Chapter 1
Chapter 1
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Translator: Vine
Chapter: 1
Chapter Title: The Chaebols Turn into Dragons (1)
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Youngwoo thought in his half-asleep daze.
What if, six years ago, he hadn't quit his job back then?
What if he hadn't jumped into internet streaming, convinced there was no future in being a wage slave his whole life?
'In truth, I knew it. It was just gambling as an escape from reality.'
But he murmured that he had wanted to take that gamble before it was too late.
Of course, the haphazard gamble had ended in failure.
And as the price, Youngwoo learned firsthand how fatal a career gap was for replaceable labor.
He spent two years as a job seeker, then the next year juggling two part-time gigs just to scrape by on living expenses.
Grateful even for landing two such jobs.
And now, one year after that...
"Youngwoo, what the hell are you doing? Get up already!"
He was wandering through a dream in the factory dormitory in Gumi, Gyeongbuk.
"Hey! I said get up!"
"Ungh...."
Youngwoo realized the voice belonged to his day-shift roommate only after the guy roughly shook his shoulder.
"This isn't the time to be sleeping! Something huge has happened!"
The word "huge" pierced his ears.
Youngwoo finally squinted his eyes open, then jolted upright as a chill ran through his entire body.
"Huh! Wh-what time is it, hyung? I'm on night shift today."
"Kid, you think going to work matters right now?"
"...What?"
At the unexpected line, Youngwoo stared blankly, and his roommate spoke in a frantic tone.
"You, quick—hold out your right hand. Let's see how many you have."
"Wh-what are you talking about?"
Youngwoo belatedly sensed something off.
His dormitory roommate—38-year-old man Lim Bonghee—had an expression that was far too bright.
No, beyond bright, he looked positively thrilled with some kind of glee.
"You idiot, the world's gone completely upside down! Chaebols and all, they're all about to drop dead! This isn't a dream, right?"
"What have you been...."
He couldn't finish with "talking about, that's nonsense."
Soon, Youngwoo spotted "that" in his field of vision too.
―Shall we add [Chaebol Chairman-Kim Dong-ho] to the elimination candidates? If you agree, exercise your right by spending Retribution Points.
A blue message hovered in the corner of his vision, slowly scrolling upward.
Then, more lines followed below it.
―[Actor-Hyun Song-ae] to the elimination candidates...
―[Serial Killer-Kim Eung-pyo] to the elimination candidates...
―[Internet Broadcaster-Lee Ho-yeon (Poopy)] to the elimination candidates...
"Wh-what the hell is all this...?"
As Youngwoo reached out to touch the floating text, Bonghee glanced at his palm and widened his eyes.
"What're you doing?"
"Huh?"
"Look at your right hand. You only have 3 points."
At that, Youngwoo hurriedly spread his right hand open.
There, the number '3' glowed brightly on his palm.
"......?"
A dream? But everything felt too vivid for that.
"Hang on. So this means...."
"Kid, seeing your reaction, I can tell for sure this isn't a dream."
Bonghee, who had been studying Youngwoo's dazed face, came to his own conclusion and held out his palm.
Flash.
「9」
"See it? Plenty left after using a bunch. Started with like 20, I think."
"You used them?"
Youngwoo asked back while shifting his gaze to the offending text.
―[Politician-Kang Hong-se] to the elimination candidates...
―[Singer-Lim Kwang-tae] to the elimination candidates...
'No way.'
Now he saw it: everyone listed had one thing in common.
They had all, big or small, stirred up social controversy.
For instance, the chaebol chairman Kim Dong-ho had the issue of verbally abusing his driver, and actress Hyun Song-ae had been condemned after her past bullying of a stylist came to light.
In other words, the blue messages were showing public hate figures as elimination candidates.
"......"
With a basic grasp of the situation, Youngwoo took a deep breath and blinked.
It was his ritual for maximum rational thinking.
"Assuming this isn't a dream, what's exactly happening?"
As Youngwoo asked, Bonghee jumped in as if he'd been waiting.
"You're seeing the same stuff as me... Anything above your head or something?"
"Above my head?"
Whoosh.
Youngwoo followed Bonghee's lead and looked up, and a fist-sized blue orb entered his vision.
"...Huh?"
And finally, the welcome message he'd missed while sleeping filled his view.
「Greetings. This is an announcement from the Board of Directors.」
「Around 10:12:08 AM on Tuesday, June 10, 2025, the 'Imbalance' state has arrived.」
「This means humanity bearing hostility toward the world has exceeded half. Accordingly, the reset function has been forcibly activated.」
Humanity bearing hostility toward the world exceeding half.
In simple terms, about 4 billion people harbored grudges against the world, so measures were being taken.
'Wh-what the...?'
Youngwoo made a face like it was absurd, yet felt a twinge inside.
Imbalance, reset—the terms felt like they were pulled straight from his own delusions.
Of course, they weren't unusual thoughts.
The petty grumblings when reading about scumbag chaebols or hearing some BJ bought a supercar.
Something feels unfair, off about the world, that kind of thing.
So yeah, he'd occasionally fantasized what if the world flipped upside down big time.
But interpreting that as "hostility toward the world"?
'Something's seriously... seriously wrong here.'
Unknowingly, Youngwoo swallowed hard.
And amid it all, the self-proclaimed Board of Directors' message continued.
