Chapter 100 | Omni Tales

Strictly speaking, movies were not mainstream culture in District 34.

‘Games are the mainstream.’

Isn’t this obvious? District 34 was ruled by the Game Master or the Game God. In this world, most people naturally played games, and e-sports were the most popular sport. Within such an environment…

[Professor Aspirant reaches its first-ever 50 million viewers in 2090!]

[The best blockbuster of this summer!]

[Astonishing performances from new actors! Who are Scarlet and Emperor?]

[Shocking information! The Emperor is an Elder-level powerhouse?!]

The success of Professor Aspirant exceeded all expectations.

Moviefan: Director Alan’s masterpiece. Previously, his dialogue was good but had issues with action scenes. However, there are no flaws in this movie.

Jungmumun: A visually stunning film.

Brave18: Wow, it takes talent to create a love triangle involving Sungjae. Truly remarkable.

Clear: Despite the difference in appearance (the emperor isn’t ugly), it is really amazing to maintain tension until the end? What should I say… Wild charm? Charisma? >

Garalt: Sexy… By the way, where is this immigrant from? He seems like he might be imperial family.

It was exactly the situation described by the phrase ‘woke up as a star’. People recognized me on the streets and messages poured in from all directions.

[Waite Changsik] Boss! You didn’t tell me about filming a movie! I am upset since I even introduced you to broadcasting work!

[Star Gate Owner Big Man] Hey! Finally stopped praying and did something successful. If you have time, come over for a visit. I’ll buy you a nice drink.

[Woonnye Steelworks Shift Leader Junhwan] Han-ssi! You appeared in a movie! I was surprised…

[Unknown Person]: Do you remember me hyung-nim? It’s Wuran. Even though it is through the screen, I’m glad to see your face after a long time…

“Wow, this is quite a mess.”

I was focused on training when Cheeda started endlessly crying and had to mute him. Naturally, it would be better for the movie to succeed rather than fail, but I was worried because it attracted too much attention.

“Ah, it will interfere with finding work.”

I needed to participate in martial arts competitions. Martial arts were commonly called poor sports, but like all sports, things changed once reaching the top class. Moreover, how many jobs could provide decent income while working less than one hour every three days or even once a week?

Of course, I couldn’t immediately enter professional competitions.

”…Well, being noisy isn’t necessarily bad.”

I was a bit worried but couldn’t earn money just by worrying, right? I registered for amateur combat competitions on the internet.

“Ah, let’s do everything while we can.”

I also signed up for sword fighting and unrestricted martial arts tournaments. Then after a moment…

[Can you talk briefly?]

It was a call from the monitoring screen.

“What is it?”

[Ah yes, about the combat competition…you have registered for the sword fighting and martial arts tournaments.]

Based on the words of the city employee, I suddenly guessed, “Ah, is it because of weight class issues?”

Indeed, I wasn’t at the level to participate in amateur competitions. It would be overwhelming against working professionals or student athletes.

[Yes, that’s correct.]

“But I can’t apply for pro events due to lack of experience.”

[N-No, I didn’t mean it’s impossible. I’m calling because there is something you should know about amateur tournaments. A barrier is installed to limit the abilities of participants. In terms of stats, they cannot exceed 400 points, and psychic energy will be restricted below that of a Completed Being. Is this acceptable for you?]

Of course, it wasn’t a problem. With my beginner level inner energy, I had been breaking the heads of knights in Land of Midgard.

‘Certainly, even if it is considered amateur, the knights from the Land of Midgard can’t compare with Earth’s cultivators.’

The top swordsmen or knight commanders of Ardenia only possessed combat power equivalent to a school bully on Earth. Participating in such a tournament as someone from peaceful District 34 held significant meaning.

“Absolutely.”

[Yes, then let me take care of it. Good luck.]

“Thank you.”

After ending the call, I searched the internet for other ways to make money.

“Police officer or soldier is out.”

These were decent options, but they required long working hours and came with numerous restrictions. Given my need to continuously use Revenge, those professions weren’t suitable.

“Construction site… hmm. The pay seems good here too.”

There was a large-scale construction project underway on the moon. Seeing the requirements for special laborers—[“Strength equivalent to a giant; Health sufficient to survive briefly in space without protection”]—it seemed like a perfect fit for me. While my lack of equipment might hinder my Health stat, using a gatekeeper could compensate for it.

