I Gave Up Being Stronger

Cha Jin-Hyeok’s party each paid one million Dias to enter the Gangnam Shinsegae Department Store Dungeon. Most Players entering this place did the same. That way, even if they died, they would be resurrected.

“We can’t defeat that monster. Just by looking, it is Level 80 or higher. It is not a monster created for us to kill. Damn it! I think I made a mistake because I was too obsessed with beating Pathfinder, moly.”

“Why on earth did you enter without buying a ticket? It’s not like you don’t have one million Dias at your disposal, right?” Mok Jae-Hyeon muttered as if he could not understand Mole Man.

For Jae-Hyeon, this was the worst situation. According to Jin-Hyeok’s strategy, if someone had to die first among the party members, it was always the Tank. And if someone had to be saved, the Navigator and the Healer were the priority.

‘I really thought I wouldn’t die today,’ Jae-Hyeon thought.

Even if he had the Death Immunity Trait, the experience of dying was always painful. Jae-Hyeon hated pain so much that he was scared of getting paper cuts on his fingers and hitting the doorstep with his toes.

Of course, he hated dying even more.

“Having a plan B is for pussies, moly.”

“......”

Jae-Hyeon was at a loss for words.

“You shouldn’t have a safety net. You should always Play by risking your life, moly.”

“......”

“Having your back against the wall will always bring out your full potential, moly.”

Jae-Hyeon found it so absurd that he started to laugh. He could not believe there really was someone crazy enough not to use one million Dias to save their life.

“Do you see how everyone is silent right now?” Jae-Hyeon said.

He wanted to say that Mole Man was out of his mind, but Jin-Hyeok suddenly stepped forward.

“You’re a true Player,” Jin-Hyeok said to Mole Man.

His face became serious.

‘I should really reflect on myself,’ Jin-Hyeok thought.

For the safety of his party members, Jin-Hyeok proceeded to Play with the help of Jang Michelle. Upon reflection, he realized that this was too boring and mundane of a Play.

‘I’ve lost my touch.’

If it had been the old Cha Jin-Hyeok, he would not have bought tickets like this. Having such advantages made one lose their edge. Tension would be reduced, and skill improvement would be slowed down.

If it were an unknown Dungeon, it might be understandable, but this was one of the Dungeons that Jin-Hyeok knew all too well. Mole Man’s words seemed correct no matter how Jin-Hyeok thought about it.

Mole Man lay on the floor and cried softly.

“I’m frustrated, moly! I don’t wanna die, moly!”

He was not afraid of impending death. Dying was not scary at all.

“Now I will be remembered as the one who was defeated by Pathfinder. That title is going to haunt me forever, moly…”

Tears, like chicken droppings, fell from Mole Man’s eyes. He was angry about being recorded as someone who lost to Han Sae-Rin.

Jin-Hyeok patted Mole Man’s back.

“I know that feeling.”

⁎ ⁎ ⁎

Jin-Hyeok was deeply impressed by Mole Man. Constantly saying ‘moly’ after every sentence was annoying as hell, but he was someone Jin-Hyeok could learn from.

‘People should not lose their edge.’

Mole Man was a mentor to whom Jin-Hyeok was grateful to, and also made Jin-Hyeok realize this.

‘...Wait a minute.’

Now that he thought about it again, it seemed like a good choice to have bought the tickets and distributed them to his party members.

‘I’m not alone anymore.’

The old Jin-Hyeok and the current Jin-Hyeok were quite different. He almost forgot his current self, swayed by Mole Man’s charm.

‘I have a family to protect and a daily life to live.’

Jin-Hyeok knew very well that he kept going back and forth between his old self and the current self, and sometimes his words from yesterday were different from the day after. In truth, he was in a state of indecision.

Sometimes it seemed like one thing was right, and at other times, it felt completely wrong.

‘I don’t even know what’s right anymore.’

What mattered right now was that Jin-Hyeok was on the air.

He decided to focus on the livestreaming.

“It seems like we need to unlock the seal of that coffin with the keys we’ve obtained from the previous floors.”

Jin-Hyeok approached the coffin.

“Why are you just standing there, Jae-Hyeon? Come here.”

“Huh?”

“Who do you think needs to die first in this situation?”

“...Me.”

Jae-Hyeon’s face turned red, but it did not matter much. He might be timid, but he was truly skillful and capable.

“Hm… Judging by the shape of the coffin, it seems the entity inside is not in the form of a human. The size is approximately two meters, I suppose. Since we have hunted monsters related to Mummies, I am assuming what’s inside is going to be similar to that.”

Jin-Hyeok positioned the party members one by one. He pointed with his laser pointer.

