CH 212

“Thank you for your effort and hard work. Next up is your schedule at the Blue House…”

“Oh, could you give me a minute? I have something else to quickly tend to.”

“Huh? Ah, yes, of course. Please don’t be late.”

Yongno stopped the attendant, who was approaching him from the side, opened a door, and walked out. He entered a hallway and soon saw a girl, the one who asked the question about realization during his lecture, standing and waiting for him.

“Long time no see.”

“Hmpf! You’re such an important and precious figure now, huh? It’s hard to meet you unless I come out and do this.”

The girl was someone that Yongno had never seen face-to-face before. But even so, Yongno knew her identity. She, better known as Cruze in-game, was the one who stated that her realization was that ‘All forms were non-forms’.

Cruze’s realization was ‘knowing’ that the principle of information = energy; in other words, grasping the essence within a form rather than focusing on the outward form itself, and being able to create or verbalize that essence, which may not or didn’t exist physically within the material world. Of course, Yongno witnessed, many times, a certain person who used such an ability within DIO.

“Your disguise is great. I almost didn’t recognize you.”

“Well, special makeup is my hobby.”

Cruze, a member of the Heaven above the Heavens, grumbled a reply. The two had gotten quite close over time, so there was no hesitation or awkwardness in their conversation.

“So, what’s your name? It’d be weird to constantly refer to you by your in-game ID.”

“Lea Schmidt. Call me Lea.”

Lea threw her sunglasses into a trash can and untied her long hair, which had been tied up in a ponytail. After pulling out several packets of products from her bag and applying it to her hand, she ran her hands through her hair and, mysteriously, her black hair instantly turned red.

“Are you wearing a latex face mask?”

“Kind of. Anyway, I changed my image just enough so that no one would recognize me as the same person as before. With this hair color change, I don’t think I need to change anything else for now.”

After saying so, Lea took Yongno’s arm with her right hand. Yongno was a bit surprised that Lea was being so familiar with him, even touching his arm, but Cruze didn’t seem to care in the slightest.

“I came to tell you that I’m in Korea. In addition, I wanted to ask you to do some external activities on my behalf.”

Stating this, Lea’s hand, which was holding onto Yongno’s arm, weakly trembled. However, Yongno didn’t find this odd. Cruze’s trembling came from her action of repeatedly putting strength or weakening her grip on his arm.

‘Morse code?’

Though Yongno wasn’t given a heads-up about communicating through Morse Code, as it had never been mentioned between them, Yongno calmly analyzed the contents of her message and replied.

“I’m sure it’s not a simple request. What do I get in return?”

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“I will help you develop your skills. I’m sure what I’m offering you will be of value to you.”

Even as she spoke, her hands continued to tremble. Soon, after Cruze’s full message was conveyed, Yongno’s eyes widened.

“Hmm! Is that possible?”

“Do you think I came all the way here to talk nonsense?”

“Then… good. Let’s form an alliance.”

Yongno’s arms trembled slightly. After receiving Yongno’s message, Lea let go of his arm.

“Then, I’ll catch you later.”

“Be careful. There are people everywhere who want to take advantage of people like us.”

“No need to worry about me.”

Having said this, Cruze turned around and walked down the hallway. Her image soon melted into the general mass of people.

Her disguise, acting skills, and ability to hide in blind spots was so great that, at some point, it became impossible to find her.

“The meeting is in two hours.”

The secretary, who had been standing at a distance, approached Yongno, who was momentarily standing still. Yongno’s schedule was tight, so the attendant was trying to get Yongno to hurry up.

“I want you to create a spiritual pathway in my body, too.”

That was the content of Cruze’s, no Lea’s, Morse Code message.

The fact that Yongno could create spiritual pathways was something only he and Eunhye knew about, so he was taken aback when Lea unexpectedly approached and contacted him about it. Moreover, the compensation she offered was a complete surprise as well.

“There’s a way to access DIO without being detected by the Noblesse.”

Yongno frowned and squinted his eyes. He couldn’t understand how one could access DIO without being detected or noticed by the Noblesse. In the first place, DIO was a world created by the Noblesse, so how could someone avoid their omnipresent eyes? The whole concept didn’t make sense to Yongno, so he had questioned Lea about it.

“Ah, bro, are you done?”

“Yeah. It was just a simple lecture.”

“You’re so popular. You’re like a celebrity these days.”

A young man in a suit was waiting for Yongno next to a car. His name was Kwan Youngmin. He was the high school student who had crossed over from another dimension. Currently, Youngmin was in charge of Yongno’s safety as his personal bodyguard.

‘In the end, no one on Earth can beat Youngmin unless one is a Master and is manifested.’

Youngmin, who brought a body with a ‘spiritual pathway’ from another world, was able to use internal energy without any penalty on Earth.

Of course, as a spirit that had crossed over from another dimension into Earth, Youngmin initially couldn’t absorb Earth’s mana, which possessed mana but had no systemic spiritual pathways to transfer that mana, but the moment Yongno provided him with a mana filtering device, a magic gear item that Yongno named ‘Gills’, Youngmin was able to use his abilities on Earth 24 hours a day; thus, Youngmin was one of the most powerful existences on Earth.

