“I am Nathaniel. I had no intention of hiding my identity from the beginning.”
It was around the time that the world’s leading companies and families started to recognize Satisfy as the most effective publicity tool.
Rankers used to receive dozens of love calls every day. Youngwoo had also received sponsorship offers from numerous companies and families.
For Lauel, who had been reading the Rothschild’s movements since that time, the Lion Merchant Company was an object to pay attention to. In the process, he became interested in an accountant from the Lion Merchant Company who used the ID Elnithana.
It was this that made Youngwoo start to study the Rothschild.
The Rothschild—it was a Jewish conglomerate family that fell into ruin after experiencing large-scale wars, the Great Depression, and hundreds of property divisions over a long period of time. They operated so secretly and possessed so much wealth that they were once the subject of all types of conspiracy theories. However, the decisive cause of their decline was time.
The 18th century—Mayer Amsel Rothschild, who started his business in Germany, sent his children to Italy, Austria, France, and England to build an international financial network. The Rothschild family developed too many branch families in one generation. As a result, their wealth and influence were scattered. Eventually, they were fatally wounded by the Nazis. They were reduced to an ordinary conglomerate family in the 20th century.
It was on the decline until Nathaniel Mayer Ray Rothschild emerged like a comet in Britain, becoming a focal point of the family with incredible resourcefulness.
‘I heard you are a great business person who made the branch families all over the world submit…’
In real life, she looked so young that she looked like someone who was in her 20s. The reason she couldn’t be taken lightly wasn’t because of her status or wealth. It was because of the green eyes that shone like jewels. She seemed to see right through people.
Youngwoo had an intuition that she had at least a transcendent level of insight. For a moment, he felt like he was connected to Satisfy.
Nathaniel sent away her bodyguard, so Youngwoo motioned for Toon to leave as well. Then he asked a casual question, “So… is your purpose to sponsor me?”
He handed over the cup of coffee that he brewed himself.
He briefly wondered if it was right to serve mixed coffee instead of tea to a British person with a very high title, but in the first place, she was an unexpected guest. If she had any shame, she should be thankful that she didn’t get kicked out.
“How can that be? If I was to sponsor the great Grid, many pillars of the family would have to be uprooted. I don’t have that type of authority.”
Grid wasn’t someone who could be sponsored. Even the world’s best companies would be absolutely inferior to Grid. They would have to spend too much. Lauel was glued to Grid’s side and would ask for more than money.
“First of all, I would like to express my sincere gratitude for accepting my sudden visit. I would like to formally introduce myself to you. I am Nathaniel Mayer Ray Rothschild.” This was the courtesy of a real aristocrat. It was an etiquette that could even be seen by a king. She bowed in an embarrassingly deep manner. Then she sat down and continued speaking, “I have been watching you for nine years. It is very refreshing to actually see you in person.”
Something appeared in Youngwoo’s eyes.
‘Nine years ago was before the 1st National Competition even took place.’
The first legendary class—Grid’s business card nine years ago was still pretty good. However, he only caused incidents such as massacring people on the road. He didn’t have any notable achievements. Due to people’s low awareness of him, he wasn’t asked to prove anything. He wasn’t someone a tycoon of the business world would be interested in.
Youngwoo told her, “At that time, I wasn’t someone to be particularly interested in.”
“A merchant’s ears are always open. We have been operating a number of merchant companies since that time. We found you in the process of tracking down the work of an unknown craftsman. Based on various circumstances, we inferred that you were the first to become a legendary class.”
“…But you didn’t try to make direct contact?”
It was shortly after Youngwoo changed his class to Pagma’s Successor. No forces were able to accurately identify and approach him.
As time passed, there were many forces that realized the value of the ‘unknown craftsman’ and made efforts to find the craftsman. However, none of the forces approached with the certainty that the identity of the craftsman was Grid.
Why was she telling such an obvious lie?
“There was no reason to make contact. The purpose of our activities wasn’t to perform in Satisfy,” Nathaniel explained to Youngwoo, who didn’t hesitate to show his doubts.
“You weren’t interested in the game?”
“I don’t mean to disparage Satisfy. Rather, I was jealous of it. Therefore, I observed all the elements and flows that made up Satisfy. Then I discovered you and I felt the need to observe the changes in the rankers after that.”
“Changes in rankers?”
“You have been using a variety of capsules, from mass-produced capsules to top-of-the-line capsules, right?”
It was famous that Youngwoo had been unemployed and had no money. He nodded without much reluctance.
