I Gave Up Being Stronger

He had to control his instincts with his reason. It was a good thing he found a good reason to convince himself.

‘I am not like this because this situation is fun. It is all because of the memories I have with Choi Gang-Byeok.’[1]

Jin-Hyeok was not getting excited because he enjoyed these heart-racing, life-or-death raids. He was now just an ordinary Streamer.

Before the regression, Jin-Hyeok was considered the Sword King that could pierce anything, and Gang-Byeok was considered the Shield King that could block any attack. Because of this, Jin-Hyeok and Gang-Byeok were known as the best duo, and they had a lot of sparring with each other.

It was known to the world as the Battles of Contradictions, and their sparring were known to the world as if they were doing impressive training.

—Dude. I’m going to beat the shit out of your sorry ass, Gang-Byeok.

—I’d like to see you fucking try, haha!

Jin-Hyeok tried his best to hit Gang-Byeok, and Gang-Byeok tried his best to block Jin-Hyeok. And when the sparring was over, they both claimed to have won.

Gang-Byeok always said that he won because Jin-Hyeok could never kill him.

‘No matter how I look at it, I’ve always won. I don’t know what he’s talking about.’

Anyway, Jin-Hyeok sparred a lot with him, so he had a pretty good idea of what a Tank should do.

‘If I blindly trust the Broadcaster’s Barrier and get hit by that monster, I’m gonna be in big trouble.’

It was true that the Broadcaster’s Barrier was a great Skill. For a Streamer, it was one of the strongest defensive Skills that could go head-to-head with any Tank’s Skill. On top of that, with the additional +1 to its Defensive Attribute, it allowed him to be completely immune to all physical attacks that had a power of Level 50 or lower.

‘The question is, can the monster’s attack be considered a power of Level 50 or lower?’

The Golden Golem was Level 45. Just because its physical body was Level 45, it did not mean that its attack Skill was at the same Level. That was why it was never stated as ‘exactly’ Level 50, but rather the ‘power of’ Level 50.

Even humans, when they were in danger, could unleash tremendous power. The same went for a boss-Level monster that was in phase two.

For a brief moment, It was likely for this monster to unleash a destructive attack that had the power of Level 50 or higher. And if Jin-Hyeok was to be hit by the attack, he would be in danger.

‘Honestly, I want to get hit by it, just to see how it feels.’

The old Jin-Hyeok would have said yes, but since he was now a Streamer, he restrained himself.

“It unleashed its attack.”

The Golden Golem’s Skill, Rocket Fist, was fired.

“Looks like the ranged attack is set to target our Priest.”

He moved in front of Cha Jin-Sol. When the Rocket First was about to hit him—

“Activate Broadcaster’s Barrier.”

Jin-Hyeok dodged to the side and pushed the Skill away. He did not block it outright, but just changed the trajectory of the Skill. He did what Gang-Byeok often did when they were sparring.

‘It worked!’

It was surprisingly easy.

Boom!

The Rocket First slammed into the wall and was shattered upon impact.

“I’m glad it worked. I just slightly changed the trajectory of the Skill."

His wrist felt numb, and the bones seemed to be slightly fractured. The shards of the Rocket Fist bounced in all directions, giving him a few minor cuts. He was bleeding a little, but the wounds were nothing major.

He calmly continued the livestream.

“Even though I used my Broadcaster’s Barrier Skill, which is imbued with many Achievement effects, just changing the trajectory of the Rocket Fist caused this much destruction. If I just took the hit, I would be dead right now.”

He glanced at Jin-Sol, who was standing behind him. She looked very frightened, but she was still focused and trying to heal him. The attempt itself was commendable, but the target was wrong.

“You are supposed to heal him, not me.”

Jin-Hyeok pointed to Kim Jeong-Hyeon.

Jin-Sol bit her lower lip as if she was trying to stop herself from saying something.

Jin-Hyeok didn’t know why she was healing him when clearly Jeong-Hyeon’s injury looked worse. If she made a stupid choice again, he was planning on scolding her, but fortunately, she had some common sense left.

She focused on recovering Jeong-Hyeon.

“Good. You are doing great.”

Jin-Hyeok let out a short exclamation of admiration.

‘I guess humans are evolving creatures after all.’

He hadn\'t taught them anything, but the Seo sisters knew what they were supposed to do.

“I think they’ve learned that after using a big Skill like that, there is always some sort of delay from the enemy.”

The Seo sisters started to move side to side. They crossed each other and circled around the Golden Golem. Their fingertips were linked with thin lines of mana.

