The Evil God Beyond the Smartphone

< 2 : Karma System (1) >

The next day.

When I woke up from the alcohol, what I faced was the game screen that had reached level 2.

My level had increased by one.

It would have been nothing if it was a normal game.

Going from level 1 to level 2 was something that happened in the beginner stage.

But in this game, level had a different meaning.

There was no experience point to begin with, and level was meaningless in this game.

It was surprising that there was a hidden way to level up in this game that didn’t even have a proper tutorial or guide.

It was natural that I was interested in the result of leveling up.

-<Observer’s Eye (Lv.1)> grows.

-<Observer’s Eye (Lv.2)> has been achieved.

You can observe the continent with a clearer vision than before.

The first thing that changed was the skill called <Observer’s Eye>.

It wasn’t a skill that I could use at will.

It was a passive skill that applied automatically.

And after learning this skill, the graphics of the game that I saw changed.

It wasn’t a drastic difference, but the shape of the characters that I saw changed.

Before <Observer’s Eye> evolved, I could only recognize their human shape.

But after this skill evolved, more details appeared on the characters’ appearance.

At least I could tell their gender and hair color.

“And this is… dialogue?”

Another change that came with the graphics change.

It was that I could understand the dialogue between characters.

Speech bubbles appeared above their heads, and the dialogue content was displayed as icons.

Of course, it was barely enough to understand their interaction purpose, not a real dialogue.

But it was amazing enough to create AI that acted like humans, let alone more details.

I decided to compromise with what I saw.

“Anyway. It’s free, what more can I ask for.”

After answering myself, I checked out other skills that had appeared on my account.

There were several more skills besides <Observer’s Eye> on my account that had leveled up.

You have acquired <Karma’s Judgment (Lv.MAX)>.

-All actions that affect life and death will generate karma.

-Karma that is excessively biased in one direction has a high possibility of triggering <Causality Adjustment>.

It meant that the actions I took that affected the game characters would come back to me as experience points.

It seemed that killing characters like yesterday would increase my level.

There was also a warning about <Causality Adjustment> below, but it didn’t explain what it was in detail.

Of course, if I attacked the characters recklessly like yesterday, my finger would only hurt.

It would be better to find an efficient way to hunt quickly if possible.

“What is this next skill… What is this?”

I scrolled down and checked the skill that was next to <Karma’s Judgment>.

And I saw something unbelievable.

There was something clearly strange among the list of skills.

It was not a skill name that belonged to the skill window.

-You have acquired <Paid Currency Shop (Lv.MAX)>.

-You can now use paid currency to purchase items from the shop.

The skill name, <Paid Currency Shop>.

It was a skill that allowed me to use the cash shop.

No, it was too embarrassing to call it a skill.

After all, paid currency is something that you buy with real money.

But you have to learn a skill to buy it?

It was an absurd skill.

“Why did they put this in the skill?”

I grabbed the back of my neck as soon as I saw <Paid Currency Shop>.

I had heard a lot of stories about how games nowadays were crazy about scams, but this was crossing the line too much.

You can spend money when you level up!

Who wouldn’t think that’s ridiculous?

I take back what I said about the developer being amazing for making this a free game.

This developer was a writer who was crazy about money.

And a person who was crazy in an innovative way.

“…”

I stared intently at the shop button in one corner of the screen.

Hmm.

I don’t feel like spending money on this game.

I already had a big expense from drinking too much yesterday because of the third round of promotions.

And they want me to spend money on this trash game?

I can’t do that sober. Well, anyway.

“Shall I just take a look at the contents?”

-That’s what I thought for a moment.

My eyes didn’t leave the shop button.

No matter what, I was curious about what they were selling in <Paid Currency Shop>.

It was a game that could be played without spending money.nove(l)bi(n.)com

Then what kind of things did this shoddy game sell for money?

I stretched out my hand hesitantly and clicked the shop button quietly.

Click.

The shop page opened in front of me with a familiar touch sensation.

-Welcome to <Paid Currency Shop>.

-<Paid Currency Shop> sells various items that can help you play the game smoothly.

It said various items, but there was only one thing for sale.

The revenue structure was the famous 10-pull gacha.

They didn’t even give a free pull for the first time.

The shop page didn’t even tell me what kind of items were in the gacha.

Only a black cow customer would buy it without knowing anything.

And the price was 49,900 won for 10 pulls.

It was a fairly vicious price for a non-mainstream mobile game gacha.

“50,000 won for 10 pulls? Who would pull that?”

With that money, I could do at least 10 pulls in a major mobile game, or even dozens of pulls in a user-friendly game.

