Thumbs Up, Level Up

Chapter 122

Of course, Ji-Cheok wasn’t saying she was nice. She was still a ‘villain’. There was no way she would’ve acted like this if she was a good person. Considering what she had shown to the world so far, calling her a villain or an enemy was not enough. It might be more accurate to just call her the Great Demon Queen. A crazy Demon Monarch.

She stared at Ji-Cheok for a long time, as if she was surprised to hear that he was trusting her. Then, she started to talk with a faint smile.

“If you have Ji-Han’s lie detection skill, don’t trust it too much. I have a way to deceive that skill,” Bi-Ga said.

What Ji-Cheok used was not a lie-detecting skill, but rather an intuition one. Although the skill could only choose between two options, in the end, it was a kind of ‘foresight’ rather than mere detection.

“Why do you go out of your way to tell me to not trust you?” Ji-Cheok asked.

“I just don’t want you to trust everyone you see. Also, everyone seems to be scared of me anyway. Ever since I met you the first time, you have always been strange.”

‘I mean, you are not exactly a saint.’

This was a person who, on one hand, made and sold war drones to dictators in foreign countries, but on the other hand distributed agricultural drones in Africa to help the people. Some people were inclined to believe that if there was money involved, she was not picky, but in reality, she just did what interested her without thinking about profit. And she would always get into bad situations by doing that.

She didn’t care about what was good or evil, never listened to what other people said, and never had any deep or meaningful relationships with anyone. Ji-Cheok used to think that she was like a villain before, but the more he thought about it, the less accurate that description became. It was not like she went out to kill people. The word ‘different’ could not express the complex human being that was Jung Bi-Ga.

‘Even right now, I thought she was using my brother as a test subject.’

For some reason, Bi-Ga let out a faint laugh.

“Sorry for laughing. I just didn’t think there would be a person who would honestly believe what I say. Hm…” Bi-Ga said.

“You did speak in a suspicious manner.”

“I know. But don’t worry. I never lie about things like this.”

She took a sip of the herbal tea and looked up at the ceiling.

“Your brother is going to be fine. Chronicler is definitely a great job. I was surprised at the way he used his own skills to get rid of the penalty. Thanks to that, I gathered really good data.”

“So, you’re saying that my brother is going to be okay?”

“Yupp. Actually, he is now even better. He was successfully transformed to become stronger. Do you know about the penalty status?”

Ji-Cheok had never heard of this term before. It didn’t seem like a positive word. Then, Cheok-Liang interrupted.

?Penalty status… There is a description of this from the information I have collected, Master.?

‘What is it, Cheok-Liang?’

?Some Hunters put some kind of penalty on themselves in order to upgrade their other skills. For example, in the case of a Ritualist Hunter, they can sacrifice their hearing through the offering ceremony, and in return, they receive greater mana power.?

‘So, you’re just decreasing one stat to increase another.’

“Huh. Looking at your reaction, you seem to know more or less what I mean. That makes it easier to explain. That’s exactly what Mu-Cheok did: he gave himself a penalty so that he could be stronger in other aspects. But he somehow got rid of that penalty. So now he just became stronger without any setbacks,” Bi-Ga said.

“How is that possible?”

“Why don’t you ask your brother?”

Ji-Cheok hated the way she tilted her teacup and smiled at him. He didn’t know why she would act in ways that could cause others to misunderstand her. He thought that maybe she was just not good at conversing with someone on a deeper level.

“Well, thank you for your time, Bi-Ga.”

Ji-Cheok got up from his seat.

“Well, since I’m here, I just want to tell you to never do such a risky transformation surgery on my brother again.”

“Well, that’s not really up to you, is it? I know that you care a lot about your younger brother. But it’s up to Mu-Cheok to decide. I mean, he is an adult, isn’t he?”

Ji-Cheok ignored her as he left. He could taste something bitter in his mouth.

“Live long, Ji-Cheok. You need to live a long time and do a lot of good streams. Both you and your brother,” Bi-Ga said.

Her tone was still like a villain's. It was an insidious tone that strangely scratched a person’s temper. Nevertheless, his intuition was telling him that she was telling the ‘truth’. She really wanted him and Mu-Cheok to live long and do good on GodTube.

?She might not be that bad, Master.?

‘I guess so. At least to us, she is not that bad.’

[Master Mechanic Jung Bi-Ga feels good that you trust her.]

[You have received 1 Like.]

* * *

“Mana Bullet Production, Mana Production, Regeneration, and Prediction. These are the four skills I obtained. I also have a Magic Engineering calculation function. I can even access the Internet!” Mu-Cheok said.

“So, you can connect to Wi-Fi now?” Ji-Cheok asked.

“Even without Wi-Fi, I can search on the internet and hack into places, hyung.”

After returning home, Ji-Cheok stayed in the training room, meditating and practicing cultivation to control his mind. After that, Mu-Cheok came into the training room and started talking.

“There were side effects such as mana pollution and pain, but I mitigated them with my skills,” Mu-Cheok said.

“How did you do that?”

“You know that a Chronicler can use the Power of Words, right? That’s where I got it from. I just used the word [Adaptation].”

By using the word [Adaptation], Mu-Cheok found it easier to get used to a certain situation or environment. Eventually, all his senses would adapt to his new state, so he would no longer feel any discomfort.

“God…” Ji-Cheok sighed.

As he sighed, Mu-Cheok smirked at him.

“Don’t worry, hyung. It’s gonna be okay. I’m not going to die.”

