In a manga called ‘The 500-Million-Year Button’
If you just press the button, you can get ten million won
But the truth is, the mind of the person who presses the button gets trapped in a virtual world where nothing exists
For 500 million years
And then you return to the moment you pressed the button, and the painful memories of those 500 million years are erased
And you receive the ten million won
I don’t think I would press that button
The being who suffers for 500 million years feels like someone on the other side of the world whose labor is being exploited
And it feels similar to me gaining economic profit from that
You might ask if the ‘me’ in the virtual world has no physical substance?
Do others have substance?
We only guess that others must think and have emotions just like we do
So I think my heart itself, trying not to cause harm to anyone as much as possible, is what’s important
And if being trapped in a virtual world can be thought of as
A ‘stranger who resembles me’
Then conversely, can’t a stranger
Be thought of as a ‘me who resembles me less’?
In that way, the ‘me’ can gradually become more
In the end, acting for others becomes acting for myself
gryeo.com
