I Gave Up Being Stronger

Chapter 148

“I mean, the Scanorbian Warrior. Pingpong or Pongpuru, whatever his name is, you know he would be assassinated, and the Scanorbian warriors would get angry and head to Korea. Since they are not that smart, they will storm into Seoul, where there is the Golden Guardian Tree. Didn’t you, Wang Yu-Mi, and Han Sae-Rin plan all that together?”

“That’s right.”

“So why did you use the Tight-Fillet Spell?”

“Oh, that?” Cha Jin-Hyeok chewed his food and casually replied, “I have to discipline her once in a while.”

“Why?”

“Because she is Angel Girl.”

When he thought about what had happened before his regression, Jin-Hyeok’s anger toward Angel Girl resurfaced. To control her, he needed to give her such treatment from time to time.

“So... you mean she didn’t really do anything wrong?”

“Well, she did do one thing wrong.”

“What is that?”

“Stealing Kim Pyeong-Beom’s enjoyment."

“Ah ha!”

Jin-Hyeok hesitated for a moment.

‘I was joking...’

Song Ha-Young and Kwak Do-Hyeon had not done anything wrong. He had just been making a playful remark with the Pyeong-Beom comment. In the end, Jin-Hyeok could not resist and used Broadcaster’s Clairvoyance on his sister.

[...#Guilty! #Guilty! #Guilty!!! #How dare she mess with Kim Pyeong-Beom!]

Jin-Hyeok sighed. His sister’s state of mind did not look normal at all, no matter how he tried to think of it. It seemed like she was slowly going crazy, and that was unsettling.

Jin-Sol seemed to be unaware of Jin-Hyeok’s complicated feelings toward her, as she spoke while her mouth was full. “So what you did to Ha-Young was like a form of leadership, so to speak.”

“...”

“You disciplined her, showing your leadership, so that Angel Girl could not harbor any mischievous thoughts, right?”

“...I guess?”

“Thanks.”

“What for?”

“I just got inspired.”

“Inspired about what?”

“I need to be more like you.”

[...#Excellent leadership. #Great leader. #I should be more like Pyeong-Beom.]

“Well, Oppa, actually, I’ve been working on something lately.”

“What is it?”

“You don’t need to know the details. I’m working on it because of some crazy person.”

A fervent determination burned in Jin-Sol’s eyes. It was a kind of madness that Jin-Hyeok had never seen before. The letters representing that madness flickered in red.

~

[...#For the crazy one.]

~

Jin-Hyeok slowly lowered his spoon and frowned. “Hey, are you dating someone these days?”

He was very curious about who this crazy person might be.

? ? ?

Returning to his room, Jin-Hyeok recalled his memories of Khan.

‘When we fought, Khan’s Level was in the 220s.’

At that time, Jin-Hyeok was around Level 200. Despite the 20-Level difference between him and Khan, he had won. Though, it was mostly luck. He was fortunate that luck had allowed him to pierce Khan’s heart, but that had still been an unsettling and unpleasant experience for him.

‘Right now, Khan’s Level is in the early 200s.’

The Level difference was much worse now. Naturally, if they were to face off head-to-head, Jin-Hyeok would lose. However, Jin-Hyeok thought that it might be easier to deal with Khan now. After all, Khan was heading toward Seoul, where Jin-Hyeok had the Golden Guardian Tree on his side.

-“Master, are you thinking about me~?”

The Guardian Tree’s tone had become somewhat strange. The spiritual connection between the tree and Jin-Hyeok had become quite strong, which sometimes led to such annoying situations.

-“Well, I am rather reliable, am I not?”

Jin-Hyeok did not bother to reply because he knew that if he did, the Guardian Tree would start praising itself endlessly.

-“I am quite beautiful too, I must say.”

-“Surely, Master, you haven’t fallen head over heels for me at first sight?”

-“You are not the right type for me yet.”

-“You should become manlier and more handsome for me to fall in love with you.”