As soon as he heard those words, Ji-Cheok felt angry, but just let out a sigh instead.

“Hey, I hope you’re not doing this as revenge,” he said.

“I’m not that crazy. I just wanted you to feel what I felt back in the day. You always said that to me. Remember what you said when you came home with your finger cut off?”

“Wow, dude…”

Ji-Cheok stopped cultivating and took a deep breath.

“Really, you don’t need to worry. I’m okay. You know how important it is to level up fast in this industry, right? That’s why every Hunter uses their money for items that help them level up. Besides, I don’t know if you know, but to transform like I did, the cost is one hundred billion won or more…” Mu-Cheok said.

“Yeah… Whatever…”

“What’s wrong? According to Bi-Ga, the Mana Engineering technology she used on me surpasses even strategic military weapons.”

Ji-Cheok got up and grabbed his brother’s shoulders.

“I want you to discuss it with me in the future. Please, promise me.”

Ji-Cheok knew his brother was just lucky to get this strong without any backlash. However, in his eyes, Mu-Cheok was just a kid who might put all his life savings on Bi-Ga Coin and ruin his life.

“I am trusting you. Do you understand?” Ji-Cheok said.

“You might be the only person in the world who would worry after I become this much stronger.”

As he said that, Mu-Cheok created a small lightning spark from his fingertips.

Spark.

White lightning swept from his index finger to his thumb, middle finger, and ring finger like a Tesla coil.

“Now I can even use lightning-type skills. I’m sure you know how rare that is.”

?Oh, Master! Lightning-type skills are one of the most destructive and intractable forces in nature. The ability to use it even when he is not a Wizard is going to be very advantageous in the future… ?

“...Mu-Cheok, please.”

“Okay, hyung. If I plan to do something crazy in the future, I will definitely talk to you first, hyung. I promise!”

“Thank you.”

After a few pats on his shoulder, Ji-Cheok left the training room.

“Let’s have something to eat. What’s for dinner?” Ji-Cheok asked.

“Well, we have over-easy eggs…”

They continued with their daily lives as if nothing happened.

‘What the hell is my younger brother trying to become?’

Seeing Mu-Cheok produce electricity like a yellow rat with pointed years, Ji-Cheok knew that his little brother really was trying to become superhuman. Suddenly, what Bi-Ga said earlier came to mind.

“Live long, Ji-Cheok. You need to live a long time and do a lot of good streams. Both you and your brother,”

‘I expected something to go wrong, but it turned out okay. I guess Mu-Cheok is lucky. Now, he has Magic Engineering abilities and lightning-type skills. I have to make him the main content on my GodTube channel.’

* * *

Mu-Cheok left the house to go to the gym, and Ji-Cheok returned to the training room to practice cultivation.

‘I currently have 1.33 million Likes. I think I got 10,000 more Likes while I was sleeping. Are my videos going viral or something?

?Ah, yes, but still. You should refrain from searching, Master.?

‘I know. Of course, I want to google myself. But I’ve seen too many Hunters who couldn’t handle their curiosity, read malicious comments, and died in battle due to mental breakdown. Do you think I’m joking? This is the crazy world that we live in. I need to refrain from reading those comments. As unbelievable as it seems, a few words can kill a person. I don’t know how hurtful those comments are, but I’m not made out of walls. I have feelings too. So, to help their Hunters, fans are desperately trying to clean up malicious comments, but that’s like trying to block out the sun with only one hand. It’s not easy to fight against the evil within the human race. I’m like that too. I’m just an ordinary human. I’m sure my Gumji don’t want me to search my name on the Internet. They also wouldn’t want me to look at any news articles about me. Then it’s best for me to just be patient… Let’s just worry about how to use my Likes effectively.’

“Show me the skills that require less than two Likes.”

?Understood, Master. There are 432 skills that require 1 Like, and 357 skills that require 2 Likes.?

The skills that Ji-Cheok saw before summoning Cheok-Liang were listed again.

[Breathing: You become healthier because you can breathe easily.]

[Walking: You won’t get sore muscles no matter how long you walk.]

[Eating: You eat well and won’t get an upset stomach no matter how fast you eat.]

[Defecating: You are able to defecate well under any circumstances.]

[Sleeping: You fall into a deep sleep almost immediately after lying on a pillow.]

……

The list seemed endless. As he looked closely, it seemed like all of the daily actions of a human existed as a skill.

“Hm… I think I have to buy them all.”

?Aren’t these skills unnecessary, Master??

Cheok-Liang was right. Even without these skills, he could breathe well, sleep well, and eat well. It might be because of [Minor Intuition], but he left like he needed these skills.

Before Ji-Cheok named Cheok-Liang, he was just an [Advisor of the Twisted Underworld], not the?actual Zhuge Liang. Even he didn’t know everything about the world. He had to learn and grow with the information that was given. Therefore, his conclusions were always logical, like academic papers. He wouldn’t suggest a path that no one had tread before, because that would be illogical.

But Ji-Cheok’s gut feeling was telling him that this should not be the case. Of course, it was convenient to have Cheok-Liang advise him from the side, but if he depended fully on Cheok-Liang, he would eventually hit a plateau. So this time, Ji-Cheok was thinking of going with his gut feeling.

“No, I think it would be of great help. So let’s buy them all.”

This meant that he would acquire 789 skills all at once, which would make him that much stronger. Buying these skills required less than one thousand Likes. Unlike his earlier days as Hunters, when he had to use every single Like very carefully, with the number of Likes he had, the risk was minimal.

And the effect could be seen immediately.