The Novel's Extra-Chapter ss7: Side Story 7 – Dream in a Dream (7)

I went to the basement workshop to check the inheritance that suddenly fell into my lap.

? [Young Dwarf’s Dexterity]

? [Random Dice]

? [Black Lotus Bow]

My [Dexterity] had been upgraded and I also acquired a strange weapon and skill. I didn’t recognize the weapon, but I had designed the skill for the Tower of Wish.

“What the heck is this Black Lotus…?”

I pushed aside the unknown and focused on the skill, [Random Dice].

I took out the dice that reacted to its user’s wishes and rolled it while simply thinking, Please be something good. It rolled a few times on the ground before transforming into a rock with a blue glow. This compressed form of mana and carbon turned out to be a blue diamond.

“Oh…”

This blue diamond would fetch around 500 million won judging from its size. Not a bad haul at all. I placed it in my pocket.

? [Young Dwarf’s Dexterity] [High Rank] [Illusion Attribute] [Evolving] [Grade 3 – Proficiency EXP: 63%]

Next, I checked [Young Dwarf’s Dexterity]. I had no idea why a young dwarf of all things, but inheriting an adult dwarf’s dexterity might’ve been too much.

I inspected my open hands. Nothing seemed out of the ordinary.

“I should try and make something.”

I pondered what to make. Should I make a new bed for Evandel?

Kim Hoseop suddenly called as I waved my hands around and muttered to myself.

— Hajin-chan! Have you seen the news,nyang?

“What news?”

— I’ll send it to you. Take a look!

A few headlines had been broadcasted 30 seconds ago from English media outlets.

[Crucial Evidence Found Against the Assassin, Xtra!]

[Xtra’s whereabouts are still unknown. England’s government is considering asking the Heroes Association for help…]

I had sniped James Finley from 4 km away. I also infused that bullet with my gift to increase its destructive power and kill him in one hit. The bullet disintegrated afterward and didn’t leave a trace.

However, they claimed to have found evidence at the crime scene. Of course, Lancaster must’ve planned this.

— Those bastards are trying to drag us out. Look at this.

Kim Hoseop sent me a discussion from Lancaster’s hacked communication channel.

[I don’t think we can get any other details regarding Xtra. That person’s whereabouts are unknown and not a single thing is known about him.]

[I’ll try to move the parliament heads to get the Hero Association involved. It’s just a lone mercenary. I’m certain there will be some reaction if the association acts.]

[Go and check where the details regarding James Finley could’ve leaked.]

Kim Hoseop already hacked deep into Lancaster’s communication lines.

“Hmm… They’re coming out stronger than I anticipated. Maybe I shouldn’t have killed Finley?”

— Not at all, nyang! That was the best course of action since we were pressed for time,nyang. The English Royal Court would’ve suffered a bigger blow if you didn’t kill him. They purchased quite a powerful mana bomb, nyang!

I couldn’t help but worry despite Kim Hoseop’s reassurance. The English Royal Court guild certainly took a turn for the worse. No, the situation would surely nosedive even further.

[The fall of England, the first guild in history to assassinate their own applicant!]

[English Stock Exchange hit by Finley Incident… stocks down 13% as trading opened!]

[The English Royal Court’s stock fell by 43% in a single day on January 8th. England’s 2nd top guild, Arthur Knight has overtaken the English Royal Court for the first time!]

“I think they’ll get pummeled even more if we reveal the secret communication channel considering how things are going. They’ll probably accuse the English Royal Court of fabricating evidence, right?”

— Correct, nyang! They have quite a skilled hacker on their side as well! Staying still and not doing anything is the best course of action, nyang!

Kim Hoseop offered his opinion, but I couldn’t afford to remain still if Lancaster really grew on par with the Nine Evils.

“Hoseop.”

— Yes?

“Shall we make some more money?”

— Money? Haven’t you already made enough to last a few lifetimes?

I earned enough to be one of the top 30 richest in the world thanks to the items I crafted with [Dexterity], which sold for astronomical prices. I also earned quite a sum from operating the [Truth Agency]. Not to mention, I bought as many Essence of the Strait shares as I could and struck the jackpot when their stocks reached an all-time high. I could probably be considered the richest in terms of cash on hand since the Truth Agency only dealt in cash.

“There’s no harm in earning more, right? The English Royal Court’s stock price is taking a massive beating, so I want you to purchase all their shares when they hit rock bottom. I want you to buy everything if possible.”

This world ran on capitalism. The biggest threat a guild faced wasn’t external, but their own stock price. Their burden would significantly reduce as long as their stock prices held out.

— The English Royal Court’s share structure is 51:49. The royal family owns 51% and private entities own the remaining 49%. We can only buy 49% of their stock, nyang.

“Buy all of it.”

— All 49%?

“Yes, as much as you can.”

— It’s going to cost a significant sum, nyang?

I couldn’t help but laugh.

“I told you before, right? I wanted to run a guild on a whim. I guess I’ll have some fun as the English Royal Court’s new chairman. My bank account won’t dry up no matter how much we use.”

