Chapter 8

As cherry blossoms danced in the wind, Misaki opened the old diary and read the words of promise written there.

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Xiaoming stood at the classroom door, took a deep breath, and firmly gripped the secret letter from his mother.

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Amidst the cherry blossoms dancing in the wind, Misaki opened the old diary and read the words of promise written there.

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Two hosts stood speechless, their mouths agape, as they looked at Yohan. Yohan, who spoke about cancer with a cheerful smile, did not look like someone harboring the disease; instead, he appeared more vibrant and healthy than anyone else. However, Yohan, the representative, paid no heed to their reactions and continued to tell his story. He mentioned receiving the lottery winnings and spending the money with a "YOLO" attitude, eventually purchasing land for the orphanage he sponsored.

Of course, this was from his previous life, before the regression. Nonetheless, it was true that he had broken up with his girlfriend, had cancer, and won the lottery. It wasn't a lie, just a bit different.

"But after giving the land back to the orphanage, I felt I needed to do something more. With not much time left in this world, was it all just about spending the money and then it's over? Leaving nothing behind?"

The cheerful smile on Yohan's face turned into a deep sense of self-reproach, which was captured by the camera.

"Since then, I've been finding and 'buying' orphanages that need help."

"Buying?!"

"Yes. There were really a lot of despicable people... I mean, people."

"Ah..."

He then brought up examples of children being abused in orphanages, and the hosts' expressions of shock grew more intense with each story.

"Reporting them, proving their guilt, and all that would have ended my limited life, so I decided to buy the facility and all its rights first. I paid a generous price."

"But still! Those people!"

"But I didn't let it go. I reported them."

"Ah! You reported them?! How?"

"I asked them to vacate quickly. They left evidence everywhere. In various places. I didn't find everything, but if you spend money, experts can help. You haven't seen the news yet, right? Once this show airs, those people will be on the news soon. Right??"

"Ha ha ha ha."

The atmosphere became heavy for a moment, but the conversation continued with a laugh.

"But when my money started to run out, people came to me."

"People came to you?"

"Yes. Victims. Adults who had suffered in the past, before I could help. They came to me. That's how our company, JS Innovation, began."

What Yohan said was almost true. He spent money to buy orphanages, punished the wrongdoers, and when he had spent half of his money, people came to him. The only difference was that the people who came were not victims but priests, chosen by the will of the Earth, similar to saints or saviors.

"They were all very capable in various fields. Our company is known as a resource development company, but the real purpose of buying land was one: children."

"Children?"

"Yes. Children. To provide minimal protection to children who cannot protect themselves from the world. To build and care for orphanages, we needed land. And then, hot springs and minerals were discovered on the land. Ha ha."

"You just bought the land, right?"

"Yes! What, do I have a greed for money? What can I do? I can't enjoy it for long anyway."

Watching Yohan talk about his final days with a cheerful smile, the two veteran hosts were unsure how to react. His cheerful demeanor about his limited life and his joy in talking about "our" company rather than "my" company left them unable to cry or laugh.

Thus, the interview with Yohan, the representative of JS Innovation, was broadcast on the weekend and uploaded to YouTube, causing a significant stir.

Now, the question.

Why did Yohan, who was busy preparing for the end of the world, suddenly appear on the news and a variety show?

Is he a show-off?

Only Yohan and his company, JS Innovation, know the answer. The reason isn't simple.

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Hello.

This is Shim Hyoung.

Thank you to all the readers who have come to read today.

It's Monday.

Have a good day! 🙂

It feels like someone planned it.

What does the karma (Karma) set by the will of the Earth mean?

Karma, expressed as "karma" in Sanskrit, is defined as actions performed by the body, speech, and mind that bring about good or bad results in the future.

It's difficult to understand, even though it seems clear. The karma as described by the will of the Earth is more straightforward. It's like a savings account where points are accumulated based on one's usual behavior.

There is a malevolent being who harasses and harms others. This person accumulates minus karma (Minus Karma), or bad karma, like a savings account.

Conversely, a person who helps others, performs good deeds, and provides help rather than harm accumulates plus karma (Plus Karma), or good karma, like a savings account.

Typically, people live lives where plus karma and minus karma are almost equal or not significantly different. The criteria for accumulating good karma are strict, while the criteria for accumulating bad karma are more lenient.

The landlord of Earth decided to evict human tenants because the minus karma, or bad karma, was overwhelmingly higher than the plus karma, or good karma.

So, how can I, as an individual, accumulate plus karma?

That's right. By doing good deeds.

However, as mentioned earlier, plus karma points are very hard to accumulate. How can I increase these points more efficiently?

The hint is in the first part.

Karma is not accumulated simply by suffering oneself; it is based on interactions with others.

What if it becomes a topic of conversation for others?

If one's actions positively influence others' words and deeds, plus karma increases exponentially.

This is why I appeared on the news and the variety show New Kids on the Block.

Especially, I chose New Kids on the Block because it is a show that uploads a complete episode to YouTube, which can be seen by people worldwide.

The positive influence that spreads through people's words and thoughts increases plus karma exponentially, like compound interest.

How did I know? Did the god of wealth (財神) tell me?

No way. I explained indirectly that class information is heavily influenced by causality.

This is because of what I did in the past, specifically before the regression.

Before the regression, I helped an orphanage, and a journalist, who I later found out was an orphanage alumnus, wrote about me as if I were a saint. The article became famous and gained unexpected popularity on YouTube.

As a result, upon awakening, I received a plus karma score that was several orders of magnitude higher than others.

