I Gave Up Being Stronger

“This little shit is swearing at us!”

The Square Men frowned when Jin-Hyeok swore at them. Jin-Hyeok was not sure why they were mad at him, seeing that they were the ones that swore at him first.

“I just ran into these Square Men with foul mouths. Looks like someone needs to wash their mouths with soap.”

Jin-Hyeok was stating a fact and not trying to start anything. They were the ones who provoked Jin-Hyeok.

“Oh, don’t mind me. I’m not talking to you. I’m just livestreaming and I just wanted to let you guys know that this is illegal.”

“What the hell are you talking about? We have a permit from the city.”

One of them pulled out a piece of paper from his pocket. It said something about the city giving them permission to operate here. Jin-Hyeok assumed it was forged. The only reason the cops did not crack down on them was because they thought these thugs were Players.

“I am going to give you a serious warning,” Jin-Hyeok said.

“What?”

“It is illegal for non-Players to impersonate Players and pretend they are Playing. It’s in the manual, but I guess you didn’t read it.”

Several of the Square Men walked toward Jin-Hyeok. They glanced over at Kim Jeong-Hyeon and apparently decided that he was the most threatening one of the party.

‘Wait, not me? Jeong-Hyeon looks stronger?’

Jin-Hyeok had been denying these feelings and turning away from them until now, but he decided to change this path. He believed that the only way he could fix these feelings was to admit them in the first place.

“What you are doing is illegal, and I just gave you a friendly warning.”

“You little shit! shut the hell up!”

One of the Square Men lurched forward and grabbed Jin-Hyeok by the scruff of the neck. His grip was so weak that Jin-Hyeok did not feel much of a threat. However, the Square Man seemed to think Jin-Hyeok was scared.

“You. Say that shit again.”

“That shit.”

“You think this is a fucking joke?”

“What? I did what I was told.”

The Square Man was about to punch Jin-Hyeok, but Jin-Hyeok didn’t budge. If a non-Awakened person, who was not even a Player, swung his first with all his might like that, it was not going to end well on his side.

“I’m telling you, that’s gonna hurt.”

Snap!

The sound was louder than Jin-Hyeok expected. It sounded like a fist hitting a wall, and it probably felt like that too.

Jin-Hyeok’s Broadcaster’s Barrier was pretty solid.

“Looks like you have cracked a bone. They say whoever strikes first always wins, but I think that doesn’t really apply in this situation.”

It seemed like the Square Man was hurt so badly that he let go of Jin-Hyeok.

Jin-Hyeok brushed the dust off his neck and said, “Just letting you know, but I just called the GM, and if you’d rather stop now, I can cancel the call and maybe we can just move on.”

Jin-Hyeok did not know who the GM was for this district, but he assumed they should have been here by now. He even attached a video to the call, but they were not here yet.

For the record, GM No.1 of Gangnam-gu, which was a much more densely populated district, popped up within three seconds of being called.

Jin-Hyeok walked past the Square Man who was holding his broken fist.

“Let’s just go, guys.”

“You bastard! What did you do to him?”

Another Square Man blocked Jin-Hyeok’s path.

“Jesus, you really should listen to my advice.”

“Don’t think you\'re going to get off easy.”

“Seriously, you’re all going to be in big trouble if the GM gets here. Why won’t you listen to my sincere warnings?”

If they were unlucky, they would get killed by the GM.

Jin-Hyeok warned them again, this time more sincerely and kindly.

“You’re gonna get yourself killed.”

“Shut the hell up!”

The Square Men did not heed his warning. They walked toward him with a menacing momentum. Jin-Hyeok hoped the GM would come quickly, but they seemed to be really slow. In times like this, it was best to do the most damage with the most efficiency.

Jin-Hyeok drew his dagger and stabbed the guy who had tried to stab him in the face in the shoulder.

Stab!

Blood gushed out. Jin-Hyeok angled it just right to make sure there was a lot of blood.

That should be enough to scare them off.

“Get out of the way when I’m telling you nicely. Don’t mess with the good guy who is just trying to help you out.”

He didn’t know why they were trying to stir up the good guy.

The Square Men were taken aback, and Jin-Hyeok didn\'t waste the window of opportunity. He stabbed the man\'s other shoulder.

Stab!

Blood gushed out again as he screamed.

Jin-Hyeok grabbed him and held him hostage.

“Okay. Next, I am going to stab you in the neck.”