‘God, I wish there was an on and off button on this tree.’

Since the Guardian Tree was talking telepathically, Jin-Hyeok could not just ignore it, which made it quite annoying.

‘I don’t even want to think about what would’ve happened if I didn’t have Imperial Resilience.’

Even thinking about it was dizzying. If not for Imperial Resilience, he would have been unable to think about anything else other than the Guardian Tree’s mutterings.

‘Hm... This is a dilemma.’

Jin-Hyeok was in doubt.

‘Should I go as Kim Chul-Soo or Kim Pyeong-Beom?’

Naturally, Pyeong-Beom would be the right choice if he wanted to fight more aggressively. However, the Chul-Soo character would allow him to fight in a way that suited him better. He was a Streamer now, not a Swordsman, so going as Chul-Soo seemed better.

‘But I’ve built up the whole situation as Pyeong-Beom, so it would be a bit strange to go as Chul-Soo...’

It was a night filled with deep contemplations.

? ? ?

Jin-Hyeok sat in the center of the sofa, observing Yu-Mi and Sae-Rin.

‘When did the two of them become so close?’

Sae-Rin had always disliked Yu-Mi. To be precise, she liked Yu-Mi but was afraid of her.

‘Now, they seem like soulmates.’

Jin-Hyeok was at a loss for words. The two women were sitting close together, affectionately looking at each other and chatting happily.

“I didn’t know Pathfinder had such insight, hohoho!”

“I never thought I would have a friend who could communicate with me so well!”

Yu-Mi then explained, “These Scanorbian warriors are uncivilized barbarians who rely on strength and violence!”

“That’s why their growth has limits.”

People on the Scanorbia Server were born with strong physical attributes. However, their tendency to rely excessively on their strength had limited their growth.

“That’s right. No matter how strong gorillas can be, humans will always be superior.”

The exceptional Navigator, Sae-Rin, had already infiltrated the Scanorbia Server through the warp portal and gathered information about its warriors with the help of the Black Rose Alliance.

“They pride themselves on being strong and exceptional warriors who even the other major Servers do not invade.”

While the people on the Scanorbia Server might pride themselves over that, according to the information Sae-Rin had personally gathered, the reality was different.

“Scanorbia is a Server that is just not worth conquering.”

The major Servers had no reason to invade or conquer the Scanorbia Server. In essence, it was a useless Server.

“The people on that Server are so uncivilized and dumb that it’s even questionable if they can be used as slaves.”

“But even the uncivilized give birth to geniuses sometimes!”

Yu-Mi stood up from her seat. “And their Great Leader, Khan, is one of those geniuses! He is the only one among the warriors who knows how to use his head. That’s why they chose Great Britain as their first target. They judged it to be the easiest Region, and since it is an island, they would face fewer hindrances from other surrounding countries.”

Sae-Rin also stood up. “Originally, they would not have cared about Korea, which has the Guardian Tree. But because of the assassination of their top-tier warrior, they got angry and agitated!”

Jin-Hyeok’s feelings toward his old comrade were somewhat complicated.

‘Sae-Rin was never this enthusiastic...’

The personalities of both Jin-Sol and Sae-Rin seemed to be changing bit by bit.

‘...Wait, why are they crossing their arms like that?’

Yu-Mi’s excitement grew even bigger. “If he wants to appease the agitated warriors, Khan has no choice but to come to Korea; otherwise, there will be riots within their army!”

“So, like it or not, there will be a battle in Seoul, where there is the Golden Guardian Tree and even Artillery of Nemesis! In fact, right now, I bet Khan does not want to come here at all.”

Khan had announced that he would strike Seoul in twenty-one days, with the condition that Korea would be forgiven if they gave up Pyeong-Beom and his associates.

Jin-Hyeok knew what this meant. “So I need to provoke them even more. To prevent their anger from subsiding.”

“As expected, Jin-Hyeok’s insight is amazing!”

“Not bad at all, Chul-Soo.”

