I Gave Up Being Stronger

Chapter 172

Thwack! Thwack!

“O-Okay! I will tell you everything then!”

“How do I know you are telling the truth?”

“Aaah! I will tell you everything! Really!”

“The fact that you can talk means that you need more.”

“P-Please!!!”

The merciless beating continued relentlessly. Most of the Healers had fallen to the ground, and even Cha Jin-Sol, the Blood Priest, was gasping for breath. “Oppa... I’m at my limit too.”

“Really?” Sweat streamed down Cha Jin-Hyeok’s face. Only now did he notice the fallen Healers.

He wiped the sweat from his forehead. With its durability exhausted, the Pain Bat crumbled to pieces.

“My livestream is all about being intense. You all know that, right?” Jin-Hyeok said to his viewers.

From Jin-Hyeok’s perspective, he hadn’t carried out this beating because of anger, and it definitely was not because of the memories from before his regression.

“I just wanted my beating to be intense.”

-Hahaha! Typical for IntenseMan!

-Good-hearted IntenseMan never gets angry. LOL

-He didn’t beat them out of anger~ If he says so. LOL

“Now that Mr. Bae Deok-Soo has joined our intense content, shall we have an intense conversation?”

“O-Of course! I will tell you everything!”

Jin-Hyeok did not ask any questions; Deok-Soo voluntarily confessed the secrets. This matched Wang Yu-Mi’s prediction.

‘How far had Yu-Mi foreseen?’

“We never originally wanted any compensation. It’s true! Some people instigated us!” Deok-Soo said.

‘Oh! No wonder so many forces collectively acted against me all at once!’

“He called himself the third-ranked Ruler of the Black Alliance.”

The term third-ranked Ruler brought back a memory. Before Jin-Hyeok’s regression, around the time the Swallowing Croaker Scenario had unfolded, a Ruler had caused chaos in Korea.

“Was his name Heilik?” Jin-Hyeok asked.

“...Do you know him...?”

Jin-Hyeok did not.

“So... Heilik is behind all this.”

This moment provided justification for Jin-Hyeok’s excessive assault. There had been foreign intervention from the Black Alliance, and as the guardian of peace, Jin-Hyeok had used physical force to find out who was behind all this.

Given that the people of Earth had experienced the invasion of Scanorbia and the Fall of Yeonhui-dong Scenario and were wary of invaders, it made sense.

Yu-Mi was also surprised.

‘I knew someone would be behind all this. And I intended to naturally capture Kim Chul-Soo’s process of discovering it, through noble and beautiful violence,’ she thought.

Yu-Mi did not think Jin-Hyeok was skilled in acting. Therefore, instead of asking him to pretend with his awkward acting, she aimed to capture the natural discovery of the perpetrator. She knew that with his noble violence, he could reveal anything.

‘But he already knew?’

How he knew that was something even Yu-Mi could not fathom, but she decided just to accept it.

“He’s so amazing! He is the best! He is the sexiest! When IntenseMan is desperate, he can find out anything he wants!”

Since IntenseMan was desperate, it was natural for him to know such things. Logic or plausibility was not very important to Yu-Mi.

Slurp!

She wiped the saliva dripping from her mouth.

? ? ?

As soon as the name Heilik, the third-ranked Ruler of the Black Alliance, was mentioned, public opinion about Jin-Hyeok improved drastically.

-Where are those idiots who were criticizing Chul-Soo’s beating?

-I knew it! OrderMan wouldn’t just beat someone intensely out of anger.

-Chul-Soo’s violence is always right!

Many people praised his actions as the right way to solve the problem. Of course, a few people posted opinions that such personal revenge or sanctions were still wrong, but they quickly deleted their posts and disappeared in the face of numerous dislikes and a barrage of hate comments.

After ending the livestream, Jin-Hyeok logged onto the Korean Region Minor Gallery to check what people were saying about him.

‘That was satisfying.’

This was exactly what he had wanted to do during his days as a government official—beat up those who recklessly demanded compensation, like the time when he had rescued someone’s grandmother but then got sued by her son because she got injured in the process, or when he had destroyed a store while dealing with a powerful monster, and the owner had thanked him at first but later demanded repair costs.

‘Yu-Mi is crafting a plausible narrative to improve my public image.’

She said something about how Jin-Hyeok had realized the existence of a dark power behind all this and that he had to deliver a painful punishment to them personally. It did not quite make sense to him, but strangely, this method worked well with the public.

-Thinking about how much OrderMan’s heart must have hurt while beating them brings me to tears. T_T

-IntenseMan surely did not want to use his intensity in such ways.

-For justice, cheers.☆

Some citizens’ alliances and other unions promised not to hold him accountable anymore.

Amid this, Maria from the MK Foundation announced an operation called the Disaster Recovery Support Program. It was a relief effort by the MK Foundation aimed at those affected in Nowon-gu. Jin-Hyeok had not even told her to do that, but for some reason, people were praising him.

-IntenseMan is merciful.

-If it were me, I would’ve killed all those ungrateful bastards. LOL

-Wow, a powerful Player who is also merciful? That’s just cheating.

Jin-Hyeok briefly turned on his livestream to clarify that he was not the one responsible, but people did not believe him.

‘They’re not believing me again?’ he thought.

This felt like déjà vu. In his past life, nobody believed him when he said, “I’m just Playing because it’s fun.”

When Jin-Hyeok got home, he found Song Ha-Young sitting on the sofa.

“Heilik, the third-ranked Ruler of the Black Alliance. How did you know? How did you find that out before me?” she asked.

