전생검신 84권 3화

“That method is…!!”

Before Lee Hwan-woong could speak, it was a thought I never entertained, and my face lit up with excitement. The girl, deep in thought, finally said, “Let’s give it a try.”

As she spoke, she stretched out her slender index finger, pointing at Daegwi while shouting, “Yap!”

Kugugugu…!!

Then, Daegwi’s body swelled up dramatically. Originally the size of a small animal, Daegwi suddenly grew as large as a bear, its shell stretching taut. In that state, Daegwi began to emit faint sounds.

[Oooh… this… is… the power of the Great Being…]

Chjeok… chjeok…

Daegwi continued to grow until it was as large as a house, yet since it was a spirit body, nothing around it collapsed. However, the shell of Daegwi began to crack under pressure, and I panicked, exclaiming, “Is this… okay?!”

Is Daegwi going to explode?!

Suddenly, Lee Hwan-woong grabbed my shoulder and said, “Just watch. It’s already spilled water.”

“……!!”

Tsu tsu tsu

Before I could respond, Daegwi’s entire body shone brilliantly, swirling black and gold energy began to pour out. Moments later, Daegwi floated up and opened its mouth.

[Everything proceeds according to the Law of Cause and Effect…]

It sounded like a ‘different’ existence was speaking through Daegwi’s body.

[Only once.]

Purburbuh!!

The next moment, Daegwi’s body exploded. Simultaneously, an incredible amount of golden light burst forth from Daegwi, transforming into something tangible over time.

“Wow!!”

Chwa-rarak

Chwa-rarak!!

A flood of golden coins!! The coins spilled forth, quickly filling the hall we were in, while from somewhere, golden coins flowed infinitely like a massive river, surging outwards. I panicked as the golden coins overflowed, but then I realized something.

‘Not real?’

That must be why, even though golden coins flooded everywhere, my body wasn’t swept away. My view was filled with gold, but I could still see beyond the illusions of the coins. Lee Hwan-woong, who watched the spectacle with delight, smiled widely.

“This is giving me a real feel of becoming a sudden rich person, Baek Woong, doesn’t it feel good?”

“……“

Chwa-rarak

Lee Hwan-woong seized a handful of the golden coins filling the air, rattling them as he continued, “These coins may not be real, but if they have value, they are as good as real. Right? At least for us.”

“I’m just… struggling to adapt.”

“Well, that might be the case. But I’m used to this sort of thing, heh heh.”

“……?”

For some reason, Lee Hwan-woong was chuckling as if recalling a funny memory, then he glanced forward. “Okay, here it comes.”

Chwa-rarak…….

Chwa-rarak…….

Chichichiching!!

A moment later, vibrant golden numbers were etched in the air.

99,999,999,999

While I was captivated by the golden light, suddenly another change occurred. The seemingly infinite flood of coins that poured down abruptly halted, and the coins began to absorb towards the golden numbers 99,999,999,999 as if being sucked in! The visual effect was so overwhelming, and with every coin swallowed, the number began to radiate an even brighter golden glow.

Finally, when all the coins were absorbed, something swirled forth from the void.

Tsu tsu tsu

“……!!”

Daegwi?!

The Daegwi that had just exploded was recreated! And the re-emerged Daegwi slowly opened its mouth, starting to devour the golden numbers in the air, and after consuming all the digits of 99,999,999,999, Daegwi glowed with golden light.

Chwaaa

“Ugh, it’s dazzling!!”

The brightness was so intense, akin to a supernova explosion, that I had to instinctively protect myself with my divine power. Any normal human would have not just closed their eyes but shattered their very soul.

After a moment, the light faded and Daegwi spat something out.

Pa-at

I quickly caught the ‘something’ that fell from Daegwi’s mouth. Upon inspecting this object, I squinted my eyes.

“This is….”

A plain copper coin (銅錢) with no engravings or designs.

In stark contrast to the golden coins I just saw, it looked utterly worthless. I examined the coin for a long time, but I couldn’t feel any tremendous divine power or authority, leaving me puzzled.

Then Lee Hwan-woong came closer, looking at the copper coin and suddenly said, “Baek Woong. That’s probably the Qianshen Zhi Zai (錢神之財).”

“Th-this?”

“Probably. Ask Daegwi.”

In a fit of curiosity, I asked Daegwi, “Daegwi. Is this the Qianshen Zhi Zai?”

Without hesitation, the revived Daegwi responded.

[That is correct.]

“……!!”

Are you telling me this shabby coin is the result of sacrificing 999 billion golden coins for the Qianshen Zhi Zai?!

