Thumbs Up, Level Up

Chapter 130

However, involving his brother was crossing the line.

‘It seems like Mu-Cheok doesn’t really care, but still.’

Mu-Cheok was busy with other things. He thought that taking pictures together with his brother would be helpful for his business, so he started taking pictures with Ji-Cheok—eating pasta, training in the lotus position, and even sleeping.

-You two look so good… T_T It’s good to see you doing well.

-Wow, he is making lunch for his hyung. What a nice younger brother. T_T

-I tried the recipe that you uploaded last night, it was easy and delicious.

-In the midst of this, Umji is so handsome! I don’t know what he is eating, but I want it.

There were comments from Korean fans.

-Brothers. Kind. Good.

-Brother give hyung tuna sandwich.

-Bride. Hand. Be careful.

And there were comments from foreign fans that used translating apps. Ji-Cheok couldn’t even guess what the original comments were. He could only somewhat figure out the meaning of the comments with emojis. In a way, these fans had a strong mentality. Ji-Cheok was not searching for himself online, but these guys seemed to be interacting with people on social media and looking him up all the time.

‘I can’t believe I have hundreds of thousands of followers. It’s not actually that unusual, at this point, that people would try to attack Mu-Cheok.’

?By the way, it’s fortunate that Arcane Engineering blueprints and alchemy recipes don’t cost many Likes.?

Ji-Cheok bought all the parts used for the alchemy manufacturing machine and put them in the Shadow Pouch.

‘I know.’

Before coming to the flea market, Ji-Cheok had bought all of the potion recipes and related skills that he could get with Likes.

He had seen a documentary on an Arcane Engineering factory on GodTube before. Arcane Engineering production factories were made by exploiting people. For example, the factories would hire someone with fire-type skills and someone with crafting skills, who would form a team and combine their skills. This was how weapons like flame swords were made.

This was also how the factory itself was built—as the machines were put together and installed, Awakened workers granted them increased durability, self-restoration, mana power, skill amplification, recovery rate, and so on. There were specific sequences and rules for granting these properties, and it required Arcane Engineering knowledge on some level. And that was not all—what gave Ji-Cheok the biggest headache was that modern electromechanical engineering was also heavily involved in designing and implementing the entire process.

Yet, even with all of this complicated process, the quality of factory-made products was significantly lower than that of handmade products, and as the size of the factory grew, the quality decreased even more. There were many academic publications regarding this, but the general public only knew this as ’Hunter items are better when they are handmade.’ It was only Bi-Ga’s Jungbi Heavy Industries Co., Ltd., that produced good quality items. The quality of her products could actually match handmade ones, but that was because she was a Master Mechanic.

Ji-Cheok wanted to imitate Bi-Ga’s Jungbi Heavy Industries Co., Ltd. However, Jungbi had full control over the heavy industry, so Ji-Cheok aimed for chemicals and pharmaceuticals!

?Since the quality of factory products of companies is significantly inferior, the potion industry is also dominated by handmade products. I think we should put our efforts into that, Master.?

‘Yes. In addition, if I apply a large number of skills, I hope I can maintain the quality even with mass production. Anyway, did we buy them all?’

?Yes, Master. We bought all the things on the list. Since you already purchased the skills in advance, all you have to do now is start crafting.?

“Sure. We can do that when we get home…. Huh?”

Ji-Cheok saw a familiar face from far away, and that familiar face was not alone.

?It is Seong Kwang, Master. It seems that he came out with the children from the orphanage that he runs.?

There were five children, three girls and two boys. They appeared to be of elementary school age, some maybe younger than that.

‘Wait, an orphanage? Seong Kwang ran an orphanage? What about the ranch?’

?He is running it together with his ranch, Master. Since Seong Kwang became an orphan during the Dungeon Wave, I assume the children in his orphanage also lost their parents on the same occasion. From the information that I have gathered, there are currently fifteen children in the orphanage.?

‘He really is a saint…’

?It is true that he is a good man.?

‘Should I say hi to him? Or just go on my way?’

Ji-Cheok was worried that if he said hello to Seong Kwang, he would ruin his time with his children. As he was thinking that, Seong Kwang recognized him right away. To be exact, it was one of the children with Seong Kwang that noticed Ji-Cheok.

“Hyung! Hyuuung! Look! It’s Umji Gumji! Umji Gumji!”

‘Hm~ I guess he watched my GodTube videos. My videos are not that good for educating kids. I hope you didn’t read the chat…’

?It looks like Seong Kwang noticed you too, Master?

Ji-Cheok approached Seong Kwang and the kids.

“Hello, Mr. Seong Kwang. It’s such a coincidence to meet you here. I’m assuming these children are from your orphanage. Hello kids~ I’m one of Seong Kwang’s close friends.”

‘I hope this will do.’

“Wow! It’s Umji Gumji!!”

A seven- or eight-year-old boy was jumping around in joy. Seong Kwang introduced Ji-Cheok with a friendly smile.

“What a coincidence, Mr. Um Ji-Cheok. I watched what happened in the morning on GodTube. You did well. Come on guys, what did I tell you about meeting new people? Say hello to him~ This is Hunter Um Ji-Cheok, who is working with me.”

Seong Kwang skillfully controlled the children.

“Hello! My name is Yu Bo-Ra! I am six years old and I love dogs!”

