I Gave Up Being Stronger

During one part of the conversation, Jin-Sol went over how she ended up Awakening.

“Hmm… well, uh, it’s kind of a long story.”

“What’s with all this beating around the bushes? Just be out with it.”

“Well, you see, I often tagged along with Mom and Dad when they visited Bongeunsa Temple[1].”

“Bongeunsa Temple?”

“Yeah, there’s a place like that. Anyway, just by coincidence—pure coincidence—I was burning some incense sticks there when I suddenly Awakened.”

“I noticed you earned yourself some Achievements as well. What’s that about?”

“Oh, that? That’s not a big deal.”

The name of the Achievement Cha Jin-Sol had obtained was ‘Thousand Days of Prayer.’ As the name suggested, this meant she had prayed for a thousand days, but she didn’t tell him exactly what—or who—she had been praying for.

[#I’ll never be exposed #Will kill myself if I am #Praying for oppa #Never done such a thing]

Hit by a sudden, overwhelming assault of her emotions, Jin-Hyeok deactivated his Broadcaster’s Truesight completely.

Meanwhile, Jin-Sol’s face had become a little red.

“You don’t need to know ‘cause it’s got absolutely nothing to do with you.”

“I don’t remember asking if it’s got something to do with me.”

“I’m just saying,” Cha Jin-Sol said, as her face flushed a little more.

The two of them conversed a while longer, before Jin-Hyeok eventually put forward the suggestion of doing a Dungeon run together. To his surprise, Cha Jin-Sol accepted his proposal without much hassle.

“Alright, the company told me to take a couple days off anyway, so I’ll do as you say. Let’s try playing together then.”

“…”

“What?” Jin-Sol questioned.

“To be honest, I thought you’d say no.”

“Why would I?”

“Well, I mean, I probably don’t seem like the most reliable oppa out there.”

“If you knew that already, step up your game.”

Cha Jin-Sol stood up from her seat. Time had flown—it was already 2 a.m.

“Still…” Cha Jin-Sol trailed off.

“Huh? Still what? Why did you stop mid-sentence?”

“It’s good that you came back.”

“What?”

“I said it’s good to have you back.”

Jin-Sol’s voice was so soft that she was barely audible and Jin-Hyeok couldn’t catch all of it.

“What the heck are you saying?” Jin-Hyeok asked again.

“Forget it. Nothing. Go wash your feet and go to bed.”

Her ears were flushed red.

***

Jin-Hyeok went over tomorrow’s plans in his head.

‘Sareoga Mart in Yeonhui-dong—that’s our destination.’

Jin-Hyeok knew that Sareoga Mart Dungeon was active there at present. This was a Dungeon that could be cleared fairly easily by anyone as long as they knew the right strategies of approaching it.

Although Jin-Hyeok wasn’t sure about the exact number, he was fairly sure that the maximum number of times the Dungeon was allowed to be cleared by Players was somewhere around 300.

‘And in this low-difficulty Dungeon are some Trait rewards, up for grabs to hundreds of people just for completing this single place.’

The fact that these Traits were so easy to acquire meant that they were just that weak.

‘Enhanced Human’ and ‘Enhanced Revival’ were names that sounded far grander than the actual ability. In truth, these two Traits weren’t actually particularly sought after by Players.

‘There’s a lot of Jobs that can technically learn these Traits…’

The Traits were fairly versatile: they were able to be learned and used by the large majority of Jobs. Not only that, but they were actually pretty useful in their own right at the very beginning of someone’s Player life.

‘...but I remember they were more and more widely considered to be trash abilities as time passed.’

This was because these two Traits had terrible compatibility with other ones, to the point where the Player who earned them may as well give up on pursuing and learning other Traits.

‘They pretty much went out of use until Blood Priests came fully into the picture.’

A Blood Priest with the Blood Drain ability was able to make use of the massive synergy between it and the two Traits in question.

While there certainly existed Jobs other than Blood Priest where the Blood Drain ability could be learned, these other Jobs still had poor compatibility with the two Traits. For instance, in the case of the ‘Vampire’ Job, acquiring the ‘Enhanced Human’ Trait had the counterintuitive effect of resulting in a sharp decline in its original strength.

