The next moment, the two were plunged into the crowd.

Despite the commotion, Kim Ye Rin managed to spot the fence of the flower bed.

“This way!”

Kim Ye Rin pulled Choi Yoon along, pushing through the people. She forcefully pushed open one side of the fence to create a gap.

Choi Yoon’s eyes sparkled brightly. Though he should have been tense before the mission, he was as bright as a child on an outing.

“Wow. Is this a dog hole?”

“…It’s a side gate. If we go through here, there won’t be many people, so we can run straight to the platform.”

Just as Kim Ye Rin was about to enter inside the fence, something brushed against her shoulder and fell to the ground.

The moment she realized it was Choi Yoon’s hat, her eyes met with a nearby citizen.

The man’s eyes widened. His gaze was firmly fixed on Choi Yoon, who was bending down to pick up his hat.

The man’s mouth gaped as he raised his finger.

Kim Ye Rin tensed up. In the man’s hand was promotional material denouncing Choi Yoon. If he recognized Choi Yoon and shouted that he was here, it would draw attention and they’d be stuck.

Unaware of Kim Ye Rin’s worries, Choi Yoon was dusting off his hat. Kim Ye Rin snatched the hat from Choi Yoon’s hand. Then she stood on her tiptoes.

Choi Yoon smiled slightly and seemed to bend down a little, but there was no time to check his expression. She put the hat firmly on his head.

Somehow, she gripped his leisurely hand tightly and pulled hard.

“Run!”

They started sprinting straight ahead after passing through the fence. But it didn’t last long.

A crowd of people rushed in from the opposite direction.

Kim Ye Rin tried to pass through quickly, but in an instant, people swarmed and it wasn’t easy. Her vision blurred and she lost her sense of direction.

Not only was she bumped on the shoulders by people, but she nearly got hit several times by the pickets and flagpoles they were carrying.

“Wait until people pass and then let’s go!”

Kim Ye Rin hid Choi Yoon behind her. She didn’t forget to tightly grip the hand she was holding to not lose him. She called out softly towards the back.

“Be careful not to get hurt!”

“Ah, are you protecting me?”

From right behind, Choi Yoon laughed a little at the end of his words. He continued speaking.

“You seem to be in more danger than me.”

Right after, Kim Ye Rin felt Choi Yoon turn her around and embrace her with his whole body. She also felt something roughly collide with his back that covered her vision, and Choi Yoon suppressing a small groan.

Even after the impact subsided, he held Kim Ye Rin tightly and didn’t let go.

He lowered his head. He came close as if to kiss her ear.

There was a scent like soap made from carved wood that had been in the sun for a long time. In his voice.

“You dislike me, don’t you? But what can you do? From now on, I’ll become more and more likable.”

Damn it. Kim Ye Rin grabbed Choi Yoon’s collar and pulled him close. Willingly coming along, he put his mouth to her ear. She shouted with all her might.

“There’s no way you’ll become likable! You’re on the opposite side from me. Completely opposite!”

“I wonder about that. To me, we look like a great team. At least for now.”

There was laughter in his gaze as he looked at her. He tightened his arms embracing Kim Ye Rin. He lowered his head again. His breath falling on her neck was vivid.

“What you know is the past me. The young me who knew nothing.”

Amidst the thunderous echoes of people loudly chanting slogans, Choi Yoon’s voice felt surprisingly smooth.

“So if you carelessly throw around words like dislike, you’ll regret it. When you get to know the current me, you won’t be able to keep your senses.”

The heat slowly left her ear.

And when they finally faced each other, his expression was firm. As if anyone would naturally love him.

“Watch closely. You’ll look back on this day for a long time.”

Then Choi Yoon turned Kim Ye Rin around. He pushed her back hard.

Kim Ye Rin tumbled out of the crowd as if thrown out of water. She barely managed to stand up straight.

When she raised her head, Choi Yoon had already disappeared, mixed in with the people.

The platform was within reach. Now he would find his way well even without Kim Ye Rin…

“Ye Rin! Why are you so late?”

It was Ji Chun Bae.

He walked briskly towards her with an armful of promotional materials.

The yokai busily distributing promotional materials around him all turned to look this way at once. They were all familiar faces, the neighbors who had gathered at Hambak Flower Restaurant.

“Where’s Choi Yoon? Wasn’t he coming with you?”

Ji Chun Bae asked again. The neighbors also stared at Kim Ye Rin with wide eyes.

“Everyone, come over here for a moment…”

Kim Ye Rin gestured and moved a little away from the demonstrators. Ji Chun Bae and about 20 neighbors crowded around, forming a circle around Kim Ye Rin.

“Choi Yoon said that the government is trying to suppress the protest…”

Kim Ye Rin lowered her voice and relayed what Choi Yoon had told her without omission.

That the government is trying to control yokai through a full investigation, so they’re trying to suppress this protest somehow, and that Choi Yoon is going up to the platform in a situation where people from the police might be hiding.

The neighbors listened intently to Kim Ye Rin’s words with their ears perked up.

When Kim Ye Rin finished speaking, Ji Chun Bae sighed softly.

“Is that right? What we thought? If Choi Yoon is moving directly, something must be happening.”

“Yes. It’s more serious than we thought. He said in the worst case, they might even deploy the military.”

One neighbor cautiously opened their mouth.

“What if Choi Yoon is lying?”

“It doesn’t matter. There’s no harm in being careful. As of now, there’s no downside to trusting Choi Yoon.”

Kim Ye Rin continued speaking.

“The problem is if someone attempts to assault Choi Yoon when he goes up to the platform.”