“Hello! I am Kim Ki-Cheok. I am eight years old. But, Seong Kwang-hyung, can I stop saying my age now?”

‘Oh, I guess he is embarrassed about using a childlike self-introduction.’

“Hello~ I am…”

All the children bowed and said hello. They introduced themselves as Yu Bo-Ra, Kim Ki-Cheol, Lee Ji-Yeon, So Da-Mi, and Park Han-Jin.

‘They’re so cute. I remember when Mu-Cheok was their age. He was so short and so cute.’

While Ji-Cheok was playing with the kids, Seong Kwang asked awkwardly.

“I didn’t expect that the kids would like you so much. Hm… If you have time, do you want to have dinner with us?”

?It is five o’clock now, Master. It is time for dinner.?

Not only Cheok-Liang’s words, but the kids were looking at him so brightly that Ji-Cheok felt like he had no choice but to have dinner with them.

“I could go for some dinner,” Ji-Cheok said.

“Wooooow~ I’m going to eat dinner with Umji Gumji!!”

“I fxxking love it!”

‘....Hey kid… You shouldn’t swear…’

Seong Kwang tried to explain to the kid that swearing was bad, but it looked like the kid wasn't even listening.

‘He is seven years old. I guess that’s the age where you learn to curse.’

Hearing him curse, his parents would have a mental breakdown, and so would his teacher. Then, the girl sitting next to him would learn from him, and another kid would learn from her…. Not to mention, these days, there was also GodTube, so the kids could learn things on their own.

?There are always talks about a correct language education method, but parents are saying that there is no method that is definitely effective?

‘That’s true. Some parents move districts so that their kids get into better schools, hoping that it would help them with language education, but it’s not that easy.’

When Ji-Cheok headed to the parking lot with Seong Kwnnag, he saw what looked like an old school bus. The reason why he thought ‘it looks like a school bus’ rather than ‘it’s a school bus,’ was that the exterior appeared to have some extra reinforcement.

“You came here in this?” Ji-Cheok asked.

“Yes, yes. It’s pretty strong, even though it looks like that.”

“Okay. Then I’ll drive. You can put the kids on the bus.”

“Okay!”

Seong Kwang put all the children on the school bus and Ji-Cheok sat in the driver’s seat. He started the car and put the destination in his GPS.

Vrooom!

The bus sounded old, and the engine made a very peculiar noise. Yet, the kids screamed in delight.

“Wooow!”

“It’s so smooth!”

“Even when braking the bus is not shaking!”

“Hyung! You’re so good at driving. When Seong Kwang-hyung drives, we all get motion sickness!”

“You guys are too much. I’m gonna be sad!” Seong Kwang said grumpily.

“The kids know how to treat their guests,” Ji-Cheok said.

“If I had driving skills like you, I would drive better,” Seong Kwang grumbled.

The bus drove smoothly along the highway and headed for Seong Kwang’s ranch. In the meantime, the children’s questions were endless.

“Hunter Um Ji-Cheok! Why do you wear a jacket? Do you have to wear it?”

“Do you have to hold your swords in your hand? Can you hold them with your feet?”

“Do you like killing monsters? Seong Kwang-hyung loves healing people.”

It was harder than interviews with reporters.

“How many meals do you eat a day? Five meals?”

“How many bowls of curry can you eat?”

‘Right. I guess I’m not used to it because I haven’t spent much time with kids. Still, this is not that bad. When I get married and have children later, my kids will also ask me questions like this.’

“What kind of music do the kids like these days? I will turn it on,” Ji-Cheok asked

“Hm… You can play the Mighty GodTube Superhero music. You can search for it here,” Seong Kwang said.

When Ji-Cheok played it, all the kids started to sing along.

?This is about five Awakened kid GodTubers becoming warriors and protecting the world. Everyone is wearing a helmet, Master!?

‘Superhero movies are always like that. Be sure to check out who the black one is. The black one would always betray the team. Or they start as an enemy then become friends.’

* * *

“The building next to the ranch over there is the orphanage,” Seong Kwang told Ji-Cheok.

Ji-Cheok had seen it before, but he had passed by without much thought at the time. So that was the orphanage building…

‘Didn’t he say that the ranch alone made him lose money? I guess now I understand why he said he was always short of money.’

“Okay~ We’re here.”

All of the sudden, his hair stood on end. He didn’t know why; it just felt like something bad was going to happen, so Ji-Cheok stopped the kids that were about to get off the bus. Seong Kwang looked back to see what was going on. Even though he was a Healer, his reflexes were fast. Just then, a light fell from the sky.

BOOOM!

The bus shook, and Ji-Cheok used his driving skills to keep it from rolling over as much as possible.

?It’s a Gate, Master! A Gate has opened!!?

‘Shit, I knew it. I’ve had this feeling before and I knew something fucked up was going to happen.’

?It seems that we are unlucky, Master.?

‘No, we’re actually lucky that I am here. Without me, Seong Kwang and the kids would all be in danger. Thank god.’

The problem was that the Gate had actually opened on top of the orphanage building.

From the Gate, atrocious things were popping out. They had pale, hard, dry, and warped skin. Dark energy flowed through their body and it seemed like there was a rotten stench coming from them. Their eyes had no irises, so only the white sclera was visible, and there was dried blood all over their bodies.