Chapter 82

Before transferring to Ardenia, I played various games like any other South Korean during that era. Despite experiencing numerous games, I never tried Revenge before.

‘Now when I think about it, it’s regrettable. If I had played it earlier, I might have sensed its familiarity sooner in Ardenia.’

It wasn’t because Revenge was an unknown game that I hadn’t played it. To be precise, its notorious reputation made me avoid it altogether.

My perception of Revenge was as follows:

‘A trashy pay-to-win game.’

This judgment wasn’t just mine; many others shared this view. The game simply couldn’t function properly without excessive real-money spending backing it up.

‘Well, you could still enjoy it somewhat even without money.’

Yes, it wasn’t impossible. One could hunt monsters, equip themselves and slowly push through the main quest. In fact, Revenge’s graphics and gameplay convenience were top-tier among all games, so playing without spending money was feasible.

However, Revenge was a large-scale war game. Once players inevitably got involved in wars or swept up in unexpected battles on the field, they realized something was wrong. With one skill or a single swing of a sword, they would be swept away like leaves in the wind. It didn’t matter if it was an enemy player or monster; their own existence was wiped out instantly.

‘If you don’t have money in this game, you end up at the bottom.’

Ultimately, Revenge was designed for those with deep pockets, making it inevitably a playground for heavy spenders. Even if you played the game for 20 hours a day over several years, obtaining legendary equipment or classes would be challenging without spending real money.

In some ways, this could be considered realistic, but…

‘Nobody wants realism in video games.’

Despite being the top-grossing game, Revenge had a dark side - its active player count paled in comparison to its revenue figures. Despite generating the most income, no one hailed it as the ‘greatest game’.

Perhaps that’s why:

[Moneydeck Soft Signs Technology Pact with Legion]

[Il Sung and Legion Sign Technical Agreement]

[Sky Soft, Legion Open New Era of Virtual Reality…]

The enormous interest gathered by Revenge due to the Second Life Project collapsed as soon as alternatives emerged. If Revenge was the only game offering perfect virtual reality, it couldn’t be helped but otherwise, there was no reason to choose Revenge.

“Well, Nemesis’ stock wasn’t normal either. It had become too inflated.”

Nemesis wasn’t an undervalued small company; their stock prices were originally high enough to make them a large enterprise. The fact that they increased tenfold within such a short time was abnormal.

“Then…this is an opportunity now.”

I didn’t invest in stocks for money so I wouldn’t be sad if the stock fell. I sold the stocks because I urgently needed cash at the moment, but shouldn’t I have bought and held onto them?

“Yes. Let it fall even more.”

Surely Nemesis wouldn’t be delisted?

Nemesis – 8,875,000 won (-3,052,000 won) ↓

I checked the stocks intermittently. I thought I was acting diligently, but Alan seemed to think differently.

“Jae-yeon-ssi! Concentrate! Focus! You were doing well until now. Why is your mind suddenly wandering elsewhere? Are you trading stocks?”

Wow. This uncle was like a ghost.

“I’m sorry.”

I shook off distractions and decided to focus on acting.

‘Yes. Don’t worry about every little detail.’

I set up the stock app to automatically buy when the price fell below a certain threshold, deciding not to obsess over it constantly. The benchmark was set at 1,500,000 won, which was the price before Nemesis Soft announced the Second Life project.

“Come on now. Jae-yeon is the crown prince of a destroyed empire. That’s why she has unique attributes.”

I lost my mind at his words. Unique attributes for being a Crown Prince? Wouldn’t this be more appropriate for the Leonhardt Empire, a macrocosmic force?

“No, what unique attribute could a native from a lower civilization have? There isn’t anything like that.”

“Hmm? Do you know much about Jae-yeon?”

Sungjae’s words attracted the attention of actors and staff members. For a moment, I realized my mistake but then shook my head.

‘Anyway, once I appear in the movie, my identity will become public.’

It was funny to hide it when I hadn’t done anything wrong.

“Well…let me put it this way…I am also of royal descent.”

“Royal Family. Ooh…”

“That’s cool…”

“What is so cool about it? I was born in District 34 and have never seen any kingdom.”