“The Seo sisters are using their cooperative binding Skill called Mana Restraint. It’s a good choice.”

Because they destroyed the Outer Core before, the monster was still slow. And the Seo sister’s binding Skill was working as planned.

“Our damage dealers are finally starting to be proactive.”

Jin-Hyeok didn’t order them to do anything. They just started to do it on their own.

‘I’m so proud of them.’

After using their binding Skill to hold the Golden Golem, the Seo sisters took turns stabbing at its Inner Core with all their might. However, they were both exposed to the monster, and Assassin-class Players would become much weaker when attacking after being exposed.

“Next up is Jeong-Hyeon, who has somewhat recovered.”

‘Good. Even the Seo sisters are this proactive. Our mighty Jeong-Hyeon shouldn’t just stand still.’

Jeong-Hyeon\'s fist was covered with bluish mana. He swung his fist with all his might at the Golden Golem, which still could not move. Since he didn’t have to care about defending against the monster, he swung with all his weight.

BOOM!

The Golden Golem trembled as if its own body was having an earthquake.

Thud.

The spherical Inner Core fell off it and rolled away. There were a few cracks in the Core, thanks to the Seo sisters and Jeong-Hyeon.

“It rolled right to me. Well then, I guess I will be the one to finish it off.”

Jin-Hyeok tried to raise the dagger with his right hand.

“Huh?”

His right hand felt wobbly. He thought he fractured his wrist, but it turned out that his right wrist was broken. He realized there were some injuries to his elbow as well, but he didn’t pay much attention to it.

“I guess I’m a little more injured than I thought.”

Back in his previous life, an injury like this was nothing. Also, he might not have felt the pain because he was enjoying the situation so much.

He put the Core down for a moment and grabbed his right wrist with his left hand.

“I think I can get the bones to align if I apply some pressure.”

Crack!

With a pop, the misaligned wrist bones snapped back into place.

“Now let’s break the Inner Core.”

He slammed the dagger down on the Core. It had accumulated so much damage from the other teammates that it shattered with a single blow.

[You have defeated the Golden Golem.]

⁎ ⁎ ⁎

After defeating the Golden Golem, Jin-Hyeok reached Level 39.

‘I’m leveling up so fast!’

It was even a little faster than the top Players on the leaderboard right now.

‘Even if Streamers are the best at leveling up, wouldn’t it be weird if I was at a higher Level than Egan Paul?’

Apparently, being an all-rounder Streamer had an advantage in leveling up. He knew he shouldn’t be doing this, but he also didn’t feel bad about it. His reason was telling him not to be in first place, but his heart still couldn’t say no to that.

[The reward for killing the Golden Golem is 1 Golden Mana Stone.]

After destroying the Inner Core, a glittering Golden Mana Stone fell in front of Jin-Hyeok. He picked it up.

“I am going to sell this. I will share the profits equally,” Jin-Hyeok said.

“...”

“...”

Everyone was silent except for Jin-Hyeok.

“You guys don’t want to sell it?”

“No, it’s okay. We can sell it,” Jin-Sol spoke up on behalf of the party.

“If you don’t want to, you can tell me. We don’t want some petty grievances to build up between party members.”

“I don’t… have any… complaints,” Jeong-Hyeon said.

“What about you, Jae-Hyeon?”

“I don’t have any either.”

Jin-Hyeok tilted his head.

Mok Jae-Hyeon looked a little scared.

‘The Golden Golem is dead, so what is he so scared of? There is nothing to be scared of, yet he is still like this.’

As he was thinking that, Jin-Sol asked, “Oppa… How is your wrist? Is it okay?”

“What? You healed me earlier, remember?”

He twirled his wrist.

“It’s completely healed,” Jin-Hyeok said.

“Earlier…”

“Earlier what? Wait, why are you crying?”

“Your elbow bone was…”

“My elbow? What about it?”

Jin-Sol finally burst into tears.

“The bone was sticking out…”

The injuries Jin-Sol saw on her brother were not minor. His wrist bone was shattered and his elbow bone was sticking out through his flesh. Yet, he didn’t scream once.

Instead, he was smiling hysterically. Then, he put some pressure on it and pushed it back into his flesh. It looked like he was playing Lego with his bones.

Jin-Hyeok still looked confused.

“It didn’t hurt that much though.”

“How can that not hurt?!”

“I’m serious.”

“Then why did you slam your dagger down with so much power?”

“Well, I have to destroy the Inner Core…”

“Then, the bone popped out again… Do you know how surprised I was?”

