I Gave Up Being Stronger

This was not an ordinary chat message, nor was it the bolded chat message of a donor.

It was something entirely new.

(30)

(29)

(28)

The number decreased by one with each passing second. It was most likely a countdown.

Putting aside the fact that this was a form of chat that Cha Jin-Hyeok had never seen before…

[Sender: KingGodGeneral Yumi]

The sender was none other than Wang Yu-Mi. Jin-Hyeok had no clear understanding of what the situation was. It was bewildering, but he had to pull himself together.

‘I’m a professional Streamer.’

This, too, was part of the content. He had to deal with this unexpected situation and create enjoyable content.

“I just received a type of message that I have never seen before. It’s also underlined! The sender is KingGodGeneral Yumi. It looks like it will automatically open in ten seconds. I will go ahead and open it.”

When Jin-Hyeok selected the underlined message with his eyes, the actual hidden message began to appear. Like after a donation, the electronic voice read the message out loud.

[“Hello! I’m the Storyteller, KingGodGeneral Yumi, and my Player name is Mystery Box. You might not know me, but we have a lot to talk about! >_< Let’s meet! I’ll treat you to an iced chocolate!”]

Though it was clearly the electronic voice, it seemed like Jin-Hyeok could hear Yu-Mi’s actual voice.

‘That darn iced chocolate.’

Come to think of it, Yu-Mi would have two glasses of iced chocolate every single day.

But then, suddenly, a notification popped up.

[The Storyteller’s Trait 「Forced Connection」 has been applied.]

At the same time…

[The livestream transmission is not smooth.]

Literally, Jin-Hyeok’s livestream was not transmitting properly. In a panic, he checked Eltube and found his livestream was lagging. It was impossible to continue to livestream in this state.

“What are you doing?”

He was genuinely furious at that moment. Had Yu-Mi been in front of him, there would have been serious trouble.

‘How dare she ruin my livestream?’

The electronic voice sounded again, along with a notification.

[“See you soon. >_< Bye~”]

The notifications about his livestream kept popping up one after another.

[The livestream transmission is not smooth.]

[The livestream transmission is not smooth.]

Jin-Hyeok had no choice but to end the livestream. It would be better not to livestream at all than do it in this state. Without realizing it, he found himself angrily reciting Yu-Mi’s Player name.

“King. God. General. Yumi…!”

Jin-Hyeok had no idea what she was up to. Nor did he know how she could do such a thing to his livestream.

“I’m not going to let this go.”

As he cooled his anger and returned home, an astonishing scene unfolded.

“Hello?”

Yu-Mi was sitting on his sofa! Jin-Hyeok wanted to rush over and grab her by her collar, but that wasn’t so easy to do.

“Oh, Jin-Hyeok, you’re home!”

Jin-Hyeok’s mother was preparing tea and fruit to welcome the guest, and next to Yu-Mi, Cha Jin-Sol was seated. She wasn’t just sitting. She was even leaning comfortably with her arms linked to Yu-Mi’s arm as if they were close friends.

‘I need to keep calm.’

It felt like this was the hardest thing to do since Jin-Hyeok started Playing.

“Oppa, come over and sit down!”

“Okay, but who the hell is that?”

Jin-Hyeok was also curious.

‘Why on earth is Yu-Mi in my house?’

“Why are you being so rude, Oppa? You shouldn’t say things like that.”

“...”

Yu-Mi stood up from the sofa.

“Nice to meet you, I am Wang Yu-Mi.”

“I know. KingGodGeneral Yumi.”

“You already figured it out?”

Yu-Mi covered her mouth and laughed with her eyes forming crescent moons. Jin-Hyeok almost poked her eyes out.

“Why are you two together?” Jin-Hyeok asked.

“Huh? Didn’t I tell you? I told you about a senior at work who helped and looked after me a lot when I first joined the company.”

Come to think of it, Jin-Hyeok seemed to remember hearing something like that over the phone. Jin-Sol said that she was very thankful or something.

Thanks to that senior, Jin-Sol was able to blend into the company.

“So… that senior is Wang Yu-Mi?”

“Yes. I really like her!”

“...”

This was something Jin-Hyeok did not know in his previous life.

Yu-Mi was laughing heartily.

“We have a lot to talk about, don’t we?”

Yu-Mi’s eyes were extraordinarily bright.

‘I’ve seen those eyes before.’

As his anger subsided a little, he began to see new things.

‘Whenever Yu-Mi showed those eyes, she always gave me solutions to my problems and I ultimately benefited a lot from that.’

