Chapter 123
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The Dream Merchant III
Shin Noah
"But even before we could dig the first shovel for the revolution, we were caught by the collar by that heinous reactionary called the Funeral Director...."
"Hweeek. Tears, it's tears...."
Slump.
The fairies' bodies went limp.
To clarify once more, fairies were bizarre creatures that openly defied human physics.
It wasn't simply that they drooped their shoulders like humans—their very bodies melted away slimily and stuck flat to the ground.
"Why must the attempts of those who dream of world revolution always end in such wretchedness?"
"Failure, yet another failure...."
"Though we abandoned wealth and honor the moment we left our homeland, seeing all the revolution's flower seeds turn to ash... even I am growing weary of this wretched state...."
Dark clouds began to gather over the fairies' slime bodies.
Hmm.
There were more than a few points where I wanted to interject, but first, I needed to address the crucial misunderstanding.
"Hey. Since I really can't understand, let me ask just one thing."
"Hweh...?"
"Why am I a reactionary?"
Blink, blink.
The fairies tilted their heads.
"Well, you caused chaos at Busan Station and wreaked havoc at Baekhwa Girls' High School, so naturally you're our enemy. And our enemy is the enemy of the revolution."
"That dichotomous thinking is certainly fitting for those who've thrown themselves into revolution, but thinking about it from the exact opposite perspective—didn't I actually help you?"
"Hwek?"
In this moment, I felt what they call the 'kill angle.'
One could also say I felt infinite possibility.
The material of the first sword humanity ever created was not stone, but the tongue. I swung my formless blade.
"At Busan Station, you fairies were the ones who oppressed humans first, so shouldn't you be thanking me for stopping you before you committed atrocities? Right?"
"...Is that so?"
"Of course. And at Baekhwa Girls' High School, I drove back Mugan and the Fairy Lord perished. Thanks to that, you were freed from your shackles too. Wouldn't you say I'm practically your liberator?"
"...."
"...."
The fairies looked at each other.
"Hweh?"
"Now that you mention it, that sounds plausible...?"
"If self-help is impossible, then seeking salvation from others. As revolutionary methodology, that can be acknowledged."
"But isn't that simply accepting yet another oppressor?"
Whisper, whisper.
Suddenly a revolutionary debate broke out. For revolutionists, argument was a kind of Colosseum. For the defeated, only purges awaited. I too jumped into the debate with great fervor.
"No, that's not it. After I subjugated Mugan, did I try to rule over you fairies? I left you alone."
"Hweh."
In truth, I had left them alone thinking they'd been subjugated along with Mugan, but before the great cause of revolution, such trivial details didn't matter. Only the linear development of history was important.
"I didn't lay a finger on you even when you gathered like this and built a casino. How could someone like me be a reactionary or an oppressor?"
"Certainly...."
"That makes... sense!"
"Wait! Then why did you just smash our casino with your sword earlier?"
It was a sharp question, but far too weak to damage my brazen face.
"That's because you kidnapped our management team members first."
"Hwek, kidnapping? We would never...."
"Above all, no matter how much the ends justify the means, how is running an illegal gambling den like this befitting a revolutionary army? Why not just sell drugs while you're at it? A truly splendid mafia gang cartel has graced us with its presence."
"Hweeeek...."
"Then... are you truly our race's savior, Funeral Director?"
Sparkle, sparkle.
The fairies looked up at me with glistening eyes. Doubt. Expectation. This gaze, mixing all emotions together, proved that now was the time to deliver the decisive blow.
I smiled with the utmost benevolence.
"'You'? Stop with such hurtful address, comrades. Though we may have been born on different dates, are we not all revolutionary comrades who have sworn to die together?"
"Hwooooh!"
"Comrade Funeral Director...!"
The fairies shot up.
"This can't be! We've been misunderstanding Comrade Funeral Director's true feelings all this time!"
"Now that I hear it, not a single word is wrong! Our comrade eliminated the Fairy Lord and that loathsome master, and afterward demanded nothing from us!"
"Liberator!"
