I Gave Up Being Stronger

A day before going to Malaysia, Seo Ji-Soo had changed her outfits several times in front of the mirror. Her bed was piled high with clothes she had worn and taken off.

“How does this look?” Ji-Soo asked her sister.

Seo Ji-Ah, who was sitting at her desk reading a book, only glanced up.

“It’s okay.”

“That’s the thirtieth time you said it’s okay. Can’t you be a little more sincere?”

“Just wear anything.”

From Ji-Ah’s perspective, her sister was acting a bit weird. She seemed much more excited than usual.

“Sigh. You really don’t know anything, do you?” Ji-Soo said.

“What?”

“Jin-Hyeok is pretending to go on a raid abroad so that he can ask me out.”

“I really don’t think so.”

“He is obviously interested in one of us.”

“...I doubt it.”

“Why are you so negative?”

‘I think you’re just overly positive,’ Ji-Ah thought to herself as she shifted her gaze back to her book.

“Why are you like this, Unnie? What if he likes one of us?”

“...”

“You’re going to say no?”

“Say no to what?”

“I mean if Jin-Hyeok asked you to go out with him, would you say no?”

“...”

Ji-Ah didn’t answer, and Ji-Soo was happily humming.

“See? You wouldn’t say no either.”

“He seems like a nice guy, even if he can be scary sometimes.”

Ji-Soo was sure he was asking her out, or she wanted to believe it.

No matter how Ji-Ah looked at it, it did not seem right. She knew her sister would not listen to her, so she left her sister alone.

Ji-Soo changed her clothes several times more, excitedly.

A day later, when she arrived at the airport, she was utterly disappointed. Everyone was huddled together and Ji-Soo’s face turned red.

‘Ugh… This is so embarrassing.’

Awkwardness, embarrassment, and anger all flooded in at once. And a slight sense of frustration arose as well.

‘Just wait and see.’

After they arrived at the airport, Ji-Soo said, “I don’t think you know what you’re missing out on, Jin-Hyeok.”

“Huh?”

“You will know soon enough.”

“That’s good to hear.” Cha Jin-Hyeok chuckled and nodded.

He knew exactly what she was talking about. She was obviously telling him how determined she was as a damage dealer, as his party member, and as an Assassin of the party.

This was how Players should approach raids. Jin-Hyeok was very happy with how determined she was about the raid.

⁎ ⁎ ⁎

As they cleared the immigration and walked through the airport, Jin-Hyeok felt someone staring at him.

‘Look at that. We’re being followed.’

Being followed was actually quite common, especially when traveling abroad. When Jin-Hyeok and his old teammates went overseas for raids, they were always followed by at least twenty people. At first, it was intrusive and annoying, but then he got used to it.

‘It doesn’t seem like a lot… Wait, only one person? Only one person is following us? Ugh, I feel offended—no wait, I shouldn’t think like this.’

In fact, high-tier Players used to have ego battles amongst themselves about how many people would follow them. It was just that Jin-Hyeok was so used to that kind of life that he was not used to being followed by just one person. He decided not to think too much about why he was being followed. If he pondered about every little thing, his life would be miserable.

Anyone could be followed, and Assassins and bandits followed people for their hobbies.

If they did something that posed a threat to him, that would be the moment when he would try and kill them.

‘I think this one is more skilled than the last one I saw in Sindorim Station. What was her name, Black Butterball?’

This one seemed to be more skilled than the Level Grinders, so he looked at her with the Broadcaster’s Truesight. He couldn’t identify the location with just his senses, but he could see everything with this Skill.

[LV40/Black Butterfly/Superior Assassin/Skills/Heavenly Temptation]

‘Wait a minute. That’s her again!’

Jin-Hyeok did not pay much attention to her last time because he thought she was just a nobody, but it was a different story now.

It was highly unlikely that he would run into the same person from Sindorim Station again, especially all the way over here in another country, so it was by no means a coincidence. She was intentionally following him.

‘It’s for the best I guess.’

Jin-Hyeok didn’t need to overthink why an Assassin would follow him. She wanted to assassinate him.

It might have been for different reasons, but that did not matter to him. It was still attempted murder when an Assassin silently stalked someone.

‘I needed a bait anyway, so this worked out well.’

⁎ ⁎ ⁎

Kaylin, also known as Black Butterfly and an Assassin for the Avengers Army, sang a happy tune in her mind.

