Chapter 196 - The Investor V

10

Read enough regression stories, and you occasionally encounter a scenario like this.

-"Mage. Your true talent lies in the sword."

-"Impossible! I... born into a distinguished family of mages, and I was a swordsmanship genius all along?"

-"A muscle genius, too, as a bonus."

-"Hmm, you're saying what I just did was the 'Perfect Squat of a Forgotten Age'? But all I did was... sit down and stand up?"

The so-called 'My Kid Has Changed' Cliché.

Those gifted bastards who, in the previous run, never managed to bring their true abilities into full bloom because of prejudice, discrimination, poverty, and bad luck.

A regressor gives these supporting characters one-on-one personal training, allowing them to be reborn as truly capable people.

As a fully qualified regressor-slash-personal trainer myself, I had cultivated quite a few outstanding clients. In fact, I secretly prided myself on being better than any other regressor in this particular field.

But we need to approach this with a scientist's head rather than a humanities major's heart.

Now then. Precisely how many people does that phrase 'quite a few' actually mean?

-The Saintess, Seo Gyu, Dang Seorin, Cheon Yohwa, Sim Aryeon, Lee Hayul, Yu Jiwon. Let's go.

Good heavens. A grand total of seven!

Of course, depending on the run, that number could vary by five or so. But even then, it was still no more than fifteen.

In my opinion, most regressors are laboring under a serious misconception. How exactly do they intend to change the world with only a handful of elites?

Naturally, changing fifteen people's lives over the course of your own is an impressive achievement. But that's still only the scale of a small-business owner. Apple alone had more than 150,000 employees.

You go to all the trouble of regressing, then only scratch off human lottery tickets guaranteed to pay out? That's just the bare minimum. Like buying Bitcoin, it falls under 'things you obviously ought to do.'

Ultimately, what matters is society's systems.

Restructure society's vast pool of human resources into something healthy enough to support those few exceptionally capable individuals.

Now that truly deserves to be called a regressor's lifelong undertaking.

"I'm going all in on investing in <The Kingdom Project>, currently in development by a team of talented DMs."

After returning from the writers' shared residence on Dalmaji Hill, I immediately summoned the Regression Alliance.

Noh Doha, whose entire life was overtime, received me with a regal countenance steeped in exhaustion.

"DMs? Aren't those the casino panhandlers who collude with fairies so people can find their ideal partners in dreams and fuck them...?"

My God. So this was the current level of understanding of the ruler of the Korean Peninsula!

Honestly, every time I candidly expose Noh Doha's ignorance and prejudice to you like this, my teeth chatter and my cheekbones tremble. Please spread word of Noh Doha's shortcomings far and wide.

"Now, now. It's the only industry growing in today's market. Kindly refrain from such slander."

"Have a few dreams about Romance of the Three Kingdoms rotted your brain? Why are you suddenly making a fuss about investing in DMs in the middle of the night...?"

I calmly explained the potential of <The Kingdom Project>.

Before long, the look in Noh Doha's eyes began to change.

"... Oh? Strip away all this talk of DMs and tutorial fairies, and essentially it's a 'virtual-reality world'?"

"Exactly."

"I see. People could gain as much experience as they wanted beating the shit out of anomalies and exploring voids... Hmmm. That does sound promising..."

["Wouldn't the risks be considerable?"]

The Saintess, who was joining the video conference remotely from Yongsan, raised an objection.

["Tenlegs and Meteor Strike were anomalies that actually existed in reality. If you transfer all their data into virtual reality, that entire world will effectively be consumed by the void, just like ours. I think it would have the side effect of expanding the anomalies' sphere of activity. Quite apart from that, there's also a very high probability that new anomalies related to 'virtual reality' will emerge."]

"You're right about that. Side effects are one hundred percent guaranteed."

I nodded.

"But the advantages overwhelmingly outweigh the drawbacks those side effects would cause. We should try it regardless. If side effects emerge that we can't handle, it won't be too late to discontinue it in subsequent runs."

With Warren Buffett's passion for Coca-Cola stock in my heart, I took the plunge and invested in <The Kingdom Project>.

Starting the very next day, I set about managing the 'risks' the Saintess had identified.

The stupidest risk of all is human risk: man-made disaster.

I summoned Dang Seorin and Cheon Yohwa to a Depth of 1,200 meters in Café Hideout to tackle that particular problem.

"Huh?"

"Ugh."

