Chapter 362

[Aaron Side Story Episode 33]

4. The one who longs for power (4)

The 500 million year button.

Aaron widened his eyes at the unfamiliar word.

“They say that just press the button and it will give you money. Doing nothing. Just click and deposit instantly.”

“Are there treasures like that on Earth?”

earth.

I only know the fact that the game masters are from the planet and various trivial information.

I don’t know much about that world.

“Instead, the moment you press it, your mind will be consumed by this space and you will have to spend 500 million years there. You don’t have to eat and you don’t need to sleep. We will spend 500 million years quietly in this space.”

the boy continued.

“And after 500 million years, the memories spent in this space are erased and returned to the original place. His hands are full of money! How is it interesting?”

It’s a button that gives you money when you press it.

Instead, there is a premise that you have to spend 500 million years in this space, but after you return, the memory disappears.

If so, is it possible to make money for free using the machine?

Aaron didn’t answer right away.

“But let’s say there is a person in front of the 500 million year button. It’s a simple thought experiment. He is...”

the boy continued.

The 500-million-year button that pays you just by pressing it, and requires you to spend eternity in this space.

A man stands in front of the button.

The man needed money.

A lot.

But the man did not have the talent to earn as much money as he wanted.

A mediocre job doesn’t get you the kind of money you want.

He started a business dozens of times, but failed, and as a result, he realized that he had no talent for any business.

Same goes for anything else.

The man had a great, great need for money, but was desperately lacking in the ability to make money.

There is a 500 million year button in front of such a pathetic man.

“How much money does the man need?”

“If you work hard, you will earn your living expenses. But he’s not satisfied. wishing and wishing Not on Earth money is power Call it capitalism.”

capitalism.

It was said that the current Earth is a system that blindly believes in money.

With the power of money, anything is possible.

You can even buy happiness.

If money doesn’t work, your money isn’t enough.

He said that this way of thinking is prevalent.

There, wealth was more valuable than power plus violence, that is, a measure of human strength.

In other words, wealth is the same as the strength of its existence.

“How much do you want? If it’s really urgent, I’ll have to press it.”

If the man is poor or has a family to support, he will press it.

How much money will you be satisfied with?

I don’t even know the amount that comes out when I press it once in the first place.

The boy smiled and explained.

‘Ten million won?’

In Taoni, it was about the salary a knight gets for working for a month.

When I said that, I could understand.

‘It’s not a small amount of money.’

If you press 10 times, you can use it sparingly for living expenses with Nina for nearly 10 years.

“Master, I haven’t been able to talk since a while ago. It makes no sense if you don’t know how much a man wants.”

“Isn’t there such a thing as a fixed amount?”

“yes?”

“The man just needs money. for no reason.”

“Is there any reason?”

nonsense.

Money is just a means.

Like being rich and having fun.

Live comfortably and happily with your family.

Use it to achieve a dream or goal you want.

You write it like this

Do you need money for no reason at all?

what is that guy

“Are you kidding me? But I can’t help it. Actually, he is.”

“....”

“So the madman just presses the button. They hit it like they would break their fingers, tap-dance on top, and dance wildly.”

“That’s right.”

“But 500 million years is not easy. You know how frightening the passage of time is, right?”

Aaron knows thoroughly.

My heart was twisted to the extent that I had spent 50 years in an empty world.

But if you say 500 million years like that.

Truly an eternity of eternity.

There, you have to spend time with your eyes open without even dying.

“There is nothing in this space. 500 million years of being alive there. You can’t stop thinking, you can’t give up halfway through.”

No matter how you kill time, that endurance will not exceed 100 years.

The rest will have no choice but to leave it to the passing years.

That’s 500 million years.

“I don’t like to press.”

“why? It’s a memory I’ll forget anyway.”

“I do not know. What will happen to me when I press the button. Will I spend 500 million years in this space? Or will you take the money casually?”

isn’t it a draw?

If you catch the latter, you win.

You can get money without any risk.

However, if you get caught in the former... you will experience a true inferno.

‘500 million years.’

Ten million won is a lot of money.

But it was never enough to take that risk.

Spending 500 million years alone in a remote place was a worse punishment than being tortured and killed hundreds of times.

“But the man presses. keep going.”

The means turned into ends.

“There are actually quite a few people like this, right? They say it’s a miser.”

“It is completely different. I have met quite a few people like that.”

Aaron also met many wealthy people in the city while living as a merchant.

Among them, to put it badly, there were a few people who were called the dead of money.

“For them, money is a means of expressing their worth. The more money you collect, the higher your value. Therefore, money becomes a means of value to them.”

“Ohh. You had that point of view.”

“Are men like that too? Are you saving money to increase your value? Is it like this?”

Some perverse people are obsessed with wealth, considering it happiness.

Still, money was a means to them.

It is a means to happiness, not an end in itself.

‘Pure longing.’

Then the man would be different.

I just collect because I want to raise money.

Not to be happy, not to increase value.

just collect

collect money for no reason

In the true sense of the word, we collect to gather.

‘What is this madman?’

It is not a human way of thinking.

However, if it were not for this explanation, the man’s behavior could not be understood.

How much money will the man have to save to stop pressing?

The answer is.

‘It doesn’t stop forever.’

until it ceases to exist.

If his heart is truly pure, he will never stop pressing.

The amount doesn’t matter from the start.

Because the purpose is to collect.

“...”

The man may have the appearance of a human male, but he is no longer human.

A collection of tenacity and madness imitating a human form.

Even the hand that presses the button does not belong to you.

The master who controls him is not his own mind, but pure desire itself.

A man’s body can be seen as a medium for that desire.

He is human but not human.

A ghost possessed by something, just a shadow.

“okay? who the man is.”

“Are you the person in the story?”

“I don’t notice. Are you pretending not to know? Or do you really not know At this point, do you even know?”

The back gets cold.

Aaron looked at his hand.

I saw a hand wrapped in bandages.

“On Earth, money is power, so you can think of it the other way around here.”

Power rules everything here.

even himself

Aaron has long believed that if you don’t have power, you will be unhappy.

“Here you are. The one who is still pushing the button.”

“....”

“If you continue to pursue even though you have lost all the reasons to be strong over a long period of time...”

A memory of one day came to mind.

It was the scene that I recalled just before I lost consciousness two days ago.

There the young man was talking to the boy.

your own dreams.

There is no reason to be strong against young people anymore.

If I had hoped to reunite with my family, I would have had to return when the second gate opened.

But the young man did not return.

The young man’s talent was limited.

Even after hundreds and thousands of years of hard work, it could not become stronger.

Just as an ant cannot become an elephant even if it lives for thousands of years.

Still don’t give up

if.

What would he do if a similar button appeared in front of the young man’s eyes?

If so, how many times will you press it?

“okay.”

Aaron muttered.

You don’t have to imagine.

Because the results are already here.

His bandaged hands trembled.

It must have been made of bones and meat.

However, it is visible in Aaron’s eyes.

It shakes.

His blackened hands trembled, leaving behind an afterimage.

An ominous shadow rose from the fingertips.

“Come out to the clearing in two days.”

said the boy.

I couldn’t see the expression.

“Prove that your dream was pure.”

“How can I prove it?”

“Here you are. that guy The child who casually obtained what you madly wished for.”

do you mean waiting?

The man who had been blessed by the god of talent since birth had no talent at all.

“I won’t be there, but remember. I have always been with you.”

The boy smiled.

“Show him. Your dream.”

Took.

The master patted the young man on the back.

and walked out of the room.