Along with the Support Team, Yu-Mi was an absolutely indispensable being to Jin-Hyeok in his previous life. Setting aside their personal differences, it was an undeniable fact that she had been of great help.

‘What does she want to talk about?’

Yu-Mi began to speak.

⁕ ⁕ ⁕

Yu-Mi spilled the words without a pause.

“The quality of the livestream you’re doing makes communication with the public difficult. Therefore, collaboration with a contracted Storyteller is essential.”

In essence, Yu-Mi wanted to handle public interaction while broadcasting Jin-Hyeok’s livestream.

“Of course, you can refuse my proposal if you want.”

Yu-Mi’s eyes were tinged with madness, flickering wildly.

“I will proceed with my duties as a Player. I believe that no one has the right to force anything on my Play.”

“Yet, you were disturbing my Play.”

‘My livestream transmission is still not smooth.’

It was the first time Jin-Hyeok had seen something like this from the System.

“That’s part of my Play. If you were an outstanding Player, shouldn’t you have stopped my Play with your Play?”

“That’s true.”

“Wow! Quick to admit! So cool, hehe!”

“...”

“Oh, by the way, I’m not saying that I will broadcast your livestream for free. We will have to make a System contract, and I would have to pay a reasonable fee.”

Yu-Mi handed him a piece of paper.

‘A System contract?’

This was not created by a person. It probably was a Job item that she acquired when she became a Storyteller.

“As you can see, ninety-nine percent of the donation that I will receive will be yours. The accumulated donations until now are around thirty million Dias. If you sign the contract, the future donations will be automatically sent on the first day of every month.”

Jin-Hyeok narrowed his eyes slightly and looked at her.

“Ninety-nine percent?”

“Yes, ninety-nine percent.”

Ninety-nine percent was almost the same as one hundred percent. She was willing to give him all the profits she made.

‘She hasn’t changed.’

It had always been like this. Yu-Mi was never really interested in her tangible gains, probably because she had set up her retirement funds when she was Mystery Box. She did not care about profits; she wholly devoted herself to Jin-Hyeok’s NIS party so that they would thrive. Her motivation seemed to lie there.

As Jin-Hyeok had thought in his past life, while the direction of her Play did not align with his, it was undeniable that she was passionate about her work and was a massive help to Jin-Hyeok’s party.

‘So, money doesn’t matter to her.’

She seemed to want to enjoy her work as a Storyteller. What did revenue matter when a Player was indulging in a hobby that was thrilling beyond imagination?

Jin-Hyeok looked into Yu-Mi’s still-mad eyes.

‘That look… I hate that I like it.’

While mentally tormenting Jin-Hyeok, those eyes promised numerous benefits. The Wang Yu-Mi that Jin-Hyeok was annoyingly familiar with from his previous life, like a warm iced Americano, was here in front of him.

“My main content is communication with viewers, centered on you, Jin-Hyeok. It’s kind of like a playground!”

“...”

“My livestream is a communication playground. However, it will never catch up to your livestream! Hehe!”

“...”

“I cannot fully capture the excitement and tension unique to your first-person perspective livestream as a Storyteller! Ultimately, my livestream will only serve to enrich your livestream. Because your livestream is so superior and beautiful!”

Jin-Hyeok felt a subtle, yet complicated emotion. Although this Wang Yu-Mi was undoubtedly different from the one in his previous life, he kept seeing the two overlap.

‘I shouldn’t think like this…’

Jin-Hyeok’s reason protested against joining hands with Yu-Mi.

‘I shouldn’t. I shouldn’t. I shouldn’t. I should. I should. I should.\'

However, Jin-Hyeok’s instinct insisted that he had to join hands with her.

It was as if somebody was whispering in his ear.

‘With Yu-Mi, you can grow to even greater heights. Don’t you want to climb higher? Yu-Mi will make that possible. You’ve experienced how good she was in your previous life!’

“And Jin-Sol said her Oppa was really handsome, you know?” Yu-Mi said.

“Unnie!”

“Considering you two are brothers and sisters, I thought Jin-Sol was hit in the head or something, but seeing you personally, I can see why Jin-Sol would say that.”

“...”

“I didn’t know you were this handsome. I can understand why a blood relative calls you handsome.”

‘Why are those eyes looking more vacant and chaotic?’

“You remind me, for some reason, of a moon rising high and cold at dawn.”

‘I don’t think I can do another Moon Emperor thing in this lifetime…’

Yu-Mi covered her mouth with her hand and kept laughing.

‘I don’t like where this is going… But why do I feel so excited? Can I grow even more?’

⁕ ⁕ ⁕

In a coffee shop in downtown Seoul, Yu-Mi met someone after finalizing the contract.

