Was it because he had lived for so long?
Limon had seen and experienced almost everything.
Among those were experiences others couldn’t even imagine, which was why it was rare for Limon to be surprised anymore.
‘… You’re saying you’ve been secretly preventing every war that was supposed to happen and maintaining peace for the past thirty-two years?’
But at this moment, for the first time in a very long while, Limon was feeling a sense of shock so profound it felt as if his eyes were about to pop out and roll across the floor.
“You guys? The Seven Dragons Cult?”
His voice trembled as he asked again, as if demanding she confess immediately if it were a joke.
Or rather, even if it were the truth, he pleaded for her to lie for the sake of his mental health.
“Yes.”
But she did not hesitate. Instead, she shattered Limon’s desperate hope in an instant and delivered a follow-up blow to his shocked face.
“Whenever there was a sign of war for any reason, we used bribes and threats to buy off those in power and force them to compromise.”
“We created the Player Association and the Guild system to allow Players to regulate themselves.”
“Whether it was Warlocks, mad scientists, or Players—we monitored anyone trying to cause mass chaos in the world and eliminated them before they could act.”
Limon felt dizzy.
Lee Ching-wei’s few words had dealt him a more severe blow than the thousands of skills Lee Chun-gi had unleashed.
That was how staggering her confession was.
No matter how many years had passed, or how much they had legalized themselves into a major corporation, the Seven Dragons Cult that Limon knew was absolutely not an organization that would do such things.
No, precisely speaking, they couldn’t.
“Isn’t that against your doctrines?”
The essence of the Seven Dragons Cult was religion.
They were an organization that believed a world ruled only by dragons was the ultimate utopia.
Therefore, the Seven Dragons Cult believed the current world had to be overhauled to return to that era, and they never hesitated to act on it.
They had been at the forefront of causing wars and chaos for the last few centuries.
Even when they first went public, many had doubted their intentions.
But now what?
They prevented wars, regulated Players, and maintained world peace to prevent chaos?
Anyone who knew even a little bit about the past Seven Dragons Cult would be stunned.
Lee Ching-wei’s answer was clear.
“No. Actually, the teachings of the Progenitors don’t strictly say we have to destroy the world.”
That was bound to be the case.
When the seven dragons were alive, they wouldn’t have taught their followers to destroy the world they ruled, and after they died, teaching would have been impossible.
It was just that the cult’s obsession with revenge had mixed with their doctrines over time, making it seem natural to overthrow the world.
In that sense, Lee Ching-wei explained with a bright smile, it was entirely possible for the Seven Dragons Cult to contribute to world peace.
“Our most important goal is to create a utopia like the one the Progenitors had, not simply to flip the world upside down.”
“Did that kind of talk actually work on the other members?”
“Strangely enough, it didn’t work very well.”
“Of course it wouldn’t…”
Lee Ching-wei tilted her head as if she didn’t understand why.
Limon wore an absurd expression.
If the Seven Dragons Cult were an organization where such moderate persuasion worked, they wouldn’t have fought bloodied battles against Limon for centuries.
Above all, it was a reversal of cause and effect.
They were supposed to ruin Limon to create their utopia, but now they were creating a utopia just to ruin Limon.
One might ask if it mattered as long as the result was the same.
Go ahead and tell a devout believer that since Paradise or Heaven is good either way, they should switch religions tomorrow.
Or tell them that since a doctrine is irrational, they should start eating forbidden foods to their heart’s content. \
One would hear some truly divine cursing from that believer.
The Seven Dragons Cult, in particular, knew no compromise.
One would have to count the number of people who were slaughtered down to their distant cousins for criticizing their doctrines in heaps.
Yet, here was one of the Seven Princesses—the top leaders and spiritual pillars of the cult—saying she didn’t see what the big deal was.
For Limon, it was enough to make his vision blur.
“Actually, there was a lot of internal backlash against this plan. At first, it was almost impossible to even move forward.”
“The honor of the martial world hasn’t disappeared yet, I see.”
“Pardon?”
“No, I was just relieved to hear that not everyone in the Seven Dragons Cult thinks like you.”
To think he would feel relief that there were still people in the Seven Dragons Cult who opposed peace.
It was ironic even to himself.
Perhaps because it was difficult to understand those complex feelings, Lee Ching-wei blinked at Limon but continued her explanation.
“Anyway, to persuade those who were resisting, we had to present another plan.”
“What plan now? Did you protect galactic peace this time?”
“No.”
Lee Ching-wei shook her head slightly at the sarcasm Limon couldn’t hold back.
And the moment she opened her mouth, he had to doubt his ears once again.
“It was the plan for the Seven Dragons Cult to go public.”
‘… A what?’
“As a means to obtain the necessary funds and international influence, I proposed establishing the Seven Dragon Group as part of the World Peace Project to bring the cult into the light.”
“No, I didn’t ask again because I couldn’t hear you! Why is that story coming up now?!”
Limon shouted before he could help himself.
The legalization of the Seven Dragons Cult and the emergence of the Seven Dragon Group were among the biggest events that had occurred since the start of the Iron Age.
At the time, it was a social issue that had stirred the world even more than the rise of the Constellations and Players.
But to think it was all because of him. This wasn’t something he could just say, “Oh, really?” and move past.
