“Since all the employees seem to be ready, I hereby declare the opening of the Dream Capsule pop-up store. See you all in 2 hours, everyone!”
snip!
“Waaaaaaah!”
The crowd of tens of thousands in line cheered.
Even those in the ticket reservation line.
To avoid congestion, tickets were issued so that everyone could enter at different times.
A hundred part-time staff stamped chip codes and sent tourists away one by one.
From 9 AM to 6 PM.
Except on Mondays when it opened two hours earlier at 7 AM.
VIP customers who reserved the Prometheus Edition came at this time.
While this could be considered a privilege, it was indeed a privilege.
They paid a whopping 100 million won and willingly agreed to be test subjects. They deserve special treatment.
It was these rich folks who could help the public feel safe using the capsules.
Out of about 500 people, around 300 seemed to have visited. Including the families of the contracted employees, there were about 1,000 people.
At this moment, actual reserved products were provided instead of trial capsules.
While customers looked for their capsules, I went to the center of the pop-up store and stood tall on the podium.
I took the microphone and delivered some announcements.
“The experience time is limited to 10 minutes per person. I want to emphasize that VariA and Janjeol do not collect any personal data from our customers, and no situations inside will be recorded.”
Since it was already announced in advance, the public seemed to accept it.
“The Dreaming Mode consists of two types of magic. The first is the Alchemist’s Mirror, which recreates your happiest moments in an audiovisual dome screen. You can think of it as a standing movie. About 10 seconds later, Nascentia will initialize. For those who have lived healthily, you might not feel it, so we will provide a health diagnostic service after the experience. Please direct your questions to the staff at each capsule. Now, everyone, sweet dreams.”
I put down the microphone and sat cross-legged on the chair.
The quiet site began to buzz.
Not everyone dove into the experience right away.
First, questions were thrown at the staff while people exchanged glances.
A few brave citizens steeled themselves and entered the Dream Capsule.
Families were seen worried as if their loved ones were boarding a spaceship.
[Dreaming Mode: 28 units in operation]
Usually, after about 5 minutes, Nascentia would almost finish, and the capsule could terminate itself.
However, none of the 28 had exited the quasi-virtual reality.
“Is something wrong with my husband?”
“It should end in 5 minutes; why is he still in there?”
“Mr. NoName! Mr. NoName!”
The chaos caused by one person quickly spread to the surroundings.
But I sat motionless with my legs crossed.
“There’s no problem at all.”
After all, it’s not like anyone would listen to me, so I saved my breath.
Another 5 minutes passed, and the experience time finally ended.
I moved to meet the glorious first beta tester.
“Hello?”
“Yes… Is my husband okay…?”
“Please wait a moment.”
The madam was anxiously biting her long nails.
Pushhhh…
The first to exit was the bald Chinese boss.
“What? It’s already over…?”
He came out with a blank face, tears streaming down.
“Honey!”
“Abeoji, are you okay?”
“Why do you look like that? Did it hurt? If something’s wrong, tell me, and I’ll get a doctor immediately!”
“It’s not like that. Hey, everyone, come over here.”
“Huh?”
The man held his wife and young daughter tightly, sobbing uncontrollably.
“Xiaoyu, remember the day we paid off our factory debts and bought our first house in Beijing? I’m so sorry for the hard times I’ve caused you… sniffle…”
“Why are you suddenly saying this! Mr. NoName, I think my husband is acting strange! Is there no psychiatrist here?”
“I’m fine! I’m really fine! Don’t embarrass me in front of all these people and just stay quiet…!”
“You look quite pale, though.”
“Cough, it’s always been like this with my face.”
After a misunderstanding cleared, he wiped his face with a handkerchief.
The boss then realized that I was right next to him.
“Oh dear, Mr. NoName, when did you arrive? I made quite a spectacle of myself.”
“I was right here from the start, though…”
“You must have been hiding really well, hahaha!”
I was right next to him, though?
Some feelings swelled, but I suppressed them for now.
