Chapter 58
The Land of Chaos, Gyeonggi Province (1)
"Myung-woo, now's the time to split up."
At Myung-woo's suggestion, Jong-su looked back and forth between the two Audis. After a moment, the muscles in his face twitched, and he forced an awkward smile.
"Where would I even go, hyung? If it weren't for you, I'd have died to those punk kids a long time ago."
Even as he spoke, Jong-su stared blankly at the five headless corpses lying nearby.
"The world's changed... so I guess the way we survive has to change too. Even so, among all the powerful people, I think you're probably the kindest."
With those words, Jong-su walked toward the white Audi.
"Besides, that yellow one stands out way too much. Who knows what kind of people we'll run into once we reach Seoul."
He pulled open the driver's door, sat down, and started the engine.
VROOOOM!
The roar echoed loudly enough to attract any other bandits hiding nearby.
Myung-woo cautiously looked around before ordering the goblin to search the corpses.
"Go."
"Kiiit!"
The Golden Goblin dashed away like an arrow and soon returned with the loot.
8,000 Karma.
It wasn't nearly enough to repay the 69,000 Karma he owed Jong-su.
"Those guys were dirt poor."
Perhaps robbery wasn't as profitable as he'd expected.
Or maybe they'd invested every coin they stole into raising their stats.
Either way, considering there had been so many of them, the amount of cash they carried was surprisingly small.
"Well, the merchants are gone now. There aren't many ways left to earn Karma besides robbing people... or doing daily quests."
His gaze naturally shifted to the quest window.
[Daily] "Daily Bread"
Objective: Remove the petrification from any food.
Reward: 1,000 Karma
[Daily] "Scout"
Objective: Approach a monster until you are within 10 meters of it.
Reward: 3,000 Karma
Surprisingly, the daily quests in Yeoju were easier than those of any region he had seen so far.
"The Scout quest seems to be fixed everywhere... while the other quest is probably random."
His prediction from the first day had been correct.
Instead of commuting to work, humanity would now survive through hunting.
Even the daily quests were designed to push people into confronting monsters.
The "Scout" quest was especially cruel.
Even if someone immediately turned around and ran after getting within ten meters of a monster, there was no guarantee they'd survive.
"Still... 3,000 Karma is too valuable to ignore, and you only get one chance per day."
It was currently 6:36 PM.
Judging from the previous pattern, no more monsters would appear today.
Which meant that even Myung-woo, who never avoided monsters, couldn't complete the Scout quest for the moment.
That left only one option.
He looked at the Golden Goblin standing patiently beside him.
"You've got some petrified food stored in your dimensional pouch, don't you? I remember putting quite a bit in there."
The goblin rolled its eyes before raising one finger toward the sky.
"Kek!"
Blue letters appeared above its fingertip.
"...What?"
It was an inventory list of everything inside the dimensional pouch.
Food: 21
Tools: 13
Equipment: 11
Special: 1
Just like the System Window, the goblin apparently had its own interface.
"Thirteen tools... I guess that includes things like ropes."
As Myung-woo looked through the inventory, his eyes stopped on the last category.
"Special? What's that?"
The goblin reached into the pouch and pulled out a small black gemstone.
"Kiiit!"
The moment it held the gem aloft, another window appeared.
Kekidamite — Hero Gem
Slot Effect: Psychic Resistance +10%
"Ah..."
Kekidamite.
It was one of the items he'd purchased together with the slave.
A strengthening gem that could be inserted into empty equipment slots.
"Psychic Resistance... I've never seen this stat before, but maybe I should use it."
The Narrative Necklace Mutual Betrayal had already confirmed that elemental resistances like fire and ice existed.
Those were easy enough to understand.
But Psychic Resistance was different.
"There's no reference point for this... It's not even a common game mechanic."
He could only guess that it might be useful against powerful mutants or aliens.
"Either way, I've still got plenty of empty slots."
He immediately opened his equipment menu.
Angry Goblin Ring
Effect: +100 Strength every day
[Empty Slot]
Murderer's Finger Ring
Effect: +10% stats in PvP
[Empty Slot]
Cowardly Cat Compass
Points toward dangerous targets.
[Empty Slot]
Three empty gem slots in total.
"Plenty of room."
The question was where to insert the gem.
Based on years of gaming experience, enhancement gems were usually consumable.
"Or removing them probably costs something."
Since there were no instructions about changing gems, he assumed the worst.
"Once inserted, it probably can't be removed."
After considering it carefully...
Ping!
Murderer's Finger Ring
+10% stats in PvP
+10% Psychic Resistance
He chose the Murderer's Finger Ring.
