I Gave Up Being Stronger

As the padlock of the box was unlocked, a green pattern shot up into the air. It emitted a mysterious light, unmistakably extraordinary. With the help of the Broadcaster’s Clairvoyance, Cha Jin-Hyeok could see the name of the object inside the box.

[Consumable Mystery 「Extreme Enhancement」.]

Mysteries were actually more unknown than known. That was why they were considered the ‘enigmatic power’ by the System. Nevertheless, humanity had roughly classified Mysteries, and Consumable Mystery was one of them.

‘So this is a Mystery that can be used on other Mysteries…’

It referred to a Mystery that was depleted as a material and influenced other Mysteries.

‘But why is there an underline on the Mystery?’

Mysteries were an enigmatic power, challenging for the System to define, yet for some reason, Jin-Hyeok could open up the detailed information on it. It was not difficult for him to guess why this was happening. An Administrator’s influence had to have been deeply involved. The possibility that this Extreme Enhancement was also a Mystery manipulated to the fullest extent within an Administrator’s domain was very high. Just like how humans manipulated genes.

[Extreme Enhancement]

…

[Dramatically enhances the abilities of a Mystery obtained within the last hour.]

The part naked with ‘......’ was probably the original power of the Mystery, which would be the actual enigmatic power itself, and the information he could see at the end was likely an ability artificially created by an Administrator.

Jin-Hyeok touched the green pattern. Mana expanded, and a green storm was generated. The green light swelled up as if it were about to explode and was absorbed into Jin-Hyeok’s body.

[You have obtained the Consumable Mystery 「Extreme Enhancement」.]

[The Consumable Mystery 「Extreme Enhancement」 has enhanced the Mystery 「Second Identity」.]

[The Mystery 「Second Identity」 has been enhanced.]

[You have acquired a Mystery 「Multiple Lives」.]

It was a Mystery, but it was underlined like a Skill or a Trait.

[Multiple Lives]

…

[-Identity/abilities are not revealed by detection abilities below Level 200.

-Free selection, change, and storage of any appearance/identity/abilities are possible.

-The fake identities can be registered on the Ranking Board.

-It is possible to manifest an avatar identical to the original body.]

Jin-Hyeok had always used Skills or Traits he had obtained right away.

[You used the Mystery 「Multiple Lives」.]

The Mystery, skillfully integrated with the System’s interface, was activated.

‘Wait, is this the Room of Awakening?’

This room looked similar to the Room of Awakening where Players entered at Level 15 to set their Player name. In front of Jin-Hyeok appeared an AI in the form of an angel.

“Please designate your Player name,” the angel said.

‘Wow, this literally means I can create an alternate character!’

It was incredibly fascinating. He never imagined that research of Mysteries had progressed to this extent.

“Please designate your Player name.”

Jin-Hyeok thought of a name that was even more ordinary than Kim Chul-Soo.

“Kim Pyeong-Beom.”[1]

Jin-Hyeok set his Player name as Kim Pyeong-Beom. Then, he tried various things with the Mystery.

[You have hidden the Trait 「Almighty Jack of All Trade」 from the list.]

[You have hidden the Mystery 「Second Identity」 from the list.]

‘Wow. I can do that?’

Detector-class Players could thoroughly examine the Skills and Levels of other Players. They could even discover and share the strengths and weaknesses of Skills that even the Player being examined did not know about.

However, Jin-Hyeok was able to hide his abilities from detection abilities. He could even choose whether to hide or reveal them.

[Your Level is now shown as Level 15.]

[Your Level is now shown as Level 37.]

[You cannot set a Level that exceeds your current Level.]

Jin-Hyeok had the freedom to set his Level to any Level below or up to his original Level. He could even manipulate his Skills and Traits.

[You have modified the name of the Trait 「Broadcaster’s Barrier」 to 「Super Strong Barrier」.]

[You have modified the name of the Skill「Sharper Spirit」 to 「Duller Spirit」.]

‘Summon Avatar… What is this?’

When he used it, an avatar identical to his appearance was created. It could not think or act freely, but just having it lying in bed could create an alibi for him.

This meant that he could go out and do whatever he wanted and the world would think that he was just sleeping in his own bed.

‘With this ability, I can do whatever I want even if I surpass Level 100!’

