Parallel Memory

"Hehe… Let's see whether you all can maintain the same expression when I get back to you."

Zero grinned as if he were some kind of demon king on his way to slaughter some powerless people.

It was funny how Zero views those people who are almost seen as invincible to be just something he can deal with.

Due to his father's influence, Professor William was powerful, whereas other professors who accused Zero were Rank-B and Rank-A. They were almost like the definition of power to some people.

He knows that right now the person who had made him fall into this position and the professor who took advantage of his situation were all gloating as they thought that they had succeeded in their mission.

Zero was obligated to pay them for all the trouble they caused.

First on his list was to take revenge on the journalist, the one who caused all of this.

******

The information-gathering department had been established for months now. They had steadily increased their number and with them doing their job every day, they had developed their skills.

They had been commanded by their boss to collect information about the journalist that was on the news. They already know the conflict that their boss and the journalist have.

They had already started to investigate all the people that were involved in the news. However, the number of agents working on that has tripled under the command of the boss.

Since the journalist was just an ordinary person with no protection, it was rather easy for them to collect various information about him.

By one day, they had collected so much information about the journalist that the journalist himself had long forgotten.

Right now, the leader of the information-gathering department was reporting their findings to their boss.

"Fal is the name of the journalist. He is quite powerful for a reporter having reached Rank-D. It seems that previously he had joined the Explorer school in the hope of becoming an Explorer but had been expelled for various reasons."

Zero nodded.

"Continue!"

Looks like he was going to find something interesting after all. Just the fact that he was Rank-D was enough to clear his name.

How could you call someone bullying when the victim is as strong or at least in terms of a rank similar to the one you proclaim as a bully?

I just needed proof that he was Rank-D and then people would ignore the news about me suppressing the journalist with my power.

Though I also need to deal with rumors that I am using my power and status to go around and harass girls.

"Yes, Sir! The reason Fal is expelled is that he oppresses the weak with his power. He even went as far as to use his power to blackmail the people. Alas! He had one day picked the wrong target. He bullied a princess of the Gold grade guild, resulting in him being forced to leave the school."

( That journalist )

He dared to blame me for using my power to oppress the weak while it was he who had been doing that.

It was nice to add that information to the post. Using his dark history to humiliate him was a nice way to get my revenge.

Anyway, this Fal guy really had big guts. He didn't have a prominent background but caused problems everywhere.

He hit a nail with him harassing the girl who is adored by the gold-graded guild.

He dared not look at the face of the genius of his school while trying to appear like a strong human in front of a weak citizen. He was a typical bully.

"He joined the news company after seeing that he was bound to fail as an Explorer. Seeing that someone as strong as Rank-D is applying for their news company, the news company The Truth immediately accepted Fal."

Most of the middle-ranking people like Rank-D would prefer to be Explorer or work for The Authority or some Guild.

The average person at rank F should be the people who would look for a job in a company such as a news company.

Therefore, they must not have hesitated to accept Fal when he applied for a job as an employer. While Rank-D was nothing in the eyes of most students of Ace Academy, for common people they were strong.

"Fal had been steadily climbing the ranks at The Truth Company, becoming the best journalist. The reason for this is that Fal would coerce and blackmail people into confessing to doing something. He would use force to make many confessions and make interesting news. This led to him being promoted to a higher position."

Listening to the report, Zero understood that Fal had been using his rank to generate lots of fake but interesting news. The news company always emphasizes getting interesting news.

And as long as there is some evidence, they would not hesitate to promote that news.

He must have used his mana aura to pressurize the common people to admit lots of things that they didn't do.

He might also use his power to have people admit things that he wants.

*Tsk!

Such a piece of trash dares to frame me. I would like to know what he would think when every single achievement that he worked hard for in his life was taken away by me.

( Who told you to mess with me? )

I immediately commanded my intelligence department to keep an eye on Fal and gather every evidence of his crime.

Find his victim and gather evidence of his crimes. He has been working as a journalist for a while. I reckon that he must have upset many people with his antics.

I have also gotten a report on the girls that dared to say that I harassed them.

It looks like Fal had been paid a large sum of money from Fal to accuse me. They were girls that worked in the red light district and had no problem accusing me.

Gathering information about them from their customers and also spying on them had given me sufficient evidence to be declared innocent.

( That stupid journalist. At least try to get girls with a good background. )

For him to bring in those girls to shame me was a stupid choice.

He could have brought girls who have a clean image though I reckon that it would be more difficult to have them cooperate with him.

However, having prostitutes as a victim defeats the whole point of me harassing them. How could I harass a prostitute whose job is being harassed?

I might sound harsh but if you see it from another angle, they are that. Getting money for being harassed.

To think that an experienced journalist would leave so many holes in his news, it looks like Fal had been up against only an easy opponent.

Now that you are facing the final boss of social media, let's see whether you can come out unscathed.