‘I bet they didn’t notice my stealth this time.’

She had reached Level 40 and gained a new stealth Skill called Sneak. She was so ridiculously conspicuous the last time, but she did not get caught this time around. She could definitely feel how powerful this new Skill was.

‘I am going to find out everything about you.’

She wondered why Egan had paid her so much money to follow Jin-Hyeok, and why Joseph cared about Jin-Hyeok so much.

As time passed, she became more confident.

‘I know they’re in a foreign country that they don’t know much about, but they don’t seem to notice me at all!’

She thought maybe it was just a coincidence that they were able to detect her the last time.

‘The navigator from the Avengers Army can detect me in a heartbeat.’

As a wise man once said, by seeing one, they could infer ten.

The fact that none of them could detect her stealth meant that their overall Level was nowhere near that of the Avengers Army.

‘Egan, Joseph, both of you were wrong!’

It was incomprehensible that Joseph and Egan would pay so much attention to this man. She checked into the same hotel as Jin-Hyeok's party and spied on them. Still, they did not seem to notice her.

Another day had passed.

She had been able to pick up their voices through an item she had secretly attached to the Healer of the party.

“We are going to the Petronas Tower.”

Jin-Hyeok looked at his sister’s back. With the help of the Broadcaster's Truesight, he could clearly see something on her back.

[Voice Transmission Mana Ball]

‘The Assassin must have put it on her when we were eating at the buffet earlier.’

A small bead-like item, invisible to the naked eye, was attached to Cha Jin-Sol’s back.

“Let’s review our plan. Ji-Soo, Ji-Ah, what are you going to do again?”

“You said to cross the sky bridge that's on the 41st and 42nd floors.”

The Petronas Towers were twin towers with eighty-eight floors. They were connected by a fifty-eight-meter sky bridge on the 41st and 42nd floors.

If the Seo sisters started from different towers, crossed the sky bridge, and passed each other, the entrance to the Dungeon would be created.

“Jae-Hyeon. What is your role?”

“To prevent other Players from entering the Dungeon during the time the entrance is active.”

The Dungeon entrance created by the Seo sisters was only valid for ten minutes. During that time, Mok Jae-Hyeon would unfold his Wood Fortress to block other Players from entering.

“I will enter the Dungeon at exactly nine minutes and fifty-seven seconds, is that okay?” Jae-Hyeon asked.

“Yes, that’s good.”

The details of the operation were all transmitted to Black Butterly through the Voice Transmission Mana Ball.

⁎ ⁎ ⁎

On the 41st floor of Petronas Tower, Ji-Ah began traversing the sky bridge.

‘Is this really going to work? Is the Dungeon entrance really going to spawn like this?’

She had heard about the post created by the Great Prophet named Kim Shin-Won, but she was still skeptical.

As she walked slowly, she saw her sister, Ji-Soo in the distance on the same floor. They crossed paths and kept walking.

‘Nothing is happeni—’

At first, nothing happened. However, when the sisters reached the opposite towers, there was a slight shaking. People looked around in surprise as if an earthquake had occurred.

‘There really is a Dungeon entrance.’

Ji-Ah could see it clearly. There was a space near the center of the sky bridge that was churning like a tornado.

[Petronas Twin Towers Dungeon.]

Taking advantage of the chaos, Jae-Hyeon unfolded the Wood Fortress and sealed off the entrance.

“I’m going in first today,” Jin-Hyeok said.

For today, he didn’t turn on his livestream. He was not going to broadcast anything about obtaining the Mental Barrier Trait. He didn’t know what kind of tricks Choi Gap-Soo would come up with, and in fact, getting the Mental Barrier Trait was not for the sake of content, but just to be a little safer as a normal Streamer.

He decided to be more direct since he was not livestreaming.

‘This is going to be fun.’

He didn’t try to deny the feeling. After all, he was not livestreaming now, and he knew he would not be able to enjoy this feeling for long. Later, when he became a higher-Level Player, he would not be able to play as aggressively as he wanted to.

He was going to enjoy it while he could when he was low-Level.

[You have entered 「Petronas Twin Towers Dungeon」.]

Following Jin-Hyeok, Kim Jeong-Hyeon and Jin-Sol also entered. Soon after, the Seo sisters entered, and after about ten minutes, Jae-Hyeon entered. It looked like Jae-Hyeon did a good job, as no other Players had entered the Dungeon.