“You little shit…”

Eventually, the Square Men gave up and let the party go through. With Jin-Hyeok leading the way, the party walked toward the lake.

The Square Man who was stabbed twice and being dragged, muttered, “Pl…please don’t kill me…”

‘That’s weird. I never said I was going to kill him, so why is he asking me not to kill him?’

The party reached the shore of the lake and threw the Square Man down on the ground. He scrambled toward his friends. He panted heavily, barely surviving this ordeal.

As soon as he got back to his friends, the Square Men showed their true colors.

“Kill him!"

“Kill everyone!”

There were some who pulled out their knives. The bloodlust in their eyes told Jin-Hyeok they really wanted to kill him.

“Oppa… What are you going to do?”

Jin-Hyeok didn’t think his party would be scared, but they seemed a little scared. He thought it was because they had never killed anyone before.

“We don’t need to do anything. Look! There is a magic circle up ahead.”

The slow GM finally showed up. Jin-Hyeok wished the GM had shown up sooner, so he did not have to take action.

‘Oh, so Joe is the GM for this area at this point in time.’

When Jin-Hyeok was at his peak during his previous life, Joe was GM No.1 of Yangcheon-gu[1]. He had one of the most brutal tempers among the GMs, and Jin-Hyeok had a few run-ins with him.

‘From what I remember, that guy really has a nasty temper.’

“I warned you guys. Don’t blame me for what’s going to happen next.”

Did Joe not know what was going on here?

Jin-Hyeok did not think so. He believed Joe left the Square Men’s operation alone because he was too lazy. However, since a GM-Call came in, he had no choice but to act on it.

Of course, he should be very annoyed right now.

“Let’s just go.”

Jin-Hyeok started to walk toward the lake without looking back. It was too inefficient to take a boat into the water this shallow. It was not like there was some kind of underwater monster here. It was much faster to just walk.

Jin-Hyeok took the lead. The water was not very deep, just enough to walk across.

He heard screams from behind him. It was probably Joe’s doing.

“I just wish they had listened to me when I warned them. However, I am not going to show you what’s going on because it is not that important or special. I’m not sure why they didn’t listen when I warned them so sincerely and nicely.”

Anyway, the party arrived at the entrance of the Golden Toad Dungeon.

“Now, we are about to enter the Golden Toad Dungeon."

⁎ ⁎ ⁎

[You have entered 「Golden Toad Dungeon」.]

They entered the Golden Toad Dungeon with Mok Jae-Hyeon leading the way. There were already quite a few Players inside. They were fighting with all their might against the Horned Toad, which was the size of a medium-sized dog.

The Dungeon was a large cave-like Field with a sticky floor.

“This place is very humid.”

Jin-Hyeok continued to describe the place as he looked around.

“There are teeth-like stones growing out of the edges of the ceiling and floor. They are pointy. I believe those are called stalactites and stalagmites.”

The rest of the team was nervous as they looked around with him. Cha Jin-Sol came up to her brother and whispered, “Oppa.”

“What?”

“Do you see the timer that’s floating in the air?”

The running timer, showing minutes and seconds, was floating in the air.

“The moment that timer hits zero,” she said, “something will jump out of nowhere and grab one Player. You have to be careful of that thing because once you’re grabbed, you will disappear forever.”

Jin-Hyeok heard about that on the internet. He wondered if it was real, but now he knew.

“Wow, so it was true. Look, there is a timer.”

‘I can’t believe there is a system that tells you when the Field will be attacked. How nice.’

There was nothing like this in the Golden Toad Dungeon before his regression. Perhaps the difficulty was drastically reduced since this was the Open Beta Server.

Jin-Hyeok felt very relaxed and continued to monitor his surroundings. The Players who were battling the Horned Toad began to take cover behind the jagged rocks.

“There is still over a minute left on the timer, but they’re already hiding.”

As beginner Players, they definitely looked intimidated. Jin-Hyeok could not believe they were wasting a minute like that. He used every last bit of the time, then ducked behind a rock with the party.

[00:03]

[00:02]

[00:01]

Whoosh!

As the timer ran out, something snapped out of the darkness in the distance. The Players all ducked for cover, but instead, a Horned Toad that had been wandering around was caught in the whip and dragged somewhere.

At the same time, the timer reset.

[30:00]

Apparently, the timer triggered once every thirty minutes.

‘Wow, can the difficulty be this low?’

When Jin-Hyeok first came to this Dungeon in his previous life, there was no timer like this, and those attacks were multi-pronged and even randomized. There was usually at least one a minute, and they were almost impossible to predict.