Just like how District 34 faced an end due to the Apocalypse Project, my civilization also encountered an existential crisis.

The cosmic monsters…the Grotesques. With the Machine Legion becoming neutral and Space Pirate Basara being cut in half, these guys were now completely different from the other two main enemies of the Alliance. They had become much stronger through the Great War. The fundamental power of the Grotesques was infection. By infecting some unknown entity, they possessed immense authority, already showcasing strength surpassing that of an empire.

‘Their territory extends beyond galaxies, truly making them more powerful than any empire.’

After overcoming the crisis of the Apocalypse, Earth-34 had become the strongest force recognized in the macrocosm. However, Earth-98, the homeland of my father and grandfather, was different. They didn’t have heroes like the Game Master or Guan Daeha. It just perished.

“Oh. Well, it is better if you come from such a background. You will find it easier to immerse yourself.”

“You are royalty?”

“That’s why you possess such power…”

I shook my head at the deepening misunderstanding.

‘No, guys. This isn’t true.’

It was an improbable fantasy. If there were hidden powers, abilities, or mysterious forces, then why couldn’t the immigrants use them on Earth-34? It was similar to how Westerners in modern times romanticized native spells or Eastern martial arts.

If these powers were truly great, they wouldn’t have lost their land to invaders or been defeated in wars. Was it just some sort of romantic fantasy? In the end, I played the character as Alan wanted. Initially, I appeared as a space pirate with strong power, committing crimes. By a twist of fate, I became entangled with the protagonist’s group and somehow ended up saving them. A cold and ruthless villain… yet beneath the surface, he harbored a painful past…

‘And his true identity is the Crown Prince of a destroyed Empire. Wow.’

After finishing the scene, I sighed at the overwhelming pressure building around me.

‘Doesn’t this Alan guy realize how insane this is? Why create a love triangle when it’s not even a romance movie? Sungjae is clearly the main protagonist, right?’

Despite my frustration, what could an actor say when the director insists on such plotlines?

I sat down and monitored the next scene on screen.

[“Just insert the overlapping formula. The Atari race has six fingers. Let’s see, Al. Roya. Partizan… I see. If we investigate the spacecraft belonging to Partizan entering the Fern Nebula. Ah, there is no need to investigate. Recently, only passenger ships have come but they usually have three floors. It seems right that this is a combat ship patrolling the surroundings.”]

[“Young master, you are…”]

[“Don’t call me a genius again. It is annoying.”]

”…How rude.”]

I watched Sungjae and Scarlet acting their roles. Sungjae was an unnecessary veteran actor while Scarlet played her role brilliantly. As I observed, the camera caught a close-up shot of Scarlet alone.

“I checked it. This shadow…”

At that moment,

Beep…

Sungjae, who was opposite Scarlet, suddenly made a ridiculous expression like it was a surprise attack. He positioned himself so he wouldn’t be seen by the camera.

“I will go and check.”

Scarlett finished her line without being disturbed by Sungjae’s antics. Once ‘cut’ was called out, she glared at Sungjae with pure anger - a genuine rage.

“Sungjae-ssi… Are you trying to ruin my acting career?”

“Ah! No. I thought you were too nervous, so I tried to lighten the mood with a joke…”

“Aha. Do you think this role is a joke? Yes, for Sungjae-ssi, this might just be a small role. But for me, it is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity.”

“I’m sorry, sorry…I won’t do it again!”

Finally, after Sungjae profusely apologized, Scarlet softened her expression.

“Good work today!”

“Good work today!”

After finishing filming for the day, we ate dinner together. Sungjae spoke to me while eating, “Did you see how I got scolded?”

I laughed at his words.

“Yes, your eyes were shining.”

“Sigh…I was trying to lighten the mood, but it didn’t work on someone ambitious.”

“Isn’t it usually different?”

“That’s right. Look around.”

Sungjae pointed towards the surroundings as he spoke. Indeed, there were staff members, actors and writers sitting near Sungjae and myself. Naturally, they were all women.

“What do you see?”

“They are all smiling.”

As I listened to him, everyone really was smiling. Then Sungjae asked one of them, “Young-mi-ssi. Do you know why Young-mi-ssi is laughing?”

