I Gave Up Being Stronger

Chapter 171

Terse was the original owner of the Thunder Dragon and the top-ranked Tamer in the American Server.

‘I definitely have to do this.’

Accomplishing something he was unable to in his past life meant a lot to Jin-Hyeok. The opportunity excited him.

“Why are you grinning like that?” Kihael asked.

“Because it seems like fun.”

“You’re crazy.” Kihael shook his head.

Jin-Hyeok thought that Kihael had not met someone really crazy; after all, he was calling an ordinary person like him crazy.

“I didn’t even tell you what the reward is, and you’re still happy?” Kihael asked.

“I’m sure something good will come out.”

Jin-Hyeok knew exactly what the reward was going to be. It was a reward that he needed at this point, but he decided not to focus on it. He was a Streamer now, and his rewards should come from a good livestream. He did not want the reward to be his goal.

A few days later, a piece of breaking news spread across the Korean Region.

?A cruise ship in the Han River was swallowed by an unidentified monster!?

An unidentified fish monster had appeared in the Han River. It opened its mouth bizarrely wide and swallowed a cruise ship whole. Many people died or went missing.

?The great powers of the Guardian Tree did not reach the waters.?

Some people blamed Jin-Hyeok, saying he had intentionally reduced the Guardian Tree’s territory, making the Han River unsafe. However, Jin-Hyeok was quite accustomed to such slander and attacks from his days as a government official.

?The Swallowing Croaker vanished into the water.?

?Where did that giant fish go??

Even with the current technology, it was impossible to even detect the monster. As time passed, the monster, called Swallowing Croaker, caused more trouble.

One dawn, it appeared out of the blue and bit off several pillars of the Cheongdam Bridge, causing part of it to collapse. This led to many casualties. The traffic was paralyzed, and the news incessantly talked about the Swallowing Croaker. Numerous Players attempted to find the monster, but it was nowhere to be found in the Han River.

Still, some kept talking nonsense.

-Where is Kim Chul-Soo?

-He is a cowardly Streamer who doesn’t do content unless it’s profitable.

Jin-Hyeok was not a government official anymore, but he did not understand why people would say things like that. However, having such haters did increase his fanbase, so it had its positive effects.

-Chul-Soo doesn’t have to listen to you.

-Is Chul-Soo responsible for your safety?

-You know what they say... if a favor continues, people take it for granted. I guess you’re one of those people.

Jin-Hyeok’s subscriber count had now reached 360 million. It had appeared to be stuck at 350 million, but as more people started bashing him, it surged by ten million. Most of the nonsense actually worked in his favor. Jin-Hyeok wondered if this was what people called viral marketing.

‘But this is crossing the line.’

Jin-Hyeok received a legal notice. It was from the building owners in Nowon-gu. During the Fall of Yeonhui-dong Scenario, Jin-Hyeok had fought with Players from another Server and destroyed parts of Nowon-gu. The notice demanded compensation for those damages.

‘This is pissing me off.’

It was kind of PTSD for him. Such attacks had tormented him when he was a government official.

‘They want me to pay for the damage?’

Back then, he was unable to retaliate against such people; so, he would just sit there like an idiot when complaints of that nature came in. He had to argue about paying for the damage and was scolded for not being more careful. Even thinking about those times made him furious now. In a perfect world, people would not demand compensation for damages after being saved, but sadly, his world was not perfect.

‘If I want to be called a true Streamer, I have to be able to create Eltube content in these kinds of ridiculous situations as well.’

Before his regression, such situations occurred often, but Wang Yu-Mi and Ahn Ji-Won usually handled them.

‘It’s annoying to deal with it by myself.’

Jin-Hyeok realized it was best to consult with them on these matters.

***

Yu-Mi was drinking chocolate milk straight out of a bottle when she said, “I’d love to just wipe them out. How dare they challenge the authority of a king?!”

Ji-Won, seated with Yu-Mi, added no further comments. With her short hair and glasses, Ji-Won just wrote something down in her notebook. She was noticeably more reticent than she had been before Jin-Hyeok’s regression.

“It hasn’t been that long, but it seems those noisy brats have forgotten the humiliation that Great Britain suffered during the invasion of the Scanorbian warriors!” Yu-Mi said.

During the Scanorbian invasion, the British Region had crumbled. Countless citizens had become slaves, and many inhumane and terrible events had unfolded.

“However, wiping them all out would not look good for Streamer Kim Chul-Soo. It would look like the strong trampling the weak. But we can’t just leave it be. We need to strike at the head in times like these,” she added.

“The head?”

“There must be ringleaders. I don’t know who they are, but we can find them quickly by asking the Black and Black Alliance to help us. They must pay dearly for challenging the king. Leave the direction and narrative related to that to me! Storyteller Yu-Mi at your service!”

‘Wow, that’s reassuring. It’s good to have her on my side,’ Jin-Hyeok thought.

It felt like a breath of fresh air.

“And there are a few other things I have been thinking about, but I will not tell you what they are. It will be better for your livestream if you don’t know,” Yu-Mi told Jin-Hyeok.

Jin-Hyeok could not help but smile warmly at the sight of Yu-Mi, who seemed even more devoted to his livestream than he was. Then, he turned his attention to Angel Girl Song Ha-Young and asked her something.

“The Pain Bat? You could get that at an auction these days, right? Or you could check the Nerver Item Market or somewhere like that. It’s not that rare an item, you know,” Ha-Young answered.

“But didn’t Lee Hyeon-Seong acquire one recently?”

Lee Hyeon-Seong, also known as the weak Anus Destroyer, had recently acquired the Pain Bat from the Scanorbia Server.