‘This is so easy.’

The difficulty Level of this Dungeon was at its lowest. Other Players started fighting the Horned Toad again.

“It looks like the other Players have fought a lot of these Horned Toads, so we are not going to fight them.”

The place had become quite famous on the internet.

‘They should know by now that killing those monsters has nothing to do with clearing the Dungeon. I want to know why everyone is putting their efforts into it.’

Those monsters would occasionally drop Golden Fragments when killed, but they would actually be getting more bang for their buck by clearing the Dungeon.

“Let’s go to where the whip was coming from. There might be something hidden there.”

Jin-Hyeok almost led the way out of habit.

‘Damn it. I shouldn’t do this.’

“Jae-Hyeon, our trusted Tank, will lead the way.”

“...Huh?”

Jae-Hyeon seemed to have given up a bit and started walking ahead. It wasn\'t just Jin-Sol who looked nervous, but Jeong-Hyeon too.

“Let me interview our party members for a moment. So, our beloved Ms. Cha Jin-Sol, how are you feeling right now?”

“I feel like I’m entering hell with my own feet.”

“Why is that?”

\'Huh? But this Dungeon is not difficult at all.’

“A few people went exploring in that direction, but they all disappeared. That is why no Players are going there now,” she said.

“In that case, shouldn’t we explore even more because there might be a hidden secret?”

“...”

“Isn’t it a basic principle that there is a path to be found in a hidden place?”

“...Basic, you say.”

His words seemed to enlighten her. He felt proud that she was learning the basics.

‘But the floor is so sticky.’

It was hard to walk forward anymore. Meanwhile, the thirty-minute timer had decreased significantly. They were going slower than he thought.

‘This is so frustrating.’

Jin-Hyeok was tempted to just clear the entire Dungeon, but he resisted. He kept having to resist the urge to get out there and do what he did best.

He was now a Streamer. He had an obligation to livestream his party’s trials and tribulations to the viewers.

“We will take cover for now.”

The timer hit zero and the red whip swung around once again. Unfortunately, one of the Players was caught by the whip and dragged somewhere.

“ARGH!!”

The scream grew more distant.

“A Player was dragged to someplace. That’s very unfortunate. Let’s move on.”

They resumed their movement. It was toward the side where the Player was dragged. The deeper they went, the more sticky the floor became, and the slower they moved.

“Hyung… I can’t move…”

Jin-Hyeok looked around with his Broadcaster’s Truesight and realized that they were caught in the Sticky Trap. Jae-Hyeon could not move his feet anymore.

The timer was ticking down to three minutes. There was no way he could get out of the trap in three minutes.

‘Hm…’

Jae-Hyeon looked devastated.

“Wh…What should I do?”

The others had already ducked behind the rocks, and Jin-Hyeok moved closer to Jae-Hyeon. Jae-Hyeon was scared out of his mind.

“Come on. Let’s think.”

“Think? At a time like this?”

They had two and a half minutes left on the clock.

“What can we do so that we don’t end up like that Player?” Jin-Hyeok asked.

“Uh…I don’t know. What should we do?”

Jae-Hyeon sounded panicked.

They had around three minutes. There was still plenty of time, so Jin-Hyeok decided to give Jae-Hyeon some time to figure it out.

“You need to think harder than that.”

“Hyung! Please help me!”

“You need to think!”

Two minutes left.

“I… I don’t know! I can’t think!”

“You really don’t know?”

One and a half minutes left.

Jin-Hyeok was trying to get some content where Jae-Hyeon broke out of his shell and did something great, but it seemed like that plan was not going to work.

Jin-Hyeok crossed his arms and purposely made himself look as relaxed as possible. It was an effective way to reassure the people, but strangely it did not work on Jae-Hyeon.

“I… I don’t know, Hyung. Please! I really don’t know!”

“No! You do know! You can do this!”

Thirty seconds left.

They did not have much time to spare. Jin-Hyeok thought he would have to show Jae-Hyeon how to get out of the trap, but then Jae-Hyeon desperately started to do something.

‘Oh?’

It was the same thing as Jin-Hyeok was thinking. He didn’t know if he could even call this environment extreme, but humans grew faster when placed in challenging and extreme environments.

“I think Jae-Hyeon has finally found the answer!”

‘See? I told you. All you needed to do was think. Now this video is going to go viral.’

1. A western District in Seoul. ☜