I Gave Up Being Stronger

Chapter 204

‘Well, since the bad guy turns good, I guess we can say it’s a form of salvation.’

Violence was always the answer. If it did not work, the reason was simply that there was not enough violence. Every villain could be saved with an appropriate level of violence—too low, and it would not work; too high, and they would die.

‘Ah, now that I think about it, these sentimental vlogs are usually done with subtitles rather than spoken words.’

When watching Marshmallow’s videos, he had realized subtitles were much more prevalent than voiceovers. So, he prepared subtitles in advance for his videos. As a Streamer, being able to create subtitles while progressing with the content was a necessary skill.

Jin-Hyeok pulled out the Rule Breaker and wrote subtitles at the same time.

[Let’s take out the handy and elegant weapon that can be held in one hand. :)]

He wasn’t sure why he wrote elegant, but it felt right. In the meantime, the Yeti of Salvation charged at him.

[Swinging the hammer around while enjoying the forest scent.]

Thwack!

He already knew all the moves of the Yeti. Having hunted it numerous times before his regression, he found it extremely easy to deal with. The monster displayed movements like that of a skilled martial artist, but they were nothing special to him.

[Breaking the monster’s nose shuts it up. Let’s enjoy this profound silence. :)]

As Jin-Hyeok had smashed the monster in one hit, it stopped making weird noises. Attacking the monster half-heartedly would have only made it angrier. The Martial King, Kim Jeong-Hyeon, had discovered this strategy of using fists or bludgeons to break a monster’s nose in one go.

The Yeti of Salvation vanished into black smoke without any resistance.

‘I thought they usually move in packs... but there is only one.’

Now, it was time to meet the ones who had summoned the monster.

[Today, they are going to learn the lesson that violence redeems everything. :)]

Holding the Rule Breaker, Jin-Hyeok walked toward the Black Mages hiding in the bushes.

***

Kang Il-Nam was shocked that the Yeti of Salvation had disappeared. He could not believe that a Level-177 monster summoned by a powerful Black Mage had vanished after facing just one attack. It was an expensive monster summoned using five human hearts as the offering!

“Let’s... move out of here for now,” he said.

“Why should we move?” Kang Yi-Nam scowled. “He was just lucky. He just happened to hit its weak spot, that’s all.”

“Even so, do you think we can face someone who killed the Yeti in one hit?”

“Fuck! So, you want to run away? We just need to get the Spirit. Buy me more time. I will catch that Spirit.”

All preparations were complete. According to what their cult’s leader had said, with the right ingredients, they could summon a monster far more powerful than the Yeti.

“Use all the hearts we have collected so far. Just buy time!” Yi-Nam said.

“...”

“If you run away now, you’re no longer my brother, you coward.”

Il-Nam was in a dilemma. He knew that without Yi-Nam’s help, he too was an incomplete Player. “Then I will buy us some ti—”

‘Huh?’ Il-Nam was startled. Yi-Nam had collapsed without making any noise. As Yi-Nam fell, the face of a man standing behind him became visible.

‘When did he...?’

The man was grinning.

“The taste of cracking a skull is... ah, I shouldn’t say that.” The man muttered something strange and then scowled. “These calm vlogs are tough.”

***

The Kang brothers had suffered overwhelming violence. Their faces were so messed up that they had become unrecognizable, almost blackened.

Elly curiously asked, “It seems if a bruise is severe, it turns black.”

“Yeah, it’s almost like necrosis.”

“That’s interesting!”

“You want to see more?”

While Yi-Nam was unconscious, Il-Nam could still hear the conversation of the girl. He said, “S-Stop...!”

These people were insane. The man’s eyes flickered with madness as he kept muttering, “Camp...fire. Tea... warm... conversation... calm...”

Incidentally, Jin-Hyeok was muttering those words unconsciously. Setting subtitles and titles for the sentimental vlog was too difficult for him; so, he was murmuring to himself as he wrote them.

[Sentimental Vlog │ Indulge in a warm cup of tea by the campfire. │ A time for conversation. │ Calm violence :)]

“Drink this,” Jin-Hyeok offered Il-Nam a cup of tea. His tone was bizarrely eerie. His expression screamed ‘drink this or die,’ yet the tone of his voice oozed kindness(?). It seemed like a madman pretending to be normal. It was incomprehensible why this person would suddenly offer tea in this situation.