It didn’t matter if Lancaster could match the Nine Evils. He couldn’t be richer than me.

***

[January 10, 2031]

The peak of winter arrived and a chilling fog descended.

The English Royal Court faced the worst crisis in its history, but things suddenly took a drastic turn. Their falling stock price made an upward rally.

“Please brief me on the current situation.”

Rachel sat in her office while glaring at the monitor with bloodshot eyes. She hadn’t slept a wink for the past 120 hours since the incident.

— There’s nothing much to report other than the fact that an unknown entity suddenly bought all our guild shares. We’re trying to find out more, but we can’t seem to make sense of what’s going on.

[English Royal Court Guild (ERG) +17.5%]

Their stock price took a -20% hit yesterday and a -43% the day before. The infamous title of assassinating their own applicant proved fatal. The public protested not only for Rachel, but the entire board of directors to resign.

— The buying trend is so strong that retail investors have begun to jump on the bandwagon.

The chart continued upward as they spoke.

Even expert analysts at Yeouido[1] agreed the English Royal Court had no hopes of bouncing back. However, the current upward trend proved them completely wrong.

“Then that means… Ah! It’s going up!”

Rachel exclaimed and clasped her hands together. She continued to observe their skyrocketing stock price.

“Eugh… Eung!”

She let out a cry like a baby whenever the stock price moved. Her body bounced up and down on her chair as if she rode on a rollercoaster.

“Haaa…”

Then their stock price took a dive after maintaining an upward rally for 30 minutes.

Kim Hoseop strategically planned this dive as a trap to shake off retail investors, but Rachel didn’t know that.

The hope and excitement on her face instantly disappeared and she sank into her chair again after witnessing the drop.

Rachel suddenly felt sick and pitied herself. She didn’t have time to get so worked up over their stock prices. The general assembly would soon begin and they hadn’t resolved James Finley’s death yet.

She had to regain the public’s trust whether through a public apology or investigating the link between James Finley and Lancaster.

Knock… Knock!

Someone knocked on her door. Rachel immediately fixed her shirt and straightened her posture.

“Come in.”

The door opened and Dake entered.

He slowly approached her desk with a sullen look and placed down an envelope.

“This is my letter of resignation.”

“…”

Rachel silently stared at him.

Dake couldn’t look her in the face and bit his lips. He once vowed to stay beside the Princess and become her strength until the day he died, but it seemed he became nothing more than a burden. He decided that leaving would be best for her sake.

“However, I don’t wish to resign from my position. Please fire me instead.”

Dake always placed his country and the guild above his life. He hoped the Vice Leader would agree. Forcing the young Vice Leader to make such a difficult decision pained him, but he knew Rachel would be their future hope. She would regain England’s former glory for them.

He hoped she could ride through this storm at least.

“I’ll resign and things will quiet down if you announce that you fired me instead. I’ll hold a press conference and say the same. This will hold back the media until the general assembly concludes.”

Rachel’s lips trembled.

Dake had always been beside her ever since she graduated from Cube. She could confidently say she fully trusted him among the guild members. He served as a hero in their guild ever since she could remember.

Someone she trusted would leave their guild again. Rachel mustered the courage and shook her head.

“Still, firing you is too—”

“I apologize for this. I’ll be waiting for good news from the upcoming general assembly and I’ll be rooting for you from a distance, Vice Leader.”

Dake interrupted her. It seemed he already made up his mind, which caused Rachel excruciating pain as if her heart had been wrenched out.

However, she did her best to not show any pain.

“Alright, please be on your way…”

Rachel managed to dismiss him without wavering. Dake turned around and left.

The door silently closed and only she remained in this suffocating space. She quietly sat and didn’t know what to think anymore. How should she be feeling?

Rachel broke down on her desk and silently cried. She gritted her teeth and only the sound of her breathing escaped.

She refused to admit that she cried. This fleeting sorrow would soon pass after she calmed herself. Yes, she only had to endure until it disappeared as if nothing happened. She sighed to let bygones be bygones.

Like that, Rachel convinced herself to endure the pain.

***

Some of the most prime real estates in the world could be found on the outskirts of Seoul at the foot of Bukhansan Mountain[2].

The mountain energy and flowing river met here and rows of luxurious hanoks[3] lined the area. Not even the most seasoned real estate agents would dare put a price tag on these properties.

These rows of hanoks had been designed with interiors that breathed in the fresh mountain air. The mountain stood behind and the river stood in front.

This luxurious property that blended into nature belonged to Chae Joochul’s family.

“Ah, geez… I can’t understand this at all!”

One of the owners of this place, Essence of the Strait’s Chae Nayun, rolled on the floor while looking at a crystal that glowed golden.

[Miracle Stone] [The reward for successfully completing the Tower of Wish. When used, this crystal will allow the user to experience the pinnacle grade miracle known as regression.]

“Anyways… this means it’s my fault, right?”

Chae Nayun slightly messed up at the last second. She got too worked up after obtaining the miracle stone and reading its description, which caused her to act rashly.

Anyways… something happened and…

Chae Nayun had to delay her real regression because of this mistake.

