After Butler George was informed about the protest outside the Argus company, he knew it was time for him to act. As instructed by Rifat, he called all the major newspaper and TV agencies and asked them release some information related to the death game and mainly blame Akihiko for this incident. He also called the well known reporters and asked them to come to the Argus company and told them that he will be holding a press conference on behalf of Rifat.
An hour or so passed by as the conference room of the Argus company got filled by reporters from various agencies. George slowly walked inside the room as he took his seat. All the people present here already knew him. Even though George is just a butler in name, in Rifat's absence, he hold the highest authority and frequently comes with contact with various high level people.
"Thank you all for patiently waiting. I know you all have many question that you want to ask. So, please go ahead." George gestured with his hands to reporters to quickly start the questioning session.
As soon as George said that, someone from the reporters asked, "I want to ask why Rifat sama isn't present here? We know that he might be busy with all the works but can't he even spare some time for the people that has been killed because of his company?"
Geroge put up a very sad expression after hearing that question as he replied, "It's not that he doesn't want to be present here but the problem is that he can't. Like thousands of other people , Rifat sama also became a victim of this death game. Prior to its release, we never anticipated that Akihito would do something like this otherwise Rifat sama would have surely sent him to jail."
Hearing that Rifat also became victim of that death game, most of them became very astonished and their slight resentment toward Rifat also vanished. But those who were still sceptical about this asked, "How can we believe what you said just now is really true? It could be that you are trying to put up a front just to deceive the public and avoid getting punished for what you guys actually did."
George kept the face of the person who asked this question in mind before he replied with the same tone, "I knew some of you might think this is a conspiracy of ours. So, I have specially prepared a video along with some testimonies from the government officials who can also affirm the truth of the matters."
As George said those sentences, the projector behind him lit up as it started to show a video of Rifat being attended by some maids while he is lying on the bed wearing the NerveGear in his head. It can also be seen that he has also been equipped with various medical instrument like other SAO players in order keep him alive.
After finishing the video, George called some officials as they also testified about Rifat being trapped in SAO for real. After all this, even the most skeptical reporter has to believe that the situation of the death game has nothing to do with Rifat otherwise he wouldn't get trapped into it.
"I think by now, all of you are already convinced about my master's innocence. Truthfully, none of us anticipated such a thing could ever happen. But even though we were not directly involved in this death game, we do feel very sorry for the people that died or are still trapped inside that game."
"With the authority given to me by Rifat sama, I announce that anyone who dies in that game, we will distribute a large sum of money as a compensation to the families. If any of their family members want to work in any company controlled by Rifat sama, they will be given priority as long as they meet the minimum criteria."
"Also, for those that are still trapped, after they get out of this death game, all of their educational expenses will be borne by us. Even if they want to study in some top foreign universities, we will fully support them with all the resources needed."
"Having said that, I know this is far from enough to compensate for what they will go thorough in that game. But at least we want all of you to know that we deeply feel sorry for what happened." Geroge finished his speech as he kept the sad face the whole time. He even shed some crocodile tears to show the people how sorry all of them was for this incident.
This press conference was being broadcasted alive. So, everyone who was concerned about the death game heard what has been said just now. Even the people that were protesting outside the company lowered their voices and wasn't as angry when they came here first.
Even though they couldn't fully forgive the Argus company for what they did to their relatives, at least they now know that most of the people working there was totally ignorant about the death game. Even the major shareholder Rifat has fallen victim to it. So, for now, all of them managed to calm down for a bit.
Inside the conference room, the reporters has started asking questions again. One of them asked, "Although we now know that Rifat sama and most of the employees are also victims of this game, I want to know how are you going to get the trapped player out and is there any update from police about the main perpetrators besides AKhiko?"
"First let me talk about the perpetrators. For now, we only managed to establish enough evidence about Akihiko and his girfriend's involvement in this. But sadly, they already fled from the country and we are currently unaware of the exact location."
"As for others being involved in this heinous act, we currently have no clue. But if we find, we will surely let you guys know."
"Now let's talk about the players who has been trapped inside that death game. As you already know, Akihiko was the main researcher of that game. He is the one who has programmed most of the codes especially the core ones. Before fleeing, he not only destroyed all the data related to the game but also removed all the authorities that other researchers of the game used to posses inside that game."
"So for now, we are also at a loss of how to get the players out of the game without harming them since we have no way to remove the helmet physically. All of our top programmers are trying their best to debug and find any kind of loophole left behind by Akihko which can exploited to release the players. As long as they have any kind progress on this issue, we will let you know asap."
After hearing George's answer, other reported also started to ask questions one by one. By the time the press conference was concluded, it has already passed several hours.
After George came out of the conference room, he went to a secluded place and made a call, "I have send you a list of names. If any of them publish anything negative about us, find some dirt on them and make them loose their job or just directly sent them to prison. But be very discreet and don't let anyone else find out. We can't make the public have any other bad impression on us especially now."