Capsule (1)
The next day, Gaon’s face was bright as he headed up to Seoul. His father had deposited 5 million won separately, telling him to buy coins with Gaon’s share. Unexpectedly, a huge sum amounting to no less than 11 million won had come into his hands.
‘Now what’s left is purchasing a capsule and finding a room big enough to fit the capsule.’
Of the two, the first thing he had to do was find a spacious room that could fit the capsule.
‘I’ll buy the coins later.’
When he thought about the capsule, he couldn’t afford to buy coins.
The coin price rose about fifteen days after Another Mundus, which had been awash in negative reviews at launch, began its reversal into a commercial hit. He remembered that the stock price had risen after that as well.
Gaon, having come up to Seoul, immediately went looking for a room. He had looked at a few places near his school on a real estate site the night before, so he only needed to check those.
He liked the third room he toured. Though it was a studio, perhaps because it was a semi-basement, the deposit was only 2 million won, and he liked that it was 1.5 times larger than other studios.
It was quite far from school, but being a residential area around a small park, the quietness also played a part in his decision.
It wasn’t too far from the subway station, so there had been a steady stream of visitors looking at it, but the timing worked out and he decided quickly.
He didn’t have much luggage anyway, and it came furnished with the basics like the studios near school, so he had no complaints about living there.
‘Now I have to buy the capsule…’
Seiviewer Company had been selling dedicated capsules for the newly launching ‘Another Mundus’ since half a month ago. Currently, there was only one type of capsule for sale—the standard capsule—and as he had confirmed in his prophetic dream, the price was 12 million won.
As was revealed later, it was equipped with AI, and the production cost was more than double that, but they sold it at that price to increase the number of users.
He had 9 million won left, but he couldn’t spend it all. He needed the monthly account fee of 300,000 won, and since he planned to go hard until the semester started, he needed living expenses including rent and food.
Gaon unpacked his things simply and first connected his laptop to search used marketplace sites. As expected, he couldn’t see any Another Mundus dedicated capsules listed for sale.
‘Damn! If only I could buy a used capsule like in the prophetic dream.’
There was no way a used capsule would appear before the game was even released. Even if someone changed their mind, it would clearly be close to the selling price.
Then he had to figure out a way to make up the remaining 3 million won in a short period.
‘Did I waste half a month for nothing building up my body?’
If he had done some physical part-time work during that time, it would have helped a lot.
Then something that had happened in his prophetic dream suddenly came to mind.
‘That’s right! I just need to get that capsule!’
A way to acquire a used capsule came to mind.
‘The prophetic dream really is the best!’
He had learned that information from the prophetic dream as well.
At Company S’s capsule factory in Pyeongtaek, Korea.
The factory manager overseeing the production lines for Another Mundus dedicated capsules felt his head throbbing upon hearing the department head’s report.
“Seiviewer is sending a large number of inspectors including their development team to examine the premium-grade capsules produced so far one by one?”
“Yes. Looking at the official document they sent, there are as many as 300 inspectors in charge of capsule inspection alone, and it includes almost all the famous technicians who have set foot here.”
“I’m going crazy.”
“They’ll definitely catch that we siphoned off parts and Rethein separately to make extra capsules. We managed to divert the eyes of those who supervised the entire production process until now, but if that many people investigate, they’ll inevitably discover the existence of the capsules we additionally produced by siphoning off minute amounts of Rethein.”
The premium-grade capsules were equipped with cutting-edge AI, but Rethein was the most important.
“Understood for now.”
The factory manager called the group secretariat directly from that spot and hung up a short while later with a somewhat relieved expression.
“What did they say?”
“It seems those above already knew and held an emergency meeting.”
“I see.”
“They seem to have judged that if this matter is handled poorly, it will become bigger than expected. If capsule production management is found to be inadequate, the country in question is expelled from the consortium entirely. At a time when the Chairman’s third son has been arrested for drug and sexual assault charges and is expected to receive at least a few years in prison, if this gets added on top, our company will suffer a blow so severe that we won’t be able to do business in Korea anymore. The Chairman himself, who directly ordered this matter, seems to be extremely nervous as well. They’ve abandoned the capsules.”
At the factory manager’s words, the department head’s face brightened considerably. If this matter had gone wrong, he would have had to resign as well.
“Then are we scrapping them?”
“Can we extract the Rethein from the capsules again?”
Rethein was a new material that existed in a gaseous state at room temperature, and it was the core material of the special capsule.
Rethein was an innovative new material capable of efficiently connecting human nerves with the capsule’s electrical signals through its own waves.
As a new material that had appeared for the first time in the world, countless methods were attempted to analyze it and ultimately replicate it, but none of the scientists or technicians at Company S, which prided itself on being the best in the world, could even analyze it.
“It is possible, but because it has already been activated during the process of checking its function, perfectly extracting it is difficult. We also lack the technical capability for that.”
“With the extracted amount, can we match the Rethein levels of the remaining capsules?”
“Yes. There was some leeway from the beginning, so that is possible.”
“Extract as much as possible and supplement the remaining capsules with it.”
“Then what should we do with that capsule?”
“We should dispose of it, just in case.”
“But the level of the built-in AI and the fact that some Rethein remains, even if only a minute amount, is a bit of a waste.”