When I was left dumbfounded by such an absurd result, Lee Hwan-woong said, “Baek Woong, you can’t just space out. We need to create the next Qianshen Zhi Zai. This is only the first out of the ten required to become a true Qianshen.”

“Ah… uh… right.”

“Girl, please create Baek Woong’s coins infinitely once more.”

The girl, having watched from the side, nodded eagerly, “Okay… yap!!”

At that moment, as she extended her finger towards Daegwi with determination…

“Ugh.”

Thud

She suddenly fainted on the spot. I was taken aback and hastily supported her, asking, “What’s happening all of a sudden?”

I checked her pulse urgently, but it seemed there were no physical injuries. Utilizing my divine power, I scrutinized for any negative energy absorption but found nothing out of the ordinary.

After a brief faint, she regained consciousness and said, “I’m… sorry. I don’t think I can do it.”

“Why can’t you do it?”

With a voice tinged with fear, she replied, “Just now, the moment I was trying to set your coins to infinite again, I heard a voice in my head. And that voice said, [Not allowed], and after hearing that, I lost consciousness.”

“A voice…?”

“……“

She clearly showed signs of fear, avoiding my gaze. Puzzled, I tilted my head when Lee Hwan-woong said, “Then this won’t work. It seems the Void Record itself has placed restrictions on her.”

“What? The… Void Record?”

“From one perspective, it’s like the power of omniscience infringed upon the domain of the Void Record. But since it hasn’t actually broken any established rules, it perhaps allowed it once, then blocked any subsequent tricks.”

“……!!”

Does that mean Daegwi’s earlier words of ‘only once’ were precisely…?

While I was startled by the realization, Lee Hwan-woong commented, “This is better than I initially expected. Now, shall we ask Daegwi something?”

Muttering that, he turned his attention to Daegwi and said, “Daegwi, are there any additional abilities tied to the Qianshen Zhi Zai? Or any privileges associated with it?”

Daegwi promptly replied without hesitation.

[The Qianshen Zhi Zai is a privilege allowing you to [trade] anything in this world under the notion of commerce. Additionally, this privilege is guaranteed by the Void Record, and each time it is used, one Qianshen Zhi Zai will be consumed.]

“……!!”

[A powerful privilege, but be cautious, as recklessly using it will make becoming a true Qianshen difficult.]

Lee Hwan-woong appeared astonished at Daegwi’s words.

“Is that so…?”

He took a moment to ponder before looking at me and saying, “Baek Woong, let’s just use the Qianshen Zhi Zai we just acquired.”

“……?”

I couldn’t help but be baffled by the unexpected suggestion, and I burst out, “What? We’ve just gained the Qianshen Zhi Zai without the hassle of gathering 999 billion coins, and you want to just throw it away?”

“……“

“Do you realize how much more I’d need to gather if I use this now? That’s nine more Qianshen Zhi Zai. Multiplying 999 billion by nine means… oh…”

Lee Hwan-woong responded immediately without hesitation as I stumbled over my words.

“899,999,999,991 coins.”

I felt my face turn beet red from embarrassment over my ignorance and shouted, “Th-then I have to gather that much more?! With the Void Record now blocking the girl’s abilities, what are we supposed to do?!”

“……“

“Do you think I’m an idiot? It would be impossible to gather that many coins, even if I hunted endlessly until the world ends!”

Lee Hwan-woong chuckled lightly.

“You know it well. Since hunting endlessly is impossible, we might as well use it.”

“What?”

He shrugged his shoulders. “If it’s impossible, then we need to find a way to establish a foundation that easily collects 899 billion coins using the privilege of the Qianshen Zhi Zai. That could create opportunities, right?”

“……?!”

“Listen well, Baek Woong.”

Lee Hwan-woong gestured for me to sit, and as I took a seat on the chair where the girl had been, he spoke calmly.

“The essence of commerce is fundamentally inequality. When everyone trades resources for their gain, inequality inevitably arises, leading to private property. This is because the disparity of the weak being preyed upon by the strong before commerce starts transfers directly into the exchanges. As private property accumulates and social classes form, the economy becomes more vibrant, and if the structure edges closer to capitalism, do you know what that means?”

It was such complicated jargon that I struggled to comprehend…

I tried to wrack my brain to understand, but ultimately, I admitted defeat and said, “S-so what happens?”

Lee Hwan-woong raised the corners of his mouth into a smile. “Capital income will always overwhelm labor income. It becomes a structure where money makes more money, and humans working purely to earn that money can’t match up to money games!”

“……?”

What does that even mean?