"Torch of freedom! Our savior!"
"Ah, Révolution! The guide who leads the ignorant masses from the front! Comrade Funeral Director is truly the avant-garde of this world!"
It was finished.
Why hide it? From this very moment, I used the subjugation of Mugan as my pretext and rose to become the fairies' General Secretary.
This status of mine was exactly the driving force that allowed me to mobilize fairies on a large scale when I established the 'Canned Hotel' for training writers in the 560th iteration.
"But however much this was an accident caused by mutual misunderstanding, I am sorry for destroying our comrades' hideout."
"It's fine, Comrade Funeral Director!"
"We are the ones who should be sorry for luring your subordinates and dragging them to the baccarat table!"
"Hmm. No, no. Knowing how noble your hearts are in thinking of the revolution, I cannot simply pretend I didn't see it. So I was thinking...."
I smiled broadly.
"If you truly want to complete the revolution, you shouldn't just hang around this backwater village. You need to go up to the city. How about it, comrades? Won't you join me and get a taste of city life?"
"...Hweh?"
5
One month later.
A splendid banner was hung at the entrance of the Inunaki Tunnel, which had been pierced through the waters off Busan.
[Cafe Hideout Event!]
[New Entertainment Facility 'Dream Casino' Now Open!]
[A great pleasure hall operated by dream demons! Welcome to Mongyu Dowondo (Dream wandering in the peach blossom path)!]
It was an era where one could rightly call it the age of advertising. Naturally, simply hanging a banner wouldn't be enough to appeal to customers.
"Huh? What's this?"
"Were there billboards like this too...?"
The first ever 'advertisement' was posted on SG Net. Whether surfing the website or posting articles, an advertisement for 'Dream Casino' kept blinking on one side of the screen.
It was virtually a monopoly advertisement.
Those who clicked on the advertisement were gifted 100 coins for the first time only. Also, while it might be less fun than visiting the casino in person, an 'Internet Casino' was newly established so people could enjoy simple games online.
Of course, this was merely a small diversion for passing time. One could call it a kind of bait product.
This way, people would eventually have no choice but to visit out of curiosity. That is, the 'real casino' established in Busan.
And that wasn't all.
"Mr. Funeral Director, do we really have to go this far?"
"Trust me. Saintess. This casino business will definitely be a huge hit."
"...Alright."
The Saintess sighed but reluctantly followed my lead.
Soon, a constellation message was delivered to all Awakened active on the Korean Peninsula.
[The 'Dream Demon of the Great Pleasure Hall' manages the casino.]
That's right.
The debut of a new constellation!
Previously, when I created the 'Library Society Monster Dictionary' bulletin board, I had fabricated a new constellation called 'Librarian of the Great Library.' And I left it under Sim Ar-yeon's management.
This time too, as I established a casino in the Inunaki Tunnel, I had forged a constellation called 'Dream Demon of the Great Pleasure Hall.'
[The 'Dream Demon of the Great Pleasure Hall' is the ruler who commands all fairies.]
[The 'Dream Demon of the Great Pleasure Hall' wishes for everyone to become intoxicated in dreams. Play. That is the way to praise and extol the 'Dream Demon of the Great Pleasure Hall.']
[The deeper your faith in the 'Dream Demon of the Great Pleasure Hall,' the more diverse the types of play you can enjoy at the casino will become.]
Librarian of the Great Library. Dream Demon of the Great Pleasure Hall.
Slowly but surely, 'SG Net'—or rather, 'Constellation Net'—was expanding its scale befitting its name.
The constellations that had merely borrowed names from historical figures of the past were beginning to take on substance and content, approaching the Awakened.
No Do-ha, who had heard my plan in advance, furrowed her brow.
"Funeral Director Awakened. Is there really a reason we must proceed with this casino business? No matter that only 'time' and 'dreams' are the goods exchanged at the casino, a casino is still a casino. Won't some negative influences arise...?"
"They will arise."
I didn't deny it.
"Some Awakened may become addicted to gambling. As a result, they might pawn off time equivalent to their entire lives to the fairies."