“Can we safely remove the AI components? It’s designed to break the moment you detach it once installed. And you said the amount of Rethein is minute? What’s the point of deliberately breaking something that just needs to be scrapped?”
At the words of the factory manager, who belonged to a generation that had never played games using capsules, the department head, who had at least played some games, reluctantly nodded.
‘True. It’s better to clean these things up neatly.’
Though he was a technician by trade and inwardly wanted to keep the capsule to study the new material called Rethein, seeing how meticulous Seiviewer Company was, it was far too dangerous.
“Understood. I will dispose of it myself.”
And so, Company S’s plan to secretly produce the special capsule was completely scrapped.
But there were two facts the two men didn’t know.
One was that the Chairman’s third son, who was currently arrested and in detention, had used his status to secretly install a smuggled semi-supercomputer-class AI into the capsule that had been ordered to be scrapped.
He had tested the operation of the capsule he would use right before his arrest and been greatly satisfied, but because he was taken to a detention center, he could no longer see that capsule.
And the other was that someone knew of the existence of the capsule that the two men had hurriedly sent to an industrial waste site to dispose of, meaning there was a possibility it wouldn’t be scrapped.
“Is this the place?”
Gaon found the waste disposal site located deep in the mountains, far from Pyeongtaek city, on the afternoon three days before Another Mundus’s launch.
He had rented a truck to come all the way to this sparsely populated place for a specific reason.
‘This is exactly where the owner of that post acquired the capsule!’
Around the time Gaon started Another Mundus later than others in his prophetic dream, he had gone through a process of collecting data to the best of his ability before playing briefly.
At that time, a post that had recorded the highest views and comments on a site called Games Info, frequently visited by Another Mundus players, caught his interest. It was an old post that had gone up about a month after launch.
That post was written by a user called ‘Arang,’ who had considerable recognition on Games Info, and contained an analysis of the authenticity of a previous post that had appeared and then disappeared, along with his own claims.
The author of the post that Arang took issue with worked at a waste disposal site in Pyeongtaek; one day, an Another Mundus dedicated capsule came in, and on a whim he checked it and it worked, so he started the game, or so he said.
But he had boasted that the capsule he was using didn’t look like the standard capsule that Seiviewer Company was the only one selling at the time, but rather a capsule equipped with more advanced functions, and the user called Arang had analyzed the authenticity of that post.
The capsule mentioned in the post that caught Arang’s interest, unlike the standard model, had cutting-edge functions such as an automatic nutrient supply device and an automatic waste disposal device, and the interior was said to be so comfortable that it could be used in place of a bed.
Pyeongtaek was the location of Company S’s capsule factory, the only one in Korea producing Another Mundus dedicated capsules, and most importantly, the post boasting about the capsule had disappeared after only a few days.
People thought that user had posted it as a joke to get attention, but Arang thought differently.
He pointed out that on the very day that post went up, the detailed functions of the premium-grade capsule had not yet been revealed even by that time.
The detailed specifications of the premium-grade capsule were announced on the Seiviewer homepage several days after that post went up, and he confirmed that the functions mentioned in that post were exactly the ones equipped.
So Arang believed the contents of that post were true, and many people supported his opinion, but because that user never logged in again and there was no clear evidence such as photos, it eventually fizzled out.
Gaon had come here to acquire the capsule mentioned in that post.
‘He said he acquired it right after launch, so I don’t know if I can get it now.’
Gaon first found the container box building used as the waste center’s office.
“What brings you here?”
When he entered the office, a woman in her thirties who appeared to be an accountant asked, and there was no one else inside besides her.
“Is the owner perhaps here?”
“No. He went to a client. What is this about?”
“I came to purchase a game capsule.”
“Ah! You mean the one for those augmented reality games?”
The existence of dedicated capsules for virtual reality games was already spreading so quickly that even ordinary people knew about them.
“Yes. A friend who recommended this place told me I might be able to get one here.”
“I see. Please wait a moment.”
Unexpectedly, the accountant showed no sign of annoyance at Gaon’s words, and headed toward the prefabricated warehouse as if to check.
Shortly after, hearing a voice calling him, Gaon hurriedly went outside to see a young man in slovenly work clothes who appeared to be in his early thirties talking with the accountant.
“You came to get a capsule?”
“That’s correct.”
He felt resistance toward the person speaking casually to him so abruptly, but since he was the one in need, he answered like a student.
“It’s rare for someone to come all the way here to get one, but you’re lucky. There’s something that came in yesterday, and it’s in such good condition that I thought I’d use it myself since it would be a waste to scrap it. It’s Company S’s product, so you can trust the quality.”
“How much would I need to give you?”
Gaon had a hunch that the capsule this man was talking about was the one that had become a hot topic on Games Info in his prophetic dream, so he impatiently asked about the price first.
At Gaon’s words, the young man looked toward the woman. She was apparently the one in charge.
“Can you transport it yourself?”
“Yes. Just in case, I drove my father’s truck here.”
“Mr. Gihun, did you check the capsule’s condition?”
“Yeah. At least the power comes on. Well, I haven’t actually tried connecting to a game……”
“Then how much should we ask for?”
Both of them seemed at a loss because they didn’t know the capsule’s price well.
“Let’s first check if it works properly.”
Before even checking the capsule’s price, the young man led Gaon to a container box behind the office.