I Gave Up Being Stronger

Chapter 169

Chul-Soo would think that Oliverne fully trusted the power of Phaelon Necklace. However, the important part came next.

‘That guy possesses an extremely tricky ability, Broadcaster’s Barrier.’

Chul-Soo was likely to easily discover that Oliverne was wearing the Phaelon Necklace. Oliverne had thought up to this point.

‘The initial confrontation is crucial. I need to carefully observe how he moves while conversing with me.’

As he talked with Chul-Soo, Oliverne received real-time analysis of Chul-Soo’s livestream from a colleague who was a Ruler and also an expert in analyzing videos.

[“Chul-Soo edited his livestream. It seems like he has discerned that you are wearing the Phaelon Necklace, but he has edited that part out. He’s smart.”]

Chul-Soo was pretending not to know about the Phaelon Necklace. Oliverne calculated and recalculated in his head.

‘Then, he won’t use the Berklev Necklace.’

However, to draw out Chul-Soo’s complacency, Oliverne shouted, “I knew it all along!”

It was all going as per Oliverne’s plan. Chul-Soo had not used the Berklev Necklace, instead taking the silver axe to the back of the head.

‘Chul-Soo has the Extra Life up his sleeve,’ Oliverne thought.

Due to that, Oliverne had analyzed many Players with Traits similar to Extra Life and compiled statistical data.

‘On average, it takes about five seconds to come back to senses after resurrection.’

However, for those with strong willpower, the time was four seconds. For those with very strong willpower, it was approximately three seconds.

‘Since Chul-Soo possesses spectacular willpower, two seconds would be a safe assumption.’

However, even that did not feel safe enough, so Oliverne considered the time as one second.

‘Reviving with the Extra Life is meaningless.’

In that one second, Oliverne could swing his golden axe three times. However, Oliverne’s plan did not go as he thought.

‘What’s going on?’

His silver axe had pierced the back of Chul-Soo’s head. Yet, Chul-Soo had not died.

“Why am I not dead?” Cha Jin-Hyeok said. Blood dripped steadily from the back of his head, yet he was alive.

“You idiot! I let you hit my vital spot perfectly, how can you fuck that up?!” Jin-Hyeok shouted.

Just as Oliverne’s plan had crumbled, so had Jin-Hyeok’s production. Jin-Hyeok had predicted that Oliverne would not use the Phaelon Necklace. He hadn’t really analyzed it; it had just been a hunch.

Whether Oliverne used the Phaelon Necklace or not did not really matter, so Jin-Hyeok had not paid much attention to it.

“You should’ve killed me!” Jin-Hyeok shouted. He had a plan regarding this fight for his livestream.

He was planning on not using the Berklev Necklace and dramatically surviving with the Extra Life Trait.

Then, he would have launched a counterattack.

Having anticipated Chul-Soo’s plan, Oliverne would have effectively countered the attack, leading to an intense battle.

Jin-Hyeok would have won the battle after a fierce fight, achieving victory.

Chul-Soo had been devising a narrative where a non-combatant-class Streamer would overcome a combatant-class Daoist. However, his plan did not go past even step one.

‘What’s the use of devising a plan when the opponent is so weak?’ Jin-Hyeok thought.

Jin-Hyeok felt his head split, but he was still conscious. Even though blood continued to gush out of his head, making his back wet, his mind was clear.

“Do you know what I hate about Players like you?” Jin-Hyeok asked.

Although Oliverne swung his golden axe, Jin-Hyeok could see the trajectory clearly. The Streamer dodged the golden axe with minimal movement. “Players like you are all flash and no substance.”

Jin-Hyeok closed the distance, dodging the ensuing silver axe attacks, and stabbed Oliverne’s right foot, then his left foot. He was much faster than Oliverne.

Oliverne screamed as he brought down the golden axe from above, but Jin-Hyeok had already backed away.

“I should have been dead after that attack! You piss me off.”

Jin-Hyeok was too angry to focus on his livestream and production. It was infuriating that Oliverne’s madness was fake and even more so that it was all for show.

“You’re not even an entertainer-Class Player, yet you act so flashy.” Jin-Hyeok frowned. “Now, I have to beat the crap out of you.”

? ? ?

The Korean Region Minor Gallery was abuzz with excitement.

-Wow, Chul-Soo is just toying with Oliverne the Berserker! LOL.

-Oliverne got wrecked!

In the face of Chul-Soo’s fierce onslaught, Oliverne could not do anything. The content of the livestream was so brutal that it was slapped with a Rated R restriction, but this only attracted more viewers.

-Ugh, I can’t watch this.

-I’ve never seen IntenseMan this mad! It’s terrifying!

-Just from this battle alone, shouldn’t we call Chul-Soo the strongest Player who uses blunt weapons?

-I can’t believe the number-one-ranked Daoist in the American Server is getting beaten like that.

Then something enraged Chul-Soo even further.

?What the hell is this? A communication device? You had this on? Why? Were you stream sniping? ?

Oliverne’s hidden communication device slipped out, making Chul-Soo furious.

-I think he might die.

-Maybe he is already dead?

Just because Oliverne was about to die, Mok Jae-Hyeon and Cha Jin-Sol stepped in. Jae-Hyeon used his Wood Fortress to protect Oliverne, and Jin-Sol blocked Jin-Hyeok from attacking.