“I’ll apply for this one as well…”

And whenever possible, I would seek additional work.

“Let’s try broadcasting.”

Since I had become a celebrity with some fame, it would be a waste not to use it. However, there was no content available.

“I can’t sing and don’t have any stories…”

In the end, I chose the easiest path.

“The sunlight was like lightning. It scorched the flesh and burned the soul.”

I read ‘Shine Sight Hero Biography’. There were channels dedicated to this type of thing. The only problem was copyright issues, but it wasn’t a problem for me since I could just read my own novel. Time flowed as I worked on various tasks.

[A movie about the controversial professor has surpassed 60 million viewers! This is great news amidst the recent slump in the film industry! By the way, do you know that the death of Bram, the villain in the movie, isn’t part of the script but reality?]

[Wow! What is going on?]

One month passed. Each day flowed by busily. I participated in amateur competitions while filming myself reading books. Naturally, the battles were easy. The amateurs who competed part-time while working at companies couldn’t compare to my condition.

[Wah! You have really good strength for a human! It’s great that you are also small-bodied!]

[Is this what that Physique thing is about?]

I even got a job at a construction site and went to the moon. The task was simple, assembling giant structures once they landed. The work itself was straightforward but required high specs due to its danger, resulting in considerable earnings. Especially as a human-sized worker amidst giants, I had significant competitive advantage.

Another month passed by.

“The Gangnam District Office Mixed Martial Arts Competition! The winner is Han Jae-yeon!”

I received the prize money and trophy. The amount was 3 million won, not a huge sum but important because it gave me qualification for professional competitions.

“Winner of the Il-sung Warrior’s Unarmed Tournament: Han Jae-yeon!”

Money was earned.

The wages from the construction site along with additional royalties. Adding the prize money brought it to 30 million won. I bought 20 stocks at around 1.4 million won each.

Time flowed. Instead of making complex plans or strategies, I just repeated every day:

Work. Earn money. Buy stocks.

Around this time…

Money came from the movie company.

[683,120,000 won has been deposited from J.M.T Entertainment.]

It was quite a significant amount, as Alan had said. Moreover, it hadn’t even opened overseas yet.

“Of course…I can’t guarantee how well it will do overseas.”

If the happiness circuit circulated, it could be sold not only abroad but also on other planets of the macrocosm and to different civilizations. However, this was literally just the happiness circuit. The movies from Earth-34, which minimized the use of CGI, didn’t perform well elsewhere. Among extraterrestrial beings, psychics awakened with psychic energy and were drawn to the distinctiveness of existing CGI. Yet unlike Earth-34, psychics remained extremely rare in other civilizations. Conversely, for similar reasons, foreign films struggled to gain traction in Earth-34.

“Wow, how long will it fall?”

I groaned while buying more stocks with all my money. The Nemesis stock had already fallen to 1,220,000 won. I turned on the stock app:

Nemesis (570 shares): 667,584,000 won [-723,216,000 won (-52%)]

”…”

The return rate was tremendous. It had been cut exactly in half. If I bought stocks to make money, this result would be so disastrous that I might as well jump into Han River blindfolded.

In fact, I felt something similar.

“Ah, my head hurts…”

Was it really reality that despite working every day, I suffered a loss of 700 million won? Of course, if I didn’t sell the stocks, it wouldn’t count as a loss, but if I hadn’t bought them until now, I would’ve had over 1,000 shares!

“It couldn’t be helped… It went from 15 million won to 3.4 million won but how didn’t I buy it…”

Yes, there was no other choice. Who could’ve expected it to fall further and become 1.22 million won?

“Ah.”

I got a headache. However, now I couldn’t stop. This time, I believed it had reached its lowest point when the stock fell to 1.22 million won and bought 559 shares. The money earned from the movie disappeared instantly.

I made money and bought stocks. Then I earned more money and bought stocks again. In between, I received offers to appear on variety shows but rejected them. What’s the point of earning 300,000 won for appearance fees when it isn’t enough to buy even one share of Nemesis stock?

Time passed. Autumn ended, and people started wearing thicker clothes as winter arrived. Before I knew it, it was already year-end.

“An invitation has been issued from Nemesis Soft.”

”…Huh?” I had been spending each day absent-mindedly until Cheeda’s words brought me back to reality.

“Oh, right. This day has come again.”