「The reset's first phase is 'Purging.' In this phase, we filter out and remove the main culprits who drove the world to imbalance.」
「To that end, an elimination vote will soon commence.」
「Candidates are listed based on what the majority of voters see as imbalance culprits. Those receiving sufficient votes will be eliminated, mutated, or dismantled.」
Votes.
At this point, Youngwoo glanced at his palm again.
'So, use your Retribution Points to snipe celebrities? This is just a witch hunt.'
Some candidates were truly vile, but most weren't.
No, actually the majority.
"If this goes on like this, it'll be a disaster...."
Youngwoo tried to tell Bonghee to stop voting, but it was already too late.
Bonghee's Retribution Points had dropped from 9 to 6.
"Ooh! Gotcha, you bastard!"
Flash.
Down to 5.
"H-Hyung? Who'd you just vote for?"
"That Tobo-yi guy, the BJ I always watch. Sick of him hitting on girls anyway."
"That hunting stream? The one you never miss...."
As Youngwoo pointed out, Bonghee, staring into space, grimaced.
"Yeah, but even watching it pissed me off sometimes. Guy who'd be working some hostess bar if he wasn't streaming."
"...And you vote to kill him for that?"
"Plenty others would've voted anyway. When else do we get to take shots at these jerks?"
"......"
Ignoring Youngwoo's darkening expression, Bonghee cast another vote.
Flash.
Now down to 4 points, and at that moment, an alert appeared in both their visions.
「5 minutes until elimination candidates are finalized. Activating search function for quick voting.」
A small search bar popped up at the bottom of the candidate list.
"Kid, don't waste your votes—search for anyone you wanna erase before you regret it later."
Bonghee said that and turned back to staring into space.
Youngwoo pondered briefly, then looked at the search bar.
Keywords he'd only thought popped right in.
#Murderer
#SerialKiller
#Rapist
The crimes Youngwoo deemed "deserving of death" were murder and rape.
But surprisingly, few results came up.
Even combining all, only 5, and all serial killers.
'...Why?'
After much thought, Youngwoo recalled the earlier explanation.
―Candidates are listed based on what the majority of voters see as imbalance culprits...
'Oh god. The others had lower notoriety. So only the famous ones made the list.'
Then what was the point?
Hundreds, thousands of living killers, and executing just five famous ones—what kind of "purging" was that?
'If this is real and not a dream...?'
Youngwoo couldn't believe it. If all this was "real," the reset's agent had to be something far beyond humans.
God or whatever.
And they handled things like this...?
While he reeled in shock, Bonghee beside him rapidly depleted his palm's numbers.
From 4 to 3, 3 to 2... then 1, and finally...
Flash!
With 0 points left, the number vanished from Bonghee's palm.
"Ha, dumped 'em all. Feels damn good."
Meanwhile, Youngwoo still stared at the candidate list.
「1 minute until elimination candidates are finalized.」
His Retribution Points remained at the initial 3.
'Even using all these, we couldn't eliminate even those five on the list.'
Plus, being so famous, they'd already racked up tons of votes.
"......"
After agonizing, Youngwoo looked away from the list without voting.
He just didn't want to take part in this madness, and it felt off somehow.
Moments later, an alert announced the voting deadline.
「Elimination candidates finalized.」
「Moments later, each candidate's elimination will be decided by vote tally.」
「Confirmed eliminated candidates will choose one: elimination, mutation, or dismantlement.」
"What? They don't all die for sure?"
Bonghee's eyes widened at the closing message.
But what he really needed to worry about came next.
「While tallying votes, we will proceed with the reset's second phase: 'Individual Purging.'」
Individual Purging—the name alone spelled trouble.
"Huh....?"
Sure enough, Bonghee looked uneasy, and soon a new message appeared in everyone's vision, including his.
「From now, you can spend Retribution Points to send curses at desired targets.」
「One curse costs one Retribution Point. Incoming curses can also be blocked by spending your Retribution Points.」
「Fail to block a curse, and you will definitely be eliminated. Proceed with caution.」
"W-Wait... what the hell does that mean?"
Bonghee seemed to think curses were headed his way.
He started trembling right after reading.
"What's wrong, hyung?"
Youngwoo asked casually, guessing the guy had baggage.
Bonghee startled and looked at him.
Spotting the '3' still on Youngwoo's hand, hope lit his face.
"Oh, Youngwoo...! You still have points, right? Maybe use 'em to block a curse for me? It should work, yeah?"
"Dunno. Why would anyone waste points cursing you...?"
"W-Well... maybe not, but... you never know."
"Yeah? Then I should hold onto mine just in case too."
As Youngwoo responded coolly and moved to sit back on the bed, Bonghee grabbed his shoulder with uncharacteristic roughness.
"No!"
"......?"
"No! Curses are definitely coming!"
So agitated, Bonghee's jaw chattered.
"So... why? Tell me the real reason, and I'll help however I can."
"I-I...."
Just as Bonghee, resigned, opened his mouth—
Shiiiing!
A sound from the ceiling—no, the sky beyond—and a pure white light shot down.
Straight onto Bonghee's crown.
"Uwaaak!"
Raw terror flashed in Bonghee's eyes, and moments later, Youngwoo saw the message above his head.
―[Rapist-Lim Bong-hee] fails to block the curse and is eliminated.
And then.
Ssshh.
Bonghee's body melted away into thin air.
Youngwoo's hand still held its 3 Retribution Points.