Became an American Retro Novelist - Chapter 156



Only Noblemtl

156.

I glanced to the side and was dazzled by the morning sunlight.

‘Is it morning already?’

Simon groaned from a belated headache.

He had no choice. He had drunk six cups of coffee. He opened the window wide, feeling nauseous without realizing it, as the scent of coffee filled the room. The air pouring in with the morning sunlight seemed to instantly purify his depressed mind.

Simon thought.

‘I want to quit my job.’

I want to quit my job and read novels to my heart’s content.

Why do people have to work?

After all, humans are nothing in this vast world.

“Ugh······.”

After he had wrapped his back and shoulders like an armadillo, he looked back, aware that his thoughts were running in a strange direction.

I saw the manuscript of ‘Country of Losers’ neatly arranged on the table.

‘If the world really became like that, it’s terrifying to even think about.’

No, is it really that terrible?

Maybe it would be better that way?

Simon suddenly felt afraid at the thought of thinking that way.

Like Aldous Huxley’s Brave New World, this novel is written as if it were deliberately cutting out human misery and pursuing a society where everyone is happy.

Up until this point, it was a common dystopian story.

A world where everything is so perfect that it feels bizarre and uncomfortable.

The problem was that the novel showed a contrast between present and past society, and argued that it was the right choice for humans.

At least that’s what it felt like to Simon.

‘Until the end, that was it.’

After taking a deep breath as he recalled the shocking ending, he started getting ready for work.

I put some bread in the toaster and finished my shower. I sat down and was about to pour another cup of coffee from the coffee machine, but I really felt like I was going to throw up, so instead I took out the milk from the fridge. I muttered, “It expires yesterday, so it should be okay?” and poured it into a cup, and thick yogurt came out.

“······.”

Come to think of it, I left it at room temperature for about 3 days.

I was lazy so I just grabbed a glass of water from the sink, sat down, and started eating peanut butter and jelly jam on some already cooled bread.

Mumble, mumble. I felt depressed the whole time I was chewing the bread.

‘Why am I really alive?’

A thought that every office worker in the world has had at least once.

It wasn’t until the affable journalist was twenty-six that he first had that thought.

It was all because of the new author’s new novel, ‘Country of Losers’.

This novel directly denies the human life of working hard every day.

***

Act 2 of ‘Country of Losers’ begins from the perspective of ‘Deshaun’, a young man attending college.

His father was a dentist, his mother was a lawyer. Born into such a ‘normal’ black family, DeShawn was the first generation to be born with ‘The Book’ implanted in their heads.

Growing up with friends who had similar circumstances to his own, he was never a troubled or resistant being like the protagonists in other dystopian novels.

The people of this world were not ruled by anything.

I wasn’t even in pain.

Everyone lived their own lives in their own places. It was as if we had gone back to the era before ‘The Book’ appeared.

The world has become closer to perfection since a new technology developed by a scientist named James turned ‘The Book’ into a device that can be implanted into the brain.

Many citizens were educated through ‘The Book’, and the previous ills such as racism, pornography addiction, and stimulation seeking disappeared under proper control. People still enjoyed pornography, but they kept the line moderate. Instead, they sought to live a better life. They loved the virtue of moderation and wanted to become better.

A typical example was weight management.

As the book was inserted into the brain, obesity naturally disappeared. People managed their weight according to the knowledge given by the book in their head, and they grew while experiencing the joy of getting better little by little.

The North was like a manager who managed people from the closest quarters.

The health of the body naturally affects the mind. People naturally maintained the best of themselves and learned to respect each other’s individuality.

DeShawn often met friends of different races, and each time they would compliment each other’s skin color and individual appearance.

“Marie, the freckles that are set like stars on your snow-white skin are so beautiful.”

“Don’t say that, DeShawn. Your dark skin looks much healthier than that.”

“Brooke’s narrow eyes are also elegant. She’s cool.”

They looked at each other’s individual beauty without any prejudice.

DeShawn quietly admired Brooke’s stereotypical Asian face.

Time to have deep conversations while drinking tea. He enjoyed this time of deeply observing and enjoying all things in the world. Because of the help of ‘The Book’ in his head, he realized that the slanted eyes unique to Asians were a product of evolution. When he understood this deeply, the other person’s face felt more beautiful.

It was that very moment.

【Recommendation: The expression ‘slanted eye’ is a word with a history of racism.】

‘aha.’

An image engraved on the retina along with a thought that comes to mind.

