Episode 241 The Butterfly Effect (1)
The popularity of heroes in this world is comparable to that of celebrities on Earth.
For that reason, the existence of fan sites that praise famous heroes, the so-called ‘named heroes’, is not particularly surprising.
Let’s take All Mute and Khan Elizabeth as representative examples. She is the most popular among the heroes.
All Mute’s fan site, [All Chat Prohibited] has 50,000,000 members. Exactly fifty million, without adding or subtracting.
This will probably be a very familiar number to Koreans.
‘Fifty million.’
This number is the total population of South Korea. There may be some variation, but we call it an approximate number of 50 million people.
Here, some may wonder, and the following questions are also natural phenomena.
-Anonymous 156: It drops to exactly 50 million?
-Anonymous007: Does that make sense? No, it was All Mute, which was popular to begin with, so isn’t that too little?
Moreover, aren’t heroes those who sacrifice themselves to fight for humanity?
If the popularity of Guga is greater than that of celebrities, it would not be less, but more.
-Barbarian: It’s a fabrication, of course.
It’s a reasonable doubt. And congratulations.
You said the right answer.
Before we get into the main topic, I need to briefly touch on the system of this world. It’s complicated in detail, so I’ll explain it as briefly as possible.
This world is based on democracy and feudalism. Strictly speaking, it is ambiguous to say that it leans towards one side or the other. It is roughly half and half. However, it is not like half and half chicken in a neat box.
-Barbarian: Democracy? The people are the masters of the country? This is disgusting.
-Cheonma_Toxic: King? Nobleman? What era is this… … .
-Barbarian: Cows live like cows, eating grass. It would be bitter if they were to eat meat presumptuously.
-Cheonma_Toxic: That’s such an ancient and primitive way of thinking.
-Barbarian: You speak like an ancient person.
So how can this uncomfortable situation be maintained for both sides? There are three possible reasons.
First of all, it is ‘protection’.
Humans who have manifested the power of protection are several times stronger than ordinary people. What’s more, even the weapons of civilization, such as firearms, are not effective against them.
I think it might be the result of the special nature of fantasy. When you think of fantasy, you think of swords, but when you hear gunshots, it’s a bit like that.
-Anonymous 338: I heard that villains mix magic and use it.
-Narsystem: Yeah, and bullets are expensive so I can’t buy them anyway.
The weapons that turned the tide of warfare are nothing more than scrap metal here.
Therefore, the common people have no proper means of resisting the nobles.
-Barbarian: Hero 1 = Commoner 100. (Based on Senior Hero)
-Barbarian: Warrior class would be several times that. Your rebuttal is correct.
-Cheonma_Toxic: In what country is the city you are talking about?
-Barbarian: Report the gag. sg
-Cheonma_Toxic: Does ㅅㄱ mean report?
-Barbarian: At the level of an old man’s joke. So, his nickname is Cheonma Monopoly.
-Cheonma_Toxic: That’s not what I meant~^^
-Barbarian: Are you a alpha?
If they rise up? The nobles will easily suppress them with physical force. So, powerless commoners have no choice but to submit to the system and follow it quietly.
-Barbarian: But our country’s king, these days, has opened up half of his thoughts to win the hearts of the people.
-Narsystem: Well, to maintain the system, you need citizens.
-Barbarian: Woof! Honey!
The second one requires less explanation than the first.
-Barbarian: Tells the story of fighting with a mine.
The second reason is because of the demons.
There is a public enemy. But humans are fighting each other? What if the demons invade when the time is right? The result will be mutual destruction.
In this situation, ideological conflicts, democracy vs. feudalism, are trivial issues. They know this well, so they do not find fault with each other.
-Anonymous338: It’s better to be uncomfortable than to both die.
However, violence has been an inseparable means of communication throughout human history. It is a human instinct and habit.
-Anonymous 338: Those who have more are more, the personalities of the nobles are really different.
The nobles are the ones who are willing to draw their swords when the spark of democracy spreads in their country. The authors who froth at the powers that threaten their interests.
Here, as information develops and times change, new threats have joined the ranks. They are the ‘named heroes’ mentioned earlier.
-Barbarian: Tells you the conditions for a named hero.
1. It’s really that strong.
2. Pretty or handsome.
3. Must be from a good family.
-Cheonma_Toxic: Whatever it is, it doesn’t seem to apply to you. Haha
-Barbarian: A bastard.
Celebrities, even when they become well-known, do not exercise political power. Of course, they have influence, but it is an indirect influence.
On the other hand, heroes are closer to politicians. They have a direct influence. If they are popular, they can be burdensome to the existing vested interests.
Democracy and feudalism may have compromised, but they are not capable of stopping the changes of the times.
It was a time when a coordinator was needed to maintain this precarious balance. The Hero Association was born at that time.
The Hero Association first and foremost classified heroes into ranks, objectively classifying them.
To facilitate this, we later created something called HP.
-Barbarian: I have HP, can I join Lancelot Company? (with photo)
-Cheonma_Toxic: It’s possible to get it at a local hole-in-the-wall store.
-Barbarian: Seriously, where do you live?
Additionally, in order to curb the influence of ‘named heroes’, the number of fan site members was limited to 50,000,000.
-Narsystem: They say limiting the number of fan site members was secretly effective. The influence of influencers comes from numbers. But if you block that, it can’t help but be effective.
-Barbarian: Please summarize in three lines.
-Cheonma_Toxic: That’s three lines.
So, the 50 million members of All Mute’s fan cafe is the maximum allowed by the association.
-Narsystem: Well, I don’t know why it was set at 50 million. Only the person who built the system would know.
