I Gave Up Being Stronger

This was a person who stayed far away from petite and cute creatures like puppies and hatchlings. Jin-Hyeok asked Kim Jeong-Hyeon once why that was the case. With an expression that could not possibly have been anything but one filled with worry, he had replied:

“What if I accidentally make them explode?:

Other than when he had to fight, occasions where he resorted to violence were very far and few between. Even when someone teased, taunted, or picked a fight with him, he would simply reply with something along the lines of, ‘Oh… sorry… it’s probably my fault…’ which served to irritate people to no end.

‘Wow, I mean, seriously… what is he doing?’

Jin-Hyeok had to admit he was concerned. This was a friend he had gone through thick and thin with for many years, including some of the toughest hardships. All the good and the bad.

However, he knew that the Kim Jeong-Hyeon of then and the Kim Jeong-Hyeon of now were not the same person—just as how the Jin-Hyeok of then and the Jin-Hyeok of now were different.

If the future unfolded the same way as it did in his previous life, this man would become the Martial King of Korea, the king of the fist, and a Hero who served the country and the people.

It was worth noting that Jeong-Hyeon had found such a life to be immensely fulfilling.

“Hey, oppa? Oppa. Quick, get down,” Cha Jin-Sol urged Jin-Hyeok from under the table. He had no idea when exactly she decided to crawl under there, but she kept poking Jin-Hyeok in the knee.

“What?”

“Didn’t you hear them tell everyone to get down?”

As much as Jin-Hyeok knew it wasn’t the right reaction, he couldn’t help but have his pride be threatened at the notion of acquiescing in a situation like this. Why did he need to get down when he was stronger than them?

“If they’re here for money, there’s no reason for them to harass us, right?”

“Oh, for—... hey, oppa. Look. It doesn’t hurt to be on the safe side, does it?”

“The ones we really need to watch out for would be targeting places like bank vaults or police stations anyway.”

As far as Jin-Hyeok was concerned, these guys were just petty crooks and there was no need to pay them much attention.

Jin-Hyeok thought that if he had to spend all his time worrying over chumps like that, he might as well starve to death because he would never have the chance to even eat properly—like right now. He deserved this meal.

Having fought against powerful assassins—which these crooks didn\'t even hold a candle to—every day in his previous life, it was hard for him to feel scared right now.

Nom nom.

This pudding was really good.

“Hey, you.”

The short one out of the robbers slowly walked toward Jin-Hyeok. It appeared he was the leader of this group of five. Jin-Hyeok decided to call him Yellow Boy, because his hair was dyed a bright yellow.

“Yo. Did you not hear me?”

“I did.”

It would have been nice if this robber would just stop bothering him.

“I fuckin’ told you to put your hands behind your back and get down.”

Jin-Hyeok put another spoonful of pudding in his mouth. The pudding was great, for sure.

Yellow Boy pointed a short spear close to Jin-Hyeok\'s face. It seemed Yellow Boy did not have any manners at all.

Perhaps he had never heard the saying that even dogs shouldn’t be bothered when they’re eating.

“If you came here to steal money, just get your money and piss off.”

“What’d you say to me? Is this son of a bitch crazy?”

With an expression of anger, Yellow Boy picked up a glass cup that was on the table. It seemed that he was aiming to smash Jin-Hyeok on the head with it.

What an odd individual this was. He literally had a short spear in his hand, but he went out of his way to pick up the cup to use as a weapon for whatever reason.

Yellow Boy raised the glass.

Jin-Hyeok merely shifted himself slightly to avoid the cup that was coming down.

CRACK!

‘Oh, my.’

It seemed the robber had swung a bit too hard, because he lost grip of the cup mid-swing and it flew for a bit before it shattered upon contact with the floor.

‘Hm, I could have just let it hit me, now that I think about it.’ Jin-Hyeok had dodged out of habit, but he would have been fine if he just used Broadcaster’s Barrier.

“Alright, you tried to hit me first.”

Jin-Hyeok pulled out his dagger and stabbed Yellow Boy in the chest.

‘Oops, that was close.’

Jin-Hyeok nearly went straight for the heart out of habit. He redirected his stab at the last second to avoid the heart.