“...Damn, you sure love torturing Hyeon-Seong,” Ha-Young said. Lately, she had been casually mixing formal and informal speech, but Jin-Hyeok just let it slide. As long as she was loyal and the work was done right, he did not care.

Ultimately, Ha-Young stole the Pain Bat from Hyeon-Seong.

“Wow, I was worried I might get caught! But it was easier than I thought,” Ha-Young said.

“Did you leave your signature mark at the scene of the crime?”

“Of course.”

Just as Jin-Hyeok thought, Hyeon-Seong was weak. Otherwise, she would not have been able to steal such an item this easily.

Less than an hour later, he got a call from Hyeon-Seong.

—Did you do this? There’s Angel Girl’s signature mark here.

“The Pain Bat?”

—Yes, the Pain Bat! Why did you steal it?

Jin-Hyeok knew Hyeon-Seong was hysterical due to their interactions before his regression, but he didn’t know Hyeon-Seong was this hysterical.

“Why are you getting angry?”

—What?

“You are the weak Player who couldn’t protect his things from a Thief.”

—...

Hyeon-Seong needed to be taught a lesson with facts once in a while. Otherwise, he kept thinking he was the strongest. Of course, Jin-Hyeok had not seen that side of Hyeon-Seong after regression, but that was Hyeon-Seong’s true nature.

“Why else would you be called the weak Anus Destroyer?”

—That’s because some crazy bastard donated a shit-ton of—

“Crazy bastard? A shit-ton of what?”

—Sigh! Never mind. Just forget it.

Just as Jin-Hyeok thought, Hyeon-Seong’s temper was still bad. If Hyeon-Seong had earned the nickname the weak Anus Destroyer, he had to reflect on why he got it and become stronger.

‘He’s always throwing fits. No wonder he can’t improve and remains weak.’

No matter how much money Jin-Hyeok threw around, if people thought Hyeon-Seong was strong, they would not have added the word weak to his nickname.

“You should be ashamed of yourself, weak one.”

—...

“You should protect what’s yours. If it had been a sword you were robbed of, would you be calling me so leisurely?”

—T-That is..!

“Why are you getting so worked up over a Thief who stole fair and square? That’s why you are called weak—”

The call ended before Jin-Hyeok could finish.

‘This is what you get for messing with me before my regression. Think of it as your karma. Ah~ What a refreshing day today!’

? ? ?

At eleven in the night, after having a conversation with Jin-Hyeok, Cha Jin-Sol returned to her room, giggling and laughing. As she lay on her bed, she covered her face with her blanket, reveling in her delight.

“Oppa asked me for a favor!”

Jin-Hyeok was an unparalleled Player. The number of Players who wanted to appear on his livestream was countless. At this point, Jin-Hyeok was in a position to give help, not receive it. Yet, he had asked for her help.

“To think that I can be of help...”

He had asked her to gather a group of Healers led by the Saint of Freedom to assist with his content.

Plenty of Healers wanted to be featured on Jin-Hyeok’s livestream. Jin-Sol recruited a select group of about thirty Healers and joined forces with Jin-Hyeok. Soon after, KimKnowItAllTV and the Korean Region Minor Gallery were ablaze.

-Holy shit! He’s beating them up! LOL

-I think this livestream should be R-rated, LOL!

-Oh, it’s so brutal. BUT I LIKE IT!

Jin-Hyeok said, “I realized something with my hammer.”

He hit a man’s head with the Pain Bat. The Pain Bat was a deformed item that minimized damage while maximizing pain. “I quite like the feel of welding a blunt weapon.”

Thwack! Thwack!

The Healer group Jin-Sol led was busy casting heals on the injured.

‘W-Why is he so strong...?!’

‘That guy’s about to die! I need to heal him!’

-Who the hell calls the Rule Breaker a mere hammer? LOL

-Is he using the Pain Bat? LMAO! How is he dealing so much damage with that?

-Wow, it looks painful just watching!

-The amazing thing is that there is one damage dealer and thirty healers, LOL, and the healers are getting exhausted first!

A few individuals whom Chul-Soo had beaten up were cursing vehemently.

“Just kill me!”

“You devil!”

Jin-Hyeok continued to speak calmly, unaffected by their reactions, “Why do you think they can talk back to me like that? Is it because they are trying not to succumb to violence? No, it’s because the violence is too weak!”

When the best Healers in Korea had all but collapsed from exhaustion, Chul-Soo’s words became reality.

“P-Please... I can’t take it anymore...”

“I am so sorry... I was blinded by greed...”

Jin-Hyeok spoke again. “Being able to talk like that means they haven’t been hit enough, right?”

ARGH!!!

Jin-Hyeok had assaulted about ten people. They were the representatives of the 00 Civil Alliance and the heads and vice-heads of the Nowon-gu Building Owners’ Union.

As time passed and the Healers began to fall one by one, the leader of the Nowon-gu Building Owners\' Union, Baek Deok-Soo, profusely begged with his hands.

‘Don’t speak. If I speak, I’ll get hit more,’ Deok-Soo thought.

Deok-Soo’s mind was consumed by an immense fear he had never experienced before.

“Yo, are you not going to talk?” Jin-Hyeok said.

Aaaaah!

Deok-Soo fainted and woke up several times, then he begged again. “Please...! I will tell you everything!”

Jin-Hyeok stopped swinging the Pain Bat.

‘Huh?’

Yu-Mi had told him to beat them up until his anger subsided and then show the mercilessness of a king. However, she had also suggested him to stop if they begged and promised to tell him everything.

“How would I know that you’re telling the truth right now?” Jin-Hyeok decided to hit them a bit more.