“Using it once feels quite disorienting. So this is the Alchemist’s Mirror.”
“Did the scenes you expected play out?”
“No, not at all. I thought there were no happier days than when I listed the company on the stock exchange last year…”
“And now?”
“I was wrong. You’ve given me such a valuable experience. This item… it’s genuinely an innovation among innovations!”
“There’s something you might be misunderstanding, Mr. Boss. The Alchemist’s Mirror is not the main magic of Dreaming Mode.”
It merely serves to maintain the quasi-virtual reality; the real deal is with Nascentia.
“Ha, look at my brain. Ah yes, healing magic.”
“If you have inquiries, the staff over there-”
“It’s fine. We’ll be using our own diagnostic kit.”
“Okay, whatever you prefer.”
The suspicious Chinese boss was a diabetes patient.
He pricked his finger with a needle to measure his blood sugar.
“Did I take my medication this morning?”
“No, you didn’t. You didn’t even take it last night, which is why you brought your syringe today.”
“Wow… Haha! This world is changing! Look at this, Xiaoyu.”
“Huh? It’s normal?”
“What is it, mom? I wanna see too!”
I didn’t have leisure to keep looking at the happy family.
People who had finished experiencing Dreaming Mode kept coming out.
Maybe because they each faced their happy moments, there were hardly any problematic customers.
The only problematic one, a woman, was grumbling that she didn’t seem to experience much effect.
“I didn’t feel anything at all. Is it really effective?”
“Health is not something you check when you’re sick; it’s what you take care of when you’re not. Brain hemorrhages, strokes, and heart attacks don’t creep up on you; they strike suddenly like an accident.”
People tend to overestimate their health.
However, most people complimented that just the Alchemist’s Mirror alone was worth 100 million won.
Just like that Chinese family earlier, some cried heaps, while others reminisced by sharing their experiences.
People suffering from runny noses and sneezes came to thank me, but I wholeheartedly refused.
After roughly an hour, the experiences of 951 people were wrapped up.
As a side note, thanks to VariA’s diagnostics service, one person was lucky enough to catch early symptoms of colon cancer.
“If anyone dislikes having any residual Nascentia mana in their system, we’ve installed mana-anti pads at the exit, so please keep that in mind.”
The effect duration of Nascentia is roughly 40 hours.
It was important to give them a choice to avoid any misunderstandings later on.
But perhaps I was too distrustful of people.
Not a single person touched the pads and left the pop-up store as is.
The feedback compilation was all done.
Users of Dreaming Mode: 951.
Serious adverse reactions: 0, mild side effects: 0, reports of depression and anxiety: 0; in fact, there were quite a number of reports saying symptoms improved.
However, Dreaming Mode doesn’t involve the central nervous system, such as serotonin or norepinephrine.
I guessed this was likely the placebo effect or the Alchemist’s Mirror working its magic.
“You’re incredibly meticulous, Mr. NoName Wizard. Is there a reason you go this far?”
An employee of VariA who was assisting with questionnaire sorting asked.
“Because it infuriates me to think that selfish individuals might prevent those who actually need treatment from receiving it.”
“What does that mean…?”
Ah… This kid has no idea what future lies ahead.
I placed a hand on the employee’s shoulder and patted him.
“Let’s work hard this week.”
“Yes, yes!”
*
Just as I feared.
The future I worried about burst forth from day one.
“Aaaah! Air raid alert! Air raid alert! Uwaaaah! Aaaah! Police forces mobilize!”
“Wizard! Over here, this way!”
“Oh, really…”
There are all sorts of people in the world.
Now, just from the sound, I can tell, ‘This guy must be trying to pull an insurance scam.’
I had prepped a manual for such situations.
“What’s going on?”
“They used Dreaming Mode for 10 minutes, and now they’re causing a ruckus as soon as the capsule door opened.”
Around, people appeared startled, reluctant to use the capsules.
I was already busy as can be.
“Uhh. Where did NoName Wizard go? Bring NoName!”
“I’m NoName Wizard. What seems to be the problem?”