It was an amount that normal people wouldn’t press the pull button.

Really.

I was normal and I didn’t even dare to try it.

Only someone who had too much money would try it.

As if it read my mind, the game showed me a new guide message on the screen.

-You can get various items that can help you play the game by using 10 pulls.

“Are you crazy? Why would I pull that?”

I wasn’t a black cow who spent money on this kind of game, even though I wasn’t stingy with mobile games either.

I’d rather spend 100,000 won more on another game than this one.

With that thought, I tried to close the shop window when

I felt something wrong with my finger that was operating the screen

“…Oh, I pressed it wrong.”

Instead of going out, I accidentally pressed the 10-pull button

Of course, it wouldn’t have been a big deal if it was a normal game

There would be a payment confirmation window in the middle, and I could cancel it there and it wouldn’t be charged.

But this game wasn’t a normal game.

As soon as I pressed the button, it went straight to the 10-pull screen.

“Hey, why don’t you ask me if I want to pay?”

Even if it was a shoddy game, it would at least confirm the payment.

But this game ignored even that minimum rule and showed me the 10-pull screen.

Shhhhh.

Ten items appeared in front of me in sequence.

There was no effect to indicate the grade.

Either they were all trash items, or there was no grade distinction for items in the first place.

My eyes quickly scanned the list of items that appeared.

-You have acquired [Rusty Iron Sword].

-You have acquired [Rusty Iron Sword].

-You have acquired [Crude Dagger].

-You have acquired [Hard Black Bread].

-You have acquired [Magic Book: Lightning].

-You have acquired [Hard Black Bread].

-You have acquired [Hard Black Bread].

-You have acquired [Hard Black Bread].

-You have acquired [Torn Cloak].

-You have acquired [Rusty Iron Sword].

They all looked like garbage just by reading them.

Most of them were duplicates.

I realized as soon as I saw the items that they were things that should never be bought.

No, I already knew that to some extent, but I felt it painfully with my own body.

I denied the reality as soon as I saw the item list.

“I didn’t choose a payment method, so it didn’t go through, right?”

Ding.

A message arrived as soon as I finished speaking.

It was a message from the card company informing me of a payment of 49,900 won.

And it wasn’t even a credit payment, but a cash payment that came out.

I thought that since it was a shoddy game, the payment wouldn’t work properly, but this part was sharp and came out quickly.

It was a game that blatantly screwed over the user.

“No, what is this… Why did it really go out?”

The more I played, the more I fell into a maze.

I had no choice but to cross my arms and think about the money that had already gone out of my card.

Should I delete the game and get a refund?

Or should I keep playing the game with the thought that I was bitten by a dog?

I made up my mind after thinking about it.

“Hmm… Okay.”

I had fun playing it until now.

I decided to think of the 50,000 won as the purchase cost for the game.

There should be consumers like me who can make more diverse games.

Of course, I should stop this kind of payment model, though.

I quickly finished my decision and closed the shop and returned to the main screen.

And I looked at the items I got from the 10 pulls.

-[Rusty Iron Sword].

This was garbage.

There was no interaction other than throwing it on the ground.

It seemed that only the characters could move in the first place.

I checked the next item.

-[Hard Black Bread]

-[Crude Dagger]

-[Torn Cloak]

These were also the same as [Rusty Iron Sword].

There was no choice but to throw them away.

In other words, it was just sprinkling them on the characters.

I paid 50,000 won for these things.

It was something that I couldn’t help but be disappointed.

-[Magic Book: Lightning]

Only this last remaining item, [Magic Book: Lightning], was different from the others.

It was the only one that had a direct interaction button with me.

When I pressed [Magic Book: Lightning] in my inventory, a selection window popped up above the inventory screen.

The new message that appeared was about learning magic.

-Do you want to learn <Lightning> skill?

-The magic book will disappear when you learn it.

-Yes / No

There was only one choice, of course.

I pressed ‘Yes’ without any hesitation.

Ding.

With a pleasant notification sound, the magic book disappeared from my inventory.

-You have learned <Lightning (Lv.MAX)>.

-You can now use lightning magic by consuming magic power.

At the same time, lightning magic appeared in the skill window.

The lightning magic button was different from other skills in that I could press it.

I immediately pressed the lightning magic button.

Then, with a small target mark and my magic power decreasing by almost 10%,

A bolt of lightning fell from the sky as soon as I touched a point on the screen.

A high-level magic that shoots lightning, lightning.

It was the moment when I learned an active skill for the first time in this game.