Chapter 15

Golden Rain (1)

[3,000,000 Karma]

or

[Grant 30,000 Karma to every resident in the region]

Yeongwoo couldn't take his eyes off the reward options.

"So that's what they meant by a binary choice."

At first glance, taking all 3 million Karma for himself seemed like the obvious answer. But depending on how you looked at it, the second option could be worth far more.

Because—

"30,000 Karma for every resident in the region...? Even if only 100,000 people are left in Gumi, that's a total of 3 billion Karma being distributed."

And people wouldn't even have to risk their lives fighting monsters to earn it.

If just one person—Yeongwoo—gave up 3 million Karma, everyone could receive enough resources to survive.

"But who in their right mind would give up that much money?"

As Yeongwoo stared at the golden sphere, grinding his teeth, Yechan noticed something was wrong and approached.

"Sir, what's the matter?"

Remembering that Yechan also had the right to know about the decision, Yeongwoo explained.

"There's a choice reward. One option is that I receive 3 million Karma. The other is..."

Giving 30,000 Karma individually to every remaining resident of Gumi.

"What? Three million Karma?"

As expected, Yechan immediately answered.

"Then obviously take the 3 million. In times like this, when everyone's running around with weapons, what good comes from handing out money? It'll just create more robbers. Everyone will know people have money now."

It was a perfectly reasonable argument.

Yechan even added his own reasoning.

"And if it were me, I'd take the 3 million just because I wouldn't want bad people getting any. At least then I could use my own strength to punish them."

"...Probably."

Yeongwoo nodded.

Bad people.

The bullies who had tormented Yechan at school. The gang that had beaten Yeongwoo at the Exchange Station.

They were all included among those "bad people."

In other words, sharing the money meant benefiting enemies and scum alike.

That alone made Yeongwoo want to choose the 3 million.

Yet...

"Something feels off."

He was suspicious.

The choice to monopolize 3 million Karma seemed so obviously correct that the existence of the other option felt deliberate.

Wasn't that exactly how the Reset had operated?

It encouraged people to target celebrities, then punished them afterward.

Just look at Bonghui, the former roommate. He spent all his points and ended up getting shot to death.

The appearance of Mutants was, in the end, karma brought about by the masses conducting reckless witch hunts.

This world—and whoever designed the Reset—understood human nature very well.

And they certainly weren't friendly toward humanity.

So perhaps this time too...

"It's a trap. A choice that accelerates destruction if you follow your instincts."

Moreover, the amount of currency generated by the second option was overwhelming.

At minimum, 3 billion Karma.

Possibly even more than double that.

"And if necessary, I could recover some of the Karma circulating in the market later. I'd rather not go that far, but..."

As Yeongwoo seriously considered that insane possibility, Yechan immediately sensed it and tried to stop him.

"Sir, that's really a bad idea! It'll only make things worse!"

"...Yechan."

"Yes?"

"Let's just close our eyes and throw out three billion Karma this one time."

"Ah! Seriously, sir! Please!"

While Yechan looked at him the way a son might look at a father addicted to gambling, Yeongwoo made the most unilateral decision of his life.

[Grant 30,000 Karma to every resident in the region]

Flash!

Boom!

If someone had been watching this scene, they might have mocked his decision or felt frustrated by it.

But Yeongwoo decided not to regret it.

To him, distributing 30,000 Karma alone was already valuable enough.

"I wonder if there are any other regions besides Gumi where Karma has been distributed like this. I doubt there are many."

The golden sphere accepted his choice and began spinning rapidly.

Yechan realized what had happened and wore a defeated expression.

A moment later—

KWAAAA!

The sphere shook violently as if it were about to explode before suddenly shooting into the sky.

"Huh?! What's that?"

Even the residents of Haneulchae who had been approaching stopped and stared upward at the streak of golden light.

SHWAAAAAA!

The sphere rose until it reached the edge of everyone's vision.

Then—

It exploded.

Like fireworks.

"...!"

What Yeongwoo's group saw next was a golden wave spreading across the entire sky.

Like the aura released by the First Sword title, a golden ripple expanded outward from the point of explosion.

Then all the golden light in the sky began falling toward the earth.

SHHHHHHHHH...

One of the Haneulchae residents pointed upward.

"Mom, it's raining."

"What...?"

"It's raining."

The child was right.

The countless falling golden lights looked exactly like rain.

"S-Sir, is this really rain?"

Yechan asked while catching some in his palm.

The golden droplets vanished the instant they touched anything, leaving no trace or sensation behind.

"I don't know either... but it doesn't seem harmful."

Yeongwoo continued standing in the rain, equally puzzled.

About a minute passed.

Then a notification appeared before everyone.

<Gumi's First Sword, "Jeong Yeongwoo07," has given up exclusive ownership of 3,000,000 Karma and gifted 30,000 Karma to every resident of Gumi.>

Then another message appeared, slightly different from the usual Karma distribution notice.

