I Gave Up Being Stronger

Chapter 205

“You can’t know everything in the world. It’s okay.”

Ha-Young looked at Cha Jin-Hyeok with surprise. She had expected him to be disappointed, but instead, he was comforting her.

‘Why is he so kind today?’

Jin-Hyeok was lenient because if it weren’t for his regression, he would not have known about the cult either. After all, the cult had not been active prominently.

However, although he had just made a general valid point, to Ha-Young, it sounded like warm and tender consolation. Her spirits were lifted. “Really? Thanks for saying that. I will work hard not to disappoint as the leader of the Black Rose Alliance.”

‘Why is she so enthusiastic all of a sudden?’ Jin-Hyeok felt oddly proud. These days, it seemed he did not need to use the Tight-Fillet Spell. However, he soon corrected himself.

‘Ah, I almost got fooled again.’

Lately, Ha-Young had not only stopped rebelling but also become very friendly toward him.

‘The moment I let my guard down, she will strike from behind!’

He did not think that was a bad thing. A great Thief should always take the best opportunity to strike their opponents.

Nevertheless, Jin-Hyeok resolved not to be deceived by Ha-Young’s changes. All pretty and cute things in the world had to be approached with caution. If anything, Ha-Young was pretty and cute. She was exactly the kind of person Jin-Hyeok should be wary of. Even now, she had just made him think it was unnecessary to use the Tight-Fillet Spell.

A few days later, Ha-Young visited Jin-Hyeok’s house again. “I don’t think the Cult Leader is an Earth Player.”

“Really?”

“In the video you showed me, that Yeti of Salvation had an incredibly high Level.”

“Was it?”

‘What was its Level again? It didn’t seem that high.’ Jin-Hyeok tilted his head.

“Yes, it was Level 177.”

“...”

“Hey, I know what you’re thinking. You don’t think it’s high, right? From your perspective, it is hard to grasp the principles of the world.”

“What do you mean?”

“I mean that your perspective is twisted. It is so distorted that even I get confused sometimes.

‘My perspective? My perspective is perfectly normal and rational!’

Jin-Hyeok wanted to say that, but Ha-Young quickly continued, “This is not an entity that can be summoned at Earth’s level. There must have been an accomplice. I could not find anything about the Cult Leader, no matter how much I searched. Their ability to hide taxes is quite advanced. That means we are dealing with an opponent much stronger than us...”

Ha-Young crossed her arms with a very serious expression. Dark circles had appeared under her eyes due to her staying up at nights. However, her face was full of vitality. She said, “To be honest, a few forces or individuals are coming to mind at this point.”

“Who are they?”

“What about you? What do you think? Do you have any suspects in mind?” Ha-Young always felt inspired by Jin-Hyeok. Expecting new insights, she waited for his response.

“I don’t.” Jin-Hyeok hadn’t thought about any of this. His mind was full of thoughts about content and production; he did not want to worry about anything else.

Ha-Young nodded as if she understood his stance and continued, “Think more carefully. Who was involved with Jonprich? Who was conducting strange chimera experiments? Who was involved with the organization that was conducting various experiments on Mr. Gobble? And which group has information so advanced that they publicly promised to reveal the upgrade recipe for the Rule Breaker?”

“Ah.... the Black Alliance?”

“Yes. Players as strong as Sephia and Grandel, the leaders of the Black Alliance, could have taught those two murderers how to summon the Yeti of Salvation, right?”

It sounded pretty plausible.

“So, I did some research.” Ha-Young’s expression brightened even more.

Seeing her smile so radiantly made Jin-Hyeok feel good too. Indeed, people looked their best when they were focused and enjoying their work.

“There is a record of Sephia and Grandel logging into the Korean Region.”

“Really? A record?”

‘Shouldn’t the warp portal usage record be encrypted and stored by the System and be inaccessible to the public?’ Jin-Hyeok thought.

This was not something a Player from the Earth Server could find. It would be possible only for a handful of super high-Level hackers in the entire universe. Jin-Hyeok became interested. “How did you find that out?”

Ha-Young scowled, as if something displeased her. “You’re quite popular, aren’t you?”

“What are you talking about?”

‘Why is she talking about how popular I am when I asked how she found out?’

“You must be happy to be so popular.”

“...” Jin-Hyeok could not understand why Ha-Young suddenly seemed upset.

[#So annoying. #Why isn’t it me as number one? #I am not bad at what I do either!]

Even after seeing this, he could not understand. He began to question himself.

‘I should just use the Tight-Fillet Spell if she is spouting nonsense, but...’

Strangely, he did not feel like using the Tight-Fillet Spell these days.

‘Weird. Did she do something to me without my knowing?’

He could not understand why he was feeling so strange.

***

Lately, the abilities of the people around Jin-Hyeok seemed to be far surpassing what he had thought. They had even managed to find Sephia’s and Grandel’s location and discover that the twins had been in Korea.

‘Everyone must be working really hard.’

In contrast, Jin-Hyeok was lying in bed, idly passing the time.

‘Well, one must take rest seriously too.’

To an outsider, it could look like he was just lazing around, but that was not the case. He was earnestly taking a break. As he had filmed a calm, everyday sentimental video, it was time to get back to his main content.

‘The next content will likely be a battle with Sephia and Grandel.’

However, fighting them in China seemed like a losing battle. He thought the only chance was to fight within the territory of the Guardian Tree, so he was pondering how to lure them to Korea.

‘Before my regression, I would have just fought them without thinking...’

It made him realize he had changed quite a bit. He had become cautious and capable of more universal thinking. He was becoming more rational, but someone was changing in an irrational way.

-“Hehehehehehe! I smashed their heads!”

