Novel Full Chapter 536 - THE TRUTH
THE post was titled [THE TRUTH] and was posted by someone with a username, Noctis_Yunyue. It probably wouldn't make that much of a wave but two things changed that.
One was the poster tagged the handle of a certain known gossip blogger who often posted rumors about the gaming industry. This person was also the one who posted the article about Noctis that had been trending since early this morning. The other reason was because this post was actually reposted by Yunyue's official account.
People might have been calling Yunyue the 'fallen champions' but a lot of people still followed their official Weibo account. It was mostly because aside from White Marsh, Morganite and YUN didn't have their own Weibo account. So, their fans could only follow their team's official Weibo account.
Their repost went like this;
Yunyue Official Account: There had been a lot of negative speculation about our team's Noctis. This post should clear all your misunderstandings. I just hope that people would be smart enough to know right from wrong. And that next time you encountered something like this, you would check the fact first before arriving to a conclusion. After all, careless accusation could easily ruin people.
Reading that, some suddenly felt guilty. But there were also others who felt indignant. Because it's like the other was scolding them. Who would want to hear the scolding of others especially when one thought that they were on the right?
With that statement, added to the fact that the original poster had a username like @Noctis_Yunyue, anyone with a brain could tell that the one who posted this was actually the player, Noctis.
The people who figured that out had different thinking in their minds. Some was curious, some simply just wanted to watch a show, and others simply wanted to see Yunyue and Noctis' joke. Some wanted to know this so-called truth and some believed that they already knew the truth and this post wouldn't change their mind no matter what.
So, with those different thoughts everyone who had seen the post clicked on the video attached to it.
At first, they didn't have much reaction. They saw four people inside a pavilion. A tall man with blue eyes and the lower half of his face covered in a mask. A young girl with long black hair, the upper half of her face was covered by a domino mask. There was another man but because of the angle of the camera, they could only see his chin. And last but not the least, there was another young man with curly golden hair, the upper half of his face was also covered by a mask.
Many were starting to get confused, wondering how these four people connected to the 'truth'? And why were these people's faces couldn't be seen properly? Were they having some secret meeting or something?
And then, the conversation of the four started and it began with the article that had been trending since this morning. The little girl and the one whose chin they could on see were the ones who were mostly talking.
They talked about how foolish the article was and how weird that people actually believed it. Then they said how it was obvious that someone behind the scene who hated Noctis was pulling the string. That this someone must be a great schemer to pull such a thing.
The girl asked who could be the person responsible. But before the young man could answer, the one with curly golden hair suddenly changed the topic. The man with blue eyes who had been silent up to that point scolded the other guy, saying that he should just shut up.
The conversation continued and someone suggested that it must be Raphael who did these things. The little girl agreed, saying that he probably hired some water army to guide the people's opinion against Noctis and then also clearing his name in the process. Telling them that almost a third of the comments on that article were about Raphael and how 'pitiful' he was.
That it was actually unbelievable how people actually believed this obvious manipulation. Thinking that Noctis was the bad guy and Raphael was the victim. Then the blue-eyed guy snorted and said the words, 'disgusting herd mentality'. The people who were watching the video, especially those who criticized Noctis, just felt their faces slapped hard.
A lot of people wanted to curse. But the next scene that unfolded stopped them from doing that.
When the chin-guy expressed his admiration of Noctis, the curly-haired guy suddenly became crazy and started spouting even crazier things. Telling the other that he's not allowed to like Noctis. That he played this stupid game just so he could join him in team Celestials. That he had to spend money just so he could clear his reputation.
The people watching the video became confused. Just what the hell was this guy saying? But the next moment answered their question.
Someone pulled the curly-haired guy back and it caused his domino mask to fall. And it revealed a very familiar face. It was Raphael.
Everyone was stunned at this. And then they heard one of the people in the scene said that no wonder the other had been defending Raphael and badmouthing Noctis, it turned out that it was because he was Raphael. Then another asked if he was the one responsible for that article.
People thought, who would just directly admit that? But who knew that Raphael just directly slapped their faces again by admitting that it was indeed him who paid someone to write that article and he was also the one who bought those water army.
And that's when the video ended.
People who just watched it were really dumbfounded. They couldn't react at all. But after they digested everything, almost everyone commented down on the video.
[So, it turned out that Raphael was the one responsible for it all?]
[This was probably the fastest reversal I have seen!]
[No wonder Noctis hadn't made a statement. He was actually preparing evidence!]
[I told you, it was impossible that Noctis and that live-streamer was one and the same person.]
[I know, right? I also didn't believe it. But people just continued to spout nonsense.]
[Good thing we didn't follow the herd mentality, right? So, to those who easily believed the water army, do your face hurt now?]
[Upstairs, it's probably really swollen.]
Those who had seen these comments became really angry and ashamed. So, they could only transfer they anger to the one responsible – Raphael and that gossip blogger.
[That Raphael is really shameless!]
[That scheming mind is indeed a bit scary.]
[I've seen him in the game earlier. I even encouraged him. He was so generous and gentle. Who knew that he was just acting? Bah!]
[Didn't he say that he did all that for that other guy so the two of them could be together at team Celestials?]
[Hah, keep dreaming! Celestials would never accept someone like him into their team.]
[@gamingnews, you should be ashamed! Reporting something as if it was the truth when all along you're just getting paid to write fake news. I lost all my respect for you!] – This one was tagging that gossip blogger.
[I wonder just how many false accusations this guy had written before?]
A lot of the comments followed that trend – cursing Raphael and the gossip blogger. But there were still some people who couldn't believe it even though the evidence was already right at their faces.
[What if Raphael was just forced to say those things? After all, he really looked like he wasn't in his normal state of mind.]
[I agree. Who would directly admit something like that? I smell foul play?]
[Maybe they used some kind of skills or items to force him to say that.]
[Upstairs, are you dreaming with your eyes open? What skills, what items? Do you think Arcadia is really so magical that they could force their players to say or do something against their will?]
[I think these people are probably another batch of water army.]
[Yeah. If not, then I could only say that their IQ must be in the double digits.]
[What double digits? It's probably only single digit!]
That argument ended with a post from Moonlight Media's official Weibo account. They reposted Noctis' post along with the statement;
Moonlight Media v: People maligning a promising newcomer about some unfounded rumor without any concrete evidence was not really something we like to see. So, our management decided to assure everyone that Noctis is not the person in that defaming article. He's a young and bright teenager with a good family background. With this, we hope that this negative rumor would come to an end.
But because of this statement, the comment section became even more chaotic.