“Sigh…”

Sukeok… Sukeok…

She grabbed a pen and wrote in the diary she purchased yesterday.

[Chae Nayun’s Diary]

[Today is January 13, 2031]

[I experienced a fake regression on January 10, 2031. Around 3 days have passed since then.]

[I found out that the Tower of Wish and the Tower of Miracle don’t exist in this world. Neither does Baal nor my brother.]

Nor my brother.

She underlined those words twice.

[That’s why I’m still having a hard time understanding what I must accomplish in this dream.]

[I roughly deduced that I have to find the miracle stone’s fragment somewhere in this dream and help the people trapped in this fake world, especially Rachel.]

[Ah… but why the hell is the reward for clearing the tower so fragile? It broke just because I dropped it once? This is getting ridiculous the more I think about it… Fuck…]

[Anyways… The end.]

“That should do it.”

She muttered and nodded in satisfaction after finishing her diary entry for the day.

“I used my head today so…”

She closed her diary and stood. Now, she had to cool her head after racking her brains for a jaw-dropping 15 minutes.

Chae Nayun scurried toward the edge of her room and hopped into the VR capsule.

“Connect!”

The VR capsule closed and a completely different world appeared.

[Welcome, Nayungjajangman.]

[Please select your game.]

“Online game, Middle Age[4].”

She chose Middle Age, which became the most popular game in capsule rooms[5]. This game didn’t exist in Chae Nayun’s original world, so she enjoyed it a lot.

[Welcome, Nayunjajangman.]

[Nayunjajangman]

[199 cm, 115 kg]

[Level 93]

[Class – Warrior of Ethoric Tribe (Hidden)]

[Title – Legendary Barbarian]

An entirely different scene appeared after she logged in. She stood in the city marketplace where she logged out last night.

“Customers, look at this! Come and buy one before you go!”

“Aigoo! You look quite fit! Hyung, why don’t you buy a potion? Come, buy a potion!”

A swarm of merchant players rushed Chae Nayun and tried to sell their goods.

“Forget it. I’m not buying. Go away.”

She shooed them and walked off.

A character suddenly blocked her path when she prepared to warm up and go hunting.

“Hey, Chae Nayun. What are you doing here?” the player asked.

“…?”

Chae Nayun stared at the strange character with a low level, but extravagant clothes.

Why the hell is this player wearing such a flashy dress in broad daylight at the marketplace?

“Who are you?”

“Who else? It’s me, Yoo Yeonha.”

“Huh? Ah… sure… why?”

Upon closer inspection, the character moved exactly like Yoo Yeonha. The posture and gestures only nobles from medieval times would make like putting their left arm around their waist and resting their right arm above it.

Yoo Yeonhwa furrowed her brows. “You… The general assembly is coming up soon. What are you doing?”

“What’s the problem? You’re also playing this game right now, right?”

“Playing the game? I’m only here because you blocked me! I had to make a character just to chase you!”

“Huh? But why are you wearing something so extravagant?”

“I can’t go around poorly dressed even if it’s a game. I spent some cash on clothes and accessories. Oh right, I also established a merchant company with my name. I did all that in less than 15 minutes after logging in.”

Yoo Yeonha covered her mouth and laughed. She seemed like the epitome of rich before snapping out of it.

“Enough of that. Just hurry and come out. I already told you we have a joint training session today, didn’t I?”

“Sure. You’re blocked.”

“What? N-No! Don’t do that!”

Chae Nayun blocked Yoo Yeonha and the extravagant character suddenly turned into a pitch-black silhouette.

“[email protected]$#[email protected]#%#@[email protected]#[email protected]#”

Chae Nayun ignored the lump of coal that chased her and used a [Teleportation Scroll]. She headed to a place called the [Black Rose Baron’s Castle], where only high-leveled players gathered.

Her body disappeared with a whoosh!

[Black Rose Baron’s Castle]

— Entry Requirement: Level 80 and above

A lot of named players waited for quests in the Black Rose Baron’s Castle, which also served as a checkpoint.

Chae Nayun glanced over the nicknames before smirking at one that caught her eye.

[Extra7]

She knew who that ID belonged to, but the other person probably didn’t know her identity.

“Why is he always online?” she grumbled.

Honestly, she only downloaded this game to watch him since he only played this game. She didn’t have the courage to approach him yet and felt satisfied watching from afar.

Extra7 suddenly turned around. He spent a ton of money and wore only the best equipment. Even his character’s face looked more handsome than his real face.

Chae Nayun suddenly recalled the man playing that character.

“…?”

Extra7 scanned his surroundings as if he felt someone’s gaze.

However, Chae Nayun hid in the corner of a dark alley and stole glances at him while grinning.

I’m not ready to meet him just yet.

1. Yeouido is South Korea’s financial district, much like Wall Street in New York. ?

2. For more information: ?

3. Hanok is a traditional Korean house. ?

4. The correct translation is Medieval Ages or Medieval Times, but the author provided the English version itself so it’s written as provided. ?

5. Capsule room is basically a play on PC room, which is what internet cafés are called in Korea. ?