“I will do anything if you spare me,” Il-Nam said.

“Let’s enjoy a warm cup of tea.”

“...Huh?”

‘Ah, is he stupid or something?’ Jin-Hyeok thought.

“I said drink it, you bastard.”

“Yes, sir.”

Jin-Hyeok found it frustrating that Il-Nam seemed clueless about the vibe of an everyday and calm vlog. In any case, Il-Nam hurriedly drank the tea. He was so scared that he could not appreciate the tea at all.

Jin-Hyeok hit Il-Nam’s head with the Rule Breaker.

“Hey, this is sentimental content.” He was frustrated at Il-Nam’s lack of understanding of the situation. “Drink it with feeling. Slowly savor the tea.”

“...”

‘Ah, this isn’t easy. This kind of scene probably doesn’t fit in a sentimental vlog, right?’

Since Il-Nam did not get on with the program, Jin-Hyeok hit him a few times with the Rule Breaker. After the beating, Il-Nam seemed to have understood how to behave. Jin-Hyeok tried his best not to kill him while hitting him. However, it appeared to be a bit brutal for a sentimental vlog, so Jin-Hyeok decided to have it edited out later.

“How did you fools manage to summon the Yeti of Salvation?” Jin-Hyeok asked.

“...” Il-Nam was too confused to comprehend what he was hearing. The man kept saying he was trying to create sentimental content, but in reality, the content was filled with violence and threats. Il-Nam admitted that the man’s tone was a little sentimental, but he did not have the courage to challenge the idea that just having a calm tone meant creating calm content.

“I have the ability to summon monsters of a higher Level than my own by using offerings,” Il-Nam answered

“I know that. You are the Black Mage of Patricide, and the more you commit acts close to patricide, the more power you can draw from your shitty ability.”

Il-Nam was even more confused. Setting aside the discrepancy between the tone of the voice and the content, he was genuinely curious as to how this man knew everything about him. Then it dawned on him.

‘How does he know about the Yeti of Salvation?’

Only three people in the world knew of the existence of the Yeti of Salvation: he and his brother and their cult’s leader. Il-Nam guessed Jin-Hyeok’s identity. “Did the Cult Leader send you?”

“...” Jin-Hyeok was momentarily speechless. He felt like he had heard something significant.

‘Ah, this is a dilemma.’

Content needed a concept. No matter how popular a concept was, cramming everything into one video would turn it into a mishmash that was neither good nor bad.

‘Let’s continue with the sentimental content for now. I need to get the footage.’

Jin-Hyeok avoided answering about the Cult Leader and instead had a conversation with Il-Nam. Yi-Nam regained consciousness in the meantime, and Jin-Hyeok offered him tea as well. Of course, Yi-Nam did not comply at first but obeyed eventually. After all, Jin-Hyeok’s violence was imbued with immense power.

***

‘Wow, these guys are really crazy! It’s not easy for a sane person like me to understand their way of thinking. At least, I’ll attract attention with this content.’ Jin-Hyeok already had a title in mind for the video.

[Madmen.]

The Kang brothers seemed to feel an affinity toward Jin-Hyeok. They boasted about their so-called heroic deeds before him. Yi-Nam praised his own excellent insight. “Yes, eventually, I found a child from the group.”

They had attacked a village in need of a child, but there were no children in that village, only old people.

“The woman was in her trimester, so she was valuable enough.” Yi-Nam grinned as if he was proud of his smart decision.

Next, Il-Nam spoke. “As you know, Mr. Messenger, to create the legion of the Mountain Madmen, Spirits are absolutely necessary, and we were searching for them in the Taebaek Mountains.”

They were calling Jin-Hyeok Mr. Messenger, an emissary sent by the Cult Leader. Jin-Hyeok didn’t deny it. The Yeti of Salvation, the Truth of Violence cult, the Mountain Madmen, and the Cult Leader... Jin-Hyeok began to understand how all these were related.

