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Chapter 141
[You have discovered a hidden ‘Reward Influence Condition’ of the ‘Appreciation Plaque’.]
[Receiving the influence of the new Reward Influence Condition.]
I unlocked a new condition.
* Reward Influence Conditions
Contracted Guardian
Sponsorship Guardians
The Player’s luck
The Player’s enhancement ability
Power of a wish
A condition called ‘Power of a wish’ was added. The fun thing was, I knew someone who harbored such a ‘wish’, and not just a regular wish, but a ‘strong wish’.
‘Does that mean it can be influenced by Noona?’
I didn’t know for certain, but I had a hunch it could.
“I’ll use this Appreciation Plaque with gratitude.”
“This is an investment I am making in Player Kim Hyukjin.”
“An investment?”
“Yes. With my current abilities, I can only give an Appreciation Plaque to one person.”
“And you’re saying that one person is me?”
I already knew this, but she was deliberately flaunting her credit.
‘But is she really flaunting?’
It kind of felt like she was, but wasn’t, and that she was being sincere, but not quite. I had the strange feeling that she wasn’t saying, ‘I gave you something this precious, so be good to me’, but ‘I did good, right?’
“Yes. The Appreciation Plaque can be activated whenever and wherever you want, and the reward will be randomly determined based on the conditions that influence it.”
Basically, I didn’t need to use it here, right away.
‘First… I’ll have to go to Noona.’
I told her to set aside some time to spend with me, anyway. It was thanks to Noona that I cleared the Yellow Charm Gate, a gate imbued with her strong wish for my happiness.
I went to Noona’s room. She happened to be home.
“Noona, I told you to make time for me. Why’re you dragging your feet so much?”
She was never going to take initiative, so I just hauled her out of the house.
“Oi. Where are we going?”
Her face was full of irritation, but that was only skin deep.
“You’ll know when we get there.”
We got into a taxi. After a thirty minute drive, we arrived at the Sungshin Department Store in Myeongdong. It was essentially the most premium department store in Sungshin’s possession.
“Please give me this, this, and this.”
I swiped on everything that caught my fancy. Noona was speechless.
“...”
I didn’t bother to count, but I probably used something close to $40k in what felt like one mad rush of buying.
State: Extreme Panic / Fear
She stood there like a wooden doll whose soul had left the body.
“Earth to Noona,” I said wryly, shaking her.
Even my shaking couldn’t snap her out of her daze. Her state was even worse than Choi Sung-gu, who claimed to have a “department store allergy” or “boujee allergy”. She was in a total panic, almost like a Player crushed by ‘Mettle’ in front of a huge, unbeatable monster.
“Noona. Noona. Noona. Come on, get a hold of yourself.”
After barely managing to gather her wits, Noona looked at me, dumbfounded. “...Are you insane?”
“I have a lot of money.”
And I would earn more in the future. I had “only” managed to earn $300k so far, but my earning power would increase by leaps and bounds. Plus, if I successfully settled the trade of the Gyeonghoeru Dungeon strat, I could rake in a profit far greater than $300k. I had enough to spend this much on Noona.
“Whether you have a lot of money or not, how is this something a sane person can do?!” she shouted, before realizing where she was and quickly looking around. Her unconsciously raised voice drew the attention of the people nearby.
I saw those people with Observer’s Eye. Two women I guessed were friends murmured, “Woah, what’s with that woman? I’m jealous.” The remark wasn’t surprising, considering the mountain of shopping bags held in both my hands.
State: Envy / Longing
State: Envy / Covetous / Jealousy
The surrounding gazes weren’t important. What was important was that I was more than willing to do as much for my sister as she had devoted to me, and that I had the capability to do so.
Also important was confirming Noona’s ‘wish’.
“I told you. I’ll make it so you can live the good life now.”
“Return them all.”
“But I dun wanna?”
“You really wanna die?”
“Nope, I’m gonna live.”