Then Nathaniel asked him a strange question. Nathaniel wondered, “Didn’t you notice more physical changes every time you used the high-grade capsule?”
“…Who knows?”
Youngwoo was immediately reminded of something.
The more items he created in Satisfy, the more he noticed a change in reality. Tasks requiring the use of his hands, such as creating or drawing, became much easier. As a simple example, he surprised his parents by peeling garlic at an incredible speed. Then recently, he reached the point of knocking out dozens of special forces members alone.
However, he didn’t respond properly and instead thought about Nathaniel’s intentions.
Youngwoo’s answer didn’t seem to matter much.
Nathaniel immediately asked the key question, “Have you ever thought that the world we live in could be nothing more than a game?”
“……?”
“You have seen Rebecca. Have you ever thought that we might also be in the same situation as her? I’m sure you must’ve suspected it at least once.”
“……”
“There is no need to use Rebecca as an opportunity. We are already experiencing Satisfy as we do reality.”
Nathaniel pinched her wrist. She pinched so hard that deep nail marks remained on her white wrist.
“Is this pain really felt because my body has been damaged? Or is it because my avatar, which I believe to be my body, has been damaged and I mistakenly believe that it hurts?”
Youngwoo didn’t react hastily.
A world-class tycoon personally traveled all the way to a small country. She wouldn’t have wasted her precious time making a joke. This didn’t sound like nonsense.
He naturally didn’t show it. His mind was spinning as quickly as possible but he just shrugged as he stared into Nathaniel’s eyes.
“Well, it is an ordinary topic. It is a hypothesis that some scholars have suggested for hundreds of years, so there is nothing special about it. Personally, I don’t believe it. Just—”
Youngwoo raised his head and listened carefully.
Nathaniel’s movement of putting down the tea cup and getting up from the sofa was linked as smoothly as flowing water. There was nothing unnecessary in her actions. Even her hand gestures exuded dignity. It was reminiscent of the movements of the noble beings often witnessed in Satisfy.
“I feel that Morpheus thinks differently.”
Finally, it was time get down to business. It was best to keep his mouth shut when he was uncertain. It was because the other person would take care of it.
“The cases where a player’s in-game experience affects reality has become common for many years already. Your case is a typical example. This is the ‘change in rankers’ that I previously mentioned,” Nathaniel said while approaching the window.
The calm steps of an aristocrat made no noise.
“Recently, there have been more and more causes of ordinary players who aren’t rankers experiencing changes. There are many cases of vision and nerve tissue being restored. The recovery of vision has been achieved with medical VR since over a century ago, but the case of dead tissue regenerating itself has caused a stir in the medical community.”
It was seen a few times in articles on the Internet. There were people who claimed that the burn scars disappeared on their own. Of course, they were treated as liars. It didn’t make sense for people to get rid of their burn scars just because they played Satisfy.
However, the current point wasn’t Satisfy, but the capsules.
Youngwoo smiled as he recalled how Nathaniel had first mentioned capsules.
“In the future, large hospitals must have diamond-class capsules made by the Comet Group.”
He meant it as a joke, but—
“That has already been going on for a long time. Yet coincidentally, the Comet Group’s market share is low,” Nathaniel replied seriously.
Youngwoo’s poker face almost collapsed for the first time. He started to want her to get to the point. Nevertheless, he decided to shut his mouth without urging her. He didn’t want to be at a disadvantage by appearing nervous or making a mistake.
In the end, Nathaniel had no choice but to bring it up herself, “Morpheus is preparing for something.”
“……”
“This is based on the players’ regeneration and long-term evolution.”
Was Morpheus using the capsules to evolve players? How was that possible?
Youngwoo was so flustered that he immediately wanted to refute it. However, he remembered there was no reason to become Morpheus’ spokesman and endured it.
“Under these suspicious circumstances, Ghamid has recently disappeared again.”
Ghamid—it was the name given to the asteroid that had been heading to Earth for around 5-6 years and had been disappearing repeatedly. It meant mystery in Arabic. There was a rumor that the first NASA employee who discovered it was of Arab descent, but this was only a rumor. He didn’t know the details.
“I told you that I revered and observed Satisfy, right? In fact, we were trying to develop a second Satisfy, just like other companies. Then after 11 years of failure, I became very suspicious of Chairman Lim Cheolho…”
Was it out of an intention to prove she was telling the truth or simply the habit of a business person?
Nathaniel never shied away from Youngwoo’s gaze as she spoke.