‘Now that I think of it, the Truth of Violence cult was a subversive force trying to overthrow our current government.’

Jin-Hyeok remembered the cult briefly shaking up Gangwon-do, completely taking over the region before his regression. He did not know much about what exactly they had done. Back then, he had just been a pawn who used the sword diligently as instructed by the higher-ups; so, he had simply slaughtered many of them as ordered.

‘But the legion of Mountain Madmen?’

The Mountain Madman was one of the most powerful entities that the Truth of Violence cult could summon. Its Level was in the early 200s. Before Jin-Hyeok’s regression, several high-Level rankers had to team up to just hunt one of the Mountain Madmen. As far as he remembered, only two or three Mountain Madmen had appeared in Korea.

‘But they’re talking about creating a legion of them.’

Something was different this time. It seemed that the Truth of Violence cult had evolved more than it had before his regression.

“Why did you guys join the Truth of Violence cult?”

“Well...”

As soon as the words ‘Truth of Violence cult’ came out of Jin-Hyeok’s mouth, the brothers seemed moved. It looked like even the last thread of their doubt had disappeared.

“We want to create a better world.”

“A fairer world.”

Jin-Hyeok remembered. Creating a better and fairer world was the values that the Truth of Violence cult incessantly preached.

“What makes a world better, and what makes it fairer?” Jin-Hyeok asked.

“It’s a world where the powerful can rightfully enjoy their power.”

“A world where we live according to the laws of nature!”

Their argument was simple—the survival of the fittest was their definition of the law of nature. They believed only foolish humans denied this law. These foolish humans insisted that the strong had to protect the weak and that the strong harming the weak was unjust, maintaining an abnormal society for the majority who were weak.

The right thing, according to the brothers, was that the strong should rule over the weak. This was the direction the new world should head toward.

“Wow, you guys are really crazy,” Jin-Hyeok said.

“Eh?”

“Huh?”

‘This is unbelievable.’

“Why is that the law of nature?” Jin-Hyeok believed these crazy guys seemed to have a misunderstanding of common sense. “The strong should be thinking about fighting someone stronger.”

‘Where is the time to rule over the weak? Where is the time to torment them? In a world where one can fight the strong if they wish, what’s unfair? The current world seems fair enough.’

“Ah, so by your logic, me beating you up is also the law of nature, right?” Jin-Hyeok asked.

“O-Of course!”

“That’s right...!”

Their eyes just shook. Jin-Hyeok disliked these kinds of fake insanity. True insanity should be consistent and unchanging, not fluctuating when it was inconvenient. Of course, Jin-Hyeok’s standards were quite variable, but that was because he believed he was not a madman.

‘But if the Mountain Madmen legion really appears, it is going to be a bit troublesome.’

Ideally, he wanted Korea to be peaceful. Korea was like a home to him, and homes should be more comfortable than dynamic. One or two Mountain Madmen appearing in Korea was okay, but if a legion were to appear, that would wreck his home.

‘I need to find this Cult Leader.’

Before his regression, he had never uncovered the identity of the Cult Leader. At some point, the Cult Leader had disappeared, and the Truth of Violence cult had collapsed.

‘I do want to get more information out of them, but...’

Thud!

The two guys collapsed one after another. Elly poked Il-Nam’s cheek with a twig. “Is he asleep?”

“Yes.”

Jin-Hyeok thought his actions were truly faithful to creating sentimental content. The day had come when he gave up the taste of hand-to-hand combat and resorted to using poison.

‘Wow, you do see everything if you live long enough.’

The poison he had handed them earli—no, the tea he had handed them earlier had poison in it. Jin-Hyeok had drunk it with them, so the act was not cowardly.

Elly tilted her head. “He’s not breathing.”

“He’s in a deep sleep.”

‘This feels so strange. Why can’t I just say that these guys were planning to kidnap you, Elly, and use you as a sacrifice? They were very bad people, and I just killed them. I want to tell her, but for some reason, I can’t. Why can’t I say this simple thing?’

Jin-Hyeok gently told Elly, who was tilting her head, “Let’s light a fire to keep them warm while they sleep.”

“Okay!”

It was a sentimental vlog after all.