After seeing examples of various forms of racism, such as blackface and yellowface, DeShawn was struck by his own ignorance and the desire to talk about it with others.

“Brooke, I have something to tell you.”

“What is it, D’Shawn?”

“I just looked into your eyes and thought, ‘Slanted eyes.’ Then the ‘Buk’ in my head said that was a racist expression. How did you honestly feel when you heard that?”

“I didn’t feel particularly offended. I know you had no racist intentions. But I definitely don’t think it’s a good expression. Maybe it’s because it feels like, ‘People’s eyes aren’t originally slanted, but they are.’”

“That’s right. The expression ‘torn’ is a variation of the expression ‘torn’. Isn’t it because the word itself is used to describe eyes that are torn when they aren’t, and so it was perceived as an unpleasant expression?”

“I understand your reasoning. I agree with you emotionally.”

DeShawn nodded and stored the thoughts he had formed through his conversation with his friends deep in his mind.

And the story gave a glimpse into the past.

A discourse on racial discrimination emerged in a virtual space called the ‘Internet’.

Although everyone was initially having a rational conversation, the discussion was thrown into chaos by a single opinion from a malicious person. Everyone fought back with hate, and the fight continued endlessly.

A society where people endlessly compare themselves to others and hate those who are different from them.

It is an era in which people indulge in shallow pleasures.

People were so exposed to so much information that they knew the truth. They knew there was a better life than theirs, and in that torrent of inferiority, there were no rules or pride that the old value system had provided. People simply chased more money and pleasure.

That was the ‘Internet society’ presented by God.

“I was a little puzzled when I read this part.”

Simon was sitting in front of God, raving about his impressions of a novel he had read.

The contrast between the past when everyone was unhappy and the present when everyone was happy continued.

A question naturally followed from there.

Why did people become happier just by inserting ‘the book’ directly into their brains? Why did they stop fighting and focus on making the right decisions and improving themselves, unlike in the past?

“At the moment when the truth was revealed······I couldn’t help but tilt my head.”

Simon tells his story with great emotion, as if he were giving a reading.

In front of him, God smiled awkwardly.

‘It looks like you really had fun.’

I felt relieved by the positive response, but I was also a little embarrassed because it seemed like it was too much.

In fact, given the situation presented in Act 2, people would generally think of the method called ‘brainwashing’.

Simon did the same. In general, it was the most reasonable and easiest way. The ‘Book’ implanted in the brain could have controlled the person’s consciousness in some way, cutting out unhappy emotions and leaving only happiness.

But the ‘truth’ beyond that was revealed as DeShawn’s grades in his classes continued to drop.

‘The Book’ offered him a proper and reasonable way to catch up with his studies as he fell further and further behind in his studies. But DeShawn didn’t even understand that.

At some point, the learning gradually became easier and transformed into problems at the level of a typical high school student. DeShawn, who had solved it and understood it, could not hide his joy.

And the North ‘thought’.

『Growth as predicted by genes. Zero chance of mutation.

Re-adjusting your life to match the intellectual ability of a high school student.

『Injecting information only for absolute happiness』

And little by little, DeShawn’s life was ‘optimized’.

“At first I wondered what this meant.”

But through the story, I gradually came to understand its meaning.

The information given to DeShawn through ‘The Book’ changed very little.

Originally, DeShawn was mainly exposed to information related to science and cognitive psychology, but then he started to hear more stimulating stories. How to seduce women. The benefits of sex that pursues pleasure. DeShawn became interested in this and started having sex with people recommended by ‘The Book’ after leaving the university.

Not everyone was pursuing a righteous and humble life.

DeShawn also just didn’t know because he didn’t even think to get that information.

“I also really liked how the sex depicted in this novel is described as a bland tool for pleasure. People usually have some kind of fantasy about sex. But······ to the fictional character, The Book, sex is simply an act of reproduction between animals and a tool for pleasure.”

In this way, D’Shawn gradually transformed from a hard-working college student to a street urchin.

But I was happy.

In the past, he was happy that he was becoming a better person by completing each of the ‘tasks’ presented by The Book, but now he was only focused on having sex with the attractive woman in front of him. And ‘The Book’ only showed positive messages about that life.

“information.”

The words came out of Simon’s mouth as if they were crystal clear.

God nodded.

“you’re right.”

The path for humans to become happy, pursued by ‘The Book’ in Act 2, was control of information.

This is what the developer, ‘James’, thought.