He nearly killed a man in the same satisfying, clean manner he killed Dungeon monsters. Truly, habits were a scary thing. There was no need to unnecessarily kill a man at a dinner table with his sister.

In the future, of course, killing someone out of self-defense in a situation like this would not be an excessive precaution, but in these times, he had to act differently—which Jin-Hyeok found understandable. When in Rome, you had to do as the Romans did.

Jin-Hyeok believed he was adjusting well to this society of the past.

“AHHHHHHH!”

Jin-Hyeok shook his head. Why was Yellow Boy being so dramatic over a mere flesh wound? It wasn’t like it was a fatal injury. The stab wasn’t even that deep.

“You crazy bastard!”

One of the larger robbers who had hair of the same color—a Big Yellow Boy—came running at Jin-Hyeok. This one used a normal-length spear as his weapon of choice.

In the chaos, Jin-Hyeok’s pudding fell to the ground.

Now, this was stepping over the line.

“I was eating this pudding. How could you?”

Jin-Hyeok ducked to avoid the spear and stabbed Big Yellow Boy on the top side of his foot. He pulled his dagger out and made sure to stab the other foot as well.

With just these two injuries, Big Yellow Boy let go of his spear and rolled around the floor in pain. What a wuss.

‘Really? He’s hurting that much over that?’

This might as well have been a mosquito bite back in Jin-Hyeok’s day. Jin-Hyeok was concerned about how such a frail person was going to survive this harsh new world.

Jin-Hyeok faced the one with black hair—now to be called Black Boy in his head.

“You better hurry up and go get them treated. They won’t die, at least.”

“...”

“Quick, buzz off. I didn’t kill them ‘cause I’m in a good mood today.”

God damn it.

Jin-Hyeok had tried his best to ignore the elephant in the room, but it was just not possible.

He approached Kim Jeong-Hyeon.

“What are you doing here?”

“U-uh, I’m…”

“Come on, why is a robber like you so timid? Got anything to say?”

Kim Jeong-Hyeon shrunk back until he was stuck against the wall.

Though it appeared from the outside that he was just very cowardly, Jin-Hyeok knew Jeong-Hyeon wasn’t someone that was frightened by a bit of blood.

‘He’s like that because he knows what he’s doing is wrong.’

The Jeong-Hyeon whom Jin-Hyeok knew had a solid conscience, and lost all confidence just like now when he was made to do what he thought was wrong.

In fact, whenever their activities required them to do something icky, Jin-Hyeok and his team had to take into consideration the fact that this straight-laced man was going to be stunted in combat since he was a lot less willing.

‘Broadcaster’s Truesight.’

[LV21/Flaming Fist of Cheongdam-dong/Successor of Jang Kang-Cheol/Skills/—][1]

He had the same Job that he did in the past.

By the artificially created lore of the System, Jang Kang-Cheol was a great grandmaster of martial arts. The number of individuals in the whole world who were bestowed the Job of ‘Successor of Jang Kang-Cheol’ were very few.

Kim Jeong-Hyeon was the man who became South Korea’s Martial King by training and refining his Job to the furthest limits it could possibly reach.

‘Why is his Level so low? And why hasn’t he obtained a single Achievement?’

Jeong-Hyeon’s rate of growth was way lower than Jin-Hyeok had expected. He amplified his Broadcaster’s Truesight to glean some hints.

[#I’m human trash, but #I need the money]

‘He needs the money?’

Jin-Hyeok tried to remember anything from his past life, but there was nothing concrete that could explain why on earth Jeong-Hyeon was in this predicament.

Even back then, Kim Jeong-Hyeon hadn’t talked about his past very much. What little he revealed every now and then suggested he came from a rather underprivileged family background.

Out of what he revealed, one thing that was of note was that he said there was a time when his mother was very sick—but Jin-Hyeok didn’t know the details.

‘He doesn’t seem like he’s very close with the dyed-hair boys, either.’

They didn’t really seem like true companions of his.

Then there could only be one answer.

“Did you come to some kind of agreement with these guys?”

“...”