With this in mind, I deliberately avoided a few shoots and interviews and later even appeared on talk shows in the United States and the United Kingdom, promoting myself with 75,000% sincerity.

The video was uploaded to YouTube, and in just three days, it had over ten million views. Is that reasonable? Given that the appointed priests of the will of the Earth are active in various countries, it's not reasonable to discuss it in terms of common sense.

The ten million views quickly approached ten million. It was a simple interview video, not a music video, and the producers of New Kids on the Block seemed a bit flustered, but they soon uploaded "unedited versions" and "reaction versions" to YouTube.

And I,

────────────────

〈Awakened Information〉

1. Name (Name): Yohan

2. Nation (Nation): Republic of Korea

3. Affiliation (Clan): None

4. Occupation (Class): Lord (領主)

5. Karma (Karma)

6. Stats (Status)

Physical [Rank: Red]

[Strength 1] [Agility 1] [Stamina 1] [Durability 1] [Magic 1]

Special [Rank: Red]

[Awe 1 (New!)]

〈Unique Ability〉

1. Territory (領地)

〈General Ability〉

1. Territory Management (Sealed)

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I gained over 110,000 plus karma points in just over 60 days.

To give you an idea of the scale, before the regression, when I awakened as a "Landlord," my plus karma points were around 40,000, and the typical plus karma points an awakened person gains upon initial awakening range from 1,000 to 9,000.

But I have 110,000! And it's only been two months. It will continue to increase.

It's a big deal. Not for everyone, but for me, it's a big deal. If it were another awakened person, they might not like having a lot of plus karma points.

To explain this, I need to start with why karma points are divided into plus and minus. Will that be enough to understand?

Plus karma, or good karma, is used for "safety," "convenience," "help," "healing," and so on.

Minus karma, or bad karma, is used for "combat," "killing," "destruction," "violence," and so on.

In the end times, when awakened individuals face the monsters invading Earth, minus karma is more popular than plus karma, unless one has a special class like mine. I'm good. I'm just good. Most facilities in my territory require plus karma points.

That's why, before the regression, I focused on internal affairs rather than hunting to gain minus karma points needed to increase my physical stats. And I got a severe backstab.

Time passed. As the end times approached, I and the priests of the will of the Earth were busy in our respective roles. People scattered around the world gradually gathered in Korea, and the place they gathered was the Silver Orphanage where Yuda-yeon was affiliated.

The facilities have improved so much that it's hard to call it an orphanage anymore, and several new buildings have been constructed. Among them, we stayed in a building facing the orphanage and the playground.

There, I,

"Ah! I'm going crazy. This is it."

I was raising a voice of helpless lament.

"I need some minus karma points too..."

At some point, the god of wealth (財神) told me that the "Lord" class is "high risk, high return."

Is it really high risk to simply need a lot of land? No. If that were the case, a being like the god of wealth wouldn't have mentioned "high risk."

The way to gain minus karma is simple: destroy life. Any living thing, whether it's a small bug or a weed, will do.

However, killing thousands or tens of thousands of bugs or weeds won't even increase the karma points by one. It might take hundreds of thousands to increase by one point.

In the current situation, the fastest way to accumulate minus karma is to kill humans, one's own kind.

"But I can't go around killing people like a serial killer. Ah, I'm going to go crazy!"

Plus karma points are accumulating to the point where they increase every morning. The problem is minus karma points. Where can I get them?

"Even if the annihilation project had already started, I could have found a way. But that's not easy either, right?"

As mentioned earlier, "currently," the fastest way to accumulate minus karma points is to kill humans. However, once the annihilation project starts, killing monsters or humans who have turned into monsters is several times more efficient.

The problem is that to have the power to sweep them away, I need to summon troops, and to summon the minimum number of troops through a barracks, I need minus karma points.

"This isn't like a game where you need max-level gear to enter a dungeon to get max-level gear. What am I supposed to do with this?"

Gaining minus karma points is not a good thing. Before the regression, those whose minus karma exceeded plus karma did not have a good end.

I have a lot of plus karma, but it will decrease when used.

"Ha... minus karma points. What do I do with them?"

"‘I've always felt that you have an unusual lack of talent for bad karma. Your mind spins with ideas related to good karma,’" he said, passing on the message.

When did she come? While I was thinking, a woman appeared in front of me. It wasn't Yuda-yeon but a sensuous, curvaceous beauty of South American descent. Sanae Shinse.

The will of the Earth that loves and cares for animals other than humans, the will that most strongly advocated for the extinction of humans, and ultimately, the one who provided the cause for the fraudulent contract by acting too hastily. Therefore, she had to pay the highest price.

The priest of "Fertility (生育)."

"Is that so? Thank you~. Pass that on. And tell her to shut up if she can."

When Fertility appeared, the god of wealth (財神) spat out all kinds of curses, visibly disgusted, in front of the tall, curvaceous South American woman.

That's when I realized that even beings comparable to gods, like the will of the Earth, can swear, and they do it very well.

Of course, I didn't welcome her either. She was a god who supported the extinction of humans. How could I like that?

"Sorry."

The problem is that this woman, regardless of the will of the Earth called Fertility, is genuinely kind. Despite her sensuous figure and healthy brown skin, she has a gentle, kind, and selfless personality, like a mother.

And she treats her god, Fertility (生育), as follows:

"So, as I said, if you just stay put, you'll be in the middle or a bit lower. Why do you always get scolded for stepping in? Every time."

Since she scolds me every day, it's hard to say anything.

"Sanae Shinse, I said it's not your fault. Are you trying to make me mad?"