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Translator: 8uhl
Chapter: 37
Chapter Title: Inflating
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Was it because he'd lived through such an unimaginably long span of time?
Rimon had truly experienced just about everything.
Many of those were things others couldn't even dream of, which was why Rimon himself rarely felt surprised by anything anymore.
"...You've been secretly preventing every war that was supposed to break out over the past 32 years to protect the peace?"
But at this moment.
Rimon felt a shock so profound that his eyes nearly bulged out of his head and rolled across the floor—a sensation he hadn't experienced in ages.
"The Seven Dragon Society?"
As if demanding she come clean if it was a joke.
No, even if it was serious, as if begging her to say it was a lie for the sake of his mental health.
Rimon asked again in a trembling voice.
"Yes."
But she didn't hesitate.
Instead, she shattered his desperate hope in an instant and followed up with another blow to his stunned face.
"Whenever we spotted even the slightest sign of war, for whatever reason, we'd bribe and blackmail those in power to force compromises."
"We created the Player Association and guild system to make players regulate themselves."
"Whether it was warlocks, mad scientists, or players—if anyone was scheming to cause massive chaos in the world, we'd monitor them and eliminate them before they could act."
Rimon even felt dizzy.
Li Chingwei's few words had struck him harder than the thousands of skills Lee Cheongi had unleashed.
Her confession was that dizzying.
No matter how much time had passed.
No matter if they'd gone legit and become a megacorporation.
The Seven Dragon Society that Rimon knew could never have done such things.
No, more precisely, they were incapable of it.
"That goes against your doctrines, doesn't it?"
The essence of the Seven Dragon Society was a religion.
An organization that believed only the world ruled by dragons was the supreme ideal.
That's why they thought the world needed to be overturned to turn back time—and they never hesitated to act on it.
They'd led wars and chaos for centuries, after all.
Even in their early days of going legit, so many people had suspected their true intentions.
And yet?
Preventing wars, regulating players, averting chaos to protect world peace?
Anyone who knew even a little about the old Seven Dragon Society would be left dumbfounded.
Li Chingwei's answer was clear-cut.
"No, actually, the founders' teachings never said we had to destroy the world."
That made sense, of course.
When the seven dragons were alive, they wouldn't have taught their followers to destroy the world they ruled—and after death, they couldn't teach at all.
The society's obsession with revenge had simply mingled with their doctrines, making world upheaval seem natural.
In that light, it was entirely possible for the Seven Dragon Society to contribute to world peace.
Li Chingwei smiled brightly at the end of her explanation.
"Our most important goal is to create the ideal world like our founders'—not to flip the world upside down."
"...Does that crap fly with the others too?"
"Strangely, it doesn't."
"Of course it wouldn't..."
Li Chingwei tilted her head as if she couldn't understand why.
Rimon wore an incredulous expression.
If the Seven Dragon Society were the type to be swayed by such moderate persuasion, they wouldn't have clashed with him in bloody battles for centuries.
More than that, it was swapping ends and means.
They wanted to topple him to build their ideal world—but this way, they'd build the ideal world just to topple him.
Same result, so who cares?
Tell a devout believer that paradise or heaven is all the same, so switch religions tomorrow.
Or that doctrines are irrational, so gorge on forbidden foods starting now.
You'd hear the true wrath of the faithful.
The Seven Dragon Society especially knew no compromise.
Just pointing out issues with their doctrines had led to the massacre of entire families, enough to count by the mound.
And now, one of their top leaders—one of the seven princesses who upheld their faith—was saying it was no big deal.
Rimon felt the world spinning before his eyes.
"Actually, there was fierce opposition within the Seven Dragon Society to this plan. At first, it seemed impossible to even proceed."
"Looks like the old ways of the martial world haven't died out completely."
"Pardon?"
"Nah, I just feel relieved knowing not everyone's in the Seven Dragon Society thinks like you do."
To think he'd feel relief knowing there were still those in the Seven Dragon Society opposed to peace.
It was ironic, even to him.
Perhaps struggling to grasp his tangled emotions, Li Chingwei blinked at him but continued her explanation.
"Anyway, to persuade those opponents, we had to propose yet another plan."
"What now? Did you protect universal peace this time?"
"No."
Li Chingwei shook her head slightly at Rimon's exasperated sarcasm.
And the moment she spoke.
He found himself doubting his ears once more.
"The Seven Dragon Society's legitimization plan."
"...Come again?"
"As a means to secure the funds and global influence needed for the world peace plan, we proposed establishing the Seven Dragon Group to bring the society into the light."
"No, my ears aren't broken—why the hell does that come up here?!"
Rimon shouted before he knew it.
The Seven Dragon Society's legitimization and the rise of the Seven Dragon Group were among the biggest events since the Iron Age began.
