Chapter 104 – Defamation (3)
Despite repeated overtime work.
The investigation did not make much progress for two days.
On the morning of the third day, the executives of the newspaper came in droves, as if they knew we were playing.
Thanks to that, I was able to greet them without even washing my hair.
“You’re busy. What are you doing?”
“When will the culprit be caught? All the staff are nervous…”
“So you’re doing something bad. What are you going to do when you see that there are too many suspects?”
Frustrated, I put out a list of suspects.
There are several lists with names and brief biographical details along with photos.
The boss hardened his complexion when he saw it.
“So many suspects?”
“Since the Hunter ability used in the crime is unknown, we must investigate based on the motive for the crime.”
I tried to explain it to them as simply as possible, but unfortunately few people seemed to understand what I was saying.
“The personnel here are hunters who have suffered great damage from the victim’s report and are currently in a difficult financial situation. I have narrowed it down and narrowed it down to this extent.”
“It’s not like that. Isn’t there a possibility that it was the crime of a lunatic? Why, being stabbed by a madman…”
The president of the newspaper company seemed very uncomfortable that this case was considered a grudge crime.
I realized the reason belatedly.
It’s not that the victim’s actions are usually lame, but that competing media outlets are already stabbing them.
Of course, I rejected his opinion without any hesitation.
“No matter how crazy he is, would he catch anyone passing by and hang him, then split open the boat and show off his talent?”
“A psycho is not a psycho for nothing.”
“This case is a well-planned crime. From finding the victim to selecting the escape route, everything was decided in advance and put into action. What kind of psycho is this?”
It doesn’t make sense to say that this is a sociopath’s crime after conceding a hundred times.
Dismembering the victim alive in an alley is too risky.
If there was no purpose for the exhibition, it would have been a much more reasonable choice to kidnap the victims and move them.
No matter how early it was It was fortunate that there were no witnesses to the uproar.
He’s lucky that he hasn’t been caught so far.
It doesn’t make sense that he made a mistake only in this part when he handled the crime so neatly from the start of the crime to the escape.
I put a bluff on the president of the newspaper, who was very disappointed.
“If this list is leaked, you know that the company will be closed that day.”
“Ah, no such…”
“This type of crime is often committed by close acquaintances… Shall we investigate that as well?”
The executive team immediately ran away when I hinted at a search and seizure.
After that, I continued to reduce the number of suspects until I got off work in the evening.
When I returned home after two days, Yeriel took the bath water and waited for me.
I don’t really like things that are too hot, so I was just grateful.
After dinner, I was about to take a bath. Tia suddenly asked me.
“By the way, Master. Can you be sued for writing comments on Internet articles?”
“Are you posting comments these days? If you get sued, will you kill them right away?”
“Oh no! I’m just curious.”
Tia shook her head vigorously, and I let out a deep sigh and explained.
“Usually if you get sued for posting a comment, it’s defamation or insult. The most important thing is never to use universal profanity.”
“A universal swear word?”
“예를 들어서 시발, 개새끼. 같은 거 말야. 보편적인 욕설을 쓰는 순간 손쉬운 표적으로 찍히거든. 합의금 장사 목적으로 고소를 남발하는 경우도 없진 않으니…”
“Even the dog owner often uses it… Wow!”
“When did I say I wrote that often? And I don’t write it as a comment.”
I punished Tia and walked to the bathroom.
The guy followed me very naturally.
“Of course, you have to be careful about specificity. The probability of being punished like an Internet comment is low, but there’s nothing good about being sued, so it’s best to just not use it. But how far are you going to follow? “
“How about a hunterpet dragon instead of a rubber ducky today?”
“I don’t use rubber ducks or anything like that when I take a bath.”
“Eh…”
Fearing that Yeriel would follow her, she quickly kicked Tia out and took a bath.
Tia’s voice echoed in her as she immersed herself in the bath water at the right temperature.
Defamation… Definitely a difficult field.
Personally, I think that there is so much room for abuse, so it is the opposite of overly catching every single thing.
‘Victims have also been involved in numerous defamation cases, but most of them were at the level of light insults, so there were very few people who were on the line of suspicion.’
As I calmly continued my thoughts, I suddenly felt something flash in my head.
