Chapter 192
Chapter 192
-----------------------------------------------------------------
Translator: penny
Chapter: 192
Chapter Title: The Golden Age of Literature
-----------------------------------------------------------------
1
I feel sorry for not mentioning ordinary people much.
It's all because of this world where a pyramid class society is formed by awakening abilities.
In the old days, at least the rich passed down their wealth, but awakening abilities refuse even inheritance through DNA.
It's like a gacha game where luck explodes unpredictably, a total shitshow that can flop any moment.
So, what job do the majority of ordinary kids who don't hit the lottery aspire to these days?
[Job Preference Survey for Ages 10 and Under]
③ Large Guild Odd Jobs Worker - 10.2%
② National Highway Management Corps Caravan Member - 14.4%
① Writer – 26.8%
Thud-.
Surprisingly, among the little kids these days, the top dream job is none other than writer.
“Mom! I wanna be a writer when I grow up!”
“Writers are gods!”
It was the era of liberal arts……. No.
The golden age of literature.
2
Why did this literary boom suddenly arise? There was a very deep and subtle causal relationship hidden here.
It wasn't like this from the beginning.
On the Korean Peninsula, liberal arts were originally a shameful existence. Among them, creative writing departments were the epitome of pathetic.
This treatment flipped exactly starting from the 205th cycle.
Do you remember what happened in the 205th cycle?
――――――――――
♪♫*♪~Feels like walking in a dream~♪♫*♪
Welcome to our 『DREAM』 Casino, everyone
٩(♡ε♡ )۶
We sincerely welcome you!
◕‿◕)丿
――――――――――
That's right.
Dream Casino. The casino dealers (dream demons) who turn money into dreams officially started working in the Inunaki Tunnel in the 206th cycle.
People couldn't help but go wild for this miraculous casino.
“McDonald's! Definitely McDonald's! Make it so I can stuff myself with Quarter Pounders with Cheese and those soggy, salt-drenched french fries until I'm sick of them!”
“Hoe! That's 160 won!”
“Um, for me, I'd love a beautiful girl in my dream who only has eyes for me…….”
“Hoe! Specific character selection is 1,000 won, relationship settings with you are 2,000 won, starting from the base fee of 3,000 won!”
In the early days, people's wishes mostly focused on basic pleasures. Appetite and lust.
There was no distinction between awakeners and normals here. If they had money, they poured it all in; if not, they indulged as much as they could.
“Wow! In reality, all I can drink is shitty alcohol, but in dreams, I can guzzle the most delicious whiskeys to my heart's content!”
“There's someone in the dream!”
“Work's been really fun lately. Back then, I figured I'd die to some monster anyway, so what was the point of trying hard? But now it's different. Just thinking about rushing to the casino after work fills me with motivation.”
Even if they harbored immoral or unethical desires, it didn't matter.
It was just a dream, after all? Even the Tutorial Fairies providing the tastes of those dreams weren't exactly paragons of morality.
People indulged in dreams without caring about others' eyes, and the Korean Peninsula's economy, which had plummeted in labor productivity, miraculously revived.
At this point, people should have been happy forever—but of course, reality didn't work that way.
“The whiskey's starting to get old after a bit…….”
“My dream lover is great and all, but she feels a bit passive. I set how she'll react and what she'll say before I even dream it. It's good, really good, I love her, but it kinda feels like dating an AI……?”
“Thinking about it again, labor really is suffering. Why do humans have to work to eat?”
Humans are creatures incapable of satisfaction!
More precisely, even if they are satisfied, they quickly get used to it and start demanding the next thing, then the next after that—tragic animals.
In particular, the service provided by Dream Casino had one fatal flaw.
“It's great that the dream feels so real once I'm in it, but I have to input all the settings myself beforehand. It kinda kills the realism. The mood just dies…….”
The absence of chance.
For example, suppose someone wants to dream about: ‘Oversleeping and rushing to school, bumping into a beautiful girl (with strawberry jam toast in her mouth) at an alley corner, then “Kids, we have a transfer student today,” “You were such a total loser back then?!”’
(In Busan alone, 310 people actually requested this ultra-popular plot.)
At first, dreaming something like that would have been fun.
