Chapter 197
Chapter 197
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Translator: penny
Chapter: 197
Chapter Title: Investing in Dreams
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12
Now, you all might be expecting a twist like [But suddenly, a terrifying virtual reality simulation hypothesis monster appears and the world ends…!], and honestly, there were quite a few incidents like that, but that’s not the topic for today’s tale.
As I said, this episode will focus on ordinary people’s stories as much as possible. In other words, I want to cover the parts I’ve relatively neglected until now.
If a monster suddenly shows up here and steals the spotlight, then my Undertaker rampage footage won’t get filmed, right?
That’s a tale of valor I have to tell 365 days a year whether I like it or not, so let’s save it for later.
“You are all heroes who have advanced the world one step forward.”
I wasn’t some NBA star who’d have a congenital seizure if he didn’t get treated like the protagonist every game.
On the contrary, I was the kind of player who’d definitely thread the pass when it was time to dish it off.
And apparently, my “pass” felt pretty massive from the DMs’ perspective.
“Uh, uh….”
In front of the National Highway Management Corps headquarters, at Babel Tower Square.
The DMs had been invited up onto the platform erected there. And below in the square, all the team leader-level Management Corps members were lined up at attention.
“On behalf of Busan’s citizens who couldn’t make it to the square due to their busy lives, and everyone else, we dare to offer you our thanks.”
I bowed my head.
The moment I did, the team leaders’ backs bent in perfect unison.
Yoo Ji-won was naturally among them. In short, powers that wouldn’t bend for anyone were humbly greeting the DMs.
I straightened up right away, but the other Awakeners didn’t even dream of it. While I chatted with the DMs, the Awakeners had to show off their hip flexibility the whole time.
“No… Mr. Undertaker, you don’t have to go this far….”
“The [Kingdom Project] has achieved unprecedented success. We’re hearing rave reviews from guilds participating in this year’s rookie draft. Your project has raised the overall Awakener level on the Korean Peninsula by a full step.”
“Mm, uh….”
The DMs looked like they wanted to die from the pressure, but I didn’t trust their facial muscles on a personal level.
I trusted their life stories.
Money for those without it, friendship for those without friends, power for those without power, honor for those without honor.
That was the most basic principle of “reward.” Why else would soldiers love getting leave as a reward?
The DMs were the same. The people standing before me had made decent money before and still did.
But power and honor?
Had they ever experienced society’s elite lining up like gangsters greeting their boss, treating them with utmost respect?
No. And they never would.
This kind of “treatment” was a rare commodity only I could provide the DMs.
Naturally, that elevated the Undertaker’s position in their hearts to something uniquely valuable. The rewards solidified the bond between me and the DMs.
“And if they get addicted to the trickle-down power here, they won’t make good long-term talent.”
Once the event ended, I clapped.
The Awakeners who’d kept bowing until the end finally stood and joined in the applause. The DMs left the venue looking flustered, honored, embarrassed.
I could see relief on their faces that it was finally over, but from a Regressor’s view, this was just the beginning.
“How many will stick around, I wonder.”
Time passed.
A few DMs got utterly hooked on the perks of power and gradually drifted from the [Kingdom Project] to other pursuits.
They went around teaching ordinary people “how to become a successful DM,” and their office attendance dwindled.
They only handled a few high-paying personal gigs now and then. They distanced themselves from refining and enhancing the [Kingdom Project] world.
Just then, the DM profession exploded in popularity among ordinary folks, and these DMs with “achievements and fame” got snapped up as instructors overnight.
It didn’t take long for them to retire from active duty.
Out of eight, four dropped out.
From my perspective, it was a dropout, but to them, it was a wise path to success.
On the flip side, the DMs still grinding away at the company running kingdom simulations—the ones foolishly sticking with this losing game, still in the trenches—those were the passers in my eyes.
“Half remain.”
The loops continued.
This time, I approached Writer A first with the [Kingdom Project] proposal. He was stunned as he listened to my blueprint.
“This… Y-you’re entrusting me with such a massive project?”
“Yes. The National Highway Management Corps has already completed about 20% on our own.”
I handed Writer A some worldbuilding lore the four dropouts had created in the previous loop.
Writer A marveled as he flipped through it.
“…Amazing. This feels like it was written by pros…. Ah. But the main NPCs, key events, and fortuitous encounters are completely missing. Basically, just an intricate world setting….”
“Exactly. That’s why I’m seeking out people like you, who worked as writers when civilization hadn’t collapsed, with this proposal. Will you join us?”
