CH 104

⌜Huh? What’s going on? What skill did he use? The Ants just disappeared! All those Ants are gone! The horizon looks kind of distorted, as if a hole was drilled into the very sky. Is that some kind of transmission skill?⌟

After a while, Ji-Han used a skill again.

⌜Regulator.⌟

Countless dead bodies of the Ants appeared in front of Ji-Han as if they had been taped with each other. There was no process to speak of. The only thing in front of him was the result of a massacre.

⌜The Ants… They’re all dead! Chat, he killed all the Ants. I couldn't see how he did it. No no, this is not fake. My live broadcasting skill is working properly!! Jesus… How did he do this?⌟

The rest of the video was just the streamer trying to guess what kind of skill Ji-Han had used. The brothers remained silent for a bit after the video was finished. Then, Mu-Cheok asked.

“...What do you think, hyung?”

“Uh… It kinda looks like some parts of the video are deleted,” Ji-Cheok replied.

“Nothing of the sort happened. The space in front of him was literally cut out, disappeared, and reappeared. That’s what happened. One thing unusual about it was that after he made the Ants disappear, my mana and Seong Kwang’s mana were depleted.”

“Was it forced?”

“...”

Mu-Cheok thought for a bit, then started talking again.

“Hyung, I’ve been thinking about this for a while. I realized that if I attacked the Ants myself, I would’ve lost that much mana, I’m sure of it. What if I didn’t remember attacking those Ants?”

“If that was the case, it would’ve been recorded on that streamer’s video, wouldn’t it?”

“I know. If someone used a skill to control my memory, it would’ve appeared in the video. But this was just like cutting and pasting space.”

Ji-Cheok got goosebumps.

“What about experience points?” Ji-Cheok asked.

“Everything came in the way it should. The same goes for titles. It was distributed the right amount.”

Ji-Cheok now knew why his brother was so panicked.

“What about Seong Kwang?”

“Well, no one was hurt or dead, so he looked happy from that. He doesn’t really care about what other people do in the first place. He’s a priest, so he focuses on healing his teammates, but he doesn’t care about what kind of skills they use.”

‘I see. Maybe that’s why Seong Kwang is classified as a ‘zealot’ in the System. If this happened right in front of their eyes, anyone would panic, but I guess Seong Kwang is just that insane.’

“Anyway, there’s something strange about Ji-Han. His abilities are not normal.”

“Like me?”

“It’s different from you, hyung. I know your past and present. And they are somewhat connected. I don’t see that in Ji-Han.”

‘I have a question here. Why didn’t Ji-Han use that kind of power in the [Temple of He_who_denies_death?] Or was it unusable at the time? I don’t know… I don’t know.’

«Master, I suspect that showing such power publicly is itself a calculated performance.»

‘You think so too?’

«Yes, Master. There is no way he would show such a bizarre skill for no reason.»

Being a Hunter meant risking their lives. As a result, it was always important for them to know when to reveal and hide their skills. In that sense, Ji-Han showing his skill publicly here could be a ‘warning’.

‘Is he showing off? I think it would have been wiser to hide it. He seems a bit arrogant. Well, let’s just see how it goes.’

⌜See? My stream is so much better than that handsome but pointless stream of Um Ji-Cheok. I am the real deal! The streamer of this age!⌟

«As expected, Master, that streamer doesn’t seem to be able to create his own content. His number of viewers is decreasing.»

«Master! People are unsubscribing from that streamer’s channel! I guess he was convicted of being lame.»

‘Cheok-Liang, it sounds like you wanted this to happen.’ 

«No… No, Master.»

Cheok-Liang wagged his tail, doing absolutely nothing to hide the joyous look in his eyes.

‘I guess Cheok-Liang was upset that this streamer was mocking me.’

* * *

Upon arrival, the brothers unpacked.

“I guess you were really tired.”

Mu-Cheok fell asleep in the bathtub. Ji-Cheok tried to wake him up, but then just decided to leave him for another ten minutes.

‘What should I do in the meantime? Hmm, I’m gonna use a facial mask!’

It was hard for a person to become famous, but it was way too easy for them to go down. It was hard to grab people’s attention. It would have been a different story if Ji-Cheok was born with white jade skin and DNA that didn’t let him gain weight, but since he was just an ordinary person, constant care was the answer. Ji-Cheok put on the facial mask he bought from the Alchemist’s Guild, sat on the massage chair, and watched the video that Mu-Cheok showed him before.

‘What do you think, Cheok-Liang?’

«He certainly is a dangerous human being. If he was an enemy, he would have had to be quickly eliminated, but as an ally, he cannot be more reliable.»

‘Why would I get rid of my employer? The goal of my life is to mooch off of the chaebols.’

«Of course, this is only assuming the worst-case scenario. It cannot be denied that he is loyal to Master for now.»

‘No, I keep telling you, I’m the employee. It’s the other way around. Anyway, I think so too. I don’t know what’s going on, but he doesn’t have any motives to be hostile to me, and if there’s a disagreement, I just have to deal with it in an adult way.’

«And what is that, Master?»

‘I just need to hand in my resignation.’

The fennec was looking at Ji-Cheok with a surprised face.

‘The labor law protects me, so the only thing I need to do is to hand in my resignation. I have the right not to work!’