Experiencing firsthand a scenario they'd dismissed as mere fantasy would feel fresh.
But that plot absolutely required ‘chance.’
Happening to oversleep, happening to bump into someone, and happening to find out she's the transfer student—.
Only then does the romance truly make the heart race.
“But we can't just give the Tutorial Fairies free rein…….”
“Those things always generate Tutorial Dungeons no matter the dream content, forcing people to kill each other! Fuck, why do I have to do real-life simulations in my dreams when I'm already short on time to flirt with my dream girlfriend?”
“Hoe… I have no idea what you mean…….”
Honestly, from my perspective, it was none of my business.
‘People are full-bellied now.’
Bored because they have to input all the settings themselves?
Who cares? They can experience all sorts of desires unfulfilled in reality, right?
I even discussed this with No Do-ha once.
“There's no such thing as a perfect state in this world. Satisfy one complaint, and another will pop up. Young people these days can't appreciate the past and just gripe about the present. Tsk tsk.”
No Do-ha lowered his monocle and gave me a piercing look.
“You, do you have some disease where you croak if you don't shit-talk old folks periodically……?”
Anyway, I completely ignored the casino patrons' complaints. Treated them as the whining of the well-fed.
But not everyone thought like me.
While I dismissed it as ‘well-fed whining,’ someone else saw it as ‘a potential customer crying from hunger.’ In other words, an untapped market.
That's when the writers started moving.
3
For example, suppose you're an awakener from Busan who loves whiskey too much.
Even as an awakener, you're nothing special—just a lowly member of a mid-tier guild.
You labor hard every day, scrimping and saving every penny to visit Dream Casino three or four times a week.
But lately, you've got a problem.
‘The taste is good, but just going into a whiskey bar and pounding drinks nonstop isn't as fun as the first time…….’
In short, ennui.
You think about meeting a virtual lover in your dream like others do, but honestly, no interest. You just like whiskey.
‘Maybe cut back on drinking…… Huh?’
On your way to the casino, trudging along.
Your eyes catch a signboard that wasn't there last time.
――――――――――
[Cocktail Bar MORI (森) OPEN]
Location: Seoul Apgujeong Rodeo Station
Hours: 7 PM ~ 2 AM
Bartender Experience:
World Class Japan #1
World Bartending Championship Runner-up
――――――――――
Your eyes light up.
‘Cocktail bar? In Apgujeong Rodeo? Wait, why's it advertising in Busan?’
You love whiskey especially, but you don't hate cocktails. In fact, you got into whiskey through cocktails.
Interest piqued, you approach the promoter timidly standing behind the signboard.
“Excuse me.”
“Y-Yes?”
“This cocktail bar. Is it operating in Seoul right now?”
“Uh, well…….”
The promoter didn't seem like one—extremely timid-looking. Clothes shabby, like they hadn't eaten well.
Greasy bangs from days unwashed, they spoke in a tiny, bug-crawling voice.
“This is…… a setting…….”
“Pardon?”
“This cocktail bar just opened, and, well, it's a setting I made myself. A dream setting. If you buy my dream, I take a small commission and invite you to the cocktail bar I've set up…….”
Voice soft, words jumbled, but you grasp the point.
“Ah. So it's not a real place in reality, but a shop you made in a dream? I have to pay to enter?”
“Yes. I used to be a writer. That's why I'm good at this. It'll be really good…….”
A writer.
Not exactly trustworthy. In this post-civilization world, it's a job with zero productivity.
(Even when civilization was intact, it wasn't highly productive.)
“What specifically makes it good? Honestly, no reason to pay. My custom whiskey bar is super luxurious?”
“S-Spoiler…….”
“Pardon?”
“I can't tell you what's different—it's a spoiler……. Sorry…….”
At this point, most people would think, ‘Is this guy treating me like a sucker?’ and walk away.
But you're different. More precisely, you were the first to react differently, making you the example for this episode.
You feel intrigued.
“How much?”
“Y-Yes?”
“The cocktail bar. How much to enter?”
“J-Just 500 won! Grand opening special! 500 won and I'll invite you……!”
Not cheap, but affordable for an awakener like you.
“Here.”
“Aah! Th-Thank you! Sir! You'll be blessed! I swear, no regrets, I'll take good care of you……!”
