Thumbs Up, Level Up

Chapter 128

-Congratulation on winning, Umji!!!! 乃乃乃乃乃乃乃乃

-I’m going to celebrate with fried chicken and beer!! 乃乃乃乃乃乃乃

-Umji, you were amazing today!!! 乃乃乃乃乃 You did well! bbbbbbbbb

The chat was filled with thumbs-up emoji. Ji-Cheok hadn’t expected people to be this happy. He thought about what kind of expression he should make in this situation. He thought of all possible scenarios, but it wasn’t that easy. He couldn’t help it, either. He couldn’t just show the viewers how he really felt. Normally, he would have jumped around in joy but this time he thought that it would be better to go the exact opposite way.

“First of all… um… well…. Today I showed you my rough side… I shouldn’t have done that. I am so sorry.”

He deliberately acted awkward, with both his voice and his facial expression.

-Don’t apologize!! Why are you apologizing!! T_T T_T

?He beat up another human being. He should apologize. Is he a psychopath?

?And Ra-Du didn’t try to beat him up? He even threatened Umji’s family.

A fight broke out in the chat, but Ji-Cheok continued to speak calmly.

“I… It was a bit difficult to control my emotions, probably because he mentioned my younger brother. I am sorry.”

-It’s because the Hunters get carried away with their emotions in the fight. We should stop fighting. I think the Hunters would like that also. For now, let’s just congratulate Hunter Um Ji-Cheok on his victory. 乃乃乃乃乃乃乃乃乃乃乃

The chat gradually began to agree with that comment and the fight actually stopped.

‘Whew, I’m glad that fight in the chat stopped.’

?That is because you won, Master. It is always the winners who write history.?

‘If what you say is true, that means Ra-Du’s channel must be a mess right now.

?I searched a little bit, and it is a mess, Master. His fans have broken into a few groups. There are ones who are hating you, there are ones that refuse defeat, there are ones that accept their defeat and, of course, there are ones that are just laughing at the whole situation.?

‘Oh, Ra-Du, our dearest Ra-Du. I am not going to sympathize with you.’

-Congratulations, Umji!!! Don’t worry about us! We’re fine!!!

-I’m just here to congratulate you, Umji!!! You looked so cool!!

-I ordered half and half fried chicken, but didn’t even have the chance to touch it. -Hahaha. Congrats, Umji!

-You were so cool!! I’ll never forget today’s fight for the rest of my life. 乃乃乃乃乃乃

‘Alright, Let’s do the closing remarks.’

Before ending his stream, Ji-Cheok gave an exaggerated goodbye to the viewers, with his slightly burnt hair and his regenerated face dirty with soot in full view.

“Okay, everyone! Have a good night! Umji! Gumji!”

Bark! Bark!

Cheok-Liang posed on his shoulder. When Cheok-Liang mimicked Ji-Cheok’s fighting stance from the fight, the chat went crazy.

The stream thus ended with this joyful atmosphere.

“Ji-Cheok, are you okay?”

As soon as the stream ended, a low-pitched voice sounded from one side. It was the tank, Jung Ji-Byeok. She was looking at him with a worried face.

“Gosh… I’m so sorry for showing you the dark side of me today. That damn Ra-Du crossed the line, so…” Ji-Cheok said.

“It was great.”

“Huh?”

“It is always good to see a person’s dedication to their family. Tanks like myself exist to protect their family and friends. If an enemy comes to hurt them, that enemy must be stopped. Well done, Ji-Cheok.”

“Hahahaha. I feel a little strange for being praised for this.”

“Good job today. Then, I will see you again in the evening.”

Her eyes lit up and she gave him a thumbs-up.

[Hunter Jung Ji-Byeok is greatly impressed by your duel.]

[You have received 3 Likes.]

“Yes. Thank you for coming out here,” Ji-Cheok said.

“My pleasure. I did it because I wanted to, so you don’t have to worry about it. Oh, and there’s also this…”

She handed over an unknown pack of jerky. It smelled delicious, but looking at the strange color, Ji-Cheok knew it was made from monster meat.

Ji-Byeok said her goodbyes and left.

‘She’s so cool.’

?Yes, Master. She is also a woman of integrity. Maybe that is because she is a Tank.?

‘I just think that’s because she is a strong person.’

* * *

Ji-Han: As you all know, Hunter Um Ji-Cheok had something to do today, so I will postpone the meeting to tomorrow. I will see you tomorrow at 2:00 pm in the meeting room.

When Ji-Cheok got home and was changing clothes, he got a text from Ji-Han.

‘I feel so bad… Come to think of it, our company doesn’t even have a group chat. Hm… I guess we’re better without one… I’ll have to send all of them a private message, saying 'I'm sorry.’

Ji-Cheok picked up his phone and texted each of his teammates. He sent a message to Ji-Byeok to say thank you for helping out, and to Ha-Na and Seong Kwang to apologize for delaying the meeting. He also sent a message to Ji-Han to express how sorry he was.

‘Hm… This means I have some time left today. The System healed all the wounds I got from fighting in [The Arena], so I didn’t use any of my Qi at all. Should I go to a dungeon one more time? By the way, how many Likes did I gather from that?’

?I will check, Master. Hm… W-what is this??

‘What? What’s going on?’

?The number of Likes has increased tremendously, Master! Your current number of Likes is 2.45 million!?

“WHAT?”

Ji-Cheok shouted in his real voice.

“I had just over 1.3 million Likes yesterday, didn't I?”

?This means that more than one million Likes have accumulated in this short period, Master.?

‘How? Why?’