Khan would try to delay their move to Korea by any means possible. He would roar as if he was ready to attack immediately, but the probability was high that he was hoping time would pass and things would be forgotten.

Jin-Hyeok smiled. His old comrades had undoubtedly been a great help to him. “I should start my livestream.”

Thanks to them, he was sure of one thing: he needed to play a more active role as Kim Chul-Soo.

? ? ?

The inheritor of the HARD movement and Charles’s friend, Erin, cried out for peace. She actively sought help from various countries and the EPU and even led a liberation movement within England. So when Pyeong-Beom showed up and issued that challenge, Erin burst into tears.

‘...There is a hero after all,’ Erin thought.

Pyeong-Beom had shifted the attention of the Scanorbian warriors toward himself. While the European Players Erin had trusted turned away, a hero from a small country across the sea had risen for the sake of peace for humanity.

As time passed, the Scanorbian warriors set sail for Korea on British warships. As a result, the situation in the British Region improved significantly. From the perspective of the British people, Pyeong-Beom and Do-Hyeong were heroes and freedom fighters.

[We must not forget Kim Pyeong-Beom’s spirit, his love for peace, and how the strong should use their power to keep that peace. Pyeong-Beom is our hero, teaching us what is right.]

This was different from Chul-Soo’s style of Play, which always pursued ruthlessness. Pyeong-Beom was showing a good example of how someone with true strength should use that power.

[Kim Pyeong-Beom is truly the ideal we should strive for. Our hero!]

Erin shed tears and wrote numerous articles for various media outlets. After that, she sighed. “Chul-Soo and Pyeong-Beom. How can two extremes like them be born in the same country?”

The evil of humanity, Kim Chul-Soo.

And the hero of humanity, Kim Pyeong-Beom.

It was something she could not comprehend. Her articles received a considerable response not only from various online communities but also from the Korean Region Minor Gallery, where the famed user Encyclopedia posted a reply to Erin’s article.

[I agree with much of what she wrote in the article. But I don’t think this is a decision Pyeong-Beom took on his own. Pyeong-Beom surely has an excellent advisor. Therefore, we need to study and research the unique characteristics of the Korean Region. There is a secret there. What kind of place is it, and why did Players like them emerge? If we study that, Players can progress further.]

[Written by: Encyclopedia]

As the clash between the Great Leader of Scanorbia, Khan, and the hero of the Earth Server, Pyeong-Beom, loomed, the tension in the Earth Server continued to rise. In the meantime, Chul-Soo uploaded several provoking videos, saying, “How can savages like the Scanorbian warriors possibly win against Kim Pyeong-Beom?”

He also continued to livestream. The influence of the Streamer Chul-Soo was significant, and it drew considerable attention to the Earth Server from across the universe.

[This scum is making a fuss again, trying to piggyback off Pyeong-Beom. Pyeong-Beom does all the work, but it’s Chul-Soo who is raking in all the profit. Regardless of the Guardian Tree or whatever, everyone knows that Chul-Soo will die from just one attack from Khan.]

[Written by: NoOverpackagingPlz]

[LOL, you basement-dwelling loser. It’s because of guys like you that this country has not progressed at all. How is your mother by the way? I feel bad for your mother for raising a **** and **** kid like you.]

[Written by: ChulSooIsGod]

The clash of the Named users on the KRMG highlighted Chul-Soo even more. Players’ interest in him skyrocketed, to an extent that even Jin-Hyeok could not have predicted.

Amid all this, a piece of news came that the 7th Fleet of the United States Navy had annihilated the invaders from Scanorbia at sea.

‘Wait, is that even possible?’ Jin-Hyeok thought.

This had never happened before his regression. Egan Paul vividly shared the news, and numerous viewers flocked to his livestream. For the first time, Egan’s livestream was trending more than Chul-Soo’s.

Jin-Hyeok clenched his fist.

‘Egan Paul...!’

His pride was hurt.