He looked more beggar than writer, but anyway, you hand over 500 won.
Then the writer dashes to the fairy guarding the casino entrance.
“Customer! A customer came! Quick, let them in as promised……!”
“Hoe? No way, there really was a sucker who fell for that beggar bullshit?”
“You promised! Hurry!”
“Hoe. The world sure is wondrous.”
Their conversation makes you a bit uneasy, but water's spilled.
‘Whatever. If it's weird, just think of it as charity to a beggar.’
You follow the dream demon into the sleep room and lie on the bed.
Normally, you'd specify to the dream demon: what kind of dream, whiskey bar atmosphere, tastes, etc.
But this time, the writer cuts in.
“Just sleep like this…….”
“Pardon?”
“You're visiting the shop I'm promoting! No need for you to specify. Ah, unless you want to change your looks or status…….”
“Nah, I always dream as myself.”
“Th-Then just sleep…….”
And what should have been ‘you and the fairy’ chatting settings becomes ‘writer and fairy’ whispering secretly.
‘Definitely ominous.’
But what can you do? Already in bed.
You suppress your anxiety, listen to the dream demon's lullaby—and
Next moment, you open your eyes on a street near Apgujeong Rodeo Station.
“Oh?”
A somewhat secluded alley.
Cars wait at signals on the main road ahead. Pre-apocalypse Seoul scenery.
Turn your head—there's a small sign on a shop.
[MORI 森]
Probably the cocktail bar the writer mentioned.
‘The dream vibe seems decent?’
Feeling a spark of expectation, you open the door.
Inside is cramped, barely fitting 10 people. A local cocktail bar, more common in Japan than Korea.
The bartender, organizing bottles, turns and greets.
“Irasshaimase!”
“Uh?”
A Japanese person?
That instinctive foreigner-phobia buried in every Korean's DNA kicks in.
As you hesitate, the bartender sets down the bottle and smiles faintly.
“Come on in. To the back.”
Awkward Korean pronunciation.
You carefully control your expression and gestures to avoid rudeness and head inside.
“Sorry. I don't speak Japanese…… Are you Japanese?”
“Y-Yes. That's right. Studying Korean hard! Kimchi! Son Heung-min! Daisuki!”
“Ah……. Your Korean's really good.”
“Thank you!”
Luckily, you're the only customer. Would've been embarrassing otherwise.
Above all, alcohol's great because, like music, it's a universal language. Mozart sounds the same in Austria or China; liquor names cross borders.
“Godfather first?”
“God-father. Hai, wakari mashita!”
Soon, he mixes and hands over a cocktail.
You bring the glass to your lips.
‘…Tasty?’
The taste was good.
If you left it all to the Tutorial Fairy, Godfather would taste like Midori Sour—total mess—so you had to specify every flavor beforehand.
But not now.
It tasted like a properly made cocktail, and even if not your absolute favorite style, it was still enjoyable.
Just like—
‘Visiting a real cocktail bar I didn't know about.’
You look around.
First time in such a cramped cocktail bar. Korean places that mixed good cocktails were usually spacious.
Interior. Lighting. Bartender's nationality.
Everything felt novel.
“The drinks are really good.”
“Oh, really? Thank you.”
“Can you do a Manhattan too?”
“Man-hattan! Customer, you like these, huh.”
“Yeah. Love whiskey…….”
Under the dim lights, natural banter flows between drinker and bartender.
Glasses and snack plates empty fast. You're drinking faster than usual, but no burden.
“So how'd you end up in Korea, bartender? Japan better for business, no?”
“Actually, my wife's Korean…….”
“Ah!”
“Mother-in-law opposed the marriage unless I learned Korean and lived in Korea. Two conditions.”
“Wow. So you learned Korean and opened here? Must really love your wife.”
“Yes! Love her! A lot!”
Stories you didn't know.
A shop you didn't know.
People you didn't know.
‘Yeah.’
You drain your glass, laugh with the bartender, forget you're dreaming, get utterly drunk.
‘This. This is what a bar is.’
Next day, you revisit Mori. Again, you monopolize the bartender.
Day after, two customers—your guildmates.
A month later.
‘Mori’ is packed.