Acceleration

It was a time long past lunchtime.

3 PM? Or 4 PM? I couldn’t know the exact time, but it seemed to be around then.

“Heueheng…”

A flood of yawns.

My languidly drooping body was stuck to the floor like a melted glutinous rice cake, with no intention of coming off.

Why did the sunlight pouring in through the window feel so good and warm?

I only meant to bask in the sun for a moment, but it seemed I had fallen asleep.

Bbeep- Clunk-

The sound that broke the peace at that moment.

My ears perked up and my gaze turned towards the entrance.

Is Sohee-yang coming at this hour?

Too early, isn’t it?

I tilted my head, looking towards the entrance.

“This way. Yes.”

“Eh…”

I tilted my head.

The voice I heard was definitely Sohee-yang’s, but the footsteps weren’t just one person’s.

Two, three.

Adding Sohee-yang’s, there were about three more sets of footsteps.

Only then did I roll my body around and head towards the entrance.

The moment I met four pairs of eyes.

One of them was Sohee-yang’s.

“Hayun-ah…?”

At that moment, I couldn’t help but jump up from my spot with my mouth wide open.

“Wow!”

Capsule!

It’s a capsule. The men who came in with Sohee-yang were carrying a large capsule.

Wrapped in white plastic, those who were struggling to carry it looked at Sohee-yang, gauging her reaction.

“U-um, excuse me…”

It seemed the capsule was quite heavy.

Sohee-yang, at the men’s voices, finally turned her gaze and pointed to a room slightly away from the entrance.

“That way.”

“Understood. Let’s go.”

The men began to move.

I, with sparkling eyes, ran to Sohee-yang in a flash.

“You’re here early?”

“You greet me late.”

“I-I was a little surprised, so…”

It seemed she was slightly bothered that I didn’t greet her right away.

I, watching Sohee-yang’s reaction, hugged her waist.

“So, what is that thing?”

“A new capsule.”

“A n-new capsule? When did it come out?”

“It hasn’t been announced yet.”

At Sohee-yang’s words, I looked with sparkling eyes at the room the men had gone to.

Now that I see it, they seem to be engineers from the capsule company.

But why would a capsule that hasn’t even been released yet come to our house?

The engineer *ajeossis* who moved the capsule inside skillfully removed the existing capsule and began installing the newly brought capsule on top of it.

The design wasn’t much different from before, but it looked a bit heavier.

How long had it been?

The engineer *ajeossis*, sweating profusely, checked that the capsule was lit up, nodded, and got up from their spots.

“Installation is complete. Should we collect the existing capsule?”

“Yes, thank you for your hard work.”

The engineer *ajeossis*, nodding at Sohee-yang’s words, carried the existing capsule and left the house.

Now that everything was settled.

I, with sparkling eyes, began to examine the new capsule here and there.

“What is this thing? What functions have been added?”

“Want to try it out?”

“Really? Is it really okay?”

“Yeah.”

What kind of functions have been added to make people look forward to it this much?

I, holding my pounding heart, headed inside the capsule.

Thus began the capsule’s function check.

“Hmm…?”

But I couldn’t find any major differences from the existing capsule.

Some internal structures that seemed to have been improved were modified, but functionally, there wasn’t much difference.

As I was tilting my head like that, a voice came from outside the capsule.

[Want to try running the game in offline mode?]

“Offline mode? Do I have to do it in offline mode?”

[Yeah. The server won’t be able to keep up right now.]

“Can I play any game?”

[Yeah. The game genre doesn’t really matter.]

The server can’t keep up, what does that even mean?

I, tilting my head, ran the game in offline mode as Sohee-yang said.

What started was an ordinary FPS game.

Immediately, the sensation in my body faded and my mind flew somewhere.

The next moment, the place I arrived at was a very large shooting range.

I was standing in the middle of that shooting range, holding a heavy gun in my hand.

Because I didn’t have military knowledge, I didn’t know the name of the gun, but it was a gun that commonly appeared in the FPS genre.

“Okay, I’m in? What do I do now?”

[You’re in offline mode, right?]

“Yeah.”

[Then want to go into the capsule option settings?]

“Okay.”

As Sohee-yang requested, I went into the capsule option settings and noticed that the interface was different from the capsule I had used before.

There is one more setting item.

[Do you see the acceleration mode there?]

“Acceleration mode… I see it.”

[Want to check it?]

With a feeling of disbelief, I checked the acceleration mode item.

The moment the setting was completed, I suddenly felt a sense of incongruity.

Time was accelerating faster than usual.

Yes, it’s acceleration.

It felt like I was using my talent.

But I didn’t feel the white pain that I always felt whenever I used my talent.

Of course, it wasn’t exactly the same.

It felt about 20% faster than usual?

It was a speed where 10 seconds felt like 12 seconds.

“What is this, what is this thing…?”

[Can you feel it? That it’s faster?]

“Yeah… this is that, right?”

