Thumbs Up, Level Up

Chapter 135

The orphanage had been destroyed, but Jungjin sent someone and had it fixed in an instant. The dispatch was a craft-type Hunter with the [Restoration] skill. He was originally employed by the Jungha Group, but he had apparently been dispatched to Jungjin for a short time. Thanks to him, they were able to go back to the orphanage on the same day. The drones also went out and rearranged the ranch, while the escaped livestock came back on their own. There were still Ghouls’ dead bodies left here and there, but sooner or later, the Hunter Assistants were bound to come and sort them out. Even Ghouls were a source of income for them.

“Alright, today’s menu is pizza!”

Seong Kwang cooked it himself.

“Wooow!”

“I love pizza!!”

“We only eat this once a week!”

The kids seemed to like the pizza. Also having to eat it only once a week, they were bound to love it. When Ji-Cheok picked up a piece, the cheese stretched out very long.

‘Wow… This is some high-quality cheese. Let’s have a bite.’

“Oh my…”

The freshly baked chewy cheese stretched out into a long string of amazing flavor. The cheese was still hot, and it sizzled in his mouth with every bite. From farm-fresh tomatoes to homemade dough, Ji-Cheok could taste the layers of different flavors. In addition, the ham had a strong peppery taste and also a unique smoky flavor. It was truly the centerpiece of this pizza’s taste.

‘It’s so tasty.’

Ji-Cheok now knew why the kids looked forward to eating this every week. It tasted better than when he had eaten here before. As he was admiring the pizza, he heard an engine and wheels screeching?outside.

“Hyung!”

The door burst open and Mu-Cheok walked in.

‘I guess we didn’t lock the door.’

“... Brother Mu-Cheok, how did you unlock the door?” Seong Kwang said.

“It was already opened,” Mu-Cheok said.

Seong Kwang’s eyes narrowed at Mu-Cheok’s words. Of course, Ji-Cheok knew that his brother was twenty percent machine, and the Magic Engineering in his bones was a technology that no military company could match.

‘Mu-Cheok… Did you just hack someone’s door? Can you hack door locks just by touching them?’

“Hey, you’re here!” Ji-Cheok said.

“Don’t ‘Hey, you’ me! I can’t believe you! Ha… You’re driving me crazy.” Mu-Cheok said.

It seemed that he had seen Ji-Cheok’s live stream and ran here as fast as possible. That was why he had hacked the door lock of another person’s house without even thinking. Even though Mu-Cheok was his brother, Ji-Cheok himself was scared of him sometimes.

“Why so serious? There’s nothing to panic about. Did you eat?”

“Thanks to you, I couldn’t eat anything.”

Mu-Cheok sighed, looked at Seong Kwang, and bowed while smiling.

“I am so sorry for opening the door and coming in so abruptly, Mr. Seong Kwang,” Mu-Cheok said.

“It’s okay, Brother Mu-Cheok. I know that you were worried about your brother. Your brother can be… a little reckless.”

“I can’t agree more! He is always acting as if he will only live for today!” Mu-Cheok said.

Then, he sat down on an empty chair. Seong Kwang, the owner of the house and today’s chef, gave him a slice of pizza. Mu-Cheok took a bite and his eyes widened in surprise.

‘It’s tasty, isn’t it? It’s so delicious that you will never forget it.’

“Waaah! It’s Mu-Cheok hyung!”

“No! It’s Mu-Cheok oppa!”

“He is hyung to me!”

“Hello, Mu-Cheok hyung!”

The kids saw Mu-Cheok and went crazy.

‘These kids seem to have buried themselves in GodTube… Is that okay? Considering Korea’s educational environment, is this good?’

“Anyway, the Hunter they dispatched did a pretty good job here. Not only did he fix the ranch, but he also put all the electronics back together,” Ji-Cheok said.

After the reconstruction, it was hard to believe that this house had once burned and been almost destroyed by the Ghouls no more than a couple of hours ago. The appliances inside the building also looked no different from before.

“That is the strength of [Restoration] skill. Without it, it is said that human civilization would have been far behind in terms of rebuilding itself,” Seong Kwang said.

He was right. The [Restoration] skill could revert ordinary objects that did not contain mana or magic spells to the exact state they were in before being destroyed. It was like rewinding a video. Thanks to this skill, the human civilization had a much easier time dealing with the collateral damage of the war against monsters. If people had been forced to spend all their money and time on rebuilding destroyed buildings, the size of the downtown area they lived in now would probably have been greatly reduced.

One of the workers who was eating with them turned on the TV that was attached to the wall. It was the news.

?Shelter 23 in Munbal District, which was protected by Hunter Um Ji-Cheok, didn’t have any casualties, but there were many deaths at Shelter 22…?

?The government revealed that they are considering this incident as being similar to the sudden appearance of the dungeon Gate that occurred in downtown Seoul and that they are conducting detailed investigations and research…?

?There are currently 121 confirmed dead, while the injured have reached 341, but there are still more…?

?Breaking News. Gates have appeared abruptly all over the world, and it is said that tremendous damage is occurring in each country. On the other hand, in Korea, thanks to Hunter Um Ji-Cheok’s performance…?

‘Wow that’s a lot of deaths… 121 people died?’

Suddenly, the pizza tasted bitter.

?Do not worry too much about it, Master. You did your best.?

‘I know. It just reminds me of my childhood. Both of my parents passed away like this.’

That traumatic experience still remained as a scar. People often disappeared so absurdly and suddenly.

?I am sure the two of them are watching you from above.?

Ji-Cheok didn’t know if Cheok-Liang felt his sadness, but Cheok-Liang still comforted him.