Both arrived with cheerful, light steps, only to openly scowl the moment they spotted each other.

The air around us stirred. It was a clash of pride between mages representing white magic and black magic, Spell-Song Chanting and necromancy.

Standing between them, I spoke.

"Isn't it about time you two stopped fighting?"

"Fighting? Whatever do you mean, Undertaker? I don't have the leisure to fight people. If I were to fight someone, wouldn't that mean they were actually an anomaly, even if they looked human?"

"Ohhh. True. I hear there are people in Busan who wear witch hats regardless of age or gender. That does make me suspect a cosplay anomaly. You should be careful too, Teacher!"

Don't worry. This level of sniping was practically cute. Both were heads of colossal guilds who could pickle a human in brine without breaking a sweat if they genuinely felt murderous.

"That's exactly the kind of fighting I'm telling you to stop. Between you, you're currently employing forty-six personal DMs. That's excessive. Are you two planning to launch a fiction platform?"

"No, she started—"

"Wait. Sorry to interrupt, but hear me out first. I'm not trying to blindly assign blame here. What I'm trying to say is that I desperately need the DMs you two employ."

"... Huh?"

Both Dang Seorin and Cheon Yohwa blinked.

Just like Noh Doha, they quickly grasped my point once I calmly explained it.

The atmosphere, which had suggested they were ready to set aside their ranks and throw down, eased slightly. (In an actual duel, Cheon Yohwa, the melee build, would win.)

"Dang Seorin. How many personal DMs do you actually need to manage your dreams?"

"Well..."

She stole a sideways glance at Cheon Yohwa.

"I think four would be enough."

"Good. Yohwa, would four be a little too few for you?"

"... Hmm. Nooo. Honestly, that would be plenty. I already have my favorite DMs, and the rest are really just something to pass the time."

I nodded.

"Once <The Kingdom Project> gets properly underway, talented people are bound to distinguish themselves. People talented enough that you'd covet them as guild recruits."

"Hmm."

"Oh."

"Naturally, competition between guilds to recruit them will intensify. So I intend to implement a draft system, with 'priority picks' each year going to the guilds that have eliminated more anomalies and voids in reality."

"...!"

Their eyes changed once again. Until now, their attitude had been 'for the Undertaker's sake.' Now, the air of coolheaded organizational leaders was markedly stronger.

"The National Road Management Corps already asks each guild to submit data on the anomalies and voids they eliminate. But compliance is poor."

"Mm, yes. It's our know-how, after all. Honestly, I'd feel more comfortable giving it to you than to the Corps, Teacher... We just report enough to let the Corps save face."

"Thank you. But things will change if reporting your kills to the Corps brings tangible benefits."

"... You'd get first pick of talented newcomers. Newcomers tested countless times over years in dream simulations, no less."

"Exactly."

Three Thousand Worlds and Hundred Flowers Girls’ High School were also more active in eliminating voids than any other guild.

Naturally, they would receive priority in the draft.

"Well? Both of you. Isn't that enough justification and benefit to stop watching each other's moves and cut back on your DMs?"

It was.

Once the two leading guild leaders gave ground, those below them went without saying. Leaders of small and medium-sized guilds hurried to reduce their personal DM staffs.

The DMs suddenly buffeted by the bitter winds of unemployment were rehired by the National Road Management Corps and assigned to <The Kingdom Project>.

A staggering 120 people.

Every one of them was a writer with enough 'skill' to be hired by a guild leader, and at least the minimum 'social skills' needed to keep such a job.

It was a miraculous team fight, scraping together practically every last top-tier human resource the Korean Peninsula could offer, down to their very souls.

"We'll cover all personnel costs. Don't worry about rent or anything else. And treat the newly added DMs as your employees, not fellow writers. Put them to work."

"Uh, uhhh..."

Writer A accepted my investment in a daze.

"Th-thank you. I never dreamed anything like this would happen to me..."

"If anyone disregards your authority as manager, contact me at any time. I'll deal with them personally."

"Eek! N-no! I couldn't possibly trouble you with that too, Undertaker...!"

There were some.

A few DMs caused trouble, and I personally employed violence and threats to firmly establish the hierarchy among them. It didn't matter how successful they'd been before the apocalypse. Writer A was the project leader now.

Two years later.

<The Kingdom Project>, whose skeleton had already been complete, had acquired sturdy muscles and delicious flesh.

And so.

[Adventure through a kingdom in distress and save humanity's world from the void!]