There was no chance of his abilities being discovered by detection skills below Level 200. He was now even freer than ever.

‘No, snap out of it!’

Of course, the Players who hunted the Awakened did not bother Players who were low-Leveled, but Jin-Hyeok still had not forgotten about his initial promise.

‘For now, this is only up to Level 100.’

However, Jin-Hyeok could not help but smile.

⁎ ⁎ ⁎

Berby, GM No.1 of Jongno-gu, suddenly stood up from his seat.

“Who the hell is this crazy bastard!”

Some idiot managed to unlock the Chain Box and ultimately obtained the Mystery. This should not be possible in the Open Beta Server. No matter how much he thought about it, this should not be possible.

“Damn it.”

The situation had gotten out of control. The drug lord, Gustav, was involved with the Mystery, and even some higher-Level Administrators were also involved.

‘I have to take it away, even if it means killing them.’

It had not been long since that crazy bastard obtained the Mystery. Berby had to extract the Mystery from them, even if it meant killing them.

Just then, he got a GM Call.

‘Huh?’

The location of the call was where the Mystery was.

‘Perfect!’

It would have been a big problem for a GM to go and kill a Player without a proper reason. There had to be an alibi for why Berby went there. However, this crazy Player voluntarily called a GM.

Before three seconds passed since the GM Call, Berby revealed himself in front of Jin-Hyeok.

“Who the hell are you?” Berby asked.

And then, he immediately used his Administrator’s Prerogative to read Jin-Hyeok’s information.

‘He is Level 1? And his Player name… is Kim Pyeong-Beom? His Job is… Not Gonna Tell Ya?’

He was definitely mocking Berby.

‘This bastard!’

Berby almost burst out with anger, but he held himself back.

“I’ll ask again. Who are you?”

“I’m sure you used the Administrator’s Prerogative to check who I am.”

Instantly, Berby felt a strange discomfort. He checked the Server Jin-Hyeok was currently connected to again.

‘It says Earth Server, just as I expected…’

That strange nonchalance.

It was an attitude that could only be seen in Players with Levels above 200. Pyeong-Beom was displaying a side that Players in the Open Beta Server could never show.

Berby had a hunch. Something was going on here.

“Who are you?” Berby asked again.

“I guess you really can’t figure out my identity, even if you check with your Administrator’s Prerogative.”

Beryby was Level 180. A GM with a Level of 180 completely failed to notice Jin-Hyeok’s true identity.

“I know that if you check my Play videos, you can find out who I am, but those probably don’t exist, right? I’ve hidden everything that I can, so there is no record of me whatsoever, right?” Jin-Hyeok said.

“...”

Cold sweat ran down Berby’s back. He felt like everything had been exposed.

‘Is he here to audit me?’

The System had an audit team. They were the GMs’ biggest fear.

‘Shit. He’s from the audit team.’

It felt like the sky was spinning. Berby tried his best to not leave any trails behind, but it seemed like he was caught. He had planned to retire from GM after completing the deal with Gustav, but it seemed to have come to an end.

Jin-Hyeok was confused.

[#Caught. #Why only me? #Everyone does it. #Unfair world.]

The status message of the Level 180 GM was revealed in detail. It meant that the GM was experiencing intense emotions.

“I have the original video. It’s the recording of how I obtained the Master Quest. It’s all in there,” Jin-Hyeok said.

Jin-Hyeok did not plan to reveal it through his livestream anyway. However, he did not forget that his main Job was being a Streamer. This was the evidence that he wasn’t going insane to become stronger.

So whether he broadcasted or not, he always recorded videos.

“I set the video to be automatically released in an hour.”

This was the best choice Jin-Hyeok could make and the best way to protect himself. This was the least he could do to prevent Berby from harming Jin-Hyeok.

However, Berby thought differently.

‘He’s not arresting me? Even with all the video evidence? He’s only threatening me. What does this mean?’ Berby thought.

Then, he realized. This auditor wanted something else.

‘He is as corrupt as me!’

“Do you have something else that you want?” Berby said while smiling.

“I do.”

[#Dreams come true. #The determined will find a way. #Let’s be corrupt together.]

From Jin-Hyeok’s perspective, Berby’s reaction was a bit strange, but he did not care. Jin-Hyeok was prepared to do anything to get the result that he wanted. Just like how there were a million ways to kill a monster, Jin-Hyeok only cared about the end goal.

