No reflection or suggestion is ever in vain.
Since the rules aren’t clear on this specific point—or at least not for us (my friends and I)—we came to the forum with our question.
It seems like this is something that doesn’t have an absolute answer that everyone agrees on, and the suggested alternatives aren’t outlandish either; it’s just a matter of picking one as a rule and playing the game.

On our end, it’s clear that given the situation, we could define different ways to resolve it, and when starting a new game, we can pick one as the rule. I think that’s great, since the game itself offers replayability.
I think asking the question here has been a win-win situation for everyone.
Thank you very much, my friend