"And yet you still...?"
"And yet, we must proceed. It's not simply because there are too few entertainment facilities in today's world. Chief Management Officer No Do-ha. Look at this."
"Hmm...?"
I lifted up a transparent box. Inside the glass case, coin-like objects were lined up in rows.
Casino chips.
"We've finally discovered it. What does this look like to you, Chief Management Officer?"
"Well... aren't they casino chips?"
"Yes. It's money."
Chatter.
I grabbed a handful of casino chips and dropped them on the table.
"It's currency. It's legal tender. Chief Management Officer. Think about it. If we succeed with Dream Casino, we can finally circulate 'money' with guaranteed safety even in this accursed end of the century."
"...!"
No Do-ha's eyes widened behind her glasses.
Our gazes sparked against each other like electricity.
"Until now, we could barely maintain exchange vouchers in extremely limited ways, with food as collateral at best. But this is different. Fairy coins, the casino chips usable at Dream Casino, can literally exchange 'any product' to people."
"In dreams...."
"Yes, though they are dreams. The dreams one can set for themselves are no different from reality. And look at the final prize. With ten billion coins, one can turn all those dreams into perfect lucid dreams. With a hundred billion coins? One can even control time within the dream."
"Ah. Aha...."
"In reality, those who obtain ten billion or a hundred billion coins will be extremely few. But it doesn't matter. Currency is originally nothing more than illusion, fantasy, and eerie things. But if there's a point that differentiates it from an individual's mere delusion—"
"A dream that not just one person but all humans wish to share... and therefore a fantasy that has come to bear weight equal to physical matter in reality...."
"Exactly."
"Hmm. Literally Dream Casino. A game of dream demons, is it...."
No Do-ha picked up the casino chips I had dropped on the desk with her slender fingers.
"Good...."
Her monocle sparkled. A breath flowed from her slightly parted lips.
"Neither the gold standard, nor petrodollar, nor Bitcoin... in other words, a 'dream standard'.... Aha. Currency that began as the dream of civilization from the beginning, has finally returned to its original form at the end. What a paradox...."
"What do you think?"
"Hmm...."
No Do-ha adjusted her monocle. Then she stared straight at me.
"You really are you...."
"Excuse me?"
"I mean this is like you. This is ultimately an evolved form of your ability, isn't it? Time Sealing or whatever...."
"...."
"I know that you evaluate your Time Sealing not as an ability but as a curse. But from my perspective, you too are a kind of dream demon. Funeral Director Awakened. And you could be evaluated as having just pulled in dream demons who will become your subordinates and built your power even more strongly...."
No Do-ha pressed down on the casino chip with her fingertip.
"I've heard there are multiple routes for an Awakened to develop their ability. Then this time, haven't you grown stronger by subjugating monsters? Hmm, congratulations. What do you call this? Ability upgrade...?"
"I merely infinitely repeat a single day that actually existed. The fairies' dreams are nothing more than simulations. No matter how much the fairies exert their abilities, they cannot calculate all the variables that exist in reality to create dreams."
I too looked at No Do-ha.
We probed each other's gazes.
"Chief Artisan No Do-ha. Just as the sword you created—Doha—was something the Alienated God Mugan could not calculate."
"...."
"I will face reality. As I have until now. And will continue to, forever."
Silence descended.
With a thoughtful hum, No Do-ha nodded.
"...Very well. Then there's nothing to worry about. This is a damn fine plan, so let's proceed with the currency reform immediately...."
That was the highest praise No Do-ha as a person could offer.
"Ah, well then. What shall we name this new key currency to be circulated in our world? Fairy Coin...?"
"No. I considered the name Monghwa (Dream Currency), but I think it would be better to just call it 'Won' in general."
"Hoh? And why is that...?"
"Because it will be more convenient in many ways to evoke familiarity in people."
I picked up the casino chip... no.
The money that would become the currency of the new world, and flicked it to No Do-ha.
No Do-ha deftly caught my money.