However, Lee Ching-wei answered calmly as if it were no big deal.
“Well, that was the only way to persuade the opposing factions.”
‘… You used the legalization of the Seven Dragons Cult as an excuse to proceed with the World Peace Project?’
“Yes. You seem to be under a misunderstanding, Sword Master, but it wasn’t as if we in the Seven Dragons Cult stayed in the shadows because we enjoyed it.”
No one likes living in hiding.
This was especially true for an organization that held as much wealth and power as they did.
They had only stayed hidden because they were bound by doctrine or feared backlash; the leadership of the cult had been longing for the light as well.
In that sense, the World Peace Project was the perfect excuse.
First, it didn’t technically violate doctrine.
It had the justification of bringing about Limon’s downfall.
And even if things went wrong, those who proposed the plan would take the responsibility.
As soon as those conditions were added, it was inevitable that the Princesses and even the Elders would scramble to accept the World Peace Project.
“The fact that we were able to complete the transition so quickly was actually thanks to everyone secretly preparing for it beforehand.”
As it turned out, most of the Seven Princesses had been preparing for legalization through the back door.
The reason the public had accepted the Seven Dragons Cult’s legalization so readily, and the reason the Seven Dragon Group was able to dominate the global economy less than one year after its founding, was all thanks to their preparation.
Lee Ching-wei spoke with a beaming smile.
Limon looked at her with a hollow expression, as if he had just lost his country.
“… To hell with the honor of the martial world.”
For some reason, the betrayal of the Seven Dragons Cult felt more painful than when he had been betrayed by Yu Na-kyung or Kang Jung-soo.
He had simply reaffirmed the timeless truth that there was no one in the world to trust, and that the youth of today were, in the end, just the youth of today.
Watching Limon shudder with a sense of betrayal, Lee Ching-wei gave a bitter smile.
“But protecting world peace was truly difficult. Much more so than we expected.”
“Did you think it would be easy?”
“No, we knew it would be hard.”
World peace.
A dream even a child could have. But a goal only a child could hold.
The Seven Dragons Cult only realized the difficulty they hadn’t known when they were simply trying to overthrow the world after they actually tried to protect it.
“We just didn’t realize we’d spend more money in thirty-two years than the Seven Dragons Cult had spent over the last few centuries.”
“Exactly how much money did you people spend?!”
“I’m not sure. I can’t calculate the exact amount, but the Seven Dragon Group almost went entirely bankrupt just a few years after it was founded.”
“Are you trying to ruin the global economy just to keep world peace?!”
Limon was appalled.
The Seven Dragon Group was the world’s leading conglomerate.
If the place said to hold all the world’s wealth had gone bankrupt?
The Seven Dragons Cult’s goal of overthrowing the world, which they had aimed for over hundreds of years, would have been achieved in one fell swoop.
Though the cult would have been broke as well.
“Of course, that wasn’t the result we wanted,” Lee Ching-wei said honestly.
The goal of the Seven Dragons Cult was to create a utopia; no one wanted everyone to become beggars.
This was especially true for those who were already enjoying immense wealth and fame after successfully going public.
“So, we turned the Lords into the new absolute beings.”
“……???”
Limon wore a bewildered expression at the sudden change of subject.
“Why is the story connecting like that again… No, wait.”
Limon was about to ask what the Seven Dragon Group almost going bankrupt had to do with the Lords being worshipped as absolute beings, but he paused.
He narrowed his eyes at Lee Ching-wei.
“You said you were the ones who created the Player Association and the Guild system, right?”
“Yes.”
“Then, don’t tell me…”
Having been a PAB agent in name, Limon knew roughly how the Players’ profit structure worked.
Furthermore, because he knew the essence of what kind of organization the Seven Dragons Cult was, he could make a deduction.
Limon shouted out a conclusion that others wouldn’t even be able to imagine with a stunned face.
“Did you… purposely inflate it?!”
“It’s exactly as you say.”
Lee Ching-wei nodded readily.
She continued with a nonchalant face.
“We intentionally bought dungeon byproducts at hundreds or thousands of times their value to turn high-level Players into billionaires.”
The reason high-level Players were treated as the mainstream of this era, often called one-man corporations, was because the various dungeon byproducts they obtained—minerals, monster corpses, and items—were rare and expensive.
But who determined the value of those dungeon byproducts?
It was none other than the Player Association.
In other words, the Player Association could inflate the value of dungeon byproducts indefinitely.
If the Seven Dragon Group also treated those byproducts as precious, their value would naturally skyrocket to astronomical levels.
Even if they were just useless trash.
“A portion of a guild’s income is paid to the Association. And if the value of dungeon byproducts rises…”
“It means the profits the Association gains also increase. Moreover, just by repeating the process of buying and selling while adjusting that value appropriately…”
“The Seven Dragon Group would have been able to gain massive market profits. Plus, you could have watered down the debts you were originally supposed to shoulder within that bubble.”
“That’s impressive. To notice that much just from knowing we’re behind the Association.”
Lee Ching-wei wore an impressed expression.
But even after hearing that, Limon couldn’t feel triumphant and say, “Yeah, I’m a bit of a genius.”
Instead, a vein throbbed on his forehead.
“You bastards, that’s a scaaaaam!!!”