[Yeah. It’s similar.]

“How did you do it? How on earth…?”

[We incorporated new technology into the capsule.]

At Sohee-yang’s words, I frowned and fired the gun in my hand straight ahead.

Tang-!

A loud explosion and a bullet flying quickly.

My mind was accelerating, but the speed of the game itself didn’t increase.

Just in case, I turned off the acceleration mode and fired the gun again.

Tang-!

The speed at which the bullet flew didn’t change, but the speed I could feel changed.

Watching the bullet disappear from my sight faster than before, I opened my mouth blankly.

I, without saying a word, ended the game and got out of the capsule.

“How was it?”

“Um… it’s amazing, but…”

I could now understand why Sohee-yang had asked for my experimental data.

Of course, I wasn’t dissatisfied. In the first place, when I conducted the experiment, I had given all the rights to the data to Sohee-yang.

I was just a little amazed.

I tilted my head, looking at the capsule.

The capsule’s ability to artificially accelerate a person’s thoughts is, of course, amazing.

But I wondered if ordinary people could withstand this speed.

“Can people withstand this?”

“If we increase the server speed by 20%, they can withstand it. But there will be many people who can’t withstand more than that…”

“Increase the server speed…?”

“Yeah. That way, we can use real-world time more efficiently, right?”

“Um…”

Certainly, Sohee-yang was right.

If we accelerate the time in the game and also accelerate a person’s thoughts accordingly, then when 10 hours pass in reality, 12 hours will pass in the virtual world.

It means we can use time more efficiently.

But even so, one problem remains.

In order to fully use the functions of this new capsule, as intended by the developers, the server status of all online games being serviced must be accelerated.

What will happen to users who are using ordinary capsules then?

Of course, the day will come when the functions of this new capsule will be fully used.

Anyway, a capsule with these functions has been released.

“But capsules are expensive.”

I shook my head and said.

Capsules are expensive. Quite expensive, in fact.

It would be a pretty big expense for ordinary families. There may be people who can’t afford to buy a new capsule.

But Sohee-yang had a way to completely solve that problem.

“We’re going to replace them for free.”

“All of them…?”

“Yeah.”

Only then could I remember what Sohee-yang’s father does.

70% of the capsules currently being distributed worldwide are products of Sohee-yang’s father’s company, S Corporation.

If free capsule replacements begin and online games being serviced begin to accelerate their servers, the VR capsule market will naturally be monopolized by S Corporation.

It was truly a terrifying plan.

“Gasp…”

“So, I have a favor to ask.”

“A f-favor…?”

“Yeah. I want you to be the promotional model for this capsule.”

“A model…? Is it okay for me to do it?”

“Yeah.”

I swallowed hard at Sohee-yang’s suggestion.

Sohee-yang’s father owns the world’s leading capsule manufacturing company.

Therefore, Sohee-yang will naturally inherit that company in the future.

What belongs to the wife also belongs to the husband.

In other words, that company is going to be mine.

Becoming a promotional model for my company?

There’s no reason not to.

No, I have to do it.

“Okay!”

***

The capsule replacement service that began with the release of S Corporation’s new capsule was well-received by many.

How many people would dislike it when even broken capsules are replaced with new ones?

Competitors who felt a sense of crisis raised concerns about the acceleration, a new feature of S Corporation’s capsules, but ordinary people didn’t pay attention.

After a month had passed since the release of the new capsule, VR games being serviced online finally began to accelerate their servers one by one.

Of course, Deron also chose server acceleration.

When there were many online games that had started acceleration services, the true value of the new capsule finally began to be revealed.

The fact that real-world time could be used more efficiently became an irresistible temptation for busy modern people.

The technology was not only used in games. Not only for studying, reading, and watching movies, but even for important company meetings.

Some people even began to spend all their vacation time in the VR world in order to use their vacation period for a longer time.

As the technology of acceleration began to permeate various fields, companies that had been in competition with S Corporation went bankrupt one after another.

Eventually, five months after the release of the new capsule, S Corporation swallowed all its competitors and monopolized the VR capsule market.

And the daughter of that S Corporation chairman is my bride.

I smiled slyly while reading an internet article.

“Hehehe…”

“Why are you smiling like that?”

“Ah, Sohee-yah…”

I turned around and swallowed hard.

Fear crept in at the sight of Sohee-yang, who seemed to have just finished showering and was dripping with water.

Sohee-yang, drying her hair with a towel, slowly approached.

She opened her mouth with shining eyes.

“Get on the bed.”

“I didn’t shower today…”

“Even better.”

I, biting my lip, shook my head.

Hasn’t quite a bit of time passed since I started exercising?

I think it’s time to really reverse this relationship now that I’ve gained stamina.

I put my hand on my waist and said forcefully.

“You get on!”

“Heueum…?”

Sohee-yang tilted her head at my words.

My legs naturally gave way at the sight of those fiercely shining eyes.

“Hueak…”

I collapsed as is.