State: Extreme Panic / Brain.exe Crashed
Noona was rendered speechless again. This was just the smallest act of sincerity I could do for my sister. Another long moment of silence stretched out between us.
“Please, Hyukjin. This is madness. Let’s go return them, please.”
“But you didn’t say anything before. Why now?”
“I thought you were pranking me.”
No, I was pretty sure she didn’t say anything because she was in a total panic, but now she was trying to cover up by saying she thought it was a prank. It was kind of cute.
“I’m not crazy. Also, I’m earning a lot better than you think, Noona.”
“...”
She was on the verge of tears. Goodness, it just made me want to tease her more.
“Don’t worry. This is way smaller than what I’ve received from you.”
Noona kept parroting ‘Let’s return them’, and I mercilessly ignored her. Only after returning home did Noona really come back to her senses. She rained blows on my back.
“HEY! YOU CRAZY BASTARD!”
Unfortunately for her, I was already a level 30+ Player. Getting hit by a non-Player like Noona didn’t even hurt.
“Oh, you’re finally out of your daze. You were all stiff a moment ago.” I flashed her a cheeky grin. “Noona. You want me to succeed, right?”
“What bullcrap are you on about?”
“Just say it. You want me to succeed, right?”
“...”
Her lips twitching, Noona bluntly said, “No. Not at all.”
“Be honest. You want me to succeed, right?”
“I said no!” Her face reddened just a little. “What do I care if someone like you succeeds or not?”
“Oh, c’mon. You’re being too harsh, miss. I’m still your little brother.”
I stubbornly repeated the question.
“Noona. You want me to succeed, right?”
“Noona. You want me to succeed, right?”
“Noona. You want me to succeed, right?”
After asking and asking several times, Noona finally gave in.
“FINE! BE SUCCESSFUL, WHY DON’T YOU! BE SUCCESSFUL!”
With that, she barreled into her room and slammed her door shut. It was amazing that someone who wrote new charms every day for my sake would be so embarrassed to say it out loud.
In any case, I read the emotion behind her words when she shouted at me.
‘It was sincere, huh?’
My Observer’s Eye had the power to take in all information and reinterpret it. I sensed Noona’s true feelings, the energy the System labeled as a ‘wish’. Maybe because she’d been in a total panic moments before, the door to her heart was knocked wide open.
As a result, I was able to clearly pick up on her wish.
‘This energy is the power of a wish.’
As was always the case with information perceived with Observer’s Eye, the energy wasn’t anything concrete or fixed. I just felt it in my mind.
‘Influence of a wish, check.’
It took a $40k investment. I could activate the Appreciation Plaque now. I went back to the room and took it out.
* * *
[Activate the ‘Appreciation Plaque’?]
With my tacit agreement, the Appreciation Plaque produced a ball of golden light that lit up the room. The warm glow of the light extended to every corner of my room.
[Activating the ‘Appreciation Plaque’.]
[Confirming the Reward Influence Conditions.]
[The ‘Contracted Guardian’ is the ‘Nameless Observer’.]
[Confirming a large number of ‘Sponsorship Guardians’.]
The notices stopped for a moment.
‘Hm?’
Not long afterwards, I found out why the notices stopped.
‘It summoned Senia?’
Senia appeared. I didn’t know exactly what was happening, but I guessed messages were being sent to the Streamer I had an exclusive contract with.
“Player Kim Hyukjin. Are you activating the Appreciation Plaque?”
It should be obvious just by looking, but she was asking in order to explain the situation to the Guardians.
I heard the same notice again.
[Confirming a large number of ‘Sponsorship Guardians’.]
[Confirming a large number of ‘Sponsorship Guardians’.]
[Confirming a large number of ‘Sponsorship Guardians’.]
The notice was repeated seven or so times. Then, it changed.
[A large number of Guardians have expressed their ‘desire to sponsor’.]
[The ‘Appreciation Token’s Sponsorship Limit’ has been exceeded.]