‘Thank you. I’m sure they are looking down from heaven with my grandpa. It would be nice if they pressed the Like button while watching me. Their son is working so hard right now.’

The worker changed the TV channel. It was a cable channel that showed children's favorite cartoons. The kids inhaled the pizza while watching it. Ji-Cheok couldn’t help but smile as he watched them eat.

‘I’ll have to send some snacks to Seong Kwang later. Uncle Ji-Cheok is going to fatten you up, little piglets.’

* * *

The best thing about earning money was that people could buy their own car. A very nice car, to be precise. Ji-Cheok hadn’t gotten one because he had the Mono Bike G, but Mu-Cheok had bought a very nice car. And he had driven it here this time. Thus, on their way back, Ji-Cheok sat beside Mu-Cheok in his new car. It was a very premium SUV from a foreign car brand worth over a hundred million won. Mu-Cheok had also mana-modded the car, and Ji-Cheok could easily guess who had made said modifications.

It was 11 PM. There were no people on the road this late.

“I heard that the Ghoul dungeon Gate that you dealt with was the highest-level dungeon out of the five Gates. If you hadn't dealt with it early, there would have been more casualties.” Mu-Cheok started out of the blue.

“Wow, are you caring about me right now?”

“It’s obvious that you’re thinking of your past right now.”

“Well… I guess you’re right. We’re also dungeon orphans after all.”

Mu-Cheok didn’t speak for a moment.

The children from the orphanage, the ranch workers, and those who had evacuated to shelters…. These were the people that Ji-Cheok had been able to save today. He was satisfied with that alone. He knew that he couldn’t save everyone, so he had to do what he could.

Mu-Cheok covered Ji-Cheok’s eyes with one of his hands.

“Get some sleep, hyung.”

Ji-Cheok smiled and agreed with Mu-Cheok. He was dead tired, and with the faint scent of lavender in the car, he fell asleep.

* * *

The next day.

Ji-Cheok found out that while he was having a friendly campfire party with the Ghouls, his teammates had also been dispatched to Paji City and Goyang City. He also found out that Mu-Cheok hadn’t come straight to the ranch from his house, but rather from the battlefield, after finishing off a few monsters himself.

Paju and Goyang were cities near Seoul. Since a large number of monsters had appeared, it was only natural that a special mobilization order had been issued to eradicate them. Thanks to that, the dungeon meeting with the team members was canceled, and since everyone used all of their mana while fighting the monsters, the dungeon raid was also canceled. Assuming that there was nothing special, the meeting was postponed to next week.

Ji-Cheok had woken up after a good night’s sleep, and he was working on his breath and circulating his Qi in the morning. He had already recovered most of his Qi due to the effect of the World Tree, the Arcane Circle, and other effects of his skills. To his surprise, he found that his Qi was actually recovering faster than before—it was probably because of the effect of the [Human] skill. He calculated that his Qi would be fully recovered before lunch. However, restoring Qi was not the only thing on his to-do list. He had to check his number of Likes, and he had to think about what kind of skills he had to acquire in the future.

?Master, right now, you have a total of 4.52 million Likes. We should be celebrating.?

From yesterday’s incident, Ji-Cheok had gained a massive number of Likes.

‘Wow… That’s amazing. I think I can get a Legendary skill with this many Likes.’

“Come to think of it, there was a skill called [Resurrection] that could revive the dead… I wish I had that. Is there anything cheaper than [Resurrection]?”

?There is, Master.?

As Ji-Cheok was saddened by all the casualties from yesterday, Cheok-Liang searched for the skill to ease his mind.

[Emergency Resuscitation of the Church of Milainon — 1,000,000 Likes]

[Class: Unique (Non-Upgradable)

Resurrects anyone whose brain and heart are intact and who has been dead for less than 1 hour. All existing wounds are left intact and must receive immediate attention. If the cause of death is not treated, the resurrected person will die once more after 5 minutes.]

‘That’s so crazy. I can’t believe there is something like this. The restrictions are complex, but the skill is still useful. It would be difficult to use in a situation like yesterday, but is very useful in case of an emergency in a dungeon.’

?According to information on the Internet, there are only five Healers in the world who have resurrection skills that can revive the dead, and they are all top-tier Hunters.?

“The skill effect is limited, but it would be nice to have a resurrection skill. But it’s one million Likes… The price is a little overwhelming...”

Besides, the skill did not resurrect the dead just like that. If they were fatally injured, that just meant they had five minutes to treat the injuries.

.

‘The Shop didn’t write anything about the mana consumption or the skill cooldown. Did they do this on purpose?’

Even when he clicked the [More details] button at the bottom, nothing appeared. He could taste the dirty lies. It reminded him of the previous [Heart of the Lowest-level Demon] incident. How could he forget the blog-like post that had screwed him over? Ji-Cheok worried that after he bought this skill with one million Likes, the System would ask for another million Likes for more specific information.

‘Then, let’s use the [Minor Intuition] skill. Dear [Minor Intuition], would this skill really help me?’

“...”

?What is the answer??

‘I feel uncertain. I don’t think this skill will help me get stronger right away.’

?If that is the case, I will just keep the skill in the ‘I’m interested’ section and put a hold on the purchase.?

‘I think that’s a good idea. It would be better to hold on to the one million Likes and then buy it when I have to use it in a hurry. When that time comes, I will probably have gathered more Likes, and better skills might have been found. Remember I decided to save half of my Likes and only use the other half?’

?Master is right.?

‘You’re saying you don’t have more information about skills other than my own skills, right?’

?Yes, Master. I do not know if it was purposely covered or if the seller forgot about it, but you can be scammed if you do not be careful.?