud but genuine talent?”
He had been convinced there was corruption in Bong Soohee’s admission process.
The circumstantial evidence all pointed that way.
But it turned out to be a complete misstep—a spectacularly wrong one.
“Of all times, her mentor wins the Wolf Prize yesterday and joins the ‘national pride’ narrative. Why now… Why at this timing…!”
The timing was too perfect, almost to the point of feeling unfair.
What stung even more was the power of “national pride.”
Foreign media outlets had started covering Kang Jiwoo a few days ago, and even Elon Mengsk mentioned her.
For conservative YouTubers deeply entrenched in their nationalist worldview, this was significant.
And now, even a Wolf Prize-winning mathematician had joined in.
“I can’t let this slide… I must protect the nationalist narrative.”
People often thought politically biased individuals behaved like zombies, blindly following a specific politician or YouTuber.
But reality was more nuanced.
Even within such groups, factions existed—Christian, historical, political, and nationalist camps, among others.
Each faction was fixated on a particular “issue.”
Thus, rallying extreme supporters required a delicate touch.
For Yoo Hangcheol, the nationalist camp was a crucial pillar of his support base—a massive one.
“Losing the nationalists would mean losing everything.”
Losing their support would lead to a collapse of his conservative foundation, making his election dreams unreachable.
Overwhelmed by a sense of powerlessness, Yoo Hangcheol felt the timing of Wang Haksoo’s Wolf Prize win was almost otherworldly.
If this is a test of fate, does it mean Kang Jiwoo’s victory is heaven’s will…
Clench.
Yoo Hangcheol balled his fists tightly, letting out a groan.
“I am Yoo Hangcheol.”
His voice, heavy and resolute, filled the cramped space.
“I am Yoo Hangcheol who fought a dictatorship armed only with a pen. Do you think I’ll give up so easily?”
He would never stop. He would fight to the bitter end, even if it burned him to ashes.
Determined to purge all the doubts within himself, he flushed the toilet.
Flush!
After tidying up, Yoo Hangcheol left the bathroom.
His body felt lighter, and for some reason, he felt optimistic that things would turn around.
“Feeling refreshed. Time to plant some trees again.”
Outside, his aides were waiting with shovels in hand.
Today, he was participating in a tree-planting campaign.
I thought it was a pointless task, but since it was part of the campaign strategy, I had no choice.
At that moment, the aide handed me a shovel and said,
“Donald Trumpet has mentioned Kang Jiwoo.”
“What? When? Now?”
“Yes… Here it is…”
The aide handed over a tablet.
As soon as I touched the screen, a video of Trumpet started playing.
– Do you know candidate Kang Jiwoo?
– I do. It’s unprecedented. Extremely delightful and adorable. What’s most fascinating is that she doesn’t attack other politicians.
The Democratic Party should learn from Kang Jiwoo. They attack me, slander me…
Trumpet praised Kang Jiwoo’s style as “politics of compliments” and “playful politics.”
It was, in fact, a means to attack the Democratic Party.
Still, its impact was extraordinary.
It was strange enough that the President of another country praised a presidential candidate.
And he spoke about Kang Jiwoo for a full five minutes.
But the highlight came with the next question.
– What do you think about candidate Yoo Hangcheol?
– Who?
– Yoo Hangcheol, another presidential candidate from Korea.
– Well, he’s probably a good guy.
That was it.
Not three minutes, but three seconds.
“Goddammit!”
Yoo Hangcheol threw the tablet.
Then, grabbing the shovel, he started smashing the tablet.
Crack!
“Good guy? Good guy?! After all the life I’ve lived, I’m just a ‘good guy’?! That bastard…!”
“C-chief! Calm down!”
“There are citizens nearby!”
“You can’t do this here! The saplings will get hurt!”
“Get out of my way! Forget tree planting! To hell with it all…!!”
Yoo Hangcheol even started thrashing the saplings with the shovel.
His aides and security personnel desperately tried to prevent the scene from being captured.
The approval ratings shifted significantly.
3rd Place: Yoo Hangcheol
His support dropped dramatically, from 22% to 15%.
Although his repeated missteps were cited as a problem, the main cause seemed to be the collapse of his conservative core support base.
