Chapter 249
Chapter 249
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Translator: Vine
Chapter: 249
Chapter Title: 56. Great Migration of Peoples (4)
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[Humanity]
[Martial Prowess]
[National Outlook]
[Diplomacy]
Out of the four keywords, one would be revealed first.
Once the resume was disclosed, voting would open, so the first keyword had to be chosen to appeal broadly to as many people as possible.
From that perspective.
‘As much as I hate to admit it, humanity is the one that raises the most issues.’
He couldn’t know exactly what would come out, but one thing was certain.
It wouldn’t be full of good stuff.
But on the flip side.
‘Right now, isn’t everyone most curious about the candidate’s character?’
Ability? Definitely important.
But he had entered the race solo as the strongest on the Korean Peninsula from the start.
So no explanation was needed—everyone already assumed the candidate possessed overwhelming martial prowess.
The only question left was whether the resume disclosure would exceed public expectations.
On the other hand, expectations for character wouldn’t be high to begin with.
Every voter watching this broadcast had survived six days in the post-Reset world.
In other words, they knew full well that no one could become strong without getting blood on their hands in this world.
Especially for a candidate touted as the strongest of the strong on the peninsula...
‘They’ll naturally think he’s a massive villain.’
Of course, that wasn’t far from the truth, but the evils Youngwoo had committed differed slightly from the usual notion of ‘evil.’
‘Shall we gamble? Just charge straight ahead.’
The eyes of Youngwoo, the blockhead certified by the system, began to sparkle.
‘They won’t vote blindly for the person representing them. They’ll at least check the martial prowess before voting.’
But revealing martial prowess right away?
‘It would definitely leave a huge impression, but that’s where it’d end. With three more keywords left, people would start focusing on those.’
And as the remaining three resumes were revealed, the impact of the martial prowess disclosure would inevitably dilute.
‘Plus, if we keep pushing back the character reveal, people will think, “How trashy is his character that they keep hiding it?”’
That might make people hold off on voting entirely until character was revealed.
The public hated being deceived.
No—more precisely, that’s how Youngwoo himself had been when he was part of the public.
Whether politicians or celebrities, he found it utterly infuriating when those empowered by the masses dared to deceive them.
If they’d done wrong, they should admit it honestly and beg forgiveness.
It might not be the best way, but Youngwoo was convinced it was far from the worst.
‘Yeah, fuck it. We’re already butt-naked, so let’s strip the resume bare too.’
He couldn’t win this election without pulling off the miracle of 70% approval.
So Youngwoo decided to reveal his ‘weakness’—character—first and catch them off guard.
‘This vote is essentially about picking the strongest. So even if character’s bad, it won’t trigger a flood of opposition votes right away.’
Worst case, if opposition shot to 29% in one go, he just had to allow zero opposition—not even 1%—in the remaining three keywords.
‘Let’s go, Jeong Youngwoo! Let’s go...!’
Youngwoo screamed inwardly, then immediately opened his mouth.
“Everyone! My character! I’ll show you my character first—aaah!”
* * *
Youngwoo’s bold first move: revealing character right away.
<……>
Even the board of directors hadn’t expected character to be the first resume, so they asked Youngwoo again.
[…You’ve selected ‘Humanity’ as the first keyword. Are you sure?]
“Yes! You all heard that, right? Character first!”
As Youngwoo addressed the voters through the broadcast screen, the board hurriedly recited the next line and proceeded with the resume reveal.
[As per the candidate’s request, we will disclose the first resume: ‘Humanity.’]
At the board’s announcement, the sky—more precisely, the hologram screen blanketing the sky—suddenly darkened.
Just like a movie screen going black right before the film starts.
Then.
Shaaa...
A very lyrical sound echoed softly from somewhere.
It felt like listening to the wind rustling through a vast reed field.
“Oh...”
Caught off guard by the emotional opening, Youngwoo closed his eyes without realizing it.
And soon.
Fwaaah.
A familiar color flickered beyond his closed eyelids.
‘Huh? This is.’
Warm golden light.
Sensing something, Youngwoo hurriedly opened his eyes, and there it was: golden rain pouring down across the entire screen filling the sky.
“Aah...”
Naked Youngwoo raised both arms into the air.
Then, amid the screen overflowing with gold, transparent bubbles gathered drop by drop, forming a line of text.
「Jeong Youngwoo07, first in the nation to summon Golden Rain.」
A new sound followed.
—Uncle, that’s not it. It’ll just make things worse, I’m telling you.
That was.
—...Yechan.
—Yes. What is it?
—Let’s close our eyes tight and dump 3 billion once.
—Ah! Uncle, seriously! Please!
It was a recording from the time Youngwoo first summoned Golden Rain.