-Narsystem: As far as I know, even Vice President Changseongdo cannot intervene in the system.
-Barbarian: So who is that?
-Narsystem: If the vice president doesn’t exist, are there more than one?
But here’s where things get weird.
“49,998,724 people. ???? Refresh.”
There is a theory called the butterfly effect.
“49,999,827 people. ???? Refresh.”
The flapping of a tiny butterfly’s wings.
“Fan site of Seven Star Heroes and Heavenly Sword.
Number of members of [Sashimi Sensitivity]
: 50,000,001 people. ???? Refresh.」
The hypothesis that it could cause a typhoon.
-Narsystem: (Photo) Cheongeom fan site.
-Narsystem: What is the number of members?
-Anonymous192: ??? Isn’t it just a bug?
-Narsystem: Refreshing, but still going up. And it hasn’t happened in over a decade.
-Anonymous 109: Wow, it’s already close to 55 million?
-Anonymous338: No, but why is it only the Cheongeom fan site that’s like this? All mutes are still the same?
-Barbarian: You’ve been hacked. The Hero Association class.
-Cheonma_Toxic: No, I’m an association employee, but it’s absolutely impossible. There are over 20 security walls, and ten of them are analog.
-Barbarian: Association staff? You’re being a jerk.
-Barbarian: So what’s your rank? Low-level intern?
-Cheonma_Toxic: Me.
Knock, knock.
-Cheonma_Toxic: President of the Association.
The winds of change began to blow.
…
-Barbarian: Block.
* * *
Early Monday morning, two days after returning from Busan.
♩♫♬♪♭
The loud ringing of the phone tormented my eardrums. I felt my head against the pillow in my sleep.
“…who is this.”
I squinted my eyes and looked at my phone screen. It was none other than Speed Weapon that had woken me up from my morning slumber. And it was 30 minutes earlier than my wake-up alarm.
Should I answer or not? I hesitated for a moment in a dazed state before touching the call button.
“Uh, weapon.”
“Ah! You were sleeping, sorry, sorry.”
At those words, I opened the curtains with my phone screen pressed to my ear.
Even taking into account that it was early winter and the east was slowly rising, the sky was pitch black.
It’s probably not even 7 o’clock yet. School starts at 9 o’clock.
I scratched my messy head and straightened my back. I was mentally preparing myself. Once a weapon is detonated, it will remain silent for at least 30 minutes.
In fact, Weapon only calls when the matter is serious. The fact that he called on a precious Monday morning is proof that something is not right.
I opened my mouth again.
“So what happened?”
“Before I speak, I’ll send you some pictures. Could you take a look at them?”
I did as I was told. I had to do it if I wanted to sleep even just one more minute.
At the same time, I checked the photos sent by the weapon.
‘… … ?’
The drowsiness that had been hanging over my eyes was completely gone. Weapon was whining over the phone.
“Did you see it?”
“Uh… but what is this site? Sashimi Emotion?”
“Huh? You didn’t even know the name of the fan site until now?”
“I just found out that there is a fan site.”
“Wow- Manager, I knew you weren’t interested in this kind of thing, but I didn’t think it would be this much… … Anyway, do you see the number in the corner of the photo?”
“Yeah. Five thousand… Tens of thousands.”
“That’s the number of members on your fan site, Manager.”
“what……?”
My fan base is over 50 million? It was an absurdly large number, but it was easy to estimate. It was the same number as the population of South Korea.
However, it is difficult to imagine how much that total amount is physically.
‘How many soccer fields can be filled with this number?’
Meanwhile, the weapon was chattering excitedly. It was a rapid fire gun. The lips could not keep up with the speed of the tongue.
“Are you surprised? Well, I didn’t even know that fan sites existed, so that reaction is natural. But the most important thing here is that the number of members has exceeded 50 million. That’s the most important thing. According to the Hero Law, the number of members on fan sites is limited to 50 million. I’ll explain in detail later.”
Oh my gosh. That weapon skips the detailed description.
I looked out the window again. The sun was rising on the eastern horizon, not the western.
“Anyway, it’s incredible that we’ve surpassed that limit. It’s almost like an enlightenment revolution!”
Weapon spoke breathlessly, as if he was very agitated. Dude, no matter how much you like to talk, it’s not like that. Just breathe while you talk.
“Because the membership limit has been lifted… …!”
Unfortunately, the weapon did not finish its sentence.
♩♫♬♪♭
It was a phone call from the principal that pushed his words away.
“My cell phone has been in the queue since morning.”
I feel popular in a different sense than the fuss about weapons.
I sighed and changed the caller. I’m sorry Weapon, but adults come first.
“Yes, principal.”
“Ah! You were sleeping, sorry.”
I never thought I’d hear this line again. I have a reasonable suspicion that they might be plotting something together.
“I was just awake, so why did you call me?”
“Nothing else, but Geomma, can you spare some class today? I have to go somewhere urgently with you. I’m really sorry for the suddenness… … . But it’s really urgent… … .”
Media muttered like a sinner. It was only yesterday that she had told him to enjoy his life as a cadet, and now she was going back on her words.
“it’s okay.”
But she doesn’t have to feel so guilty. I’m a cadet and a Chilseong.
“Huh? Really? It’s really far. Are you okay?”
“Anyway, we’re going straight to the subspace warp, so I’ll get ready right away.”
“Are you really, really okay?”
“Yes. Don’t worry. Anywhere is fine.”
Regardless of age or status… … .
“Even though it’s Antarctica?”
“… … .”
I am a seven-star hero.
It’s really not easy.