Consequently, it was not at all far-fetched to say that the Enhanced Revival and Enhanced Human Traits were pretty much geared toward Blood Priests only.

As the clock ticked over to 3 a.m., Jin-Hyeok slowly began to be overtaken with drowsiness.

‘Home sweet home, indeed.’

Before he regressed, Jin-Hyeok had never had the opportunity to sleep so comfortably.

In fact, it had been the same after he regressed as well.

Had he really regressed?

Had his whole previous life just been an elaborate dream?

Would he really undergo an Initial Awakening and become a Streamer after pouring 50,000 hours of his time into streaming a game?

What if the conditions had changed unbeknownst to him?

Jin-Hyeok had been plagued by anxiety day after day with such questions in his mind ever since he regressed.

But today was different.

***

‘I feel refreshed.’

The time was 7 a.m.

Jin-Hyeok thought he had woken up pretty early, but it turned out the rest of his family were already up and moving busily around the house.

“I’m heading out to work," Jin-Hyeok said to his parents as he left the house.

Cha Jin-Sol came outside with him. As soon as they stepped out, she began to scold him.

“You’re ‘going to work’ dressed like that? Couldn’t you have put a little more effort into faking it?”

“What’s wrong with how I’m dressed?”

Jin-Hyeok was simply wearing a pair of chinos with a plain T-shirt.

“Come on, I\'m not saying you should suit up, but have some common sense, at least. Mom and dad are going to get suspicious.”

Now that she mentioned it, Jin-Hyeok recalled that this was how social norms still were in this era.

He knew that as more time passed, what was considered the quintessential white collar worker look was going to change a lot. In particular, for those who were Players and ran around during work time like Jin-Hyeok, casual clothing was absolutely the outfit of choice.

Some would end up wearing armor, while others would wear robes. There would even be those that would fly around on creatures such as Wyverns, concealed under a cloak of invisibility.

Seeing as how in the future, workers who were Players would dress like that even when making public appearances such as for an interview, people would practically be allowed to wear whatever they wanted on their way to a normal day of work.

‘Anyway, I’m definitely getting the feeling that I don’t really have a strong grasp on what’s normal in the present.’

Jin-Hyeok didn\'t have very clear memories of when he experienced this era in the past that he could draw from. Admittedly, he only really had memories of going from Dungeon to Dungeon like a rabid donkey, throwing his body recklessly into battle. Until he reached first rank, he completely invested his all into playing like a complete madman.

Even after that time, Jin-Hyeok’s memories basically consisted of battling fiercely on behalf of the nation as a government official.

With all that in mind—on top of the fact that after regressing, he had stayed shut in that small study room for seven whole years—it couldn’t be helped that Jin-Hyeok was having trouble figuring out what was the normal way to do things.

“I have no money,” Jin-Hyeok blurted.

Jin-Sol sighed. “Didn’t you say you’re making lots of cash? You made five million won in a day, right?”

“But I don’t have money for clothes.”

“Man… you don’t even feel like you’re wasting your physique?”

“Is that a compliment or an insult?”

“A complinsult.”

The two of them hailed a taxi, making their way to Yeonhui-dong.

***

Jin-Hyeok and Cha Jin-Sol had arrived at Yeonhui-dong and were walking toward the entrance to Sareoga Mart, when they heard an incoming notification.

[「Sareoga Mart Dungeon」 is currently active.]

[Do you wish to enter 「Sareoga Mart Dungeon」?]

\'Yay, it’s a Dungeon.’ Jin-Hyeok thought.

While Cha Jin-Sol looked exceedingly nervous, Jin-Hyeok swallowed with anticipation.

‘Be still, oh heart of mine. This is a relatively easy Dungeon, so it was going to be lame and boring.’

By telling himself that, Jin-Hyeok succeeded quite well in suppressing the instinctive excitement he felt just by standing in front of a Dungeon. He pleasantly realized that he had improved a little in controlling his emotions.