“Aren’t you the leader of the Black Rose Alliance? How could you not know before me?”

“...”

“If I were you, I’d be too embarrassed to ask how I know.”

Ha-Young bit her lip as if her pride was hurt, then said, “What do you think the Black Alliance’s goal is? Do you know anything?”

“Why are you interrogating a mere Streamer? You should discuss that with your friend.”

“My friend?”

“Han Sae-Rin. It’s her specialty, figuring out things like that.”

Ha-Young, who had been mixing formal and informal speech, had now completely dropped formality. It was not a crucial element for Playing, so Jin-Hyeok decided not to point this out.

“I want to know what IntenseMan is thinking. You are the first one to recognize the existence of Heilik, the third-ranked Ruler,” Ha-Young asked.

“Hm... Well, what do you think?”

“The first thing that comes to mind is that Heilik is doing this in retaliation for Humphrey Millen’s death.”

Jin-Hyeok frowned.

‘Wow, she really does not know anything! An inter-Server Alliance like the Black Alliance seeking revenge for the likes of Humphrey Millen? That’s rich.’

“Why are you laughing at me? You told me to share my thoughts!”

“Well, what you’re saying is nonsense. That’s why.”

“...”

Ha-Young bit her lip again. “You’re especially rude to me. You know that right?”

“I most certainly am not.”

“No, you are. Just to me and Lee Hyeon-Seong. Why are you so harsh with only us? Were we some kind of archenemies in a past life?”

“...You’re quite perceptive.”

“Stop kidding around!”

‘See? She doesn’t even believe me even when I am telling the truth.’

“If you were good at what you do, do I think I would be this harsh on you?” he said.

“...”

“Did you see the video where I praised Bong King and Kang Mi-Na?”

“...Yes, I did.”

“I praise when it’s deserved.”

“I stole the Pain Bat from the Anus Destroyer though.”

“Stealing from such a weak Player is not something to be proud of.”

“...”

Ha-Young fell silent. Jin-Hyeok contemplated using the Tight-Fillet Spell if she harbored any disrespectful thoughts.

[...#Stop being harsh. #I need to be better. #I’m craving his praise.]

Regrettably for him, Ha-Young was devoutly listening to him with quite a proper mindset. He did not get the chance to use the Tight-Fillet Spell.

“So, what do you think the Black Alliance is trying to do?” Ha-Young asked.

“I don’t know. It just seems like they are trying to draw attention.”

“Draw attention?”

“They are pinning people against me for mere damage compensation. What can the Black Alliance gain from that? At most, it will just upset me.”

“...”

“So, they must be aiming for something else, right?”

“And what do you think that is?” she asked.

“Isn’t figuring that out your role? How much do I have to spoon-feed you?”

The Black Alliance was drawing all this attention everywhere to hide the Paper Sorcerer Makendra’s movements. Their plan was to have Paper Sorcerer Makendra secretly infiltrate the Earth Server and raise an army of Paper Soldiers to devour part of the American Region.

That was the likely outcome if the situation played out the same as it did before Jin-Hyeok’s regression.

To have Makendra and her army infiltrate the Earth Server at its current level, a lot of deception was needed, which was why many third-ranked Rulers had been dispatched to a considerable number of Regions. One of these Rulers was Heilik, who was dispatched to the Korean Region.

[...#He’s right. #That is my role. #I just want to rely on him. #He is so cool. #He’s a jerk, but so cool. #I need to become stronger.]

Some of her thoughts were odd, but her resolve to try and become better was commendable.

‘You know what they say, as long as the intention is good, it’s okay.’

***

Multiple expeditions had been organized to hunt the Swallowing Croaker, but none had been successful.

[Without a clear strategy, citizens trembling with fear have to use the bridges...]

[With 92 dead and over 120 missing so far...]

The damage caused by the Swallowing Croaker continued to increase, and all cruises and leisure activities on the water were banned. For safety, access to the Han River bridges obviously needed to be restricted, but that was impractical, so many citizens had to use the bridges in fear.

Then, someone set foot in Korea.

“This is Korea, the homeland of the Perfect Tamer.”

His name was Park Terse. Although he was one-quarter Korean, he did not know much about the country. He was aware that Korea had developed quite rapidly compared to other Regions, but that was not his area of interest. He had begun to take a keen interest in the Korean Region only recently, especially after Kim Chul-Soo had successfully tamed the Thunder Dragon.

‘When people used to say something was special about the Korean Region, I was not impressed.’

However, the story had changed now. Terse wondered what was in the Korean Region that had produced someone like Chul-Soo and how a Streamer could tame a divine beast like the Thunder Dragon.

‘How sincere is his bond with the Thunder Dragon?!’

Terse was filled with the thought of meeting and talking to Chul-Soo.

‘How can I meet him?’

He wanted to converse with Chul-Soo on equal terms or at least not in a position to be ignored. However, being the top Tamer in the American Region was not enough for that. Even Oliverne, the top Daoist of the American Region, and Egan Paul, the top Streamer of the American Region, were nothing compared to Chul-Soo.

‘The Swallowing Croaker is a major issue in the Korean Region...’

Terse had learned that many Korean Players had struggled to hunt the Swallowing Croaker but to no avail. He was confident in dealing with such disasters. He had prevented much damage caused by monsters, more than what was known to the world.

‘Fish monsters are usually less intelligent, making them easier to tame.’

He felt that resolving the Swallowing Croaker Scenario might earn him the right to have a private conversation with Chul-Soo.

‘I’ve made up my mind. I will participate in the Swallowing Croaker Scenario.’

Thus, Terse made his move.