Thumbs Up, Level Up

Chapter 134

“Cancel the Berserker Medicine.”

Ding.

[The effect of [Lizardman? Berserker↗Medicine] has been canceled.]

[Your stamina stopped decreasing.]

Ji-Cheok let go of Seong Kwang and managed to lie down on his side just before he collapsed.

‘Wow... I have no strength in my body.’

He had used up most of his Qi and his muscles were screaming in pain. It was a similar feeling to when he had fought in the World Tree dungeon, but the amount of power he had just used was much greater. His body was about as springy as blanched spinach, and he was completely exhausted. The flames from [Blaze Walk] and [Cthugha’s Steps] were now gone. Cheok-Liang came close to him.

‘I can’t even pet you right now. It’s hard to move my fingers right now. Still… I did it, I did it! Damn it, you bastards!! I killed you!!!’

“I did it!!”

?You were amazing, Master.?

‘You did great too, Cheok-Liang. I’m just glad that this giant monster didn’t use any special abilities. When I saw that dark Breath, I thought I was going to die.’

“Ahahaha. Hahaha.”

When Ji-Cheok turned his head, Seong Kwang was also laughing while lying down. From the little tears that were forming around his eyes, Ji-Cheok assumed that he was getting emotional. He understood; he had also felt like that in the World Tree dungeon.

Ji-Cheok had saved the people. He was not sure exactly how he had done it, but he had saved them.

“...I cannot thank you enough, Brother Ji-Cheok. If it weren’t for you, I don’t think I could have saved everyone like this,” Seong Kwang said.

“You’re welcome. Without you, I would not have been able to do any of this anyway. Hmph.”

With barely enough energy, Ji-Cheok pulled out a mana potion with his trembling hands. But he didn’t have the strength to open the lid.

‘Damn… What should I do?’

Seong Kwang raised only his upper body and opened the lid for Ji-Cheok.

“Here you go, Brother Ji-Cheok.”

“Thank you…”

“No, Brother. Thank you. And since I’m a lot younger than you, you can stop using honorifics with me. You saved my life and my kids' life…”

Ji-Cheok thought it would be disrespectful to refuse his request.

“I mean, after this, I think we’re more of a comrade anyway. I’ll stop using the honorifics. Sounds good?”

“Sounds like a plan, Brother Ji-Cheok.”

Seong Kwang smiled.

[Zealot, Seong Kwang, has shown interest in you.]

[You have received 1 Like.]

‘Well… Comradeship is usually formed when fighting a war together.’

Gulp. Gulp.

“Whew… That’s some good stuff. By the way…”

Ji-Cheok looked around at the ground peppered with Ghoul corpses. Half were burnt crisp by divine power and Sword Qi, while the other half were smashed into dough by the shock of the impact earlier.

However, Ji-Cheok suddenly felt a little uneasy.

“Mr. Seong Kwang,”

“Please, just call me Seong Kwang from now on, Brother Ji-Cheok.”

“Hm… Okay, Seong Kwang.”

“Yes?”

“You don’t think these Ghouls will get up again—”

“Kiuuhh.”

‘Is this because of my big mouth? Or was this supposed to happen? Jesus.”

“Brother Ji-Cheok, you should watch your mouth.”

“You don’t say!”

Ji-Cheok got up and used [Soul Telekinesis], summoning his dual swords from far away back into his hands. At the same time, he drank another mana potion from his Shadow Pouch.

Crush.

In the meantime, Cheok-Liang was already smashing the heads of the Ghouls that were trying to get up. However, it wasn’t enough—there were actually still many Ghouls alive! They were not as threatening as they had been in the Abomination form, but both Seong Kwang and Ji-Cheok were tired. He didn’t know if he had enough strength to fight back…

Woong.

The shield shifted to Ji-Cheok’s side, shining brightly.

[Function: It cannot be broken unless the user’s morale is broken.]

‘That’s such a crazy ability. This means as long as my spirit endures, the shield will follow me. Right now, I feel like I’m going to die, but I guess I have no choice but to try my best.’