As their leader, a sense of excitement welled up within him.

“I need the Seo sisters to use their combination attacks right here, and Jin-Sol to stand behind that pillar over there. Kim Jeong-Hyeon, I need you to protect me from the front while we’re moving.”

Jin-Hyeok already knew what was going to come out of the coffin. He knew the monster’s habits and attack patterns. The battle strategy against it had already been visualized in Jin-Hyeok’s head. It felt like he had glimpsed into the future.

‘Damn… This is going to be amazing.’

It felt like Jin-Hyeok was stepping into a forbidden area again, even though he promised himself not to.

[You have activated the Latent Skill 「Wide Vision」.]

[You have activated the Latent Skill 「Battle Foresight」.]

One by one, the ruler-class Skills had been unlocked.

“Well then, let’s start the battle.”

Since his livestream was in the first-person perspective, it would be thrilling to pick the lock himself.

‘I need to do it slowly to maintain the tension for the viewers.’

Click.

Click.

Jin-Hyeok intentionally took his time to unlock the locks, trying to drag out the suspense. The lid of the coffin trembled as if it would explode.

Click.

Click.

[The boss monster of the Gangnam Shinsegae Department Store, 「Decayed Pharaoh」, has been revealed.]

As the lid broke, a purple toxin spread heavily on the ground. Jae-Hyeon instantly deployed a fence-like Wood Fortress and trapped the toxin within the fence.

And then he died.

A golden light seemed to be imbued into Jae-Hyeon’s now purple-colored corpse, and when the light suddenly burst out, his body disappeared along with it.

"Thanks to the resurrection setting, it looks like he is back to life. He must have been thrown out of the Dungeon.”

Thanks to Jae-Hyeon’s sacrifice, Jin-Hyeok could see the power of the toxin.

“Yaaap!”

“Hayyaa!”

The Seo sisters could not execute proper attacks. It was because bandages suddenly came out from both sides, restraining them.

“W-What the hell is this?”

From above the Seo sisters’ heads, a purple sticky liquid poured down like a waterfall.

“The Seo sisters also died instantly from the monster’s attack. That Decayed Pharoah is definitely a Level 80 monster.”

Mole Man stood beside Jin-Hyeok.

“Are you really able to see the Level of monsters, moly?”

Jin-Hyeok could sense Mole Man’s determination to resolve his curiosity, even if it meant dying. Jin-Hyeok liked that attitude. That was how the Play should be.

“I can see it. I can see the Level and the name, Decayed Pharaoh. I can even see the names of some of its Skills.”

“That’s impressive, moly.”

Mole Man looked at him with admiring eyes. Jin-Hyeok did not mind the gaze at all.

Meanwhile, Jin-Sol got entangled in the bandages.

“Kyaaa!”

\'Tsk. You should have taken better cover.’

“Our Healer died too. That means that Kim Jeong-Hyeon will die soon.”

The Decayed Pharaoh was a giant Mummy wearing a golden mask. However, for some reason, that golden mask looked familiar to Jin-Hyeok.

‘Have I faced that monster before?’

The monster jumped high.

Thump!

It stood in front of Jeong-Hyeon and grabbed his wrist.

“I just heard the sound of Jeong-Hyeon’s forearm bone breaking. That’s going to hurt a lot.”

Yet, Jeong-Hyeon did not scream. Instead, he punched with his other arm toward the golden mask.

Clang!

It sounded like metals colliding with each other.

“Hm… that’s not good. It looks like the mask is made of metal, and punching it with your fist doesn’t seem like a wise choice."

It looked like his fist was broken. The Decayed Pharaoh cocked its head back.

“It seems like it is trying to use a headbutt—”

Boom!

The Decayed Pharaoh’s forehead struck Jeong-Hyeon’s face with great force.

“That… has to hurt a lot.”

Jeong-Hyeon’s neck was completely twisted. The destructive power of the headbutt was evident, as his neck was almost torn apart.

“Jeong-Hyeon died instantly.”

Thanks to that, Jin-Hyeok could make up his mind.

‘I need to get hit by that headbutt.’

Upon calculation, the boss monster’s other Skills seemed a bit weak to activate the instant death effect. Jin-Hyeok needed one good blow for his livestream. That way, it was easier to get clips for his Eltube channel.

“It was nice knowing you, moly.”

Mole Man stepped forward.

“I need you to capture my final moment, moly. Even if I am going to die, I want to die in a cool way, moly.”

“This weakling seems to be just all talk. I am going to knock him out for the time being.”

If Mole Man stayed conscious and kept moving around, it was going to disrupt Jin-Hyeok’s plan. So, he hit Mole Man’s neck to make him lose consciousness.

