Chapter 196

Chapter 196

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The Investor V

When reading regression stories, you sometimes encounter a scenario like this:

- "Mage, your true talent is actually in swordsmanship."

- "That makes no sense! Me, someone born into a prestigious family of mages... and I'm actually a swordsmanship genius?"

- "And a martial genius to boot."

- "Hmm, are you saying that what I just did is the 'Perfect Squat of the Forgotten Era'? But I was only standing up after sitting down?"

This is the so-called ‘Our Child Has Changed’ cliché.

In the previous cycle, due to prejudice, discrimination, poverty, and bad luck, these talented people couldn’t fully blossom into their true potential. A regressor provides one-on-one personal training to these side characters, and as a result, they would be reborn as true experts.

I, too, as a fully-fledged regressor and PT trainer, have nurtured quite a few outstanding members. In fact, in this specific area, I secretly pride myself on being better than any other regressor.

However, we need to approach this with the brain of a scientist rather than the heart of a humanities student.

So, what exactly does “quite a few” mean in this context?

- Saintess, Seo Gyu, Dang Seo-rin, Cheon Yo-hwa, Sim Ah-ryeon, Lee Ha-yul, Yu Ji-won. Let's go.

How could this be? It’s only seven people at best!

Of course, depending on the cycle, you could add or subtract about five people from this list. But even then, it doesn’t exceed 15 people.

Most regressors, as I see it, are fundamentally mistaken. How do they expect to change the world with just a small elite group? Sure, changing the lives of 15 people is impressive. But in the end, that’s on the scale of a small or medium-sized business owner. Apple, for example, has over 150,000 employees. If you’re just scratching off winning human lottery tickets with guaranteed potential after a regression, that’s just basic. It’s like buying Bitcoin—‘a must-do.’

Ultimately, the crucial thing is the social system. You need to readjust the massive pool of human resources in society to be healthy enough to support a select few experts. This is what could truly be called the lifelong mission of a regressor.

“I’m going to invest heavily in the currently being developed by skilled DMs.”

After returning from the writer’s retreat at Dalmaji Hill, I immediately convened the Regressor Alliance.

Noh Do-hwa, whose life is basically one long night shift, received me with a face tired from exhaustion.

“DMs? You mean those casino hustlers who make fairies match them up with dream partners so they can fuck in their dreams...?”

Good grief. Is this really the perception held by the ruler of the Korean Peninsula?

Every time I honestly reveal Noh Do-hwa's ignorance and prejudice to you all, I feel my spine shiver and my cheekbones tremble. Please spread the word about Noh Do-hwa's shortcomings.

“Ahem. Please refrain from such defamation of the only industry currently growing in the market.”

“Has your brain rotted from dreaming about Romance of the Three Kingdoms a few too many times? Why the sudden frenzy to invest in DMs in the middle of the night...?”

I calmly explained the potential of the . Before long, Noh Do-hwa’s expression changed ever so slightly.

“...Hmm. So, if you strip away all the talk about DMs and Tutorial Fairies, it’s essentially a virtual reality world.”

“Exactly.”

“I see. And one can freely build up a wealth of experience defeating anomalies and traversing the void there... Hmm. That sounds feasible enough...”

[Isn’t there a big risk?]

It was the Saintess, who was participating in the video conference from Yongsan, who asked.

[The Ten Legs or the Meteor Shower really existed as anomalies in reality. If you transplant their data directly into virtual reality, it would basically make the entire other world vulnerable to the void, just like our reality. I think this would have the side effect of expanding the range of activities available to the anomalies. Besides, there’s a very good chance that new anomalies related to ‘virtual reality’ will be generated.]

“That’s true. There will 100 percent be side effects.” I nodded. “But the advantages far outweigh the resulting disadvantages. First, we must attempt it, and if the side effects become unmanageable, we can stop in the following cycles.”

With Warren Buffet's heart for Coca-Cola stocks, I decided to invest in the .

The very next day, we began managing the ‘risk’ the Saintess had pointed out. The most foolish risk of all is human risk—man-made disasters.

I summoned Dang Seo-rin and Cheon Yo-hwa to the café hideout 1,200 meters deep to discuss solving this human resource problem.

“Huh?”

“Ugh.”

The two arrived with light steps, but upon spotting each other, they openly frowned.

