There's No Love In the Deathzone (BL)
Chapter 253 - 246. Support System

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."

"And we still had to catch the one causing this," Radia added.

Zein definitely didn’t look happy about it, even when Han Shin took out a box of chocolate as an offering. "Isn’t this too much?" he said with a frown, even while his hand took a piece from the box.

Radia and Shin watched in amusement as Zein grumbled while opening the foil package. "Someone hacking into Bas’s commlink and put a tracer on him..." the guide even pursed his lips and didn’t bother to stay his usual nonchalant self. "Who exactly is behind this thing?"

It was amusing that Zein got more annoyed at the fact that he couldn’t be walking freely out there meeting his boyfriend rather than people debating about his life story.

"I have to say, this is not in my calculation," Radia said with a wry smile--both for Zein’s reaction and people twisting Zein’s story in this way.

The blue eyes narrowed at the remark. "That’s worrying," Zein muttered. For Radia to admit something was out of his calculation felt rather ominous.

"Thank you," the summoner nodded with a smirk, prompting both Zein and Han Shin to roll their eyes. "Anyway, there’s something you should know about the source."

At this, Han Shin glanced at the guide cautiously, as if gauging his emotion. But Zein just told them in a dry tone. "Is it Nora?"

Shin widened his eyes and blinked in surprise. Even Radia raised his brow. "Damn, you already know?"

"He told me," Zein said nonchalantly.

"Huh?" the chocolate in Han Shin’s hand went forgotten as he kept his focus on the guide.

"He told me this morning,"

It was the message he got at dawn, which disturbed his first attempt at drifting off after listening to Bassena’s video all night. A voice message uttered with a shaking voice, filled with clattering sounds that told him Nora recorded it while holding the device with a trembling hand.

The man had said that he was threatened into telling them Zein’s background. They threatened him with ruin--and Nora had done pretty terrible things while trying to survive in and after he was out of Araka. Things he couldn’t spell out to the public, especially people who knew him.

"But he told them everything, including what kind of contract the guide in Umbra was, and that I was sold by that bastard--it’s not a secret in Araka anyway," Zein said, and Radia nodded in confirmation. That was also what Nora had told Abel this morning, before the Chief Guide told Radia. "So he thought it would be alright, that it wouldn’t damage my--or the guild’s--reputation too much. But..."

"But they deliberately excluded that part," Han Shin scoffed, now munching the chocolate with vengeance.

"We were giving them the benefit of the doubt at first, that they probably didn’t know the full story," Radia said, sneering. "But now we know it’s not true."

Zein let out a sigh. He had a feeling that the poor man was still an end-dweller at heart, so he wasn’t that surprised. In hindsight, Nora also did not tell any lie, and made sure to include the stuff that would avoid misunderstanding of Zein’s character. So he couldn’t get angry, or even annoyed.

"Nora...was probably scared, huh?"

"Mm," Radia replied shortly. He had no interest in people that disappointed him. Strangely enough, however, the person who was supposed to be resentful looked calm and...a bit sad.

"He was like that," Zein leaned back and looked up at the strangely beautiful sky. "He was always scared and did anything to survive. I can’t blame him for that, since I did the same too,"

"What are you--"

"It’s just...we have different advantages, different ammunitions," Zein continued with a bitter smile.

In the voice message, Nora asked for his forgiveness, saying that he had no choice, that he wasn’t like Zein. He didn’t have someone like Bassena or Radia to shield him, or a skill that would make people reluctant to get rid of him. He was just a C-class guide who had no one in this big green-zone city, bearing a shady past that would bring so much prejudice.

"He’s right--I have better skills, better support," he looked at Radia, and the man returned his gaze with a chuckle.

"He just forgot that the guild is also on his side," Radia sighed. All in all, he still felt disappointed that the ’mole’ came from the guild. It was like finding a rotten piece among the fruit he had carefully tended. "The guild is also his support system."

If only he remembered that, and told the guild about it before he told the story to the other party. They could probably prevent it from happening at all, or at least control it better.

"He only remembered it this morning, too bad,"

"That’s true," rather than anger or annoyance, he just felt pity for Nora.

Just like Zein, he had been in such a bad guild for so long that he couldn’t believe his guild would ever protect him unless he was someone special. His time being submissive to other guide’s lead made his inferiority grow, and even after Zein pulled him back from that slump, the shadow of the bitter experience couldn’t leave him completely.

In a way, Zein felt rather guilty for not paying more attention to Nora’s psychological condition. After all, Nora was supposed to be one of his kids too. He had mistakenly thought Nora would be alright because he had tasted the harshness and bitterness of life more than any other kid.

Watching Zein shake his head while sighing, Han Shin shifted closer and poked the guide’s arm. "But you probably don’t know who threatened him, right?"