Chapter 37 - Inflate

Perhaps it was because he had lived for so long, but Limon had experienced just about everything. Many of those experiences were beyond anyone else's imagination, and by now, little could surprise him.

"... You've secretly prevented every war that might have broken out over the past thirty-two years and kept the peace?"

But at this moment, for the first time in ages, Limon was so astonished he felt as though his eyes might pop out of his head and roll across the floor.

"Your Seven Dragons Society?"

His voice trembled as he asked again, as if demanding that she confess at once if it was a joke. No—even if she meant it, he desperately wanted her to call it a lie for the sake of his sanity.

"Yes."

She didn't hesitate. She crushed his desperate hope in an instant, then dealt another blow to his stunned face.

"Whenever we saw signs of war, whatever the cause, we bribed and threatened those in power into compromising. We created the Players Association and the guild system so players would regulate themselves. And whether they were dark mages, mad scientists, or players, we watched anyone who intended to cause widespread chaos and eliminated them before they could act."

Limon felt dizzy. Li Qingyu's few words had dealt him a heavier blow than the thousands of skills Lee Cheon-gi had hurled at him. Her confession was that staggering.

No matter how much time had passed, no matter that it had come out of the shadows and become a major corporation, the Seven Dragons Society Limon knew would never do such a thing. More precisely, it couldn't.

"That goes against your doctrine, doesn't it?"

At its core, the Seven Dragons Society was a religion. Its members believed the only true utopia was a world ruled by dragons. To restore that age, they believed they had to overturn the world, and they had never hesitated to act on that belief. For hundreds of years, they had led the charge in causing wars and chaos. When the Society first came into the open, many had doubted its intentions for that very reason.

And now she was telling him what? That they had preserved world peace by stopping wars, regulating players, and preventing chaos? Anyone who knew even a little about the old Seven Dragons Society would be dumbstruck.

Li Qingyu's answer was straightforward.

"No. The founders' teachings never actually said we had to destroy the world."

Of course they hadn't. While the seven dragons were alive, they would hardly have taught their followers to destroy the world they themselves ruled. Once they were dead, they could no longer teach anyone at all. The Society's obsession with revenge had simply become entangled with its doctrine until overthrowing the world came to seem natural. In that sense, she explained, there was nothing stopping the Society from contributing to world peace.

Li Qingyu finished with a bright smile.

"Our most important goal is to create a utopia like the one our founders had, not to overturn the world."

"... And the others bought that crap?"

"Strangely enough, they didn't."

"Of course they didn't..."

Li Qingyu tilted her head as though she couldn't understand why, and Limon stared at her in disbelief. If the Seven Dragons Society could be persuaded so gently, it wouldn't have fought bloody battles against him for hundreds of years. More importantly, she had reversed the means and the end. They were supposed to bring Limon down to create their utopia, not create a utopia to bring Limon down.

What, the result was the same either way? Try telling a devout believer that paradise was paradise, whether you called it Nirvana or Heaven, so they ought to switch religions tomorrow. Or tell them their dietary rules were irrational and they should start eating forbidden foods. You'd hear what a believer really thought of you.

The Seven Dragons Society, in particular, knew nothing of compromise. So many people had seen even their most distant relatives slaughtered for criticizing its doctrine that you'd have to count the dead by the hillful. Yet here was one of its seven princesses—its supreme leaders and pillars of faith—saying she couldn't see what the big deal was. It was enough to make Limon's head spin.

"To be honest, there was fierce opposition to this plan within the Society. At first, we couldn't even get it started."

"So the old ways aren't dead yet."

"Pardon?"

"Nothing. I'm just relieved you aren't all like-minded."

Who would have thought he'd feel relieved that some members of the Seven Dragons Society still objected to peace? Even he could see the irony. Perhaps unable to fathom his conflicted feelings, Li Qingyu blinked at him and continued.

"Anyway, to persuade those who opposed us, we had to propose another plan."

"What now? Did you save peace throughout the universe this time?"

"No."

She gave a small shake of her head at the sarcasm Limon could no longer hold back. The moment she spoke again, he could scarcely believe his ears.

"The plan to bring the Seven Dragons Society into the open."

"... The what?"

"We proposed founding the Seven Dragon Group and bringing the Society into the public eye as a way to secure the funds and public influence we needed for the world-peace plan."

"I didn't ask because I couldn't hear you! Why the hell is that coming up now?!"

Limon shouted before he knew it.