“…Y-yes! I’d love to!”
Time passed.
Writer A didn’t need to bother recruiting colleagues himself. I brought him the ones who’d stuck it out at the company until the end in the last loop.
Then temptation came knocking.
-Hello. I came secretly on the word of the Three Thousand Worlds Guildmaster.
-Could you create a super account for the project we’re making now?
-We’re from Baekhwa Girls’ High School. Just one item for our student council president….
-We won’t skimp on compensation.
The compensation that wasn’t skimpy? Sixty billion won.
A fortune at a time when the [Kingdom Project] wasn’t finished yet, with no guarantee of its groundbreaking success.
Two out of four dropped out.
“Half of the half.”
The loops continued.
Only one colleague remained by Writer A’s side, who’d once started the project with seven.
But the workload wasn’t heavy.
“Ah…. Once we finish the main NPCs and key events, this’ll be done in no time.”
The National Highway Management Corps had already handled a ton.
“Hmm. The rest is honestly flawless…. No, really, almost perfect. Who made this?”
“Can’t disclose that.”
“Ah, I see…. I know a few writer friends. Thought it might be them….”
Time passed.
Starting from a more solid foundation than before, the [Kingdom Project]’s quality soared. Writer A polished and repolished his work from previous loops.
Revision across loop intervals.
In the meantime, one remaining colleague DM flooded his account with unreasonable gear and items.
He crossed the line as an operator, playing like he was the true protagonist of this world.
Why hadn’t he done it before but did now? Hard to say exactly.
One dropout.
“Wow! Th-this!”
Thus, the next loop. Loop 208.
Writer A’s hands shook as he received the [Kingdom Project] blueprint.
“This is incredible! Exactly what I’d always dreamed of…. No! Even better than mine…. H-how did the Management Corps manage this?!”
Temptations and traps abounded.
Tests no ordinary person could withstand, with no reason to even try.
Yet Writer A never abandoned the [Kingdom Project]. Never betrayed the players.
He was Regressor material.
“Writer.”
“This is just… Wah, uh. Yes?”
“I want to entrust this project to you.”
“W-what? For real? Wow, s-seriously! Thank you so much! I just read two pages and my hands are itching already…!”
“And I’m a Regressor.”
“…Pardon?”
13
We went for drinks.
Writer A, drunk on makgeolli, stared dazedly at the ceiling.
“No way. To think I made this with those guys….”
“Why not?”
“It’s too good. Fuck. Ah, s-sorry for the language….”
“It’s fine. We’re drinking. By the way, the other colleagues are secretly getting mystery donations every loop like a pension, so no worries about them. Thanks to their past-life merits, they’ll live hundreds of lives in leisure.”
“Thank you….”
Writer A’s expression was complex after hearing the full story. Proud, amazed, maybe even competitive.
“Writer, I revealed this because I have intense interest in the [Kingdom Project].”
“Uh…. I-interest…?”
“I want people to advance through this dream simulation called the [Kingdom Project].”
“Ah. Copy-pasting real monsters to boost everyone’s levels? That could work….”
“Yes. But that’s not all.”
I got to the point.
My true feelings, revealed after four loops. Regressors choose carefully who to open up to.
“As you know, our reality isn’t crushed just by the Void and monsters. There are absurd ideologies like Awakener supremacy too.”
“Ah, yes….”
“People get swept up because the Awakener-ordinary divide feels too close. I want to step back a bit, let them view things coldly, embrace others—from a distance.”
A question mark floated over Writer A’s head.
Great ideas, but why tell me now? his face said.
“Observing your own life from afar isn’t a distance you learn easily. But what if people could live multiple lives?”
“W-what do you mean…?”
“Implant brutal ideological conflicts into the [Kingdom Project] world.”
Writer A’s eyes widened.
“The kingdom has purebloods and sub-races. Escalate their clashes. Make our world’s racial or religious strife seem trivial by comparison. Spread intense hatred and loathing. Terrorism. Rebellion. Violence. Every evil.”
“Uh. Uh. What…?”
“So people dreaming in reality feel it. Ah, compared to the kingdom, our conflicts are nothing.”
“…….”
Writer A pursed his lips.
Intelligence and imagination, unmasked by drunkenness, exploded in his eyes.
“Uh…. B-but from the dreamers’ view, isn’t it just someone else’s story? Like, we hear white and black people fought in America—doesn’t feel personal.”
“Yes. Good point.”
I nodded.
“So they mustn’t know it’s a dream while dreaming.”
“……!”