Shing.

He held the two swords with both hands as Seong Kwang also raised his divine staff high. The Ghouls began to gather around. Ji-Cheok could feel death coming near.

But then…

Pi-pi-pi-ping.

A meteor shower fell from the sky.

The meteors penetrated the Ghouls in an instant, setting them on fire and making them collapse.

“Kieeik!”

Ji-Cheok looked up at the sky and saw several military helicopters flying by. The passengers seemed to be wizards using their magic skills from the sky.

‘Wow. This is a miracle.’

“Ha… I guess we live to see another day.”

Seong Kwang sat down, and Ji-Cheok also sat down. All the Ghouls were being wiped out.

“Yup. We won. We’re not going to die.”

‘Today was such an eventful day… Really…’

“Oh, I recorded the whole thing today. Is it okay if I upload it on GodTube?” Ji-Cheok asked.

“Sure thing, Brother.”

Seong Kwang smiled as he thought the answer was obvious.

* * *

Ji-Cheok lived.

One of the helicopters landed in front of them, while the other helicopters stayed in the air, their passengers using skills here and there.

‘If you want to write an opera with the theme of salvation, you have to put in the helicopter sound in the background.’

The Killing Hornets approached them and instantly dropped like flies by the long-ranged skills from the helicopters. Hunters and other people got off the landed helicopter, quickly moving around and dealing with all the wriggling Ghouls as if they were spraying bug repellent.

“Hunter Um Ji-Cheok and Hunter Seong Kwang, thank you very much for your hard work. Because of you two, Shelter 23 was able to stay safe.”

A man who appeared to be a soldier approached Ji-Cheok without taking off his helmet and saluted him as he sat there. Judging by the epaulets on his shoulders, he was a lieutenant.

[Lieutenant Nr.3, who saw your performance, is immensely thankful!]

[You have received 5 Likes.]

It wasn’t just lip service—the man seemed to be genuinely moved.

‘You’re making me blush.’

“You’re welcome. I just did what I had to do. I’m a bit tired right now, so I can’t get up. Please excuse me,” Ji-Cheok said.

“I saw everything you did on stream.”

“On what?”

‘Stream? Whose stream?’

“We were able to come here faster because you turned on your live stream.”

“Huh…? It was me? I was live streaming?”

‘I didn’t even think of going live for this…’

?I turned it on, Master.?

‘Why didn’t you say something?’

?Because you were fighting, Master. I turned off the chat because you were risking your life.?

‘I see. I guess it was a good choice to turn on the stream, since, in the end, I was able to save their lives.’

“Then, please take a rest. You can leave the rest to us.”

With that, the lieutenant walked away. Ji-Cheok could see a few people opening the shelter door and coming out slowly.

“Brother Ji-Cheok. With all the work that we did today, I feel proud,” Seong Kwang said.

“You do too?”

“Yes, because we saved everyone. Also… I’m glad I got to know Brother Ji-Cheok better today. Your sense of justice and dedication… It was something else.”

“In that situation, I’m sure anyone would have stepped out to help.”

“Quite the opposite. It is not easy to risk your life, especially for people who don’t even know who is saving them.”

Seong Kwang was still smiling.

[Zealot, Seong Kwang admires your humility.]

[You have received 3 Likes.]

‘Would he be impressed even if he knew that I was gathering Likes on the side? I feel sort of guilty.’

It seemed like Seong Kwang was making Ji-Cheok into a mixture of savior and hero.

“I’m embarrassed… By the way, make sure the children from the orphanage and the workers from the ranch are okay. I’m going to sit down for a little longer.”

Seong Kwang nodded with a grin, stood up from the ground and headed to the people who were coming out of the shelter. The people that had gotten off the helicopter were helping the crowd from the shelter, and it looked like they were selecting people who had experience working as humanitarian crisis volunteers to help with the crowd. It seemed that they were trying to kill all Ghouls as quickly as possible

Ji-Cheok realized that his stream was still on.