Jin-Hyeok hit him gently, but it almost broke his neck.

‘Holy… I almost killed him.’

Fortunately, he was still breathing.

Purple breath came out from the Decayed Pharaoh’s mask.

‘It saw me.’

It came toward him with a thumping sound.

“I’ve already memorized his patterns.”

Soon, the toxin was going to be released. Jin-Hyeok distanced himself as much as possible from Mole Man. He was too weak, and just a touch of that purple toxin meant death.

The Decayed Pharaoh exhaled.

“I will step on the wall and jump into the air. Thanks to Jae-Hyeon’s sacrifice, I learned how to avoid its attack.”

The toxin was spread on the ground. Its range and duration were predetermined. It disappeared on its own after two seconds.

“Good. I was able to avoid it quite easily. You can say that I was lucky.”

The toxin dispersed. He approached the boss monster with a dagger, just as the Seo sisters did.

“Now, I’m assuming the bandages that are going to bind me will come out from the sides, right? Any time now… Three, two, one. Hmph!”

He threw himself forward and rolled once.

“And once more.”

He threw himself forward again and rolled one more time.

“I’ve dodged the attacks. Lucky again.”

Jin-Hyeok approached the Pharaoh. And then, just like Jeong-Hyeon, he punched the mask.

Thunk!

The Decayed Pharaoh grabbed his wrist.

“As I expected, it’s the same pattern. Ouch. This one hurts a little.”

Its strength was quite powerful, and his wrist bone broke.

“Since my right wrist is broken, I will try to hit it with my left hand.”

Jin-Hyeok swung his left hand. He didn’t make the mistake of imbuing his fist with Broadcaster’s Barrier. He didn’t want to kill the monster, just in case he was stronger than he thought.

Clang!

The sound, similar to what happened to Jeong-Hyeon, echoed in the place.

“My left hand is also broken. Here comes the headbutt.”

The Pharaoh cocked his head back again, and its neck stretched.

“The pressure is tremendous.”

Just in case, Jin-Hyeok did not apply any Achievements. It was highly unlikely, but not dying instantly to the monster’s attack would disrupt his entire plan.

‘Good thing I practiced with the Flying Toad.’

Jin-Hyeok felt a sense of improvement once again. It was like being able to look at himself a little more objectively. Understanding himself accurately was the first step to growth.

Boom!

He felt as if his head was breaking. This was definitely an instant death attack.

[This attack qualifies as an instant death attack.]

[The effect 「Reflection +1」 has not been applied.]

‘Keuk… Damn it!’

[The Trait 「Extra Life」 has been applied.]

Jin-Hyeok touched his neck.

‘The probability of the Reflection effect is eighty percent! How did it not work?’

“Unlucky. I will try again.”

Jin-Hyeok did the same thing again. The Pharaoh’s pattern was completely standardized, so repeating the same actions was not too difficult. Enduring the pain was a bit challenging, but Jin-Hyeok managed to bear it.

“Here comes the headbutt.”

‘Seriously, if it doesn’t work this time, it’s ridiculous. It’s eighty percent!’

[This attack qualifies as an instant death attack.]

[The effect 「Reflection +1」 has been applied.]

‘There you go!’

The Pharaoh’s neck was torn open and swayed loosely. Jin-Hyeok drew his sword and struck that neck several times.

“Now I am going to kill the monster.”

But that swaying neck was sturdier than he thought. Jin-Hyeok was having a hard time cutting it.

“I think I am not that powerful because I’m just a Streamer. But I will try my best to cut the head.”

Nevertheless, the boss monster was already on the brink of death. It took some time, but Jin-Hyeok finally killed the Decayed Pharaoh.

[You have defeated the 「Decayed Pharaoh」.]

[You have leveled up.]

[You have reached Level 58.]

Smirk.

Jin-Hyeok smiled.

“Just to be sure, I will attack it several more times to see if it really died.”

Jin-Hyeok continued to slash. It was not that he wanted to enjoy the feeling of slashing, but it was for safety.

Really.

[You have acquired 「Pharaoh’s Golden Mask」.]

When he got the item and examined it, he realized where he had seen the mask. It was a bit inferior to the mask that he knew of, but it was undoubtedly very similar to the mask worn by the Masked Sage.

‘That guy was ridiculously strong.’

[You have acquired 「Pharaoh’s Failed Herb of Immortality」.]

Jin-Hyeok struck the Decayed Pharaoh’s neck again. Just to emphasize, it was not that he wanted to enjoy the slashing.

“I think the boss monster is dead.”

After a few more slashes, Jin-Hyeok suddenly came to his senses.

‘Wait, something feels strange.’