“Previous loops ran like online MMORPGs. Now? Solo RPG. Participants fully ‘forget’ they were different people in reality.”
“Forgetting reality, truly becoming kingdom folk…?”
“Yes.”
Snap.
I snapped my fingers. The Tutorial Fairy peeked out from under the table.
“Eek!”
Writer A startled, but the fairy meant no harm. She just climbed onto my lap and sat like a docile cat.
“My dream is this.”
“…….”
“From now on, advertise that using the [Kingdom Project] lets you dream a full lifetime in one night. With fairy powers, ‘time acceleration’ in dreams. Live 70, 90 years in a dream.”
“A lifetime every sleep….”
“Yes. Irresistible to people. And we tell them:”
While you dream—in <Kingdom>—you won’t realize it’s a dream.
“But.”
After waking, you’ll ‘remember’ the life you lived in the dream.
“…Ah.”
“Each kingdom dream, people become sub-race terrorists, pureblood shopkeepers cursing them daily, slaves swinging pickaxes till death, noble ladies never hearing of ‘old slaves.’”
“…….”
“Collecting lives like that—terrorist, merchant, slave, noble—they’ll think from all angles. Won’t the world improve?”
“…….”
“Essentially, everyone becomes a Regressor like me. Writer, this is my dream. I want to invest my dream in yours.”
Writer A’s lips parted slightly.
“My kingdom, doing that….”
“Ho! Our memories aren’t that vivid!”
The Tutorial Fairy piped up from my lap.
“Human standards, it’s like recalling a decade ago! Hoee, human memory’s too unstable!”
“…….”
Writer A went silent. For a long time.
But his eyes whispered nonstop.
“I’ll do it. No, let me. If my work becomes someone’s dream, that’s the perfect writer’s end.”
However, Writer A added.
“…After hearing you, Mr. Undertaker, [Kingdom Project] doesn’t fit anymore. Needs a new title.”
“What title?”
“[Reincarnation Project].”
Writer A said.
“I want to invest my dream in yours too, Mr. Undertaker. A world where everyone reincarnates…. I’ll dedicate my life to crafting loved and hated realms.”
14
A short epilogue.
Tales of the [Reincarnation Project] are endless; I’ll share them slowly someday.
You’ve probably guessed why Awakener skills kept rising as early loops passed.
And why I built the canned hotel in loop 555 to train writers.
Right. Half the reason was to level up writers for later [Reincarnation Project] deployment.
(The other half? My pure desire for fun webnovels, of course.)
Setting that aside, focusing on Writer A, still ordinary now—.
“I want to live in my own kingdom too.”
One day, Writer A said that.
“Pardon?”
“No, just…. Everyone else lives kingdom lives daily, but the creator, me, stuck in reality…. Feels unfair.”
“Didn’t you say last time? As creator-operator, living there risks losing objectivity—dangerous.”
“Ah, right. So…. Um.”
Writer A hemmed and hawed.
“What if I prep an avatar in case I die?”
“Pardon?”
“Like, make an NPC. One mimicking my personality and thinking. If I die…. Mr. Undertaker, ask the fairies to add it to kingdom lore…. Ah! Not reincarnating with real memories as NPC. Just same personality, a separate kingdom citizen.”
Easy request anytime.
“Got it. But we’re guarding you tightly, so you won’t die easily.”
“Haha…. Still. If we meet next loop, tell me how my kingdom life ended.”
In my 1,000+ loops, Writer A met gruesome ends sometimes.
Then I’d log into the ‘kingdom’ to find his avatar.
Surprisingly—or not—his NPC, personality twin to reality Writer A, was a writer in the kingdom too.
We chatted briefly, but the NPC knew nothing of ‘reality.’
Born and raised in the kingdom, believing it the only world—a normal citizen.
By chance, I got a paper book the NPC published.
The novel read:
――――――――――――
…That world had no magic unlike ours.
Iron ships sailed seas, mysterious gears spun endlessly, iron shards from sticks stole lives, city spires always choked in acrid clouds and air.
No races there. Recalling how we slaughtered and retaliated for millennia over leg count, horns, snake skin—now that’s this world’s magic.
I’ve visited that magic-like world briefly and wish to tell you its tale….
――――――――――――
I chuckled.
“Indeed. Maybe my reality’s someone’s simulation too.”
Unlikely, though.
Who’d craft such an elaborate setup to loop one guy’s life 1,000 times?
After finishing the book from the bookstore, I checked the shelf genre label.
It was classified as:
<Fantasy>
-Investor. End.