Jin-Hyeok wondered if this was a bit too much. The Guardian Tree tried to act solemn, but there was a childishness in its voice. Hearing it in a child’s voice somehow felt inappropriate.

-“I was bored with the lack of monster invasions lately, but this is great! Hehehe!”

The tree shouted and then seemed to have come back to its senses.

-“Ah, I shouldn’t act like this. I mean... I am proud that my protective powers have grown! Muahaha!”

Jin-Hyeok had a go at translating the Guardian Tree’s sentence. “So, you mean the monsters are not approaching because you have been actively slaughtering them?”

-“T-That’s right!”

As Jin-Hyeok’s Level increased, his mental connection with the Guardian Tree had strengthened as well. Now, he could sense its presence, not just its voice. He saw something humanoid with golden hair. Its body shimmered, only revealing a silhouette tinged in red.

‘Was the Guardian Tree always like this?’

As he became more attuned to it, the tree seemed to sense his inner thoughts as well.

-“I-I am just faithfully fulfilling my role as a Guardian Tree...!”

‘Who said anything about that?’ Jin-Hyeok wondered why the tree was stuttering and acting so embarrassed.

“You’re doing well, Guardian Tree.”

The best defense was indeed a good offense. In that sense, the Guardian Tree was experiencing very positive growth.

-“Really? Do you think so too?”

“Yes.”

The Guardian Tree, which had been tinged in red, shimmered in golden light again. Its joy was palpably transmitted to Jin-Hyeok.

Suddenly, the Guardian Tree sensed something.

-“The dual-sword monster has appeared again.”

“You mean Zoro?”

-“Now that you have become stronger, I’ve gotten stronger too. Shall we go smash some heads?”

***

Sitting in a chair at Jin-Hyeok’s house, Zoro said, “This space itself seems quite hostile to me. The Guardian Tree must dislike me.”

“You can feel that?”

If he could feel that, then the Guardian Tree still had a long way to go. The best defense was offense, and the best offense was a stealth attack. It was best to knock one’s opponent out without even letting them realize they were being hit. Of course, even if it was an open attack, if one got hit extremely hard, they would get knocked out anyway. But the Guardian Tree did not have that kind of power yet.

-“I-I will reflect on this.”

Jin-Hyeok did not say a word, but having read his thoughts, the Guardian Tree entered a proactive mode of self-reflection. Jin-Hyeok was guiding it in the right direction, which was quite satisfying.

“I think I’ve found a way to upgrade the Rule Breaker,” Zoro said.

“Really?”

“I knew the gist of it already, but I just needed a tiny bit more information. The information that Egan Paul had was exactly what I needed.”

Jin-Hyeok tilted his head in thought. The pieces fitting together so perfectly seemed suspicious, so he called Han Sae-Rin.

“Wait, I know him...!” Sae-Rin said.

“Say hello. This is Zoro. Zoro, this is Pathfinder.”

Sae-Rin looked at Zoro with displeasure. She still had a long way to go, also. If she was to Awaken as a Ruler in the future, she needed to manage her expressions better. Showing such obvious distaste and suspicion was never a good sign. Broadcaster’s Clairvoyance clearly captured her emotions.

[#I do not like him.]

‘Why does she dislike him so much? Sure, Zoro tried to kill me, but that alone should not make her hate him this much.’

Jin-Hyeok cautiously wondered if he was unaware of something. Sae-Rin, arms crossed, continued to talk to Zoro with a displeased look, “I think the information this guy has is real.”

“Really?”

“The problem is...” Sae-Rin glared at Zoro again. “You have to entrust your Rule Breaker to this guy, right?”

“That’s right.”

“And what if this guy takes the Rule Breaker and runs off?”

Zoro loudly retorted, “How dare you see me like that!”

“Who tried to kill Kim Chul-Soo to steal the Rule Breaker?”

“...” Zoro hung his head in shame. It looked like a clear power dynamic at first, but now Jin-Hyeok realized he misunderstood.

‘She is exaggerating her thoughts to put him down.’

Jin-Hyeok thought a Ruler should always hide such emotions, but he realized he was wrong. Exerting pressure from a position of power seemed quite effective. In fact, Zoro could not properly argue back and was just stuttering.

“Anyway, it seems too coincidental that everything fits so neatly and flows in your favor,” Sae-Rin said.

“Is that so?”

“It’s like the result of a fangirl’s obsession.”

“Huh?”

“You don’t need to know what it means. There is a person who keeps claiming to be the number one fan of Chul-Soo, and although it annoys me, their abilities are real.”

‘Ha-Young and now Sae-Rin... They keep talking about this number-one fan, but I have no idea what that means. Even if I ask, they just get annoyed and don’t give me a proper answer.’

“Well, anyway, the answer seems clear,” Jin-Hyeok said as he took out the Rule Breaker and handed it to Zoro.

Surprisingly, Zoro was shocked. “You’re giving this to me?”

“Don’t you have to take it to upgrade it?”

“...”

It did not matter if he took the Rule Breaker or not. Jin-Hyeok already knew where Zoro lived. If he wanted to, he could send Angel Girl to steal back the hammer. Also, Zoro had a wife whom he loved more than his life. Jin-Hyeok was not planning to take Zoro’s wife hostage, but if Zoro tried to backstab him first, he was fully prepared to retaliate.

‘I shouldn’t say that part though.’

Jin-Hyeok had learned a lot about social interactions and become more rational. He felt there was no need to say all the things he was thinking. He was contemplating what to answer when Zoro knelt before him. “You are a true warrior.”

[#I saw the code of chivalry. #In this era.]

Zoro seemed moved.

A few days later, he came back with the upgraded Rule Breaker.

“Take it. It’s your Rule Breaker.”

‘...Huh?’

Something seemed a bit off.

‘What’s going on?’