They'd rocked the world even more than the emergence of constellations and players—a massive social issue.
And it was all because of him?
No way he could just brush it off with an "Oh, really?"
But Li Chingwei responded calmly, as if it were no big deal.
"That was the only way to convince the opposition."
"...You pushed the world peace plan under the pretext of legitimizing the Seven Dragon Society?"
"Yes. Sword Duke, you seem to misunderstand, but we didn't exactly enjoy lurking in the shadows."
No one likes living in hiding.
Especially not an organization like the Seven Dragon Society, which wielded vast wealth and power.
They were bound by doctrines and feared backlash, but the leadership craved the spotlight just as much.
In that sense, the world peace plan was the perfect pretext.
It didn't violate doctrines outright.
It had the justification of toppling Rimon.
And if things went south, the proposers would take the blame.
With those conditions, it was inevitable that not just the princesses but the elders would jump on board.
"We were able to complete legitimization so swiftly because everyone had been secretly preparing for it beforehand."
Turns out most of the seven princesses had been pushing legitimization behind the scenes too.
That's why society accepted the Seven Dragon Society so readily.
Why the Seven Dragon Group dominated the global economy within a year of founding.
All thanks to their groundwork.
Li Chingwei spoke with a beaming smile.
Rimon stared at her with the hollow look of a man who'd lost his country.
"...Screw the old ways of the martial world."
For some reason, this betrayal by the Seven Dragon Society hurt more than being stabbed in the back by Yuna Kyung or Kang Jeongsu.
Rimon couldn't figure out why.
The world had no one you could trust.
And these modern folks were modern folks after all—a fresh reminder of that timeless truth.
Seeing Rimon wallow in betrayal, Li Chingwei gave a wry smile.
"But protecting world peace turned out to be incredibly difficult. Far more than we ever imagined."
"You thought it'd be easy?"
"No, we knew it'd be tough."
World peace.
A dream even a child could have.
But a goal only a child could hold onto.
The Seven Dragon Society only learned its true difficulty after experiencing it—something they hadn't grasped when they merely wanted to overturn the world.
"We just didn't expect to burn through more funds in 32 years than we'd spent in centuries."
"How much money did you blow exactly?!"
"Who knows. No exact figure, but the Seven Dragon Group nearly went bankrupt entirely just a few years after founding."
"You nearly tanked the global economy just to protect world peace?!"
Rimon was appalled.
The Seven Dragon Group was the world's top megacorp.
Said to hold all the wealth in existence.
If they'd gone bust?
The Seven Dragon Society's centuries-long dream of world upheaval would've come true in a flash.
Though they'd have gone down with it.
"Of course, that wasn't our goal either."
Li Chingwei admitted frankly.
Their aim was to build an ideal world—not turn everyone into beggars.
Especially not those already enjoying vast wealth and fame post-legitimization.
"So we turned the Monarchs into new absolutes."
"...???"
Rimon gave her a baffled look at the abrupt shift.
"How does that even connect—wait."
What did the near-bankruptcy of the Seven Dragon Society have to do with Monarchs being hailed as absolutes?
About to ask, Rimon paused.
He narrowed his eyes at Li Chingwei.
"You said you created the Player Association and guild system, right?"
"Yes."
"Then don't tell me..."
As a former PAB agent, Rimon had a rough grasp of players' revenue streams.
And knowing the Seven Dragon Society's true nature down to his bones allowed the deduction.
A conclusion no one else could imagine—Rimon shouted it out in stunned realization.
"You 'inflated' it on purpose, didn't you?!"
"Exactly as you say."
Li Chingwei nodded readily.
And continued in a nonchalant tone.
"We deliberately bought dungeon byproducts at hundreds or thousands of times their value, turning high-level players into billionaires."
The reason high-level players were called one-man corporations and treated as the elite of this era?
The minerals, monster corpses, items, and other dungeon byproducts they harvested were rare and expensive.
And who set the value of those dungeon byproducts?
None other than the Player Association.
In other words, the Association could inflate their value endlessly.
Add the Seven Dragon Group treating them as treasures, and their worth would skyrocket astronomically.
Even if they were worthless trash.
"By regulation, players and guilds pay a cut of their income to the Association. And higher byproduct values mean..."
"Bigger profits for the Association. Plus, by buying and selling repeatedly while tweaking the values..."
"The Seven Dragon Group pockets massive arbitrage gains. And as a bonus, they could dilute their own debts in that bubble."
"Impressive. Just knowing we're behind the Association let you figure all that out."
Li Chingwei looked genuinely impressed.
But hearing it, Rimon couldn't puff up with pride like "Yeah, I'm a genius."
Instead, a vein bulged on his forehead.
"You bastards, that's fraud!!!"
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