Humans became unhappy because they knew too many facts. However, it was impossible to turn back the society that had already changed in that way. However, manipulating the human brain was close to impossible, and in James’s opinion, brainwashing was not a very good idea.

That’s why James focused on developing ‘The Book’.

So that they work for the absolute happiness of mankind.

So that they can lead humanity and make it better.

In the process, even if someone is lacking or insufficient, they can be satisfied with themselves.

What was born at the end of it all was the second act, ‘The Book’.

Everyone blindly believed in The North. No, The North made it so that they had no choice but to do so.

The will of each individual human being could be easily manipulated.

In that way, DeShawn quickly went from being a good college student to a problem child at home. He dropped out of college, got a job at a decent company, and started living with his girlfriend.

And here a problem arose.

The other friends were fine. After all, as is the case in the world today, relationships like Marie and Brooke were just superficial, so they naturally fell apart. But family was not like that. Blood ties were never something that could be easily broken off like that.

DeShawn’s parents were furious.

Here the novel raises a question.

Based on genetics, The Book’s analysis predicted that DeShawn would likely graduate from college and land a job as a developer in Silicon Valley, making a lot of money.

However, he did not keep up with his studies and eventually dropped out of college and started dating a girlfriend, following the alternative suggested by The North.

What is the reason?

There was only one answer.

DeShawn wasn’t the son of a dentist and a lawyer. He was just the son of a lawyer who had sex with a stranger in a pub during a drunken moment.

DeShawn’s father learned of the possibility through the Book in his head, and after undergoing genetic testing, he discovered the truth.

A family that falls apart with divorce.

With this, the world in which everyone is happy, which The North pursues, seemed to be collapsing.

But it wasn’t.

“Even that was what the North intended.”

The North did not take away human free will.

Humans have chosen everything freely. But no matter which path they choose and walk, the North will inevitably lead them back to the orbit of happiness.

Once again, controlling information and showing the way.

DeShawn’s father found new love at a divorcee’s club.

Deshaun’s girlfriend became pregnant with his child, and Deshaun and Deshaun’s mother were both happy with the birth of Deshaun’s child.

At the beginning of the novel, it is said that unhappiness was overcome in order to achieve happiness, but that is not true.

‘The Book’ even used misfortune as a tool for happiness.

The end of the story.

The analysis of ‘The Book’, which was distributed to all living human beings, continued.

『Facial expression analysis, heart rate analysis, emotional state analysis.

Happiness is 100%. It will gradually decrease thereafter.

The probability of misfortune occurring is 72.2%. Needs to be increased.

Provides information to guide human behavior.

Expected future behavior······ The number of humans to optimize is 12,676,093,724.

Estimated optimization time.

1.21 seconds.

‘Fate’ is activated.’

“Isn’t this completely divine?”

Simon laughed in vain.

The most perfect world created by artificial intelligence that surpasses humans.

A world where trials and tribulations exist only for the sake of the happiness that will come afterward, as if the devil was created by God to be defeated.

What ‘The Book’ did for that was very simple.

It didn’t control humans, it just showed them certain information in front of their eyes.

All choices are made by humans.

There was no compulsion. ‘The Book’ simply ‘optimized’ all situations for humans.

“Author.”

“Yes, Simon.”

“I feel the futility of all things now.”

“okay.”

“As a journalist, I see so many things. I see and hear countless times about the ugly side of human society and the dirty deeds that corporations commit behind the scenes. So there are times when I feel disillusioned. However, I have never regretted choosing this path. I firmly believe that humans should improve through knowledge, and I have tried to provide that. ······That is why I have been doing this work with the hope that people will feel joy through novels and become more familiar with the field of ‘writing.’”

“······.”

But, author.

Simon looked extremely sad.

“If a world like that comes when everyone in the world becomes smart, and if I feel like that world isn’t so bad… why on earth am I doing this?”

“······.”

God likewise did not answer.

Simon let out a sigh and continued speaking.

“Let’s publish this novel as a book. I don’t want to keep this emptiness I feel to myself.”

“Please take good care of me.”

God smiled as he looked at Simon’s serious expression.

The first act of ‘Country of Losers’ depicts humans who are destined to be losers in a world overflowing with information.

And in Act 2, while D’Shawn’s story unfolds, it shows human society before The North controlled information, and asks the readers a question.

Is the society controlled by the North depicted in the novel a ‘Country of Losers’?

It was all up to the reader to decide.

End

(156)