Chapter 202: Someone Must Take Responsibility (8)

The spark began to spread at a terrifying speed.

When a politician came out personally, performed a dogeza, and pleaded "I'm under threat to my life" and "I had no choice but to commit wrongdoing," it couldn't help but become a hot topic. Journalists, with their eyes rolling in excitement at getting a scoop, began to frantically write articles, and even the higher-ups, who would usually cut or modify anything related to politics, turned a blind eye to this frenzy of journalists.

No, beyond turning a blind eye, they even actively encouraged them to strike harder.

"Hey, is that all you can write? Make it more sensational! Make him out to be more of a villain worthy of death. Make him someone who wouldn't be forgiven even if he committed seppuku right now! Is that so difficult?"

"Editor-in-chief! We'll get sued for that!"

"Sued? What lawsuit when we're writing articles anonymously! And if they want to sue, let them try. Do you think their background is any better than the people behind us? The people up top are very angry right now. How dare a mere sword turn its blade against its master, they say."

"Ah."

"Now do you understand what you need to do? You have the protection of those above, so just write without hesitation. It's not like we're telling you to strike down an innocent person, we're telling you to freely strike down criminals, so what's there to hesitate about?"

"Yes."

They cursed articles written ambiguously to avoid potential problems as clumsy, and they cursed attempts to highlight Ryosuke's faults to create an escape route later as strange actions that don't hit the people who should be hit...