The Seven Dragons Society's emergence from the shadows and the founding of the Seven Dragon Group were among the biggest events since the dawn of the Iron Age. At the time, they had stirred up even more public controversy than the rise of constellations and players. And now she was saying it had happened because of him. This wasn't something he could brush off with an "Oh, really?"

Li Qingyu, however, answered as calmly as if it were nothing special.

"It was the only way to persuade the opposition."

"... You used the chance to go public as bait to push through the world-peace plan?"

"Yes. You seem to misunderstand, Sword Lord, but it wasn't as though we enjoyed staying in the shadows."

No one liked living in hiding, least of all an organization with the wealth and power of the Seven Dragons Society. Its leaders had longed to step into the light too; they simply hadn't dared say so, constrained by doctrine and afraid of the backlash. In that respect, the world-peace plan was the perfect pretext. It didn't violate their doctrine, it offered a justification for bringing Limon down, and if it failed, those who had proposed it would take the blame. Once that last condition was added, it was inevitable that not only the princesses but even the elders would rush to accept the plan.

"In fact, we only managed to go public so quickly because everyone had been quietly preparing for it already."

As it turned out, most of the seven princesses had been working toward it behind the scenes. That was why the public had accepted the Society's emergence with surprising ease, and why the Seven Dragon Group had dominated the global economy less than a year after its founding. It was all thanks to their preparations.

Li Qingyu smiled as she spoke. Limon looked at her with the hollow expression of a man who had lost his country.

"So much for the old ways, damn it."

Why did the Society's change of heart sting worse than being betrayed by Yu Na-gyeong or Kang Jeong-su? Limon couldn't say. All it did was confirm anew that you couldn't trust a single bastard in this world, and that the younger generation was, in the end, the younger generation.

Seeing him shudder with betrayal, Li Qingyu gave a rueful smile.

"But keeping world peace turned out to be difficult. Far more difficult than we expected."

"You thought it'd be easy?"

"No, we knew it would be hard."

World peace. A dream even a child could dream of, yet a goal only a child could set. The Seven Dragons Society had never understood just how difficult it was while it had merely been trying to overturn the world. It learned only by trying.

"We just didn't expect to spend more in thirty-two years than the Society had spent over the previous several centuries."

"Just how much money did you spend?!"

"Well, I couldn't give you an exact figure, but the entire Seven Dragon Group nearly went bankrupt just a few years after it was founded."

"Were you trying to wreck the global economy in the name of world peace?!"

Limon was aghast. The Seven Dragon Group was the world's largest corporation, said to possess all the wealth in the world. If it had gone bankrupt, the Society would have achieved its centuries-old goal of overturning the world in one stroke. Granted, it would have been ruined along with everyone else.

"Of course, that wasn't the outcome we wanted either," Li Qingyu said frankly.

The Society wanted to create a utopia, not leave everyone penniless. That was especially true of those already enjoying immense wealth and prestige after successfully coming into the open.

"So we made the Monarchs into the new absolute beings."

"...???"

The abrupt change of subject left Limon staring at her in disbelief.

"How does that follow...? No, wait."

He had been about to ask what the Society's near-bankruptcy had to do with Monarchs being revered as absolute beings, but stopped short. He narrowed his eyes at Li Qingyu.

"You said you created the Players Association and the guild system, right?"

"Yes."

"Then don't tell me..."

Having been a PAB agent, Limon knew roughly how players made their money. And he knew all too well what sort of organization the Seven Dragons Society was. Together, those facts suggested a conclusion no one else would have imagined.

"You deliberately inflated it?!"

"Exactly."

Li Qingyu nodded readily and went on with an untroubled expression.

"We bought dungeon loot at hundreds or thousands of times its proper price and made high-level players rich."

High-level players were treated as the leading figures of the age, even called one-person businesses, because the minerals, monster carcasses, items, and other loot they obtained from dungeons were rare and expensive. But who determined the value of dungeon loot? None other than the Players Association. That meant the Association could inflate its value without limit. And if the Seven Dragon Group treated it as precious too, its price would naturally soar to astronomical heights—even if it was worthless junk.

"Under the rules, players and guilds pay part of their income to the Association. And if dungeon loot becomes more valuable..."

"The Association takes in more. And simply by adjusting those prices and buying and selling repeatedly..."

"The Seven Dragon Group could make a fortune on the price differences. You could also bury the debts you were supposed to carry in that bubble."

"Impressive. You worked all that out just from knowing we were behind the Association."

Li Qingyu looked impressed. But Limon couldn't bring himself to puff up and say, "Well, I am a genius." Instead, a vein bulged on his forehead.

"You bastards, that's fraud!"