I Gave Up Being Stronger

The video of Cha Jin-Hyeok defeating Grandel topped the list of real-ttrending videos on Eltube. Its view count had already surpassed five hundred million, and the number of subscribers on Jin-Hyeok’s channel was increasing even more rapidly, exceeding 1.5 billion.

Egan Paul trembled as he browsed Eltube. “He has beaten Marshmallow’s video!”

Marshmallow, the top Eltuber in the universe, had also uploaded a video, which ranked third in the trending list. The second place was Egan’s video, but this position was meaningless because the numbers for his video were inflated.

“He is really impressive.”

Other Eltubers tended to avoid uploading videos when Marshmallow did. No shrimp in the world wanted to compete with a whale.

“But Kim Chul-Soo just uploaded his video without caring about any of that. And he beat Marshmallow. Truly insane!”

It was not just Chul-Soo who was remarkable. Bong King and Kang Mi-Na held the number one position in the Korean Region’s Streamer rankings as a duo. Their Channel, BongMiNaTV, was also experiencing explosive growth. Although the duo was ridiculed for leeching off Chul-Soo, their channel’s growth was notable.

He was also lagging behind in terms of viewing tand viewer firepower.

First, it was the Ant Queen Incident, and now, the battle with Grandel—the Korean Region was something else. The System seemed to have set the Korean Region as the main Region of the Earth Server. Otherwise, it was impossible for BongMiNaTV, a channel run by two rankers from the small Korean Region, to surpass his channel. Considering that the quantity and quality of content in a Region tended to be proportional to the Region’s size, the Korean Region was very special.

“I am going to Korea.” Egan decided to focus the content of his next major video on the Korean Region. As it was going to be a major video, he planned to bring a large group of elites from the Avengers Army.

“I can’t beat Chul-Soo.” Egan did not think about beating Chul-Soo. Chul-Soo was his role model, an ideal he wanted to reach but could not. “...But I can’t lose to BongMiNaTV.”

As the American Region’s top Streamer, he had to prove that being number one in the American Region was far superior to being the official number one Streamer in the Korean Region, which was the duo of Bong King and Kang Mi-Na.

Although the Haeundae[1] Dungeon had not shown any sign of a Dungeon Break yet, it had remained unconquered for several months. It was an Unexplored Dungeon in the Korean Region or, as speople called it, a Chul-Soo Region. Clearing this place would undoubtedly attract significant attention and interest.

Egan’s heart raced with excitement.

***

Jin-Hyeok was not in a good mood. He had gradually stopped watching Egan’s videos. The Jin-Hyeok of the past, who was content with being in third place, had disappeared. He now felt strongly competitive toward Marshmallow, the Streamer who was number one in the universe by an overwhelming margin. Jin-Hyeok’s pride was hurt, and an indescribable desire for that spot burned within him.

“Marshmallow’s content is just him lying down…”

The video that Marshmallow recently uploaded had no real content. It was just a short video of him lying down and having a casual conversation with his viewers.

“But the view count of his video isn’t much different from that of mine!” Jin-Hyeok still had a long way to go. It seemed that he needed to be more intense. “How to get more intense from here…”

There was one good way.

That was the plan.

***

In each era and in each Region, there was always an Unexplored Dungeon that represented that tand Region. These Dungeons would change slightly as Players progressed. Currently, the most famous Unexplored Dungeon in the Korean Region was the Haeundae Dungeon.

Before Jin-Hyeok’s regression, the Haeundae Dungeon was known as a classic example of a first-generation Unexplored Dungeon. At that time, Jin-Hyeok had been busy dealing with the Demigod Alliance, and Lee Hyeon-Seong had cleared this Dungeon all by himself.

A Dungeon could remain unexplored for various regions. Sometimes, the difficulty of the Dungeon was too high, or its entry conditions were unknown. Often, even after annihilating all the monsters inside, Players could not figure out the clear conditions of the Dungeon and ended up dying of starvation.

Not many Players were crazy enough to enter a Dungeon alone. Reflecting on it, Jin-Hyeok realized that Hyeon-Seong had definitely been insane.

Wang Yu-Mi asked Jin-Hyeok, “The Haeundae Dungeon? Do you think you can clear it?”

“I don’t know. I have to go in and find out.”

“You know that Players have recently made attempts to clear it, right? They managed to kill all the monsters inside but ended up starving to death. They brought a lot of food, but it all suddenly rotted away at spoint.” Yu-Mi adjusted her round glasses and continued, “Chul-Soo on the brink of starvation, and the Homepage Master Kang Eun-Woo sharing his pain… That might look really good for the content… hehe!”

“Ah… I’m going to go in there by myself.” Jin-Hyeok interrupted her.

“What? Why?”

“Kihael gavesinformation about the Dungeon, and I think I need to go solo.”

“Hm… information from a GM… Then I will think about it too. Make sure to contactbefore you go in!”

The way Yu-Mi treated him had changed a bit since the regression, but as long as she did not start calling him the Moon King, Jin-Hyeok was fine with anything.

Yu-Mi gave him good advice in her way. “You handed the leader of the Black Alliance a perfect defeat through cooperation with many people, right? Planning and building it up carefully, step by step. This time, it would be good to appeal to a different charm.”

“A different charm?”

“Yes. For example, I really, really, like eating broccoli, but eating it every day for a month can get a bit boring.”