“Move,” Jin-Hyeok said.

“Now is not the time, Oppa.”

Jin-Hyeok didn’t care much for Jin-Sol’s words. Oliverne had clearly tried to kill him, so he asked, “If I had been weak, I would’ve died. So why are you stopping me?”

That was the nature of Play. If a Player braced themselves to kill an opponent, they had to be prepared to die as well. If they engaged in combat with another Player with the intent to kill, it was only right that one of them ended up dead.

“You still haven’t fully adapted to the Play, have you?” Jin-Hyeok said to his sister.

‘That would be very disappointing.’

Jin-Hyeok squinted at his younger sister, prompting her to snap back and say, “What do you take me for?! I don’t care if that musclehead dies or lives. It’s his fault for trying to kill someone first. He deserves to die.”

Jin-Hyeok’s expression softened a bit.

‘Good. Now you’re talking like an actual Player.’

“But think about your livestream, Oppa. By now, the Black and Black Alliance and the Avengers Army would have rescued Taekwon V, right?”

“...Right.”

“Are you not going to film the sincere apology content? Are you going to miss out on that?”

“...”

Jin-Hyeok took a moment to reflect on himself. He had been so angry that he had forgotten about the content. Only part of his planned performance had gone awry; the overall narrative was not over yet.

‘I still have a lot to learn.’

He was embarrassed that he had been proud of himself just for doing live edits. “You’re right. I wasn’t thinking straight. I am sorry.”

“Oppa, you seem to have lost some of your desperation.”

“I will reflect on that.”

Jin-Hyeok put Rule Breaker back into his inventory. Scratching the back of his head, he asked, “But, can you... save him?”

The bloodied Oliverne was lying down with his eyes open and tongue sticking out. He was not breathing and seemed to have already died.

“...I’ll try to save him.”

It was a moment when the fame of the name Saint of Freedom soared.

? ? ?

An Alliance representing the Korean Server, the Black and Black Alliance, had collaborated with the Avengers Army, an Alliance from the American Server, to rescue Taekwon V and his comrades.

-Egan Paul, “For the righteous cause, we cooperated with Oliverne.”

Egan had contacted Oliverne to save Taekwon V and livestreamed the latter’s situation. Thanks to the Saint of Freedom’s miracle, Oliverne, who was barely alive, fell to his knees before Taekwon V, weeping and begging for mercy.

However, Taekwon V did not forgive him. Ultimately, Oliverne died at the hands of Kaylin, who used to be a part of the Avengers Army and was now an Assassin for the Black Rose Alliance. This became quite an issue.

-Berserker found dead.

-So I guess Taekwon V never forgave him.

-Experts find traces of Black Butterfly on the Berserker’s corpse.

-Black Butterfly is currently known to be associated with Chul-Soo’s Black Rose Alliance.

-Was Chul-Soo the one behind the Berserker’s death?

The debate over the morality of humans killing humans remained heated. Many claimed the world was going mad, while others loudly questioned the right anyone had to take a life. Despite this, people slowly began to get used to new concepts in this new era.

The concept of Stars also became popular among the people.

-LOL, a mere 9-Star Job Player provoked Chul-Soo.

-Yeah, a 9-Star Job is too ordinary on the Chul-Soo Verse.

Consequently, opinions started to boil over the topic that top-tier Players like Chul-Soo and Egan were establishing order in the world.

-We need to strictly distinguish between entertainer-Class Players and combatant-class Players.

-Combatant-class Players must respect Players from different fields.

Until now, people tended to praise combatant-class Players the most. However, Chul-Soo, a significant variable, had changed that flow.

-The new style of Play established by Kim Chul-Soo.

This brought about a much larger impact than the HARD movement, which had once heated Europe. Combatant-class Players, who subtly disdained non-combatant-class Players, became cautious in their actions, and non-combatant-class Players, who had been in the shadows, started engaging in Play more confidently.

Experts started to talk about a greater peace approaching as different types of Players began to respect each other. Furthermore, the idea that stream sniping was cowardly spread across the world.

-Stream sniping is such bad manners, LOL.

-Who even stream snipes anymore? That shit is embarrassing.

-Berserker? More like Stream Sniper, LOL.

Meanwhile, ChulSooIsGod, a Named user in the Korean Region Minor Gallery and editor for KimKnowItAllTV, was more active than ever.

[Wanna know something surprising? Chul-Soo didn\'t even use his Mythic-Grade Card. So you can say that Chul-Soo was going easy on him.]

┗Seriously?

┗I re-watched his videos, and it’s true!

┗Nah, you’re lying. He must have used it.

┗No no, if you look at the original livestream, there was no editing done to that part.

┗He only edited the part where he checked out the Phaelon Necklace. No application of the Mythic-Grade Card at all.

ChulSooIsGod, whose real name was Kang Chul, laughed while looking at his monitor in his dark room.

[Now, do you guys believe that my username is true? HAHAHA!]

┗This guy’s concept is crazy, LMAO!

┗But it’s not like he is wrong.

┗I don’t think it’s his concept. He’s just crazy, LOL!

Many posted their views on the Korean Region Minor Gallery.

[Players like Oliverne seem to act too tough for their own good.]

[The truly strong Players like Chul-Soo don’t show off.]

A public opinion formed that truly strong Players did not boast about their strength, and this had a significant impact on the top-tier Players around the world. Many Players became humble.