In addition, since Youngmin reached Level 12 as an internal energy user within DIO and obtained the position of a Master, it was also possible for him to manifest.

‘Was I just lucky? To think that such an unexpected existence appeared at a time when I desperately needed some external force and firepower to assist me…’

Youngmin was an existence shrouded in mystery. The power Youngmin used was like the one internal energy users often utilized in DIO, but Youngmin also used various superpower abilities that seemed to originate from a completely different foundational system than those practiced by general DIO users. Hence, even Yongno couldn’t fully understand or fathom Youngmin’s existence.

“Oh, I got a call from Eunhye. She says she’s finished moving.”

“That’s good to hear.”

Conversing in low voices, both Yongno and Youngmin got into a van. The driver gently started the car, and Yongno buried himself deep in the seat and took out the earphones that were placed next to his seat.

Yongno was planning on connecting to DIO while in the car, but right as he was about to put on his earphones, he heard some harsh shouting.

“The Korean government must withdraw its cooperation with DIO immediately! Withdraw!”

“Noblesse is an existence that defies God!”

“The aliens are attacking us because of DIO!”

Dozens of people were occupying the sidewalks on the side of the road and waving protest signs. Youngmin murmured after seeing the protestors, who seemed to be representing various groups.

“Another set of protests… what the hell do they want?”

“In terms of what the protesters want, there are many things. Even if they’re all gathered like this, every one of them has a different thought and goal. Among them, there are religious people who are afraid of the increasing number of people who have questioned the role of religion on Earth due to the seemingly divine powers that manifested Masters can output… then there are businessmen who haven’t been able to adapt to the changed socio-economic system after DIO’s appearance… and there are human rights groups and humane society members who feel disgusted at the sight of people harming monsters and human-like existences within DIO.”

However, DIO had already fully integrated into modern society; it was to the extent that DIO was becoming society itself. DIO, which could be accessed anytime and anywhere, and where time passed 12 times faster than real-time, was no longer a world that was accessed based on one’s gaming taste or just a place to spend one’s leisure time.

DIO was played by all, regardless of gender and age, and the economics of the game was also enormously influential on Earth. In Korea alone, statistical data showed that more than 10 million people had made DIO their full-time job.

Although the service cost of accessing DIO was very low, various large companies spend exorbitant amounts of money to [purchase] high-rise buildings in DIO, produce and air commercials and movies based on DIO, and much more. Moreover, DIO-related goods production had reached a considerable level.

“Currently, Korea’s annual national budget is 725.4 trillion won, but DIO’s annual revenue in Korea is now close to 500 trillion won. In addition, there’s almost no material or labor cost to operate DIO, so most of its income is net profit, so DIO can influence society at large and at enormous scale.”

DIO’s income figures were staggering. If Noblesse only took in money and didn’t reincorporate that enormous amount back into the market, Korea’s goods market and overall economy would come to a screeching halt due to a lack of cash flow and available funds, which in turn would create an economic crisis, but the reality was different.

Of course, this was because of the Exchange Center.

The Noblesse organization didn’t employ very many people. Basically, it didn’t require too many offline employees. Though the Noblesse provided free PCs and connectors to people here and there, they didn’t make any large purchases or special donations to anyone, so they weren’t the driver of reincorporating money back into local economies.

However, users could earn money even if they weren’t directly employed by Noblesse.

This was because gold, obtained by catching monsters or performing quests, could be exchanged for money in one’s own country at the Exchange Center. DIO’s currency was now used worldwide; the currency in-game, commonly called Golden Money, was now a more trusted currency than the US dollar ($), and it became possible to live a life without any other job if one was Level 5 or higher.

“You mean people making too much money is the problem?”

“Among vested interests and those who were part of the ruling class during the previous status quo, there are many who don’t like DIO. In a sense, DIO has achieved the redistribution of wealth that everyone has been clamoring about since the advent of the economy. If Noblesse was a normal company, it would have faced many challenges and regulatory opposition, but… as you know, Noblesse is not a normal company. They are aliens capable of destroying Earth if they set their mind to it.”

Through the window of the luxurious van, which was befitting for a nation’s president to ride in, Yongno and Youngmin could see soldiers, armored vehicles, and tanks deployed all over the city.

They weren’t placed across the city because today was a special day or anything of the sort. They were literally set in place for the safety of the city.

A month ago, Noblesse made an announcement that they would sell an explorer, an item that could identify a Master’s location only to countries that were [favorable] to them and provide a wide-area shield that prevented hostile space-based attacks to [countries that behaved more favorably to Noblesse]. The Noblesse even said they would provide gear to allow governments to check where potential attacks may come from.

Yongno knew that the two types of gear the Noblesse were offering were desperately needed by a ruling nation state, so he half expected the Noblesse to make unreasonable demands on the countries by holding them hostage over the gear, but unexpectedly, the Noblesse only requested a change in a few national policies.

However, since the gear they handed over were magic-based items, it was impossible to interpret, and the Noblesse could make the gear stop operating at any time if they wanted, so it could be said that the governments across the world were on a leash. But even so, the Noblesse’s actions were strange.