After hearing her, Jin-Hyeok tilted his head. His elbow bone had popped through his flesh twice.

‘But that would have actually hurt me…’

It was true that he was desensitized and used to pain. However, he wasn’t numb to it.

He would have felt that much pain. He wasn’t even in his strong body before his regression, but in the body of a low-Level Streamer.

“You must be mistaken,” Jin-Hyeok said.

“Now, I saw it clearly. I was the closest to you, remember?”

“Well, if my injury was that bad, how come you were able to heal me that fast? What are you, like Level 80?”

“Well, no… But I really did see it.”

Ji-Hyeok felt strange again.

“Did you guys all see the same thing?”

They all said yes. They expressed that the sight of him realigning the bones without any display of pain was quite shocking. After a while, Jin-Sol came to her own conclusion.

“It was strange, but my healing Skills worked so well on you, Oppa. Your recovery was amazing.”

“Really?”

“Yes. It felt like my heals were much more powerful than I am capable of. It felt like my healing power was being amplified by your body. Why do you think that is?”

“Well, everyone is different. I bet Jeong-Hyeon takes heals very well, too.”

“It was not like that. You were on a different Level.”

Jin-Hyeok rubbed his chin. He tried to think reasonably and rationally.

“I don’t know, but maybe it has something to do with us being siblings,” he said.

“What does that have to do with anything?”

“Blood Priests use their powers through blood, and since you and I have genetically similar blood, maybe your heals have greater power over me.”

Even though he said that he still couldn’t figure out the exact reason.”

“But, that’s not how it felt like…” Jin-Sol muttered to herself.

She couldn’t put her finger on it, but Jin-Hyeok’s body just felt so different from everyone else’s. She thought if Jeong-Hyeon maximized his physical advantages, it might have felt the same.

“Still, that’s now how it felt like…”

She didn’t know the answer.

⁎ ⁎ ⁎

The reward for clearing the Golden Golem Caste was also given. He had received a pair of Uncommon-Grade daggers. They were pretty good daggers at this point.

“These daggers… do you have to…” Ji-Ah said cautiously.

But her voice was too quiet to be heard.

“What?” Jin-Hyeok asked.

“...”

“She’s saying that maybe you should have the daggers,” Ji-Soo translated for her.

“Why should I?” Jin-Hyeok said.

“Because…” She looked like she was about to say something, but decided not to. “Forget it. We’ll just keep it. I think it’s a good idea for us to have each of the daggers, so we can get the effects of the items simultaneously. That way, we can attack more efficiently.”

“Okay.”

It was normal for damage dealers to get the damage-dealing items. He didn’t know why they were trying to justify something so obvious. It was like she was feeling bad for taking something that should’ve been his.

Soon after, a welcomed notification popped up.

[Individual rewards have been given.]

[The performers can decline to be 「Paid」.]

The Seo sisters had a sense of conscience and refused to be paid. They were also given a ring that increased their defensive stats, but they gave that to Jae-Hyeon. He looked like he wanted to get paid, but he was still a good kid and refused.

“I will sell the Golden Mana Stone and share the profit with you all. I will record the whole process, so don’t worry, I won’t scam you.”

The party did not seem too interested in him taking the Golden Mana Stone.

‘I guess the world still is beautiful and innocent. I dunno why they are so naive. What would happen if I just took the Mana Stone and left?’

After safely clearing the Golden Golem Castle, he headed to Cheongdam-dong.

“I saw everything on your livestream. You almost died twice,” Gap-Soo said.

“What do you mean almost died?”

“Ha. What is that look on your face?”

“What do you mean?”

Of course, if Jin-Hyeok had been hit by the monster, he would have died.

But he didn’t get hit.

He had some adrenaline rush and it was indeed fun, but it wasn’t a close call. To be honest, with the exception of the Rocket Fist, he was generally disappointed.

“Good. The sheer disparity between your calm facade and the reality of the situation gives me such great pleasure.”

“...”

‘It’s not my facade. But if it shows like that on screen, I have nothing to complain about.’

“Well, overall, your livestream was very fun. Are you going to sell that Golden Mana Stone to me?”

“That’s what I’m here for.”

“Good. I’ll buy it off you.”

The old man clapped his hands together. The door swung open and a strange odor began to waft in. It smelled like sweet peaches.

‘Wait… I know this smell.’

It was a familiar smell.

Someone was gracefully entering the room.

‘Oh, I didn’t expect this.’

1. Small tidbit: His name here translated means: Sturdiest Wall. ☜