“So, to sum it up, I think this will be a good tto show the overpowered Chul-Soo, without complex calculations or cooperation between party members. Just Chul-Soo’s sheer strength, breaking everything in his path. But do you think that is possible in the Haeundae Dungeon?”

“I think so.”

***

Kihael visited Jin-Hyeok’s house wearing a hat, glasses, and a trench coat that covered him from top to bottom. It looked like Kihael wanted to be inconspicuous in public, but dressing like that was bound to attract more attention rather than less.

“Yo, honestly, I think you want yourself to be caught now,” Jin-Hyeok said.

“...What?”

“I think you’re just tired of your job, where they pay you peanuts and make you work overtall the time. Is that why you’re dressed like that? To be caught and get fired?”

“No!”

“And if you do get fired, you will be employed by the MK Foundation with better benefits and higher salary.”

“I-I’m not planning to get fired on purpose.”

“Of course, you would say that.”

This seemed a bit suspicious. It was about tthat the System, or the higher GMs, noticed that Kihael and Jin-Hyeok had a very close connection. Normally, if a GM had an excessively deep relationship with a specific Player, the System would intervene.

“I am going to say this one more time. If you get fired on purpose, we are not going to hire you.”

Jin-Hyeok wanted to say it, but he believed Kihael knew that.

“So, did you find out what I asked you to?” Jin-Hyeok asked.

“I did.”

A few days ago, Jin-Hyeok had asked, more like ordered, Kihael to find out how to use Picasso’s Brush on himself. Before Jin-Hyeok’s regression, Makendra had used Picasso’s Brush on herself and beca powerful ranker in the universe. Jin-Hyeok thought that if Makendra could do it, he could too, but he had no idea how.

“According to what I found out…” Kihael looked serious. He leaned in a bit and continued cautiously. It seemed like he was about to share something very important and secretive. “...I have no idea.”

He then put on an exultant expression. Kihael seemed quite proud to have pulled one over Jin-Hyeok

Kihael clutched the back of his head and screamed, “Ouch! This crazy bastard is assaulting a GM!”

“I didn’t do it,” Jin-Hyeok replied.

“Who else is here beside you?”

“Do you think you would still be in one piece if I were the one who hit you?” Jin-Hyeok shook his head.

“...What?”

“Have you forgotten who was the only person in the Korean Region to have killed a GM and then went to the Judgement Room?” If Jin-Hyeok had really hit Kihael, Kihael wouldn’t even have felt the pain.

“Why? Do you wantto hit you?” Jin-Hyeok asked.

“N-No… Who said I want you to?” Kihael’s face turned pale.

Watching his face change in real twas kind of cute. Anyway, Jin-Hyeok had indeed not hit Kihael. The culprit was the Golden Guardian Tree, which had recently developed a taste for smashing heads.

-“GMs’ heads are tougher than I thought.”

Jin-Hyeok had not gained much from meeting Kihael, except for the fact that the difficulty of the Haeundae Dungeon changed according to the number of entrants. However, since Jin-Hyeok was planning to go in by himself anyway, this information was essentially useless.

“Why are you hitting me, you crazy yellow tree!” Kihael shouted.

-“If something is tough, wanting to break it is an instinct. That is the nature of the great Golden Guardian Tree.”

“...so he says.” Jin-Hyeok relayed the message to Kihael.

“That’s the nature of the Golden Guardian Tree?” Kihael looked at Jin-Hyeok as if he could not believe it.

It was Jin-Hyeok’s first thearing that too. It seemed this Golden Guardian Tree was just an odd one.

With a large lump on his head, Kihael gritted his teeth and said, “A Guardian Tree has a strong bond with its Planter and is greatly influenced by the Planter’s soul.”

It seemed Kihael was misinformed. Anyway, after Kihael left without providing any useful information, the Guardian Tree kept nagging Jin-Hyeok.

-“Let’s just use the Rule Breaker to hit Picasso’s Brush!”

The Guardian Tree was talking about the much-improved Rule Breaker. It argued that the Rule Breaker could break the condition embedded in Picasso’s Brush. However, to Jin-Hyeok, that seemed like the Guardian Tree just wanted to break something.

[(*Note: Retouch is limited to one use per item or Player and cannot be used on the holder of the item.)]

The Guardian Tree was suggesting breaking the ‘cannot be used on the holder of the item’ condition.

“What if it fails?”

Jin-Hyeok was a bit worried because the performance of the Rule Breaker had improved greatly. If he recklessly swung it around, the Server-grade item Picasso’s Brush could be completely destroyed.

Jin-Hyeok felt immense disappointment from the Guardian Tree. Unexpectedly, the Guardian Tree stated a profound truth.

-“Isn’t it natural for something to break if the enhancement fails?”

Jin-Hyeok felt like he had been hit on the head. It was such an obvious statement.

-“How can you be called IntenseMan if you can’t bear that weight?”

“You are right.”

Server-grade item or not, it was natural for something to break if the enhancement failed. Just like dying while Playing was natural, this was also a very, very natural principle. Jin-Hyeok gained great enlightenment and immediately started recording.

[Enhancement]

Recently, Jin-Hyeok had beca very pathetic person, forgetting the basics and the truth. He decided not to be pathetic anymore.

“I am going to start the enhancement content.” Before clearing the Haeundae Dungeon, Jin-Hyeok decided to do that first.

The Guardian Tree laughed heartily.

-“The true IntenseMan has returned! All hail the IntenseMan! Hahahaha!”

1. Haeundae is a district in the city of Busan, which is located very south-east of Korea. It is known for its beaches. ☜