The air in the room froze. It was a battle of pride between mages representing White Magic and Black Magic, Cursed Song Incantation and Necromancy.

I intervened. “Stop fighting, you two.”

“Fighting? What do you mean, Undertaker? I don’t have the leisure to fight with people. If I do fight, and even if the opponent appears human, aren’t they probably an anomaly?”

“Aha, well. I heard that in Busan, people of all ages walk around wearing witch hats. I suspect that might be some sort of cosplay anomaly. You should be careful too, teacher!”

Don’t worry. This level of tension is just playful banter. If these two guild leaders were serious in their killing intent, turning someone into minced meat would prove to be no issue.

“Seriously, stop fighting. The personal DMs you two employ alone add up to 46. That’s too much. Are you planning to start your own novel platform?”

“Hey, she’s the one who―”

“Hold on. Sorry to cut you off, but let me speak first. I’m not here to judge right from wrong. I’m telling you that I desperately need the DMs you two have employed.”

“...Huh?”

Both Dang Seo-rin and Cheon Yo-hwa blinked.

Like Noh Do-hwa, the two quickly grasped the point when I calmly explained. The tense atmosphere where they seemed ready to fight bare-handed (and where Cheon Yo-hwa, a close combatant, would win) eased a bit.

“Dang Seo-rin, how many personal DMs do you really need to manage your dream?”

“Well...” Dang Seo-rin glanced at Cheon Yo-hwa out of the corner of her eye and said, “I think four would be enough.”

“Good. Yo-hwa, is four a little short for you too?”

“...Hmm. No, that should be sufficient. After all, my preferred DMs are already set, and the others are just peanuts for idle time.”

I nodded. “Once the starts running smoothly, talented individuals will undoubtedly emerge. Individuals you’d want to recruit as guild members.”

“Hmm.”

“Oh.”

“Naturally, competition between guilds to recruit these talents will intensify. So, we will implement a draft system, giving ‘priority’ to guilds that have exterminated more anomalies and voids in reality each year.”

“...!”

The light in their eyes changed once again. Earlier, they seemed to be accommodating because of ‘Undertaker's face,’ but now, they had the bold, clear demeanor of cold-blooded leaders.

“Currently, the National Road Management Corps is requesting guilds to submit reports on the extermination of anomalies and voids. But compliance isn’t great, is it?”

“Hmm, yes. It’s because it’s considered know-how. Honestly, I feel more comfortable giving it to you than the National Road Management Corps... We only report just enough to not offend them.”

“Thank you. But if reporting exterminations to the National Road Management Corps brings tangible benefits, it will be a different story.”

“...So we’ll get the first pick of talented rookies. Rookies who have been tested countless times in the dream simulation.”

“Exactly.”

Samcheon World and Baekwha Girls' High were the most proactive in exterminating voids among all the guilds. Naturally, they would be given priority in the draft.

“How about it? Does this provide enough reason and benefit to reduce the number of DMs?”

It did.

Once the two major guild leaders made the first concession, their subordinates followed suit. The medium and small guild leaders hurriedly reduced the number of personal DMs. The DMs who suddenly found themselves unemployed were re-employed by the National Road Management Corps and assigned to the .

The number of personnel was a staggering 120. All of them were skilled enough to be hired by guild leaders and had enough ‘social skills’ to sustain such a lifestyle.

It was a miracle, a perfect storm, gathering every top-tier talent that could be extracted from the Korean Peninsula.

“We will cover all personnel costs. Don’t worry about rent or anything. Consider the newly added DMs as subordinate employees, not fellow writers, and use them accordingly.”

“U-uh...”

Writer A, though bewildered, accepted my investment.

“Th-thank you. I never dreamed something like this would come my way...”

“If anyone dares to disrespect your authority as a manager, feel free to contact me. I will personally take care of it.”

“Huh?! N-no! I couldn’t possibly bother you with something like that...!”

But it happened.

Some DMs caused trouble, and I personally intervened with violence and threats to firmly establish the hierarchy among the DMs. Regardless of how successful they were before the apocalypse, Writer A was now the project leader.

Two years later.

Solid muscles and delicious flesh clung to the skeleton that had already been completed for the .

[Explore a kingdom on the brink of ruin and save humanity from the void!]

[Organized by the National Road Management Corps. A dream project created in collaboration with 36 major guilds, including Samcheon World and Baekwha Girls' High!]