“Why are you blushing?” Cha Jin-Sol asked Jin-Hyeok.

“What on earth do you mean?”

“You look like someone who’s finally about to reunite with his first love like they promised in the past. Is it just me, or do you look a little too thrilled?”

She had no idea how much it took him to push down his instincts. It looked like Jin-Sol just didn’t have an eye for his effort.

A little while passed before they spotted someone frantically running toward them. It was Mok Jae-Hyeon.

“Hyung!” Mok Jae-Hyeon shouted.

While Jin-Hyeok knew that this Dungeon was not that difficult to clear, having Mok Jae-Hyeon with them would make it that much easier.

“This is my little sister, Cha Jin-Sol. Jin-Sol, this is Mok Jae-Hyeon. He cleared the Tutorial Field with me,” Jin-Hyeok introduced them to each other.

Now it was Cha Jin-Sol and Mok Jae-Hyeon’s turn to greet each other. Mok Jae-Hyeon’s face was glowing red.

“I-I was not aware you had such a pretty little sister.”

Why was his voice so small?

“My name is Mok Jae-Hyeon.”

The two shook hands.

“Nice to meet you, I’m Cha Jin-Sol. How old might you be?”

“I-I’m fifteen years old! How about you, noona?”

“I’m twenty-five.”

“T-then you don’t have to be so formal with me, noona.”

Mok Jae-Hyeon’s face turned even redder as they exchanged greetings. The whole ordeal seemed incredibly odd to Jin-Hyeok.

At the least, Jin-Hyeok didn’t think that Cha Jin-Sol was so pretty that it warranted a guy helplessly turning red at the first meeting.

Jin-Hyeok shot a few sideways glances at Jin-Sol to see her reaction. She looked like she was very familiar with this kind of reaction.

‘Well, I suppose it’s nothing to do with me.’

It was indeed none of Jin-Hyeok’s business whether Mok Jae-Hyeon was crushing on her at first sight or not… but it was a bit unsettling.

***

[You have entered 「Sareoga Mart Dungeon」.]

This was not the actual Sareoga Mart: they had entered a new space that only Players could access. However, the layout and environment itself was exactly the same as the real mart.

One thing that was different, however, was that they could see a battle unfolding before them.

A monkey with enormous fists—a type of monster—was just about to land a punch on a woman.

THUMP!

The resultant sound was considerably loud. Without even being able to let out so much as a cry, the woman instantly collapsed to the ground, motionless.

Ooo ooo aah aah aah!

The monkey that felled the woman—a ‘Fist Monkey’—triumphantly beat its chest and pranced about.

Jin-Hyeok approached the woman and observed her closely.

“It appears that her skull has been dented.”

The stream was on, as always.

Jin-Hyeok checked her breathing.

“It looks like she’s already dead. That means that there is not a single Player alive here other than our group. Mok Jae-Hyeon, let’s deploy your Wood Fortress to secure a safe zone.”

“Got it.”

The Wood Fortress ability was activated. In almost an instant, vines grew forth and covered Jin-Hyeok’s party. This newly formed interior of the Wood Fortress was actually quite comfy.

“Can you make it so that we can see what’s going on out there, but only from the interior?”

“I’m sorry?”

“I mean, can you configure it so it’s got a one-way transmission?”

“W-well, that’s…”

“You can’t do that?”

Jin-Hyeok felt a flash of annoyance.

Despite it having been a while since Mok Jae-Hyeon was promoted to ‘Wood King,’ it felt like his development had been lagging.

In truth, the rate at which Mok Jae-Hyeon’s skills were improving was on the considerably fast side—it was just that, by Cha Jin-Hyeok’s exorbitant standards, it was irritatingly slow.

“I guess it’s still too soon for you.” Jin-Hyeok sighed.

“…Yeaaah. Uh, what was it called again? One-way something?”

“One-way transmission. It’s a way of configuring a barrier so that we can see the outside from the inside, but not the other way around.”

“I-I can’t do it right now, but I’ll try my best to learn it.”

