570 Revelation
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When the people of Carmen first heard about the White Deer Corporation spreading its wings over their country, their expectations were actually quite low.
It wasn’t that they looked down on the White Deer, though. With Emilia’s current level of popularity in Carmen, it wouldn’t be an exaggeration to say that at least one in every ten in a random crowd here would turn out to be one of her fans.
And even if the corporation was technically being led by her older sister, after publicly announcing her support for their move, the crimson-haired beauty was now undoubtedly inseparable from it.
What made them pessimistic, however, was the fact that they’d already been through similar motions before, and every single time, their enthusiasm only led to boundless disappointment.
Whenever some new company tried to make a splash against the Gray Wolfe in Carmen, the lucrative schemes and offers they came up with and heavily advertised would either end up being lackluster after all the taxes and duties, or fail before they even got to the consumers.
This was usually followed by a series of controversies that led to either the complete downfall of whoever dared to invade into the Gray Wolfe’s territory, or the ‘intruder’ would end up fleeing the country while paying a heavy price for their mistakes.
After being ‘fooled’ like this dozens of times, the people of Carmen had long since grown numb to the new ‘market changers’, and resigned themselves to accepting whatever terms and conditions the government and the Gray Wolfe ended up agreeing on.
Perhaps the only ones still cheering for the White Deer’s arrival were Emilia’s die-hard fans, but their motives could hardly be considered pure or representative of the general public.
Much to the public’s shock, however, White Deer’s first ‘controversy’ arrived even before their first line of products was officially announced.
‘White Deer’s new ‘brand ambassador’, Emi, reveals how she was kidnapped and rescued on her first day in Carmen!’
Such headlines could be seen flying all around both on screen and on printed media, though the commentary that followed it was generally either sarcastic or negative.
“Quite an ingenious move to gather the public’s sympathy, wouldn’t you say so?”
“That may be the case, but isn’t it too ruthless? From her expression in the video, I don’t think the poor girl knew about it beforehand. Considering the only one who would stand to gain anything from such a thing… well, I don’t need to say more, do I?”
Since the media in Carmen had long since lost their credibility among the people by being a glorified mouthpiece for the state, most people didn’t blindly believe their words, but many still couldn’t help but sigh in disappointment.
The source of the headlines was naturally a video uploaded by Emi, in which she excitedly talked about how she ‘fought’ her way out of the kidnapper’s den, and then had the ‘baddies’ arrested by the police.
Naturally, not many believed her words at first, but once she showed the photos of the place where she had been taken to and the people she beat up, it was hard to deny everything outright.
With several people coming forward to confirm the identity of the gangsters, most soon agreed that ‘Emi’ must be telling the truth about her kidnapping, but probably exaggerating her own role.
But thinking of what she had gone through, if this was how she coped with trauma, it was actually quite understandable.
“I didn’t expect them to be any different from the others who came before them, but… this is not exactly the good kind of different, is it?”
“Can anyone confirm that Emi is really the White Deer’s brand ambassador, though?”
“The official account of the White Deer ‘liked’ her post and didn’t make any counter arguments, isn’t that enough of a proof already?”
“True… but didn’t she say the kidnappers had been arrested? Does that mean the White Deer had to get the police involved to save her?”
What would be a ‘normal’ thing everywhere else was actually quite ‘weird’ in Carmen.
Seeking the police for help? Didn’t this mean they were desperate?
The Gray Wolfe took great pride in being able to enforce its own rules and ‘laws’ privately using its ‘dog’, the Nightingale clan, and the people had long since become used to their attitude of looking down on those who went to police to seek help.
Combined with the law enforcement of the country usually being extremely slow, inefficient, and sometimes even counterproductive, it was no wonder that people started perceiving those who sought them out as ones who were truly ‘desperate’.
“Although they managed to get her out in time, doesn’t this show that they don’t have enough strength to keep their own well-protected?”
In a place like Carmen, where the strength of one’s fist ruled above the law most of the time, this was undoubtedly a fatal flaw. Even if the international pressure later forced Carmen to enforce their rather flimsy laws, the time it would take would still be enough for the Gray Wolfe to have long since accomplished their goals.
Aside from their ‘like’ on Emi’s post, the official channels of the White Deer Corporations remained silent, making many shake their heads in disappointment.
Of course, they didn’t find it strange that Emi was kidnapped shortly after arriving in Carmen, or that they assumed she was only rescued due to the White Deer ‘begging’ the law enforcement.
After all, which one of them didn’t know someone who unexpectedly ‘disappeared’ for a while, only to limp back to their home with several organs missing?
It was good enough to not end up dead in a ditch, used and discarded, as was the fate of those more unfortunate.
Expecting to be rescued? With the normal efficiency of their law enforcement, it was good enough if they ended up retrieving the dead body and identifying it correctly.
They had long since grown numb to such things, and even feeling the injustice of it all was now too much of a chore.
That is, until a certain video conference was ‘accidentally leaked’.
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