[Anyone can freely enter the ‘Kingdom’ by consulting with the Tutorial Fairy.]

[Season 1 Raid Boss ‘Ten Legs’ Emerges!]

Numerous billboards were erected at the Dream Casino, and countless advertisements were posted on SG Net.

“What? What’s that?”

“One hundred thirty DMs participated in the production?”

“Wait, I was wondering where that DM disappeared off to. So they were making this.”

“You can dream with just the fairy and no DM? Won’t that make it less fun...?”

The dream simulation created by the writers’ dedication, the regressor’s experience, and the guild leaders’ assistance—

The launch of the ‘Kingdom.’

The public’s reaction to the kingdom was explosive.

- Anonymous: No lol the kingdom is fucking amazing lololol

└LiteraryGirl: Is this the DMs’ ‘true intentions’...? This is terrifying...

- OldManGoryeo: Seriously, no joke, if you’re an Awakener who’s only dreaming of the kingdom while taking sleeping pills, big thumbs up lolol

- Anonymous: No, if they had this ability, what the hell was missing from Korean game companies before the Void Arrival that they couldn’t make a GOTY title? If this had come out back then, it would have fucking destroyed all the other games!!

└Anonymous: ‘Tutorial Fairy’

└Anonymous: Ah.

Even Awakeners, those the frontline experts fighting anomalies in real life, acknowledged the ‘realism’ of the kingdom and were giving rave reviews.

Of course, they did. Who provided the data?

- Anonymous: Kingdom bastards! The Ten Legs appeared in the southwest beyond the mountains!! The Ten Legs is insane! If you don’t unite your armies to fight Ten Legs, you’re seriously fucked!!

└Anonymous: Yep~~ only the country bumpkins will die~ I’m safe in the royal capital~~

- Anonymous: Why does this unfamiliar medieval kingdom seem oddly familiar??

-dolLHOuse: The kingdom is on the verge of collapse, and it’s hilarious. But the funnier part is that it’s still better than our reality.

└Anonymous: Ah...

In the dream simulation, humanity hadn’t yet been destroyed by the void. It was just on the brink of collapse.

Even in this situation, the kingdom’s NPCs were wasting time arguing about who was right, whose house prices were safe, whether ambitious provincial leaders were suspicious, whether one was a pure human and others were filthy demi-humans, engaging in all sorts of political bullshit.

- Anonymous: Crazy kingdom bastards, even in this state, pure races and demi-humans are still terrorizing each other lol

- Anonymous: ‘There are already seven rebel armies in the provinces. No matter how strong the anomaly Ten Legs is, if we leave it alone, it’ll just exhaust the rebels.’ (Something actually said)

- Anonymous: Ah, I’ll never share a table with demi-humans, even if humanity goes extinct~~

Simulation participants, living in a world where all countries had already been destroyed by anomalies, were naturally fully immersed.

Kingdom NPCs lamented the politics of the nation, calling it the worst era. But the simulation participants knew it better than anyone. They knew that this was the last golden opportunity to save humanity.

- Anonymous: Breaking news: Ten Legs annihilated the southwest and is advancing north over the mountains

- Anonymous: Participated as a mercenary in the southwest county and got wiped out after two tentacle attacks. I’m taking a quick break to spread the word before dreaming again.

- Anonymous: This time, I plan to create a new character in the capital and join the fight. Good luck, everyone.

└LiteraryGirl: Don’t respawn just anywhere. There are nobles in the capital who seriously consider the Ten Legs a threat. They’re also running around trying to convince other nobles. Respawn as a citizen in the capital and lend them your strength.

└Anonymous: Oh, thanks, thanks

Even though it was a medieval fantasy kingdom they were experiencing for the first time, the simulation participants could clearly see the fate of this kingdom. They knew the future. They knew the ending and how to deal with it. In this sense, the people participating in the kingdom’s dream were practically ‘regressors.’

That’s right.

In the training ground of the virtual reality created by the DMs, people were rapidly leveling up as ‘pseudo-regressors.’ A system so complete that I didn’t need to personally mentor or tutor anyone.

“Teacher!”

After the first season of the kingdom ended, Cheon Yo-hwa came running, her face flushed red. “The new recruits this time... They’re incredible!”

Finally, the power of the Korean Peninsula began to grow at a terrifying speed.

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