It was dark inside, like entering a deep underground cave.

“Hold your position.”

Looking over with the Broadcaster’s Truesight, he saw that Black Butterfly was also in the far corner. Her gaze was still on Jin-Hyeok.

Jin-Sol noticed something.

“Oppa, there is a green line over there.”

They were inside the safe zone. It was a very common setup for beginner Dungeons. If Players were inside the green line, they would not be attacked by the monsters.

As Jin-Hyeok took a step outside the line, a notification popped up.

[You are now out of the safe zone.]

When he came back, another notification popped up.

[You are now entering the safe zone.]

“I think there is only one way in, so I’ll lead the way,” Jin-Hyeok said.

He used one of the Streamer Skills called Broadcaster’s Light.

Two bright light sources were created near his head. This was a Skill that all Streamers had. However, other Streamers only had one light source. Also, Jin-Hyteok’s lights were much brighter than those of other Streamers, and they covered a larger area. However, no one thought it was weird.

Jin-Hyeok was basing everything on his former teammate, Kang Mi-Na, and the other team members had never met another Streamer before, so they wouldn’t know what was normal or what wasn't.

Jin-Hyeok took the lead. After walking for a while, he saw a faint glow at the end of the way.

“Halt.”

He walked closer to take a look. It was a special device that had been installed.

“It looks like a small freight elevator.”

There was also a ‘◆‘ button to call the elevator. He scratched his head.

“There are no up and down markings. If this was a real elevator, there should be the up and down markings.”

“You’re right.”

He pressed the ‘◆’ button. He didn’t think too much of it, since he already knew the strategy to clear this Dungeon.

[You have called the elevator.]

Rumble.

There was a slight vibration on the ground. He could not tell if the elevator was coming from below or above. Then, he heard a ding sound.

[The elevator has arrived.]

The elevator door opened and he walked straight in. Inside the elevator, there were ‘▲‘ and ‘▼‘ buttons.

[Entry is limited to one person.]

“Only one person can get in at a time."

[Please choose the direction.]

Jin-Hyeok pointed at the buttons on the elevator.

“Guys, there are buttons here, okay?”

[The elevator door will close in three seconds.]

[Please choose your direction before the door closes.]

“I’m going to go first. Come up, okay? Remember, the direction is up. Up! Up!”

Despite his words, Jin-Hyeok chose down.

Next, it was Jin-Sol’s turn.

‘Since he pointed the buttons with his left hand, I’m going to choose… down.’

This had been discussed with her brother before they entered the Dungeon. If he pointed to something with his left hand, Jin-Sol was to do the opposite, and if he pointed something with his right hand, she was ordered to obey it.

‘Down.’

After Jin-Sol, the rest of the party members—Ji-Ah, Ji-Soo, Jae-Hyeon, and Jeong-Hyeon—also chose the down button. One by one, or course.

With Jin-Hyeok's party gone, the only person left here was Black Butterfly, Kaylin.

‘They are so impulsive and have no set of rules.’

Egan’s Avengers Army would not be this haphazard. They would gather as much information about the Dungeon as they could, and then proceed to attack it with the utmost care and precision.

However, Jin-Hyeok’s approach was far too sloppy. He had the audacity of leading the way even though he was just a Streamer, turning on the light when he didn’t know if the monsters were going to attack, not knowing what was in the elevator, and just overall going with the flow. The funniest part was when the other team members just sat idly by and watched him.

Everything was so sloppy and weird.

‘Do I really need to follow these degenerates all the way?’

She thought about stopping the stalking, but the entrance of the Dungeon had already disappeared.

‘I’m gonna say again. Joseph, Egan, both of you were wrong.’

As a member of the Avengers Army, she was determined to prove that they were far more capable than this ragtag team.

She called the elevator.

‘I can’t believe they didn’t notice me the slightest bit.’

Honestly, she had expected them to notice a little, but they did not seem to have any idea of her existence. It was both gratifying and disappointing.

She stepped confidently into the elevator.

She pressed ‘▲, ‘the opposite of the direction Jin-Hyeok’s team went.

[You have arrived at the 88th floor.]

[The door is opening.]

When the door opened, she witnessed something shocking.

‘FUCK!’