"In this circular world that ceaselessly repeats, it is Won (圓) because it is a dream that flows. Because it is currency that feeds on human desires and dreams, it is Won (願). And because it will become the object of curses and resentment to that extent, it is Won (怨). Coincidentally, both Japan and China also use Won (元) and Won (円). It can be interpreted either way. Originally, powerful curses must bear multiple names to hide themselves."
"Hmm... Well."
No Do-ha smiled her usual twisted smile and put the money in her pocket.
"Not bad. I'll leave the curse aspect to you since that's your specialty, Funeral Director Awakened...."
6
There is an afterword.
Before long, the National Road Management Bureau came to perform the role of a 'bank' as well.
And we supplied 9 billion won worth of 'Won currency' free of charge to influential guilds in various cities. With no interest whatsoever.
When guild leaders visited Busan, they each used the casino. And they left excellent reviews on both reality and SG Net.
-[Three Thousand] Witch Judge: It was a midsummer night's dream. How long has it been since I tasted such a high-end omakase restaurant? A glass of wine. A warm partner. A time when I could newly realize the truth that life is sufficient with just that... Though it couldn't be captured in photographs, isn't that also a kind of beauty? Today's quote: Moment, stop. You are truly beautiful.
-[Baekhwa] 7th Year High Schooler: Totally recommended!! I was able to enjoy a normal school life! I achieved my bucket list of walking home hand in hand under a cherry blossom road! >_<);;
Truly rave reviews.
Naturally, the guild leaders' reviews stimulated other guild members, and further aroused the interest of Awakened throughout the Korean Peninsula.
In less than two years, the Won became circulated as the official key currency.
First, on the Korean Peninsula-Japanese Archipelago-Chinese Continent, Japanese Archipelago-Chinese Continent-Korean Peninsula, Chinese Continent-Korean Peninsula-Japanese Archipelago routes (we used them evenly, considerate of those who still cared about the order of names of destroyed nations), there was almost no difficulty exchanging goods with just Won currency.
In a sense, the 205th iteration might have been a very important turning point.
Of course, all sorts of incidents occur because of this Dream Casino and Won currency... but those are matters to be slowly unraveled later.
So let me end this episode by briefly showing a dream I purchased at the casino.
"Brother Hyundeok!"
"Oh! Brother Uisa! You, hmm? You who are this Yu Hyundeok's brother have truly accomplished something great!"
"How could this be my merit alone? It is thanks to Brother Unjang who led the troops with me, and furthermore thanks to the petty commoner Chojeok who lost the people's hearts, and ultimately thanks to Brother Hyundeok's achievement in gathering the people who were scattered like fragments across the realm."
"Hehehe. I cannot match my brother Uisa's silver tongue."
I—no, the sworn four brothers of Liu Bei, Zhang Fei, Guan Yu, and Funeral Director—established the Shu Han in a dream. Naturally, I severed that bastard Cao Cao's head and sank it in the waters of Xuzhou.
This was the embodiment of justice. The correct official history. A Romance of the Three Kingdoms so moving one cannot watch without tears.
It was thrilling.
How could I monopolize this trembling excitement all by myself?
Immediately after waking from the dream, I pounded away at the keyboard (the reincarnation notebook given by the Alienated God). In just a few days, a full-length Three Kingdoms novel was completed.
I handed this 'masterpiece' to my self-proclaimed editor.
"Dokseo. You must include this novel in the main text. My, even I think it's a masterpiece. Shall I say it's a monument that will leave a mark on Three Kingdoms parody works? First, I'm planning to serialize it on SG Net too. So in the main text as well...."
"Wait. By main text, you mean uncle's story—you want me to insert a 600-chapter Three Kingdoms parody right in the middle of the novel I'm editing right now?"
"Exactly that. Then the volume problem you mentioned will be perfectly resolved too. Readers will shout with tears of emotion."
"Is uncle really not a crazy lunatic?"
"...?"
...Unfortunately, due to some literature-ignorant Three-Kingdoms-ignorant person, my masterpiece seems unlikely to be included in the main text. The End.
-The Dream Merchant. End.