The user meeting. It was where I obtained the legendary gatekeepers and pets every month, as well as met Bae Sarang, the representative of Nemesis.

“Good. What will they give this time…huh?”

In the moment when I became excited, Cheeda spoke up:

“An invitation has been issued from Sky Soft.”

“Sky…Soft?”

It was a familiar name. Then I realized what it was.

“Aren’t they the developers of Real Stage?”

They were commonly known as the ‘god game’ developers. Unlike Nemesis, which made a lot of money but had a poor reputation, Sky Soft was truly prestigious with a history and tradition.

Unlike Revenge where I had heard the name but never played it, I experienced many games from Sky Soft. Among them were excellent story-driven package games, open-world games with perfect freedom, and flawless balanced MMORPGs.

“But…why send invitations here?”

I searched on the Internet. Quite a lot of search results came up:

[Next-generation blockbuster MMORPG Lost World! Closed beta evaluation?]

[Lost World opens up a new world in District 34!]

“What is this? It seems like Sky Soft has released a new work.” As I muttered, I checked videos uploaded by streamers during the beta test along with comments.

<Freedom to do anything, beautiful backgrounds, attractive characters, grand storyline…>

<There are almost no microtransactions. Chairman! Shouldn’t you make more money?>

Overall, the reviews were very good. It was natural. Sky Soft had released several blockbuster games and was a reliable developer. This developer had gone all out to create this game, with only positive feedback during the beta phase. It would be strange if people weren’t expecting great things from it.

Still, I didn’t know why I received an invitation so I checked again when one interview caught my eye. The title was something that couldn’t be ignored.

[Sky Soft Acquiring Nemesis Soft?] >

“What is this?” Surprised, I replayed the video. It showed a host sitting opposite a handsome blonde man.

[“There is news that you are buying Nemesis stocks. Do you have any special purpose for it?”]

[“Yes, we discovered the final piece to make Lost World perfect.”]

[“Oh! Did you get inspiration from Revenge, the large-scale war game?”]

The host’s words made the golden eyebrows twitch.

[“First of all, there is an error in your statement.”] The host looked puzzled as Shining, the representative of Sky Soft, spoke firmly:

[“Revenge can’t be called a game. It is just a cyber gambling platform designed to exploit customers and extract their money.”]

[”…”]

“Wow, is he crazy?”

Of course, it wasn’t wrong but to publicly criticize another company like this? Regardless of my astonishment, Shining continued firmly:

[What I need is just one technology. We have aggressively bought stocks and now we are almost at our goal point. Our Lost World will be the most perfect, beautiful, and second world where everyone can experience greatness.]

“It seems he is talking about the Second Life Project.”

Now that I thought about it, Legion had a technological partnership with other games yet still maintained tier 1 immersion depth. This meant they hadn’t achieved complete virtual reality. I assumed it just needed more time, but perhaps something else was required.

[“Are you planning for a merger and acquisition?”]

[“That’s just part of the process. We want Revenge, specifically Machine Star.”]

“What does this mean… Are they trying to take over Revenge from Sky Soft?” He muttered absentmindedly while watching the video.

Then he pondered it further.

“Could this be…good news?”

Sky Soft was the developer behind Real Stage, which had dominated as the most popular game in District 34 for fifty years and continued to be recognized as a timeless classic. The company consisted of passionate followers of Guild Master Guan Daeha, so their approach to game development differed significantly from typical game companies.

Sky Soft was known for taking their games extremely seriously and striving for perfection, no matter what it took. And now they were going to take over Revenge’s service.

“The monetization model will likely become more reasonable. With such dedication to gameplay, players should be able to enjoy all content without excessive spending.”

Players might obtain legendary items just by clearing dungeons or mythical items from raids. Instead of purchasing skills with real money, players could potentially acquire them using skill points earned through leveling up!

What if Sky Soft, renowned for trust and reliability, takes over Revenge?

The stock value would skyrocket in that scenario.

“Oh… oooohhh…?”

This hopeful prediction filled him with excitement.

“What will happen to Revenge then?”

“There is no reason to maintain it as a gambling platform now that it’s not just a game.” Shining spoke firmly. “We will gradually refund users and shut down the service.”

”…What?” Han paused, incredulous, staring at the screen. “No way! What kind of nonsense is this?!”

He yelled angrily, but the resolute expression on the face of the blonde-haired man, who had transcended to become a game developer, remained unchanged.