?While you were streaming, there were a great number of Likes that were coming in. And even after the recorded video was uploaded, the Likes are still coming in. Look at the comments.?

-It’s so good to see this arrogant Ra-Du getting beaten to a pulp~

-That Ra-Du guy was drinking late at night and was driving the wrong way in a supercar. And he got no time from his crime.

?So I guess he got served!

?Retribution!

-You bastard! Taste the wrath of the People!

?I don’t think Ji-Cheok can be considered ‘the People.’

?He was born in a poor family, so he is part of the People.

“Hm… Why are these people happy about me winning against Ra-Du?”

?This is evidence that people’s anger against the privileged is as great as their envy. Ra-Du indeed kept mostly quiet after the Hunter Exam, but there were still some videos taken of him.?

“Still, I didn’t know they would be this happy…”

?You have to be careful too, Master. You never know when the public is going to unite against you.?

‘I know. The higher you climb the harder you fall. That’s why I’m trying my hardest not to fall from this tightrope.’

“Anyway, that’s good news. I earned a good amount of Likes, and now I have something to think about.”

Ji-Cheok thought about both social and direct attacks. He needed to find ways to prevent them. For social attacks, he thought that it would be best to borrow Ji-Han’s power to form some kind of social network in his own way. The problem was that he didn’t know how to do that.

?It is a good thing that your brother is also a Hunter.?

‘You’re right. At least he can take care of himself. So what should I do? How do I get social influence?’

?Ji-Han will try his best to prevent immediate attacks from the public. After that, I will try to find a way, Master. ?

“Please. Okay then, should we start with organizing our skills first?”

?Yes, Master. That is also urgent. However, from now on, you need to manage your Likes.?

“You’re right. I need to collect 10 million Likes… So, let’s do this. I will spend half of what I earn in the future and save the other half. Then, in case of an emergency, I can use my saved Likes.”

?That is a good idea, Master.?

“So, what skill should I buy?”

?There are many things to consider here. First of all, you need to decide whether you will continue to walk on one path or seek various paths.?

“You mean it’s time to reconsider what I thought about in the past, right? That’s difficult…”

Until now, Ji-Cheok’s goal had been to become a jack of all trades, but that was merely his plan from before. Ji-Cheok realized that he had to think about changing his path because he had acquired unexpected titles, skills, and achievements.

‘I’ve gotten stronger beyond my imagination.’

Slowing down and checking one’s path was definitely important. If he invested a lot of Likes to raise the rank of his Mana and Cultivation, and then raise the rank of the [Heaven and Earth Chaotic Divine Art], he could definitely get power that transcended his level.

‘Let’s see…’

[Heaven and Earth Chaotic Divine Art]

[Class: Legendary (Upgradable, Rank C)

Before there was Heaven and Earth, the world was full of chaos. The Chaos was divided into Heaven and Earth and became the world. People have tried to contain it in their inner microcosm.

*Fist Techniques, Swords Arts, Palm Techniques, Divine Steps, and Will Art are all included.

*User’s power increases in proportion to the rank of Mana and Cultivation.

*User’s physical abilities increase in proportion to the rank of Mana and Cultivation.

*Penalty invalid for Mana and Cultivation rank A or above.]

“I didn’t have time to really check the skill after it was upgraded to [Heaven and Earth Chaotic Divine Art], but I guess at some point its rank became C.”

?You need to be in the Absolute Mortal Realm in order to cause someone a Sword Qi Wound. It is definitely possible at Rank C.?

“You think so?”

?Yes, Master. Also, when you were fighting Ra-Du, you became even stronger. Didn’t you use the Sword Qi Veil to break Ra-Du’s attack??

“Oh, that. Uh…I did that because I was really angry back then… I guess you are right, though. But if I used the Sword Qi Veil, that means I had to use Sword Threads, basically stretching the Sword Qi into strings, in the first place. Wait… Does that mean that I can use Sword Threads?

.

?You can always try, Master.?

“Okay, let’s head to the training room.”

Ji-Cheok immediately changed his clothes and headed to the training room.

* * *

“Wow… I can’t believe I can do it just like this…”

Tssssss.

Sword Qi was usually described just like the light energy making up a Star Wars lightsaber. The energy called Qi surrounded a blade, giving it the ability to cut anything and everything in its path.

Sword Threads were a bit different. Like the word 'thread’ suggested, these ‘light rays’ became thin like a string and could be stretched really long. Of course, they would still cut anything that they touched. And that was exactly what Ji-Cheok was seeing right in front of him.

At the tip of his sword, a thread made of glowing energy moved gently. He wanted to test how long it could get, so he kept stretching it, but then soon came to the conclusion that it could likely stretch indefinitely. It also consumed much less Qi than he had expected, probably because his skills and titles were overlapping to reduce his Qi consumption.

‘This is why even within the same level, Hunters’ power varies greatly depending on their skills and titles. Just based on my gut feeling, I think my Qi consumption has been reduced by at least sixty percent.’

?All your skills and titles that you have acquired since your awakening are slowly fulfilling their potential. As you level up, Hunters who slack off become unable to compete with those who do their basic work.?

‘You’re right. I can even feel my mana recovery and consumption gradually changing.’

?Try to cut something, Master.?

“There isn’t anything that I can cut. Is there something in the Likes Shop?”

?A steel pipe costs 1 Like, Master. It has no special properties, but its durability is said to be five times higher than a normal metal pipe.?

‘So it’s just for practice. It’s perfect for people like me who need to test out their Sword Threads.’

“Let’s buy it.”

Pop.

A steel pipe appeared in front of him and he slashed at it with his Sword Threads.