Jin-Hyeok imagined that if he was the one that had his Job boosted by the Great Hero ingredient and promoted to Wood King, his strength would have been unparalleled in a place like this. He would have combined the use of the Wood Fortress and Wood Spear Skills to cover both offense and defense, slaying the monkeys left and right.

That would have been heaps more fun, right?

As soon as that thought entered his head, Jin-Hyeok quickly concluded with a ‘no’ to his own question.

‘The monkeys are too weak for it to have been any fun anyway.’

After all, it was only really fun for him if his life was on the line. This place was much too peaceful by his standards.

Jin-Hyeok boredly peered through the gaps of the vines to check what was going on outside.

“Is it possible for you to make a small opening so that only I can get out?” Jin-Hyeok asked Jae-Hyeon.

“Oh, yes, I can do that!”

Mok Jae-Hyeon couldn’t do that when they were at Seoul Station, but now he was able to.

This growth too was only possible because of Jin-Hyeok, but Jin-Hyeok himself didn’t think much of it. In his view, someone who was carrying around a title like ‘Wood King’ should certainly be able to do at least that much.

“Are you going to go out alone, oppa?” Cha Jin-Sol asked.

“Yup.”

“What are you going to do?”

“I think I can handle them alone.”

Jin-Hyeok knew that the ‘Fist Monkeys’ had an average Level of around 23, a Level that wouldn’t be difficult for him to face even by himself.

With a dagger in hand, Jin-Hyeok exited the Wood Fortress. One of the Fist Monkeys spotted him and began approaching him.

‘Here it comes.’

Jin-Hyeok didn’t show any reaction to the approaching creature.

The Fist Monkey slowly drew closer and closer, before it rushed at him all of a sudden.

Being a low-Level monster, its path of attack was astoundingly simple, and the timing of its movements was very easy for Jin-Hyeok to predict.

‘Broadcaster’s Barrier.’

“This monster is called the Fist Monkey. As we can guess from its name, this is a monkey-like monster that probably uses its fists when attacking. I will try receiving one of its attacks head-on, counting on my Broadcaster’s Barrier and my Level.”

WHUMP!

While the loud sound of the impact broke the air, the monkey’s fist was ultimately unable to break Jin-Hyeok’s Broadcaster’s Barrier.

Another one came running at him and swung its fist at Jin-Hyeok’s head. The result was the same.

“Just by using my Broadcaster’s Barrier when the time is right, I have received next to no damage.”

It was as he thought: Jin-Hyeok had still held a sliver of hope that they would be able to inflict real damage on his Broadcaster’s Barrier, but he was indeed sorely disappointed.

“If they varied their attack patterns to disorient me, I would not have been able to use Broadcaster’s Barrier so efficiently. In that way, I’m actually quite fortunate.”

Jin-Hyeok continued to explain to his viewers.

“Oh, now that I’ve observed them properly, I’ve noticed that the monkeys tend to become more aggressive the closer I get to the fruit stand over there. It’s almost as if they are trying to protect the fruits. Is it possible there’s something hidden there?”

Jin-Hyeok walked toward the stand.

‘It would look good enough if I dragged things out and explained my thought process this much, right?’

Jin-Hyeok tried his best to look natural, taking the time to seem as if he did some real thinking to arrive at the conclusion he did.

‘That was real smooth—natural enough.’

However, that was not how it looked to his viewers at all. To them, he sounded like someone who had thoroughly memorized all the strategies, and was hurrying things along the most optimal route of completion.

Of course, Jin-Hyeok would never imagine that that was how they viewed him. He was simply getting antsy at the fact that he even had to slow things down this much.

‘I kind of miss the old days.’

When Jin-Hyeok was the Sword King, he would usually have slaughtered all the monsters in the vicinity first before everything else. That often made it harder to find any hidden rewards and the like, but it was a lot more liberating mentally.

Jin-Hyeok couldn’t stop missing how he used to do things as the Sword King, but he was now a Streamer, not the Sword King.

‘Let’s take this frustration in stride. This too is a form of training.’

Once more, he succeeded in pushing down his primal desires with cool rationality.

For now.

1. A Buddhist temple in Korea. ☜