«Of…of course. Resignation… You hand that in…»

‘I guess you’re from the Three Kingdom era in China, so you’re confused. So I’ll make it simple. What’s my relationship with him? Employee and employer. What should I do if he starts treating me badly?’

«You should hand in your resignation.»

‘See? You get it now. Then I should start a business with the money I’ve saved. People say that it’s hell if you leave your work. Damn, I’m already scared. I hope he doesn’t do anything to piss me off.’

«You mean that even if you see blood, you do not want to live under the same sky. I, Cheok-Liang, accept your divine wisdom.»

‘...You mean company, not sky. With that kind of talk, it sounds like I’m trying to murder Ji-Han. I don’t know what Ji-Han is trying to do, but in the end, there is only one thing I need.’

«You mean Likes, Master?»

‘Yes. To unlock the secrets of the dungeon, to become stronger, and even if I resign and try to start my own company, I need Likes.’

«I thought you said starting a business on your own is hard.»

Search bit.ly/3iBfjkV for the original.

‘Yes. There were some of my colleagues back in my Hunter Assistant days who quit and started their own businesses. But they always came back. Some of them came back with huge debts, and some of them even came back together with their business partners.’

«So it’s essentially hell.»

‘That’s exactly it, Cheok-Liang. That is why I am very afraid to start my own business. Everyone knows that working in a company is shitty. But there’s a reason why people still work while chugging three cups of coffee a day. Just like them, I want to have a steady life.’

«And the more difficult the dungeon, the better, right Master?»

‘Of course. It’s not easy to earn ten million Likes. If I cleared easy dungeons, I wouldn’t be able to earn ten million Likes before this world is destroyed. In that sense, Ji-Han is a great boss. When I’m with him, it’s never an easy dungeon.’

«Master must someday acquire Legendary skills, beyond the Unique ones. I saw that those skills are worth one million Likes.»

‘A Legendary skill? That’s like a dream. Still, I’m glad I found a way to earn Likes and become stronger at the Fortress of Hope.’

The bout of enlightenment that Ji-Cheok had gone through at the Fortress of Hope had made him more powerful. Ji-Han’s definition of skills was probably completely different from how Ji-Cheok thought. It was unlikely that Ji-Han, who was always on time, would learn cultivation skills, given how much less efficient they were compared to other skills. That was his way, and Ji-Cheok had his own way.

‘Okay. Shall we check what I got?’

«You mean the titles, Master.»

‘Yupp. I want to take this opportunity to check what I got in the past. Can you briefly summarize and show all the titles I have obtained so far, Cheok-Liang?’

[[Lizardman Challenger]: Weak Fear effect on the Lizardman race.]

[[One who is watched over by one hundred Gods]: +10% Likes.]

[[The one who killed the Two-headed gnoll alone.]: +10% attack damage.]

[[First No-death Conqueror of the Special Dungeon]: Enhanced dungeon rewards.]

[[Guardian of the Iron Wall]: +5% durability.]

[[Master of Slaughter]: +25% wide-area damage, 25% reduction in mana consumption when attacking in a wide area.]

[[Head Opener]: +100% critical damage when attacking the head.]

[[Carnage Instigator]: +10% aggro.]

[[Ant Annihilator]: +20% attack damage against Ant monsters.]

[[Guardian of Hope]: Strong resistance against negative mental influences.]

“Everything else has a percentage, except for the Guardian of Hope.”

«It may be like that because the Guardian of Hope is that special. Or because precise calculations do not work for things that are related to mental attributes. Isn’t it the same with Lizardman Challenger?»

“Ah, you’re right.”

Maybe it was because it was impossible to measure the mind with numbers. Most of the things related to the mental world could not be depicted as percentages, but rather as vague concepts. Since Ji-Cheok could still use the [Beginner’s Skill: Steady Heart], if he added this title on top, he would be much safer against mind control abilities. He didn’t care if it was a placebo effect, he just wanted himself to feel safer.

“Alright, the next step is…”

«You should contact the person in charge.»

“You’re right.”

With the consent of Cheok-Liang, Ji-Cheok picked up his phone and called his manager at Jungjin. First thing tomorrow, Ji-Cheok was planning on going to the Fortress of Hope alone.

* * *

-What? What? What?

-Something… Something is happening…

-Umji, what’s going on? Why are you there again? Huh?

Ji-Cheok thought he was crazy too. He was supposed to be resting in the finest goose quilt, telling himself that outside was nothing but dangerous, but here he was, live on his stream.

“Hello, everyone! Umji, Gumji, this is Um Ji-Cheok~ I’m sure many of you are surprised. We are in the place I cleared just yesterday! Are you curious as to why I’m here? Please say you are. I'm really bored.”

-Umji, what about your mana recovery?

-I heard that other Hunters take around a week to recover fully.

-I hope you didn’t enter the dungeon without fully recovering.

-乃乃乃 Don’t overdo it! 乃乃乃

As expected, questions were filling up the chat.

“Everything is related to my unique skills. I can’t go into details, though! My mana recovery speed is a bit faster than that of ordinary Hunters.”

-A little bit? More like a LOT.

-If I’m right, Umji might have a similar skill to ‘That Hunter’.

Ji-Cheok knew at once who ‘That Hunter’ was.