[Further ‘sponsorship’ is impossible.]
The sponsorships exceeded the amount the Appreciation Token could handle.
[Judging the Player’s luck.]
[The Player’s luck is a factor that changes in real time depending on the time, place, and the Player’s condition.]
This part was purely RNG.
[The Player’s luck has been set as ‘MAX’.]
Woah.
‘Guess I’m lucky?’
This time, I hit the lucky MAX. If I had to guess, it was a really good throw of the dice.
[Checking the Player’s enhancement competence.]
Here, I had a little confidence, and I was curious as to what the System would say.
[The ‘Appreciation Plaque enhancement competence judging ability’ has been exceeded.]
[The ‘enhancement competence’ cannot be judged.]
[The Player’s enhancement competence has been set to the uppermost limit of the ‘Appreciation Plaque’.]
My luck was MAX, and my enhancement ability couldn’t be measured. I saw Senia’s wings flutter as she murmured a constant stream of words I couldn’t understand. From her reaction, the calculation of my reward conditions was far from ordinary.
And finally:
[Confirming the power of a wish.]
[Judging the wish’s strength.]
[Confirming the ‘power of a wish so strong it cannot be put into words’.]
All the influence conditions were judged.
[The ‘Appreciation Plaque’ is being activated.]
[Randomly selecting reward.]
[‘All Ability Potion’ selected as the reward.]
The item window opened automatically, and I saw a potion.
[All Ability Potion]
Grade: Legendary
A potion that increases the proficiency of all skills/innate abilities/innate authorities of a Player by [1].
Even I felt my jaw drop. However, it wasn’t all good.
[The item is in conflict with the System’s settings.]
[System is set as the Beginner period.]
[The grade of the All Ability Potion is decreasing.]
[All Ability Potion has been changed to An Ability Potion.]
The item was downgraded.
[An Ability Potion]
Grade: Unique
A potion that increases the proficiency of one skill/innate ability/innate authority of a Player by [1].
Senia came up to me. “The result was a reward the System could not permit. Player Kim Hyukjin is…”
“You don’t have to say it.”
I had a transcendent item, Isabel. That was already almost a bug, but if an ‘All Ability Potion’ showed up? It would be a literal balance-breaker.
However, I earned the reward through legitimate methods and no bugs. My fairly-won reward was forcibly degraded. Such an action violated the System’s rules.
As such—
“A merit will be reapplied later in the mid-game as compensation for the forced downgrade.”
This penalty was like a bandaid fix. Later, a different merit would be applied some other way. If I was able to get past level 40 and enter the mid-game.
“Will you use the An Ability Potion?”
The moment the item was downgraded, I knew exactly what I had to do.
‘That’s right.’
For now, I couldn’t do anything about the reward being worsened. The System itself had come forward. It wasn’t common, but this sort of thing wasn’t unheard of.
‘In cases like this, you can often get an even bigger reward as long as you fulfill a special condition.’
That knowledge kept my disappointment at bay. Steadily, one step at a time. Just as I had always done from the Tutorial to now, I just had to take one step at a time. And one of those steps was the use of this item.
“I’ll use it immediately.”
I saw Senia tense. Ever since I successfully signed the latest deal with Senia, I could read her emotions much more easily than before. It was like she opened her heart to me a little, or something like that.
‘The Guardians must be watching, too.’
Which ability would I use this potion on? Using it on Eye of Perception or Observer’s Eye would be the most efficient, with the highest chance of paying off later.
That was the straightforward answer. It was undeniable that one of those two were the best options for me right now.
‘That’s what everyone must be predicting.’
It was obvious that the majority of Guardians were predicting that was what I would do.
‘But—’
The clear and obvious answer was no fun. I was determined to become fantastic content for them.
I held the reins to this scenario. What should I do to whip more Guardians into a frenzy? How could I make more Guardians focus on my Playing?
‘I’ll show them a slightly different twist.’
I picked the ability I would upgrade.
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