Chapter 210
Chapter 210
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Translator: Vine
Chapter: 210
Chapter Title: 48. Karma (2)
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I figured there was a high chance he wouldn't die.
Even if I fired the evil karma meter at my father.
Sure, it looked exactly like a real gun no matter how you sliced it.
'Maybe it shoots something like bullets.'
Even if it did, as long as it didn't pierce his heart outright, I could save him with some effort.
Worst case, I could borrow the 'Slime Core' and regenerate his body.
But the spot Yeongwoo had unconsciously aimed at was...
'Huh?'
Right in the center of his father's forehead.
The instinct to aim for a fatal wound had kicked in the moment he thought about pulling the trigger.
So, naturally...
Bang!
The moment the trigger was pulled, the gun fired off a projectile straight at Jeong-gu's forehead.
"...It actually shot a bullet?"
"You crazy bastard!"
The two First Swords sensed something had gone horribly wrong and freaked out in unison.
And at almost the same instant, the multicolored bullet from the meter pierced Jeong-gu's forehead.
Flash!
"Gah! Dad!"
"Ah...!"
Jeong-gu clutched his forehead with a devastated look.
However...
...?
Not only was there no hole in his forehead, not a single drop of blood had spilled out.
"Hmm?"
"W-What is it?"
"It must've just been a hologram bullet."
As Yeongwoo lowered the meter after firing, system messages appeared in the air right on cue.
Flash!
『Kim Jeong-gu-49522-IIII_III』
|Evil Karma Score: 1,079,806
"1.07 million...? I-Is that high?"
Since this was his first measurement, Yeongwoo had no frame of reference for whether Jeong-gu's score was high or low.
"1.07 million? My evil karma score is 1.07 million?"
When Jeong-gu asked that, Yeongwoo finally realized something.
Only the owner of the meter could see the measurement results.
"You can't see it from over there?"
Yeongwoo pointed at the system text in front of him, and Jeong-gu shrugged.
"Nothing there."
"Oh, really?"
That meant Jeong-gu couldn't see the long list of evil karma fluctuations below the score either.
"......"
So Yeongwoo read through the rest of it, feeling like he was peeking into the guy's diary.
[Recent Evil Karma Increases]
|Killing Im Kyung-han06: +13
[Recent Evil Karma Decreases]
|Killing Dictator-Kim Jong-un of Jeong Yeongwoo07: –134,801
Surprisingly, the biggest reduction in Kim Jeong-gu's evil karma score came from none other than Yeongwoo himself.
'How the hell did that happen?'
Yeongwoo put on a shocked expression, but deep down, he had a pretty good guess why.
What else could explain Jeong Yeongwoo's actions reducing Jeong-gu's score?
'Kim Jeong-gu really is... my father.'
Of course, the authenticity of the 'Universal Direct Lineage Certificate' he'd forged last night would be verified tonight, but this had cross-checked it via the evil karma system ahead of time.
And more importantly...
[Max Evil Karma Changes]
|Indirect intent leading to creation of Jeong Yeongwoo07: +1,362,447
|Killing Dictator-Kim Jong-un of Jeong Yeongwoo07: –134,801
There, in the separately listed 'Maximum Evil Karma' section at the bottom, was text strikingly similar to what was written in Yeongwoo's fate record.
+1.36 million evil karma points for the crime of creating Jeong Yeongwoo07 through indirect intent.
In other words, Kim Jeong-gu's peak evil karma stemmed from an illegitimate child he hadn't even known existed: Jeong Yeongwoo.
'Doesn't feel great. My very existence is Dad's biggest evil deed.'
And it was a whopping 1.36 million points.
Given that killing Im Kyung-han06 had netted just +13, 1.36 million was definitely an insane number.
'And the reason Dad's score is so high... is because that son just happens to be me.'
Joseon First Sword, Jeong Yeongwoo07.
The strongest orphan ever, born gifting his father 1.36 million evil karma points.
'But am I really that evil? Sure, I don't think I've racked up a ton of good karma, but...'
Even so, was he the type to pile that much evil karma on his dad just by being born?
Yeongwoo felt a little down.
At least the silver lining was...
|Killing Dictator-Kim Jong-un of Jeong Yeongwoo07: –134,801
Killing Kim Jong-un had shaved off a hefty chunk from his father's score.
'Kim Jong-un must've been a monster with massive evil karma himself. Leaving him alive would've meant more crimes piling up...'
Put simply, to lower your evil karma, just hunt down someone eviler than you.
'This universe's rules are beyond me.'
Yeongwoo sighed deeply, then blinked as another figure popped into his head.
—I am he who was born on the battlefield, master of the Hundred Thousand Sword Mountain, Destroyer King Dogo!
Dogo, founder and current chairman of the pan-universal weapon brand "Dogo."