“Is that NoName Wizard? A missile is falling right in front of me! Aaaaaah!”
“You seem to be showing symptoms of disorientation. Mr. Wigo, I believe it would be effective to use polygraph magic for a proper diagnosis.”
“I’m Eric Wigo. I’m a polygraph expert and have dealt mainly with cases of murder, infidelity, and sexual crimes.”
The ex-FBI polygraph examiner cast a spell.
Casting: Polygraph
“Are you okay? It’d be great if you could tell us exactly what you see.”
“… Aaaaaah, a missile falling from the sky!”
“He initially hesitated, but he’s lying.”
“Why do you say a missile is falling when one isn’t visible?”
“I’ve never felt like this before! Now I really see it! There’s something wrong with the capsule!”
“From start to finish, it’s a lie. Ah, the last sentence reveals a hint of his desire.”
“Are you possibly pretending something’s wrong with the capsule with financial motives?”
“What are you talking about! I may not live well, but I’m not a shameless scoundrel who’ll sell my conscience!”
“He is trying to hide his lie by partially admitting the truth. However, he seems to be hiding something about the topic.”
‘Wow, is this the performance of modern lie detectors?’
It doesn’t just detect truth or falsehood, but perfectly understands the subject’s intentions.
I silently admired it.
Just then, Eric Wigo looked at me and spoke in a serious tone.
“It’s a model from 30 years ago, Wizard. Its performance is far below that of modern lie detectors.”
“How did you know what I was really feeling…?”
In a moment, a chill ran down my skin.
But anyway, as Eric Wigo accurately figured him out, the troublemaker became much calmer.
“We will do our utmost to ensure your health and well-being. However, if it is revealed that there’s malice behind this kind of disturbance, you will be facing charges for obstruction of business and fraud. You know that could lead to a maximum of 10 years imprisonment, or 20 if it’s serious, right?”
“Oh? Suddenly, I can’t see anything! I’m fine now, so I’ll just-”
“Get lost.”
Before the security guards could escort him out, the man hurriedly left the store.
Whenever new technology comes out, all sorts of conspiracy theories arise.
Even right now, with smartphones used globally, there’s talk that electromagnetic waves cause brain tumors, and that specific frequencies control the users’ minds.
In fact, those insurance scammer types weren’t even in the same league as those truly malicious ones.
When they leave the store smiling, they race to the media to spread lies as if they were the truth.
“I felt like I was inhaling pesticide while sleeping. My body just moved on its own,” and so on.
How do they even know the taste of pesticides?
Given how similar their repertoires are, it’s as if they were told to say it.
But really, those despicable acts were just a tiny minority.
The reason I hesitated to accept 40,000 people in a day at the pop-up store.
[Didn’t you guys taste pesticides when using the Dream Capsule? I don’t think I should use it.]
└ Welcome, part-timerㅋㅋ
└ How many identical posts have been uploaded?
└ We should just block Dreaming Mode from idiots like this.
└ We didn’t feel anything, so if you felt that, maybe YOU are a parasite ^^
└ Don’t slander Na-me.
└ Thanks to Na-me, I can breathe through my nose for the first time in 10 years ㄹㅇ
└ My mother, who passed away when I was young, came to me, and I cried so muchㅠㅠ
The Dream Capsule users became warriors fighting against the conspiracy theories.
*
On the first day of the pop-up store.
Early reports started trickling out sooner than expected.
[Texas, Florida, Arizona announce phased permit for Dreaming Mode usage.]
└ Among the VIPs of the VariA event, there were Florida council members, right?
└ Haha, they decided they needed to use it themselvesㅋㅋ
└ Those stubborn folks changed their stance in just one day. How effective could it be?
└ Feels like taking a $10 mana treatment.
└ So it means it doesn’t feel like anything whatsoever.
└ You don’t feel anything when receiving treatment, but most things get better ㄷㄷ
└ Not sure if it’s just me, but my fatigue completely vanished.
└ Mr. NoName, hurry up and launch it already!!!
