Chapter 19 : Two Faces, One Game

“Staff. You’re staff, right? Miss Iris, how do you feel about surviving the monster incident?” 

“What did Mr. Laika do for you?” 

“Were the monsters very scary?” 

At Laika’s words, the reporters turned their attention to Iris. 

When they saw the staff badge hanging around her neck, they immediately began bombarding her with questions. 

Laika looked at Iris with a charming smile. 

If she answered poorly here, it would be obvious she hadn’t been affected by the skill—and that would ruin her plan to get close to Laika and obtain the skill. 

Iris lifted her eyes from the ground and gave an answer she thought Laika would like. 

“Ah… I survived thanks to Mr. Laika. He could’ve pretended not to notice and just run away. Anyone would’ve done that in that situation. But Mr. Laika led me and protected me when the monster attacked.” 

“My goodness, what a touching story….” 

The reporters kept throwing questions. 

Iris answered in ways that would please Laika, occasionally glancing at him. 

His satisfied expression made her feel relieved. 

Then, someone rushed over with a white piece of paper and whispered into a reporter’s ear. 

The reporter’s eyes widened, and he turned to the camera. 

“Ah! We’ve just received news. A hero in white defeated the monsters. But it’s unclear whether the hero was male or female… Actually, cut that part! What’s important is that a hero in white defeated the monsters.” 

The reporter frantically waved his hand. 

It was possible to edit like that because it was a pre-recorded broadcast set to air 10 minutes later. 

Laika and Iris’s eyes widened. 

When the monsters appeared, Laika had stormed out of the waiting room—not because he was scared or had some grand purpose. 

He just didn’t want to get involved in something troublesome. 

While some monsters occurred naturally, the recent increase in monster sightings in Gyodam City was clearly related to Abelus’s lab. 

That bastard was using the whole city as a field to observe monster behavior. 

‘Aren’t these monsters his doing too?’ 

The moment he left the waiting room, he contacted someone from the lab. 

He didn’t want to talk to Abelus directly. 

But this incident had nothing to do with Abelus’s lab. 

After finishing the call, he turned a corner and ran into Iris. 

‘A hero in white, huh? And they don’t know if it’s a man or a woman? Maybe it’s that tentacle-cyborg thug from a while back? No, white clothes are common—I shouldn’t jump to conclusions.’ 

He glanced at Iris. 

It was strange that everyone else had fled but she remained behind the bakery café. 

But a hero?

This woman? 

He didn’t think so—but it didn’t hurt to be suspicious. 

He decided to keep her close for a while and watch. 

She looked like a powerless young employee, but you never know. 

If she was the hero, he’d try to lure her to his side. 

And if that didn’t work, he’d have to eliminate her before she got too strong. 

‘If she’s a hero… she doesn’t seem strong yet. She fell for my mental domination skill, after all. But ability users are getting rarer, so it’s worth checking.’ 

It wouldn’t be easy to find out if Iris was an ability user unless he’d seen her transform himself. 

There was a secret to ability user transformations: illusion magic. 

Just like gravity exists on Earth, this magic was absolute—no one could guess what the user looked like before transforming. 

Even videos and photos couldn’t capture their true form. 

At most, people could remember they wore white and used a certain skill. 

That’s why weak ability users had to operate in their transformed form. 

Not only did it make using their powers easier, it completely concealed their original identity. 

Some who awakened mental-type skills or didn’t care about being seen would stubbornly act without transforming, but those were rare. 

However, once someone had seen the transformation process, they could recognize the transformed version later. 

That’s how Teresa and the antique shopkeeper recognized Iris. 

‘Sounds like they’re talking about me?’ 

Iris rolled her eyes. 

The man who’d saved her must’ve tipped off the media. 

Not a bad thing—it had just triggered a fame message. 

[Achievement Unlocked: Savior of the Troubled Citizens — Defeated a Monster] 

You’re actively living up to your role as a hero. 

Your fame increases. 

People will start to take notice of you. 

Who knows? 

Fame might bring rewards. 

‘Rewards? What kind of rewards? Hmm… I can’t even ask anyone since other people can’t see my status screen….’ 

Another achievement message popped up. 

Apparently, every time she did something heroic, she’d earn achievements. 

She didn’t know what would happen when her fame increased, but it seemed like something good. 

Still, she wasn’t thrilled with how the citizen who reported the story had phrased things. 

A hero is a hero—what did they mean, “they couldn’t tell if it was a man or woman”? 

‘Why would they think that?’ 

She looked down uncomfortably. 

It must’ve been because something bulged under her skirt for a moment—then disappeared and got bigger again. 

That guy must’ve misunderstood. 

She was annoyed, but also grateful for the misunderstanding. 

She didn’t want her identity exposed to Laika or the villains. 

She snuck a glance at Laika. 

His face was completely calm. 

Whether a hero appeared or not didn’t matter to him as long as it didn’t interfere with his plans. 

Good. 

He probably still thought she was under his mind control skill, so she would keep pretending to be clueless and stay close to him. 

While the two continued to think completely different thoughts, a reporter asked another question. 

“Did either of you happen to see the hero in white?” 

“Eh? Ah, no.” 

“There was a hero? I was too busy protecting her… whoever it was, I’m very grateful.” 

Iris stuttered. 

Laika answered with a fake smile. 

The reporter sighed. 

“I see. A tip came in, but I guess neither of you saw them.” 

Then another reporter from a different station, who had arrived late, asked: 

“There are rumors going around that Mr. Laika is a villain. What do you think of those rumors?” 

“Haha, come now. A villain? If I were a villain, would I really risk showing my face? I’d have no reason to save Miss Iris, either.” 

Laika smiled brightly at the reporter who asked the question. 

It was a skill—a mental-type skill that clouded judgment and made the target feel favor toward the caster. 

The reporter’s eyes became vacant, and he began to defend Laika. 

“That’s true! It must be a baseless rumor. Mr. Laika’s last role was in a noir film, wasn’t it? There are groups that admire villains. They probably just threw Mr. Laika’s name into the mix without thinking.” 

“Haha, will today’s incident make the headlines?” 

“Of course. ‘Mr. Laika Saves a Staff Member at the Scene of a Monster Attack!’ That’s huge news, right?” 

As Laika kept using his skill, the reporters’ faces flushed. 

Unaware that they were under a skill, they simply thought Laika’s smile was stunning. 

The atmosphere was overly friendly. 

Iris narrowed her eyes, noticing how unprofessional the reporters were acting. 

‘Strange. I think Laika just used a skill…’ 

At that moment, a message appeared. 

Your perception has improved. 

You have gained the skill 

‘Huh? What’s this?’ 

Iris opened her status screen. 

The skill was listed at the bottom. 

Like her other special skill, there was no detailed description—but she could guess what it did. 

After she got the message, she’d seen a red aura flowing from Laika to the reporters’ eyes. 

After confirming it, the red aura disappeared. 

‘With this skill, can I tell when someone is using a skill on others? It’s probably another passive skill like [ ] that activates on its own. I wonder if that reporter used [ ]… or maybe it was another skill I couldn’t detect with search abilities. Whatever it is—I want it. I want it so badly I could go crazy.’