[Translator - Jjescus]
[Proofreader - Gun]
Chapter 185
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Addict II
2
Dofarming.
A new term that literally means farming dopamine.
In the past, during the era when civilization was still intact, it referred to the behavior of internet ghosts who wandered around looking for stimulating videos or news.
But even though the world ended, history progressed.
In this apocalyptic era, we have finally realised "dofarming," not just as a metaphor.
“I feel... so happy...!”
Sim Aryeon shuddered.
“What is this feeling of happiness? I just cooked and ate plain rice. All I did was consume a lump of carbohydrates! But this happiness! This overwhelming happiness is wrapping around me! Guildmaster! What on earth is this...?”
“It’s a new rice variety that will sustain the Korean Peninsula, called Dopamine.”
“It’s so delicious! Even if I eat white rice three times a day, I feel like I’d scream with happiness! I’ve been missing out on life until now... Do ordinary people really live every day listening to this dreamlike melody, with not a trace of depression?”
“No. Most people probably weren’t that happy in life...”
Who could have predicted this?
The Fourth Industrial Revolution, which followed the First, Second, and Third, wasn’t about AI or robotics. It was an Agricultural Revolution .
Now, all arable land in Korea was producing dopamine.
It looked just like ordinary rice, so if a foreigner saw it, they might wonder if this was North Korea and get the year confused.
“My stomach is full, and happiness just follows... This is crazy. This crop is insane, Guildmaster...”
But did dopamine consume a lot of nutrients? Not at all.
In fact, it consumed far less than growing real rice. Just add fertilizer and diligently plant the seedlings, and dopamine would literally multiply.
Naturally, the atmosphere on the SG network changed dramatically.
- Anonymous: Confession) I used to troll anonymously and leave nasty comments.
- Anonymous: But after a month of eating dopamine, I started wondering why I lived like that. Pointing out others’ flaws never improved my life...
- Anonymous: I especially want to apologize to the regular member of the forum, Witch Judge. I’m the one who always trolled you, calling you a train otaku aunt.
- Anonymous: I used to criticize you, saying that as a prominent figure in Korea, you should maintain a better image, and that it was your responsibility as a public figure. But really, I was just trying to compensate for my unhappiness by making you unhappy.
- Anonymous: I regret my past. Will you forgive me, Witch Judge?
└[Three Thousand] Witch Judge: Of course, I’ll forgive you^^ But which city do you live in?
Even these changes were just the tip of the iceberg.
There were even more earth-shattering events.
- KoreanVillage: I’m retiring from SG Net.
Sim Aryeon announced that she was quitting SG Net!Thê source of this conte/nt n/o/v/(el)bi((n))
- KoreanVillage: Life is busy.
Sim Aryeon used the word life!
- KoreanVillage: If I’ve hurt anyone during my activities, I’d like to take this opportunity to apologize. I’m sorry.
Sim Aryeon apologized!
I was so shocked that my jaw dropped.
In all 671 episodes, since the invention of SG Net and Sim Aryeon’s survival, never once had she abandoned her identity as the KoreanVillage Villain .
But now she was leaving the online world? Dedicating herself entirely to living as the Saintess of the North in Pyongyang? Could something like this really happen?
“Aryeon, are you... serious about this?”
“Yes? Yes, yes. These days, I find it much more fulfilling to live my daily life eating dopamine rather than posting nonsense on SG Net...”
Of course, after saying that, the KoreanVillage Villain secretly returned to SG Net a week later.
Leaving me with the famous line, “Guildmaster, I realized that you can’t live on happiness alone (smile).”
Still, if you look at it from another perspective, that meant the KoreanVillage Villain voluntarily quit SG Net for a whole week.
My jaw didn’t seem like it was going to come back into place anytime soon.
“Is that really such a big deal...?”
“You should try living as long as I have, Chief Noh Doha. The sun has risen in the west many times, but Aryeon has never done this before.”
“You’re more astonished by an internet troll than by celestial movements. What a worthwhile life you’ve had as a regressor...”
“By the way, Chief, aren’t you going to try dopamine?”
"All the babies were stillborn."
According to her investigation, this phenomenon commonly occurred around the 8th week of pregnancy.
The fetus, after finding a place in the womb, suddenly 'stopped' growing.
It even curled up and gradually shrank.
As if it didn’t want to leave any trace in this world.
As if every pregnancy was nothing more than 'imagination.'
"......"
"......"
After receiving her verbal report and written data, I could only remain silent.
Both Tang Seorin and I had already guessed it.
We knew what was behind this bizarre phenomenon, what the cause was.
And so, without saying a word, we shared the premonition that this wasn’t just a story limited to a certain city in the southern peninsula.
"Of course, it could just be that this strange phenomenon is only happening in Busan."
But it wasn’t.
A week later, Cheon Yohwa came to Busan and said.
"Teacher, the babies are dying."
"......"
"No, I should say they're disappearing. They just vanish. Continuously."
The same news kept coming from Busan, Sejong, Pyongyang, Daejeon, southern Seoul, and even the Japanese archipelago, from every city and village where humanity barely managed to cling to life.
The babies aren't being born.
No human visits the earth anymore. No longer.
"......"
"......"
The meeting room of the Regression Alliance fell into an eerie silence.
Lee Hayul, the most recent among us to knock on the door of this world, murmured softly.
"...Maybe it's just this year?"
But it wasn’t.
A year later, the same reports came in.
"Busan. Birth rate is zero."
"Ugh. Not a single baby was born in Sejong either."
"Py-Pyongyang has none too......"
It was a strange thing.
There were no more unfortunate humans. Everyone was happy, except for a very small, deliberate minority who avoided dopamine intake.
Human civilization had finally reached its peak.
And at this highest point, for some reason, humanity suddenly exercised a veto on the act of repeating life.
Why?
We’ve all witnessed the phenomenon of 'not having children because life is unhappy.'
But the opposite – 'not giving birth despite being perfectly happy' – was a bizarre phenomenon.
There was no precedent.
But the cause was clear.
"There's one thing we can try."
The people in the meeting room turned to look at me.
"This is undoubtedly the work of an anomaly. Something ominous related to dopamine is happening to the fetuses."
Cheon Yowa tilted her head.
"But, teacher, we observed the fetuses in many ways, and indeed, starting from the 8th week, they suddenly began to shrink for no apparent reason."
"Yes. That was from external observation. In other words, the strange phenomenon isn’t happening to the fetus's appearance but 'inside.'"
"Inside the fetus...? What does that mean?"
"Dreams."
I looked toward one corner of the meeting room. There, Fairy No. 264 was playing with Lego blocks.
Looking at the anomaly, who we called a fairy but read as a nightmare, I said,
"I will personally enter the dreams of the newborns and find out which anomaly is abducting our future."
[Translator - Jjescus]
[Proofreader - Gun]