'With the chairman beating up civil servants left and right, I wonder what his score is?'
It might not be that high, surprisingly.
If Dogo's contributions and good deeds massively outweighed the harm he'd caused across the universe, couldn't that offset a ton of evil karma?
'...Though I doubt it.'
Yeongwoo readjusted his grip on the evil karma meter.
Now that he had a rough grasp of how the system worked, it was time to check his own score.
"You now?"
"Yeah."
Yeongwoo nodded, and Jeong-gu looked expectant.
He hadn't done much wrong aside from the screw-up with his son, and even then, his score was only 1.07 million—partly thanks to Yeongwoo's 'good karma.'
So what would the evil karma score be for Jeong Yeongwoo07, evil incarnate?
"Here goes."
Jeong-gu's expression twisted oddly as Yeongwoo pressed the muzzle to his own forearm.
He'd aimed for the head when shooting at him, so why was he playing it safe on himself?
"Hey, you punk. Be fair and you too..."
Before Jeong-gu could finish with "aim for the forehead,"
Bang!
Yeongwoo's evil karma meter fired once more.
And soon...
Flash!
His score was laid bare.
『Jeong Yeongwoo-49523-IIIII_II』
|Evil Karma Score: 46,023,840
"...Huh?"
Staring at his own score, Yeongwoo blinked hard, wondering if he'd misread it.
But no.
"46... million?"
The evil karma system stubbornly insisted his current score was 46 million.
"What? 46 wha... million?"
Even Jeong-gu, who'd been chuckling, froze upon hearing Yeongwoo's score.
He could tell this wasn't something to laugh off.
"D-Does that even make sense? Millions in evil karma?"
Having just heard his own score, Jeong-gu's face was more complicated than ever.
No matter how much of a scumbag Yeongwoo was, he didn't think the guy was evil enough to rack up 46 million.
"What the hell did you do before we met? Yeah, you're a total bastard kid, but not dogshit level. Right?"
"......"
Yeongwoo waved him off, frowning under the heavy stare.
"Just hold on a sec."
Then he scanned the changes log.
That would reveal why the absurd number had popped up.
[Recent Evil Karma Increases]
|Killing Jo Seonghu01: +4,264
[Recent Evil Karma Decreases]
|Killing Dictator-Kim Jong-un: –2,746,511
The recent logs showed nothing unusual.
'46 million decrease? No, 2.7 million decrease from Kim Jong-un. Since I did it myself? That's about 20 times more than Dad's.'
And the recent increase listed Jo Seonghu01.
Killing him had netted over 4,000 points.
'Jo Seonghu... Sinuiju First Sword.'
The guy from the Paju North-South War who'd begged him to take down Kim Jong-un right up to the end.
Yeongwoo had thought he was pretty cool back then, and sure enough, killing him piled on evil karma.
'Dad killed some Im Kyung-han and got +13, right? Same murder, but the evil karma difference is huge.'
Having gotten that far, Yeongwoo turned to Jeong-gu.
"Dad."
"...Yeah?"
"Who's Im Kyung-han?"
"......?"
Jeong-gu looked thrown by the sudden name but answered soon enough.
"Friend I knew in Dobong."
"Friend? It says you killed him."
"Oh... You can see that too?"
Jeong-gu scratched the back of his neck, embarrassed.
Then he casually recounted the murder like it was nothing.
"We agreed to take turns napping, but the second he thought I was asleep, he swung at me. Probably wanted my title."
"Ah."
That was the story behind the +13.
In other words, even killing a scumbag hadn't reduced evil karma—it had gone up by 13.
The universe's karma system clearly treated killing as a major crime.
'So how damn noble was Jo Seonghu...?'
Yeongwoo glanced down at his hands.
But killing Jo Seonghu was a drop in the bucket compared to his total.
'46 million... I'd have to kill him 10,000 times over to make a dent.'
Was I really that much of a villain? Yeongwoo reflexively reflected on his past.
Then...
'Hold up. The most recent increase is from killing Jo Seonghu?'
His eyes started gleaming with madness again.
'So collecting protection money or defense fees doesn't count as evil karma?'
Business the universe allowed.
In this universe, even with mountains of evil karma, you could live just fine if you had enough power.
Chairman Dogo was the perfect example.
'Yeah, maybe the score's just a metric to gauge tendencies. High score doesn't mean you drop dead or anything. Probably...?'
46 million was the kind of number you had to rationalize like that to stay sane.
'Where the hell did all this come from? Was I cursed from birth?'
Finally, Yeongwoo's eyes landed on the last section: max changes.
And that's when he saw it.
The source of his ridiculous evil karma score.
[Max Evil Karma Changes]
|Dogo advertising model activities: +51,449,319
|Golden Ratio summons, cumulative: –2,935,106
"Ah... fuck, Chairman...!"