Location: Seoul – Zenith Media Headquarters, Studio 9
The producer stood in front of a dozen screens, arms crossed, watching the final cut of a special primetime program.
The title?
> "The Illusion of Peace: Unmasking the Phantom Billionaire"
A full hour of carefully edited footage, warped timelines, half-truths stitched together like a ghost story.
The narrator's voice oozed authority:
> "He calls himself a peacemaker… but behind the curtain lies manipulation, emotional coercion, and unverifiable funding sources. Who is Jiwoo? And what does he truly want?"
The final shot: a blurred photo of Jiwoo beside his Circle—taken months ago without their consent.
The producer smirked.
> "This will shatter the myth."
---
Elsewhere: Aurora Hills – Midday
The Circle watched the teaser trailer from Jihye's secured terminal.
Eunsol: "They're going for character assassination now."
Sena: "When they can't kill peace… they try to kill the one who dreamed it."
Noeun: "They don't know about the Node yet, do they?"
Jihye shook her head. "They're broadcasting live at 8 p.m. Seoul time. We activate full mirror mode at 7:59."
Jiwoo closed his eyes and said quietly:
> "Then let the truth speak for itself."
---
Location: Mount Halla – Truth Node Activation Room
7:55 PM.
Baek Yunseo triple-checked the node stream integrity.
> "Satellite feed clean. Delay 0.1 seconds. Full mirror pulse ready."
Jihye uploaded the final key.
> "We've created something they can't out-edit."
No voiceover.
No actor.
No interpretation.
Just people.
From everywhere.
---
7:59 PM – Zenith Media Live Broadcast Begins
The screen faded from black.
The narrator spoke solemnly.
> "For the last year, the world has watched a new phenomenon rise from silence—a boy known only as Jiwoo…"
Cut to shaky footage of Aurora Hills from afar.
> "But beneath the surface of this utopia lies a dangerous ideology: peace that cannot be explained, power that answers to no one…"
They queued the next sequence—interviews with "experts," former officials, and blurred-out critics.
---
But something happened.
The live broadcast began to glitch.
Just seconds into the second segment, the screen blinked… then switched.
Not to static.
To faces.
Real ones.
---
A mother in Delhi.
> "He helped my son walk again. Didn't ask for money. Didn't even give a name."
A girl in Peru.
> "We were starving. Then food came. Then books. Then a teacher. No cameras."
A local artist in Greece.
> "They built me a studio… and left. No interview. Just art."
---
The narrator's voice was cut off.
The script died.
The Truth Node had overridden the feed.
---
Backstage – Chaos
The producer screamed into his headset.
> "What's happening?! Cut the stream! Kill it!"
But every attempt to override failed.
Technicians stared in disbelief.
The Truth Node wasn't hacking the feed.
It was simply broadcasting more powerfully.
And legally.
They had accessed the satellite earlier, purchasing emergency humanitarian broadcast rights in regions affected by node sabotage.
> Jiwoo's team didn't hijack the news.
> They became the news.
---
The World Watches
In Korea, people paused their dinners.
In France, they turned off their political dramas.
In the U.S., it trended within minutes.
Across screens, thousands of people appeared:
> "They fixed our streetlights."
> "They stayed behind to teach our kids."
> "They didn't want fame. That's how we knew it was real."
The truth wasn't shouted.
It simply appeared—raw, unedited, undeniably human.
---
Back at Aurora Hills
Yoori leaned forward, eyes wide.
> "We didn't even ask them to say this."
Mirae's hands trembled over her guitar.
> "This… this is better than any speech."
Eunsol smiled, whispering:
> "This is the real system. The one no AI could ever copy."
Jihye turned to Jiwoo.
> "You wrote no words. But this… this is your manifesto."
---
At Zenith Headquarters – Aftermath
The broadcast studio sat in stunned silence.
Every one of their scripted segments had been overwritten—not by violence, not by hacks, but by truth that arrived first.
A junior technician finally broke the silence:
> "We didn't lose the signal.
We just got out-loved."
---
Later That Night – Worldwide Reactions
Trending across 62 countries:
> #NotAProduct
#WeSawPeace
#TruthDidNotFlinch
In academic forums, professors dissected the "mirror pulse" phenomenon—how public testimony outpaced pre-planned propaganda.
In the business world, CEOs quietly backed out of AURA-9 expansion plans.
> "If Jiwoo's system can't be bought… maybe it can't be beaten."
---
Inside the Villa – 1:04 AM
The Circle sat together in silence.
The fire crackled.
Outside, drones scanned the skies peacefully.
No enemies tonight.
No accusations.
Only stillness.
Jiwoo finally spoke.
> "They tried to kill an idea."
He looked around at the women who had stood with him.
> "But we didn't build an idea.
We built something real.
And real things… don't need scripts."
---
Final Scene – Truth Node System Message
> [Global Broadcast Success – Verified Reach: 2.6 Billion Viewers]
[Public Trust Index in Peace Nodes: +18%]
[System Reward: "Shield of Witness – Passive Protection Activated"]
> Truth, when seen, becomes its own armor.
---