<30,000 Karma will be distributed in the form of commemorative coins. Prepare yourselves.>

Prepare yourselves.

Anyone who had visited an Exchange Station couldn't help but tense up at those words.

Thirty thousand Karma meant thirty coins.

As expected, everyone hurriedly attached their weapons to their belts and prepared to receive the money.

Clink.

The familiar sound of rolling coins echoed.

But what happened next was something nobody had imagined.

With a soft metallic scrape, coins appeared.

"What?"

"Huh?"

They were gold.

And there were only three of them.

"W-Wait a second!"

Startled, everyone failed to catch the coins appearing before them.

Ting! Ting! Ting!

Six coins fell near Yeongwoo and Yechan.

Twenty-one near the seven residents of Haneulchae.

Twenty-seven golden coins clattered noisily across the ground.

But that wasn't the end of the surprises.

"Sir? You should look at this."

Yechan was the first to pick one up and grab Yeongwoo's arm.

Yeongwoo absentmindedly looked at the coin—or rather, the gold coin—being offered.

Then—

"...?"

He stood there speechless.

Because his own face was engraved on the shining golden coin.

"What is this?"

With disbelief, he picked up one of the coins that belonged to him.

"My god..."

The same face appeared on that one too.

And beneath it was the name:

Jeong Yeongwoo07

The reverse side bore a single thick line, which appeared to indicate a 10,000-Karma coin.

"So that's what they meant by commemorative coins..."

Yeongwoo couldn't finish his sentence.

Even the residents of Haneulchae were staring back and forth between the coins and him.

Then—

"I-I feel like we should somehow thank you..."

They awkwardly began approaching.

Of course, none of them seemed willing to return the coins.

Flustered, Yeongwoo actually stepped backward and shook his head.

"Wait. Just wait a second. Everyone stop. I haven't even processed this myself yet."

And for good reason.

More messages were appearing before him.

<Quest Complete — "A Binary Choice"><Rewards Granted>

Mutant Equipment Massive Amount of Karma

<Reward Granted — Mutant Equipment>

Furious Goblin — Mutant Ring Permanently increases Strength by 100 every day [Empty Slot]

At the same time the second message appeared, Yeongwoo felt something on his left index finger.

Looking down, he found a reddish ring there.

"Ah."

"So this is the Furious Goblin."

When he focused on it, a tooltip appeared.

This equipment carries the scent of a Mutant. Other Mutants may detect it and become wary.

"So they'll know I've killed a Mutant before."

At the same time, vitality surged through his body.

Another notification explained why.

<Strength has permanently increased by 100 due to Furious Goblin.>

100 Strength.

In terms of value, that was equivalent to earning 100,000 Karma every single day.

"Huh? That's actually not bad."

Of course, he had effectively paid 3 million Karma and revealed his face and name to everyone in Gumi, so whether his choice had been wise remained uncertain.

Still, seeing the hopeful expressions of the Haneulchae residents as they held the commemorative coins made him feel good.

Perhaps people throughout Gumi were wearing similar smiles.

Though some of them were undoubtedly scoundrels.

"The rain doesn't seem like it's stopping."

Yechan's uneasy voice interrupted his thoughts.

Looking at the coin in Yechan's hand, Yeongwoo asked casually,

"Are you disappointed?"

"I don't think I have the right to be. You're the one who fought the Mutant."

"The right? You absolutely do. If you hadn't helped, I wouldn't have beaten him."

"Well... that's true."

For the first time, a faint smile appeared on Yechan's face.

"But no matter how I think about it, isn't it a waste? Three million Karma is three thousand stat points."

"It is a waste."

Yeongwoo recalled his battle with Jang Seonbok.

There was only one reason his waist and pelvis hadn't been shattered after taking that monstrous knee strike.

"Because I raised my durability to 150 beforehand."

A mere 150 durability had produced that much effect.

What would happen if another 3,000 stat points were added on top of that?

Even Yeongwoo couldn't imagine it.

"Sir, by the way."

"What?"

"There are probably Mutants stronger than Jang Seonbok, right? People who turned into dragons and stuff."

"Yeah."

"Then someday they'll come looking for us..."

Yechan trailed off.

Yeongwoo finished the sentence for him.

"How are we supposed to fight them after throwing away three million Karma?"

"Well..."

That was indeed the problem.

Compared to most people he was still far ahead.

But that was only within Gumi.

In other regions there were undoubtedly powerful individuals who had monopolized rewards like the 3 million Karma.

And stronger Mutants would likely emerge there as well.

"Hmm..."

As Yeongwoo looked into the sky, the golden rain began gradually subsiding.

Eventually—

The rain stopped completely.

The yellow sky cleared, becoming blue once more.

"Hah..."

Was that really the end?

Would he now have to pay the price for recklessly neglecting his own interests?

Just as he sighed, sensing the celebration was over, new messages suddenly flooded his vision.