Jin-Hyeok knew there was no way small-time crooks like these would have promised to give any significant sum of money to Jeong-Hyeon.

It was almost laughable how the Martial King, one who was unrivaled in the ways of the fist in all the land, was rolling around in the mud like this to make a couple bucks.

Jin-Hyeok felt a surge of anger rise within him.

“I can’t claim I know what you’re going through—but couldn’t you make money through a more normal method? Don’t you feel like you’re wasting that physique of yours?”

“I-I’m sorry.”

As always, he was a profuse apologizer.

“It’s not me you should be sorry to.”

“I’m really sorry.... A-actually, I… needed the money really urgently…”

As always, Kim Jeong-Hyeon was a very slow speaker. Listening to him drawl on was like listening to a sloth that could talk.

“Look, there are things people should do and shouldn’t do. Get a grip, you dunce.”

This was something Jeong-Hyeon would normally say to him.

Like the moralist that he was, Jeong-Hyeon would often lecture Jin-Hyeok whenever he was up to something that was no good, saying, ‘... There are things… people should do… and shouldn’t do…’ in that slow drawl of his. Jin-Hyeok rather liked that, actually.

Someone behind Jin-Hyeok suddenly chirped up.

“Yo! What the heck are you doing? If I gave you my damn money, you better do your money’s worth!”

The one shouting was Yellow Boy—the short one. It appeared that the black-haired robber was a healer. It was guaranteed, then, that the injured robbers weren’t at risk of death.

“Do your job and kill that bastard! Quick!”

“...”

“D’you want to pay ten times your fee for breaching our agreement? Huh?!”

Kim Jeong-Hyeon twitched at the threat.

Jin-Hyeok stared at Jeong-Hyeon with wonder. The Jeong-Hyeon of his past life would never have been perturbed over money like this.

[#I hate myself, but still #I need to uphold the agreement #Feeling suicidal]

“I’m sorry.”

Jeong-Hyeon clenched his teeth, and swung a fist at Jin-Hyeok.

“Yes, fuck yeah! Kill him!” Yellow Boy shouted gleefully.

Jin-Hyeok didn’t bother to avoid the punch.

Not only did Jeong-Hyeon’s punches possess incredible power, but the scary part was that he followed it through with an endless combination of consecutive hits. It was better to receive the first attack head-on in order to break his tempo.

‘And physical strikes that are from someone under Level 50 can’t hurt me anyway.’

Jin-Hyeok calmly observed the movements of the low-Level version of Jeong-Hyeon.

He sensed a unique opportunity taking shape. Players with as much potential as Jeong-Hyeon were hard to come by.

‘Broadcaster’s Truesight.’

THUMP!

An explosive sound boomed across the restaurant.

THUMP! THUMP!

Kim Jeong-Hyeon continued to pummel at the shield rapidly, swiveling his hips. The strikes were hard to predict as he deliberately varied his rhythm.

Even for Jin-Hyeok, it would not have been easy to evade these attacks or parry them head-on. That was irrelevant, though, because Jin-Hyeok wasn’t intending to even try and predict Jeong-Hyeon\'s movements.

‘Wow, I actually might not have been unscathed if my barrier didn’t nullify his attacks.’

The attack had considerable destructive power for a Level 21. It was indeed truly second to none.

‘Yes. I knew you wouldn’t disappoint me.’

This was more like it.

Truth be told, Players of this caliber were a dime a dozen in Jin-Hyeok’s previous lifetime, existing all around him. Every second person he fought could at least do this much.

That said… this was exciting.

“I’m not going to go easy either, you know.”

The moment Jin-Hyeok saw an opening, he took it to ruthlessly stab Jeong-Hyeon in the side with his dagger.

Shuk!

Jeong-Hyeon’s flesh felt rather dense. Despite not having used any defensive Skills, Jeong-Hyeon’s body itself was quite tough. Jin-Hyeok might not have been even able to penetrate his skin if they had been the same Level.

‘Wow, that’s solid.’

Whoosh!

Unlike the Yellow Boys, Jeong-Hyeon didn’t cease his attack after being penetrated in his flank. The grit he displayed was on a different level.