“I really didn’t know he would be that different,” Yu-Mi said.

“Right?”

Her counterpart was a large foreigner named Joseph. He was Yu-Mi’s investor and manager, and together they had built an exclusive partnership. Joseph took care of the financial and administrative support, allowing the Storyteller, Wang Yu-Mi, to concentrate solely on her Play.

“When I met him, I knew for sure. It was strange. Jin-Hyeok seems to want to grow higher than anyone else, but at the same time, it feels like he’s shackling himself with bizarre self-imposed restrictions.”

“I felt the same way. He’s suppressing himself, as if afraid of something unknown.”

Joseph stroked his chin thoughtfully.

“But a person can never go against the law of nature. There will come a day when Jin-Hyeok breaks his own restrictions and takes flight.”

“Like a salmon returning home?”

They looked at each other and laughed together. Their bright smiles made them look as affectionate as a loving couple.

“We must prepare and wait for that day. When he spreads his wings, we must help him so that he can ascend more effortlessly.”

It felt like they were born to do so.

“You’re right. When he eventually breaks out of his own shell, we must take good care of him so that he isn’t confused. After all, he is someone who must shine.”

“Huhuhu. Le’ts pave the way for him."

“I’m so happy to have met a kindred spirit. Cheers.”

“Cheers.”

One sipped espresso, and the other gulped down an iced chocolate.

⁕ ⁕ ⁕

The Young Golden Guardian Tree began to attract the attention of the public. Information about what the Guardian Tree was started to be released from the SSP and the Korean Region Minor Gallery.

[Moreover, the Golden Guardian Tree is an incredibly rare Guardian Tree, one of the few across all Servers. Considering that such a Guardian Tree has grown during the Open Beta service, perhaps the Great Will (*a term encompassing everything that governs the System’s order) is bestowing significant protection upon the Earth Server. Although it is still a young Golden Guardian Tree now, if it grows well in the proper environment, it will undoubtedly become a blessing like no other for Earth.

*Written By: Encyclopedia]

Numerous offers also came to Jin-Hyeok, who owned a building right in front of it.

—They are offering twenty billion won for the building. How about selling the building?

The value of the building Jin-Hyeok bought for eight billion was now twenty billion won.

“I said I’m not selling. If you contact me again, I am going to block you.”

The spotlight poured onto Yeonhui-dong in the news and various online communities. The house where Jin-Hyeok and his family stayed soared to eight billion won in price. It was an unprecedented surge.

Before long, Jin-Hyeok’s net worth reached over thirty billion. As a person who became wealthy in a short amount of time, Jin-Hyeok stroked his chin.

‘The Guardian Tree grew too fast, much faster than I expected.’

If the timing was just a little later, becoming a building owner in Yeonhui-dong would have been much harder.

‘Ah… I should’ve bought it a bit later.’

If Jin-Hyeok tried to purchase the building later, it would’ve been very difficult. Retiring from Playing wouldn’t even have crossed his mind.

However, having fulfilled half his dreams, he was now at a stage where he had to consider retirement. Jin-Hyeok felt a little down. It was as if the last legitimate excuse he had not to retire had disappeared. For now, remodeling was underway on the building that had collapsed before. Unfortunately(?), it seemed doable with the money he had.

“What did you say? Building permissions have become overly complicated and challenging?”

Various administrative regulations started to be implemented as Yeonhui-dong began to attract too much attention. The government officials didn\'t seem to like any change happening in Yeonhui-dong.

Jin-Hyeok began to feel a little happier.

“Ah, well, that’s okay. I guess it can’t be helped. I spent so much money on it, but I can’t even rent it out.”

It couldn’t be helped. No rent meant he could only focus on his Play. He also thought it would be nice to have a building in his parents’ names.

‘It would be a great sixtieth birthday gift to give my parents a building in Yeonhui-dong, wouldn’t it?’

That would mean Playing for a long time. Retirement seemed to be pushed back even further.

‘Ah, what a shame.’

Jin-Hyeok’s mood lifted slightly more. That was until just before he received a call from Maria, who was from the National Intelligence Service and referred to as Mother.

—Therefore… we are proposing… If you accept this proposal, we will help facilitate various administrative procedures that are currently troubling you, Mr. Kim Chul-Soo.

“Administrative procedures?”

—I understand that the building permit has been halted. How frustrated must you be? I can help with that. You will be able to begin the renovation work right away. How about it? It’s a good offer, isn’t it?

Jin-Hyeok frowned.

‘...She’s pissing me off.’

He took a breath and asked again, “Please tell me again. What do you want me to do?”