“I want one billion Dias,” Jin-Hyeok said.

Berby swallowed hard.

One billion Dias was a lot, but Berby could afford it with the money he had accumulated through corruption and bribery.

[#Cheaper than I thought. #Not bad. #Everything will be fine. #Cheer up!]

Jin-Hyeok was a little confused. He was going to ask for a billion Dias, or the route to the mobile boss monster, Arachne. He wanted to hunt Arachne to get the main enhancement materials for the Berklev Necklace. In fact, the initial offer of one billion Dias was a fake offer to make it easier to obtain the route to Arache. It was a tactic often used by Han Sae-Rin, who was the Ruler of Jin-Hyeok’s party before regression, when dealing with GMs.

“They are sensitive to money. Despite having tremendous authority, they are still office workers. There aren’t many wealthy GMs around. So, it is better to create an opening by asking for money first, then demand what you really want.”

“Do we really have to go that far? I think I can just tell them what I want. If not, we can just stab them to get what we want.”

“Are you stupid? Give it a try. GMs are extremely hard to negotiate with.”

Jin-Hyeok smiled involuntarily.

‘I should have called Sae-Rin here.’

If she was here, she would’ve gloated over the fact that she was right.

Jin-Hyeok received one billion won in cash.

Since transferring Dias would leave traces, Jin-Hyeok got it in cash instead. From his perspective, this was a very good deal.

“And I need the real-time location and movement route of Arachne,” Jin-Hyeok said.

“That…”

“You can’t give me?”

“No, I can.”

Jin-Hyeok was able to find out the real-time location and movement route of the mobile boss monster, Arachne.

“Thank you for doing it in secret,” Berby said while bowing.

Jin-Hyeok nodded.

‘This is a good deal.’

Moreover, he did not even promise Berby that he was going to delete the original video. Jin-Hyeok was actually going to use that to get what he wanted.

Jin-Hyeok kept seeing weird status messages that he still couldn’t understand.

[...#It’s over. #We are now in the same boat. #I survived!]

Jin-Hyeok could not understand what it meant when Berby said they were in the same boat.

Right now, it was 10:40 p.m.

‘Is it still Sunday? There are still two hours left.’

Though there were only one hour and twenty minutes left, Jin-Hyeok considered it two hours. After parting ways with Song Ha-Young, he immediately headed toward Heyri Art Valley.

⁎ ⁎ ⁎

Once it was past 10 p.m., the monsters in Heyri Art Valley became much stronger. It wasn’t that their Levels increased, but they became more powerful due to the Darkness Buff. There wasn’t much benefit in hunting these stronger monsters.

That was why Players generally left Heyri Art Valley before 10 p.m. However, Jin-Hyeok had a different perspective.

‘I bet my party is still hunting.’

Fewer Players meant that there were more monsters to hunt. And the stronger the monsters, the more enjoyment they could get out of the battles. Even if there was no extra experience gained from the stronger monsters, it meant there were things to learn and opportunities for growth that differed from usual.

This was Jin-Hyeok’s perspective.

‘There was a time when I specifically targeted monsters with these Traits.’

Even if the monsters were at the same Level, fighting these stronger monsters often led to great enlightenment. While recalling old memories, he looked around.

‘I see them!’

In the distance, he could see his party members. They were hunting the Field boss monster, the Black Brown Bear, and even from Jin-Hyeok’s perspective, their coordination seemed quite good.

“ARGH!”

Mok Jae-Hyeon was killed by the Black Brown Bear’s front paw attack. However, this Field had a setting where Players would respawn after three minutes. The Seo sisters drew the attention of the Black Brown Bear with all their might, and in the meantime, Jae-Hyeon respawned.

‘Hm... They’ve improved a lot.’

They were truly fighting their butts off.

‘Still, they were no match for the Black Brown Bear.’

Nevertheless, they continued to fight without giving up. That sight was pleasing to see.

Jin-Hyeok smiled. He looked at his watch and it was already 11:30 p.m.

‘I still have two hours left.’

Jin-Hyeok calculated the time with his own miraculous formula as he thought to himself.

‘I am still Kim Pyeong-Beom.’

1. Pyeong-Beom or 평범 literally means ordinary in Korean. ☜