Even Blanche was mobilized in this case, but it is certainly strange that no prime suspect has emerged yet.
This means I made a mistake on some basic level.
“Wait a minute. The conditions for establishing defamation are… No way?”
Gurgling…
I got up from the bathtub, picked up my smartphone, and asked Blanche.
“Blanche. I think we were thinking about it wrong.”
[What do you mean by that?]
“It’s an advertisement! Instead of the people who were victimized by the victim’s report, look for a possible suspect among the hunters who entrusted the advertisement article!”
[Is this an advertisement? Found.]
Blanche immediately raised a prime suspect.
When I changed the search method, various conditions were matched to the point of being a little futile.
As I hurriedly wiped her body and went out into the living room, Alice looked at me with her eyes wide open.
“What are you doing?”
“Found it. Prime suspect.”
“What?”
“Look. He is related to the victim, has a difficult financial situation, and was exposed to the cameras at the scene the day before and the day of the incident. Even so, he could not have gone unnoticed until the preliminary investigation.”
“But… This person wasn’t on the suspect list?”
As I tried to explain, Blanche spoke calmly.
[This is an advertisement.]
“Advertisement?”
[Yes. The suspect is a 42-year-old retired hunter who used his severance pay to open a restaurant, but it didn’t go well.]
Alice’s face suddenly darkened as she sensed the beginning of a common tragedy.
Blanche calmly continued her explanation in a mechanical voice that she did not normally use.
[At that time, the reporter of the Hunter Department of the XX Daily approached the suspect… That is, the victim. The victim requested a considerable amount of advertising money and suggested a promotional article to the suspect.]
Normally, I would have entrusted the work to influencers such as bloggers, not reporters, but…
The victim emphasized that he was a formal reporter.
In fact, isn’t it reporters who are the aid of being an influencer?
The suspect thought so and quickly entrusted the advertisement.
“So, did the victim eat and carry the money?”
“It’s much worse than that.”
“What?”
[The victim did his best to publish a promotional article.]
The problem is that the article is really, really bad.
Photos that make the food look as tasteless as possible, promotional comments that are better off without it, and outdated buzzwords…
It was a promotion that seemed to have been ruined by doing its best.
This is almost the devil’s talent.
In addition, the victim was notorious not only to hunters but also to general subscribers, so the suspect who requested the advertisement was also criticized for tying it up wholesale.
It’s normal to have a horoscope terrorism, even a no-show or breaking a window and running away…
In the end, immediately after the promotional article was published, sales plummeted, and the store closed in just two months.
The suspect said that he blew away all his severance pay his and even had a huge amount of debt.
Alice stammered with a dumbfounded face.
“But why didn’t we notice?”
“The suspect sued me for fraud and defamation, but lost.
“Losing?”
“For defamation to be established, it must literally defame the subject. In other words, if it is judged that the report did not damage the reputation, there is no penalty.”
The victim had no intention of defaming the suspect.
He just did his best to write a promotional article.
As a result, publicity worked as a bad thing, and the store was just closed.
The content of the article itself was difficult to view as defamation.
“It means you picked the wrong PR agency from the beginning.”
“That’s such nonsense…”
“Blanche, send the crew to the suspect’s address right now.”
[Yes, Master.]
Eventually, the suspect was apprehended before the end of the day.
A lot of evidence was also found at home, so it was very easy to secure.
The crew even accepted his confession before I left for work the next day.
Unfortunately, there was not even a single lie in Blanche’s investigation.
As I was looking at the suspect in the interrogation room, Alice came up to me and asked.
“I heard there is evidence? What is it?”
“Part of the victim’s intestines were found in the refrigerator.”
“What?”
“The suspect is claiming that he killed the victim as a warning and in the public interest.”
Unfortunately, the taste must have gone because it was so nonsensical.
Maybe it’s aiming for mental and physical weakness.
He says he can’t even afford his medical bills because of his debt his already …
Maybe a hunter-only prison that feeds, shelters, and even treats would be better.
We shuddered at the man who lost everything.
“He was a real victim.”
“Master. Can’t you really acknowledge this as a public interest purpose?”
“Can it be done? I, who feeds you, can’t even get a subsidy.”
“Boo…”
We sorted out all the cases and announced the results.
The media, as always, was excited and hacked at the competitor.