However, his subsequent movements were wide enough for Jin-Hyeok to dodge easily.

‘Oh, right, there’s no need for me to dodge.’ Jin-Hyeok reminded himself—while dodging a swing at the same time.

Jin-Hyeok stabbed Jeong-Hyeon in his opposite flank.

Shuk!

He quickly pulled the dagger out, and pivoted his angle of attack to stab Jeong-Hyeon in the vicinity of his trapezius muscles. It was hard to execute his attacks properly because Jeong-Hyeon was so tall.

When Jin-Hyeok had leaped in for the second stab, Jeong-Hyeon took the opportunity to grab him into a bear hug.

‘Oh. He got me.’

Jeong-Hyeon began to squeeze Jin-Hyeok with all his might.

‘Hmm. He’s pretty strong, for sure.’

This would have been enough to crush the ribcage of any normal Player like cracking open a walnut.

However, Jin-Hyeok’s Broadcaster’s Barrier had been upgraded to nullify all physical attacks below the Level of 50. Jeong-Hyeon squeezed so hard that his veins bulged and his face turned red, but it was of no use—he only drained himself of his energy.

‘Should I deactivate that upgrade and fight…?’

Yes, that would make for a much more interesting battle. This was much too boring.

‘Wait, no. That’s not right.’

Jin-Hyeok berated himself. He was going to see through this fight in the safest, lowest risk manner possible, and then he was going to go back to the pudding. That was that.

This time, Jin-Hyeok’s sensible side won the inner battle. That was a close one.

‘Looks like he’s slowly losing his grip strength.’

Jin-Hyeok wiggled his right arm free.

“Hey. Your eyes are unprotected.”

With the dagger clutched in his right hand, Jin-Hyeok went straight for Jeong-Hyeon’s eye.

Puk!

The dagger was buried firmly in Jeong-Hyeon\'s eye.

Kim Jeong-Hyeon lost consciousness and collapsed from the shock. For a moment there, Jin-Hyeok was worried Jeong-Hyeon would keep going even after that.

“Hey, you. Yellow Boy.”

Yellow Boy was startled.

“You got any money?”

“Y-yes, I do!”

“Gimme.”

The man ran to him and frantically gave all the cash he had.

This was the way it should be. The most deserved form of karma for robbers was to be robbed themselves.

Jin-Hyeok tossed the money on Jeong-Hyeon’s massive chest.

“Uh, excuse me… a-am I free to go now?”

“Go.”

“Th-thank you.”

“Wait, no. Stop.”

“Y-yes?”

“Go to the counter and order a pudding for me. Wait, two puddings. No, wait, three. I didn’t get to have mine ‘cause of you. Make sure you pay for it.”

“Oh. Understood.”

Yellow Boy went to the counter and ordered two puddings, ensuring he paid for both.

“Alright, you can go now.”

The robber bolted out.

Jin-Hyeok waited silently.

‘When is he going to wake up?’

It seemed he was going to need to have a deep conversation with Jeong-Hyeon.

“Jin-Sol, heal his eye a bit for me. You don’t need to worry about being precise—he can take a lot of punishment, so it shouldn’t take long for his eye to get better even if you did a sloppy job.”

As Jin-Hyeok expected, Jeong-Hyeon was incredibly receptive to healing. It was a short while before his eye was fully treated, and the bleeding on his sides came to a stop and also had its flesh regenerated. Jin-Hyeok believed it shouldn’t take long for his eyesight to return to normal as well.

Before long, Jeong-Hyeon stirred to consciousness.

It seemed the vision in his right eye hadn’t been restored yet because the eye didn’t look focused, but Jeong-Hyeon was rather calm.

“Hey, big guy.”

There was a question Jin-Hyeok had been waiting to ask.

“Your eye—why did you give it to me on purpose at the end? You knew it was wide open.”

1. The name ‘Kang-Cheol’ is meant to be a little corny, as Kang-Cheol is a homophone of the Korean word for ‘steel’ (assuming his name doesn’t literally mean steel). Fun side note: Kang-Cheol’s surname, Jang, is historically the Korean equivalent of the Chinese surname Zhang. ☜