The argument between Yechan and Youngwoo over the 3 million monopoly and distributing all 30,000 karma.
「From that day on, Jeong Youngwoo07 summoned Golden Rain wherever he went, feeding the masses.」
「To this day, about 1.71 million lives have been preserved by his sharing, and among them, 360,000 later directly or indirectly saved 860,000 more lives.」
In other words, of the 1.71 million saved by Youngwoo’s Golden Rain, 360,000 had saved or materially aided another 860,000.
The virtuous ripple effect of the Golden Rain.
‘Whoa... I didn’t even know that. No wonder the virtue points piled up from Golden Rain.’
Youngwoo stared at the screen, entranced.
The nation’s voters seemed just as captivated, as the approval graph at the bottom of the screen immediately began to climb.
|Approval: 14.3%
|Opposition: 0.2%
‘Whoa, straight to 14.3% approval? They value character more than I thought.’
But the final goal of 70% approval was still far off, and his ‘character’ resume wasn’t over yet.
Shaaat.
The screen went black again.
‘What else is there? We could move on now, right?’
Youngwoo looked up at the sky with a troubled expression, when a very awkward sound came from beyond the dark screen.
—If you think of it that way, I’m grateful. Truth is, I had an achievement to find my birth parents and kill them.
‘Ah...’
The moment he heard the first line, Youngwoo realized what was coming next.
—W-what?
—You’ll know once you cut off Father’s head. If we’re really rich, the achievement will complete.
—W-wait!
—Even if not, you must have some karma, so receive the penalty gladly, Father!
Fwaaaah!
The problematic recording even captured the sound of Youngwoo swinging his knife.
‘No, why didn’t they include the part where Dad rolls to the side!’
Regardless of Youngwoo’s grievance, brilliant light was already gathering on the screen.
Then.
Chwaat!
With unnecessarily flashy effects, Youngwoo’s second character resume appeared.
「Jeong Youngwoo07, first in the nation to attempt parricide.」
‘It was the first in the nation?’
Youngwoo’s jaw dropped, and in the meantime, the screen brightened as footage began to play.
It was a montage... a mad movie compiling all the humiliations Jeong Gu suffered after meeting Youngwoo.
—...What if it fails?
—Then I’ll finally be a complete orphan.
Youngwoo and Jeong Gu’s ‘three-day contract.’
—Uh... but don’t I have nothing to ride?
—Yes. Father has no ride... so you’ll have to run, I suppose?
Youngwoo giving the final selector spot on the Ne-gui-ge to someone else, making his father chase on foot.
—Ah, no, fuck... what the hell are you doing?
—40%.
The moment son Youngwoo suddenly cut off his own arm in front of him to check the physical defect effect.
—You have to endure this much to survive in this world without inheriting a single thing.
—Tell me, Father! Have you never met a woman too good for you? Not even once...!
Son Jeong Youngwoo’s barrage of accusations.
—...You serious?
—Shut up and put it on quick.
Jeong Gu following his son through a spark typhoon on a night outing.
Then scenes of Jeong Gu shuttling his son’s weapons, stepping back with a deflated expression as always, and more followed in sequence.
“...”
Seeing it all compiled like this, Youngwoo realized his father’s life hadn’t been smooth at all lately, and it didn’t sit well with him.
‘He’s had a rough few days.’
But contrary to expectations, opposition votes didn’t surge.
|Approval: 16.4%
|Opposition: 7.1%
Despite the blatant inhuman treatment of his birth father being laid bare, opposition was only 7.1%, and approval had even ticked up slightly.
They were taking the fact that Jeong Gu was still alive in a positive light, at least.
‘...Dad, you okay?’
Youngwoo thought of Jeong Gu, who was probably watching the screen right now.
Maybe that 7.1% opposition included his father’s vote.
Shaaat!
Finally, the brutal footage involving his father ended, and the screen darkened once more.
‘Character part... over?’
If so, it had been highly successful.
He’d played his first card well.
[Disclosure of all resumes related to the candidate’s humanity is complete.]
‘That’s it, huh.’
Youngwoo let out a sigh of relief.
[The candidate will soon select the next resume.]
‘Now everything left is ability-related. I’m confident in this.’
He’d cleared the biggest hurdle; now it was just about how much approval he could pull.
[Martial Prowess]
[National Outlook]
[Diplomacy]
‘Shocked them with character, so now I need something strong enough to overwrite the existing image.’
Martial prowess or diplomacy would be ideal.
‘People have already started voting, so let’s go big. Reveal martial prowess first, then follow straight with a diplomacy combo.’
He needed at least 40% approval from the martial prowess part for a shot at victory.
Youngwoo mapped out his strategy and immediately pressed the resume button.
“Martial prowess—reveal it!”