“Huh? Huh? Me? Why am I laughing?” The staff member was startled by Sungjae’s question. Then Sungjae leaned forward and whispered:

“It is because I am next to you.”

“Kyack---♥”

“Oh!”

“Eek! Too good…!”

Laughter erupted from various places in the dining hall. It was like they heard a gag from a genius comedian.

”…”.

Of course, I didn’t laugh at all. Instead, my expression became serious. I gave him a stern look.

“I’m sorry…”

“Control yourself a bit.”

“Mm.” Seeing his nodding, I smiled wryly. Despite everything, he remained quite cheerful. Now I understood why everyone laughed whenever they saw him, even amidst the hectic filming schedule.

After talking for some time, Sungjae said, “Right! I have processed your guild membership. The guild master is our agency president. Most of the guild members are people from the industry.”

“In other words, workplace colleagues?”

“Yes. Unlike other guilds with strict discipline, you can comfortably participate since I already told them. Just greet everyone when logging in… Ah! There is a guild raid every Friday at 8 p.m.! The rewards are quite good, so please join.”

“Ah, thank you.”

“Haha, no problem! Now, I’m going to rest!”

We greeted each other and moved to the accommodation. Each person had their own single room.

I returned to my room, organized Killian’s inventory and checked the stocks and accounts.

Nemesis – 5,275,000 won (-1,052,000 won)↓

“Wow. It continues to fall.”

The momentum was truly terrifying, making it seem like it would drop to 1.5 million won. However, at the same time, I had another thought.

“The speed of decline is slowing down… Will it not reach 1.5 million won?”

When thinking about it, there were no issues with Revenge even if alternatives emerged.

‘Right. It implemented the perfect virtual reality for the first time but collapsed so miserably… Wait no. On fan sites, players who experienced the game firsthand were extremely critical due to the Revenge rumors.’

In a short time, my mind changed several times. Eventually, I turned off the stock app and opened a novel app instead.

“Sigh… forget distractions and let’s make some money!”

Just yesterday, a new novel was completed. However, in truth… it was difficult to call this thing a novel.

->FriedPotato: Wow, are you crazy? Are you out of your mind? This is a setting collection? You wrote more than one volume of settings?

->010**: What did you write for… Who do you expect to read this stuff?

->Noah: Isn’t this a collective work by multiple authors? The writing styles are all different. But more importantly, who would sponsor such a thing and why?

->Fried Potato: This writer used to aim for popularity but ever since receiving strange sponsorships, they really post any random writing now.

It hadn’t been more than a day since posting chapters 1-33, so the number of views was poor.

‘Even if it had been posted for some time, the views would still be poor.’

However, what I expected wasn’t the number of purchases but something else. Indeed, there was a reaction:

[Wow! Galaxy has sponsored you with 800,000 dragon stones!]

“It came!”

A sponsorship worth 80 million won! And this was just for 33 chapters! Finally, I realized something.

“People aren’t sponsoring simply for the fun of reading a novel!”

I was puzzled by the different amounts of sponsorship from the suspiciously wealthy sponsors, but after several attempts, I finally figured out the criteria.

“Extra points are given for being based on real-life stories. Additionally, extra points are awarded according to the effort put into creating the work!”

The post I uploaded with 33 entries was categorized as a novel, but it couldn’t really be called one. The title was ‘Magic Beast Guide’.

‘The trick is that it isn’t some symbolic story, but a real guide to magic beasts.’

It described the habits of various magic beasts, their weaknesses and characteristics. It contained information gleaned by countless knights, mages, and hunters who risked their lives, which I directly copied for my serialized work.

“Good, this should be possible.”

In fact, there were no more works left for me to plagiarize. From the beginning, literature wasn’t well developed in Ardenia, and few people escaped with books during chaotic times when monsters emerged. Now, since Magic Beast Guide had been successful, it was time to use a forbidden technique.

“Okay. Let’s make lots of money and buy all the stocks!”

With determination, I started writing furiously.

I would create the cursed masterpiece that almost brought down the Ming Dynasty:

An Encyclopedia.