One neighbor muttered.

“What if Choi Yoon dies?”

This time, no one could easily respond. Though no one liked Choi Yoon, they didn’t want him to die.

The rabbit raised her hand high. Her ears flapped vigorously.

“But the police are there, right?”

Kim Ye Rin shook her head.

“We can’t trust them. They could be in on it too.”

The neighbors nodded.

“That’s right. They might just pretend to stop it…”

“What if they have guns?”

Fear appeared on everyone’s faces.

Kim Ye Rin tried to think rationally.

“They can’t use guns. What they want is for people around to go along with the assault, but if they shoot, it’ll be hard to gain sympathy. Plus, if they get caught, they’d have to cover it up as accidental, so they probably won’t use serious weapons like guns.”

“I see. Then what will they use? We can’t find out in advance, can we?”

“Well. Probably…”

Kim Ye Rin quickly scanned the platform.

“…Flagpoles? Signs? Since they need to make it look plausible that the protesters attacked Choi Yoon, I don’t think unfamiliar clubs will suddenly appear.”

Her heart suddenly raced.

Kim Ye Rin looked around, searching for the village chief.

“Chief, where are you? Can someone please tell the chief to contact the steering committee and say we need to strengthen security around the platform!”

The village chief poked his face out from among the worried-looking neighbors gathered around. He asked with a bewildered expression.

“What’s all this about?”

Kim Ye Rin urgently grasped the chief’s hand. She squeezed it.

“Chief, we need to pull everyone back from around the platform. So no one can approach. Someone might try to rush in.”

The chief didn’t look convinced at all. He raised his voice.

“Do you have evidence? We can’t just do this and that based on guesses without any reason. Just recently, someone spread false notice texts and the protest was canceled once.”

“Then I’ll go to the steering committee and tell them myself.”

As Kim Ye Rin said this and turned around, the chief blocked her. He shook his head firmly.

“No one will believe you! It’s all just Choi Yoon’s speculation. We’ll be lucky if they don’t curse at us.”

“Then I’ll say it’s my speculation.”

“Nonsense! Don’t cause unnecessary commotion! What does that guy know about our protest? He’s trying to make us distrust each other!”

“Chief! Would a high-level person like Choi Yoon come all the way down here just to cause trouble?”

“What does he want to say by going up on the platform in the first place? Isn’t he here to side with the government?”

“Is Choi Yoon crazy? Coming all this way to side with the government?”

“Without clear evidence, we can’t make demands like blocking the platform or whatever! We’ve basically set it up so anyone can go up and speak!”

At the end of his words, the chief looked around as if seeking agreement.

But no one easily opened their mouth. Everyone had a confused expression.

Someone looked back and forth between Kim Ye Rin and the chief, then carefully spoke.

“Come to think of it, the atmosphere has been a bit strange lately. Like we’re barely holding back something that keeps trying to go off course…”

A few nodded. Someone added.

“Just recently, someone brought boxes and put them under the city hall wall. Saying not to go through the main gate, but to climb over the wall behind the police. Right? Ye Rin and I found them and got rid of them.”

The conversation continued after that.

Signs that had been carelessly overlooked until now, but could have led to a big disturbance, came rolling out one by one.

Kim Ye Rin anxiously looked back at the platform. Choi Yoon was still not visible.

How far had he gotten? He might have been blocked and chased away before even arriving.

But if he was asking for permission to speak on the platform, there was no time.

Kim Ye Rin said urgently.

“We don’t even need to go to the steering committee. Let’s go and guard it ourselves. With this many people, we can surround the front of the platform and have some left over.”

That’s when it happened.

Suddenly, the surroundings became quiet.

The shouts and slogans disappeared, and the silence that tightly filled that space was eerie.

All the crowd was looking at one place.

Following their gaze, the chief slowly turned his head. Over his thin shoulders that stiffened with a start, Kim Ye Rin saw the platform, and Choi Yoon standing on it.

Neat lines, a calm face. The playfulness he had shown in front of Kim Ye Rin was nowhere to be found.

Somehow, it seemed like he had been standing on the platform for a very long time.

Choi Yoon bowed politely.

“Hello. I am Choi Yoon.”

After this brief greeting, Choi Yoon didn’t say anything more. He couldn’t.

Because the citizens had fallen silent all at once.

It was a frightening silence.

Kim Ye Rin couldn’t take her eyes off Choi Yoon’s attitude facing that long-held anger, rather than the anger itself.

Choi Yoon on the screen broadcasting the platform smiled a bit awkwardly, but showed no signs of nervousness.

He skillfully adjusted the microphone.

“I am in charge of promoting the full investigation, and I feel a heavy responsibility for this.”

As the same voice overlapped from all around, Kim Ye Rin turned around with a start.

Choi Yoon was holding a microphone in the videos on the phones held by several people in the crowd. The logo floating small in the upper right corner was the familiar Star Live, even to Kim Ye Rin.

No way. He said he had messed up.

The broadcast screen flickered greatly. The screen that soon returned also had the Star Live logo attached.

Choi Yoon was speaking. Simultaneously, from everywhere.

“I hurried down here after hearing your concerns that this policy might become a foothold for yokai control.”

From the live voice echoing from the platform, from the speakers of the broadcast screen, from the live broadcast channel accessed by the entire nation, Choi Yoon’s voice resonated firmly overlapping.

“It is very regrettable that despite so many of you raising your voices together, it is not being reported in any media.”

The voice of the crowd, which had not been able to escape the blind spot of the media despite so much effort, burst out through the door that Choi Yoon had thrown wide open.

Now the stage was set nationwide.