‘Wait, was the entire conversation also aired on stream? Damn…’

Ji-Cheok opened his GodTube channel. He saw his face was being streamed at a so-called handsome angle. After looking at his channel, he turned his attention to the chat, and he saw something quite interesting.

-I’m alive! I am alive!!! OMG!!

-Hunter Um Ji-Cheok, thank you! Thank you so much!!!

‘Wait, how many zeros are there for the donation… One, two, three, four, five, six… SEVEN? TEN MILLION WON? Is this really happening? What about the number of Likes? One, two, three… four… FIVE??’

‘I just got 100,000 Likes from this short live stream… ‘

And among them, there were a lot of comments from people who said they survived because of Ji-Cheok.

-I was watching his live stream from the shelter. Talk about 4D LOL.

-Umji was fighting so well. T_T I was crying while watching with my boss. Hahaha

-He arrived faster than the military or the police. My mom is crying next to me right now. T_T T_T

-Umji, you’re so cool!! 乃乃乃乃乃乃 Everyone from the shelter was watching your stream! 乃乃乃乃乃乃

-We were all so nervous LOL. This is crazy.

It was the people inside the shelter. It looked like they were commenting while watching his live stream.

-Wow... I can’t believe I survived… Umji bought so much time for us… T_T T_T

-Thank you, Hunter Um Ji-Cheok. Thanks to you buying time, myself and all of our merchants were able to go home safely. I don’t know how to repay you, but I’ll give you a discount next time you visit my store. Please contact me. I gave you my business card, right?

?There are some familiar faces.?

‘That’s the store owner that I met before. I guess he was also in the shelter. Hm… Maybe it’s because I am being thanked by people that I saved, but it feels a little different.’

Of course, there were many other comments.

-UMJIIII!!!!

-Did everyone see him? DID YOU? THIS IS UMJI!! 乃乃乃乃乃乃

-This stream was even more intense than the World Tree dungeon stream…. And was that Sword Threads? It was like threads made from Sword Qi.

? I think it is.

-Holy… He is amazing… How did he block that all by himself?

-How many people were in the shelter?

-About 1,200 people.

?That’s a lot.

-Umji is a God! Umji is a God! Umji is a God! Umji is a God! Umji is a God! Umji is a God! Umji is a God! Umji is a God!

?If he was a God, there shouldn’t be any casualties. There were five Gates that opened. Do you know how many people died? The battle is still going on.

? Is that Umji’s fault?

?I’m not saying that. I’m just saying there are other victims, so don’t be so rude.

? Mind your own business.

‘Oh, I didn’t know there were other Gates that opened in other places. This one has been cleared, but I guess they are still fighting with the monsters that came out of the other Gates. I know I can’t save everyone, but if I was stronger… would it have been possible for me to save more people?’

Ring! Ring!

As he was thinking that, a sound came from the loudspeaker on the outer wall of the shelter.

“The monster air raid alert has been lifted! I repeat, the monster air raid alert has been lifted!”

The monster air raid alert was lifted only when all the monsters were killed. In other words, all the monsters roaming around had been eliminated. Now, all that remained was to enter the Gate and clear the dungeon. Ji-Cheok felt a little more at ease hearing the news.

?Do not worry, Master. Korean Hunters are very competent.?

‘I know, but I’m still concerned.’

While he was talking to Cheok-Liang, he heard a group of people running toward him. When he turned his head, there were many children standing in front of him.

“Thank you so much!!”

“Thank you for saving us!!”

“Thank you!”

“Thank you!!”

All the kids’ eyes were red from crying in the shelters. Ji-Cheok heard the System message pop up for his Likes, but just this one time, he decided to ignore it. Ji-Cheok hugged the kids.

“Alright, let’s go eat something really delicious! It’s on me!”

“Yayyyy!!!”

?Master, it seems a reporter came to interview you.?

‘Maybe later. We can’t have little kids starving, can we?’