There's No Love In the Deathzone (BL) novel Chapter 253

Chapter 253: Chapter 246. Support System

As he thought, he couldn’t fall asleep again. He was too pissed off with the situation, with how there was nothing he could do.

At least, if there was something he could do, that made his body move, he could feel a bit at ease. But even when he tried to exercise, his heart was restless. Gods--he just wanted to do something that could resolve this situation.

Wasn’t there something he could do? A press conference or whatever? Zein even started to consider just letting the reporters swarm him with questions and whatnot.

Here, being isolated in a foreign--albeit nice--place just messed with his head more.

The only saving grace was his commlink could get a signal again so he just spent his time watching Bassena’s raiding video from the archive, the ones dated before they met in the borderland. It was at least fun, and hearing the esper barking commands almost worked like a lullaby.

Unfortunately, before he could fall asleep, a message came at the break of dawn that stove away all the drowsiness he had painstakingly accumulated from watching battle ASMR. So he decided to just take a shower and wait for Radia while taking his breakfast in silence and deep contemplation while watching Trinity’s press conference.

The dull morning went away a little bit when Jock came bringing his tablet with some updates regarding his articles in public. Surprisingly, it was filled with counterattacks.

Social media posts and interviews with people who came to defend Zein, including the one coming up from the red-zone itself.

"They work fast," Zein muttered. It seemed like journalists did immediately come to Araka yesterday, and probably made their article and sent it from the nearest orange-zone town. "Did Radia send them?"

"Maybe," Jock answered with a shrug. Not even he knew the extent of Radia Mallarc’s reach. "But some probably just trying to find news. Confirming an existing one would be boring, but if they find a contradicting one, or something to correct the initial article...well, that would generate views."

"So, we just let them be at this point?"

"If you don’t think you need to hide anything, you can just let the world roll by itself," the bodyguard smiled. "But of course, we will try to maintain the situation so that only the unfabricated truth would come out."

"Hmm..."

Zein leaned back and scrolled through the news. There were articles that embellished the news even more, saying he was involved in various bad things that Umbra did, even bringing out the outbreak five years ago, which made him quite pissed. But there were also quite a number of articles giving light to the reason he was in Umbra, diving deeper into his background, including how he was sold and tied in a forceful, slave contract. Most of these articles tied Zein’s life story with the things he said in the guide conference, giving new perspectives and a clear counter to the narrative of his ’hypocrisy’.

As he went deeper through the news outlets and social media, he found some commentary from public figures and articles that wrote about others’ thoughts regarding Zein’s case. Not many were willing to share their thought, and some were blatantly accusing him in scorn. But Azure stated that they believe Zein was a victim of slander and defamation, while Glasswing asked the public to not make hasty assumptions until "Trinity or Guide Luzein himself make a statement."

The reporters even went so far as to wait outside the dungeon and raided by Trinity’s members to ask for their statement and thought, and whether or not they believed in the claim. But those reporters severely underestimated Trinity’s PR training, because all they could get was a simple "Please wait for the guild’s statement."

Regarding that statement, the PR Department had asked for his permission to compose the real story of his life, and Zein had given his agreement--except for the fact about his lineage. It was used as a response to all the articles out there, given out through a press conference by none other than the Guildmaster, Radia Mallarc himself. It was an unspoken statement that Trinity and, more importantly, Radia himself stood behind the guide.

Now that all versions of the story had come out, it was in the hands of the public to decide which one they would believe. It was now up to them to create their own judgment and opinion.

"Still, not everyone could accept that I had once worked for a rogue guild, no matter what the situation led to it," Zein smiled dryly. He found out that he truly didn’t have any feelings about it. Just annoyed that people were being nosy, but whether people liked him or not, it didn’t matter.

The people that mattered to him either already knew about it, or had no problem with it.

It was...kind of a blessing, actually. He knew now who was on his side. He knew who would stand by him no matter what, even after knowing everything. It took him having people blatantly scorn him like this to realize what kind of treasure the people around him were.

He knew now, where the place he could call home was.

It was a weird sensation that persisted until a car rolled by the driveway, which brought Radia and Han Shin to the annex. Zein was enjoying his coffee while reading the articles and commentaries under the winter sun on the patio. For some reason, the sky decided to shine brightly, as if telling him everything would be alright.

"Look at you chilling in someone else’s house," Han Shin laughed while throwing himself to the chair beside Zein.

"Alice said to treat this as vacation," the guide shrugged, which prompted another laugh from the healer, and even a chuckle from Radia.

"Quite right too," he smiled as he took a seat and exhaled relaxedly. "Ah...vacation. It’s been so long since I have one,"

"How long?"

"Hmm...eleven, twelve years?"

Zein watched the crimson eyes close as the summoner enjoyed the sunlight. It would mean the last vacation he had was when he was still with Han Joon.

"Anyway, if you’re here, does that mean I don’t need to hide anymore?" Zein asked with obvious impatience.

"About that..." Han Shin grimaced. "It’s still so fresh out there, so the reporters still camping outside. We had to fly to Mortix before coming here."