The Angry Goblin Ring might eventually become obsolete once his stats reached ridiculous levels, but the Murderer's Finger Ring scaled with his own abilities, making it useful indefinitely.
As for the Cowardly Cat Compass...
It was a Narrative-grade item.
Better to save its slot for something more valuable.
"You never know. Someday high-grade equipment might need to be dismantled or upgraded."
That instinct came from years of playing countless online games as a streamer.
"Hyung! Aren't we leaving?"
Jong-su leaned out the window and shouted.
Myung-woo took two wrapped buns out of the dimensional pouch and walked over to the white Audi.
"You've still got debt to collect, right? Eat these while we drive."
"Huh? What do you—"
Before Jong-su could finish, a fist-sized stone flew toward his forehead.
"Whoa!"
Startled, he instinctively caught it.
Smiling faintly, Myung-woo explained,
"I figured it'd be better to grab a quick bite before we leave. There's also the daily quest."
"A bite?"
Only then did Jong-su realize what he'd caught.
"...Bread."
He also realized that he hadn't eaten a single meal all day.
The same was true for Myung-woo.
His stomach had been growling for quite some time.
Cream Bread — 1,000 Karma
The cream bun fit neatly into one hand.
Price:
1,000 Karma.
"One thousand...? A bicycle costs only three thousand. That's insane."
Even on the second day after the Reset, 1,000 Karma was still a fortune for most people.
Food prices were absurd.
"So that's why the daily quest rewards exactly 1,000 Karma. It's only enough to guarantee one meal."
Since the second daily quest changed depending on the region, even that guarantee only lasted for today.
He removed the petrification.
Shhh...
White smoke drifted away, revealing the original plastic wrapper hidden beneath the stone shell.
"One thousand? That's completely ridiculous."
Jong-su grumbled as he unsealed his own bread.
"They're trying to tighten the noose even more."
As Myung-woo looked up at the sky, the quest reward descended almost on cue.
One crimson coin worth 1,000 Karma.
"So I just broke even."
His total wealth returned to 8,000 Karma.
He immediately handed it to Jong-su.
"Here's another 8,000. That means I only owe you 61,000 now, right?"
But Jong-su didn't take it.
"Hyung... If you hand me money while I'm eating, I'll choke. Just pay me all at once later."
"All at once?"
"Yeah. It's not like I urgently need the money anyway."
After finishing the bread in just a few bites and confirming that Myung-woo had climbed into the back seat, Jong-su pressed the accelerator.
"Shall we head out? You said we don't have much time."
It seemed he had truly entrusted his fate to Myung-woo now.
Instead of hesitating, he was the one urging them onward.
Myung-woo nodded while crumpling the bread wrapper.
"Yeah. Let's go. We can finish eating on the way."
6:40 PM
Approximately 1 hour and 26 minutes remained before meeting the advertiser.
The white Audi carrying Myung-woo and Jong-su sped down the highway.
"That should be downtown Yeoju over there."
Jong-su pointed off the road.
"But I don't see anything."
Myung-woo glanced over but wasn't disappointed.
"There's no reason to go there. The existence of daily quests means the regional mutant has already been killed."
"Oh... I didn't know that."
"Most people don't."
Daily quests only appeared after the second-day mutant of a region had been defeated.
Even someone as capable as Jong-su wouldn't know such information.
"So you're only visiting cities that still have mutants or monsters?"
"For now, yes. Farming is my priority."
"And after you've finished farming?"
The question left Myung-woo speechless.
Would there ever be a point where survival farming truly ended?
He still didn't even understand what had happened to the world.
The Reset.
Alien merchants.
And soon...
He would be meeting an alien advertiser.
Advertising...?
Who was advertising what?
And why was Earth being used as the advertising platform?
Surely it had something to do with the Reset.
"This is giving me a headache..."
Just as he reached up to rub his forehead—
"Huh...? What's that?"
Jong-su suddenly muttered.
Something about his tone sent a chill through Myung-woo.
He immediately leaned forward and looked ahead.
Then—
Thud! Thud! Thud!
A single cow came charging toward them from the opposite direction.
"...A cow?"
And behind it—
"Moooo!"
More than ten people were desperately chasing after it while shouting.
They couldn't close the distance.
It was obvious they were ordinary people.
Jong-su frowned.
"Hyung... don't tell me they're hunting that cow because they have no food?"
"Not exactly."
"They have food..."
"They just don't have the Karma needed to remove its petrification."
"Ah... right. Since living creatures don't turn into stone..."
Jong-su slapped his palm in realization.
Humanity...
Had begun returning to the age of hunting.