2nd Place: Me
The pink wave—Kang Jiwoo.
Her support rose from 25% to 29%.
There were notable changes among the middle-aged demographic, attributed to her direct handling of Bong Soohee’s corruption allegations and support from patriotic YouTubers.
At this point, I started feeling uneasy.
It was the fear of flying too high.
Even Jiwooping was feeling it.
But not because of the approval ratings.
It was because of the ‘lava’ in front of her.
“Eek! Everything is red!”
By ‘red,’ I mean red paving blocks.
Avoiding the red ones.
You used to play like this as a kid, right?
The problem was that the entire area in front of me was a red zone.
“Candidate? Why aren’t you coming?”
“Huff… I stepped on Siljangping lava…”
“Lava?”
“You can’t step on red… It’s lava, so you’ll die…”
Realizing what I meant, Han Seoyoung picked me up.
“Shall we play later? We’re a bit busy right now.”
“Okay…”
We were on our way to the National Assembly.
The plan was to hold a press conference against the backdrop of the National Assembly.
The main message: gratitude for public support and a love call to President Trumpet.
Everyone in the party, including myself, was dumbfounded.
Even veteran lawmaker Park Seokji was no exception.
“To think we’re holding a press conference to send a message to Trumpet.”
“I never imagined this either. Until a few days ago, Trumpet was just an NPC to me.”
I was just as bewildered.
I could reluctantly accept the rising approval ratings.
But Trumpet?
Why is he suddenly mentioning me?
Of course, I could roughly guess his intentions.
With his reelection bid approaching, Trumpet would do anything to gather support.
Seeing my popularity overseas, he must have thought to capitalize on it.
But still…
‘He’s the President of the United States…!’
Trumpet praising me for five minutes without pause in public was undoubtedly a major incident.
“Chief Han, could you double-check the revised script?”
“Chief Han! Fancy meeting you here! Got a moment?”
“Lawmaker Park Seokji! It’s been a while! Why haven’t you been answering your calls? Haha.”
It was as if everyone wanted a piece of us.
People swarmed like hyenas, proving that our party was the current frontrunner.
“Ah, um, just a moment…….”
Han Seoyoung put me down and handed me over to another party member.
However, before long, she lost track of the member.
No, she pretended to lose them and slipped away.
“Red’s a no-gochu…!”
Jiwooping was still deeply engrossed in her “avoiding lava” game.
The surrounding chaos made it easy to evade the eyes of the party members and security.
It seemed that today’s event wasn’t limited to just our press conference.
But the paving blocks here are a mess.
“There’s only one pathchu…”
There was only one route that avoided the red tiles.
The party members were close by, but avoiding the “lava” meant taking a long detour.
“We don’t have timechu! We need to meet up with the party membersping quicklychu…!”
Naturally, Jiwooping chose the detour.
After all, stepping on lava would melt her body, right…?
Yoo Hangcheol , whose approval ratings had plummeted to the 15% range, needed reform and a breakthrough.
What he chose was:
[National Republican Party Apology to the People]
[We Were Wrong!]
[Please Scold Us Harshly!]
[And Give Us Just One More Chance!]
A grand public apology parade with an enormous banner.
Why go to such lengths?
Because he was genuinely sorry?
That wasn’t it.
Yoo Hangcheol was actually filled with anger toward the supporters who had abandoned him.
But, of course, yelling at voters wasn’t an option.
“Even if it’s obvious, this kind of thing works.”
Kneeling before the people and apologizing was a traditional strategy of the National Assembly.
Especially in crises like this, even a display of humility could lead to a slight recovery in approval ratings.
“Let’s all apologize to the people.”
At Yoo Hangcheol ‘s command, all Republican lawmakers shouted in unison.
“We’re sorry!!!”
They kneeled on the ground.
Their hands were clasped together, trying to look as pitiful as possible.
Cameras broadcasted their apology live.
And then, in the very next moment—
Dding!
Suddenly, a little pink figure jumped into the frame.
It was as if countless adults were kneeling before Kang Jiwoo.
Some party members stared at the ground, shouting:
“We’re sorry!”
“We’re really sorry!”
“???”
Kang Jiwoo, completely clueless, tilted her head in confusion.