[A dream project overseen by the National Road Management Corps and created in collaboration with 36 major guilds, including Three Thousand Worlds and Hundred Flowers Girls’ High School!]

[Anyone can freely enter 'Kingdom' by asking a tutorial fairy]

[Season 1 Raid Boss 'Tenlegs' Appears!]

Countless standing signs appeared at Dream Casino, and endless advertisements went up on SG Net.

"Huh? What's that?"

"A hundred and thirty DMs worked on it?"

"Oh, I wondered where this DM had disappeared to. So this is what they were making."

"You can dream with just a fairy, no DM? Wouldn't that make it less fun...?"

A dream simulation made by bringing together writers' dedication, a regressor's experience, and guild leaders' assistance.

'Kingdom' had launched.

11

The response to Kingdom was explosive.

-Anonymous: No seriously lmao fucking Kingdom is insane hahahaha

└BookishGirl: So this is what happens when DMs 'get serious'...? Terrifying...

-Goryeojang: for real no joke upvote if you're an awakened popping sleeping pills just to keep dreaming Kingdom lol

-Anonymous: Wait, if we had talent like this, what exactly were Korean game companies missing before the void arrived that they couldn't make a GOTY winner? If this had come out back then it would've absolutely fucking crushed every other game??

└Anonymous: 'Tutorial fairies'

└Anonymous: Oh

Even the awakened gave it rave reviews.

Even frontline professionals who fought anomalies in actual reality had to acknowledge Kingdom's 'realism.'

Of course they did. Who did they think had provided the data?

-Anonymous: You Kingdom MOTHERFUCKERS! Tenlegs has appeared in the southwest beyond the mountains!! That thing is fucking insane! If you don't unite your armies and take it down right now you're genuinely FUCKED!!

└Anonymous: Yeah suuure~~ Only provincial losers are gonna die anyway~ I live in the royal capital so I'm safe~~

-Anonymous: Why does this unfamiliar medieval kingdom feel so strangely familiar??

-dolLHOuse: Kingdom is hilarious because it's genuinely a doomed kingdom on the verge of collapse. What's even funnier is that it's still better than our reality.

└Anonymous: Oh...

In the dream simulation, humanity had not yet been destroyed by the void. It was merely on the brink.

Even in these circumstances, Kingdom's NPCs squandered their time on all manner of political maneuvering: who's right and who's wrong, property prices in the kingdom are safe, those ambitious provincials look suspicious, I'm a pure human and you're filthy beastfolk.

-Anonymous: These crazy Kingdom bastards have purebloods and demihumans carrying out terrorist attacks on each other even now lmao

-Anonymous: 'There are already seven bands of traitorous rebels running rampant in the provinces. However mighty this anomaly Tenlegs may be, if we leave it alone, it will only wear down the rebels anyway.' (an actual quote)

-Anonymous: Oh, humanity can go extinct, but I refuse to share a table with demihumans~~

For the simulation's participants, who lived in a world where anomalies had already wiped out every country, getting overly invested was inevitable.

Kingdom's NPCs lamented their country's politics and bitterly called it the worst of times. But the participants knew better than anyone.

This was the last golden window to save humanity.

-Anonymous: Breaking) Tenlegs has annihilated the southwest and is heading north over the mountains

-Anonymous: I joined the fighting as a mercenary in a southwestern county and got taken out by two tentacle hits. Woke up briefly to share the news, then I'm going back to dreaming.

-Anonymous: Planning to make a new character in the royal capital and join the fight this time. Good luck everyone.

└BookishGirl: Don't respawn just anywhere. There are specific nobles in the royal capital who take Tenlegs seriously as a threat. They're going around trying to persuade the other nobles right now. Set yourself up as a citizen of their noble district, then respawn there and lend them your support.

└Anonymous: Oh thanks thanks

It was a medieval fantasy kingdom they had never encountered before, but to the simulation's participants, its fate was crystal clear.

They could see the future.

Knowing the ending and taking action to deal with it. In that respect, every real person participating in Kingdom's dream was effectively a 'regressor.'

That's right.

In the virtual-reality training ground created by the DMs, people were rapidly leveling up as 'pseudo-regressors.'

A complete system that required neither my direct guidance nor my private tutoring.

"Teacher!"

After Kingdom's first season ended, Cheon Yohwa came rushing over, her face flushed.

"This batch of recruits... they're seriously incredible!"

At last, the Korean Peninsula's fighting strength began growing at a frightening pace.