As I stared at him blankly, he continued, “Let me give you an example. Back in the Ming Dynasty, there must have been recognized wealthy individuals, so name one.”

“Um… it would be the Han family of the Fire Spirit Techniques. They were the richest in Luoyang and all of the Ming Dynasty.”

“How much would you have to save from your monthly salary as an escort to gather the Han family’s wealth?”

“……“

I felt as if I had been choked.

“Hundreds of years? Thousands of years? Even then, it’s impossible to match the Han family’s wealth with an escort’s salary. Even if we look at the previous centuries by modern standards, the inequality of wealth was already astronomical back then. And the Han family was also multiplying their money, so no matter how long you worked as an escort, you’ll never catch up with them for eternity!”

“Seriously… damn!!”

“Now you get why capital income is so amazing? From a commoner’s perspective, it’s a frustrating system, but the crucial part isn’t discussing societal inequality.”

Lee Hwan-woong’s eyes sharpened.

“On the contrary, let’s profit from that inequality. It’s the only way to accumulate overwhelming wealth!”

His words piqued my interest.

“Profiting from inequality? How?”

“It’s simple.”

With a flourish, Lee Hwan-woong tossed something to me. I caught it in surprise and mumbled, “It’s a smartphone.”

“With that smartphone, you can easily trade stocks. You might not realize it, but technological advancements allow for that.”

“Wait, are you saying…?”

“Exactly.”

Lee Hwan-woong grinned.

“We use the Qianshen Zhi Zai to convert your commercial authority into a stock market system for [trading]!”

“……!!”

I couldn’t help but be astonished by Lee Hwan-woong’s proposal. Could it be that the mention of stocks in the Training World was pointing to this?!

However, my lack of knowledge about stocks made me anxious, so I told Lee Hwan-woong, “But… even though I’m not sure what stocks are… don’t they just slowly grow over time when you invest money? Like… companies exist… and as those companies grow, the stocks rise… so you end up making a small profit each year?”

“Seems like Master Sima Ling explained it to you.”

“Yeah. Now that I think about it, she did mention that.”

I fidgeted with my hands, “If I invest the coins I earn from hunting spirit beings into stocks… even if it’s a 10% annual increase… that’s not much, right? Slow growth doesn’t mean anything during tumultuous times.”

Suddenly, Lee Hwan-woong burst into laughter, like it was the funniest thing in the world.

“Hahaha. Baek Woong, you don’t need to worry about that. Hahahaha…”

“Uh?”

“Do you even know what it means to become the ruler of the stock market, Hahahaha…”

As I stared blankly, I noticed that the glint in Lee Hwan-woong’s eyes was burning with greed.

“Firstly, use the Qianshen Zhi Zai to upgrade the system. Then it’ll all fall into place…”

“Are you sure about this?”

“Of course. If it turns out wrong, you can kill me.”

Feeling his earnestness, I contemplated for a long moment before nodding in agreement.

“…Okay, I’ll try trusting you.”

Soon after, I put forth the Qianshen Zhi Zai to Daegwi and said, “Daegwi, I want to use the [trade] ability of the Qianshen Zhi Zai to transform my commercial authorities into a stock system.”

[Understood.]

“And let me have all the rights to that system on top of this.”

Tsu tsuzuzu

Daegwi emitted its characteristic energy, interweaving black and golden lights. After a moment, Daegwi replied,

[Permission granted.]

Chichiching!!

Moments later, giant stock charts began floating before my eyes in multiple forms.

‘Is this what stocks look like?’

I felt uneasy as I didn’t know how to handle stocks. But I decided to trust Lee Hwan-woong, so I went along with what he suggested. My job was to have faith, while questioning would come after observation.

I looked back at Lee Hwan-woong and asked, “So, how do I make money with these stocks? Aside from waiting and letting my money grow over time, is there any other way?”

“Hahaha. Why would you bother with something so tedious?”

“Eh?”

“Now your task is to create a new category where you can place bets on all the deities. The more gods your abilities reach, the better.”

Lee Hwan-woong spoke in a calm tone, distinct from before.

“And once you bet on a future you’re fated to win, you can manipulate the situation directly to lead toward that future. That’s the way rulers succeed.”

“Wait, are you saying I can just earn by predicting that future? That’s like flipping a coin!”

As I replied dumbfounded, Lee Hwan-woong wore a strange smile.

“Advanced money games boil down to that very essence of flipping a coin.”

“…Fine, but how does predicting that future translate into earning 999 billion coins?”

“Of course, by increasing the betting odds.”

“How?”

At that moment, Lee Hwan-woong grinned wickedly.

“Let’s take out a loan.”